Miscellaneous. 527 



remaining in the generators was thrown out as refuse, and the re- 

 mainder of the stone was burnt as quick-lime. 



Subsequently, I had the opportunity of searching the heap, very 

 carefully, in company with Mr. Stevenson, and Mr. D. 0. Brown, and 

 we had the good fortune to find examples of about half a dozen species 

 of Carbonifei^us Limestone Corals. Dr. P. Martin Duncan, M.B. 

 Lond., For. Sec. Geol. Soc, has been good enough to examine these, 

 and states that several of the specimens belong to a species of 

 Zaphrentis hitherto undescribed ; that the rest are well known and 

 are as follows : 



Syringopora geniculata, Phillips. 

 Michelenia megastoma, Phillips, sp. 

 Zaphrentis caryophjlloides, Scouler, sp. 

 Lithostrotion PMlUpsii, Edwards. 



The specimens consist of siliceous casts of the calcareous skeleton 

 of the corals, and they are so completely decalcified that they remained 

 unaltered on a second maceration in strong acid. Chemical analysis 

 of a fair sample of the limestone showed that it contained nearly 30 

 per cent, of silica, and that there were also present sensible quanti- 

 ties of organic matter (bituminous) free sulphur, phosphoric and 

 sulphuric acids, and protoxide of iron. 



Much fresh interest has been recently excited in the processes by 

 which the infiltration or impregnation of organic bodies with silex 

 takes place, in connexion with the history of Eozoon Canadense. In 

 the case of Eozoon, the sarcode or animal -jelly appears to have been 

 gradually replaced by siliceous material, which has accurately filled 

 even the minutest tubuli of the canal-system, whilst the calcareous 

 skeleton has remained unafiected. But in the corals an opposite 

 condition is found — the skeleton has become silicified, and we have 

 no traces of the soft parts. Whether a certain portion of silex was 

 secreted with the carbonate of lime during the life of the animal, 

 or whether its presence is entirely due to infiltration, subsequently, 

 is a question very difficult of solution. 



It is well worth while for those that have the opportunity, to keep 

 an eye on the insoluble matters turned out of the carbonic acid 

 generators in our chemical works Carbonate of lime, in many of 

 its forms, abounds in siliceous fossils, and these are left among the 

 refuse thrown out ; indeed, the process of chemical manufacture, as 

 practised on the Tyne, supplies us on a grand scale with a means of 

 separating organic remains, which paleeontologists are prevented 

 from employing, except in a very limited way, on the ground of 

 expense and the want of suitable apparatus for its proper application. 



Eaethquake in Devon. — A correspondent of the Exeter Gazette 

 writes from East Budleigh : " Two distinct shocks were felt here at 

 a quarter to ten on Thursday night, Sept. 13th. The windows of my 

 house rattled violently. About five minutes elapsed between the two 

 shocks, and the last was the more violent of the two. I believe that 



