576  Obituary—Ur. J. H. Taunton—Rev. H. W. Crosskey. 
of this last survivor of Tertiary times, but the hand of Man the 
destroyer. The wide distribution of numerous species of Sirenia in 
Tertiary times over Europe and America is, however, a powerful 
argument in favour of the former higher temperature of our Northern 
hemisphere. Henry Woopwarp. 
THE CARBON-CRUST ON FOSSIL PLANTS. 
Sir,—It is well known that Fossil plants when found in sand- 
stone are generally entirely covered with a thin layer of nearly 
pure carbon; in the case of Calamites, etc., in the Coal-measure 
sandstones the layer is often not more than about 35 of an inch in 
thickness. It very readily falls away, and it is only in rare cases | 
that it adheres to the sandstone cast. I should like to propose some 
questions concerning this carbonaceous covering to your readers. 
(1) Why is the whole of the carbonaceous residue in well- 
preserved fossils confined to the outside of the cast? (2) Does the 
carbonaceous layer represent the whole of the carbon of the tissue 
of the plant? (3) Why, in comparatively soft and little altered 
freestones, should the carbonaceous layer exhibit such a baked or 
charred appearance ? A. WiILMoRE. 
WESLEYAN Scuoots, TRAWTEN, Cone, LANCASHIRE, 
November 8th, 1893. 
@FS as eASv ae 
~ JOHN HOOKE TAUNTON, M.INST.C.E., F.G.S. 
Harty in the present year! we lost by death Mr. John Hooke 
Taunton, M.Inst.C.H., F.G.S., of Stroud. Myr. Taunton had an 
intimate acquaintance with the water-bearing strata of the Cottes- 
wold Hills, and furnished some valuable information to the Report 
of the Commissioners on Water Supply (1869). He was for many 
years local engineer to the Thames and Severn Canal Company, and 
also consulting engineer to the Stroud Local Board of Health. He 
contributed several papers to the Proceedings of the Cotteswold 
Naturalists’ Club, of which he was an active member: among these 
were papers on the Hydrology of the Cotteswolds, on the Geology 
of the Sapperton Tunnel, on the Malmesbury Waterworks, and on 
the Dynamic Geology of Palestine. 
WHE REV. Hs WeCROSSKEY, EE LD: ikAGis: 
Born 1826. Diep OctoseEr Ist, 18938. 
In Dr. H. W. Crosskey we have to record the loss of one who 
was a most ardent student of Glacial Geology and the author of a 
valuable series of Reports on the Erratic blocks of this country, 
communicated during the past 20 years to the British Association. 
He paid much attention to the post-Tertiary deposits of the Clyde 
Valley, and was associated with David Robertson and Dr. G. 8. 
Brady in describing the post-Tertiary Entomostraca in the Palzeonto- 
graphical Society’s Volume for 1874. Whilst resident in Glasgow 
he contributed many papers to the Geological Society of Glasgow. 
He died at his residence, Edgbaston, Birmingham, Oct. Ist, 1893. 
1 January 31st, 1893. 
