240 Correspondence — F. R. Cowper Reed, F.G.S. 



PLACOPAEIA FEOM THE SKIDD AW SLATES. 



Sir, — As supplementary to the note published by Miss G. L. 

 Elles in the March number of this Magazine (p. 141) recording 

 the occurrence of Placoparia in the Skiddaw Slates, it may be of 

 interest to mention that one of the three specimens in the Wood- 

 wardian Museum was correctly named and labelled as long ago as 

 the year 1890, when it was collected by Mr. H. Kynaston, M.A., 

 F.G.S., at Outerside during Professor Hughes' geological excursion 

 to the Lake District. The second specimen, which was obtained at 

 the same time and locality, was identified by me in 1895, when 

 I was rearranging the collection, and was duly entered with the 

 other in ray manuscript catalogue of the fossils of the Skiddaw 

 Slates in the Woodwardian Museum. The third specimen, as Miss 

 Elles has mentioned, comes from Ellergill, and is a recent gift from 

 Professor H. A. Nicholson, F.E.S. 



F. E. CowPER Eeed. 

 "Woodwardian Museum, Cambridge. 

 April, 1898. 



nyniscEXiXj.A.isr:EOTJS. 



New Geologtcal Survey Maps. — In our January number, p. 48, 

 attention was drawn to the issue of several sheets of the General 

 Geological Map of England and Wales (scale an inch to four miles), 

 published by the Geological Survey. The fifteen sheets of the 

 colour-printed edition have now all been issued ; and (with the 

 exception of the title-sheet, price 2s.) the price of each sheet is 

 2s. %d. The total cost of the map is therefore £1 ITs. It is to be 

 hoped that some of the one-inch Geological Survey maps, such as 

 that of " London and its Environs," which in the hand-coloured 

 form costs no less than 30s., or that of the Isle of Wight, price 

 8s. %d., may ere long be issued in the cheaper form. 



Geological Survey. — The vacancy caused by the retirement of 

 Mr. George Sharman, senior Pala3ontologist on the Geological 

 Survey, has been filled b}'^ the appointment of Mr. P. L. Kitchin, 

 M.A., Ph.D., as Assistant Paleeontologist, under Mr. E. T. Newton, 

 F.E.S., PalEsontologist. 



A Liner in a Duststorm. — The Castle Line mail steamer 

 "Eoslin Castle" arrived at Plymouth on February 22 more than two 

 days later than usual, and Captain Ti-avers reported an extraordinary 

 experience. He stated that on Monday, February 14, the vessel 

 met what appeared to be a dense fog, but it proved to be a sand- 

 storm, the air being permeated with red sand from the Sahara 

 Desert for over 900 miles. During this time the sun and stars 

 were obscured, and no observations were possible until after 

 Madeira was reached. — Daily Mail. 



