Miscellanies. 403 
3. Meeting of the British Association at Dublin.—This meeting 
of the Association was held during the month of August. It was a 
small meeting,—we do not learn that any thing very important came 
before it, and we are informed that party politics interfered somewhat 
with its success. One fact of great interest was announced. An up- 
right trunk of a large Sigillaria has been discovered in the coal-field 
near Liverpool, with roots eight or nine feet long, spreading in every 
direction and with the radicles radiating from the main roots, and these 
roots and radicles are the Stigmaria ficoides and its leaves. This dis- 
covery must modify some existing theories on coal.* 
4. Animal of the Belemnite-—Lord Northampton has recently ob- 
tained from the oolite of Chippenham, (Eng.) a specimen of a Belem- 
nite with the impression of the soft parts of the animal on the sur- 
rounding clay! Even the little hooks with which the creature was 
furnished remain! Dr. Buckland’s figure from D’Orbigny must there- 
fore be modified; Prof. Owen, in the admirable volume of lectures on 
the Invertebrata, (the Hunterian lectures for this year, just published,) 
has given a restored outline of the animal of the Belemnite, and which 
must be correct.—(Extract from a letter to Prof. Silliman from Dr. 
Mantell, dated Aug. 28th.) 
5. Meteoric Epoch of August.—In consequence of cloudy weather at 
this place for several days about the 10th of August, 1843, it was im- 
practicable here to determine whether the meteoric sprinkle of August 
recurred the present year. 
6. Death of Mr. Bakewell.—Robert Bakewell, Esq. died at his 
residence at Hampstead, near London, on the 15th of August, at the 
age of 75. He had long been an invalid, and his death was the result 
of gradual decline, rather than acute disease. Mr. Bakewell was one 
of the oldest of the present school of English geologists, and was the 
author of the first good treatise on geology in the English language, 
which went through five editions in England and three in this country, 
before the author’s death; and it still holds a place among the best 
elementary works on the subject. Mr. Bakewell also published in 1823 
two interesting and valuable volumes of travels among the Alps in 
Switzerland. 
Mr. Bakewell’s mind was distinguished for vigor, acuteness, and in- 
dependence ; his Geology was indeed much in advance of the science 
at the time he wrote, but his sagacious views have been fully confirm- 
ed. In the course of an epistolary correspondence of many years, we 
* ‘We hope to begin our usual abstract in our next number. 
