Notices of Memoirs — L. J. Spencer — British Minerals. 75 



In onr last report we were able to announce the discovery in 

 a previous excavation near Ballough of the Arctic crustacean Lepi- 

 durus glacialis, and accompanied by the Arctic willow Salix herhacea 

 in a bed of silt occurring above Chara-ma.r\, like that of the present 

 section. In that locality, however, we did not succeed in finding 

 elk-remains in the marl, probably on account of the limited character 

 of our excavation, as we have every reason to believe that the 

 skeleton now in Edinbui-gh Museum was obtained from that bed. 

 In the present instance, though we have found the elk, it will be 

 noticed that the section contains no trace of the Arctic fauna. This 

 is greatly to be regretted, since — as was pointed out by Mr. C. Reid 

 in our last report — the relation of this fauna to the bed containing 

 the elk is a point of great theoretical importance. It is also im- 

 portant that the presence of the horse in the wild fauna of the Isle 

 of Man should be placed beyond doubt by working in undisturbed 

 ground. The same group of animals may be expected as that which 

 occurs in the prehistoric strata of Ireland and England. Under 

 these circumstances we propose to apply for a further grant to 

 carry on explorations which will probably definitely settle these 

 interesting questions. 



The balance of the grant, renewed last year, was expended in 

 the preliminary work of draining ; further funds, which enabled 

 the Committee to continue the work and to exhume the specimen 

 which has now been set up in Castle Rushen, Isle of Man, were 

 provided by the local Society, which also contributed the amount 

 required for mounting the skeleton. 



The best thanks of the Committee are due to Messrs. C. Eeid, 

 J. Bennie, and E. Okell for the valuable assistance they have 

 rendered in the investigation. 



IV. — SUPPLEMENTART LiST OF BRITISH MINERALS.^ By L. J. 



Spencer, M.A., F.G.S., British Museum (Natural History). 



DURING the forty years which have elapsed since the publication 

 of Greg and Lettsom's " Manual of the Mineralogy of Great 

 Britain and Ireland," a considerable number of species, variety and 

 other names have been added to the list of minerals occurring in the 

 British Isles. In 1858 Greg and Lettsom recognized 241 British 

 species, but of these only 209 are given as numbered species by 

 Dana in the sixth edition (1892) of his "System of Mineralogy." 

 To this list may now be added 84: more, bringing the total number 

 of British species up to 293, as compared with the total of 824 

 known mineral species recognized by Dana in 1892. Owing to 

 the difficulty in some cases of defining a mineral species, to the 

 uncertainty of some of the determinations, and to the fact that 

 a systematic search through the whole of the literature has not yet 

 been made, these numbers can only be considered approximate. 



Some of the most notable additions are of minerals which have 

 been detected by the microscopical examination of rock-sections, 



^ Eead before Sect. C (Geology), British Association, Bristol Meeting, Sept. 1898. 



