Correspondence. 187 



GRAPTOLITES. 

 To the Editor of the Geological Magazine. 



SiE, — In my short note in the February number of your Journal 

 I recorded some observations I had made relative to the affinities of 

 Graptolites with recent animals. Will you permit me to make one 

 or two remarks on Mr. Nicholson's reply to some of those observa- 

 tions in your last number. 



Your correspondent objects to my saying that he had only one 

 specimen showing the mode of connection which he figures. I am 

 yet unable to make his original statement mean anything else, and 

 his subsequent explanation shows that this interpretation is correct, 

 for he says he has in fact three specimens, " and in the two, which 

 I did not figure, the position of the mucro could not be made out ! " 

 That is only one specimen which showed the relation as he figures it. 

 But he has other evidence. He has found pustules or pits on his 

 Didymograpsus anceps. Does he not see that if these have any con- 

 nection with the capsules they entirely destroy his position, as they 

 indicate a connection by a small point and not by a wide mouth ? 

 Even Mr. Nicholson then must allow that we yet want evidence of 

 the connection between the ' capsules ' and the graptolite. 



I am sorry if I have hurt your correspondent's feelings in sup- 

 posing that he could fall into an error so gross as not to recognize 

 specimens of Siplwnotreta micula ; but he will find, if he will again 

 turn to my note, that I never imagined this, but only stated that my 

 powers of observation led me to think that his drawing was not at 

 all unlike that minute brachiopod. And though I do not yet doubt 

 his powers, I am afraid that, until I have further evidence than his 

 drawing and description, I must believe in his possession of capsules 

 so preserved simply on his ipse dixit. 



I regret that I inserted in the proof from memory the name 

 Diplograpsus Whitfieldii instead of D. marcidus, which is Hall's 

 synonym for my D. tricornis. Your correspondent may, however, 

 advantageously add to his knowledge of D. Whitfieldii, Hall, by 

 examining Hall's figure (Palaeontology of New York, iii. p. 516), 

 where he will find that it has more than one muci'onate radicle. 



In regard to the spines of D. pristis, Mr. Nicholson may, perhaps, 

 some day discover that his D. quadri-mucronatus is very different 

 from Hall's species, and not very different from D. pristis, His. ; but 

 into this and other critical remarks, which his paper in your last 

 number suggests, I will not now enter, as I hope to have a more 

 fitting opportunity before long when I perform my long-entertained 

 plan of describing the Dumfriesshire Graptolites. 



Wm. Cakkuxhers. 



EECENT EARTHQUAKES. 

 To the Editor of the Geological Magazine. 



Sir, — It may be interesting to some of your readers to notice the 

 following shocks of earthquakes that have occurred during the 

 last three months : — 



