58 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



GEOLOGY 



CONDUCTED BY EDWARD A. MARTIN, F.G.S. 



To whom all Notes. Articles and material relating to Geology, 

 and intended for Science-Gossip, are, in the first instance, 

 to be addressed at 6q, Bensham M anor Road, Thornton Heath. 



To Field Geologists. — It is hoped that our 

 readers, now that the season is favourable for the 

 pursuit of outdoor geologj', will remember that we 

 are always pleased to receive notes, for publication, 

 of their own finds in the field. Two men enter a 

 quarry, but each reads the record of the rocks in a 

 different way. A geologist studies one quarry on 

 successive occasions, but the face of the quarry is 

 constantly changing, and the finds are certain to 

 be correspondingly different. Lists of fossils from 

 a given stated locality are always useful. Local 

 geological lore constitutes the very backbone of 

 the science. Good topographical knowledge is an 

 essential in describing local geological facts, and it 

 is the local geologist who, as a rule, possesses this 

 knowledge. We shall always be glad to hear from 

 our geological readers. 



History written in Minerals. — To a study of 

 records, that we are just beginning to recognize, 

 M. J. Thoulet has given the name of " Paleominer- 

 alogy." This branch of geological study shows 

 that important facts concerning the earth's consti- 

 tution or geography in past epochs are to be read 

 from the traces of events in minerals, such as are 

 illustrated by the formation of liquid inclusions in 

 crystals, the optical deformation that shows 

 whether felspar has been red-hot, and the wearing 

 of pebbles. Through the character of the sand 

 the dunes of Holland were traced to the Scandina- 

 vian rocks. The shapes of sand-grains are found 

 to bear certain relations to the distance they have 

 been transported and the velocity of the current 

 that carried them. It is suggested that some day 

 we may read such lessons so thoroughly as to be 

 able to determine from a piece of limestone the 

 dimensions of the sea in which it formed, with the 

 force and direction of its currents and winds, and 

 the depth, temperature, salinity and density of 

 its water.— /. H. Cooke, Edleston, Worcester. 



RuDiSTES in Britain. — The order of molluscs 

 which was named Rudistes by Lamarck has 

 yielded but few specimens in our English chalk. 

 In France, Spain, Greece and other countries 

 bordering on the Mediterranean, Hippnriles and 

 Sphaernlites are common and characteristic genera 

 of cretaceous beds, but are very rare in our native 

 beds. One specimen of RadioUtes mortoni was 

 obtained many years since from the chalk of 

 Houghton, in Sussex. Another was found at 

 Dover, in the zone of Rhynconella cuvieri, by Mr. 

 Griffiths, of Folkestone. It occurred just above 

 the "Grit Bed" of Mr. F. G. H. Price, F.G.S., 

 which is itself placed at the base of the Middle 

 Chalk (Turonian). 



The Elephant in Cheshire. — Mr. G. H. 

 Morton, F.G.S. , records (Trans. L'pool. Biol. 

 Socy., vol. xii., 1898) the finding of the femur of 

 Elephas primigenius, in 1803, in the Boulder Clay 



near the village of Wrenbury ; a tooth and lower 

 portion of a humerus from Sandbach, Cheshire, 

 by Mr. J. B. Aspinall ; a tooth from the sand and 

 gravel pit at Marbury, found by a workman in 1877, 

 and now in Mr. Morton's possession. Professor 

 Boyd Dawkins records Elephas aiiiiquus from 

 Coppenhall in Cheshire. i\ll of these are from the 

 Middle Sands of the glacial deposits, representing 

 an interval when the sea was comparatively clear 

 of ice, which, according to the author, deposited 

 the Boulder Clays above and below the Sands. 

 The Rev. T. W. Norwood has collected about 

 twenty species of molluscs from the Middle Sands 

 at Marbury. The teeth and bones are thought to 

 be of Pre-glacial age, having drifted to their 

 present sites from the caves of Derbyshire and 

 North Wales. 



Croydon Fossils. — Amongst the specimens 

 exhibited at the Congress of Scientific Societies 

 at Croydon, 1S9S, were some interesting chalk 

 fossils from Haling Pit, the pit whence the famous 

 Purley Boulder was derived. These included a 

 piece of coniferous wood in flint, showing bordered 

 pits, the second recorded specimen of Syiihelia 

 sharpeana, and a tooth of Notidanus microdon. From 

 Whyteleafe were Cestracion rtigosus (Middle Chalk), 

 two of six specimens known, an abnormal specimen 

 of Echinocorys vulgaris (ananchytes), and a large 

 tooth of Lamna sukatus ; all exhibited by Mr. 

 G. E. Dibley, F.G.S. From the Mitcham gravels 

 were bones or antlers of Cerviis, Bos, Equus, 

 Elephas, exhibited by Mr. J. Hall; and from the 

 Woolwich Beds of Park Hill cutting were oysters, 

 Cyrenae, and other characteristic fossils, shown by 

 Dr. Parsons. 



A New Geological Map of England and 

 Wales. — A publication of considerable importance 

 to geologists is the new geological map of England 

 and Wales, which has just been issued under the 

 superintendence of Sir Archibald Geikie. (The 

 Edinburgh Geographical Institute. Price 12s. 6d., 

 or on cloth, with rollers, varnished, 17s. 6d ) The 

 topography is by ]\Ir. John Bartholomew, F.R.G.S., 

 and is reduced from the sheets of the Ordnance 

 Survey on the scale of ten miles to an inch. Sir 

 Archibald acknowledges in his introductory note 

 assistance rendered by the late Mr. W. Topley, 

 F.R.S., also by Messrs. H. B. Woodward, 

 W. Gibson, Bosse, and W. W. Watts. He points 

 out that hitherto the best available map has been 

 that published in 1859 by the late Sir A. C. 

 Ramsay, on a scale of twelve miles to the inch, 

 this map being a reduction from the Survey maps, 

 so far as these had then appeared. Its topographi- 

 cal basis was not, however, sufficientl}- accurate 

 for the production of a wholly satisfactory geologi- 

 cal map. It is also pointed out that the Geological 

 Survey began in 1835, ^"d has now completed, the 

 mapping of the whole country on the scale of one 

 inch to a mile, and is issuing a reduction on the 

 scale of four miles to an inch. The map now 

 under notice is accompanied by a descriptive text 

 of 28 pages, intended for the use of the general 

 reader or traveller who may have no special 

 geological knowledge. We notice that those 

 portions of Ireland, Scotland and France which 

 are shown are also conveniently geologically 

 coloured. The map is thoroughly up to date, and 

 constitutes a serviceable companion to the intellec- 

 tual tourist who wishes to know something of the 

 ground over which he passes. We notice, for 

 instance, the Pliocene beds of Kent are shown, 

 the Eocene patches which are found scattered 



