SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



219 



debris of their spines and latticed tests. Fifty-four 

 species belonging to twenty-nine genera have been 

 determined and figured ; all the species and four 

 genera are regarded as new ; excepting a few 

 primitive types of Nassellaria, the forms belong 

 to the Spumellaria. The large majority may be 

 included in the Sphaeroidea and Prunoidea with 

 medullary tests and radial spines. They do not 

 show any near relationship to the Radiolaria de- 

 scribed from Devonian rocks in Europe, but in some 

 features they resemble the radiolarian faunas of 

 Ordovician age in the south of Scotland, Cornwall 

 and Cabrieres, Languedoc. The large number of 

 new species is accounted for from the fact that our 

 knowledge of palaeozoic Radiolaria is very slight, 

 and any fresh discovery of such rocks will no 

 doubt materially increase our knowledge. 



Radiolaria: Evidence of Deep-water Condi- 

 tions. — In the discussion which followed the 

 above-mentioned papers, Prof. Sollas combated the 

 reasoning which took" it for granted that because 

 these organisms indicate deep-water conditions 

 nowadays, the same thing held good in palaeozoic 

 times. The Radiolaria are found in limestones, 

 tuffs and claystones, and must have been in reach 

 of the terrigenous deposits, i.e. within about one 

 hundred miles of the shore. On the other hand, 

 it was pointed out by Prof. Watts that if formed 

 near the shore-line there would have been an 

 intermingling of fossils of shore -loving forms. 

 The only recognised fossils were corals, which 

 occurred at the eastern end of the Tamworth 

 section ; besides which Radiolaria occurred in 

 abundance even in the same rock with Lepido- 

 dendron impressions. 



Geology of Birmingham and District. — The 

 long excursion of the Geologists' Association took 

 place this year in the district of Birmingham. The 

 " Proceedings " just published contain the paper 

 read by Prof. C. Lapworth, having special reference 

 to the excursion. Prof. W. W. Watts adds a chapter 

 on the petrology of the neighbourhood, whilst Mr. 

 W. Jerome Harrison writes upon " The Ancient 

 Glaciers of the Midland Counties of England." 

 The work is illustrated by numerous photographic 

 reproductions, and sections of various parts of 

 Warwickshire and other counties. The papers 

 deal with an area of about thirty-five miles on all 

 sides of the city. In this region is found the entire 

 geological succession between the pre-Cambrian 

 and the Inferior Oolite. Although Ordovician 

 strata are found only near the western edge of this 

 area, they may have formerly existed within it. 

 Pebbles of Ordovician rocks are occasionally met 

 with in the Bunter pebble beds of the Midlands, 

 with fossils of similar species to those of the 

 arenaceous members of the Ordovician in Brittany 

 and Normandy. Where the Old Red Sandstone 

 outcrops in the western part of the district as 

 a rule it retains its well-known Herefordshire 

 characters. An interesting part of the paper is that 

 which deals with the Archaean or pre-Cambrian 

 rocks. We hear no more in our country of " Lau- 

 rentian " rocks, the title of pre-Cambrian covering 

 all such. That these ancient rocks probably 

 underlie all the region under notice is shown by 

 the discovery of isolated outcrops of them in some 

 half-dozen places, where the overlying rocks have 

 been swept away. They occur along the axes of 

 the chief anticlinals, although they are of insignifi- 

 cant extent. Three of these areas of fundamental 

 rocks include the highest points of the district. 

 They are (1) the Malvern Hills, (2) the Wrekin 



Hills, and (3) Charnwood Forest. Besides these 

 there are exposures at (4) Caldecote, to the east of 

 Birmingham, and at (5) Barnt Green, to the south 

 of Birmingham and at the south-eastern extremity 

 of the Lower Lickey Hills. In regard to all these 

 areas there is distinct stratigraphical proof that the 

 beds are older than the Cambrian, except in the 

 case of the Charnwood Rocks. These are sur- 

 rounded on all sides by the Trias, but their litho- 

 logical peculiarities ally them more to the Archaean 

 rocks of the inliers already spoken of, than to any 

 Cambrian or post-Cambrian rocks. The view of 

 Prof. Bonney in regard to their age is almost 

 universally accepted. The Charnwood Rocks are 

 theoretically paralleled with the Lower Longmyn- 

 dian and its volcanic equivalents, and the Caldecote 

 rocks with the Upper Longmyndian and Uriconian. 

 Prof. Watts points out that the Charnwood Rocks 

 constitute the most easterly Archaean exposure 

 known in Britain. He divides them into (1) the 

 Brand Series, (2) the Maplewell Series, and (3) the 

 Blackbrook series. Structure and petrology are 

 the only guides to the age of the bedded rocks of 

 the series. They have been much more affected by 

 earth movements than have the Cambrian rocks of 

 Nuneaton, and have little correspondence with the 

 Uriconian rocks of Caldecote, the Lickey, and the 

 Wrekin. It is likely, therefore, that they are distinct 

 from, and older than, the Uriconian rocks. The 

 Cambrian and Silurians are next dealt with in 

 detail, after which follows a description of the 

 Carboniferous rocks of the district. In dealing 

 with the South Staffordshire coalfield, mention is 

 made of the remarkable seam of coal known as the 

 Ten-Yard Coal. This constitutes a workable bed 

 of from twenty-five to thirty feet in thickness. To 

 the south, beyond Halesowen, it thins out, and 

 becomes mixed with shaly material. In reality 

 composed of thirteen or fourteen superimposed 

 coal seams, it appears at Essington and Pelsall as 

 fourteen distinct coals, occurring at intervals in a 

 thickness of 250 to 300 feet of sandy and shaly 

 strata. So far as glacial geology is concerned, 

 Mr. W. Jerome Harrison claims for the Midlands 

 that they afford one of the most interesting fields 

 of research in the British Isles. First, because 

 three great glaciers met here, the Arenig, the 

 Irish, and the North Sea (Scandinavian) Glaciers ; 

 second, the district contains examples of the 

 terminal and lateral moraines,' and also of the 

 "fringe" of those glaciers; third, but little work 

 has yet been done in tracing the courses and limits 

 of these streams of ice. A large Arenig boulder 

 lies in Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, whilst Irish 

 Sea Glacier boulders lie in amazing numbers in 

 South Staffordshire and Shropshire, these consist- 

 ing of Lake District rocks, Criffel granites, etc. 

 In the neighbourhood of Wolverhampton the 

 erratics are to be numbered by the thousand. 

 The melting-point of this great glacier was pro- 

 bably along a line from Much Wenlock, Burton, 

 Wolverhampton, Cannon Chase and Lichfield, in 

 each of which places are found great concentrations 

 of boulders. The North Sea Glacier is considered 

 to be the one which, after depositing the Chalky 

 Boulder Clay, reached as far as the north of 

 London, boulders being found in the clay of 

 Finchley, etc. The September, 1898, issue of the 

 "Proceedings of the Geologists' Association of 

 London" constitutes an excellent guide to the 

 geology of Birmingham, and should be obtained 

 by any readers interested in the district, as the 

 information is trustworthy and the maps are well 

 drawn. 



