«Ctfi:NTlFl€ NEWS* Sl^ 



ecological Society, 



March the 6th, Au additional notice by A. Aikin, Esq. Green w^xy 

 Sec. G. S. respecting a greeu waxy substance found in the ^nuvial ioiU 

 alluvial soil near Stockport was read. The purport of this 

 notice was to mention the discovery of a similar substance 

 at the foot of the hill Menil Montant near Paris by Mr. 

 Patrin. It there occurs in alluvial sand accompanied by 

 fresh-water shells. 



A communication addressed to the Secretary by the Hon, Wliin dike in 

 Henry Grey Bennet, M. P., respecting a whin dike ia j^^' asjixe^ 

 Northumberland, was read. 



The dike here described, is best seen at Beadnel bay 

 where it forms a kind of pier about 47 feet wide and 300 

 yards long. It rises in a perpendicular position through se- 

 veral bed* of stratified rocks, without occasioning any change 



in their dip or direction. But the qualities of the different ^^^ eiFects-aa 



, ^, . • 1 1 11 1/^. the strata ns 



•trata, where they are in contact with the dike, ditier very contact wa& 



notably from those exhibited by the s?»me strata at u little '*- 

 distance from the dike. The limestone in particular of 

 both the beds, that are cut thrrough, is harder, more gra- 

 nular and sparry in the vicinity of the dike, and is^ farther, 

 incapable of being burnt into good lime. 



The reading of Mr. Phillips's paper on the native oxide NatlTe «x;& 

 of tin of Cornwall was continued. Before entering into 

 the crystallographical history of this substance, Mr. P. 

 makes some remarks on the kind of crystals best adapted 

 for goniometrical researches, and states his reason for prefer- 

 ring the more minute crystals to the larger ones, and the '^^'^'5^««y^ 

 reflecting goniometer of Dr. Wollaston to that in commou Woiiasiton\ 

 use. He then proceeds to state the means, by which he gn"»oKi«tar 

 succeeded in obtaining fractures exhibiting the structure of ascenaiinng 

 the crystals, from which it appears, that their primitive form '^^ imgicB. 

 is that of an octaedron composed of two pyramids united by 

 their bases, which are square, and that this is fartiier divisi- 

 ble through both its diagonals into irregular tetraedrons. 



March the 20th. The reading of Mr. Phillips's paper on Oxiieof toji. 

 the native oxide of tin of Cornwall was -concluded. After 



de^icribing 



