1866.] NEALE GOLD IK ECTIADOE. 593 



mass the specimens are mostly well preserved ; but it is difficult to 

 get them out whole and clean, except by long steeping in hot 

 turpentine, changed from time to time. The Nummulinm keep 

 rather more perfect in the process of cleaning. The many aspects, 

 however, of the broken specimens enable us to determine their 

 relationships without the trouble of grinding and polishing. When 

 the asphalt is driven off by heat, the Nummulites often fall into two 

 pieces by splitting along their median line of chambers ; but this 

 horizontal section is not generally so useful in determining species 

 as the exposure of the successive surface-layers. 



The majority of the Orbitoides, mainly constituting this rock, are 

 small and biconvex, with somewhat expanded edges, about -J- inch 

 broad and ^ inch thick at the centre. There are also occasional 

 evidences of broader, thin Or^bitoides. The Nuinmulince, not nearly 

 so numerous, are smaller still ; biconvex, with a sharpish edge, and 

 measuring about J^ by -j--^ inch. A fragment of a small Nodo- 

 saria ra/phanus and a Discorbina also occurred to me, together with 

 a piece of a little Echinoderm-spine*. 



The Orbitoides is exactly the same as the variety from the Tertiary 

 sand of Orakei Bay, New Zealand, described and figured by Karrer, 

 in the ' Novara Expedition ' (Geol. Theil, I. Band, 2. Abtheil. Pa- 

 Iseont. p. 86, pi. 16. fig. 21), as 0. OraJceiensis, Karrer, which, 

 there is reason to believe, is a variety of 0. MantelU, Morton, a spe- 

 cies found in America, the West Indies, and Sinde (see Geol. Mag. 

 vol. i. p. 75, and p. 103). The Nummulite is one of the small 

 " sinuo-radiate " varieties (sometimes simply " radiate ") , such as 

 are referred to by me in the note on the Jamaican Nummulinm, and 

 in the * Geol. Mag.' loc. cit., as present in the West Indies, Sinde, 

 and Europe (Vienna) in rocks probably of Middle Tertiary age. It 

 maybe catalogued as N. Ramondi, Defr. {=N. radiata, D'Orb.), 

 which is found associated with Orbitoides in Jamaica, Antigua, 

 and Sinde. 



8. On the Discovery of neiv Gold-deposits in the Disteict of Esme- 

 EALDAS, Ecuador. By Lieut.-Col. Edward St. Johk Neale, H.M. 

 Charge d' Affaires in Ecuador. Communicated by the Secretary 

 of State for Foreign Affairs. 



Within the last few weeks f unworked and hitherto unknown 

 gold- deposits have been discovered in the district of Esmeraldas ; and 

 I am informed by the President, who has received specimens of the 

 gold of a very pure quality, that it is the intention of the Govern- 

 ment to send a scientific Commission, at the head of which will be 

 Dr. Jameson, a British subject who' has been many years in Quito, 

 to report upon the probable yield of the gold-district. 



* Mr. Guppy believes lie saw Polyzoan remains in this band ; but possibly 

 detached pieces of the cellular superficial layers of the Orbitoides, much resem- 

 bling CeUejpora &c., may be the forms alluded to. 



t This communication was dated April 18th, 1866. 



