3J8 SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



hy a cliff of coral rock varying in elevation from 12 to 2© 

 feet, and sometimes considerably higher. Deep fissures have, 

 jn many places of the island, rent asunder the cliff ; and these 

 gullies, as they are called, are continued across the terraces 

 in irregular lines. Numerous caves are every where to be 

 met with, and these are sometimes of very large dimensions. 

 Or> the S. and S. W. side of the island may be seen at very 

 low water a bed of calcareous sandstone, dipping S. W. 30°. 

 To the eastward of the garrison of St. Ann's is found a dull 

 compact chalky looking limestone, with ramose alcyonia; 

 vthile considerably to the westward the rock is more dis- 

 tinctly coralloidal. Upon the N. and N. E. side of the 

 island is a small mountainous district called Scotland ; con- 

 sisting almost eu'tirely of limestone, but of a kind less marked 

 by organic remains than in the other districts. \n Mr. Par- 

 kinson's note it is observed, that some of Dr. Skey's speci- 

 mens illustrated the nature of some fossil corals; showing, 

 that the forms, in which they at present exist, are not those 

 which belonged to these substances in their original state; 

 and consequently ought not to affect their specific or generic 

 distinctions. 

 Tebes in drift A letter from E. L. Irton, Esq. describing some remark- 

 ed sand, able tubes found in the drifted sand at Drigg in Lancashire, 

 was read; together with an account by W. H. Pepys, Esq. 

 Treas. G. S., of a chemical examination, made by him, of 

 the substance of these tubes. These tubes are found nearly 

 in a perpendicular position* imbedded in the midst of the 

 hills of drifted sand on the seashore, without any communi- 

 cation with the surface ; there are ramifications extending 

 from thern, which generally point downwards, and terminate 

 in fi'.ie points. The tube sent to the society is above an 1 

 « iich in diameter and of an irregular form. The outside 

 consists of black and white sand, agglutinated together, the 

 in>ide is smooth, and has a vitrified appearance. Wheu 

 dug out of the sand it was soft, apd in some degree flex- 

 ible, and the inside coating at its first exposure to the air 

 was soft to the touch, and rather unctuous, but in less than 

 a quarter of an hour it hardened into the state in which it 

 now exists. The tube, when found, was filled with the 

 .-and of the hill, and that sand is quite different from the 



sand 



