222 Notices of Memoirs — D, Forbes' 



the Amber fauna, there can be little doubt that it belongs to the 

 Tertiary epoch. 



We close with a few statements relative to the eighty-seven species 

 mentioned in the previous pages. Six of them are from the 

 Devonian Formation ; fifteen from the Carboniferous ; one from the 

 Trias ; and sixty-five from the Tertiaries. Ten are ColeojJtera : viz., 

 one from the Trias and nine from the Tertiaries ; four are Orthoptera, 

 all from the Carboniferous ; nine are Neuroptera, viz., six from the 

 Devonian and three from the Carboniferous. Five more, either 

 Orthoptera or Neuroptera, are from the Carboniferous. Three are 

 Hyrnenoptera, forty-five are Diptera, six are Hemiptera, all from the 

 Tertiaries. Three are Lepidoptera, viz., one doubtful from the 

 Carboniferous and two from the Tertiaries, one of which is also 

 doubtful. Two are Myriapoda, both from the Carboniferous, but one 

 of doubtful character. No spiders have been found fossil in America. 



From this it appears that the Diptera, Hemiptera, Hyrnenoptera, 

 and Lepidoptera (omitting the doubtful ones from Illinois) are re- 

 stricted to the Tertiaries ; the Coleoptera, with one Triassic excep- 

 tion, to the same ; the Orthoptera and Myriapoda to the Carboni- 

 ferous ; while the Neuroptera are found in both the Devonian and 

 Carboniferous formations. 



Boston, U.S., November 25th, 1867. 



nsroTiciES oip 3VI::ElIs^OII^s. 



— ♦ — 



I. — Mr. David Forbes' Eesearches in British Mineralogy. 



MK. FORBES has published in recent numbers of the "Philo- 

 sophical Magazine" a series of papers, in which he 

 proposes to record, from time to time, the results of his investi- 

 gations in British Mineralogy. In these communications it is his 

 intention, to use his own words, '' besides treating of the physical 

 character and chemical composition of the minerals under con- 

 sideration, to pay especial attention, whenever it is practicable, to 

 their association, paragenesis, and mode of occurrence, as connected 

 with the petrology and geology of their localities, in order thereby 

 to elucidate, as far as possible, the origin and formation of the rock- 

 masses, or mineral veins, in which they may happen to be im- 

 bedded." Before proceeding to the task in question, he devotes 

 some attention to the present position of this branch of science in 

 the United Kingdom, and finds that, though the labours of British 

 mineralogists in the first third of the present century gained for 

 British science a position " of which the country might well be 

 proud," the advances which have since been made are mainly due to 

 the researches of Continental inquirers. This unsatisfactory state 

 of things he ascribes to the superior attraction of palaeontology on 

 the one hand, and organic chemistry on the other, and fears, more- 

 over, that the British geologists of the present day often undervalue 

 the importance of a knowledge of mineralogy for the successful pro- 



