176 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



under water, and with a fine and thin lancet, carefully free a lamina of the ciystal 

 along its line of cleavage ; then, introducing a thread of unspun raw silk, work it 

 forward until the plate be disunited. Float upon your glass slide, and mount it in 

 the desired manner.— F. S., Churchdown." 



The AKCHiEOLOGY OF Paljeontolouy. — "In a work entitled ' Recherches et 

 Observations Naturelles de Monsieur Boccone, Gentilhomme Sicilien,' published 

 at Amsterdam, 1674, and the substance of which was communicated to the Royal 

 Society of London, may be found many illustrations of the scientific opinions then 

 current. The twenty-eighth letter is on the ' Cornu Ammonis.' He concedes to 

 the popular feeling the opinion that the generality of stones which represent 

 shells are mere casts of hardened clay which have been compressed between actual 

 shells ; but he maintains the true character of Ammonites as being veritable 

 shells, though he advances the theory with difiidence. In the next letter he dis- 

 cusses the nature of the fish-teeth found so plentifully in Malta ; and after giving 

 a full account of the singular opinions then prevalent as to the non-natural pro- 

 duction of these, he concludes that they are veritable marine remains, and are 

 r)roofs either that the sea has flowed where they are now found, or that they have 

 been vomited by adjacent burning mountains. The whole work Avill repay the 

 student of the early history of natural science. — S.R.P." 



]Blocks of Lower Oolite in the Drift-clay at Leicester. — " In exca- 

 vating for the sewerage works at Leicester, on the eastern side of the river, blocks 

 of Lower Oolite rock were discovered, at a depth of from twelve to fifteen feet 

 below the surface, in a stiff clay. A great number of them are of large size, and 

 over a quarter of a ton in weight ; all are much rounded and worn, some of 

 them being poHshed in a high degree, and showing sections of shells and crinoids 

 in all directions. No marks of scoring or grooving have been found on those ex- 

 amined, although such have been carefully searched for. Some of the blocks are 

 complete masses of shells, principally Ostrea, with portions of encrinites and 

 corals, all of Lower Oolitic species. The area over which these blocks were found 

 was very considerable ; its boundary on two sides was tolerably accurately defined 

 by other sewerage excavations in which no blocks were found. The small size of 

 tire openings made for the sewers, and the hundreds of blocks taken out, may give 

 some idea of the number remaining covered. In no previous excavations in the 

 drift-clay (and there have been a gTeat many) have blocks of this character and 

 size been met with, although rolled Oolitic fossils are common in the gravel-beds. 

 The present nearest outcrop of Lower Oohte is distant from this spot twelve miles 

 south-east ; it must therefore have been a strong current that rolled such blocks 

 over the intervening Liassic hills. — J. Plant, Leicester." * 



The Late W. Kennett Loftus, Esq., F.G.S. — We regret to announce the 

 untimely death of W. K. Loftus, Esq. It occurred at sea, in the ship Tyburnia, a 

 week after he quitted Calcutta on his return to England. He was educated at 

 Caius College, Cambridge, and his early devotion to geological study attracted 

 the notice of Prof. Sedgwick and Sir H. de la Beche, who recommended him for 

 an appointment on the commission for fixing the boundary of Tiu-key and Persia. 

 He remained four years in Asia under the command of Major-General Sir W. F. 

 Williams of Kars. The result of his geological investigations was embodied in an 

 elaborate report, with a map of the frontier from Mount Ararat to Mohammereh. 

 It was communicated to the Geological Society by the Earl of Clarendon, read and 

 subsequently published in their journal. Whilst in the East he devoted his leisure 

 to antiquarian pursuits in Lower Chaldea and Susiaua, on which countries and 

 their antiquities he publishetl a large volume on his return to England. He 

 subsequently proceeded to Nineveh to complete the investigations commenced by 

 Mr. Layard, and fifty cases of his .Assyrian discoveries enrich our British Museum. 

 In the latter part of 1856 he set out for India to fill a post in the Geological 

 Society of India, and proceeded to the Rajmahal Hills. But the climate soon 

 aflected his constitution. He was ordered to Rangoon for the benefit of his health. 

 The change was of no avail, and he embarked for England. He died of abscess 

 on the liver at the early age of thirty-seven, and leaves a wife and five young 

 cluldren. He was passionately devoted to geology, and had a mind peculiarly 

 adapted for close and patient investigation. Whatever he did he did well. His 

 various pamphlets are evidence of his zeal and industry in the cause of science ; 



