NOTES AND QUERIES. 



217 



of the ' sand-launce ' may be embedded in the sand and mud without even a storm 

 to destroy them. Similar accidents, I was told, happen to the shoals of capelin ; 

 so that there is nothing to prevent the accumulation here of beds equally rich in 

 the remains of fishes with those other deposits of ichthyolites that have excited 

 so much interest and wonder." 



Mastodon Remains in Canada. — Some fossil remains of a monster animal, 

 supposed to be those of a mastodon, have lately been discovered in the county of 

 Elgin, C,W. The St. Thomas Despatch describes them as follows : — " We were 

 shown on Tuesday last, by Mr. Freeborn Berdan, the gigantic tooth of a monster 

 animal, which was found on the farm of Mr. Samuel Berdan, tAvo miles west of 

 Five Stakes, some time last week, while digging in a light sandy loam on the edge 

 of a small marshy spot, about twenty inches below the surface. The tooth shown 

 us Avas about seven or eight inches in length across the face, by four or five in Avidth, 

 and seemed to have been broken out of the jaw. The surface Avas perfectly smooth, 

 and appeared to us as if it had been petrified or very heavily enamelled. It Avas of 

 a mottled grey colom- at the upper part, running down to a dark brown at the 

 base. The interior was similar to a white calcined bone. Mr. Berdan also found 

 two enormous tusks, eight and a.half feet from one end to the other, and curving 

 back so that the two ends are nearly parallel to each other ; also tAvo thigh-bones, 

 three feet long, an imder jaw-bone over three feet long, several ribs from three to 

 four feet in length from point to point, and six teeth, weighing six pounds or more 

 each. These bones, as near as can be ascertained, are supposed to belong to a 

 mastodon, an extinct species of the elephant, and have probably remained undis- 

 turlied where they Avere found for centuries before the continent was discovered. 

 Some parts of them AA^ere in a high state of preservation, Avhile others would 

 cmmble to pieces by the shghtest touch, and their places have been filled by a 

 substitute." 



Geological Excursions. — During the past month a series of practical field- 

 lessons on Geology have been given by Professor Morris to the students attending 

 the Geological Class at University College, London ; the chief attention in these 

 excm^sions being directed to the method of describing sections of the strata, the 

 tracing their boundaries, and mapping their extent ; to the mode of occunence of 

 fossils in the different layers, AAdiether entire or broken, as indicating the condition 

 under which they AA^ere deposited, and the natural histoiy and characters of the 

 animals, as evidencing the medium {i.e. marine or freshwater) in which they 

 lived and died. 



The environs of London present many localities for studies of this nature. 

 One excursion included the Woolwich and Charlton pits, where the fluvio-marine 

 series of the Lower Tertiaries are well exhibited ; and their infraposition to the 

 marine bed of London clay was shoAvn by a traverse made to Plumstead Common, 

 where the supei-position of the lower beds of the London Clay is exposed. The 

 mammalian deposits of the Wickham Valley Avere also visited. Another excursion 

 included the examination of the fresliAvater and mammalian deposits of Crayford 

 and Erith, which shoAV how these fluviatile accumidations of brick-earth were 

 deposited upon an eroded surface of the LoAver Tertiaries (Thanet sands) and the 

 chalk ; the rich manmialian and molluscan fauna obtained from these pits being 

 examined in the collection of Mr. F. Spurrell, of Bexley, who kindly offered every 

 facility for the inspection. A third excursion embraced the more interesting 

 geological features of the Isle of Wight, as exhibited in the fine sections of the 

 Tertiary strata at White CHff", and Alum, and Col well Bays, and in the interesting 

 section of the Wealden and Cretaceous series as exposed in the traverse made 

 along the south part of the island, from Sandown to Compton Bay. 



Dendritic Markings ; Movements of Pentacrinite Plates in Vinegar. 

 — " Dear Sir, — If you, or some of yom- numerous con-espon dents in the * Notes 

 and Queries ' departinent of your most excellent Magazine, will have the kindness 

 to answer the following questions, I shall feel much obliged. 



"1. What is the cause of the Dendritic appearances on Chalk ? 



" I have some fossils from a quarry at Benereuagh (County DeiTy), which are 

 beautifully marked, especially the Echini. This appearance is not confined to the 



