276 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



best places for collecting are Ras I'Alirase, Melleo bay, and Port Cercewa, 

 near Marfa, in Malta ; and at Port Chambre and the cliffs at Ramla, in Gozo. 



The next stratum consists of a mixtui-e of yellow, black, and green sand in 

 various proportions, and is the one which yields most fossils, although, owing 

 to the soft sandy natui-e of the rock, many of them are but casts. Eamla 

 cliff, along the north-east coast of Gozo, is by far the best place I have visited ; 

 but many can also be got on the coast of Malta, between Port Cercewa, near 

 Marfa and Miggiar, where the great fault reaches the south-west coast. 



The next stratum is composed of blue and bluish-white marl ; in it fossils 

 are more rare, the only common one being broken specimens of Fecte)i Bur- 

 dirjalensis ; however, others are to be found, and the best places are the cliffs 

 under Port Chambre, in Gozo, between St. Paul's bay and Mellehabay, and at 

 Miggiar, in Malta. 



Below the marls there is a series of beds of light yellow sandstone, the 

 common building-stone of the islands, which is rich in echinodermata ; the 

 coast betw^een Port Tigue and St. Julian's bay, Madalena bay, and particularly 

 the large quarries in the centre of the island, near Luca and Micabba are the 

 most productive places. I also obtained a large species of nautilus from Gala 

 Dueira, on the north-west coast of Gozo. Through these beds runs a band of 

 chocolate-coloured pebbles, containing fish-teeth, &c. ; it is well developed on 

 the south-side of Port Chambre, close to the sea, and on the north side of the 

 Wield Cannotta, near the valley of the Salines, in Malta. 



The next stratum, which is the lowest, consists of semi-crystalline limestone, 

 and is generally devoid of fossils ; on the point between St. George's bay and 

 St. Julian's bay broken specimens of Scidella subrotimda, and occasionally teeth 

 may be found, and I procured a nautilus from the cliffs near Krendi, Malta. 



At a quarry on the sea-coast at Torre Sciulo, near Krendi, there used to be 

 a fissui'c filled \\dth breccia, containing mammalian remains ; I think it has aR 

 been removed now, but others may be expected in the high cliffs on the south- 

 west coast of both Malta and Gozo, and ought to be looked for. 



I would recommend any one desirous of making a collection to go to Port 

 Chambre and ask for a Maltese named Mike ; although not very respectable, 

 he knows most of the best localities, is used to collecting, and works well with 

 a pick — no pleasant employment in so warm a climate. — Yours truly, P. W. 

 HuTTON, Staff College, Sandhurst. 



Nicker Pits. — Dear Sir, — About two miles from Canterbury, in the 

 marshes of West Bere Level, are a number of pools called Nicker Pits. Some 

 of them are very deep, and springs of clear water rise up to the surface, the 

 Ab ater finding its way into the marsh ditches, and thus escaping into the river 

 Slour, near the banks of which the pools are situated. Many of them are 

 funnel-shaped in the middle, and when standing on the margin, any one looking 

 into the water can see a long way down. The people in the neighbom'hood 

 believe them to be of an awful depth. One man told me that an eel-pot had 

 been lowered into one of the pits seventeen rods, but it did not reach the 

 bottom. 



Tlicre is some high ground close to the marshes where probably the water 

 whicli su])plies the springs is collected. The soil of the marsh is peaty, and 

 that of the fields adjoining of clay. 



The name of those pools, or pits, is remarkable, and makes one fancy that it 

 is conuectevl with some early tradition of our Saxon or Danish forefathers. 



Jacob Grimm (Deutsche Mvthologie, bb. -tSG, Zweete Ausgabe), under the 

 article "Nichus," enters somewhat circumstantially into the derivation of the 

 word. KichK,^ crocodilus. Xikr, old Norse for hippopotamus, &c. Mones 

 nl volkslit, s. liO, Xikker has the meaning of evil spirit, devil. "Alle nikkers 

 nit do hel." Swedish, udk, nek ; Danish, ;/o/l-, 7iok, &c., all express the mean- 



