NOTES AND QUERIES. 



331 



Rupert Jones, F.Gr.S., obligingly given you. I ask, would you liave the 

 kindness to give me a simple method of treating chalk so as to procure 

 these microscopic creatures, whose carcases build up so many thousand 

 miles of solid chalk rock ? . Yours truly, 



R. M. F. 



[To prepare chalk for microscopic examination, if only small quantities are to be treated, 

 the best plan is to select a piece of soft white chalk, — that which has been kept some time 

 in a cabinet is most easily worked, — especially chalk from the interior of an Auanchyte 

 or Galerite, and to wash it with a moderately soft nail-brush in a hand-basin half full of 

 water, keeping the chalk and brush under the surface, so that the loosened particles 

 should all fall in the water. To prevent the chalk from being worn into longitudinal 

 furrows, the part under the brush should be constantly moved round. It should also 

 be looked at occasionally, with a hand magnifier, so that any large specimens of Bryozoa 

 and Foraminifera may not be destroyed by rough brushing, but be more carefully picked 

 out with a needle or penknife, or separated by the careful use of the brush. When a 

 sufficient quantity has been brushed down, the water should be stirred and the chalky 

 portion poured away, or water should be allowed to run into and overflow the basin, 

 until the water remains clear over the sediment. The latter should then be placed in a 

 round-bottomed cup or gallipot, and rubbed gently with the finger in water, until, by 

 further washing, some more of the chalk has been removed, when the residue should b : 

 carefully dried in an oven or otherwise, without the least disturbance. When dry, it 

 maybe sifted and picked, but if it be still " chalky," further manipulation by gentle 

 rubbing in water will be necessary, especially if the chalk-dust has been put by for some 

 time after having been prepared. On a large scale, chalk may be prepared by being 

 broken up in a mortar, or roughly ground with a brick, stone, or roller, on a pavement, 

 and then freely washed in water, the large fragments being excepted. 



The above, and other instructions for "the preparation of clays, sands, and chalk fcr 

 microscopic purposes," were given in the first volume of the ' Geologist,' 1858, p. 248, 

 by Mr. Rupert Jones ; and in the same paper, a sieve, with a double cylinder, and fittc d 

 with different zinc perforated plates, was described and figured. Such sieves can be had 

 of Mr. Snow, zinc-worker, 50, Millbank Street, Westminster, at the cost of about 3s.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Discovery of another Cave at Uphill. — Sir, — It may be interest- 

 ing to your readers to learn that another cave has lately been opened at 

 Uphill. Its entrance is on the south side of the rock, at an elevation of 

 about sixty feet from the base. Besides the usual stalagmitic breccia, 

 common to the caves of the Mendips, this is partially filled with an unctuous 

 loam, which is exceedingly rich in animal remains. I have obtained bones 

 of the wolf, fox, wild-boar, otter, and also the horns of a stag ; and, which 

 adds not a little to the interest of the discovery, several human remains 

 associated with them — amongst others, a thigh bone, part of a frontal 

 bone, and portions of the upper jaw with the teeth in situ, of a human 

 adult. I have been informed several crania have been exhumed, but in 

 consequence of there being no local museum in which to deposit them, 

 they have been removed to Oxford. As yet no trace of any extinct animal 

 has been met with ; but should such hereafter be found, the problem of 

 the antiquity of man will meet an unexpected solution. I believe the 

 merit of the discovery of this cave is due to Mr. Parker, of Oxford, at 

 whose expense the workmen are employed in exploring it. 



I remain, Sir, your obedient servant, 



Charles Pooley. 



Weston-super-Mare, August 25, 1863, 



