NOTES AND QUERIES. 



159 



accumulated. Little, however, was found in tkein. The club then paid a visit 

 to Mr. Stephen Ballard, at " The Winnings," who presented Mr. Symonds with 

 some " old bones." They consisted of the humerus of Bos primigenius, from a 

 lacustrine deposit on the western flank of the Malverns, together with a portion 

 of the molar tooth of a mammoth, and a very perfect tooth and leg-bone of a 

 rhinoceros from the Glacial drift, which skirts the eastern tanks of the Malvern 

 range. 



Afterwards the party proceeded along the line of railway, striking it just 

 where the tunnel emerges into the open cutting. Here there occurs, just at 

 the point of junction of the Old Red and the Silurian strata, curious mass of a 

 bluish material so tough and leaden in its character as to have been almost 

 impossible to excavate, resisting alike gunpowder and the pick. Hence the 

 party followed the line to the bridge close by Barton Court, where a heap of 

 Old Red lias been curiously caught up in the midst of the Silurian. 



The Winds' Point was the next object in view, where Mr. Symonds called 

 the attention of the members to some large masses of Llandovery sandstone 

 raised upon the flanks of the Syenite at the back of Mr. Johnson's house, and 

 at least one thousand feet above the level of the sea. 



After dinner, Dr. Grindson of Malvern, exhibited a beautiful series of fossils, 

 most of which were obtained from the tunnel-shaft on the western side of the 

 Malverns, and the quarries in the immediate neighbourhood of Ledbury. 

 Amongst these and most worthy of notice was a magnificent Pentamerus slab 

 from the tunnel-shaft at the Wych, a languid Lewisii, a L. Si/mondsii, a drawer 

 containing many hundreds of trilobites — the eyes of many being particularly 

 perfect, and several BeJierophons and other ancient fossils, many of them being 

 new species, hitherto unknown aud unnamed, discovered by Dr. Grindrod. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Pleistocene Fossils. — Dear Sir, — I have lately discovered in the Pleistocene 

 clay of this neighbourhood (Salisbury), some teeth and several fragments of 

 bones of a small rodent, apparently belonging to the genus Ardomys or Sper- 

 mophilus. I much regret that I possess no recent skulls of either of these 

 genera with which to compare the fossils. Under the head "Fossil Muridae" 

 in the Encyclopaedia of Natural History, there is a mere nominal allusion to a 

 species named by Professor Kaup Spermopfiilus superciliosus, from the Eppels- 

 heim sand. Now I am well aware of the many calls upon your valuable time, 

 but hope you will not deem me trespassing too much both upon it and your 

 kindness in asking you to send me any information you may possess upon the 

 following points: — 1st. The specific character of Spermophilus super -ciUosiis, with 

 admeasurements of skull, and of any of the long bones. 2nd. Has this species 

 been discovered in any part of Great Britain, or in any other continental locality 

 besides Eppelsheim. 



In event of my fossils proving a new species, I will, should you deem it 

 worthy of publication, forward for a full description, with illustrations of the 

 most perfect and characteristic bones. — Yours truly, H. P. Blackmoke, M. D. 



We would refer our correspondent to the following work : — "Descriptions 

 d'ossemens fossiles de mammiferes inconnus, jusqua present, qui se trouvent 

 au Museum grand-ducal de Darmstadt, 4to avec atlas in folio. By J. J. Kaup. 

 Darmstadt 1832—1839. 



