435 



HUDLESTONIA SINON BAYLE, FROM THE 

 BLEA WYKE BEDS, YORKSHIRE, 



FRANK ELGEE 



I HAVE recently obtained a rare Ammonite, Hudlestonia sinon 

 Bayle, in unusuaUy good condition, from the Blea Wyke Beds 

 of the Inferior OoUte of the Yorkshire Coast. I found it in 

 the Grey Sands at Blea Wyke Point, and determined the 

 species from Mr. Buckman's figures.* and he confirms the 

 identification, remarking that it is the most perfect specimicn he 

 has yet seen. Hitherto pubfished records of H. sinon in 

 England appear to have been confined to one fragmentary 

 and poorly-preserved example from the Grey Sands, Blea 

 Wyke, in the collection of Mr. W. H. Hudleston, F.R.S., and 

 this is the one figured by Mr. Buckman. Mr. Sheppard 

 informs me, however, that there are one or two examples 

 in the possession of Hull geologists. 



The specimen I obtained is a cast measuring 6J''x5j^', and 

 clearly shows the very characteristic broad, shallow, and but 

 little denticulated lobes of the suture lines, a feature wh^ch 

 distinguishes the species from Grammoceras aalense, Ludwigia 

 murchisoncB, etc. The specimen is now in the Dorman 

 Memorial Museum, Middlesbrough. 



A prctt}^ variety of Abraxas grossulariaia from Yorkshire is figured in 

 ' The Entomologist ' for October. In the same journal Cerura biscuspis 

 is recorded for Cheshire. 



A writer in a contemporary states that ' science and senti- 

 ment, poetry and parliament ' have combined to make the British Islands 

 probably the safest place in the world for our feathered friends. ' Science 

 and sentiment ' seems perhaps alright, but ' poetry and parliament^ 

 don't appear to go well together. 



In an article on ' Methods of testing Slate ' in the September number of 

 the ' Quarry,' we learn that the presence of clay can be tested by breathing 

 upon a fresh piece of slate, and observing whether there is any argihaceous 

 odour. We heard of this test being applied recently (not by a geologist), 

 and the slate was found to have a distinct odour of whiskey. 



Possibly it will not be necessary to say who is the writer of the following 

 notice on Mr. Francis Darwin's presidential address to the British Asso- 

 ciation : ' A great part of Mr. Darwin's subject is already familiar to my 

 readers .... being no more than an elaborate statement in scientific 

 language of a fact upon which I have often insisted, namely, that there is 

 no essential difference between the lowest animals and plants.' 



* Inferior Oolite Ammonites, Pal. Soc. Monog., p. 227, Plate 38, figs 13-16. 

 1908 December i. 



