80 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



perfect fossil fish in the upper Kenper sandstone, near Warwick. This terminated 

 a very pleasant meeting. 



The last meeting of the Club was held on the 15th of September, at Henley 

 in Arden, and was entirely devoted to archaeology. 



The next meeting was fixed to take place as usual at Warwick, in February- 

 next, when the chief business of the Club will be transacted, and places of meeting 

 settled for the year ensuing. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



A CoREESPONDENT writos : — " I beg leave to remark that, within this year 

 (1857), several fossil bones have been discovered in the Lias on the beach between 

 this place " (Charmouth) " and Lyme Regis, which, in my humble opinion, go a 

 great way to overturn the general opinion that the Lias contains no fossil remains 

 of Mammalia. I will, at an early period, endeavour to transmit you a sketch of two 

 in my own possession, and two others in that of a gentleman of my acquaintance, 

 who is engaged in pursuits similar to my own. Both of us are zealous collectors — 

 not Geolegists, I beg to observe, although we have some specimens which I doubt 

 not would be highly interesting to a professed Geologist." 



Neophyte. — A silicate is one of those bodies which are called by chemists 

 " salts." A " salt " is a compound which is the result of the union of an " acid *' 

 with a " base." In the case of a silicate the acid which unites with the base is 

 silicic acid or "silica," the material of flints, rock crystal, &c. ; and an alcaline 

 silicate is silica in union with an alkali as the base: The silicates of potash and 

 soda (both alkalies) are soluble in water, and thus rocks containing them may be 

 broken up by the action of water, which dissolves the soluble silicate away, causing 

 the other ingredients to fall to pieces. 



X. Y. Z . — Algae are not sponges. They constitute a natural order, consisting 

 of aquatic plants, both marine and freshwater, of which seaweeds are 

 familiar examples. Many of them, especially the freshwater ones, are microscopic 

 objects. — Silt is the fine sediment which is carried down by rivers and deposited 

 on their banks and at their mouths, sometimes in such quantity as to form 

 banks, which block them up, or at least render the navigation intricate and 

 difficult. 



Jane E. B. — " Ptericthys " means a winged fish," and is derived from the 

 Greek words pteron, a wing, and ichthus, a fisli. 



U. N. Y. — Woodward's " Recent and Fossil Shells," published by Weale, will 

 answer your purpose. 



Vehiuim Sap. — Your suggestion is useful, and has been under consideration, 

 but there are difficulties in the way of carrying it out. A vocabulary for each 

 ninnber of the Magazine would occupy more room than could be afforded for such 

 a purpose. Most elementary works on Geology contain a glossary of terms ; we 

 must content ourselves with giving the meaning and etymology of words when 

 askeil for them. Fossils are frequently represented in situ, but those which are 

 fi)und in the bed "a confused mass of stems, calices, and arms," as the Woodocrini 

 are described to be, cannot, of course, be drawn in this manner. 



T. V. writes as follows :— " To the Editor of the Geologist.— Sir, If any of your 

 rondors will give me the names of the localities in the neighbourhood of Durham, 

 that possess interest for Geological students, it will much oblige." 



