160 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



information to those who require it, and we shall always be obliged to our 

 readers and correspondents for any additional matter. 



Earliest Rain-Drops.— E. R. J. (Farnborough).— " I shall be much obliged 

 if you will inform me, through the medium of your Geological J ournal, which is 

 the earliest strata that shows marks of rain-drops ? I have seen it stated that 

 they are found as early as the Old Red Sandstone ; which, if it be so, seems to 

 raise a difficulty in connection with Genesis ii., 5, where it is written that no 

 rain had fallen up to the carboniferous period. I should also be glad to know 

 whether there is anything like a descriptive catalogue of the Geological contents 

 of the British Museum to be had." — Rain-drops have been found in the lowest of 

 all fossiliferous rocks, the " Longmynd, or Bottom rocks" of Shropshire, by Mr. 

 Salter. Wherever sedimentary deposits have been going on, there has been 

 evaporation of the surface-water, and atmospheric condensation or rain. One 

 condition necessitates another, and co-existent at least with the evidences of 

 life must be the records of atmospheric phenomena. There is no official 

 descriptive catalogue of the fossils in the British Museum. The late Dr. Mantell's 

 " Petrifactions and their Teachings," published by Bohn, was designed as a 

 hand-book to the gallery of organic remains, and will be found of great use to 

 the student both there and at home. 



Exchange of Fossils. — Extract of a letter from E. Wood, Esq., P. G. S. 

 Richmond, Yorkshire. — " Will it be in accordance with the rules of your admirably 

 conducted journal, to state publicly what I she aid require a secretary to do pri- 

 vately, that the new Crinoids, figured and described in your first number, have 

 all been discovered, and every specimen disseminated by myself ? The only quarry 

 in which they are found is being worked purposely, and much labour expended in 

 the excavations. About six perfectly distinct species of the first-named genus 

 have been examined and named by my learned friend. Professor de Koninck, and 

 recently another new and very beautiful genus has been added to the 

 list, on which the Professor has just read a paper in Paris, calling it 

 Hydreionocnnus ; this species I .hope to enable you to figure very soon. What I 

 wish your readers — and their name must be legion — to know is, that being engaged 

 ill the foi-mation of a good private collection of British fossils, I shall be always 

 glad to distribute my duplicate specimens, in the way of " friendly exchange," 

 and that the senders of good specimens from British localities will be sure to re- 

 ceive a liberal leturn of, at all events, the type species." 



Note — The Editor will be happy at all times to promote the interchange of 

 specimens, and to afford any assistance and facilities which his capacity enables him 

 to do in the formation of public or private collections. For the description of the 

 genus Woodocrinus referred to, see the article by Professor de Koninck, and Mr. 

 Ed. Wood, page 12. 



E. A. W. (Sidcot, near Weston-super-Mare). — "Respected Friend, — Having dis- 

 covered about a year ago, at Chedder Cliffs, a fossil called Beechite, I should feel 

 thankful if thou wouldst give me any information respecting it — to what class of 

 animals does it belong ? what are its habits ? and where is it generally found ? 

 Tlio above mentioned was taken from the mountain limestone. In reading the 

 Geologist, No. II , I met with the term ' Geodes' ; may I trouble thee to ex- 

 plain it ? How are the Naturalists' Field Clubs conducted ? " — Beekites are 

 rolled fossils of the Devonian rocks, embedded in New Red Conglomerate, 

 afterwards coated with chalcedony, and subsequently the original fossil has 

 decayed, leaving a cavity. A notice of them will be found in the "Report of 

 the British Association, for 1856," sect. p. 74. Our correspondent's fossil 

 is not, we fancy, a true Beekite ; but, as we have neither description nor 

 drawing to guide us, we cannot, of course, make any decision. There are some- 

 what similar bodies called " potato-stones," found in the mountain limestone and 

 red sandstone of the Meudip Hills. These are more or less globular, hollow, sili- 

 ceous bodies, tlieir inner surfaces often exhibiting beautiful crystals of silex (quartz), 

 Inue, barytes, Xic. Geodes arc merely nodular concretions of earthy matter, whether 



