206 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



than carbonaceous stains and nodules, such as arc described in " Siluria," p. loO. 

 These are, of course, much older in the annals of terrestrial vegetation than the 

 well-defiued vegetables of the upper Tilestones, first discovered by myself afe 

 Trimpley, two miles north-west of Kidderminster, 



Tnterpketation of Gen. II. v. 5. — " Sir, — I observe in your last number (IV.) 

 p. 160, a reference made by a correspondent, E. K. J. (Farnborough), to Gen. 

 li. 5, ' where it is written that no rain had fallen up to the carboniferous period,' 

 As you have not rectified the quotation, according to the authorised vei-sion of ihe 

 Eibie, I begin to sm^mise that there may be a new translation, agreeable to modern 

 discoveries, current and accepted by the geological world. If this be so, I should 

 be glad to know where such translation or paraphrase of Scripture may be obtained, 

 and the grounds on which the ' day ' mentioned in the 5th verse is considered as 

 the ' carboniferous period.' The 2nd verse indicates an immense evaporable snr- 

 facefrom the very beginning." F. S, K. (Bromley). — We inserted E R J.'s letter 

 as being a question on the subject of rain-drops, and we restricted the answer given 

 to assigning to them their correct geological position ; in doing which we neces- 

 sarily not only ignored, but refuted, E. R. J.'s reading of the passage he referred 

 to, and pointed to such an ancient extent of water as that to which F. S. E. alludes. 

 E. R. J.'s interpretation of the 5th verse of Gen. ii. is his own, and not ours. We 

 felt disinclined to talie up the question in its religious aspect or bearings. Of 

 course Geologists do not attempt to interpret the Bible ; they have only made 

 from time to time, in their endeavours to reconcile the proven facts of their science 

 with the Mosaic record of the Creation, various suggestions for theologians to 

 admit or reject, as being in harmony or discordance with the meaning and sense 

 of tlie original words of the Biblical statement. 



Geology of St. Ives. — "Sm, — Could you please to inform me (a beginner in 

 geology) whether I can find fossils here, and what formation this town is upon 

 or near. This would much oblige me," R. A. C, St. Ives, Huntingdonshire. — St. 

 Ives is situated on the Kimmeridge chiy. To the east of that town are some of 

 the Portland beds over-spread by " drift" deposits ; to the west, the Oxford clay 

 immediately succeeds the Kimmeridge clay; and the whole surrounding county 

 is greatly covered by the Boulder clay, the valleys being occupied by deep 

 accumulations of gravel. In the valley of the Ouse, at Hemingford Abbots, the 

 Rev. Mr. De la Condamine discovered a fresh-water deposit, an account of which 

 was read before the Geological Society in 1853. Fossils are to be found 

 in all these deposits ; those of the Kimmeridge and Oxford clays are abundant, 

 and beautifully preserved. Mammalian remains are, at all times, likely to be met 

 with in the gravels, and, as a good many extraneous fossils are commonly obtained 

 from the Boulder drift in other localities, they are also likely to be met with in that 

 deposit in the neighbourhood of St. Ives. 



Nereites from the Irish Coal Formation. — "Dear Sir, — Can anybody 

 inform me whether any Nereites (such as the Nereites Cambremis of the 

 Lower Silurian) have been found in the coal-measures at all — and if so, what 

 is its name, and where is the description to be found ? I have some idea 

 of one being found, and described, from Ireland. I have a fine impression from 

 the ' hard rock ' between the coal measures, and should be glad to know if it is 

 a unique fossil." G. P. Bey an, M. D., Beaufort.— The querist probably refers to 

 Prutestor Harkness' description and figure cf Nereites carhonarius from the Mill- 

 stone grit of Clare, given in the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, 1855, 

 Vol.1., p. 278. 



Potato-stones. — " Sir, — It may be useful to such of your readers as are visit- 

 ing this part of the c iiuitry, to learn that the ' potato stones,' alluded to in your 

 answer to E. A. W., are only found in a field at the foot of Sandford Hill, and not 

 generally upon the Mendip range. A stranger will readily be directed to the place 

 by en<iuiring for the ' potato-stone-field.' Will you oblige by telling me the 

 scientific name of these curious bodies ? How arc they supposed to have been 

 formed ^ Are they known to have been found in any other part of England ? 

 No geologist ought to visit Sumersetshire without liuvi.i} \icw of the remarkable 

 V')Ucction of fossil bones, the property of Mr. Beard, or Wiut Hill, who is always 



