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GEOLOGICAL DESIDERATA. 



Points of great interest in the study of the Longmynt>, Silueian, 

 Carboniferous, Permian, Oolite, and Cretaceous Rocks. 



The Editor presents the following letter from Mr. J. W. Salter, 

 Palaeontologist to the Government Survey, to the readers of the Geolo- 

 gist, with an earnest request that the effort he is making, by means of 

 this department of this Magazine, to promote the real advance of science, 

 may be fully seconded by all to whom these most desirable points of 

 investigation may become known. The names of Mr. Prestwich and 

 Mr. Salter are guarantees for the value of the work required to be 

 done. 



To the Editor of the Geologist. 



Deae Sie, — Your correspondent, Mr. Prestwich, has opened the 

 inquiries which, above all others, appear to me to be suitable to the 

 pages of the Geologist. I have long intended to write to you on the 

 subject, but am very glad to see our able friend commence it. 



What we want, in the present state of geology, is alundance of good 

 facts, and these can only be collected by the industry of local observers, 

 who will communicate these results in a tangible form, available for the 

 workers on particular subjects. If these last will, as Mr. Prestwich 

 has done, point out the work, and you, Sir, will undertake 

 to condense and tabulate for them the facts collected, the more critical 

 and obscure points which still remain as opjjrolria in our British 

 geology may be wonderfully cleared up. 



The labour and expense of time which private correspondence (often, 

 too, very unsatisfactory) entails upon a student will be thus saved. 

 And then, again, there is no pleasure so great as in working for a 

 definite object, with the certainty that your results, however small, 

 will aid in attaining it. Many a holiday may be most profitably 

 occupied (which would otherwise be lost) by confining the attention to 

 one bed, or a set of beds, instead of hammering away under a vague 

 impression that something is to be done, though you know not exactly 

 what. 



The points to be worked at are numerous enough, and will occur to 

 many geologists. 



1 . Why should we not have a really fine series of fossils from the 

 Longmynd rocks, near Church Stretton ? 



2. West of the Stiper Stones, Shrophire, a strip of country, a mile 

 wide, should be thoroughly explored for fossils, as there are here beds of 

 passage between the Lingula-fiags and the Llandeilo rocks, and of the 

 greatest geological interest. Shells and Trilobites are abundant. 



3. St. David's Head, in Pembrokeshire, too, wants a good hammering. 

 The conglomerate-beds north of the Towy will give a whole summer's 



