NOTES AND yUEUIES. 
421 
gravcl-pil, wliirli lias boon worked in 1-ho years 1858, '!)'.], 'GO. Tlioy belon^; to 
JVlr. Ingram, of f lie Royal Gardens, and were found at about the depth of 
lifteen feet from (he snrfaec. The upper soil for about four or live I'cct is 
sandy loam, then there is six or seven feet of red gravel, and three or four feet 
of waslicd gravel, in whieli the bones were found. 
It may be a question whether the old bed of the Thames in aneieut times 
may not have passed in this dircetiou, or whether the river may not formerly 
have been much broader than at present. — Q. 
The Geology of Malta. — Dr. Gavina Giulia, a Maltese geologist, pub- 
lished a short time siiiec, in the " Ordiuc" of La Valctta, some observations on 
the constitution of that island, which are not without interest. After establish- 
ing, with Professor Eorbes, that the strata of Malta belong to the Eocene, or 
lower tertiary formation, he adverts to the fact that fossil remains of luara- 
moth have been found on the island, including a piece of tusk seven and a-half 
inches in length. Now, as it is not to be supposed that such huge animals as 
the mammoth, the rhinoceros, and tlie hippopotamus, traces of all which have 
been found there, could have existed in so circumscribed an area as that of 
Malta, it is not to be denied that at a more or less remote period it must have 
formed part of the Continent, and must have been detached from it by some 
convulsion. The mammoth has never been found in tropical latitudes, and 
Professor Owen limits its existence to the northern hemisphere, within the 
forty-ninth and sixtieth or seventieth degree of latitude ; but the discovery of 
the primitive elephant or mammoth at Malta shows that it must have been dis- 
persed much farther south than has been generally admitted. 
Mammalian Remains. — About thirty-eight years since, i. e. 1803, the 
greater part of a skeleton of an elephant, with teeth and tusks, and teeth and 
many bones of a rhinoceros were found " embedded in loam, in the midst of an 
extensive accumulation of gravel," at Petteridge Common, Surrey. (See Man- 
tell in Brayley's "History of Surrey," vol. i., p. 129, cd. ISil.) 
Toads Living when Shut in Plasteb for Years. — " M. Seguiu" (says the 
" Medical Times"), " wishmg to ascertain what amount of truth there is m the 
marvellous tales told of batraehians being found living within the substance 
of stones, has undertaken some experiments upon the matter. He enclosed 
some toads very firmly in plaster, and left them for years in the middle of these 
blocks of factitious stone. At various intervals he has broken some of these 
blocks, and has found a certain number of the toads alive. One of the animals 
had remained thus deprived of air during ten years, another twelve, and a thii'd 
fifteen years. Two stiU continue enclosed, and as M. Scguin is very old, and 
fears that these two blocks may be lost to the purposes of science, he offers 
them to the Academy of Sciences, in order that it may hereafter test the truth 
of the phenomenon. M. Plourcns announces on the part of the Academy its 
■willingness to accept them, intending, after a verification of the dates of seques- 
tration, to have the plaster broken in presence of a commission ad hoc." 
Waste of Land by the Sea. — It is stated by a recent able writer on this 
subject, in treating of the action of the sea upon its coasts, that on the coast 
of Yorkshire four yards a year is the rate of decay. This loss for one million 
of years amounts to no less than two thousand two hundred and seventy-two 
miles ; and even at one yard of annual loss, Yorkshii-e must once have extended 
five hundred and sixty-eight miles further eastward than it now does. — J. J. 
Nagasaki Coal Mines. — Her Majesty's ship " Roebuck" has been cruismg 
outside, testing the Japanese coal, and trying to find out where the principal 
mines are in this vicinity ; she proceeded to Yeddo direct, to try and obtain 
permission from the Emperor to see the mines, and how they are worked, or 
could be worked, and if possible to make contracts for regular supplies. An 
engineer who is on board her states that from the appearance of the diilerent 
