253 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
British Fossils axd Geological Manipulations. — To the Editor of the Geo- 
logist. " Sm, — In perusing your article upon " The Common Fossils of the British 
Rocks," in the numbers of the Geologist, an idea struck me, that it would be of 
very great assistance to all beginners in the science, like myself, if, in describing 
the various strata, engraved figiires of all the genera and species discovered up to 
the present time were inserted, which are now only to be found in books of an 
expensive character. If this were done, beginners would very much more readily 
determine their specimens, as well as be able to identify the strata to which they 
belong ; thus facilitating them in comparing the specimens which they may have 
collected with those in the British and Jerniyn-street Museinns, and saving their 
time, which to those who are not in very ample circumstances, is extremely 
valuable. I also think that a few concise observations upon collecting and 
arranging would likewise be of great service, embracing the most useful forms of 
liammers, the easiest way of extracting fossils from the matrix with which they may 
be encumbered, &c. Amatob Natue-t;." — It has been, from the commencement of his 
article on Common Fossils, the intention of the Editor to give illustrations of all the 
common British fossils, with explicit descriptions of their nature, character, and 
order of classification ; as also to draw, wherever practicable, comparisons with 
existing forms. It was necessary, however, before doing this, to popiilarize the 
general subject of geological doctrines concerning the formation of rock-masses 
and the sequence of geological events. The Editor's articles deal more especially 
with the common fossils ; " the gems of private collections " will include the rarer 
specimens, so that by means of these two series both the man of science and the 
student will be furnished with accvu-ate figures of at least most, if not all, our 
British fossils. Arrangements have already been made for articles upon sucli 
useful topics as those suggested by our correspondent in the latter part of his 
letter. One of these, with which we have been kindly favoured by Mr. T. Rupert 
Jones, is printed in this number; and will be followed, from time to time, by 
others of a like practical character. We are obliged, at all times, for such 
suggestions, as they enable ns the more fully to provide for the wants of our 
readers. 
Vegetable Remains in xue Pebmian of the South of SHEorsniEE, &c. 
By iMr. C. E. Robekts, Kidderminster. — " The low hills which sku-t the Severn at 
Alveley, six miles south of Bridgnorth, com])osed of a I'ermian siliceous grit, locally 
called ' Grindstones,'* have yielded me some Ijadly -preserved vegetable remains, 
which are, as far as I can read them, leaves of Cycadacex, possibly Nccggeruihia. 
These are worth noting, as being the first fossils detected in the beds of this 
system, exposed in this district. 
I have just obtained a Ptilodidya from the mountain-limestone of Farlow, which 
I cannot quite make out. In form and linear arrangement of cells it approaches 
near to P. costcUatn, M'Coy, but the inter-cellular spaces are pitted in the line of 
the rows with very minute oval cells, alternating one and two in number. I have 
several specimens on a slab, with rUlodictr/a acuta and FenesUUa palula, M'Coy. 
Their state of preservation is exquisite. I have made out the ' flat internal axis' 
in one specimen, as noticed in M'Coy's description of P. costcUata, Contrib. Brit. 
Pal. p. 174." 
Potato-stones, — Mekcl'ey. — "Siii, — The 'potato-stones' are found in the 
dolomitic conglomerate, at a spot where that rock dies out. They often contain 
pieces of carbonate of lime in the centre, which may, perhaps, have been derived 
from the Mountain-limestone, which is but a few yards distant from the spot 
where the potato-stoues are found. Since reading in the April number of the 
See " Silurian System," pi. 30, fig. 4. 
