309 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
The Catekxs oe Locii-Holes in the Alston Lead men-es in CriiBEEtAND. 
— The miners, in the prosecntion of their labours, know nothing of these cavemons 
vacuities until they strike into them, as they advance in their working. The caverns 
arc of various dimensions, from that of a nut to rooms large enough for three or four 
men even to move about and stand in. In these caverns numerous mineral spars 
are found crystallized into prismatic, cubic, hexagonal, or other figures ; these 
crystals are generally transpareiit and beautiful, some of them are exceedingly 
pure and polished. Caverns lined with crystals are frequently met with in hard 
mineral veins, and such are generally called by miners "Shake-lochs," or "Loch- 
holes." Their magnitude is generally in proportion to the size of the veins in 
which they are found, and their insides frequently exhibit all the variety and 
beauty of the most curious grotto-work. There is commonly a hard concreted 
stony crust, called " Druse " or " Eider " by the Alston jMoor and Allendale 
miners, adhering to the inside of the cavity, out of which are shot an innumerable 
multitude of short prismatic crystals, which sparkle like thousands of diamonds. 
Sticking promiscuously to these are i)atches of lead ore, " Black Jack," pyrites, 
sulphur and spar, of regular prismatic, cubic, and other figures; besides which, 
clusters of wildly irregular appearance often grow out of one another, until the 
inside of the caverns are sometimes adorned with these wildly grotesque figm-es, 
growing upon and branching out of one another, in a manner not to be de- 
scribed, and decorated with all the gay and splendid colours of burnished gold of 
the rainbow and of the peacock's tail. — John Jameson, Arlington-square. 
Private Geological Collections. — " Dear Sir, — Acting up to the suggestion 
of my friend, tlic Rev. P. E. Brodie, of Rowingtou Vicarage, contained in his 
letter published in the Geologist of last month, I beg to inform you that it will 
afford me pleasure to show my private collection of fossils to any brother-geologist 
who may hnppen to visit tl)is neighbouihood. — Yours sincerely, Charles Piebson, 
3 Blenheim Parade, Choltenhara." 
Geclogt of Asiibt-de-l.^-Zoech. — To assist M. S. in his inquiry upon this 
subject, I may observe, that Maramatfs valuable work is very dear, and, I believe, 
out of print. A copy is kept for the use of visitors at the Bath Hotel, (Potter's). 
" Charnwood Forest " is also out of print ; but a cheap and popular abridgment 
of it has been published by Allen of Nottingham, at Is. 6d. ; it contains Jukes' 
paper on the " Geology of the Forest." With respect to localities for fossils, any 
of the coal-pit banks of Whitwick, Snibston, Peg's Green, &c., will furnish them. 
M. S. lias but to search among the debris of the pit-banks to find (more especially 
upon the clays and sandstones that intercalate with the coal), numerous 
impressions of fern leaves and stems, Lepidodendrons, Calamitos, and also shells of 
Unio ; in hand specimens I have had six together. The dolomitized Mountain 
Limestone of Bredon Hill, Cloud Hill, Earrow Hill, and Gracedicu, will furnish 
Eumerous casts of shells of all the leading carboniferous types, especially Orthis, 
Euomphalus, and Orthoceras ; some of the latter have been found of the size and 
shape of a Stilton cheese, with central siphuncles. Large masses"^of coral are 
also found. There are some interesting fragments of Permian beds at Oakthorpe 
and Meashaw. The Permian breccia at Oakthorpe contains angular and sub- 
angular fragments of older formations, rolled fossils from the Silurian rocks 
and Mountain Limestone, Zoophytes, and Encrinites, all embedded in the same 
clayey matrix. In the valley adjoining the railway, near the Moira colliery, a 
singular outlier of Permian sandstone is found, locally called the "ballast-pit " ; 
it contains numerous largo fragments of silicified trees, Endogcns and Coniferss 
