448 
fat! GfioLOGlSl'. 
Drift KtAli Oswestry. — " Dear Sm, — At and around Oswestry -we have a 
deposit of local drift of considerable thickness. The gravel and boulders being 
for the most part fragments of the adjacent rocks of millstone-grit, mountain- 
limestone, Silurian shales, and of igneous rock, from the bands with which this 
locality is intersected. I am anxious to ascertain if, mixed up with, or overlying, 
or contiguous to, this local deposit, any of the ' Northern Drift ' exists. And I 
have thought that probably you might, through the pages of the Geologist, aid 
me in recognizing the latter deposit. I am, dear Sir, &c., D. C. Davies, Oswestry." 
— Much valuable information relative to Mi'. Davics's inquiry will be found in Sir 
R. I. Murchison's "Silurian System," p. 528, &c. We abstract the following notice 
from this work : — The ' Northern Drift ' reaches almost to London on the eastern 
side of England, and covers large tracts of country along the borders of Wales. 
In Lancashire, Cheshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, and Worcester.shire it consists, 
in some parts, of thick masses of clay ; in others, of sand and fine gravel ; in all 
of which large boulders of granite are mixed up with some local detritus and sea- 
shells of existing species. Near Wrexham it forms masses of vast thickness, 
containing a variety of granite- pebbles, mixed up with a large proportion of the 
a.djacent Welch rocks, including the coal-measures ; and the same distribution of 
materials prevails to Oswestry, where the northern course of the drift seems to 
have been checked by promontories of the Carboniferous rocks. 
Plant feom Coal-measuees of the Elled Patch. — " Dear Sir, — In my col- 
lection of the coal-flora from the Elled Patch (see page 126) I have the original 
specimen of the enclosed sketch, and of which I can find no description, and am 
rather at a loss to know of what kind it may be. I have therefore drawn it, in 
the hope that Mr. Bunbury, or some other experienced geologist or botanist, will 
enable me to find out its name. I may here suggest that it would be an exceedingly 
useful thing if anybody possessing an unique or interesting fossil, would take the 
trouble to draw it to the best of bis power, and send it to the pages of the 
Geologist, to be inserted or not, according to circumstances ; for I am sure that 
by so doing, a number of valuable, and, perhaps, unknown specimens will be 
brought into notice, and help to elucidate many doubtful points. The fossil which 
I have attempted to delineate is apparently the fruit of an cquisetaceous plant, 
and is about one- third longer than I have here represented. It is evident that the 
shorter stem is not a branch of the other, because it will be noticed that they are 
reversed in position, the long one being upside down. The stem is jointed at 
tolerably regular intervals, and marked with faint, longitudinal, and irregular lines. 
The fruits, which are ill-preserved in the long stalk, are opposite, almost similar, 
and are not composed of imbricated scales, like the Lcpidostrobus variabilis, but each 
scale is distinct, and fitting into those around it. At a is an enlarged view of a 
scale, which is three-sided, and stands out in the uppermost fruit very distinctly. 
As a rule, fossil fruits are scarce in the South Wales coal-fields, with the exception 
of Lepidistrobus variabilis and L. ornatiis, both of which I have frequently met 
with. I have also specimens of L. pinaster, but Caipolithes and Trigomcarpum I 
have never found here. — Yours truly, G. P. Bevan, Beaufort." [See Plate xi.] 
Derivation of Names of Fossils. — " Sir, — May I be allowed to suggest to 
your correspondent, Mr. Morris, that the value of his contributions on ' British 
Fossils' would be very much enhanced by giving the etymology of the names of 
each fossil, in connection with its stratigraphical position. By this means the 
labour of the student of paleontology would be much facilitated, and be made 
considerably more interesting and satisfactory. I can conceive of nothing 
more wearying and tedious than having to load the memory with unmean- 
ing, arbitrary names ; and such are most of the names of the fo.ssils to the young 
student who has had no means of acquainting himself with the history of their 
discovery, or the peculiarities in their respective appearances, or resemblance to 
some known form of animal or plant, from which they have been named. As Mr. 
Morris has already gone far in his papers on ' The Stratigraphical Order of British 
Fossils,' he may perhaps be induced to favour the readers of your very useful 
Journal with separate papers on ' The Etymology and Pronunciation of the Names 
of British Fossils.'— Yours, &c., Mark Fryer, 3 St. Jamcs's-square, Bristol, '— 
