NOTES A^'D QrZETES, 
65 
with near native villages, but it is by no means uncommon to find tliem 
far from any trace of Maori dwellings. I have never seen any human 
bones in these, though from the former cannibal habits of the aborigines 
of xsew Zealand, it might be anticipated that some human remains would 
be found, and indeed on closer examination such may be discovered. 
These kitchen-heaps are composed chiefly of the shells of one species of 
bivalve mollusk, called by the natives pipi, which is still plentifully taken 
and eaten, though not so much so as before the European occupation of 
the country. The natives now have a better supply of animal food than 
formerly, in the pigs, poultry, and oxen introduced by the Europeans, and 
are not so dependent on the produce of the sea and rivers. 
This note may perhaps serve as a hint to some future traveller to ex- 
amine more attentively than I did the shell-heaps formed of the debris of 
Maori feasts. Useful comparisons may thus possibly be elicited between 
these remains and the Ejokkenraoddings of Denmark, and those found at 
the Pileworks of Switzerland. E. Lechmeee Guppy. 
Ti-inidad, 29th Xovember, 1862. 
^Newfoundland. — The 'Canadian Naturalist and Geologist' for Oc- 
tober contains " Observations on the Geology and Physical Cliaracteristics 
of Newfoundland," by the late President of the Natural History Society of 
New Brunswick, M. H. Perley, Esq. The paper first gives a description 
of the physical features of the island, and then reviews the former labours 
of Mr. Jukes, adding to the statements of what was accomplished by him 
the subsequent observations of the author himself 
Gypsum is abundant at Cadroy, and a splendid white marble on the 
Humber. Ores of copper have been found in several districts, and explo- 
rations have been carried on by various parties, whose discoveries have not 
.yet been made public. An extensive deposit of lead has been found at 
La Manche, in Placentia Bay, and worked for a short time by an American 
company. 
Jaws with Teeth in the Aech^opteryx Slab. — In the counter- 
part slab of the Archteopteryx is a portion of bone with four or five teeth, 
which has caused seme little excitement, under the idea that it might be 
the jaw of that bird. Mr. Davies considers it the upper part of the head 
of a lepidoid fish (maxillary bone), an opinion in which we are disposed to 
concur, but at present we wish only to notice the fact, not having been 
able to fully examine the case in time for publication in this number. We 
would suggest a fair comparison of these teeth and portion of jaw with 
the corresponding parts in the various species of Pholidophorus and Lepi- 
dotus, and we should be glad of the loan of good specimens for the pur- 
pose — the specimens in the National Collection not being sufficiently per- 
fect, as respects the head, for this special examination. 
Scotch Cbocodiles. — The following announcement appears in a eon- 
temporary : — " A rumour, of which confirmation is promised, has reached 
us, that the skeleton of a crocodile has been discovered in the old red sand- 
stone in the neighbourhood of Elgin. If true, it marks another epoch 
in geological science, as the fossil remains hitherto found in that forma- 
tion have been of creatures much lowei- in the scale of organization." 
We thought that the white sandstone near Elgin, long erroneously re- 
garded as of Devonian age, had been proved to be Mesozoic, and that rep- 
tiles apparently of some crocodilian afiinities {Steganolepis) had already 
been discovered therein. The assertion that the present rumour " marks 
another epoch in geological science " seems to us one of those premature 
deductions which have been elsewhere stigmatized as " the fabulous ex- 
crescences of a credulous and gossiping zoology." 
VOL. YI. K 
