NOTES AND QUERIES. 
331 
Rupert Jones, F.G.S., obligingly given you. I ask, would you have the 
kindness to give me a simple method of treating chalk so as to procure 
these microscopic creatures, whose carcases build up so many thousand 
miles of solid chalk rock ? Yours truly, 
E. M. F. 
[To prepare chalk for microscopic examination, if only small quantities are to be treated, 
the best plan is to select a piece of soft white chalk, — that which has been kept some time 
in a cabinet is most easily worked, — especially chalk from the interior of an Auanchyte 
or Galerite, and to wash it with a moderately soft nail-brush in a haud-basin halt full of 
water, keeping the chalk and brush under the surface, so that the loosened particles 
should all fall in the water. To prevent the chalk from being worn into longitudinal 
furrows, the part under the brush should be constantly moved round. It should also 
be looked at occasionally, with a hand magnitier, so that any large specimens of Bryozoa 
and Foraminifera may not be destroyed by rough brushing, but be more carefully picked 
out with a needle or penknife, or separated by the careful use of the brush. When a 
sufficient quantity has been brushed down, the water should be stirred and the chalky 
portion poured away, or water should be allowed to run into and overflow the basin, 
until the water remains clear over the sediment. The latter should then be placed in a 
round-bottomed cup or gallipot, and rubbed gently with the linger in water, until, by 
further washing, some more of the chalk has been removed, w hen the residue should b ; 
carefully dried in an oven or otherwise, without the least disturbance. AVhcn dry, it 
maybe sifted and picked, but if it be still " chalky," further manipulation by gentle 
rubbing in water will be necessary, especially if the chalk-dust has been put by for some 
time after having been prepared. On a large scale, chalk may be prepared by being 
broken up in a Uiortar, or roughly ground with a brick, stone, or roller, on a pavement, 
and then freely washed in water, the large fragments being excepted. 
The above, and other instructions for " the preparation of clays, sands, and chalk fcr 
microscopic purposes," were given in the first volume of the ' Geologist,' 1858, p. 248, 
by Mr. Rupert Jones ; and in the same paper, a sieve, with a double cyUnder, and fittc d 
with different zinc perforated plates, was described and figured. Such sieves can be had 
of Mr. Snow, zinc-worker, 50, Millbank Street, Westminster, at the cost of about 3«.] 
NOTES A^J) QUERIES. 
DiscovEEY OF ANOTHER Cave AT Uphill. — Sir, — It may be interest- 
ing to your readers to learn that another cave has lately been opened at 
Uphill, Its entrance is on the south side of the rock, at an elevation of 
about sixty feet from the base. Besides the usual stalagmitic breccia, 
common to the caves of the Mendips, this is partially filled with an unctuous 
loam, which is exceedingly rich in animal remains. I have obtained bones 
of the wolf, fox, wild-boar, otter, and also the horns of a stag ; and, which 
adds not a little to the interest of the discovery, several human remains 
associated with them — amongst others, a thigh bone, part of a frontal 
bone, and portions of the upper jaw with the teeth i?i situ, of a human 
adult. I have been informed several crania have been exhumed, but in 
consequence of there being no local museum in which to deposit them, 
they have been removed to Oxford. As yet no trace of any extinct animal 
has been met with ; but should such hereafter be fouad, the problem of 
the antiquity of man will meet an unexpected solution. I believe the 
merit of the discovery of this cave is due to Mr. Parker, of Oxford, at 
whose expense the w orkmen are employed in exploring it. 
I remain, Sir, your obedient servant, 
Chakles Pooley. 
Weston-super-Mare, August 25, 1863. 
