176 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
nndev water, ami with a fine and thin lancet, carefully free a lamina of the crystal 
alonj;' its line of cleavage ; then, introducing a thread of uns])un raw silk, work it 
forward until the i)late lie disunited. Float upon your glass slide, and mount it io 
the desired manner.— F. S., Cliurchdown." 
The AKCHA:oLo(iY or PAL.noNToLocir. — "In a work entitled ' Recherches et 
Observations Naturelles de Monsieur Boccone, Gentilhonune Bicilien,' published 
fit Amsterdam, 1()74, and the substance of which was communicated to the Royal 
Society of London, may be found many illustrations of the scientific opinions then 
current. The twenty-eighth letter is on the ' Cornu Annnonis.' He concedes to 
the popular feeling the opinion that the generality of stones which represent 
shells are mere casts of hardened clay which have been compressed between actual 
shells ; but he maintains the true character of Ammonites as being veritable 
shells, though he advances the theory with diffidence. In the next letter he dis- 
cusses the nature of the fish-teetli found so plentifidly in Malta ; and after giving 
a full account of the singular ojiinions then prevalent as to the non-natural pro- 
duction of these, he concludes that they are veritable marine remains, and are 
proofs either that the sea has flowed where they are now found, or that they have 
been vomited Ijy adjacent burning mountains. The whole work will repay the 
student of the early history of natural science. — S.R.P." 
Blocks of Lower Oolite in the L>kift-clay at Leicester. — " In exca- 
vating for the sewerage works at Leicester, on the eastern side of the river, blocks 
of Lower Oolite rock were discovered, at a depth of from twelve to fifteen feet 
below the surface, in a stiff clay. A great number of them are of large size, and 
over a quarter of a ton in weight ; all are much rounded and worn, some of 
them being polished in a liigh degree, and showing sections of shells and crinoids 
in all directions. No marks of scoring or grooving have been found on those ex- 
amined, although such have been carefully searched for. Some of the blocks are 
complete nuisses of shells, principally Ostrea, with portions of encrinites and 
corals, all of Lower Oolitic species. The area over which these blocks were found 
was very considerable ; its boundary on two sides was tolerably accurately defined 
by other sewerage excavations in which no blocks were found. The small size of 
the openings made for the sewers, and the hundreds of 1 docks taken out, may give 
some idea of the number remaining covered. In no previous excavations in the 
drift-clay (and there have been a great many) have blocks of this character and 
size been met with, although rolled Oolitic fossils are connnon in the gravel-beds. 
The present nearest outcrop of Lower Oolite is distant from this sjiot twelve miles 
south-east ; it must therefore have been a strong current that rolled such blocks 
over the intervening Liassic hills. — J. Plant, Leicester." 
The Late W. Kennett Loftus, Esq., F.G.S. — We regi'et to announce the 
luitimely death of W. K. Loftus, Esq. It occurred at sea, in the ship Ti/bvrnia, a 
week after he quitted Calcutta on his return to England. He was educated at 
Cains College, Cambridge, and his early devotion to geological study attracted 
the notice of Prof. Sedgwick and Sir II. de la Beche, who recommended him for 
an appointment on the commission for fixing the boundaiy of Turkey and Persia. 
He remained four years in Asia under the command of Major-General Sir W. P. 
Williams of Kars. The result of his geological investigations was embodied in an 
elaborate rejiort, with a map of the frontier from Mount Ararat to Mohanmiereh. 
It was connmuiicated to the Geological Society by the Earl of Clarendon, read and 
subsequently published in their journal. Whilst in the East he devoted his leisure 
to antiquarian pursuits in Lower Chaldea and Susiana, on which countries and 
their antiipiities he published a large volume on his return to England. He 
subsequently proceeded to Nineveh to complete the investigations commenced by 
Mr. Layard, and fifty cases of his Assyrian discoveries enrich our British Museum. 
In the latter part of 18.56 he set out for India to fill a post in the Geological 
Society of India, and proceeded to the Rajmahal HiUs. But the climate soon 
aftected his constitution. He was ordered to Rangoon for the benefit of his health. 
The change was of no avail, and he embarked for England. He died of abscess 
on the liver at the early age of thirty-seven, and leaves a wife and five young 
children. He was passionately devoted to geology, ai:d had a mind peculiarly 
adapted for close and patient investigation. Whatever he did he did well. His 
various pamphlets are evidence of his zeal and industry m the cause of science ; 
