42 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
gation, another, devoted to the geographical extent at each horizon 
of the same species, should also be carried on. 
In the districts affected by the late earthquake the directions so 
intelligently given by Mr. Mallet might be taken as the guide to 
local inquiry, and many details accumulated. 
More especially we vrould urge that as much impetus as possible 
should be given to fossil botany. It is a department sadly neglected, 
and nevertheless most useful and most important in the acquire- 
ment of a correct knowledge of the ancient history of our planet. 
In the mining districts further experiments on internal heat are 
greatly to be desired. 
We do not submit to the Provincial Societies the organization of 
special subjects for investigation during these excursions, but the de- 
tailing to the members of certain subjects for individual study and 
attention, and to get from the working members who take such sub- 
jects up reports of their progress, and the details of the most interest- 
ing examples and results ; and then upon these reports to select the 
places for, and the routes of excursions, making the principal or 
most competent of the working members the duces on these occasions. 
"We think that by such preliminary steps the excursions would be 
made much more instructive, more pleasurable, and certainly more 
beneficial to science. 
ON HELIX, AND PEEFOEATED LIMESTONE. 
By Miss E. Hodgson. ' 
A few months ago I sent to the British Museum a block of moun- ' 
tain limestone, perforated into deep cells by mollusks. It was met ! 
with on a limestone ridge three miles south-west of Ulverston, and 
first attracted notice by being brought to town to be employed for ' 
building purposes. ' 
The perforations were found to be on the under-side of a projecting 
ledge, and were large enough for the fingers to be introduced up- ^ 
wards to the depth, in some, of three inches, the diameter being ' 
about seven-eighths of an inch. They were inhabited, at the time ' 
of the discovery (August), by the land-snails Helix nemoralis and ^ 
Selix concinna. ^ 
Mr. Woodward, on receiving the stone, very kindly sent for my ^ 
perusal a ' Memoir on Perforations by Helices in the Calcareous ! 
Rocks of the Boulonnais,' by M. Bouchard-Chantereaux. In this ^ 
memoir the author states his belief that the cells are the work of I 
