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gneiss, to a thickness of 600 feet or more, and was found to be filled with 
disseminated crystals of graphite and veins of the mineral to such an extent 
as to constitute in some places one-fourth of the whole ; and making every 
allowance for the poorer portions, this band cannot contain in all a less ver- 
tical thickness of pure graphite than from 20 to 30 feet. In the adjoining 
township of Lochaber Sir W. E. Logan notices a band from 25 to 30 feet 
thick, reticulated with graphite veins to such an extent as to be mined with 
profit for the mineral. 
Crocodilian Remains in America. — At the meeting of the Academy of 
National Sciences, Philadelphia (November 1) Professor Leidy remarked 
that he had recently received from Professor Hayden’s expedition a collec- 
tion of fossils, mostly consisting of remains of turtles and crocodiles. He 
had formerly expressed surprise at the absence of remains of the latter 
among the great profusion of remains of mammals and turtles in the 
Mauvaises Terres' deposits of White River and the sands of the valley of the 
Niobrara River. He now felt some wonder at seeing so many crocodilian 
remains, apparently of cotemporaneous age with some of the latter. The 
reptilian remains are generally in a very fragmentary condition, and have 
been picked up from the surface of the country. Several undescribed species 
of turtles were recognisable, but these would be characterised at a later 
period. From among the crocodilian remains he had been able to obtain a 
large portion of those of a skull of Crocodilus Elliotti , indicated some time 
ago from a jaw fragment. The skull appears to have nearly the form of 
that of C. vulgaris and C. biporcatus. It is about a foot and a half in 
length. Teeth appear to have been absent at the extreme fore t part of the 
jaw. Immediately behind their ugual position the palate presents a deep 
pit at each side of the naso-palatine orifice. The jaw is deeply indented 
laterally, just back of the position of the fourth tooth, and a less indentation 
is situated back of the ninth tooth. 
Chair of Geology and Mineralogy in Edinburgh. — Our readers are perhaps 
aware that some time ago Sir Roderick Murchison offered the munificent 
sum of 6,000/. for the endowment of a Chair of Geology and Mineralogy in 
the University of Edinburgh, on the understanding that the annual proceeds 
of this sum would be supplemented by a grant from Parliament. We may 
state that Government has consented to this proposal, and has agreed to 
recommend an annual grant of 200/. The University is said to be largely 
indebted for this desirable result to the earnest co-operation of its member, 
Dr. Lyon Playfair. 
Thermal Springs in Cambridgeshire. — The Rev. O. Fisher writes in the 
u Geological Magazine ” (January), in opposition to the notice of Mr. 
Harner, that there are such things as thermal springs. “ To-day,” says Mr. 
Fisher, u I went into a farmyard in this village, and found them laying up 
the manure in heaps, previous to carting it away upon the land. The 
manure was already hot and steaming when they removed it from the area 
of the yard, on which it lay two feet deep. There stands a pump in the 
centre of the yard ; and I asked the farm-servant, who lives on the spot, 
whether the water was warm. 1 Yes,’ said he, ( almost as warm as new 
milk. And so is the water from the other well ’ (which stands on the edge 
of the yard). I fetched a thermometer, and found the water in the yard at 
