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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
belief that the white limestone is of Miocene date, and was probably 
deposited slowly in a tranquil sea. — Vide The Geologist , June, 1864. 
The Fossilization of West Indian Corals. — A most valuable paper upon 
the process of fossilization of corals was presented by Dr. Duncan to the 
Geological Society at one of its late meetings (April 27). The results of 
this process, as seen in the West Indian fossil corals, being very remark- 
able, and having much obscured their specific characters, thus rendering 
their determination extremely difficult, Dr. Duncan found it necessary to 
thoroughly examine their different varieties of mineralization, and to 
compare their present condition with the different stages in the decay and 
fossilization of recent fossils as seen now in progress. By this means he 
was enabled to show the connection between the destruction of the 
minuter structures by decomposing membranes, and certain forms of fossi- 
lization in which those structures are imperfectly preserved. It appears 
from his researches that the filling up of the interspaces by granular car- 
bonate of lime and other substances, as well as the induration of certain 
species, during a pre-fossil and post-mortem period, gives rise to certain 
varieties of fossilization, and that the results of these operations are per- 
petuated in a fossil state. Dr. Duncan describes no less than eight dis- 
tinct forms of mineralization, viz., calcareous, siliceous, siliceous and 
crystalline, siliceous and destructive, siliceous casts, calcareo-siliceous 
and destructive, and calcareo-siliceous casts. In describing these forms, 
especial reference was made to those in which the structures were more or 
less destroyed during the replacement (by silica) of the carbonate of lime 
which filled the interspaces, and during that of the ordinary hard parts 
of the coral. 
In explaining the nature and mode of formation of the large casts of 
calices from Antigua, the author drew attention to the fact that the sili- 
fication is more intense on the surface and in the centre of the coral than 
in the intermediate region ; and when examined microscopically it could 
be seen that the replacement of the carbonate of lime began by the 
silica appearing as minute points in the centre of the interspaces and of 
the schlerenchyma and not on their surface. — The Geologist , No. 78. 
Fossil Reindeer of Ireland . — Dr. Carte, the well-known curator of the 
Dublin Society’s Museum, has described the head and antlers of a splendid 
specimen lately found in the east of Ireland. It was discovered at a depth 
of about five feet from the surface, covered with turf and clay, and lay on 
marl and blue clay. Some other bones (ribs, &c.) were found associated 
with it, but unfortunately were not preserved. On comparing the speci- 
men described with the description of the dentition of existing reindeer, 
Dr. Carte found a perfect agreement in all respects. 
The so-called Devonian Formation in Ireland, — Another proof of the ac- 
curacy of the view, that the Irish sandstone is really carboniferous, has 
been afforded by Mr. Robert Scott. In a paper read some time since before 
the Geological Society of Dublin, this gentleman described some peculiar 
plants akin to the Lepidodendron, which he discovered in the sandstone- 
beds of the county Donegal. When about leaving the locality, he went 
into a quarry which had been recently opened, and found a large number 
of well-known carboniferous mollusca, such as Ortliis crenestria , Eaom- 
phalus calyx , &c., associated with the plants, and with other markings of 
