¹ All Dr. Atherstone's information (as may he seen hy a reference to his article in the May Number, pp. 208–213), is obtained from the statements made hy Dutch Boers, natives, farm-labourers, women, and children; and he does not appear in any single instance to have visited any reputed diamond region, so that at present we are no nearer than we were last year to the actual locality whence the diamonds announced were derived.—J.R.G.

² Mr. Sorby's recent paper, read before the Royal Society, suggests quite a new theory as to the formation of diamonds, and deserves careful attention; but little is known of the origin of diamonds or their parent rock, so that we must not entirely put aside the old theory for the new.—J.R.G.