Although Rhætic rocks have already been noticed at one or two points in Leicestershire, viz. at Leicester by Mr. W. J. Harrison and between Barrow and Sileby by Mr. Etheridge, the complete sequence of this series has not hitherto been observed in that country. Very recently our attention has been directed to a section at Wigston, near Leicester, which exhibits, not only the whole thickness of these beds, but also clearly shows their relationship to the overlying Lias and underlying Triassic rocks, and which for an inland section must therefore be considered as quite unique in this country.

The phenomenon of “Slickensides” is considered to occur only in connexion with faulting, and it has frequently happened that another name has been conferred upon it when not accompanied by signs of fracture; but some recent observations have led me to doubt the propriety of making such a distinction.

In the interesting description of a faulted slate (Geol. Mag. Jan. 1884, p. 1) by Mr. J. J. Harris Teall, the writer appears to consider that all faults are due to up-and-down movements; while he seems to ignore the horizontal or transverse heaves, that is, movement of the strata from side to side. In the newer strata, which are not much moved from their original horizontal position, such as those of the South Staffordshire Coalfield, or of the Weald, the majority of the dislocations appear to be due to upward or downward movement; but this is not the case among the older contorted and crumpled rocks, where in general the horizontal heaves usually equal, if they do not exceed, the up-and-down faults in number. Consequently, while reverse faults are rare in nearly horizontal rocks, they are not uncommon among the contorted and crumpled strata.

The true test of the classification adopted for European sedimentary formations is to endeavour to apply it in distant parts of the earth. It will then be seen whether the classification in question is real, or whether it is founded on local and accidental peculiarities of the rocks in a particular region.

The Entomostraca that form the subject of the following remarks are from the Carboniferous rocks of Nova Scotia, and were submitted to us for examination, at different times, by Principal Dr. J. W. Dawson, C.M.G., F.R.S., of McGill College, Montreal.

The discoveries and investigations of palæontologists touching the question of ambulatory and branchigerous appendages of the Trilobites have been entirely ignored by many of the ablest workers in the science. The important evidence which Mr. Billings produced was unsatisfactory to both Dana and Verrill. In 1881, after many years of untiring labour, Mr. C. D. Walcott (in the “Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge College”) furnished most conclusive proof of the existence of appendages to the cephalic, thoracic, and abdominal divisions of Calymene, Ceraurus, and Acidaspis. He says: “the discoveries have been received in about the same manner” as those of Billings and others—with incredulity, and as “having little value.”

In walking along a stretch of very fine smooth sandy shore at Blundellsands, I was very much struck at finding a portion of it studded over with numerous bosses of sand from ½ in. to 3 inches in diameter. Wondering what could be the cause of this singular phenomenon, I dissected some of them with my knife, and found in all cases a cavity below corresponding in extent and height to the external form of the boss or tumescence. The perfect regularity and smoothness of these protuberances was very remarkable; they appeared to be in all cases segments of spheres connected with the plane of the shore by reflex spherical curves. The largest I dissected measured 3 inches in diameter rising half an inch. The thickness of the dome was ½ an inch and the cavity below was 3 inch diameter also. The following is a section—

Although the Carboniferous Trilobites are but few in number, and are all included in four genera, they have not escaped the usual trouble arising from incorrect determinations.

One of these occurred in reference to Phillipsia gemmulifera. Phillips, sp., better known by the name of “Phillipsia pustulata,” Schlotheim species, a name first applied to this form by Professor de Koninck in 1842–44 (see Descr. Anim. Foss. Terr. Carbonif. de Belgique, p, 603, tab. liii. fig. 5).

This Trilobite, first known by a pygidium only, was very carefully figured in " Brongniart′s and Desmarest′s Histoire Naturelle des Crust. Foss. 1823, p. 145, pl. iv. fig. 12, 1822," where it is called “Asaphus” from the black limestone in the environs of Dublin.

It was next figured by Phillips in his Geology of Yorkshire, 1836, vol. ii. pl. xxii. fig. 11, p. 240, who named it Asaphus gemmuliferus.

Buckland again repeats the figure later in the same year, and follows Phillips′s name of A. gemmuliferus.

In my former Paper (see Geological Magazine, 1884, Decade III. Vol. I. pp. 73–78) I endeavoured to show that as the elevation of mountain-ranges caused cold, so their subsidence in long periods of time was the cause of a warm temperature.