These notes on fossil Phyllopods refer to some interesting specimens, mostly of Palæozoic age, which have come to hand since the publication of Part II. of our “Monograph of the British Palæozoic Phyllopoda” (Palæontographical Society), 1892.

Figs. 1 and 2 represent Estheriœ from the upper part of the great Karoo Formation of South Africa. Figs. 3 and 4 are exposed on a piece of Moffat shale from Dumfries-shire; and, Fig. 3

A virtually complete Jurassic sequence recently drilled in north Lincolnshire is considered in a regional context. Liassic thicknesses and facies are largely unexceptional. The Frodingham and Pecten Ironstones are relatively thin and sandy, but the Marlstone Rock Bed is thicker and more ferruginous than elsewhere in the region. The Inferior Oolite is exceptionally thick and exhibits strong deltaic influence; equivalents of the Gristhorpe Member and Scarborough Formation of Yorkshire may be present. The Great Oolite was deposited in coastal-lacustrine-deltaic environments, more proximal than to the south or east. Thin Kellaways Clay separates the argillaceous Cornbrash from the Kellaways Sand. The organic-rich Lower Oxford Clay is thin owing to a basal non-sequence whilst the Upper Oxford Clay is condensed and less organic than in the East Midlands. The regressive West Walton Beds are followed by very thick Ampthill and Kimmeridge Clay sections beneath the Spilsby Sandstone. Regional thickness and facies analysis records the behaviour of the Market Weighton Block and reveals the influence of the Pennine High as both a positive tectonic feature and an occasionally active sediment source.

Recently a mechanism allowing the escape of the heat generated by radioactivity in the basaltic under-crust of the earth has been proposed by Dr. Holmes, and a very similar one by Dr. Joly has gained wide attention. In these theories the excess heat generated by radioactive changes is supposed to be dissipated by an alternate fusion and solidification of the basaltic magmas assumed to make up the lower levels of the outer crust, the heat escaping through the floor of the oceans during so long a period of time that while, in the aggregate, the amount of heat thus passed out is very great, yet at no time is the temperature of the oceans sensibly affected.

Untwinned albite (Ab99.4An0.4Or0.2) grains, forming during diagenesis and very low-grade metamorphism, are common in sandstones of the Brøttum Formation (Upper Proterozoic) in the Sparagmite Region of southern Norway. These untwinned albite grains are usually clouded by vacuoles and tiny inclusions which are mostly made of carbonaceous material (although some albite grains also contain some combination of carbonates, quartz, phengite, chlorite, pyrite, halite and anatase). The presence of microcline grains replaced partly by albite indicates that the albite grains are pseudomorphs after microcline. Chessboard albite which occurs in the Brøttum Formation is suggested to be detrital in origin.

The losses of their constituents during the decompositions of the rocks.— As shown in this paper the analyses of the rocks and of their decomposition-products do not indicate the extent of the degradation which has taken place. To ascertain this it is necessary to re-calculate the analytical figures so that their proportions are comparable to those of one of the constituents which is assumed to have remained unchanged. The structures of the Surinam and the British Gruiana bauxitic laterite show clearly that, contrary to what is not unfrequently assumed, alumina cannot be regarded as a static component in rocks and their decomposition-products. It is evidently under condition of lateritization capable of entering into solution, transference from place to place, and redeposition in the form of alumina hydrate where conditions are favourable. The constituent which appears to be the most stable under conditions of weathering is titanium oxide, especially that present as ilmenite. But unfortunately as a rule it is present in such low proportions in rocks and in their residuary products that, when taken as the static constituent, errors in analysis of low value are productive of variations of wide extent in the results calculated on them.

The object of the present short paper is to draw attention to what A seems to the writer to be a rather important omission in most recent discussions of the origin and nature of granite. In these discussions the word granite or almost equally often the word granodiorite are used as if it was to be assumed that all granites are alike and all granodiorites alike. In what follows, for the sake of brevity, all will be called granites, as a general class-name, without discriminating each time on small points of petrographical difference. Now all granites are not alike, by any means. They show wide variations, not so much in their main components of quartz, felspar, and ferro-magnesian minerals (the essential minerals, according to definition), but in their minor constituents and accessory minerals and still more in some of their accompanying phenomena. By this last expression is intended not so much their metamorphic effects, in the narrow sense of the word, but what is commonly called pneumatolysis, and still more importantly, the accompanying ore-deposits, if indeed it is possible to discriminate between these two categories.

Tholeiitic rocks, which are well represented in the igneous history of the African Continent, occur as a dyke and related flow found by the writer in the north-east corner of Uganda. They outcrop in an area which is notable mainly for alkaline intrusions and lavas, so a brief attempt is made to explain the relationships and origins of the rocks in this limited area of the continent.

We are now in a position to indicate the succession of geological events in Egypt, and to compare them with those of neigh-bouring regions.

As the Carboniferous rocks form a framework around the Silurian mountain country, so do the Permian rocks for considerable distances lie as an outer flat and bevelled edge to the slightly raised Carboniferous frame, the edge indeed overlapping the frame itself along the west coast-line between St. Bee's Head and the Duddon Estuary.

The character, horizon, and extent of ten kaolin tonsteins occurring in the Westphalian strata of the North Staffordshire Coalfield are described, and four additional horizons considered worthy of further study, when this is possible, are noted. The value of these kaolin tonsteins in correlation, and the possibility that they may fall into two groups having different origins, is briefly discussed.

Among the collections now in Cairo I find several new mammals, the remains of which have been collected by Mr. Beadnell, for the most part during the last few months. Brief descriptions of these new forms are now given in order that the names may be included in the lists in Mr. Beadnell's forthcoming report on the geology of the Fayûm area.

Pterodon macrognathus, sp. nov.

This creodont is known from the nearly complete left ramus of the mandible. The last molar, the first premolar, and the incisors are represented by the alveoli only, but the other teeth, with the exception of the canine, the crown of which is broken off, are in fairly good condition. The mandible is long and narrow from above downwards, the distance between the last tooth and the condyle being remarkably great. The transversely elongated cylindrical condyle is about on a level with the alveolar border, and is separated from the prominent angle by a deep notch; the coronoid region is imperfect.

We are glad to intróduce to our readers a portrait and some account of the life-work of the distinguished Palæontologist to the Geological Survey of Canada, who has now held the office for thirty years.