There is no positive evidence that any species of Nerita has been found in the Corallian Rocks of Yorkshire. It is true that Nerita lœvigata, Sow., is quoted by Phillips (G. Y. 1875, p. 258), but this fossil is well known to be a Monodonta, and it is doubtful if the exact form occurs on this horizon (see postea, Turbo Erinus). The same author also quotes “Nerita bullata” as occurring in the Coralline Oolite. I can find no reference to this species, and am at a loss to understand what fossil is intended to be thus designated. There are casts in the Coral Rag of North Grimston which may belong to a species of Nerita.

The hornblendic and associated rocks referred to in the above title cover a large part of the township of Cortland—the north-western of Westchester County, New York—between Croton River on the south and the parallel of Peekskill on the north, an area of about 25 square miles. They differ widely from the ordinary rocks of the county, and may well be designated the Cortland series. In fact, a series so remarkable in constitution, so diversified in kinds, and so full of geological interest, is seldom found together within so small an area anywhere on the globe. They reach the banks of the Hudson just south of the Peekskill railroad station, and at several points beyond; yet considerable portions of the shore region are occupied by narrow strips of common kinds of mica schist and gneiss, and occasionally limestone.

In his valedictory address as President of the Edinburgh Geological Society, at the close of the session 1879–80, Mr. Milne Home reviewed our recent paper on “The Glaciation of the Shetland Isles.” In his address he not only called in question our conclusions regarding the direction of the glaciation of these islands, but likewise referred to the discordance between the observations of Mr. C. W. Peach and ourselves. As much of this adverse criticism is based on a misconception of the real nature of the evidence bearing on the question, we are anxious to reply to some of the points in the address which might mislead those who are unacquainted with the subject.

Dr. Harvey B. Holl, F.G.S., has obtained many very perfect Silurian Entomostraca, and the late Lieutenant Henry Adrian Wyatt-Edgell got some good specimens from the Border Counties; and indeed Dr. Holl made an extensive and valuable collection from the limestones and shales of the neighbourhood of Malvern; nor has his collection been fully described and illustrated as yet, although several selected forms have been published in the “Annals of Natural History,” for December, 1865, and March, 1869. The remarkably rich collection of Silurian Entomostraca, however, brought together by Mr. J. Smith, of Kilwinning, contains some of the finest specimens yet seen; and the following notes on the places where they were obtained, and a list of the species (although provisional only, and not fully worked out), must be of interest, and probably of some practical value both to the geologists of Shropshire and to palæontologists in general.—T. R. Jones.

The Pacific and Atlantic Oceans far from the continental masses of land are studded with islands, which from their being solely volcanic and of an age going back no further than the Tertiary period, are considered to lend great support to the hypothesis of the permanence of the great oceans and continents. Those who hold these views question the right of New Zealand to be considered a truly oceanic island, though on what grounds has never been quite intelligible to me. Waiving this objection for the purpose of argumeat, I propose to discuss the bearings of the facts, as formulated by those who believe in the “approximate” immutability of land and sea.

The fact of the occurrence of Rhizodus at Wardie has been known for a good many years. It appears as an addendum to a list of fossils from that locality published in 1861 by the Geological Survey of Scotland. The specimens hitherto collected, however, have been the merest fragments, consisting principally of detached scales. Almost the first fossil obtained by the writer from Wardie was a badly-preserved fragment of the jaw of Rhizodus containing teeth. Since then a few fragments have occurred referable to the same genus. From the fact that these were invariably found along a particular part of the beach, the suspicion was gradually awakened that they had been derived from a common source. This suspicion was confirmed by the discovery of the remarkable specimen which is the subject of this notice. It was found lying in the direction of the strike of the beds, its head seawards, its tail to the shore.

During a recent visit to the tunnel now in course of construction beneath the Severn, I was taken by my friend Mr. Evan Jones, of University College, to examine a heap of Triassic pebbles and conglomerate, which had been exploited from the bottom of one of the shafts of the tunnel on the Portskewet side of the river. My attention was at once arrested by the striated and polished surfaces presented by many of the pebbles, and the results of the short examination I was able to make of them are embodied in the following note.