Having some time since been favoured by Mr. and Mrs. Coomáraswámy (Miss Ethel M. Partridge) and Mr. Joseph G. Hamling, F.G.S., of Barnstaple, with the loan of their collections of Culm Trilobites from Coombe Wood, etc., near Barnstaple, I feel it incumbent to add a few notes to those already published by me in the Appendix to Messrs. Hinde & Howard Fox's paper (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., 1895, vol. li, pp. 646–649, pl. xxviii, figs. 1–8).

Several Arachnida allied to Eophrynus prestvicii have been discovered in beds of Carboniferous age. Of these the only species known to me as belonging unquestionably to the genus Eophrynus that has been properly described and figured is the form from Silesia named Eophrynus (in error written Euphrynus) salmi by Stur. The type is 27 mm. in total length, the prosoma being 8 long and the opisthosoma 19 long and 14 wide. The last-named region is thus considerably narrower in relation to its length than it is in E. prestvicii. Apart from this, it is noticeable that the admedian dorsal tubercles, except on the second and third terga, are much smaller than the laterals.

A block of basalt, bearing an ancient inscription in a Semitic language, was discovered in 1868 at Dhiban (the Dibon of Scripture) by the Rev. F. A. Klein, of the Jerusalem Mission Society. This block, which measured 3′ 10″ × 2′ 0″ × 1′ 2·5″, proved on examination to have been erected by Mesha, King of Moab about 890 b.c., and to refer to the war mentioned in 2 Kings iii. A series of blunders on the part of those anxious to obtain this interesting relic caused a quarrel about ownership between two Arab tribes, and one of them, to spite the other, broke it in pieces. These, however, were obtained by the French Consul in Palestine, and sent to Paris, where they were fitted together so far as possible, and the repaired stone is now in the Louvre Museum. The late Professor E. H. Palmer, on a visit to Dhiban in 1870, picked up a small fragment from those still lying on the spot, which he gave to me on his return to England. The constant pressure of other work has hitherto prevented me from examining the specimen, and I have only recently had a slice prepared. The largest face of the fragment measures about 3″ × 2·5″, but the thickest part hardly exceeds half an inch. The original smoothed surface of the stone, possibly including part of a letter, may be seen on one of the sloping sides.

That the Upper Cretaceous deposits overlap those of the Lower Cretaceous series, and extend over much larger areas throughout the whole of western and central Europe, are facts which have long been familiar to all European geologists. There has, however, been a tendency, especially in France, to imagine that the subsidence to which the overlap is due took place at one particular epoch, namely, the Cenomanian, and that this subsidence was so rapid and profound that it caused the Upper Cretaceous Series to be sharply marked off from the subjacent strata by the so-called ‘Cenomanian transgression.’

It would be difficult after the closest investigation to add much to the exhaustive list of species given in the excellent paper on this subject which was read by Mr. Swanston before the Belfast Naturalists Field Club some twenty-five years ago. In that paper reference is made to the classification by the Geological Survey of the rocks of the district, under the general heading of Lower Silurian. Subsequently to the publication of the maps of the area, the information as to the Silurian fauna was greatly extended by the labours of Professor Lapworth and Mr. Swanston, to whom science is so largely indebted. The completion of the one-inch Geological Map of Ireland enabled the revision of work done in the earlier stages of the Survey's existence to be undertaken, and in this revision the North-East Silurians were amongst the first dealt with, and I was detailed to search the most promising localities for fossils, and to zone the beds in which they might occur.

The literature dealing with Irish mineralogy is rather extensive, much more so than might be at first thought, but it is of such a scattered nature that to obtain at present anything like a complete account of the minerals which occur in this country, or in any particular portion of it, would involve much time and labour in hunting up the publications containing the various records. The need of some authentic work of reference on the subject, revised to date, was often felt by the writer, who some years ago set to work to collect together all the data available, both from published records and by means of a personal examination of such public and private collections of minerals in this country as he could gain access to.

In the Summer of 1901 my friend Mr. Edward Whymper, the well-known traveller, mountain explorer, and writer, paid a visit to the watershed of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, and during a stay at Field, the highest pass reached on the Canadian and Pacific Railroad, he examined the slopes of Mount Stephen, and at a height of 6,000 feet on its northern side found numerous Trilobites, and brought home a considerable collection.

Kesh, or as it is locally spelled ‘Keash,’ is fifteen miles south of the town of Sligo, and consists of a few scattered buildings, with farms about them. The spot is at the foot of Keishcorran Mountain, an isolated mass of Carboniferous Limestone which rises to 1,183 feet ; and the country which extends south and west from this mountain for miles from Kesh presents an array of gravel eskers and elongated mounds of glacial material, with here and there a small lake or marsh in the hollows between them. Sprinklings of erratic boulders and stones occur up to the very summit of the mountain. These consist principally of red sand-stone, with a few of yellow sandstone and of dyke rocks. It is believed that these rocks could be found in place on the next hill range to the south and south-east of Kesh, around Lough Key, but this point has not been definitely established. Though no continuous deposit of drift was seen on the mountain, these erratic blocks are sufficient to show that it has been overwhelmed by ice.

The author has been engaged during occasional visits to the Vale of Eden in the study of the well-known Brockram conglomerates which form so conspicuous an element in the Poikilitic series of the district. Tentative results obtained five or six years ago have been fully confirmed by later observations, and though the investigation is not quite complete, the author regards the present occasion as an opportune one for presenting a preliminary statement of views which have already obtained some currency by annual demonstrations in the field to scientific societies of the North of England.

The correct sequence of the Inferior Oolite deposits at this locality has always been a matter of uncertainty. This is due partly to the disturbed state of the oolite, partly to the scarcity of fossils. On Bredon Hill only the four lowest subdivisions of the Inferior Oolite series are preserved. In the Cotteswold Hills around Cheltenham they are, in descending order, the Lower Freestone, Pea - grit, Lower Limestone, and sandy beds characterized by a very distinctive ammonite, Tmetoceras scissum — the last being the sandy ferruginous limestones of Witchell. Professor Hull did not recognize the Pea-grit at Bredon, but stated that its most northern extension was at Notting Hill. In 1863, however, Dr. Holl rectified this error, and remarked that its non-existence here was only true as regards its pisolitic structure. Above Elmley Lodge that author noticed masses of limestone crowded with fragments of the spines and plates of Echinoderms, as well as numerous specimens of Bryozoa, and Terebratula plicata. Below the brow of the eastern extremity of the hill, above Ashton-under-Hill, Dr. Holl obtained Rhynchonella cynocephala in blocks of hard limestone, but was unable to find the bed in sitû or to offer any suggestion as to its probable stratigraphical position.