I venture to submit the subjoined account of the mode of occurrence of gold in certain localities in the Transvaal Gold-field, in the hope that it may prove of interest to some of your readers.

In the June Number of the Geological Magazine an abstract is given of a paper on Cone-in-cone, read by Mr. John Young before the Geological Society of Glasgow, in which he advances the theory that this peculiar structure is caused by the escape of gases.

Since the latter end of 1883 up to the present time (Sept. 1885) the inhabitants of certain portions of the town of Sunderland have been much disturbed by a series of small but distinctly sensible earth-shakes, which have caused considerable discussion in the local press and elsewhere. These shocks were chiefly felt in that quarter of the town known as the Tunstall Road, but were not absolutely limited to that locality. They were accompanied by rumblings— sometimes dull but often loud—by the rattling of crockery and furniture, and frequently by very distinct shakes of the entire framework of buildings. Often the shocks have, at night, waked up and terrified the sleeping inhabitants.

Having had placed in my hands by Prof. T. Rupert Jones (who has already communicated some notes on Sarsen Stones to your pages, Vols. for 1875 and 1876) some microscopic preparation of plant-remains found in Sarsen Stones from Wiltshire, belonging to Mr. Thos. Codrington, F.G.S., I would be glad to state in a sentence or two the results of my examination.

AS one of your reviewers now some years ago criticized unfavourably the method of representing geological structure in maps by contour lines upon a bed of coal or other rock, and as, like him, most geologists are not yet practically familiar with the method, useful though it be, and nobody that might be thought wholly unbiassed has replied in your pages to his attacks, it may not be improper to call your attention to the unprejudiced opinion and explanation of Mr. Charles A. Ashburner, the geologist in charge of the survey of the anthracite region, under the Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, who has up to this time published 26 large sheets of most elaborate maps and sections with one volume of text. After careful examination before adopting the method and after using it several years he writes of it in the report (page 8) as follows:—

Before offering a short account of the Struthious, or Ostrich-like Birds, commonly called “Wingless Birds,”I propose to say a few words about Birdsas a class. Every one who has paid attention to the anatomy Birds has been struck by the marvellous uniformity of the Class.

Every one who has paid attention to the anatomy of Birds has been struck by the marvellous uniformity of the Class. Embracing as it does almost countless numbers of species, these are found upon examination to pass insensibly, by the most delicate differences, the one into the other, so that it often is most difficult to distinguish genera and species.

During recent years, much attention has been directed to the importance of the Rhombic Pyroxenes (Enstatites) as rock-forming minerals. In 1879 Prof. Fouqué showed that hypersthene is a common mineral in the Santorin lavas, and in 1883 Mr. Whitman Cross demonstrated that there exists a large and important class of andesites, distinguished by the presence in them of the same mineral hypersthene. Mr. Teall, in the pages of this Magazine, has pointed out that similar lavas exist in this country, which are undoubtedly of pre-Tertiary age; and, now that the attention of geologists has been very generally drawn to the subject, the same rocks have been recognized by many observers in all parts of the globe.