We do not propose to enter into the questions of the source whence the pebbles of the Chesil Beach are derived, nor of the way in which they are heaped up; these and other like matters having been almost exhaustively treated by Mr. J. Coode, to whose paper we refer the reader for a detailed account of the bank. The subject with which we propose to deal is simply the cause of the formation pf a long shingle-bank, separated from the mainland by a strip of water. This has not been noticed at length by any writer, as far as we know, though three theories of the origin of the bank have been brought forward.

In 1850, Mr. H. W. Bristow recorded, on sheet 17 of the Geological Survey Map, the existence of “conglomerate” and “recent stone” at Portland Bill.—(See Plate XIV. herewith.)

A Special interest has always attached itself in this country to the remains of that rare and bizarre carnivor, the Sabre-toothed tiger. For as yet it has only been indicated to us on this side of the Channel by the most fragmentary and unique specimens —the two teeth, incisor and canine, obtained by the Rev. Mr. MacEnery, from Kent's Hole, Torquay, the authenticity of which have even been doubted. Whilst, however, palæontologists have pretty generally come to the conclusion that these two isolated teeth are really the remains of a Devon Sabre-tooth, no further specimens have, I believe, been recorded from other caverns in this country.

Geology.—Stated roughly, the geology of the Department of Finistère may be said to consist of two masses of granite, one to the north and one to the south, enclosing between them nearly the whole of the sedimentary rocks of the district. These consist of Cambrian slates and gneiss, Lower, Middle, and Upper Silurian slates and grits, and very small and unimportant patches of Upper Carboniferous shales. The entire mass of these deposits has an east and west direction, and occupies the central part of the Department.

Attention having been drawn of late to the “Northampton Sand” by the able papers of Mr. George Maw and Mr. Judd, and by the discussions which arose upon them, and to the Oolitic beds of Northamptonshire generally, by the too concentrated article (so rich in information) by Professor Morris, in the Geological Magazine for March, and by a letter from the Rev. P. B. Brodie elicited thereby in the May number, I venture to offer the following provisional statement as to the Oolitic strata in the neighbourhood of Northampton, and the order in which they occur, purposing at some future time to write more fully upon them, to enumerate the palæontological contents of each bed, and to endeavour to correlate the Northampton series with those occurring in the more northerly parts of the county and around Stamford.