I Contributed a paper to the April number of the Geological Magazine for 1900 on the geology and fossils of the Devonian rocks on the north coast of Cornwall, south of the River Camel. In the present communication I propose to notice a series of fossils which I have lately obtained from the slaty rocks of Devonian age in the parish of St. Minver on the north of the Camel, which, from Trewornan, one mile north of Wadebridge, for the lower five miles of its course as river and estuary, forms the southern and south-western boundary of this parish. The open sea-coast forms its northern and north-western boundary, extending from the easterly limit at the Cove of Port Quin, the site of an old but now forsaken fishing village, about eight miles south-west of King Arthur's Castle, Tintagel, westwards round the basaltic cliffs of Pentire Head, and thence in a southerly direction to the estuary of the Camel.

In September of last year I received from Mr. Howard Fox, F.G.S., of Falmouth, nine specimens of Trilobites for the purpose of determination and description. They are all more or less fragmentary, and distorted by slaty cleavage, as is usually the case with fossils from these Devonian Slates of Cornwall and Devon, reminding one of the distorted Trilobites and Starfishes from the Lower Devonian Slates of Bundenbach, Germany.

The following descriptions are based upon fossils sent to me for determination by Mr. Howard Fox, F.G.S. Excepting the specimen which is compared with Orthoceras hercynicum and is marked “E. of Cant Cove,” the fossils are from Cant Hill, St. Minver, N. Cornwall.

At the end of the descriptions are added notes upon some very imperfect fossils which Mr. Fox has collected from other localities in St. Minver.

The specimen (Fig. 6), kindly entrusted to me for description by Mr. Howard Fox, consists of the oral skeleton surrounded by portions of the disc and of portions of the five rays, all seen from what is believed to be the ventral or actinal surface, and lying on a fragment of the dark slate of the locality, Epphaven. The skeletal parts being preserved in pyrites, it has proved possible to develop the specimen slightly by washing with weak hydrofluoric acid and then brushing with a soft brush. The specimen is, however, so minute and delicate that this process could not be carried very far.

Great interest has been excited, not only in the Transvaal, but throughout the world, by the discovery at the Premier Mine, on Wednesday, the 25th January, 1905, of the largest diamond hitherto known. The stone was found by Mr. Wells, Surface Manager, in the yellow ground about 18 feet from the surface, a brilliant flash of light from a projecting corner having caught his attention. After a preliminary cleaning it weighs 3,024¾ carats. According to Gardner Williams the South African carat is equivalent to 3.174 grains; consequently the diamond weighs 9600.5 grains troy or 1.37 lbs. avoirdupois. Through the courtesy of the Directors of the Company, we have been enabled to make an examination of the stone, with the following result:—Roughly speaking, it measures. 4 by 2½12 by 2 inches; but its size and shape will be best realized by reference to the photographs reproduced on Plates VII and VIII, which represent the diamond from four different points of view and its actual size. These beautiful photographs were taken by Mr. E. H. V. Melvill for the purposes of this description. The stone is bounded by eight surfaces, four of which are faces of the original crystal, and will be referred to in this description under the letters A, B, C, D, and four are cleavage surfaces, the cleavage being of course parallel to the face of the octahedron. In the following description these cleavage surfaces are referred to under the letters E, F, G, H. They are distinguished from the original octahedral faces by greater regularity and smoothness.

The family of Trilobites termed Phacopidæ has been defined by Beecher as follows:—“Glabella tumid, widest in front. Free cheeks continuous, united anteriorly. Suture extending from in front of the genal angles inward to the eyes, and thence forward around the glabella. Eyes generally large, always with distinct facets, schizochroal. Thorax of eleven segments with grooved pleura. Pygidium usually large and of many segments; limb ribbed; margin entire or dentate.”