1. The igneous complex shows a remarkably complete series of types from ordinary biotite granite, through contaminated granite, intrusion gneisses, lit-par-lit aplitic intrusions, to aplites and muscovite pegmatites. 2. Pale-coloured reaction zones occur between xenoliths and the granitic masses. The evidence points to an exchange of material between xenoliths and the surrounding magma. 3. All the rocks are mylonized and it is suggested that the micro-structure can only be explained by movement during the final stages of crystallization. The folding is believed to have taken place in late Mesozoic times, as the area forms part of the Indo-Malayan Mountain System.

In a collection of Cretaceous fossils from Sinai obtained by Mr. T. Barron, F.G.S., which has been entrusted to me for determination by the Geological Survey of Egypt, I found several specimens of Linthia oblonga, a form of Echinoid which appears to have escaped the attention of modern writers on the palæontology of the Sinai Peninsula. In tracing the history of this species it is ascertained that d'Orbigny first figured and described it under the genus periaster during the year 1856 in the Pal. Française Terr. Crétacés Échinodermes, pl. 900, pp. 275, 276, where it is referred to as having been collected by M. Lefébvre at Mount Garèbe, near Suez, from rocks regarded as of Turonian age, in association with Radiolites.

The rock described in the following paper is, I believe, new to British petrology; and as the value of microscopical analysis is not yet fully recognized, a detailed description may be acceptable to many readers of the Geological Magazine. The specimens examined were kindly sent to me by Mr. J. A. Phillips, together with a chemical analysis, which, with his permission, is also added.

During the late Palaeozoic Era, a series of related marine strata dominated by multi-layer limestones were deposited in the southern North China Craton. In order to gain new insights into the systematic geochemistry of the carbonate succession of the representative formation (Taiyuan Formation), we examined 59 limestone samples collected from the Huaibei Coal Basin (HCB), with a view towards quantitatively determining the major and trace elements and stable isotope compositions. The data obtained can provide essential evidence for reconstruction of the depositional palaeo-environment and tectonic setting of the Taiyuan Formation. Both X-ray diffraction analyses and palaeoredox proxies (e.g. V/Cr, V/(V + Ni) and authigenic U) indicated that the limestone layers were deposited in an oxic–dysoxic zone, with calcite as the main component. Moreover, palaeomagnetic evidence provided support for the conclusion that these limestones were laid down within an epicontinental sea depositional environment under a warm or hot palaeoclimate during the transition between late Carboniferous and early Permian time. Additionally, evidence obtained from our analyses of trace and rare earth elements revealed that the tectonic setting of the Taiyuan Formation (L1–L5) in the HCB transited from an open ocean to a passive continental margin, thereby indicating that this transformation stemmed from the subduction closure of the northeastern Palaeotethys Ocean. The findings of this study would be of interest to those working on the upper Palaeozoic marine strata in the southern North China Craton.

In his monograph published in 1898, “Description des Ammonites des Couches à Peltoceras transversarium (Oxfordien Supérieur) de Trept (Isère),” A. de Riaz figured just under 100 ammonites, in 19 folio plates, of which 15 were devoted to the genus Perisphinctes. This work made known to geologists one of the most important Upper Oxfordian ammonite localities in the world, of special interest from its position in the Rhone valley, on the borderland between the Jura and the North-West European and Tethyan provinces. But in spite of the excellence of de Riaz’s photographs, their value is much reduced by the lack, in most cases, of either ventral views or whorl-sections, and by the failure to show septal sutures. Further, many of the photographs are more or less reduced, although stated to be of the natural size. The difficulty of identifying species from de Riaz’s work, therefore, is great; especially since for identification of members of the genus Perisphinctes a series of specimens at different growth-stages is usually indispensable.

Some of the nodules described are similar to trace-fossils described by Donaldson and Simpson and some ichnofossils described by Seilacher, but many appear to be structures produced by sedimentary boudinage. These do not seem to be a result of organic or concretionary action. It is suggested that currents deposited thin bioclastic calcarenites with interbeds of calcite silt, and that crinoids and coral patches developed only sporadically during deposition. A few scavengers reworked the bioclastic calcarenites and calcite silt layers thus forming the trace-fossils; many of the irregular-nodules, however, were probably formed by differential compaction and segregation in the calcite silt beds, and may represent sedimentary boudins, which are relicts of former layers.

For the convenience of students a first essay is here made to tabulate the European species of Etoblattina, the genus of Cockroaches most numerously represented in Carboniferous times, both in Europe and America. All the species described up to the present time are introduced, together with a new British species, a description of which is added. It will be seen that Deichmüller's var. Stelzneri (regarded by him as a form of E. flabellata) and Geinitz's var. dyadica (regarded by him as another form of the same) are considered distinct species; and that E. Rollei, Deichm., is not included, this last being more probably a Gerablattina. E. Peachii, Woodw., is also omitted, as the tegmina are undeveloped and therefore present no features which could admit it into the table. On the other hand, Blattina intermedia, Gold., formerly described by me as a Gerablattina, has had new light thrown upon it by Kliver, showing it to be an Etoblattina, and it is accordingly introduced here.

The plate containing the figures of the Polyzoa here described was prepared some years since by Mr. J. De Carle Sowerby, but has never been published, and no description of the fossils themselves has as yet been given. I have, therefore, been requested by my friend Mr. Woodward to draw one up; and the specimens have been kindly placed in my hands by Mr. N. T. Wetherell for the purpose.

The district to which attention is directed is situated in the centre and the most elevated part of Great Britain, which is thickly inhabited by an industrial population, many of whom are occupied in the working of Lead-mines. The Agent's house of the Beaumont Mines is at an elevation of 1400 feet above the sea, Kilhope Law rises 2206, while Crossfell (capped by Millstone Grit) attains a height of 2901 feet; Dufton Pike 1575 feet, and the Cheviots 2676 feet, the three counties of Northumberland, Cumberland, and Durham meeting at Rampgill Head; Durham, Yorkshire, and Westmoreland at Cauldron Snout. This elevated district, bounded on the east by the Tyne and Wear Coal-field, and on the west by the Whitehaven field, chiefly consists of the Carboniferous rocks, and presents varied physical features. The Penine chain, of which Crossfell is a part, extends from the borders of Scotland to Derbyshire, and from its westerly trend it forms the watershed, whence on the east side fall the waters of the Tyne, Wear, and the Tees. The country presents a varied aspect; to the east are broad low plains, succeeded by rolling hills and dreary elevated moors, followed by a more hilly and more rugged district, rising gradually on the east side of the Penine chain, and descending more steeply on the western side. These, together with the character of the rocks, influence the vegetation of the country, as shown by the “basset” of the Great Limestone, which forms almost the boundary of cultivated land and human habitations. Above it (as Mr. Sopwith observes) are more or less brown and dreary moors, and below it the hill-sides present a green surface and flowery meadows. The counties of Northumberland and Durham occupy about 2905 square miles, three quarters of which belong to the Carboniferous strata.