Miscellaneous. 191 Would Be Formed on the Other Side of The
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Miscellaneous. 191 would be formed on the other side of the Mollusc's track ; and the observer would at once pronounce the marks to be due to a gigantic Crossopodia, or fringe-footed Annelide.—Yours truly, A. BEYSON. Hawkhill,' Edinburgh. THE FALCONER MEMORIAL.—At a meeting held in London on the 25th of February, Sir Proby T. Cautley, K.C.B., in the chair, it was resolved to record the great loss sustained by Science in the early death of the late Dr. Hugh Falconer, and to perpetuate his name as a Naturalist and a Scholar by a suitable Memorial. It was unani- mously resolved that this Memorial should include a Marble Bust, to be placed in the rooms of one of the Scientific Societies, or else- where, in London, as might be determined. One of the objects in which the late Dr. Falconer took deep interest, up to the latest hour of Iiis life, was the foundation of Fellowships or Scholarships in the University of Edinburgh, to enable deserving students to prolong their studies beyond the usual academical period. It was therefore further resolved to collect funds for the purpose of founding, in that University, a Fellowship or Scholarship in Natural Science, tenable for a limited term of years, and to be called ' The Falconer Fellow- ship ' or ' Scholarship.' The Presidents of the Royal, Linnean, Geological, Geographical, and Ethnological Societies, and many other friends and admirers of Dr. Falconer, have formed a Committee for promoting the objects of the ' Falconer Memorial.' THE LATE EARTHQUAKE IN THE NORTH OP ENGLAND.—On Wednesday, the 15th of January, an earthquake of very unusual severity occurred in Morecambe Bay, and the neighbouring district of Furness. The following account of the more striking effects is abridged from a long article in the ' Barrow Herald ' of Feb. 18th : —About three minutes past 11 A.M., the people of Barrow were terror-stricken by an earthquake-wave which came in the direction of Salthouse Marsh, and passed along towards Hindpool, where it would appear to have terminated. So far as yet known, the vibra- tion would appear to have commenced at Mickle Island in More- cambe Bay, where it threw up large volumes of sand and stones to the height of 5 or 6 feet. Two distinct shocks were felt there, fol- lowing each other at an interval of five minutes. Roa Island, close by, suffered severely. At the Pier Hotel the walls and ceilings were cracked, and bottles, plates, &c, were thrown down. The cellar seems to have escaped injury. Great fissures were made in the earth 300 yards from the hotel, towards the railway-embank- ment. At Westfield, Pease Holmes, and Rampside (on the coast), which seems to have suffered most, walls, ceilings, roofs, and chim- neys of houses and outbuildings were fissured or severely injured by the shocks: indeed, there are many instances of cracked, bulging, and fallen walls and chimneys. Furniture was thrown down ; and in 192 Miscellaneous. one case at least, the flagstones in the lower rooms were broken and thrown up. At Furness Abbey, the bells of the hotel rang wilh violence. At Hawcoat, a buzzing noise was heard. The shock, on reaching the shore of Morecambe Bay, would appear to have branched off in two directions,—the one towards Barrow, and the other towards Furness Abbey and Dalton. In Salthouse Marsh it was very severe. Some gentlemen who were standing on the para- pet in front of the Barrow Railway-station were nearly thrown down by the rocking of the flagstones beneath their feet. All along the Strand the bells rang in the houses, and the reporter of the newspaper was thrown from his desk against the wall. At Barrow there seemed to be two distinct waves, accompanied by a loud rum- bling sound, which lasted about half a minute. All the vessels in the harbour were made to roll and pitch through the severity of the shock. QThe writer of the account in the ' Barrow Herald ' states that an earthquake occurred at Ambleside in 1780, by which two clefts were produced. One of them was very deep, and 200 feet in length; it nearly swallowed up six houses and several cattle. I have carefully examined, in company with local geologists, a number of large fissures on each side of the valley between Whitehaveu and St. Bees, which would seem to admit of no other explanation than an earthquake of comparatively recent occurrence. The tourist on the railway can easily distinguish them by the stripes of wood under which they lie concealed.]—D. M. RECENT ACCOUNTS from Mexico report the discovery of valuable treasures in that country. Baron de Morner, a Swede, has found a deposit of anthracite of excellent quality in the Guerrero district. Concessions have been granted of a layer of bitumen and two coal- seams in the Arrondissement of Iturbide; of a petroleum-well near Tenancingo; and of a vein of cinnabar at Sultepec. Two Frenchmen, MM. Favre and Garibel, are about to establish iron-mines in the district of Chaleo, where the railway-works are being carried on with great activity.—' Reader? CONGRESS OF DELEGATES OF THE FRENCH LEARNED SOCIETIES. —M. A. de Caumont, the Director of ' The Institute of the Pro- vinces,' has issued circulars to the Presidents of the several Learned Societies of France, praying the appointment of six delegates from each to meet in convocation at Paris on the 20th of April. The questions which will be submitted for discussion this year, as usual, will bear on Agriculture, Geology, Statistics, Archeology, and Art.—R. T. THE PALJEONTOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. — Dr. P. Martin Duncan, Sec. Geol. Soc. (8, Belmont, Lee, S.E.), being engaged in preparing an Appendix to MM. Edwards and Haimes' British Fossil Cora's ; and Mr. Henry Woodward (144, Leighton Road, N.W.) having also undertaken to prepare a Monograph of Palaaozoic Crustacea, of the order Eurypterida, for this Society; they beg to request the kind assistance of Geologists and Palaeontologists, and private Collectors generally throughout the country, in forwarding their labours, either by the communication of information as to localities, or by the offer of the loan of specimens for examination, &c..