posal of any gentleman who would examine it. As regarded the idea that Harmotome usually occurred near the surface, he could give no information about the old mines, as they had been allowed to fall in; but most certainly the new specimens from Corrantee came from surf ace- workings. He was very glad to learn from Mr. Davis that Celestine had been found at the locality ; and he felt sure that careful search would double or treble the number of species known to occur there. With reference to what had fallen from Prof. Smyth, he could fully corroborate his observations as to the difference between the forms of Calcite associated with Harmotome at Andreasberg, in the Hartz, and at Strontian. It was remarkable that the general facies of the crystals of Calcite occurring at Corrantee, where the lode was entirely in the gneiss, differed from that usually observed in the old mines in Glen Strontian, which were partly in the granite and partly in the gneiss.
3. The probable Origin o/Deposits of " Loess " in North China and Eastern Asia. By Thomas W. Kingsmill, Esq.
(Communicated by Prof. Huxley, F.R.S., V.P.G.S.)
The Baron F. von Richthofen, in an able and interesting Report* of a journey undertaken under the auspices of the General Chamber of Commerce at Shanghai, alludes to the enormous area covered by the light-clay deposits of North China which he found at Chinkiang and Nanking, on the Yangtsze, and throughout almost the entire area of Honan and Shansi. Beyond the area mentioned by the Baron, they seem to extend into Shantung, to cover a large portion of Northern Anhwei, and, according to Pumpelli, to reach to North Chihli and Mongolia. The formation appears to answer in a great measure to the Kunkur formation of India, and in all probability extends far into the elevated plains of Central Asia. The name of " Loess," taken from the similar deposit in the valley of the Rhine, has been applied by the Baron von Richthofen to this formation ; and to it as a distinctive name, independent of any theory as to its formation, there does not seem any objection. So many different opinions have been held as to the origin of the Loess of the Rhine, that it is not surprising a similar difference should exist in regard to the vastly more extensive deposit of Eastern Asia. The latter, however, though almost identical in structure and composition with the former, differs widely from it in position, inasmuch as it is by no means confined to the valleys of the great rivers, but stretches almost uninterruptedly over the raised tablelands of Central and Northern China. Like the Rhine-Loess it contains a large percentage of earthy carbonates mixed with impalpable siliceous sand, and the ordinary constituents of clay. There is little to be added to
- No. III. Report on the Provinces of Honan and Shansi, fol. Shanghai,
1870.
