Diamond Region.—The diamond-bearing region in South Africa, as at present known, is chiefly within the valley ofthe Vaal River and some of its tributaries (as the Modder and the Vet); but it is known also to extend down the Orange (Gariep) Valley for a few miles after the junction of its two great branches, the Ky Gariep (Vaal) and the Nu Gariep (CradockRiver). Bloemhof on the Vaal, two hours (12 miles) south-west of Potscherfstroom (Trans-vaal), is the reported locality ofthe most northern diamond-find. Below, for a distance of 370 miles, the plain has yielded diamonds, at several places, on both sides of the river, at Hebron, Klipdrift (near Pniel), Zitzikammsi, Vogelstmis Pan, Sitlacomie's Village, Sikoneli's Village, Nicholson's Farm, Kalk Farm (near Litkatlong), etc.; and on the south side of tie Orange River, they have been found some miles north-west of Hopetown, at Probeerfontein, Roodekop, David's Pan, etc. Diamondsare also said to have been found a few miles east of Fauresmith, on a branch of the Modder, about 100 miles south by east of Litkatlong; also a few miles south of Winburg (also in the Orange River Free State), in the upper drainage of the Vet River, about 80 miles from the Vaal.

We are indebted for the material from which the following notes have been compiled to Principal Dawson, of Montreal, and to the Secretary of the Portland Society of Natural History, to whom our best thanks are due for the opportunity thus afforded us of comparing the fossils of the North American Clay Beds with those of our own country. By carefully washing theclays kindly forwarded to us, we have obtained many specimens in excellent condition for examination.

The upper portion of the sections in these pits usually exhibits from a foot to a foot and a half of soil, which I call, after Mr. Trimmer, “Warp.” In this district it is unusually full of land-shells of recent species. Nevertheless, the assemblage is not exactly what one meets with living on the spot. The most common Helix of the warp is H. arbustorum. This species occurs alive in the neighbourhood, but it can scarcely be called common. Helix nemoralis is common in the warp and also alive. Helix aspersa is by no means common in the warp, but it is common alive. Cyclostoma elegans is very common in the warp, but I have not seen it alive in this neighbourhood. It is exceedingly likely that drainage and cultivation may have been sufficient to have wrought these changes. At the base of the warp I have found an oyster-shell, which looks as if it had been broken at the edge to get it open.

In the Geological Magazine, Vol. VII., p. 260, PI. VII., Figs. 2–5, we published a description, by Prof. de Koninck, of a new British Cystidean, which the author named Placocystites Forbesianus. We called attention in a footnote (op. cit., p. 261) to the probability of Prof. de Koninck's Cystidean being the same as Mr. Billings's Ateleocystites Huxleyi; but as we had not seen the Canadian specimen upon which the genus was founded, we abstained from speaking very positively as to their identity. We, however, prepared a sketch of Placocystites, which we forwarded by Sir William Logan, who kindly undertook to submit it to Mr. Billings, in order to obtain his opinion thereon. We have been favoured with the subjoined letter, which has, however, been accidentally mislaid, and so for a time delayed in publication, for which we beg to apologize.