bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On some Tertiary Beds in the Island of San Domingo: from Notes by J. S. Heniker, Esq., with Remarks on the Fossils
Authors: Moore J. Carrick
Published: October 2009

I
n
the north-eastern part of the island of San Domingo, at an average distance of about 30 miles from the sea, runs a range of mountains with an east and west direction, consisting of mica schist. Between this range and the northern sea an extensive tertiary formation occurs, being about 30 miles broad, and at least 100 miles in length from east to west. It is intersected by several rivers, the principal of which is the Yaqui, on which stands the town of San Jago, distant from the sea about 20 miles, and elevated more than 2000 feet above it. The rivers have cut narrow channels through the strata, which are thus exposed in perpendicular cliffs often 200 feet high. These cliffs near the bottom consist of a bluish sandy shale, whence Mr. Heniker extracted the greater part of the fossils shortly to be mentioned. Higher up the beds become more argillaceous, and contain but few shells, with some corals. This formation is overlaid conformably by tufaceous limestone, which has suffered much denudation, and forms a low range of arid hills, about 500 feet high, resembling chalk downs in their rounded outline, and scantily covered by a dwarfish vegetation. At the foot of these hills, in loose sand covering the shelly deposits, Mr. Heniker found fishes' teeth. These formations dip gently to the N.N.W., and intermediate between them and the sea a red sandstone is found, dipping also to the N.N.W., but at a much more considerable angle. Mr. Heniker
Observations on the Silurian Strata of the South-East of Scotland
Authors: Nicol James
Published: October 2009

D
uring
a visit to the south of Scotland last autumn I collected some fossils from the older rocks of that district, which appear interesting as adding another link to the chain of evidence by which the true age of these deposits may he ascertained. Taken in connection with the fossils formerly noticed* and with those procured by Mr. Moore in Wigtonshire†, they may be regarded as rendering the Lower Silurian age of one part of these beds almost certain, so that the connection of the rocks and mountain-chains of this portion of Britain with those of other countries may now be so far traced out.

The fossils which Mr. Salter last year kindly determined were chiefly procured from the only bed of limestone known in the Silurian rocks of the south-east of Scotland. My hopes of obtaining better or more characteristic specimens from that locality were disappointed, and not even a single new form was discovered after a careful search. Indeed, the highly crystalline texture of the limestone, probably occasioned by a mass of trap with which it is always associated, renders it very improbable that this bed will ever add much to our knowledge of the beings existing in the seas in which it was deposited.

My researches in the slate rocks were more successful, especially in the Grieston quarry near Traquair. In this place the rocks consist of clay-slate, sometimes passing into a fine greywacke, and are wrought for a coarse kind of roofing-slate. The strata are thin
Remarks on the Genus
Nerinæa
, with an Account of the Species found in Portugal
Authors: Sharpe Daniel
Published: October 2009

T
he
genus
Nériné
was proposed by M. Defrance, in the ‘Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles,’ for certain species of turreted univalves found among the oolites, distinguished by having both the columella and the interior of the outer lip furnished with folds which are continued through the whole of the whorls; hut as M. Defrance had not then seen any perfect specimens, he did not give any strict definition of his new genus.

M. Deshayes gave definite characters to the genus under the name of
Nerinæa
, in the ‘Coquilles caractéristiques des Terrains,’ p. 203, the principal points of which are the mouth subquadrangular ? canaliculated; a broad umbilicated columella with strong spiral folds; and one or more folds on the interior of the outer lip.

Thus far the genus presents well-defined limits; and if we omit the perforation of the columella from its distinctive characters, it consists of a natural group of species. But succeeding authors have broken through all the boundaries of the genus laid down by M. Deshayes, and admitted many species which do not come under his definition of
Nerinæa
. Voltz, who has added largely to our knowledge of the species, includes in
Nerinæa
shells with a rhomboidal mouth and at least one internal fold (Jahrbuch, 1836, p. 538), thus admitting
N. grandis
and
N. depressa
, which have only a fold on the columella, and have the outer lip simple: in this he is followed by Bronn, and practically also by Goldfuss, who, while defining the genus as having
On the Occurrence of Productive Iron Ore in the Eocene Formations of Hampshire
Authors: Tylor Alfred
Published: October 2009

T
he
presence of large ferruginous Septaria, containing carbonized wood, principally in small fragments, was noticed in the lower part of the Barton clays, between Barton Cliff and Muddiford, by Mr. Prestwich and myself about two years ago. At that time we did not proceed west of Christchurch, and I was unable to accompany Mr. Prestwich in his more recent visit to the cliffs between Christchurch and Poole, when Mr. Prestwich also noticed the very ferruginous condition of these large tabular Septaria†.

Having lately had an opportunity of paying a visit to Hengistbury Head, I was much interested in finding that these blocks have been found to contain so large a per-centage of iron as to be available for economic purposes. As productive iron ores have not previously been known to occur in the English tertiaries, I have thought the fact of sufficient interest to be laid before the Geological Society.

Mr. Holloway, of Christchurch, who has undertaken these works, informs me that the occurrence of large masses containing iron in these cliffs appears to have been discovered in the reign of Charles II., during a survey of the adjoining harbour of Christchurch. The king was recommended to establish iron-works here for the purpose of founding cannon; the ore was to be obtained from the shore, and the charcoal from the neighbouring New Forest; this scheme, however, was not carried out. Within the last three years Mr. Holloway sent specimens to South Wales for examination. The first impression of the ironmasters
On a Cutting in the Railway near Buckingham
Authors: Stowe William
Published: October 2009

I
have
great pleasure in sending you some particulars relative to the boulders in our railway cutting, to which you directed my attention last autumn. Many of those you saw have been broken up and transported as ballast, but some are lying about, and a few remain
in situ
. I have examined all of them, and find they are composed of that variety of oolite which has been named Buckingham or Forest Marble. Many of them are yellowish externally and bluish within, owing probably to a difference in the degree of the oxidation of the iron which has coloured them. The largest I have measured was about 3 feet by 4, very angular, being but little rounded; while the smaller ones, 30 inches by 20, whose corners had been modified and whose sides had been smoothed, were covered with scratches and grooves.

The cutting (see fig.) is about fifty feet deep, and the boulders are sprinkled among gravel, sand, and clay, about ten or twelve feet below the surface; and are not found lower down among the earlier deposits of smaller pebbles, which must have come
from all quarters
, judging from the variety of rocks they contain. Out of the latter I picked the fragment of fossil bone I sent you a day or two ago—possibly a portion of my old friend the Cetiosaurian, whose tail-bone I sent you some years ago, and which you reported to the Society at the time*.

I found one boulder only with perforations ;
On the Secondary District of Portugal which lies on the North of the Tagus
Authors: Sharpe Daniel
Published: October 2009

General Sketch of Portugal
.—So little is known of the geology of Portugal that it may be interesting to give a general sketch of that country before proceeding to the details of the district which is to form the subject of the following paper: this has been drawn up from my own observations and from a variety of sources mentioned in their places.

Commencing at the north with the Spanish province of Gallicia, which has been described and roughly mapped by Schulz*, two-thirds of the surface of Gallicia are formed of granite, gneiss, mica-schist, and other crystalline rocks, which cover nearly all the western and middle portions of the province: the eastern side is principally formed of slate, grauwacke, &c., classed by Schulz as
Transition Rocks
, among which we may expect future observers to find the Silurian and Devonian formations. The strike of the slates varies, but its mean appears to be about N.N.W. There are some small patches of secondary red sandstones and marls scattered over the province, of which the age has not been ascertained; here and there a small tertiary deposit occurs; and the bottoms of many of the valleys are filled up with thick deposits of gravel.

Passing southward into Portugal, we find the same formations continued in nearly the same direction : the greater part of the province of Minho and the western side of Traz os Montes consist principally of crystalline rocks; but the rest of Traz os Montes is mostly formed of slates, which
Observations on Dudley Trilobites
Authors: Fletcher Thomas William
Published: October 2009

T
he
genus
Lichas
has received little attention from British palæontologists, and even Burmeister was compelled to omit any notice of it from the want of characteristic specimens. In the hope of being enabled to contribute some materials towards a more perfect knowledge of the genus, I am induced to offer to the Society a notice of several undescribed species which have recently been found in the Wenlock limestone of Dudley.
On certain Beds in the Inferior Oolite, near Cheltenham
Authors: Brodie P. B.
Published: October 2009

T
he
inferior oolite in the immediate neighbourhood of Cheltenham, has been already well described in the “Geology of Cheltenham,” by Sir R. Murchison, Mr. Buckman, and Mr. H. E. Strickland; but as there is a very interesting bed called “the roestone” by local geologists, which, however, for obvious reasons it will be better to name “
shelly freestone
,” containing several new and peculiar fossils, many of which have not been previously noticed, it may be desirable to lay a brief account of it before the Society.

The outer escarpments of the Cotswold Hills are composed of the inferior oolite and lias, and form an important feature in the geology of the county, presenting bold headlands along the vales of Gloucester and Berkeley, in some instances rising to the height of more than 1000 feet above the level of the sea, and extending in a tortuous line for several miles from north-east to south-west. They constitute the eastern boundary of the Severn; the towns of Cheltenham and Gloucester lying in bays at the foot of this range of hills, the base of which consists of lias, surmounted by a variable thickness of oolite.

The following divisions (see Section, p. 242) of the oolitic strata at Leckhampton Hill, near Cheltenham, where the shelly freestone may be most advantageously studied, have been principally proposed and adopted by the authors of the work above referred to; although later investigations by Mr. Strickland prove, that their relative thickness is greater than has been generally supposed, and
On the Discovery of a nearly perfect Skeleton of the
Mastodon angustidens
near Asti in Piedmont
Authors: Sismonda Eugene
Published: October 2009

“I
n
the excavations made by cutting the railroad from Turin to Genoa, a skeleton almost entire of the
Mastodon angustidens
has been discovered, about six leagues from Turin, and not far from Asti. Unfortunately, the remains having been deposited on a sort of plastic clay and covered by porous sand, had been for so many ages exposed to the influence of water which lodged upon the clay, that some of the bones require considerable restoration. But notwithstanding this defect, the Royal Museum of Turin may perhaps now flatter itself, that it possesses the most perfect skeleton of the Mastodon as yet found in Europe. The formation in which it was interred is of freshwater character, and contains a
Helix
and a
Clausilia
belonging to the great ancient alluvial (drift) formation of Italy. I am now preparing a description of these valuable remains, the different parts of which are not yet sufficiently cleaned and detached from the matrix to enable me to tell you precisely all we possess. I can, however, inform you that the following bones exist. A great part of the upper jaw with the molars, a complete lower jaw, several fragments of the skull, one entire tusk, two metres and a half long, and the larger portion of the other tusk, some cervical vertebræ, and most of the dorsal, almost all the ribs, though much broken, a scapula, the two humeri, one fibula, the two femora, the tibiæ, one cubitus, several fragments of the feet, and a part
On the Structure of the Strata between the London Clay and the Chalk in the London and Hampshire Tertiary Systems
Authors: Prestwich Joseph
Published: October 2009

The preceding descriptions I believe embrace, with two or three exceptions, all the principal sections exhibiting the superposition of the basement bed of the London clay. Although, considering the extent of the line of outcrop, they are not very numerous, the intervals between them are sufficiently short to trace this deposit from place to place with considerable certainty. The details of each may vary in a few points, but they all present a general resemblance. This may not however be considered sufficient for our object—such thin and ordinary beds might be subordinate to some other portion of the Eocene series, and not peculiar to this part of them, and therefore some other proofs of their position may be thought necessary.

In the first place, all the sections in the tertiary district show, by evidence of the clearest kind, that the London clay forms a nearly homogeneous mass, several hundred feet thick, of tough clay of a predominating brown colour—that throughout its whole body it nowhere presents any subordinate beds of a mineral character essentially different from that of its ordinary argillaceous type—and that its organic remains are very irregularly dispersed, abounding.in some parts and being entirely wanting in others. This clay occupies an area which is very well defined. Now wherever, without a single exception that I am aware of, the lower beds of this clay outcrop, there is found underlying them a basement bed of a conglomerate character and with or without organic remains—and these, if present, invariably belong
On the Earlier Volcanic Rocks of the Papal States, and the adjacent parts of Italy
Authors: Murchison Roderick Impey
Published: October 2009

Introduction

—During a winter's residence in Rome, including journeys to and from that city by the Maremma, Siena, and Viterbo on the west, and by Perugia on the east, together with excursions, including one to Naples, in the spring, the abundant “earlier volcanic” products of that region were necessarily brought under my notice. For, although my chief object in visiting the peninsula was to ascertain the order of succession from its secondary to its tertiary strata, the very existence of those formations, particularly of the latter, was so intimately connected with contemporaneous or subsequent eruptions of volcanic matter, that it was impossible for any geologist not to be alive to the importance of observations which tended to throw light on the conditions under which such igneous operations took place. I had moreover a strong additional motive to enter into this branch of our subject, from habitual intercourse with my friend, the accomplished mineralogist. Count L. Medici Spada, and his zoological coadjutor Professor Ponzi.

Although all the materials prepared by these authors will, I trust, at no distant day be published†, still as they will even then appear in a foreign language, and will imbody local phænomena not requisite for the clear comprehension of the subject, I venture to offer the present sketch, which, although in part derived from the labours of my above-mentioned friends, contains a modification of their views concerning the Latian Hills, which I consider to be of some importance‡.

Not entering fully into the details of the literature
An Account of the Strata and Organic Remains exposed in the Cuttings of the Branch Railway, from the Great Western Line near Chippenham, through Trowbridge, to Westbury in Wiltshire
Authors: Mantell Reginald Neville
Published: October 2009

T
his
railway passes over the usual series of the oolitic deposits of that part of England, and in the distance of fifteen miles the cuttings brought to light immense quantities of fossil shells, remains of numerous species of Cephalopoda, trunks and branches of trees, and a few bones of reptiles.

Mr. Morris with his accustomed liberality and kindness has carefully examined the fossils collected by me in these cuttings, and also the rich collection of Mr. Macneil, of Trowbridge, and has drawn up the lists that accompany this paper, and which constitute its most important feature.

The subdivisions of the Oolite traversed by our operations were the following:
On the Metamorphic and Metalliferous Rocks of Eastern Nova Scotia
Authors: Dawson J. W.
Published: October 2009

I
n
those parts of Nova Scotia lying eastward of the Shubenacadie River, and northward of Mines Basin and Channel, about half of the surface is occupied by carboniferous beds, whose arrangement has been noticed in various papers communicated to this Society. The remainder, with the exception of a few small patches of new red sandstone and unaltered Silurian strata, consists of metamorphic rocks, for the most part older than the carboniferous system. These metamorphic rocks may, by evidence derived from mineral characters, geographical distribution, and associated fossiliferous beds, be divided into two great groups, which, so far as I am aware, have not hitherto been accurately distinguished by writers on the geology of Nova Scotia. In the present paper I propose to notice the composition, arrangement, and distinctive characters of these groups; and to describe, somewhat in detail, the metalliferous veins which have been discovered in one of them.

I.

One of these metamorphic groups is, in the part of the province now under consideration, limited to the Atlantic coast and its vicinity. The prevailing stratified rocks in this group are, compact and flaggy grey quartzite (often weathering white), mica slate, and clay slate; the latter usually of dark colours, and occasionally passing into flinty slate and quartzite. These rocks usually occur in beds of great thickness. The hypogene rocks associated with them are white and flesh-coloured granite, which has penetrated the metamorphic rocks in large irregular bands and masses. The white granite, which is the most
On the Structure of the Crystalline Rocks of the Andes, and their Cleavage-Planes
Authors: Hopkins Evan
Published: October 2009

I
t
is a well-known fact to those who have traversed large areas of uncovered crystalline rocks, that they present a structure more or less vertical. In North America, Scotland, and Sweden the diversified edges of the crystalline series may he traced for many miles, presenting a north-easterly structural hearing. Where argillaceous sedimentary beds have been deposited on crystalline rocks, having the above vertical structure strongly developed, I have frequently observed the latter, by a slow chemical action, in the course of time obliterate the seams of deposition in the former, and cleave the beds in conformity to the angular position of the primary structure and the disposition of the crystals in the crystalline base.

These cleavage-planes pass through mountains of undulated beds, and preserve throughout the various contorted seams, the geometrical parallelism of the structure of the parent rock below; thus plainly showing the effect of a polar crystallizing force, acting gradually and insensibly on the whole mass in one direction to an indefinite extent.

Many thousand square miles of this vertical structure may be seen in South America, and in magnificent sections several thousand feet deep, exhibiting a great variety of colours, crystallization, and transitions of the primary series; as may be observed on reference to the sections exhibited to the Society, which have been carefully made from a very. laborious, survey carried, on during, many years, geologically, mineralogically, barometrically, and trigonometrically, this survey was not alone confined to the surface, but it comprehends the results of very extensive
On the Till near Wick in Caithness
Authors: Cleghorn John
Published: October 2009

I
n
examining the Boulder Clay or Till that occurs on both sides of the Bay of Wick, as a thick deposit of very hard greyish clay, and in almost every district of the county of Caithness, the author had particularly noticed the fragmentary state of the majority of the contained shells. In accounting for this phænomenon, he considered as inadmissible the action of icebergs grating over the sea-bottom, which has been brought forward by some as sufficient explanation of the existing condition of these shells. The larger and stronger shells would be broken, as is here the case; but the smaller and more fragile shells also would have been comminuted,—a condition that does not always obtain in the Till, as for instance in the case of the
Turritella terebra
. The author thought, however, that the condition in which small shells and fragments of larger shells, of kinds similar to those of the Till, are found in the stomach of the Cat-fish (
Anarrhicas lupus
), common on our coasts, would he a likely explanation of the condition in which the shells of the Till are usually found.
Note on the Shells found in the Till by Mr. Cleghorn
Authors: Smith James
Published: October 2009

The shells are much broken and water-worn; I could only identify the following species:—

Dentalium entale,
Gmel.
sp.

Saxicava rugosa,
Linn.
sp.

Mya truncata,
Linn.
(var. Uddevallensis).

Tellina proxima,
Brown.

Tellina solidula,
Penn.

Cyprina Islandica,
Linn.
sp.

Astarte Garensis,
Smith.

Astarte Withami,
Smith.

Astarte borealis,
Linn.

Cardium edule,
Linn.

Cardium echinatum,
Linn.

Turritella terebra,
Linn.
sp.
On the Occurrence of Marine Shells in the Stratified Beds below the Till
Authors: Smith James
Published: October 2009

I
n
the basin of the Clyde, the Till or unstratified boulder clay generally rests upon the beds of the coal formation, or upon rocks of an earlier date; and these subjacent rocks are almost always fractured where they are in contact with the Till. There are however exceptions; sometimes the Till rests upon scratched but unbroken surfaces of those rocks; and sometimes, but very rarely, we find immediately below the Till beds of sand, gravel, and laminated clay,—fragments apparently of an older alluvial covering, which has not been entirely removed by the cause, whatever it was, which lodged the Till on the surface.

Until the discovery which I am about to communicate, no marine remains had been found in the beds underlying the Till. We had therefore no direct evidence to prove that those beds are of the same age as the deposits which lie above them.

Having been informed by Mr. John Craig, F.G.S., that a bed of shells had been discovered near Airdrie, much higher than any previously found in Scotland, I considered it of importance to ascertain the exact amount of the elevation above the present level of the sea, as well as the species of the shells, and the nature of the deposit in which they were found. Mr. Craig kindly accompanied me to the locality, which is near the Monkland Iron Works, and about fourteen miles to the south-east of Glasgow.

The shelly deposit in question proved to be a bed of the
Tellina proxima
Notice of the occurrence of Marine Shells in the Till
Authors: Moore John Carrick
Published: October 2009

“I
have
two facts to communicate, which have come within my own observation in Wigtownshire, and which will interest you who have paid so much attention to pleistocene geology.

“1st. After diligently hunting the boulder clay, which usually is found to contain only fragments of shell, and that sparingly, I succeeded in finding one perfect valve of
Astarte compressa
, Montag. sp. The spot where I found it is on the west shore of Loch Ryan, about two miles from Stranraer; it was imbedded in the genuine Till or brown sandy unstratified clay, with blocks of transported rocks interspersed through it.

“2nd. Reposing on the Till, patches of a distinct clay containing no gravel or boulders, occasionally occur in Wigtownshire. On one of these is erected the Culhorn Tilework, within half a mile of Stranraer; at this locality the clay contains
Nucula oblonga
, Brown, which appears to have lived and died on the spot; as in all the specimens the two valves were united, and appear not to have suffered the least abrasion.

“I send you these facts, as they may be of service to you in speculating upon the origin of these beds.

20th April, 1850.
On
Pachyrisma
, a Fossil genus of Lamellibranchiate Conchifera
Authors: Morris John , Lycett John
Published: October 2009

A
mong
the fossil shells of the oolite undescribed or imperfectly known, is one, only recently discovered, which is remarkable as presenting characters tending to approximate certain known genera heretofore widely separated. The locality of this genus is one peculiarly rich in the remains of Testacea. These will be illustrated in a forthcoming memoir to be published by the Palæontographical Society. The locality belongs to the Minchinhampton district of the great oolite formation, the geological position of the shell being as follows. About 70 feet above the Fuller's earth is the base-line of a series of limestone beds, which have an aggregate thickness exceeding 20 feet; the lowest bed is a calcareo-siliceous rock, of a cream colour, exhaling an argillaceous odour when breathed upon, and is peculiarly compact and homogeneous in its structure. Its two divisions have a united thickness of 5 feet. The beds above this have a browner aspect, are usually less compact and homogeneous, and are for the most part destitute of organic remains, although locally these are met with in some abundance.

Pachyrisma
occurs in a vertical thickness of only half a yard ; it occupies the upper 9 inches of the lowest or white bed, and the entire thickness of the superimposed browner bed ; the shells are clustered together in great numbers, the valves being both separated and in apposition ; and it is worthy of notice that they constituted almost the sole testaceous animals within the narrow limits of their habitat ; no other
On some Fossil Plants from the Lower Lias
Authors: Buckman James
Published: October 2009

T
owards
the base of the limestone beds, forming the lower division of the lias formation in its extension through the counties of Gloucester, Worcester, and Warwick, and probably even contemporaneous with the liassic deposit in these counties, is found a hand of limestone of a much purer and harder quality than those with which it is associated.

This hand of stone is known amongst the quarrymen by the name of “best paving slab,” and is much used throughout the Midland Counties for flooring of barns and farmhouse kitchens; but from its having yielded to the researches of the Rev. P. B. Brodie a beautiful series of insect remains, it is recognized by geologists under the name of “Insect limestone.”

The insect remains here referred to have been well figured and described by their discoverer*; and in a
résumé
of the general characters of these, appended by the excellent entomologist Mr. Westwood, will be found the following observation:

“The lias insects resemble forms of ordinary occurrence and of temperate climes, more like North America than Europe†.”

Now, as these insects are associated with remains of plants, it cannot be otherwise than interesting to inquire whether the facts as noticed by the entomologist are in accordance with the observations of the botanist, as conclusions supported by the evidence of two distinct sciences must have more weight than when these are conflicting.

The object of this paper, therefore, is to describe the vegetable remains associated with insects in the lower lias, and to
On a Gap in the Greywacke Formation of the Eastern Lammermuirs filled by Old Red Sandstone Conglomerate
Authors: Stevenson William
Published: October 2009

T
he
occurrence of vast masses of conglomerate on both sides of the Lammermuir chain has been well known to geologists since the days of Hutton and Hall. It appears, however, never to have been suspected that the formations of the north and south sides were connected by a band of considerable breadth running completely across the chain from Doon Hill, about two miles from Dunbar, to the Hardens Hills, about the same distance west from Dunse.

The position, extent, and relations to the adjoining strata of this interesting formation of conglomerate will be best understood by reference to the accompanying sketch (see Map).

The whole district occupied by the greywacke, conglomerate, and trap rocks is almost uniformly hilly, the height of the hills ranging from about 800 to 1400 feet above sea-level, those composed of conglomerate being in general fully as high as those consisting of greywacke or igneous rocks. The tracts occupied by the strata of the old red sandstone and lower carboniferous formations are much lower and flatter, and generally rise no higher than 300 or 400 feet above the level of the sea.

The conglomerate occupies a trough in the greywacke, evidently the result of an ancient dislocation of great extent. At the margins it is seen overlapping the upturned ends of the greywoacke strata, which are generally either vertical, or dip at angles of 45° or upwards, to about W.N.W., the dip being rather steeper on the east side of the conglomerate than on the west.
On the Age and Position of the Limestone of Nash, near Presteign, South Wales
Authors: Davis James Edward
Published: October 2009

T
he
picturesque and very valuable mass of limestone, situated on the borders of Wales, near the road leading from Presteign to New Radnor, and overhanging the hamlet of Nash, is probably known by name to most Silurian geologists, but I am not aware that it has been carefully examined by any geological investigator since the publication of Sir Roderick Murchison's ‘Silurian System.’ The interesting features of the neighbourhood of Presteign and Old Radnor could not fail to attract the attention of that distinguished geologist, who says of the Nash beds that there is not perhaps in Great Britain a finer mass of altered and crystalline limestone.

After an examination of this district, the details of which are given in the ‘Silurian System,’ Sir Roderick Murchison states this limestone to be identical in position and organic remains with that of Wenlock.

In conformity with this opinion, and, indeed, following it, the views of the structure of the surrounding district were framed and shaped, as far as I am aware, by all who had any definite idea on the subject, or took an interest in its investigation, but more particularly by the Rev. T. T. Lewis of Aymestry, and myself.

The first surmise I heard that this limestone is referable to a lower bed, was from Professor Sedgwick, who in the summer of 1846 took a rapid glance at the district. Finding the limestone resting on beds of undoubted Caradoc sandstone, and not at the time being aware or recollecting that any
On the Diluvia and Valleys in the Vicinity of Bath
Authors: Weston Charles Henry
Published: October 2009

M
r
. W
eston
met with beds or considerable masses of chalk-flint diluvium on the crest of Kingsdown, one of the hills forming the eastern side of the Box Valley, about five miles from Bath. The drift was
in situ
on the upper portion of the Great Oolite, and filled up a trough or “gulley.” With the exception of occasional masses of Great Oolite, it consisted entirely of chalk flints with ferruginous clay. Some of the flints were rounded and some were brecciated, while others, although smoothed superficially, retained their original forms of polypothecian organization so characteristic of the chalk formation. Mr. Weston could detect no fossils in this deposit. The height of these beds, determined by barometrical admeasurement, was found to be 545 feet above the level of the river Avon. The oolitic rock on which these drift beds are deposited is superficially much hollowed and apparently waterworn; its stratification is horizontal, and it is traversed with superinduced cross joints and fissures. In a quarry that had been worked under the hill and contiguous to the bed of chalk-flint gravel, the latter was found to have penetrated from above and filled up the fissures of the roof and sides down to the floor.
On a Section of the Lower Greensand at Seend, near Devizes
Authors: Cunnington William
Published: October 2009

Having during the past winter made some observations on the sections exposed in the cutting of the road, at Seend, near Devizes, I now send you the result. I feel it important that this information should be recorded, or it will he altogether lost; the section having already been for some time covered up.

The cutting was not more than twelve feet deep. It exhibited the Lower Greensand reposing unconformably on Kimmeridge clay. The following is a detail of the stratification:—

1.

Kimmeridge clay, having at the top masses of imperfect limestone, or septaria, bored by the Lithodomus shells of the lower greensand; the shells themselves being preserved
in situ
, and the holes filled up with the ferruginous sand.

2.

Masses of imperfect, gravelly sandstone and sand, not very ferruginous, containing pebbles of quartz, &c. and numerous fossils.

3.

Dark green and brown sands.

4.

Iron sandstone, with fossils.

5.

Yellowish sand.

6.

Iron sandstone.

7.

Sands, &c.

The whole surmounted with a patch of yellow, brashy clay of a few acres in extent.

The Kimmeridge clay has the usual appearances of that stratum, and contains many specimens of
Ostrea deltoidea
, Sow.,
Ammonites
, &c.
On the Slate Rocks of Devon and Cornwall
Authors: Sedgwick A.
Published: October 2009

After a painful interruption of three years, I resumed my geological work during the past summer, and revisited some portions of Devonshire and Cornwall, a small part of the typical Silurian country (of Sir R. I. Murchison), a part also of the Cambrian groups of North Wales, and lastly some groups of the newer fossiliferous slates of Westmoreland and Yorkshire. I rejoice to appear once more as a fellow-labourer, and to lay the first-fruits of my summer's task before the Geological Society.

My present notice will be confined to Devonshire and Cornwall. It is well known to all who take any part in the working of our Society, that during the past year Sir R. I. Murchison, after an examination of certain fossils sent to him from Cornwall, has introduced some new colours into the geological maps of Cornwall and South Devon. Thus, he colours the great headlands, between the Bays of St. Austell and Falmouth,
Lower Silurian
. Again, he colours a considerable part of the coast in the neighbourhood of Looe, &c..
Upper Silurian
; and the same colour is extended to a portion of the slates of South Devon which skirt the north side of the metamorphic rocks of Bolt Head and Start Point.
On the Granitic Blocks of the South Highlands of Scotland
Authors: Hopkins W.
Published: October 2009

On a visit to the Highlands of Scotland in the summer of 1849, my attention was directed by my friend Mr. Smith, of Jordan Hill, to the blocks of granite which are scattered along the banks of the Clyde. Proceeding thence to Oban, I found on the shores about that place, and on the neighbouring shores of Loch Etive (see Map), similar blocks, but larger and more numerous. These were easily traceable to their source, the mass of granite immediately on the north and north-west of Ben Cruachan, and extending across the upper branch of Loch Etive. In like manner I observed numerous blocks about the head of Loch Awe, on the south-east of Ben Cruachan (see Map) ; and these also were easily traced to the above-mentioned mass of granite up the valley of Glenray, which runs in a north-easterly direction from the head of Loch Awe on the eastern side of Ben Cruachan. Proceeding afterwards to Loch Lomond, I found granite blocks scattered along its western shore; and I observed them in great numbers also round the head of Loch Long and of Loch Fyne. The source of these blocks presented a great apparent difficulty.
On the Quader Formation of Germany
Authors: Geinitz H. B.
Published: October 2009

The north side of the Hartz, where the Upper Quader-sandstone is so powerfully developed, has lately thrown a new light on the relations of this rock with the Upper Quader-marl. Professor Beyrich, of Berlin, who is now publishing a geological map of the above-mentioned district, lately invited me to re-examine it with him and in company with M. von Strombeck, of Brunswick, and some other geologists.

The Upper Quader-sandstone near Heimburg is bounded by sandy Upper Quader-marl. The greensand, or green sandy marl, above and below the sandstone, has similar characters and the same fossils as the greensand of Aix-la-Chapelle, of the Salzberg near Quedlinburg, and of Kieslingswalda in Silesia; and as the Upper Quader-sandstone itself.
On the Causes which may have produced Changes in the Earth's Superficial Temperature
Authors: Hopkins W.
Published: October 2009

1. The problem of the internal temperature of the earth, and, assuming that temperature to have been formerly much greater than at present, the laws according to which its refrigeration would take place, have exercised the powers of the first mathematicians. The problem which has been actually solved, however, is more simple than the one which the earth really presents to us. The simplest conditions which have been assumed, are those of a sphere of very large dimensions, like the earth, consisting of matter of which the power of transmitting heat (
the conductive power
) is supposed to be the same in every part; also the temperature of the space surrounding the sphere (
the external temperature
) is supposed to remain invariable during the whole term of the sphere's refrigeration. Poisson solved the problem with less restrictive conditions as regards the temperature of the external space, by taking account of the influence of the earth's atmosphere; but he also assumed, like those who had preceded him, the uniformity of the conductive power throughout the cooling mass. It is not likely that this is really the case with the matter composing our globe, and our ignorance on this point might lead to serious error in the determination of the internal temperature at points remote from the earth's surface. But this is more than the mathematician has attempted.
On the Anticipation of the Discovery of Gold in Australia; with a General View of the Conditions under which that Metal is Distributed
Authors: Murchison Roderick Impey
Published: October 2009

This memoir is chiefly a résumé of the author's views on the distribution of gold in various parts of the world, as published during the last eleven years. This recapitulation is deemed requisite because the Rev. W. B. Clarke published in the Sydney Herald, May 29, 1851, a long article on Australian gold (reprinted in the English newspapers and in blue-books for the use of both Houses of Parliament), in which no mention is made of Sir Roderick Murchison's writings relating to Australian gold, although they were published between the years 1844 and 1850. In fact, the chief illustrations in the above-noticed article of Mr. Clarke had been printed in the work ‘Russia and the Ural Mountains/rs in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, in the Transactions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, and of the British Association, and in the Notice of Discourse at the Royal Institution, &c.
Description of the Impressions and Foot-prints of the Protichnites from the Potsdam Sandstone of Canada
Authors: Owen
Published: October 2009

Of the extensive series of foot-prints found under the circumstances described in the preceding communication, the originals of some and good plaster-casts of more have been brought over with much labour and expense by their discoverer, Mr. Logan, and of these I have selected the best-marked and most intelligible portions for the following descriptions.
Notice of the Occurrence of an Earthquake Shock at Bristol
Authors: Austin Thomas
Published: October 2009

As some particulars relating to the shock of an earthquake which occurred on Saturday the 3rd of April in this district may not be wholly uninteresting to the Fellows of the Geological Society, I do not hesitate to submit to your notice such facts in connexion with the subject as I have been enabled to collect from unquestionable sources of information.

The area principally affected comprises that portion of country extending from the Mendip Hills to Bristol, and the village of Henbury in Gloucestershire to the north, and probably on to the Severn; and from the Mendips to the Bristol Channel on the west.

The geological features of this district consist of old red sandstone, carboniferous limestone, millstone grit, coal-measures, dolomitic conglomerate, new red sandstone, lias, and oolite, with alluvial patches of some extent.

The principal line of disturbance appears to have been nearly north and south, running through the southern edge of the Mendips, the city of Wells, Cheddar, Pensford, and Dundry, in Somersetshire; Bristol, Westbury upon Trym, and Henbury in Gloucestershire. The chief focus of oscillation was at Cheddar, where the hill is said to have waved to and fro during several seconds; and in the alluvial flat or marsh below Cheddar, some houses had the plaster of the ceilings cracked, while in other houses the clocks struck, bells rang, &c.
On a protruded mass of Upper Ludlow Rock at Hagley Park in Herefordshire
Authors: Strickland H. E.
Published: October 2009

So laboriously minute have been the researches of the Officers of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, that it is only where some fresh sections have been subsequently exposed by the operations of nature or of man that any material additions or corrections of that Survey can be looked for. A case of the kind has lately occurred in Herefordshire, revealing a small protrusion of Silurian rocks in the midst of the Old Red Sandstone, and accompanied by circumstances of some geological interest.

A quarry having been opened near the base of the Old Red Sandstone, a few hundred yards west of Hagley House, near Lugwardine, and a deep drain having been cut from the quarry towards the S.E., the junction-beds of the Old Red Sandstone and of the Upper Ludlow Rock were unexpectedly exposed. This circumstance attracted the notice of M. J. Scobie, Esq., of Hereford, to whom I am indebted for having my attention drawn to the spot, and for many interesting organic remains and geological details which his residence in the vicinity enabled him to collect. I must also express my obligations, and those of the other geological friends who accompanied me, to Robert Biddulph Phillipps, Esq., the owner of the land, who kindly caused part of the quarry to be re-opened for our inspection.
Description of the
Pterygotus problematicus
, Agass
Authors: Salter J. W.
Published: October 2009

The limbs of this interesting Silurian fossil not having been hitherto discovered, the present specimen is of considerable interest, as connecting it satisfactorily with the species so fully figured by Agassiz, which was obtained from the basement-beds of the Old Red Sandstone of Forfarshire. But, though of the same genus with the Scotch fossil, it presents characters which separate it specifically.

As there are on the same slab with it numerous specimens of
Avicula retroflexa
, Hisinger, with
Orthis lunata
and
Orbicula rugata
, there can be no doubt of its being in the Upper Ludlow rock; and we are therefore justified in considering it as belonging to the species which is so common (always in a fragmentary state) in the same stratum throughout Shropshire, Herefordshire, and the Malverns; and a fragment of the carapace of which is figured by Agassiz, Sil. Syst. pl. 4. f. 4, 5.

Of the two fragments on the slab, the best preserved is that of a finger (probably the fixed one), Pl. XXI. fig. 1. It is 2½ inches long and 7½ lines broad, exclusive of the spines, and of equal breadth throughout; but it neither shows the base nor the tip, and must have been considerably longer. The substance is very thin, sections of the broken ends showing this condition very plainly.
On the Geology of the Lake of the Woods, South Hudson's Bay
Authors: Bigsby J. J.
Published: October 2009

In the following pages it is intended to describe the nature, position, and relations of the rock-formations of the Lake of the Woods in South Hudson's Bay, comprising a part of the commercial route from Canada to Rupert's Land, and the eastern terminus of the Boundary-line between the Possessions of Great Britain and the United States, where it passes along the 49th parallel of latitude from hence to the Rocky Mountains.

This lake is not without its claims to the attention of the Geological Society.

It is here that the igneous and metamorphic rocks, which overspread the half-drowned wildernesses of East Hudson's Bay, have their western termination (for this latitude);—here they sink out of sight and are replaced westwards by sedimentary rocks.

By an examination of the first-mentioned classes of rock in this lake, we leam that they are generally conformable to the great body of crystalline strata which extend from hence 700 miles southwards, —to the River Mississippi in lat. 43°. This great breadth of rocks has a general strike to the W.S.W.

The Lake of the Woods is 400 miles round by canoe-route, and is 75 miles in extreme length and breadth. Its shape, which is very irregular, is best learnt from a glance at the accompanying Map, Pl. XXII.
On the Coal-Measures of the South Joggins, Nova Scotia
Authors: Dawson J. W.
Published: October 2009

T
he
present paper on the Coal-measures of Nova Scotia is based on observations made by Sir Charles Lyell, with the assistance of the writer, in the summer of 1852, and on farther observations made by the writer in 1853, on whom the completion of the paper has devolved, owing to engagements which prevented Sir Charles from attending toil.

The coast-section of the South Joggins is already well known to geologists as one of the finest exposures of a continuous and conformable series of carboniferous rocks, and as being especially remarkable for the number of trees and other plants preserved
in situ
in an erect position. In a coast-line of about seven miles in length, there is presented a vertical thickness of 14,000 feet of beds, extending from the marine limestones of the Lower Carboniferous series to the top of the Coal-formation; and, in the greater part of this distance, the beds are exposed in a vertical cliff, from 30 to 80 feet in height, and in the reefs which at low-tide are dry to the distance of 200 yards from its base. In the cliff, and on the beach, more than seventy seams of coal, with their underclays and roof-shales, can be
distinctly
seen, and erect plants occur at about as many distinct levels, while the action of the waves and of the tide, which rises to the height of 40 feet, prevents the collection of
débris
at the foot of the cliff, and continually exposes new and fresh surfaces