bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On the Iron-ores of Exmoor
Authors: Smyth Warington W.
Published: October 2009

Much attention has been bestowed, during the last seven years, on the exploration of veins of iron-ore in that hilly tract of country in Devonshire and West Somersetshire, which extends from Ilfracombe on the west, to near Bridgewater on the east. Its dominant points, on Exmoor, rise to an elevation of from 1400 to 1600 feet above the level of the sea, whilst the greater part of the region in question is of so considerable a height, that the deeply-cut valleys, or combes, through which the numerous streams find their way to the craggy coast, have long earned a deserved celebrity for the landscape-scenery of North Devon.

The district in which, at intervals, iron mines have been opened, is a belt of about five miles in width and about thirty in length, forming a part of the “Greywacke Group” of Sir H. De la Beche*, and of the equivalents of the “Plymouth Group” and a portion of the “Dartmouth Group” of the Devonian series, as described by Sedgwick†.

If, from Linton, where the lower beds of the range may be examined, the observer travel southward, he will pass over a constantly ascending series of strata, and about Simonsbath, on Exmoor, will reach the line of irregular lenticular deposits of limestone, which, trending from Combe Martin by Challacombe, through the midst of Exmoor, to Cutcombe and Treborough, furnish an indication of the general strike of the district, and a supposed parallel to the more massive limestones of Plymouth. To the north
On some Outline-drawings and Photographs of the Skull of the
Zygomaturus trilobus
, Macleay (
Nototherium
, Owen?)
Authors: Owen
Published: October 2009

Sir R.I. Murchison placed in my hands a few days ago seven photographs, three of which are stereoscopic, of , perhaps, the most extraordinary mammalian fossil yet discovered in Australia.

These photographs, with a brief printed notice of their subject by Wm. Sharpe Macleay, Esq., F.R.S., and some MS. notes by J.D. Macdonald, M.D., R.N., had been transmitted to Sir Roderick by his Excellency the Governor Sir W. Denison, from Sydney, New South Wales ; and it is by the desire of Sir Roderick Murchison that I now bring the subject under the notice of the Geological Society of London, to whom Sir Roderick desires to present the Photographs, on the part of His Excellency, Sir Wm. Denison.

I had, some weeks previously, received from my friend and correspondent, George Bennette, Esq., F.L.S., of Sydney, New south wales accompanying outlines of the same fossil skull, made by him on the reception of the specimen by the authorities of the Australian Museum at Sydney, and I had penned notes of my comparisons of this sketches before receiving the photographs and descritions of the fossil skull from Sir Roderick I. Muschison.

Mr. Macleay's description appears in a Report on "Donations to the Australian Museum during August, 1857," published in a Sydney newspaper of about the same date. It is as follows:—

“Fossil Skull of a new marsupial animal, which bears a nearer approach to
Diprotodon
than to any other known genus. The size was apparently that of a large ox; and the
On the Mode of Formation of Volcanic Cones and Craters
Authors: Scrope G. Poulett
Published: October 2009

In a paper read before the Society in April 1856, I called attention to this subject*. I should have thought further recurrence to it unnecessary had it not been that, in the first part of the fourth volume of Baron Humboldt's ‘Kosmos’ of which a translation has recently issued from the press, under the superintendence of General Sabine), that distinguished author, while treating very fully of volcanic action, gives the unqualified support of his great authority to the theory of upheaval as contradistinguished from that of eruption in reference to the origin of volcanic cones and craters,—a theory which, in common with Sir Charles Lyell, M. Constant Prévost, and many others, I believe to be not merely erroneous, but destructive of all clearness of apprehension as to the part which volcanic action has really played in the structural arrangement of the earth's surface.

I think I shall be justified in this last observation in the opinion of any person who will peruse with attention Baron Humboldt's work, and endeavour to realize some definite idea of what the author considers volcanic action to be—how cones or craters are formed—how lava-currents conduct themselves when expelled under varying circumstances upon the earth's surface—what volcanic mountains, or what portions of any such, are the product of eruption and accumulation, and what of the mere mechanical upheaval in mass of preexisting beds. The whole subject is rendered indistinct, and I will venture to say unintelligible, by the author's adheson to the theory of “Cones and
Notice of Lias Deposits at Quarry-Gill and other places near Carlisle
Authors: Binney E. W.
Published: October 2009

On the western side of the Pennine Chain, up to this time, none of the secondary rocks superior to the Trias have been noticed north of the small patch of Lias at Audlem in Cheshire; therefore the discovery of a considerable tract of Lias near Carlisle will no doubt be interesting.

For some years Mr. Richard B. Brockbank, of the firm of Messrs. Carr & Co., of Carlisle, has been diligently in search of coal, and has investigated the northern portion of Cumberland with considerable care. His attention was chiefly directed to the district lying between Curthwaite, on the Carlisle and Maryport Railway, and the Solway, especially about Aikton and Oughterby, places which Prof. Sedgwick had thought likely for finding coal, and where that eminent geologist had been informed that a coal-seam, of 16 inches in thickness, had been actually found*.

The first place where Mr. Brockbank found the “blue metals” which had always been thought to be cal-measures was in the brook at Thornby. In examining them he found a shell resembling an Ammonite, and some other fossils, which induced him to think that the beds might prove to be Lias. On his transmitting, through Mr. Brockbank, engineer, of Manchester, the specimens to me, I immediately pronounced them to be Liassic.

On the 13th January, 1859, being at Carlisle, Mr. R. B. Brockbank was so good as to drive me over the district. We first went to Moorhouse, near which place we saw the Till, of a reddish colour
On a New Species of Dicynodon (
D. Murrayi
) from near Colesberg, South Africa
Authors: Huxley T. H.
Published: October 2009

For the original specimen from which Professor Huxley first in the spring of last year) obtained evidence of the existence of this species, he was indebted to the Rev. H. M. White, of Andover, who subsequently put the author in communication with the discoverer of the fossil, Mr. J. A. Murray, and the latter gentleman having written to his father, resident in South Africa, obtained for Professor Huxley a large quantity of similar fossil remains. One specimen in particular, having been carefully chiselled out by Mr. Dew, afforded a complete skull of this peculiar and previously undescribed species of
Dicynodon.

The author described the distinctive features of this skull in detail.
Dicynodon Murrayi
is distinguished from all the already known species by the following characters:—

1.

The plane of the upper and anterior face of the nasal and premaxillary bones would, if produced, cut that of the upper face of the parietals at an angle of about 90°.

2.

The supratemporal foossæ are much longer from within outwards than from before backwards, owing partly to the shortness of the parietal region.

3.

The alveoli of the tusks, the transverse section of which is circular, commence immediately under the nasal apertrue, and extend forwards and downwards parallel with the plane of the nasal and upper part of the part of the premaxillary bones, and do not leave their sockets until they have passed beyond the level of the posterior end of the symphysis of the lower jaw.

4.

The nasal apertures are altogether in front of the orbits.

5.

The length of the upper jaw in front of the nasal apertures is certainly equal to one-third, and probably to one-half, the whole length of the skull, which is between six and seven inches.

6.

The os quadratum is about half as long as the skull.

These structural peculiarities are sufficient to distinguish
Dicynodon Murrayi
from all others; and the author stated that he should reserve the description of many other anatomical features, which are probably more or less common to other Dicynodons, such as the bony sclerotic, the bony interorbital septum and vomer, the characters of the humerus, of the pelvis, and of the ribs, for another paper, in which other Dicynodont remains would be considered.
On the Coal found by Dr. Livingstone at Tete, on the Zambesi, South Africa
Authors: Thornton Richard
Published: October 2009

Mr. Thornton states that this coal, which was dug by the natives from an outcropping seam on the bank of the River Muntizi, is free- burning; showing no tendency to cake; containing very little of either sulphur or iron, a large proportion of ash, but only a little gaseous matter. The result of the trial (made in the steam-launch) of this coal, and its appearances, favour, in the author's opinion, the idea that the coal, when taken from a deeper digging (that which Dr. Livingstone had sent was collected at the surface of the ground, will probably contain less ash and a little more gaseous matter.
On the Succession of the Rocks on the North Coast of Scotland
Authors: Miller John
Published: October 2009

In the summer of 1841, I made a geological tor through the northern half of the county of Sutherland as far as Cape Wrath, and I returned from my trip acquiescing in the opinions which then prevailed regarding the succession of the rocks on the north coast of Scotland.

Dr. M'Culloch had described the mineralogy, succession, and relations of the rocks between Cape Wrath and the River of Hope in his usual vigorous style as early as 1819, and, considering the state of geological science at that period, with wonderful precision and correctness; but he stopped short in his researches at the point just mentioned, and left to others the task of describing the geology of the north coast continuouly from the Atlantic to the German Ocean. This task was, however, accomplished by Messrs. Sedgwick and Murchison, who laid the result of their labours before this Society in 1828. In their memoir the gneiss of Cape Wrath is regarded as the base of the system; and, proceeding eastward, it was assumed that the conglomerate and red sandstone of Cape Wrath came next in the ascending order, and were the true Old Red Sandstone,—that the conglomerate and sandstone of Tongue and its neighbourhood were of the same age,—and that from Strathy Bay to the German Ocean at Duncansby Head, the Old Red Sandstone rocks of Caithness extended in three great divisions, of lower or conglomerate, middle or flag schists, and upper or newer red sandstone. Regarding the limestones of Duirness, no
On the Vegetable Structures in Coal
Authors: Dawson J. W.
Published: October 2009

Introduction.
—Accepting as established conclusions the vegetable origin of coal and the accumulation of its materials by growth
in situ
, rather than by driftage, there still remain some questions regarding its production, to which as yet no very satisfactory answers have been given. One of these relates to the precise genera and species of plants which have contributed the vegetable matter required; another to the causes (whether differences in the plants themselves or in the manner of their preservation) which have produced the different qualities of coaly matter observable in the different parts of the same bed, or in different beds in the same coal-field. In aid of the solution of these questions, and incidentally in illustration of the structure and affinities of the more important coal-plants, I desire to offer the results of a series of microscopical observations on the bituminous coals of Nova Scotia.

The observation of the beds associated with the coal, and of their contained fossils, has already furnished data which, inferentially at least, might dispose of these questions. A fundamental fact is the almost constant occurrence of
Stigmaria
in the underclays, first ascertained by Sir W. E. Logan, especially when taken in connexion with the further observations of Mr. Binney and Mr. Brown*, that
Stigmaria
is the root of
Sigillaria
. The sifting, by Sir Charles Lyell, of the comparative merits of the “estuary” and “peat” theories, and their final union, as together affording the required explanation of the observed facts,—the elaborate investigations of Goeppert in the
On a Fossil Bird and a Fossil Cetacean from New Zealand
Authors: Huxley Thomas H.
Published: October 2009

Some time ago, my friend Mr. Walter Mantell submitted to my examination two fossil bones from tertiary deposits at Kakaunui and Parimoa in New Zealand.

Of these, the one is the right tarso-metatarsal bone of a Bird belonging to the Penguin family, the other the humerus of a Cetacean of small size.

Fossil Bird.
—The former bone (of which a front view is represented in
fig. 1, and a back view in fig. 2) measures two inches and a half in extreme length, and rather
more than an inch and a quarter across its proximal end. The precise width at the distal end cannot be given, as the innermot part of this extremity ofthe bone has been broken away; what
remains measures one and one-sixteenth of an inch.

The proximal end of the bone presents two articular facets,—the one internal, an oval, shallow concavity, looking upwards and a little inwards, the other, external, quadrilateral, slightly convex from before backwards, slightly concave from side to side, and inclined more obliquely upwards and outwards. The two facets are separated by a stout median ridge, which rises into a conical tuberosity anteriorly, but dies away posteriorly into a shallow triangular pit. The posterior edges of both facets are rather more raised than the anterior ones; and marked transverse depressions separate both from the upper extremities of the four strong calcaneal ridges which project from the upper part of the posterior face of the bone (fig. 2).

Of these, the innermost is the strongest and longest; and a deep groove divides it from the two middle ones,
On the Dermal Armour of
Crocodilus Hastingslæ
Authors: Huxley Thomas H.
Published: October 2009

A considerable number of Crocodilian scutes, collected by the late Marchioness of Hastings at Hordwell, are now deposited in the Museum of Practical Geology. These scutes may be divided into two great groups—1,
angulated
, and 2,
flat
. The former are distinguished by the angle, open downwards, or towards the ventral side, which their lateral halves make with one another, and by the raising up of their outer surfaces into a more or less prominent longitudinal ridge along the line of angulation. The under surfaces of these scutes are more or less concave from side to side, and convex from before backwards. The flat scutes, on the other hand, are flat, or at most a little convex from side to side above, and slightly concave in the same direction below. There is a singular disproportion between the two kind of scutes, for, out of some hundreds, only two or three incomplete specimens exhibit the peculiarities of the flat scutes.

The angulated scutes (figs. 1–7) may be subdivided into two kinds, those with, and those without, an anterior articular facet, the former being the more numerous.

The
angulated scutes
provided with an
articular facet
are in their general characters so like those which I have described in my paper on
Stagonolepis
(Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 1859), that I will only refer to their special characteristics. There are two kinds of them, the one set much, the other very little bent down at the sides, or, in other words, angulated. The
On some Ichthyolites from New South Wales, forwarded by the Rev. W. B. Clarke
Authors: de M. Grey Egerton P.
Published: October 2009

The specimens forwarded to me for examination from the Rev. W. B. Clarke, of St. Leonards, near Sydney, N. S. W., are but two: one, a fragment of ironstone, containing the middle portion of a Fish, found at Chapel Hill, near Campbelltown; the other, a piece of indurated shale showing the anterior half of a Fish, labelled as having been found in Cockatoo Island.
Notes on the Geology of a Portion of the Nile Valley north of the Second Cataract in Nubia, taken chiefly with the view of inducing farther Search for Fluviatile Shells at High Levels
Authors: Adams A. Leith
Published: October 2009

The following observations were made during November 1862 and the two following months, when engaged with my friend the late Mr. A. H. Rhind, F.S.A., in making the usual boat-voyage from Cairo to the Second Cataract and back. That distinguished antiquary's knowledge of ancient Egyptian history, and his having formed a design of investigating the Nile-levels with reference to the records of the country, afforded me great advantages in carrying out my intentions in connexion with the still older memorials of the river-valley. Although well aware of the imperfections of these notes, I am not without hope that they may prove of interest to the scientific inquirer. Every field-naturalist knows how difficult it is to work at two widely different subjects at the same time,—such was my case on the above occasion; for with gun and hammer (as former experiences have taught me) I found it no easy matter to fulfil the requirements of an ornithologist and also to study the minutiæ of geology, especially as during our late excursion I seldom remained more than a few hours in any one locality; moreover, when starting for Egypt, I had no idea of the nature of the geological work before me, and, therefore, I was not provided with the necessary instruments for the exact determination of heights.
Notes to accompany some Fossils from Japan
Authors: Bullock
Published: October 2009

No naturalist having been attached to the late Surveying Expedition of H.M.S. ‘Dove,’ the Commander of that vessel. Captain Bullock, endeavoured to repair the consequent loss to science, so far as his professional duties would permit, by collecting and preserving such geological specimens as he could obtain; this he was enabled to do with the aid of Mr. George Muir, Assistant-Surgeon of H.M.S. ‘Algerine’ and of Mr. James H. Kerr, of H.M.S. ‘Actæon’ and the useful assistance of his friend Tskahara, a Japanese officer attached to the ‘Dove.’ The specimens obtained were collected in Japan during the year 1861, and were forwarded, with a few notes on, and sketches of, the localities, to the Geological Society through Sir R. I. Murchison.
On some Tertiary Mollusca from Mount Séla, in the Island of Java
Authors: Jenkins H. M.
Published: October 2009

Conclusion

Before discussing the probable age of the Mount Séla deposit, the question of the contemporaneity of Tertiary strata in different parts of the world requires a little consideration.

It will be admitted that if two Tertiary formations, geographically distant from one another, contained the same proportion of recent species, that one would be the newer whose species bore the greatest resemblance to the fauna of the neighbouring seas, unless it could be proved that great physical changes had recently occurred in the one area and not in the other. Consequently, if two Tertiary formations contain about the same proportion of recent forms, and an emigration of species to, or continued existence of them in, one area can be shown to have occurred, that formation is
certainly
the newer towards which the ancient faua has emigrated, and that one is
probably
the newer near which it has one continued to exist.
Notes on the Devonian Rocks of the Bosphorus
Authors: Swan W. R.
Published: October 2009

The strata of the Bosphorus consist, for the most part, of grey, green, brown, and yellowish argillaceous shales, schists, and sandstones, more or less micaceous, with occasional beds of grey argillaceous limestones, in part subcrystalline and generally concretionary. The strike of the strata varies: in some parts it is about due north and south, in others about north-east and south-west; the full rise being from east varying to south-east, that is, into Asia Minor.
On the Recent Geological Changes in Somerset, and their Date relatively to the Existence of Man and of certain of the Extinct Mammalia
Authors: Poole G. S.
Published: October 2009

Commencing with a description of the country between Clevedon and Taunton, the author stated that the district consisted of three basins, known as the “North Marsh” the “South Marsh,” and the “Bridgwater Level,” and drained by the River Yeo, the Rivers Axe and Brue, and the River Parrett, respectively. This district, which is composed of alluvium near the coast, with peat-mosses further inland, would be subject to occasional inundations by the sea, were it not protected by a line of embankments, composed of masonry at the most exposed points, but elsewhere of earth, slightly constructed, but of immense extent. These embankments were considered by Mr. Poole to have been made by the Romans for the purposes of a double defence—against the sea and against the natives.
On the Structure of the Red Crag in Suffolk and Essex
Authors: Wood Searles V.
Published: October 2009

By reference to a tabulated description of about fifty sections taken from various parts of the Red-crag area, the author showed that the deposit is structurally divisible into five stages, of which the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th (counting upwards) were not deposited under water; but from their being regularly laminated, at angles varying between 25° and 35°, and possessing (with the exception of the 2nd) an unvarying direction in every stage, he regards them as the result of a process of “beaching up,” by which was formed a reef extending from the river Alde on the north to the southern extremity of the deposit in Essex. Of these four stages, the 4th is the most constant and important,—the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd being frequently either concealed by the succeeding stages, or having been destroyed during their formation. At Walton-on-Naze alone do any of the four lower stages contain evidence of being a subaqueous deposit; there the 1st stage is so, but it is covered by two reef-stages, and these again by the 5th stage.
Experimental Researches on the Granites of Ireland. Part IV. On the Granites and Syenites of Donegal; with some Remarks on those of Scotland and Sweden
Authors: Haughton Samuel
Published: October 2009

In Part III. of these researches I gave the analyses of fifteen Donegal granites, and an account of their constituent minerals, so far as I am acquainted with them; and at the close of the paper I endeavoured to calculate the mineral composition of the Doocharry Bridge granite, on the hypothesis that it is composed of the four minerals observed to occur in many of the Donegal granites, namely, 1, Quartz; 2, Orthoclase; 3, Oligoclase; 4, Black Mica. I now propose to discuss in detail the mineralogical composition of each of these fifteen granites, and in so doing to bring under the notice of the Society the method which I usually employ in the investigation of such problems; and from the results of this method of investigation, I hope to be able to show that the mineralogical composition of a granite is a problem of much greater difficulty than is commonly supposed, and that the number of minerals entering into its composition is greater than that visible to the eye, or to be detected by physical characters.
On the Pebble-bed of Budleigh Salterton
Authors: Vicary W.
Published: October 2009

In bringing the fossils figured in Plates XV.-XVII. under the notice of the Geological Society, I beg to offer a few remarks on the locality in which they were found, and on one or two other circumstances connected with them.

If we look at a geological map of Devon, it will be seen that from Petit Tor, near Babbacombe Bay, to a little way beyond Sidmouth, the coast exhibits cliffs of the New Red Sandstone formation. These rocks present us with variously modified features. At about a quarter of a mile west of Budleigh Salterton, and for about a mile and a half further on in the same direction, is a bed containing pebbles in large quantities, varying from a small size to that of a man's head. These are generally of a flattened-oval form, are completely free from angularity, and are known in the neighbourhood as Budleigh pebbles or “popples.”
On the Fossil Corals of the West Indian Islands. Part III
Authors: Duncan P. Martin
Published: October 2009

Conclusion

I believe that there is no truth in the hypothesis which asserts that the silicification of the West Indian fossil corals was the result of a volcanic outburst, which poured siliceous solutions over the depressed reefs of the Miocene age. The corals of the Inclined Beds and of the Chert of Antigua are silicified, so are the Woods and Mollusca; but the lower beds of the Marl contain both perfectly silicified Astræans and calcareo-siliceous corals also, whilst the upper part of the formation yields fossils in all stages of siliceous and calcareous mineralization. The neighbouring Barbudan limestone has no siliceous corals, yet it is of the same age as the Antiguan Marl. The San Domingan fossils are usually calcareous, but here and there siliceous specimens are met with in the same beds with the others. There is no evidence to prove that coral-growth ever ceased from the Miocene time to the present in the Caribbean Sea, although there has been a change in the fades of the fauna. These facts and remarks are very antagonistic to the hypothesis, and rather tend to prove that the silicification of the corals has been a slow process, which has had no other origin than in those chemical operations which are still in action, and that their greater or less intensity in certain favourable localities has produced siliceous fossils amongst those affected by the calcareous form of mineralization.
On a Section with Mammalian Remains near Thame
Authors: Codrington T.
Published: October 2009

In excavating a cutting near Thame, on the Railway between Thame nd Oxford, a section remarkable in itself and yielding a large quantity of Mammalian remains has been exposed during the past summer.

Externally the undulation of the ground cut through by the Railway does not differ from that around it. It is detached on all sides, the Thame river and two small tributaries nearly surrounding it. The highest part, which is not far from the cutting, is not more than 25 feet above the water in the nearest stream, and from it the ground falls gradually with a rounded outline.
Geological Notes on Part of the North-western Himalayas
Authors: Godwin-Austen
Published: October 2009

The operations of the Trigonometrical Survey of India, under the superintendence of Capt. Montgomery, C.E., having been extended to the extreme north-western part of the Himalaya adjoining the Indus, and across the chain northwards to the Mustak range, Captain Godwin-Austen gives in this paper the results of his observations on the geology of the region, made during the course of the Survey.
On the Reptiliferous Rocks and the Footprint-bearing Strata of the North-east of Scotland
Authors: Harkness R.
Published: October 2009

Sir Roderick I. Murchison, in his memoir on the Sandstones of Elgin, has referred to the several geologists whose labours have helped to place these deposits among the Old Red Sandstone series, and he has also described the nature and the arrangement of the strata occurring in the district around Elgin. Since that memoir was published, the discovery of the Crocodilian nature of the
Stagonolepis
found in the sandstones north of Elgin has induced palæontologists, and some geologists, to doubt the Palæozoic age of the beds which yield Reptilian remains in the North-east of Scotland, and to regard them as appertaining to the Trias. This great difference of opinion, involving, to some extent, the value of certain conclusions concerning the general distribution of life in time, and of ideas which have been inculcated with reference to progress in creation, is a matter which the recent discovery of Reptilian footprints in the Tarbetness promontory, Ross-shire, by the Rev. Dr. Campbell and the Rev. J. M. Joass, has again revived, and a careful examination of the Elgin area is naturally called for.
On the Carboniferous Rocks of the Donetz, and on the Granite and Granitic Detritus of the Neighbourhood of St. Petersburg
Authors: Helmersen J.
Published: October 2009

The Carboniferous Rocks of the Donetz were stated y Professor Helmersen o be much richer than is generally supposed, nearly four hundred beds of coal being known to occur in them, as well as many seams of iron-ore. The true succession of the beds is difficult to determine, as they have been so much disturbed; but it appears almost certain that the limestone containing
Productus giganteus
forms the base of the formation, while that containing
Spirifer Mosquensis
forms the roof, in which case the rocks of the Donetz would be perfectly comparable with those of the western slope of the Oural, where, as Professor Pander has lately discovered, the beds of coal, accompanied by grits, are always found between those two calcareous formations.
On a Supposed Deposit of Boulder-Clay in North Devon
Authors: Maw George
Published: October 2009

A deposit of brown potter's clay, of rather a peculiar character, has for many years been worked near Fremington, a village three miles to the south-west of Barnstaple; and lately, by the sinking of a well to the east of Fremington, a much greater thickness and extent of the deposit have been ascertained than was evident when I first measured and inspected the sections that were exposed, in 1852, in the open clay-pits.

To the south-west of Barnstaple, on the south side of the valley of the Taw, extends a low range of rounded hills of Carboniferous and Devonian shales, beyond which, connecting the valley of the Taw (which here forms a loop to the northward) in a more direct line from the river above to the river below Barnstaple, is another valley at a higher level, the site of the deposit about to be described.
On the Cetacean Fossils termed “Ziphius” by Cuvier, with a Notice of a New Species (Belemnoziphius compressus) from the Red Crag
Authors: Huxley Thomas H.
Published: October 2009

In that section of the ‘Recherches sur les Ossemens Fossiles” which is devoted to “The Fossil Remains of Narwhals and of Cetaceans allied to the Hyperoödons and Cachalots,” Cuvier established a new genus,
Ziphiuis
, consisting of three species,
Z. cavirostris, Z. planirostris
, and
Z, longirostris
.

The materials upon which these species were founded consisted exclusively of more or less complete portions of crania, without lower jaws, the most perfect being that to which the trivial name of
cavirostris
is applied. Of this Cuvier says:—

“This skull obviously has close relations with the Cachalot, and still closer with the
Hyperoödon
. It differs from the latter only by the maxillaries not being produced into actual lamellæ at the sides of the snout, and in the circumstance that the sort of wall behind the nostrils not merely ascends vertically, but bends over to form a half-dome above those cavities”.
On the Submerged Forest-beds of Porlock Bay
Authors: Godwin-Austen R. A. C.
Published: October 2009

Reversing the order of superposition, the sequence of change at this place is as follows:— 1st. The formation of angular detritus, and its accumulation at lower levels.—Highest relative level. 2nd. Forest-growths established on detrital beds.—Trees of great age. ↓3rd. Accumulation of freshwater mud, resulting probably from a depression of the level of the land.—Trees killed. ↑4th. Surface of water-plant growths on mud-deposit, or nearly dry surface, on which the trees fell. ↓5th. Deposit of sea-mud, with
Scrobicularia
.—Area depressed below the sea-level. ↑6th. Conversion into meadow, at the level of the highest springs at present. ↓7th. Shingle.

It may be inferred from Sir H. De la Beche's description that he had not had opportunities of distinguishing the two surfaces of plant-growths, nor the remarkable floor of angular materials on which the forest-bed is rooted. It is not stated whether the “silt and sand” of the “inclined plane” was freshwater or marine.

The succession of changes here indicated corresponds with that of numerous other localities at which I have had opportunities of examining the evidence in the West of England. The Porlock example, in addition, seems to fix a relative date for a part, namely, as being subsequent to the great subaërial weathering of the surface during the Glacial Period. The elevation of the land was greater at that time than at present, but by how much we have no means of determining.

The difference of level within which the land has oscillated since then need not be estimated at more than
On the Western Limit of the Rhætic Beds in South Wales, and on the Position of the “Sutton Stone”
Authors: Tawney E. B.
Published: October 2009

The object of the present paper is to notice some peculiarities of the
Avicula-contorta
series at their most westerly boundary in Great Britain; to discuss the. “Sutton Stone” as to its stratigraphical, lithological, and palæontological relations; to show from organic remains that its affinities are with the Triassic formation, and not with the Lias as commonly supposed, and then to claim it as Rhætic, and in so doing to extend, for the first time in England, the range of Ammonites down into the Rhætic series.

At the Bath Meeting of the British Association for 1864, Sir R. I. Murchison announced the presence of the argillaceous limestones and shales of the Rhætic series in a small outlier of Lias (as mapped) close to Pyle Station (west of Bridgend); and having in this way had my attention directed to the subject, I found that the
Avicula-contorta
strata were widely extended in this district; and as they show some peculiarities here, I will begin by a few remarks on these beds.

2.
Pyle district.
—The above-mentioned patch, sufficiently described by Mr. Bristow*, consists of buff-coloured marls and greyish-brown shales and limestones, which last, from their appearance and conchoidal fracture, remind one of the Cotham marble: these are probably high in the series; they are mapped as lying on the Keuper.

A few hundred yards south of this we reach the southern limit of the Keuper in this district. It consists of red marls with buff and green marls resting upon them; the same conditions
Notes on a Section of Lower Lias and Rhætic Beds, near Wells, Somerset
Authors: Brodie P. B.
Published: October 2009

The accidental lowering of a road at Milton Lane, one mile and a half north of Wells, exposed a very interesting section of Lias and Rhætic beds, which has not been referred to by Mr. Dawkins in his paper “On the Relations of the Liassic and Rhætic Series in Somersetshire.” This section is the more deserving of notice because, as a general rule, the sections in the immediate neighbourhood only exhibit the White Lias and Rhætic beds, and these have not hitherto been recorded so near the city in a northerly direction, nor so close to the Mendips; and in this case we have the “Lima-beds” the highest seen, passing into and overlying the White Lias and the
Avicula-contorta
zone. The nearest section to Wells described by Mr. Dawkins, showing the White Lias and Rhætic series, though very obscure, is at Pen Knowle, about five miles west of the town. The Milton-Lane section gives a clearer view of the succession of the “Lima-beds” downwards, and I can confirm Mr. Dawkins's statement that the “White Lias” rests immediately upon the Rhætic beds; for whether the strata below No. 4 in the annexed section, down to the “White Lias,” belong to the “Lima series,” which is most probable, and to which I have referred them, or form a reduced equivalent of the “Insect and Saurian beds,” it is evident that the latter do not here or elsewhere underlie the “White Lias.” The following is the section at Milton Lane, in descending order:—
On the Kainozoic Formations of Belgium
Authors: Godwin-Austen R. A. C.
Published: October 2009

The following notes relating to the Kainozoic or Tertiary formations of Belgium were put together in the course of an interesting excursion through that country in the spring of 1865, in company with Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Prestwich, Captain D. Galton, Mr. W. W. Smyth, Mr. Busk, and Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys. Our route was from Harwich to Antwerp, Louvain, Hasselt, Maestricht, Liége (whence to Engis and Engihoul), Namur. Some of the party went into Brussels to see the collection in the Museum there; some to the Grotte de Han; in company with M. van Beneden I had the advantage of seeing, under the guidance of M. Malaise, the lower Palæozoic and fossiliferous rocks of Gembloux, which he considers to be of the age of the Lower Silurian series of Sir. R. Murchison.

From Dinant, where we were joined by the late Mr. H. Christy, we all visited, under the escort of MM. van Beneden, Dupont, and other Belgian geologists and antiquaries, the caves of Furfooz on the Lesse. An excursion in the neighbourhood of Mons, and a visit to the coast at Sangatte, near Calais, completed the trip.

Some of our party had been in Belgium before, even repeatedly. The points in its geology which on this occasion chiefly interested us were the Crag-formation of Antwerp and elsewhere, the Boldérien beds of M. Dumont, and the caves and recent researches at Furfooz.

To what extent the several members of our party may concur in the views here recorded is a point
On the Occurrence of dead Littoral Shells in the bed of the German Ocean, forty miles from the coast of Aberdeen
Authors: Dawson Robert
Published: October 2009

The bank called the “Long Forties,” from 35 to 40 miles from land, extends from opposite Kinnaird's Head in a direction nearly parallel to the shore. Inside of this bank the depth varies from 90 fathoms at the northern end to about 50 fathoms opposite Aberdeen. Being becalmed we dredged on this bank for a considerable time in 36 fathoms, 40 fathoms, and 42 fathoms, on a bottom of broken shells and shingle. I remarked at the time that these dredgings contained none of the Arctic fossils found so plentifully in every haul when dredging nearer the shore, and from this I inferred that the fossiliferous bed, which seems to stretch along the coast at a distance of from six to fifteen miles, does not extend beyond this deep water to the “Long Forties.” On examination of the materials brought up by the dredge from the top of the bank, there were found shells of the following species in a worn and semi-fossil condition, namely:—

Purpura lapillus
, one specimen.

Litorina rudis
, one specimen.

Solen siliqua
, two specimens.

Mytilus edulis
, one large broken valve and several fragments of smaller specimens.

Before it occurred to me that these fragmentary fossils might be interesting in a geological point of view, the greater part of the dredgings had been examined. It is quite possible, therefore, that other specimens may have escaped notice.

Now as Litorina rudis is generally found on rocks above high-water mark, and nevr beyond low-water, and as all other species
On the Glacial phenomena of Caithness
Authors: Jamieson T. F.
Published: October 2009

1.
Introduction
.—In August 1865 I paid a visit to Caithness, in order to study the last geological changes in that north-eastern corner of Scotland. Mr. Peach has lately given us an excellent account of the fossil-contents of its glacial beds, from which he enumerates seventy-five species of Mollusca, besides various other forms of Invertebrata. The object, however, of my visit was not so much to look after the fossils as to satisfy myself about the conditions under which the beds containing them had been accumulated, and to compare them with those of other districts with which I was already acquainted.

In the neighbourhood of Glasgow, and along the east coast from Aberdeen to Edinburgh, we find the beds containing Arctic shells lying on the top of a rough boulder-clay destitute of such fossils; and these marine fossiliferous beds are often of great depth and finely laminated, presenting all the features of tranquil and regular deposition. The remains of moUusca and starfishes in them are, in many instances, quite entire and uninjured, as if they had been gradually enveloped in the fine mud in which the animals lived and died, while the crust of large barnacles on some of the stones points to a like stillness of the sea-bottom. In Caithness nothing of this sort has been observed; no distinction has been made of a rough. boulder-clay destitute of fossils and an overlying marine fossiliferous bed; the shells, according to all observer—Dick, Cleghorn, Hugh Miller, Peach, and others—are described as
On the Affinities of Platysomus and allied Genera
Authors: Young John
Published: October 2009

The genus
Platysomus
, as defined by Agassiz, and placed by him among the heterocercal Lepidoids with flat broad bodies, contains forms which cannot be included under the definition he has given. The imperfect materials from which his descriptions were drawn up have since been supplemented by abundant well-preserved specimens, whence it is comparatively easy to fill up the masterly outline he has sketched in the ‘Poissons Fossiles.’

The first change in the classification of the group to which Platyserous belongs was proposed by Sir 1 ). G. Egerton (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. v.). The occurrence in a mandible of P1. macrurus, Ag., of teeth with a blunt conical crown and constricted neck, and the discovery of the true nature of the apophyses (compared by Agassiz to the V-shaped bones of Clupea), suggested the affinity of that species to the Pycnodonts, to which family, therefore, Sir Philip referred the whole genus, and along with it Globulodus, Miinst., whose relation to Platysomus, Agassiz had previously suspected. This change Agassiz accepted. But the “dents en brosse” mentioned in.the generic definition (Poiss. Foss. ii. p. 6) and in the description of
P1. glbbosus
(ibid. ii. p. 165) are not Pyenodont but Lepidoid (=Lepidosteid). The former family was thus made to include two distinct types of dentition, associated, as will appear, with equally distinct osteological characters. Thiollière in a remarkable paper “On the Jurassic Fossil Fish of Bougey“ (Bull. Soc. Géol. France, 1858, xv. p. 372) alludes to the vagueness of the definition of the
Note on the Scales of Rhizodus, Owen
Authors: Young John
Published: October 2009

Attention was drawn to the fact that, on a slab in the collection of the Royal Society at Edinburgh, the characteristic
Rhizodus
teeth occur along with thick bony scales, whose exposed area is ornamented with coarse tubercles, usually irregularly disposed, while the overlapped anterior area is concentrically striated. These characters confirm the generic distinctness of
Rhizodus
from
Holoptychius
, whose smooth anterior and rugose free surfaces contrast with those described.
On the Interval of Time which has passed between the Formation of the Upper and Lower Valley-gravels of part of England and France
Authors: Tylor A.
Published: October 2009

The elaborate examination of the Quaternary deposits made by Mr. Prestwich has induced that geologist to divide the valley-gravels into upper and lower, which are supposed to be separated from each other by a considerable interval of time.

There is much similarity in these deposits, although separated for purposes of classification by Mr. Prestwich; for the organic remains are nearly identical, and the human implements found in both (made of roughly chipped flint) are of the same general character. Mr. Prestwich argues that although the upper valley-gravels are at a higher relative level than the lower, yet the higher series are always the older, and the lower the more modern; and we have thus the ordinary superposition of new over old strata supposed to be reversed. This difficulty is considered by most geologists to have been surmounted by Mr. Prestwich's arguments, and his classification of the gravels has been generally accepted. My own opinion is, that the evidence on which Mr. Prestwich's theory is based is insufficient; at the same time, I fully admit the careful and accurate manner in which he has stated his views.

Present inquirers have the great advantage of having before them the accurate sections prepared by Mr. Prestwich with great skill and labour. Mr. Prestwich describes the drift-beds of the valley of the Somme as the opposite extremities of a series of gravels deposited in a period of time so vast that during its continuance extensive valleys were formed and excavated out of solid strata,
On a New Species of Acanthodes from the Coal-shales of Longton
Authors: de M. Grey Egerton Philip
Published: October 2009

Owing to the kindness of Mr. Ward, of Longton (who has for some time past devoted his time and attention to collecting the fossil remains of the coal-pits in his vicinity), I have had the opportunity of examining a considerable collection of specimens of the Acanthodian fishes of the North Staffordshire Coal-measures. Numerically speaking, the collection is a large one, but the specimens themselves are all imperfect. The anterior parts of the fish are rarely preserved; and even when present, the dislocations and crushed condition of the component bones are so extensive that the form and structural details of the head and thorax are difficult to decipher. Most of the best-preserved specimens contain the middle and hinder portions of the body, from the ventral spines to the bifurcation of the tail; and all have the scales well shown, and most of the spines supporting the fins. Although it might perhaps be desirable to wait for more perfect specimens before undertaking a complete determination of the specific forms, yet the evidence already procured is so decisive as to the distinctness of at least one species, that a brief description of this form may be given without prejudice to future investigation.

The generic characters of
Acanthodes
have been so thoroughly worked out in previous publications * that if is needless to recapitulate them here, the more so since no important anatomical points are supplemented by the specimens under consideration.

Selecting for description those, individuals of a medium size, the length of the
On the Lower Silurian Rocks of the Isle of Man
Authors: Harkness R. , Nicholson Henry
Published: October 2009

The rocks which belong to the lower sedimentary series, and which occupy the largest portion of the surface of the Isle of Man, have been described by Dr. Berger, and supplemental observations have been made to his memoir by Professor Henslow.

The Rev. J. G. Cumming has also given a description of the old rocks of the Isle of Man, with especial reference to the Carboniferous Limestone of the island.

The older sedimentary rocks of the Isle of Man are also described in Glover's Guide to this island, which gives a condensed statement of the memoirs of Dr. Berger and Professor Henslow.

The nature and arrangement of the old rocks of the Isle of Man are best seen in the coast-sections, which usually occur in the form of bold cliffs. The interior of the island also affords sections in some of the brook-courses; but the mountains composed of these rocks, which have usually a rounded outline, are covered to a considerable thickness with soil and peat, which hide the rocky masses.

On the south-east side of the island, in the neighbourhood of Douglas, good exposures of rocks are seen. Along the coast from Douglas to about a mile north-east thereof, the strata appear in the Douglas to about a mile north-east thereof, the strata appear in the form of thin-bedded grey flags, having the mineral characters of the Skiddaw slate, and dipping south-east at an angle of 60°. These thin-bedded strata, on passing downwards, become thicker-bedded.The rocks here are used