bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Geological Structure of the Southern Malverns, and of the Adjacent District to the West
Authors: Groom T. T.
Published: October 2009

I. H
istorical Summary
.

E
asily
accessible, situated in a charmingly picturesque country, and marking some of the most interesting phases in the evolubion of the British Is]es, the Malvern Hills have now for nearly 80 years formed the subject of geological investigations, and have ever yielded new facts of interest and importance.

Leonard Horner described the Malverns as a granitic mass intruded into the associated strata. Murehison 2 regarded the chain as essentially of igneous origin, though including ‘Silurian’ beds altered by the intrusion. Phillips, in his masterly work on the district, maintained that the Lower Palmozoie strata associated with the range had been deposited against the crystalline rocks. Ho11, regarding the range as probably composed of pre-Cambrian metamorphosed sedimentary and igneous rocks, described the Cambrian aud Silurian beds as overlapping the metamorphic series.

Mr. Rutley considers that the gneissic and schistose rocks of the Malverns are a series of altered tufts, grits, sandstmnes, and volcanic and other igneous rocks. Dr. Callaway, on the other hand, regards the former series as metamorphosed plutonic rocks, chiefly granite and diorite, and compares them with the Archamn Series of Primrose Hill in Shropshire. The same author` recognized the volcanic series of the Herefordshire Beacon, and correlated it with the Urieonian rocks of Lilleshall Hill in Shropshire. The Herefordshire Beacon rocks have subsequently been studied by Green, and by Messrs. Rutley, Harker, and Acland.

During the past year the present writer has maintained that the Malvern and Abberley Hills are the basal wrecks of an
The Geology of Southern Morocco and the Atlas Mountains
Authors: Thomson Joseph
Published: October 2009

A
mong
the curious facts of the 19th century there are few things more notable than our comparative ignorance of the geography and geology of the Empire of Morocco. Here is an extensive country within sight of Europe, and even within sound of the guns of a British garrison-town, about which we in many respects know less than about many districts in the remotest depths of the African Continent. Within recent years something has been done to dispel our ignorance of the geography of Morocco, but geologically our knowledge of it remains almost at a standstill.

Previous to the expedition of Sir Joseph Hooker to the Great Atlas in 1871, hardly a single ray of light had been thrown upon the stratigraphical constitution of Southern Morocco, and since that time barely one trustworthy fact has been added to the sum total. Practically the geological literature of Southern Morocco consists of a paper by Mr. Maw, who accompanied Sir Joseph, entitled ‘Notes on the Geology of the Plain of Marocco & the Great Atlas,’ and published as an appendix to Hooker & Ball's ‘Tour in Marocco & the Great Atlas.’

In the beginning of 1888 I conceived the idea of attempting the exploration of the less known parts of the Moorish Empire, and especially of the Atlas Mountains. In pursuit of this enterprise I left England on March 9th, returning home towards the end of October, successful beyond my expectations so far as the Atlas and Southern Morocco are concerned. I was
On Radiolaria in Chert from Chypons Farm, Mullion Parish (Cornwall)
Authors: Hinde George Jennings
Published: October 2009

A
t
the time of the discovery of the Radiolarian Chert-beds on Mullion Island in 1893, described by Messrs. Fox & Teall, the extension of the beds to the neighbouring mainland was suspected, but no traces of them could be found. Mr. Howard Fox, however, continued his search for them, and in the early part of 1897 he discovered a small exposure of chert
in situ
, in a road-cutting near the base of the hill leading north from Chypons and about 1 mile north by east of Mullion Church. The chert appears as several bands interbedded with the clay-slates of the district. Detached blocks of chert had previously been noticed on the surface of the fields and built into the hedges in the neighbourhood, but up to Mr. Fox's discovery the rock had not been recognized or recorded in place, Mr. Fox caused microscopic sections to be prepared from different portions of the chert-bands, and these showed the presence of radiolaria in considerable numbers, resembling in general appearance the forms present in the chert from Mullion Island. In some portions of the chert, however, the radiolaria were preserved in an unusually perfect condition, showing their latticed structure and spines very distinctly, and Mr. Fox forwarded to me the specimens, and some careful drawings by Miss Lister of the organisms, in order to see whether any fresh knowledge respecting the character of the radiolaria could be obtained. As some of the forms appear to be new, and as they are more favourably
On a Sill and Faulted Inlier in Tideswell Dale (Derbyshire)
Authors: Arnold-Bemrose H. H.
Published: October 2009

T
he
object of this paper is to describe an interesting series of igneous rocks, about ½ mile south of Tideswell, and between that village and the valley of the Wye (Geol. Surv. 1-inch map, 81 S.E.).

The old marble-quarry in Tideswell Dale has been known to geologists for many years, on account of the baked columnar clay underlying the toadstone, which was at one time well exposed. Numerous excursions have been made to the quarry, and several papers have been written on it, but no detailed work appears to have been done with the view of ascertaining the relation of the toadstone to the clay and the limestone-beds. The quarry was worked about 50 years ago for its fine coralline marble, but was abandoned because of the unavoidable expense of removing a great thickness of toadstone, in order to get at the limestone below it.

In 1870 a paper was read before this Society by the Rev. J. M. Mello, describing the section exposed in the quarry. In the same year Mr. Edward Wilson and Mr. Edwin Brown each contributed a paper on the same subject to the Geological Magazine. According to these observers, a bed of clay, which was often columnar, rested on the coralline marble. It varied in thickness from 5 to 12 feet, and the columns in it sometimes attained a length of 8 or 9 feet, and a breadth of 6 inches. Above the clay was a band of vesicular and amygdaloidal toadstone from 1 to
Remarks on the Genera
Ectomaria
, Koken, and
Hormotoma
, Salter, with Descriptions of British Species
Authors: Donald Jane
Published: October 2009

I
n
my previous papers on the Carboniferous
Murchsoniæ
I have given some account of most of the different genera or sections into which the family Murchisoniidæ has been divided. It is not, therefore, necessary to refer to many of these again, as I am here only describing the British members of one of these established genera, namely
Hormotoma
, Sailer, and also of the new genus
Ectomaria
, Koken.

These two genera contain some of the oldest known species of elongated gasteropoda. They are both distinguished from the typical
Murchisoniæ
by merely possessing a sinus in the outer lip, instead of having a deep narrow slit with parallel edges; also the lines of growth retreat towards, and advance from, the sinus more obliquely. The protoconch, which throws so important a light upon the affinities of the gasteropoda, is so far unknown in
Ectomaria
and
Hormotoma
, neither has it been found out whether these shells have opercula.

In the present state of our knowledge it is doubtful in what degree these genera are related either one to another, or to the typical
Murchisoniæ
.
Hormotoma
agrees with
Murchisonia
therein that the sinus gives rise to a band, though it is generally somewhat indistinctly limited ; whereas
Ectomaria
can hardly be said to possess a band, the greatest sinuosity of the lines of growth being merely situated between two keels. Koken does not place
Ectomaria
in the Murchisoniidæ, and it is not clear to which family he would refer it ; apparently it stands in
Relations of the Chalk and Drift in Möen and Rügen
Authors: Bonney T. G. , Hill Edwin
Published: October 2009

I. I
ntroduction
.

Möen, one of the Danish islands, lies on the south-east of Seeland Rügen, belonging to Germany, is very near the northern coast of Pomerania. They are separated in a north-westerly to a south-easterly direction by about 35 miles of sea, and on clear days are visible one from the other. Both districts have been for long—one of them more than half a century—classic ground in the annals of glacial geology. Our past work in England and elsewhere had made us for some time anxious, if only for comparative purposes, to undertake a persons examination of sections so diversely interpreted, and an opportunity of gratifying this desire occurred last summer. We first visited M6en, and about a fortnight later landed in Rügen, remaining in each a sufficient time to examine all the more important sections, with the results which will be found in this paper.

The ground in each island is generally low, but it becomes more undulating towards the east, and rises on that side into a range of Chalk-downs capped with Drift and covered by beech-woods. Each of these tracts ends abruptly in a line of lofty Chalk-cliffs, and these, in both cases, exhibit at many spots that rock and the Drift in relations which are peculiar and abnormal.

Many geologists have examined the islands and published explanations of the phenomena which they present. Some maintain that the Glacial beds have been included in the Chalk by a series of acute folds ; others, that these beds
On the Distal End of a Mammalian Humerus from Tonbridge (
Hemiomus major
)
Authors: Seeley H. G.
Published: October 2009

M
r
. R. D'A. A
nderson
, of the Royal Indian Engineering College, has submitted to me the distal end of the right humerus of a mammal for determination. The bone was found in August 1898 by Mr. Grenville Anderson, on the bank of the River Medway near Tonbridge (at a time when the river was running very low), when it was seen projecting from the reconstructed rock. The locality is not far from Messrs. Curtis & Harvey's gunpowder-mills, at a point between a broken and disused lock-basin and an old bridge near the ballast-pit. On visiting the spot I found fragments of flints among the materials which form the river-banks; but although this might support a reference of the specimen to any geological period of subsequent date, there are conditions of mineral structure and osteological character which incline me to believe that the bone has been derived from the Weald Clay.

When the fossil came under my notice, the distal end was broken from the shaft; and the shaft was split, showing the very thin condition of the bone of the shaft, and the hard, sandy, calcareous matter which filled the medullary cavity. Traces of matrix at the distal end show that the specimen has been derived from quartz-sand bound together with limonite, such as might occur in the Hastings Sand, Weald Clay, or Lower Greensand, but the character of this matrix is opposed to the possibility of the specimen being of post-Tertiary age.

The fossil, as preserved, is 4 inches long
On Evidence of a Bird from the Wealden Beds of Ansty Lane, near Cuckfield
Authors: Seeley H. G.
Published: October 2009

O
n
a visit to Ansty Cross made by the London Geological Field Class, I identified a fragment of bone found embedded in the sandstone by Mr. Neville Jones, as probably the distal end of the femur of a bird. It was unfortunately extracted from the matrix, and subsequently it was left with me for determination.

The fragment is ¾ inch long, compressed from back to front, with the bone of the shaft
thick and enclosing a small medullary cavity. At the proximal fracture the bone is ¼inch wide
and ⅕inch thick. The width at the distal
articulation is nine-twentieths inch; and the bone becomes bent downward and is
thickened inferiorly with development of the condyles, though not to quite the extent seen in most
existing birds.

The inner side of the bone is narrower than the outer side. As the narrow, rounded inner side
of the shaft is prolonged distally, it becomes flattened, with a slight median convexity; and is
thickened, partly owing to a superior marginal ridge, and partly in consequence of the thickening
of the inner condyle.

The outer side of the bone is thicker, but not so thick as in the femur of
Enaliornis
; nor is the external side flattened so much as in that genus. An
inflation on its middle part defines a superior lateral oblique area, below which there is an
imperfect groove. This defines a thickening of the outer side of the large external condyle,
quite on the type of
Notes on the Rhyolites of the Hauraki Goldfields (New Zealand)
Authors: Park J. , Rutley F.
Published: October 2009

N
ew
Zealand
, during the Secondary period, seems to have been singularly free from volcanic disturbances, but after the advent of the Eocene it again became the scene of outbursts which have prevailed, with only short periods of cessation, up to the present time. The eruptions of Tertiary date were generally more widespread than those of recent times, their ejections sometimes affecting many hundreds of square miles.

The ejections of the early Tertiary eruptions were principally basic; those of the middle Tertiary, semi-basic; of the older Pliocene, acidic; and of the newer Pliocene and recent, acidic, semi-basic, and basic.

The Pliocene acidic eruptions devastated a wide area in the central portion of the North Island, smothering thousands of square miles with rhyolitic lavas, tuffs, and pumice, which now form barren plains and bare, flat-topped ranges. The chief centres of eruption lay in the Taupo, Rotorua, and Tauranga districts and the Hauraki peninsula. It is in connexion with the rhyolites of the last-named district that these notes are written.

The Hauraki peninsula is situated in the province of Auckland, and lies between the Firth of Thames, on the west, and the Pacific Ocean on the east. Altogether it covers an area of about 1,000 square miles. Its surface is diversified with rugged, forest-clad mountain-ranges, cut by deep ravines.

The basement-rocks consist of Palaeozoic (probably Devonian) slates and grauwacke, which generally occur in rapidly alternating thin beds or layers. Near Cabbage Bay a small isolated patch of richly fossiliferous marly clays, and limestone
An Analysis of the Genus Micraster, as determined by rigid zonal collecting from the Zone of
Rhynchonella Cuvieri
to that of
Micraster cor-anguinum
Authors: Rowe A. W.
Published: October 2009

I. G
eneral
C
onsiderations
.

T
he
Micrasters dealt with in this paper were collected from the sections exposed at Gravesend, the Thanet Coast, Dover, Beachy Head, the Dorset Coast, and Beer Head, in the zones indicated above.

Two thousand examples have been measured and analysed, and no specimen has been included in the summary unless its zonal origin is accurately determined. Six hundred photomicrographio negatives of the special features of the test have been made, in order that mere conjecture may play no part in the enquiry, and that these important aids to specific and zonal determination may be placed on a permanent and scientific footing. The field-work has been extended over as wide an area as possible, so that conclusions should not be vitiated by being drawn from any one isolated district.

In this paper, the term ‘low-zonal’ will apply to the zones of
Rhynchonella Cuvieri, Terebratulina gracilis, Holaster planus, Micraster cor-testudinarium
, and the lower third of the zone of
M. cor-anguinum
(80 feet); and the term ‘high-zonal’ will refer to the remainder of the zone of
M. cor-anguinum
, and to the zones above it

Though all the accessible literature on the subject has been studied, the conclusions here set forth have not been influenced by previous publications, for rigid zonal collecting has been the paramount object, and the facts brought out by analysis have been allowed to speak for themselves. The scope of the present paper will not admit of the discussion of questions of nomenclature, which must be left
Appendix on the Petrography of the Rocks of Congleton Edge
Authors: Arnold-Bemrose H. H.
Published: October 2009

T
he
, following specimens from the agglomerate in the quarry were collected by the writer and examined microscopically :—Two of hard and three of softer agglomerate, one block of vesicular rock, and two blocks of limestone embedded in the agglomerate.

A hard agglomerate (978) consists of lapilli of irregular shape, set in a brown matrix, containing a few minute lapilli and probably Monticulilaora. The lapilli are very rarely vesicular, and then only contain few vesicles. The fragments with few or no vesicles contain altered felspar-laths and olivine iu a dark base, which is almost isotropic. The lapilli are often surrounded by a vein-like fibrous calcite.

In another specimen of hard agg1omerate (979) the lapilli: are in a remarkably fresh state of preservation. They contain olivinephenocrysts altered to calcite and sometimes to serpentine, with augite and felspar in a yellow isotropie base. The augite is fresh, and occurs in idiomorphic crystals and prisms, often arranged in groups or clusters. The felspars are fresh and clear, and have a sharply-defined outline. A few small vesicular and non-crystalline lapilli are present. The lapilli are cemented together by a limestone-paste, in which occur foraminifera and other organisms, together with a few fragments of augite and felspar and a subangular quartz-grain. The rock may be described as abasalt-tuff.

A piece of the softer agglomerate (981) consists of fragments of dolerite in a limestone-paste, containing veins of calcite and l races of organisms. The igneous fragments consist of pseudomorphs of felspar and olivine in a reddish matrix,
Appendix—On the Microscopic Study of some of the Rocks of Northern Anglesey
Authors: Watts W. W.
Published: October 2009

The following notes are based on the examination of about 100 slides made from rocks collected by Mr. Matley during his work in Northern Anglesey, and examined by me at his request. These rocks may be classed under the following heads:—

(1)

The Green Series.

(2)

The Ordovician Rocks.

(3)

The Quartzites and ‘Quartz-knobs.’

(4)

The Results of Earth-movement; Crush-Conglomerates.

(1) The Green Series.

These rocks usually show their original clastic structure distinctly, although they are often considerably altered. They vary from coarse quartzose grits, through finer grits, to close-grained phyllites. The fragments consist of quartz-grains, clastic mica, and felspar, the first constituent, being present in greatest quantity. Secondary chlorite and sericite are usually developed, the latter becoming more abundant as the evidences of earth-movement increase, and certain bands in the fine grits are schists consisting of little but sericite. More usually the groundmass is made up of fine chlorite-flakes embedded in granulitic quartz. Epidoto in veins and isolated crystals is usually present. Secondary chalcedonic silica has often been deposited along planes and lenticles produced by the movement. In the finer-grained rocks strain-slip is present, and not infrequently the rock is brecciated and contains fragments derived from itself; one example (ST.A. 43, from the Craig Wen ‘quartz-knob’)has the structure of a mylonite. One rock (N.A. 18, near Taldrws, Cemlyn) has been detected in the Green Series which contains, in addition to angular grains of quartz, several fragments of
On the Occurrence of Sponge-spicules in the Carboniferous Limestone of Derbyshire
Authors: Sollas W. J.
Published: October 2009

After the reading of a paper ‘On the Geology of the Ashbourne & Buxton Railway, by Mr. H. H. Arnold-Bemrose, I ventured in the discussion that followed to suggest doubtfully the presence of sponge-spicules in one of the slices of Carboniferous Limestone that were exhibited in illustration of the subject on that occasion. As I had then opportunity for only a hasty glance through the microscope, I was not able to speak with much assurance; but through the kindness of Mr. Arnold-Bemrose I have since been able to give a more careful study to his preparations, and can now positively affirm what I before merely suggested. The remains of sponge-spicules are fairly abundant in a rock-slice taken from a specimen obtained at Tissington cutting; they present themselves as sections cut in various directions, longitudinal, transverse, and oblique, through long cylindrical rods, the terminations of which are obscure and indefinite: in rare instances the rod exhibits a marked expansion at one end, but does not assume a form that would enable us to refer it to any recognized order of the sponges. The greatest length observed for these spicules is 1·5 mm., the greatest diameter is 0·08 mm., and the least diameter is 0·027 mm. When complete they were doubtless larger, but in any case they are far from approaching the comparatively colossal dimensions of the spicules of
Hyalostelia
, and rather recall such forms as have been identified by Dr. Hinde, I fear on insufficient grounds, with those of the existing
On some Remarkable Calcisponges from the Eocene Strata of Victoria, Australia
Authors: Hinde George Jennings
Published: October 2009

About two years ago Mr. T. S. Hall, M.A., of the University of Melbourne, forwarded to me, for examination and description, some small specimens of calcisponges which he had collected in different localities in the southern part of the Colony of Victoria. The sponges were found together with numerous species of bivalve mollusca, brachiopoda, fragmentary polyzoa and echinoid-tests, in beds of loose materials, sandy, clayey, and calcareous, which have been regarded, mainly on the evidence of the mollusca, as of Eocene age. The sponges are all fairly perfect as regards outer form, but in the great majority the spicular structure had been much altered in the fossilization, though sufficient was preserved to lead to the belief that they were new species. In one specimen, however, which came from ‘Griffin's Farm’ on the lower reaches of the Moorabool River, north of Geelong, the structure both of the exterior and interior of the sponge was in so unusually favourable a state of preservation that even the smallest spicules could be isolated and examined, and the character of the skeletal mesh could be ascertained with as much precision as in recent sponges. The structural features of this specimen, as will be seen from the description, are distinct from those of any fossil caleisponge hitherto described; and it resembles, in the peculiar form of the skeletal spicules and the firmness with which they are welded together to form the mesh, the remarkable calcisponge
Petrostroma Schulzei
, described recently by Prof. L. Döderlein, from the Japanese
On the Geological Structure of Portions of the Malvern and Abberley Hills
Authors: Groom T. T.
Published: October 2009

I. Introduction. In a former communication 1 an account was given of the structure of the southern portion of the Malvern Rauge; it is now proposed to supplement this account by a description of the rest of the Malverh Range and of certain portions of the Abberley Range, which were selected with the view of throwing light upon the geological history of the Western Midlands. The structure will be traced from south to north, beginning with Swinyard Hill, which is situated immediately to the north of the area described in the writer's former paper.

II. Swinyard Hill. The mlrrow ridge of Swinyard Hill is separated from Midsummer Hill on the south by the Gullet Pass, and from the Herefordshire Beacon by the depression termed by Phillips the ‘Silurian Pass.’

It has been pointed out on a former occasion 2 that the Gullet Pass is traversed by a line of fault. North of this line the width of the Archæean massif suddenly narrows, so that the deposits which flank the hill abut on the south directly against the Archæan mass of Midsummer Hill. The Archzean rocks of Swinyard Hill are well foliated towards the south, and show a marked plaoiocliual disposition. The ridge is flanked on each side by May Hill Sandstone, forming ground with a slope decidedly less steep than that of the ridge itself, especially on the eastern side. The change of slope is usually somewhat sudden, and probably marks lines of faulting on each side; but the May
On the Geology of Northern Anglesey: Part II.
Authors: Matley Charles A.
Published: October 2009

In a recent communication
1
I discussed the stratigraphical relationships of the rocks of Northern Anglesey, and showed that the region had been profoundly affected by earth-movements. Having now completed the mapping of that part of the district which I called the ‘Northern Complex’ that is to say the area between Cemaes and Bull Bay, I venture to bring the results before the Society, with map and sections. It has been ascertained that some of the dykes of Northern Anglesey are composite in character, and a short account of these and of the other intrusive rocks is also given.

I. Stratigraphy of the Northern Complex.

In my previous paper the Northern Complex was stated to contain rocks of undoubted Ordovician age, rocks of the Green Series, and a third group characterized by limestones and quartzites. The last-mentioned group will be here referred to as the Llanbadrig Series, from its development in the neighbourhood of Llanbadrig Church. The succession, in descending order, is as follows:—

C
.

The Llandeilo Rocks—conglomerates, grits, sandy and argillaceous shales and slates, and ironstone.

B
.

The Llanbadrig Series—quartzites, limestones, slates, gritty slates with bands of grit, and pebbly slates.

A
.

The Green Series—represented in the ‘Northern Complex’ mainly by greenish and bluish slates.

The rocks strike in an east-south-easterly direction, and the dip, almost always northerly, is usually high. A well-marked transverse fault runs south-westward from Hell's Mouth, dividing the Complex into western and eastern portions.

(
a
) The Llandeilo
Foraminifera from an Upper Cambrian Horizon in the Malverns; together with a Note on some of the Earliest-known Foraminifera
Authors: Chapman Frederick
Published: October 2009

Occurrence.

The foraminifera here described were found in a shaly limestone which Prof. Groom obtained —from the débris of a small ridge composed of black shales, with intercalated basalts, which forms a spur on the north-west side of Chase End Hill. The locality is a short distance south of the village of Whiteleaved Oak. In the same specimens of limestone were found traces of Oboloid brachiopoda, and of what appear to be minute gasteropoda, bivalved crustacea or mollusca, and other fossils. The rock belongs to the well-known and widely-spread zone of
Sphærophthalmus, Peltura
, and
Ctenopyge
, which in Britain forms the upper half of the Dolgelly Beds or Upper
Lingula
-Flags.—
1

So far Prof. Groom has been unable to find the rock in place, although there can be no doubt, he informs me, that it occurs not many yards away from the spot where it is now found.

On examining the limestone with a pocket-lens, Prof. Groom noticed a number of small bodies, some of which, when looked at under a high power, had the appearance of foraminifera. Thereupon a thin slice of the rock was prepared, which revealed to him the presence of undoubted foraminifera.

The specimens, courteously placed in my hands by Prof. Groom for description, have been sliced; and they have yielded a few forms other than
Spirillina
, which was the first one seen. Some pieces of the limestone are dark or nearly black, while others are whitish and speckled over with minute dark-blue spots. When thin sections of
The Rocks of the South-eastern Coast of Jersey
Authors: Parkinson John
Published: October 2009

I. Introduction.

In a recent communication to this Society
1
I described the intrusion of a granite into a diabase at Sorel Point, on the northern coast of Jersey, and in concluding remarked on another paraUel case to be found on the southern side of the island. It is to this that the present paper relates. The rocks from north and south, both intrusive and intruded into, show a resemblance one to another sufficient to indicate that they are closely related. The interior of the island is occupied by the rather varied assortment of igneous and sedimentary rocks depicted on M. Noury's map.
2

From the town of St. Helier's to La Rocque Point, the south-eastern termination of the island, the receding tide exposes to the view of an observer standing on the low shore an assemblage of jagged rocks which stretch far out towards the horizon. Near the centre of St. Clement's Bay an intrusive granite is found about high-water mark, and forms at the western end the more outlying crags of Le Nez Point. At Grève d'Azette, the next bay to the west-ward, it again approaches the shore. Diabase and other closely-related rocks make up Le Nez itself. At the junction of the two the granite sends innumerable offshoots and dykes into the older rock, which are well seen to the west of Le Nez. Generally these dykes are dearly cut and weU defined; but occasionally peculiar rocks make their appearance, so similar to those non-homogeneous and mixed rocks which
Additional Notes on some Eruptive Rocks from New Zealand
Authors: Rutley Frank
Published: October 2009

The rocks described in this paper were, with two or three exceptions, collected by Mr. James Park, F.G.S., and reached me just before the completion of the paper on the rhyolites of the Hauraki Goldfields, read last year before this Society? A few of these specimens came from the area dealt with in that paper, but a con siderable number of them are from other localities in the North Island, including several from Rotorua, which are interesting as affording recent examples of solfataric action.

For the estimations of the total silica in these rocks I have to thank my friend Mr. Philip Holland, F.I.C., F.C.S., by whom they were made. Lantern-slides of some of the more typical rock-sections have been very kindly prepared for me by Mr. Frederick Chapman, A.L.S., F.R.M.S., of the Royal College of Science, South Kensington.

The present paper may, to some extent, be regarded as a continuation of that on the Hauraki rhyolitcs, but although certain specimens, about to be described, bear a tolerably close resemblance to some of those dealt with in the last paper, many of them, when examined microscopically, are found to present points of interest which render them worthy of special notice.

These rocks vary so much in their structural details that no attempt will be made to adopt any systematic order in their description, except that the specimens from Rotorua will be treated consecutively at the end of the paper.

H
21
. Waihi.—A pale-grey, lithoidal rhyolite, with little dark-green crystals suggestive of
On the Discovery and Occurrence of Minerals containing Rare Elements
Authors: Nordenskiöld Baron Adolf Erik
Published: October 2009

The remarkable discoveries of recent years with regard to the composition of the air, and the discovery of several new gaseous elements, have again unexpectedly directed general attention to those Scandinavian minerals which contain rare earths and acids. It will, therefore, be the more proper to give here a brief sketch of the discovery of these minerals, as most of them were not only first found in Sweden, Norway, Finland, or Greenland, but also first described by Swedish observers in the Transactions of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In doing this I shall have an opportunity of correcting some mistakes and inadvertencies of foreign investigators as to the history of these discoveries, and of showing the groundlessness of certain geological or cosmological speculations which have been induced by the unexpected observation that the new gases, when occurring in the crust of our planet, seem to be particularly associated with minerals containing rare earths.

A mineral containing earths of this kind is mentioned for the first time in mineralogical literature in a paper by Axel Fr. Cronstedt, entitled ‘Experiments & Trials made on Three Iron-ores,’ and printed in the K. Svenska Veteuskapsakademiens Handlingar in 1751. One of these supposed iron-ores consisted of a substance in which there is no iron at all, namely, the greyish-white heavy mineral from Bispberg in Dalecarlia which is now called schee1ite, and from which, thirty years later, Seheele first separated the oxideof the important element wolfram. This element is still called tungstène by French chemists,
On Ceylon Rocks and Graphite
Authors: Coomára-Swámy A. K.
Published: October 2009

I. The Physical Geography of the Area.

Ceylon is almost connected with India by the Manaar and Rames-waram Islands and the reef known as Adam's Bridge : there is no channel deep enough for large steamers to pass. Nearly four-fifths of its area is a flat ‘low country’ forming a maritime belt in the south, and covering a greater area in the north. The main mountain-massif, consisting of ancient crystalline rocks, is situated a little south of the centre of Ceylon in the South Central, Uva, and Sabaragamuwa provinces. In this area rise lofty and often precipitous mountains, of which the highest is Pidurutalagalla, 8296 feet above sea-level ; while Adam's Peak reaches 7353 feet: In between these peaks stretch considerable tracts of tableland or rolling grassy plains (Patanas), such as the Newera Eliya Plain, at an altitude of 6200 feet, or the Elk and Herren Plains, over 7000 feet. The rainfall in these districts may exceed 280 inches per annum, while it is only 50 inches in the northern flat, dry country. The rivers rise in the mountainous districts, running at first through rocky gorges, forming striking waterfalls, but meandering slowly through alluvial flats when they reach the low country.

Ceylon is essentially a continental island, and, as we should expect, shares to a great extent the flora and fauna of India. It is, however, remarkable that nearly 30 per cent. of Ceylon phanerogains are endemic, and the same is true of 2 per cent. of the genera [13].
1
Fossils in the Oxford University Museum, IV: Notes on some undescribed Trilobites
Authors: Thomas H. H.
Published: October 2009

In the course of arrangement of the Trilobites in the Oxford University Museum, a few forms came under notice which might be considered worthy of description. They are two species of
Dalmania
from the Wenlock Shales, and one of
Olenus
from the Shineton Shales.

Phacops (Dalmania) coronatus, sp. nov. (Pl. XXXV, figs. 1-4.)

This species does not attain any considerable size, its total length
being from ⅜ to ⅝ inch, while the ratio of its greatest breadth to length exclusive of the caudal spine is as 3 : 5.

The head-shield is semicircular and moderately convex, the genal angles being produced posteriorly into two long spines extending to the sixth thoracic segment. The external border is a flattened margin, narrowing in front of the glabella, and produced on its external edge into a series of spines, seemingly sixteen ill number, symmetrically arranged. They are more or loss equidistant one from the other and are of the same length, excepting those two that are immediately in front of the eyes, which seem to be about twice the length of the others.

The glabella is coarsely tubercular with smaller granules interspersed, and it widens anteriorly to more than one-third of the width of the head-shield. The forehead-lobe is more or less rhomboidal in outline, its width however being greater than its length, the latter being equal to half that of the total glabella. The inferior lobes diminish ill size posteriorly, being separated by deep
On the Skeleton of a Theriodont Reptile from the Baviaans River (Cape Colony):
Dicranozygoma leptoscelus
, gen. et sp. nov.
Authors: Seeley H. G.
Published: October 2009

The fossil reptilia of South Africa collected or sent to England by the elder and younger Bain became known from isolated fragments, from a mistaken idea (fostered by the published figures) that the skull or the dentition gave information which was of chief scientific interest; but, partly owing to the rapidity with which specimens at the surface become broken and washed away when exposed to the sun and rain, skeletons in a complete state cannot often be obtained; and partly from difficulties of transport in the Karroo Desert, in which they have mostly occurred, associated bones are rarely collected.

In Cape Colony I saw only one specimen showing bones of the skeleton of an Anomodont reptile in natural association. This evidence I now bring before the Geological Society. It had been for some time in the Albany Museum at Grahamstown. The slab containing it is 31 inches long by 10 inches wide. The rock is an extremely hard siliceous sandstone, divided by natural rectangular joints into its present size and form, split so as to expose a portion of the skull, the vertebral column and ribs as far as the pelvis, scapula, part of the humerus, femur, and parts of the tibia and fibula. The skeleton curves over the slab; and has been so divided by the parallel longitudinal joints that the tail and left hind-limb, and apparently part of the right fore-limb, were lost. The bones have decomposed, and are represented by natural moulds. The specimen, slightly distorted by
The Pliocene Deposits of the East of England.—Part II: The Crag of Essex ( Waltonian) and its- Relation to that of Suffolk and Norfolk
Authors: Harmer F. W.
Published: October 2009

I. Introductory.

Searls V. Wood, as is well known, regarded the shell-bed of Walton-on-the-Naze, with its strongly-marked southern fauna, as older than any other part of the Red Crag, grouping the rest of that formation, in which northern shells occur more or less abundantly, under the name of the Crag of Sutton and Butley,
1
although he believed that of the latter locality to be the newer of the two
2
Prestwich, on the other hand, maintained that all the Red Crag beds, and to some extent the Norwich Crag also, were contemporaneous
3
; and this view is, I believe, still held by no less an authority than the ex-President of the Geological Society.
4
In the face of such a difference of opinion, it seemed to me necessary to return to the subject, in order that, if possible, some more definite conclusions might be arrived at. In the hope therefore of obtaining further evidence as to the correct classification of these beds, I have spent my leisure time during the past five or six years in revisiting every part of the Crag district, and in the examination of all the more important collections of Crag fossils.

The view that the Red Crag deposits are all of the same age appears, at first sight, not unreasonable, though it is not so easy to understand why those of the Norwich Crag should have been grouped with them. As to the former, many, perhaps most, of their more characteristic mollusca are found in every part of
A Description of the Salt-Lake of Larnaca in the Island of Cyprus
Authors: Bellamy C. Y.
Published: October 2009

Much interest has from time to time been evinced in the salt-lake of Larnaca in the island of Cyprus, and many have been the surmises as to the origin of the salt. No decided information on the subject has been yet recorded, so that the Government of Cyprus, taking advantage of the presence of Dr. Otto Maas of Munich University, who was visiting the island in the interests of Marine Biology, instructed the present writer to conduct such investigations as would lead to a settlement of the question. The results of these investigations as set forth in the following pages may be of interest to the Geological Society.

The town of Larnaca is situated about midway along the eastern half of the southern coast, on the bay of that name. It is at present the chief port of the island, nearly all the trade of Nicosia, the capital town, passing through it. Its ancient name was Kitium, and its other names at the present day are Scala and Marina.

About a mile or more to the south-west lie the salt-lakes or salines which form the subject of this paper.
A Monchiquite from Mount Girnar, Junagarh (Kathiawar)
Authors: Evans John William
Published: October 2009

I. Monchiquites and their Isotropic Groundmass

The term monchiquite is now recognized as the designation of a rock, consisting mainly of ferromagnesian silicates in an isotropic groundmass, which has approximately the chemical composition and specific gravity of analcime.

The name was given in 1890 by Hunter & Rosenbusch [10]
1
to a rock occurring in narrow dykes, near Cabo Frio in the Serra de Tingua and elsewhere in Brazil, and containing pyroxene, soda-hornblende, mica, and olivine-phenocrysts in a colourless—or, rarely, transparent brown—matrix. This material, which they assumed to be a glass, contains numerous microlites of the porphyritic minerals and, when in a fresh condition, is completely isotropic. It has a specific gravity of 2·31. In a few cases nepheline and, rather more frequently, a felspar with twin lamellation occur. The groundmass is very subject to alteration, natrolite and analcime being formed [20] p. 539 & [24] p. 233. In one instance fluidal structure was noticed to be present. The rock was distinguished from camptonite on account of its glassy base, and received the name of monchiquite, as L. van Werveke had described a similar rock from the Serra de Monchique in Southern Portugal [7].

Rocks with a groundmass of the same character, but without olivine, have been reported from Bohemia by Bořicky [4,5] and Hibsch [15]. Nepheline [5] p. 176, and leucite [15] p. 99, are sometimes present. J. R. Williams [11] described similar rocks from Arkansas, in which he believed a glassy base had once existed but had since become
On Certain Altered Rocks from near Bastogne, and their Relations to others in the District
Authors: Raisin Catherine A.
Published: October 2009

I. Introduction

Much has been written about the exception rocks of the Ardennes, but the petrographical work has been treated, in some memoirs, apart from the field-evidence. This, indeed, owing to the limited occurrence of the most peculiar specimens, is not easy to obtain. It seemed then that a detailed study of a few interesting examples of the rocks, and of their relations in the field, might be worth a brief record. Further, eminent authorities have expresses different opinions as to the cause of the alterations. André Dumont in his famous monograph
2
described numerous observations, and inclined to the view that the structures were the result of contact-action, Prof. Barrois,
3
from comparison of specimens with those of Britanny, supported this theory. A. von Lasaulx
4
added the important evidence that a granite occurs in the Hohe Venn. Other authorities, however, have described the folding, contortion, and faulting of the rocks, and attribute the changes to mechanical influences. This opinion is advocated by Prof. Renard in a valuable petrographical paper,
5
and by Prof. Gosselet in his exhaustive memoir on the district.
6
Thus I became interested in the question, and, at the desire of Prof. Bnney (as he was unable at that time to undertake the investigation) I visited the district in 1898, and collected many specimens. After careful study of these, I made a second expedition in the summer of 1899, and gained observations over a wider area of country.

In the course of this investigation I have received much valuable help
On the Upper Greensand and Chloritic Marl of Mere and Maiden Bradley in Wiltshire
Authors: Jukes-Browne A. J. , Scanes John
Published: October 2009

I. Introduction

The object of this communication is to give some account of the geology of a little known district on the borders of Wiltshire and Somerset; a district which includes the parishes of Mere, Stourton, Kilmington, Maiden Bradley, and Horningsham. This area is included in Sheet 19 of the old 1-inch Ordnance Map and in Sheet 297 of the new series of maps.

It is a high watershed-area, from which streams flow into four different rivers. At Stourton are the sources of the Stour which flows southward; at Kilmington is a bourn which flows eastward into the Deverill Brook, and is consequently one of the sources of the River Wily; near Maiden Bradley are springs from which watercourses run northward into the Frome; while of the waters which issue from the western border of the high ground, some join the Frome and others are tributaries of the Brue.

The greater part of the area is occupied by sandy beds of Selbornian age, usually known as Upper Greensand; these form a high plateau, which rises gradually westward and terminates in a bold escarpment, overlooking the lower ground, formed by the outcrop of the Oxford Clay and Lower Oolites, in the valleys of the Brue and the Frome. The summit-ridge of this escarpment rises in several places to over 800 feet, the highest point being Alfred's Tower, marked as 854 feet. Eastward the Greensand plateau slopes below the Chalk, which forms a second bold, but more broken, escarpment rising to nearly
On the Igneous Rocks associated with the Cambrian Beds of the Malvern Hills
Authors: Groom Theodore T.
Published: October 2009

I. Historical Summary

The crystalline core of the Malvern Hills was at first supposed by Horner
1
to be composed of igneous rocks intruded into the adjacent strata. Murchison at a later date imagined that the Hollybush Conglomerate and Hollybush Sandstone were submarine volcanic grits discharged from a fissure along which later the igneous mass of the Malverns burst through.
2
Phillips, however, adduced strong reasons for believing that the crystalline rocks had not been intruded into the Palæozoic strata
3
; he was, moreover, the first to recognize igneous rocks in the lowest portions of the latter. He described ‘felspathic dykes’ and ‘interposed masses’ in the Hollybush Sandstone; and ‘porphyritic and greenstone-masses, which, erupted from below, have flowed in limited streams over the surface of the Black Shales.’ He pointed out that neither dykes nor bosses of trap occur in any of the strata above the Black (and Grey) Shales; though some of them, including those near Bronsil (numbered 108, 247, 248, & 249 in the present writer's map), are situated in, or on, the upper part of the Shales. In the vertical section (p. 51) in Phillips's work, and in the horizontal section (No. 13) accompanying the memoir, they are placed between the Shales and the May Hill Sandstone, Phillips, with De la Beche, evidently believed that the igneous rocks were in part contemporaneous volcanic rocks, the outpouring of which, according to De la Beche, ceased with Llandeilo times. Phillips, however, compares the igneous rocks of Tortworth with ‘the greenstones of the lowest Caradoc Beds
On the Character of the Upper Coal-Measures of North Staffordshire, Denbighshire, South Staffordshire, and Nottinghamshire; and their Relation to the Productive Series
Authors: Gibson Walcot
Published: October 2009

I. Introduction

The productive measures in the Midlands are succeeded by a considerable thickness of strata, barren of workable seams of coal. The study of these higher strata has, in comparison with that given to the coal-bearing portion of the Carboniferous, been neglected, though they early attracted the attention of Murchison, Prestwich, and Phillips. By these and subsequent observers, the presence of thin bands of impure limestone with
Spirorbis
was considered to characterize the series. It has also been generally recognized that while the predominating colour of the productive series is grey, that of the overlying barren series is red; but, with the exception of Beete Jukes and D. C. Davies, no definite sequence has been even suggested. Fresh interest was given to the study of these strata by the discovery that the fauna and flora of the immediately overlying red beds, or ‘Salopian Permian,’ possessed a Coal-Measure facies, and that it would be more natural to include them in the Carboniferous system. Recently it has been stated, in two papers, that the higher Coal-Measures are strongly unconformable to the underlying productive series.

The object of this paper is to show that in four widely-separated areas a definite lithological sequence may be distinguished in the higher Coal-Measures; that the relation of the upper to the productive series in North Staffordshire is one of strict conformity; and that the evidence is in favour of the post-Carboniferous age of the chief movements which have affected the Midland Coalfields.

The Pottery Coalfield of