bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On the Coniston Group
Authors: Harkness R. , Nicholson H. A.
Published: October 2009

T
he
‘Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society’ for 1865-66 (vol. xxii. p. 480) contains a memoir by the authors, titled “Additional Observations on the Geology of the Lake-Country.” In this memoir, after alluding to some new fossils from the Skiddaw-Slate group, and the occurrence of a fossiliferous ash-bed in the green slates and the porphyries in the Lake-country proper, the existence of several faults among the old rocks of this portion of England is indicated, and the total absence of strata containing characteristic Upper-Llandovery and Wenlock fossils is pointed out. The Kendal flags, the highest member of the Silurian series in the Lake-district, were also referred to as showing no distinct connexion with the older rocks lying to the north of them; and it was stated that these Kendal flags are probably brought against the older members of the Silurian rocks by means of faults.

The object of the present communication is to point out the occurrence in the Lake-country of a new and unique horizon containing a rich Graptolite fauna in that portion of the Silurian series which has been termed by Prof. Sedgwick “the Coniston Flags,” to describe in detail these flags, to point out their relations, both physically and palæontologically, with the Coniston limestone below them and the Coniston grits above them, and by this means to add a great thickness of strata to the highest member of the Lower Silurian rocks as this member is represented in the British isles.

The range of the Coniston limestone
On the Affinities and probable Habits of the extinct Australian Marsupial,
Thylacoleo carnifex
, Owen
Authors: Flower William Henry
Published: October 2009

T
he
late Dr. Falconer, in a paper published in the Quarterly Journal of this Society for November 1862*, has given a masterly and detailed statement of the arguments which led him to infer that the small oolitic mammal,
Plagiaulax
, known only by its lower jaw, was a phytophagous or mixed-feeding animal, having its nearest allies among the recent
Hypsiprymni
, or Rat-kangaroos. This paper was written in consequence of Professor Owen having published his conclusion, from precisely the same data, that
Plagiaulax
was a “carnivorous marsupial,” its teeth being fitted to “pierce, retain, and kill,” and “cut and divide soft substances such as flesh.”

As justly stated by Dr. Falconer, the interests involved in the case are important. “Are the indications of palæontology,” he inquires, if more especially in its great stronghold in the mammalia—the teeth and correlated organs—so unstable and so obscure that, of two palæontologists, the same dental and mandibular materials shall lead the one to infer that the fossil form was a vegetable feeder, and the other that it was a predaceous carnivore? Or does the conflict of opinion arise from different methods having been followed by the observers in dealing with the evidence?” He concludes that the question will not rest in its present disputed state. “Other palæontologists will examine the evidence, and give their verdict.”

For my part, I cannot hesitate to express my full conviction of the soundness of Dr. Falconer's views, as far as may be deduced from the evidence before us. There is
On the Thickness of the Carboniferous Rocks of the Pendle Range of Hills, Lancashire, as illustrating the Author's views regarding the “South-easterly Attenuation of the Carboniferous Sedimentary Strata of the North of England”
Authors: Hull Edward
Published: October 2009

I
n
the following paper I purpose bringing forward some new facts recently ascertained in the district of Burnley and the Pendle Range, in confirmation of certain views advanced on a previous occasion, regarding the relative distribution of the “sedimentary” and “calcareous” strata of the Carboniferous series in the North of England. These views are published in the Journal of this Society†; and as introductory to the matter in the present communication I must ask permission very briefly to recapitulate them.

In the paper referred to, I endeavoured to prove that to the north of an old neck of land, or “barrier,” which stretched across the centre of England from Shropshire, and which was formed of Silurian and Cambrian rocks, the Carboniferous strata were deposited originally upon the following plan:—On the one hand, the calcareous member (the Mountain-limestone) attained its greatest vertical development along the northern flanks of this barrier in Derbyshire, and thence thinned away northward and westward, and, as had been long since pointed out by older geologists, became intercalated with sandstones, shales, and beds of coal in the North of England and Scotland, where it appears in its most debased and attenuated form; on the other hand, the sedimentary beds of sandstone, shale, &c. were deposited in greatest force towards the north-west, diminishing in thickness towards the south-east of England,—the development of the one set of strata being in the inverse ratio of that of the other.

This plan of relative distribution was illustrated on the map of
Observations on the Relative Ages of the Leading Physical Features and Lines of Elevation of the Carboniferous District of Lancashire and Yorkshire
Authors: Hull Edward
Published: October 2009

T
he
approach to completion of the Geological Survey of South and Mid-Lancashire enables me to draw up the following observations on the ages of its physical features. This district, it may be observed, lies immediately to the south-west of that which has been so faithfully illustrated by Professor Phillips in his well-known ‘Geology of Yorkshire.’

The most prominent feature of the tract now to be considered is Pendle Hill (1831 feet); and as this hill is but the culminating point of a long range of parallel escarpments, physically one, stretching through a distance of 30 miles from W.S.W. to E.N.E. in Lancashire, and continued into Yorkshire, I shall take the liberty of applying the term “Pendle Ranger,rd to the whole of this line of hills.

This range commences at Parbold Hill, near Ormskirk, on the south-west, takes a straight course into Yorkshire by Hoghton Tower, Blackburn, and Whalley, and, forming the south-easterly side of the Vale of Clitheroe, continues its course towards Colne and Skipton. It generally consists of a double group of ridges, often rocky and serried, ranging in parallel lines, with intervening valleys.

The chain, when cut through transversely near its centre, presents in structure the segment of a great arch (see fig. 1) of which the axis passes by Clitheroe, and along which the Carboniferous Limestone reaches the surface. This axis may be traced from the banks of the river Darwen, near Roach Bridge, through Mellor, Clitheroe, by Skipton and Bolton Abbey into Knaresborough Forest, as indicated
On a Saliferous Deposit in St. Domingo
Authors: Hatch D.
Published: October 2009

T
he
salt-mountain is situated about 15 miles from the fine harbour of Benahona, and
about halfway from there to the great salt lake Emiquilla. It is 7 or 8 miles long, about 600 feet
in the highest part, and varies from 1½ to 2 miles in width. The people of that vicinity and the interior have drawn their supplies from these mines for ages, all from the upper surface. There is a coating of earth on the top, varying from 10 to 30 feet. As they have no means of disposing of the earth, they work but a short time in one place, for fear of the falling earth. They have, therefore, made holes down to the salt, hut a short distance apart, nearly the entire length of the mountain. As they remove the earth from the upper surface, they frequently find masses of large crystals, some of them 8 or 10 inches square; but the great body of it is like conglomerate of West-India salt, and nearly of the same purity.

In the salt-mountain there are ledges of pure and almost transparent Gypsum, some nearly white.
On some Carboniferous Corals
Authors: Thomson James
Published: October 2009

I
n
the ‘History of Rutherglen and East Kilbride’ by the Rev. D. Ure, Parish Minister of East Kilbride, in Clydesdale, there is figured a cup-coral, the description of which refers only to the external form, and the name given to it was simply
Fungites
. Since then it has received various names from the following writers:—

Fungites
, Rev. D. Ure, Hist. of Ruth. & East Kilb. p. 327, pl. 20. fig. 6: 1793.

Turbinolia fungites
, Flem. Brit. Anim. p. 510: 1828. S. Woodward, Syn. Tab. of Brit. Org. Rem. p. 7: 1830.

Cyathophyllum fungites
, Geinitz, Grund. der Verst. p. 571: 1845–6.

Clisiophyllum prolapsum
, M'Coy, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 2nd ser. vol. iii. p. 3: 1849.

Aulophyllum prolapsum
, Edw. & Haime, Brit. Foss. Corals, Introduction, p. 70: 1850.

Aulophyllum fungites
, Edw. & Haime, Pol. Eoss. des Terr. Paléoz. p. 413: 1851.

Clisiophyllum prolapsum
, M'Coy, Brit. Palæoz. Foss. p. 95, Pl. 3C, fig. 5: 1851.

Recent investigations into the internal structure warrant us in dissociating it from any of the generic names it has received, and raising it to the rank of an independent genus with a descriptive title.

The author then gave descriptions of the genera
Cyathophyllum, Clisiophyllum
, and
Aulophyllum
, and of the new genus,
Cyclophyllum
(Duncan and Thomson).

The characteristics of each of these genera are sufficiently marked to warrant their generic distinction.

The ascending convex vesicular dissepiments in the middle area, the mesial columella in the vertical section, and consequently the exserted conical boss in the centre of the calice separate the genus
Clisiophyllum
from the other genera of Cyathophyllidæ.

It differs from
Cyathophyllum
in the latter having no columella, the columellar space being filled up by closely set tabulæ.

In
Aulophyllum
the tube-like mass in the centre of the corallum is occupied by minute tabulæ.
On the Pebble-beds of Middlesex, Essex, and Herts
Authors: Wood Searles V.
Published: October 2009

I
n
the manuscript memoir which, in May 1867, I placed in the Library of this Society, illustrating the Geological Survey I had made of that part of the Thames-valley region which ia comprised in sheets 1 and 2 of the Ordnance Survey-map, I entered in some detail upon the subject of certain pebble-beds which I referred to the age of the Bagshot Sand; but being anxious to compress as far as possible the paper on the Postglacial structure of the east of England referring to that memoir, which is printed in the 23rd volume of the Society's Journal (p. 394), I made no allusion in it to these beds. A late communication to the Society by Mr. T. M'K. Hughes, on the two plains of Hertfordshire and their gravels*, induces me to lay a brief notice of them before the Society.

The beds so referred by me are composed almost exclusively of rolled flint pebbles, with a few of jasper intermixed, not a pebble of any other material being present except at one locality, “College Wood,” one mile and a half north-west of Frierning, where I found many quartzites of similar rolled form to occur in them. The composition, form, and structure of these beds much resembles the well-known pebble-bed beneath the London Clay, regarded by Mr. Prestwich as a local modification of the basement bed of that clay, the principal difference being the absence of the smaller and spherical pebbles so numerous in the latter, and in the absence
On the Distribution of Stone Implements in Southern India
Authors: Foote R. Bruce
Published: October 2009

T
he
circumstances under which chipped implements, similar in form to those occurring in the gravels of Western Europe, are found over a considerable part of Southern India* are very interesting, as they appear to prove that great changes in the physical geography of the Indian peninsula have taken place since the time when the implement-makers first inhabited the country.

By far the greatest number of the chipped-stone implements have been found in close connexion with the laterite deposits of the eastern coast. Many implements were found
in situ
, buried in the laterite; and many more lay scattered over the surface of the laterite, from which they had evidently been weathered out. A considerable number also were collected off the surface of underlying older rocks, in places where laterite deposits had once existed, but had subsequently been almost entirely removed by denudation, and had often left but faint traces, in the shape of scattered débris. Other implements, again, have been discovered on the surface in other parts of the country, where no distinct traces could be seen of the formations from which they might have been weathered out. Whatever may have been the nature of these latter deposits, the great elevation at which they occur above the lower country precludes, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, the idea that they were of the same marine origin as the coast laterite.

It is not at all improbable that they may once have been enveloped in freshwater deposits which have
Has the Asiatic Elephant been found in a Fossil State?
Authors: Adams A. Leith
Published: October 2009

I
n
December 1867 my attention was directed by a friend residing in St. John, New Brunswick, to a tooth in his possession, and which had been presented to him by the discoverer with the following note:-“A fossil tooth found by Dr. Duggan, in company with Mr. Hodgson, one of H. M. Consuls in Japan, in 1859. At a distance of over forty miles from the sea-shore between Kanagawa and Jeddo, and at the base of a surface coal-bed (80 feet, or thereabouts, from the general level) the accompanying tooth was, found. To what animal does it belong?

(Signed) “R. N. D
uggan
, M.D., Ph.D.,

“
Member Royal Asiatic Society
.”

The accompanying plaster-of-Paris east* will suffice to indicate the dimensions and
general characters of the tooth in question. As to its condition, it is in a splendid state of
petrifaction, with several superficial cracks (sun-cracks?) on its crown and sides. The weathered
state of the tooth and its weight and hardness clearly prove its fossil condition, although the
black alveolar-margin stain still borders the sides of the crown, as represented by the brown
paint on the east. The weight equals 3¾ lbs.

This penultimate true molar, right side, upper jaw, although partaking of the characters of
E. Armeniacus
, Falc., differs from the latter in its thick plaits, their less
approximation, the festooning being carried round the loops of the disks of wear, and the total
absence of any mesial expansion.

There is a notice of a fossil elephant's tooth
Note accompanying some Fossils from Port Santa Cruz, Patagonia
Authors: Baker Thomas
Published: October 2009

T
he
entrance to the river Santa Cruz, which is about 134 miles north of the Straits of Magellan, lies between a high steep cliff on the south and a low shingle point on the north. The estuary of the river runs in a north-westerly direction for a few miles, and then divides into two branches:—a northern, which is a sluggish shallow stream abounding in shoals; and a western, which is of more importance to navigation, and is the true river Santa Cruz. From the estuary the western arm takes a south-westerly course, and then bends sharply to the west, flowing between cliffs from 200 to 300 feet in height, which at present are not washed by the river, being bordered by a sloping beach about 300 feet in width. The lowest stratum in the cliff is a blue rock, upon which is a bed, 4 feet thick, largely composed of a gigantic species of oyster (
Ostrea Patagonica
, D'Orb.*); upon this rests a shelly conglomerate, composed almost entirely of shells, and rendered hard and coherent by a calcareous cement. The upper portion of the cliff, from the top of this conglomerate to the summit, consists of a blue sandy clay containing pebbles and small shells. The actual height of the cliff at this point is 280 feet.
On Jurassic Deposits in the North-west Himalaya
Authors: Stoliczka Ferdinand
Published: October 2009

I
n
Mr. Tate's paper on the South-African fossils† several statements occur which, if admitted as correct, would render very discouraging the prospects of an accurate study and the determination of the age of Jurassic rocks in extra-European countries. I do not at present wish to pronounce an opinion upon Mr. Tate's discussions and ideas on the “distribution of the lower members of the Mesozoic rocks over the surface of the earth, and the laws that apparently were in operation during their deposition;” but I may be allowed to say a few words with reference to Himalayan Jurassic rocks, with which I am personally acquainted.

The rocks to which I allude are those of the Spid valley and the neighbouring districts of the north-west Himalaya. Mr. Tate remarks (
loc. cit
. p. 168), “for though Dr. Stoliczka has endeavoured to establish a definite succession of strata analogous to several members of European Juras, yet, in my opinion, he has failed to establish a true correlation; for the fossils which in Europe belong to determinate stages in the geological scale are confusedly associated together in the various members of the Spiti equivalents of the Jurassic rocks.”

It is evident that every geologist who is not able to procure access to my original papers‡ will believe that my survey of the Spiti valley and the determination of the fossils were only a guesswork, and that what European geologists call Lias, Dogger, and Malm are in the Himalaya only represented by
one equivalent of Jurassic
On a true Coal-plant (
Lepidodendron
) from Sinai
Authors: Salter J. W.
Published: October 2009

S
ome
years ago Sir R. I. Murchison received from an officer travelling in Arabia some sandstone specimens, picked up in the desert of Sinai. One of these was a portion of a
Lepidolendron
(indicating the existence there of the true Coal-formation), preserved in thin-bedded sandstone, harder than Coal-sandstones usually are.

It cannot be identified with any known European species. The scars are peculiar in form, the leaf-attachment being placed very far forward, and the ridge arched.

Mr. Salter describes it as follows:—

L
epidodendron mosaicum
, spec. nov.

Scars rather square, not more than a quarter of an inch in length, and about the same in width, arched in front, bluntly acuminate behind. The leaf-attachment placed on the anterior portion, very much arched, lunulate, and narrow, with distinct but not very prominent edges.
On some Fossils from the Menevian Group
Authors: Hicks H , Salter J. W.
Published: October 2009

T
he
authors, after describing the localities and stratigraphical relations of the Menevian group, proceed to describe the following species:—

Paradoxides aurora
, Salter, represented by a few imperfect heads, unattached pleuræ, &c. Localities, Porth-y-rhaw and St. David's.

P. Hicksii
, Salter. This species presents a singularly intermediate character, reminding us equally of
Paradoxides
and
Anapolenus
.

Conocoryphe bufo
, Hicks, represented by a few separate heads, and one with six body-rings attached. Localities, Perth-y-ihaw and St. David's.

C. applanata
, Salter. Young specimens show all the metamorphoses observed by Barrande. The characters of such genera as
Agnostus
and
Microdiscus
are as clearly seen in the embryo of
Conocoryphe
as in the adult state of those genera. Localities, Porth-y-rhaw, St. David's, Maentwrog, and Dolgelly.

C. (?) numerosa
, Salter. Of this species, a part of the head and six thoracic rings have been found. These, however, show characters sufficient to indicate that it is specifically, if not generically, distinct from the others. Localities, Porth-y-rhaw and St. David's.
Report of recent Earthquakes in Northern Formosa
Authors: Holt H. F.
Published: October 2009

T
he
first shock felt in the northern end of the island took place on the morning of the 18th of December, 1867, and lasted about fifteen seconds. Many buildings were destroyed, and many lives lost, in Tamsuy. About fourteen minor shocks were felt during the same day, and on the 20th another violent shock occurred.

At Kelung the whole harbour was left dry for a few moments; and the water returning in one vast wave, rushed into the town itself. Large landslips have taken place, and several villages between Kelung and Tamsuy have been destroyed.
Memorandum on the Coal-mines of Iwanai, Island of Jesso, Japan
Authors: Mitford A. B.
Published: October 2009

T
he
coal-mines lie two miles inland from a village called Kaianoma, about seven miles across Strogonoff Bay. Four seams of coal have been discovered; two of them are from 4 to 6 feet thick, one is about 3 feet thick, and the fourth, which has not yet been thoroughly examined, is about 1 foot thick. The coal is soft, yields from 10 to 12 per cent. of ash, and from 30 to 35 per cent. of gas. On first being lighted it sends out a thick black smoke, but soon bums with a clear strong flame, and leaves no clinker.

An experiment was made with some of the coal picked out from the surface of the seams, in the galley-fire of H.M.S. ‘Salamis,’ under the superintendence of the chief engineer. 79 lb. of coal yielded 17·27 per cent. of ash, 1·5 per cent. of clinker, an average volume of smoke, and a strong and durable flame.
Notes to Accompany a Section of the Strata from the Chalk to the Bembridge Limestone at Whitecliff Bay, Isle of Wight
Authors: Codrington T.
Published: October 2009

T
he
section is drawn from measurements made on the shore at low water during the autumn of 1867. In consequence of the dip of the beds being nearly vertical, the horizontal section exposed on the shore at low water is a section nearly at right angles to the stratification; and advantage was taken of favourable tides to measure a continuous section from the basement-bed of the London Clay to the Bemhridge Limestone, always exactly at right angles to the strike of the beds.

The dip of the lower part, or the London Clay, is in a direction parallel to the line of the cliffs, so that the section exhibited in the cliff is at right angles to the beds; but the alteration in the direction of the dip, and in the line of the coast, both tend to make the section seen in the cliff more oblique in the higher beds; and in the Headon beds the obliquity is as much as 45°.

In bed VII † of the Bracklesham series the junction of a bed of compact clay with a bed of shaly laminated clay was observed, which indicated a denudation of the laminated clay before the deposition of the compact clay on its edges.

No detailed examination of the fossils was attempted, except in the case of the Headon beds, where, at the suggestion of Mr. Jenkins (Assistant Secretary of the Geological Society), fossils were carefully sought for, in order to verify the opinion expressed by the Rev.
On the Graptolites of the Coniston Flags; with Notes on the British Species of the Genus
Graptolites
Authors: Nicholson Henry Alleyne
Published: October 2009

T
he
Silurian series of the north, of England is composed of the following groups in ascending order:—1, the Skiddaw Slates; 2, the Green Slates and Porphyries; 3, the Coniston Limestone; 4, the Coniston Flags; 5, the Coniston Grits; and, 6, the Ludlow Rocks. Of these, the Skiddaw Slates contain a large and remarkable series of Graptolites, which are mostly identical with those of the Quebec group of America (see a paper by the author. Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxiv. p. 125). The Green Slates and Porphyries, and the overlying Coniston Limestone, with the exception of a fragment of a
Diplograpsus
from the former, have hitherto proved entirely barren of Graptolitic remains; and the same is true of the Ludlow group. The Coniston Flags, however, contain, as shown by Professor Harkness and myself, a very extensive and varied Graptolitic fauna, which it is the object of the present paper to describe.

As to the limist and age of the Coniston Flags, as well as their relation to the underlying limestone, considerable diversity of opinion exists, almost the only point in which all observers are agreed being that the Flags form a single natural group with the superjacent Grits. for my present purpose, however, it will suffice merely to indicate the different opinions which are held upon the subject. By Professor Sedgwick the Coniston Flags were held to be everywhere conformable to the Coniston Limestone; and he at first regarded them as of Wenlock age, a view which he subsequently modified
On the “Waterstone Beds” of the Keuper, and on Pseudomorphous Crystals of Chloride of Sodium
Authors: Ormerod G. W.
Published: October 2009

Between Salcomb Mouth and the River Sid, and between Budleigh Salterton and Littleham Bay, several beds of ripple-marked “Waterstone” occur, and also pseudomorphous crystals of chloride of sodium. One small fragment of Waterstone exhibits apparently traces of reptilian remains. In conclusion, the author draws attention to the fact that pseudomorphs occur over the greater part of the Triassic area in England.
On the Discovery of the Remains of Cephalaspidian Fishes in Devonshire and Cornwall; and on the Identity of
Steganodictyum
, M'Coy, with genera of those Fishes
Authors: Lankester E. Ray
Published: October 2009

I
beg
to draw attention to a most important and interesting discovery which has been recently made in the cabinet of my late friend Lieut. Wyatt-Edgell.

Mr. Salter, in looking through the collection, came upon a specimen of the supposed Sponge
Steganodictyum Cornubicum
, from the Lower-Devonian slates of Mudstone Bay, which, with his usual sagacity, that naturalist at once observed bore strong resemblance in shape and in structure to the shield of Pteraspids; and on comparison with other Specimens and M'Coy's figures, he came to the remarkable conclusion CJaat M'Coy's supposed Sponge is actually the cephalic plate of a Pteraspidian fish. Having, by the kindness of my friend Mr. Henry Woodward, had an opportunity of examining Mr. Wyatt-Edgell's specimens, and comparing them with Professor M'Coy's figures, I can most fully endorse Mr. Salter's determination—the nacreous, cancellated, and striated layers described by Professor Huxley, and so eminently characteristic of the Heterostracous Cephalaspidæ, by their presence leaving no room for doubt. It was obviously desirable that Mr. Wyatt-Edgell;s Pteraspid should be compared with the only other species known from beds of the same age, viz. the
Scaphaspis Dunensis
, originally described by Roemer as a Cephalopod. This Mr. Woodward and I were fortunately able to do, since the reputed single specimen of Roemer's fish-plate from Daun, in the Eifel, forms part of our National collection. Though the specimen from Devonshire is by no means as satisfactory an example as we may hope hereafter to obtain, it is sufficiently well preserved to indicate a
On the Geological Peculiarities of that part of Central Germany known as the Saxon Switzerland
Authors: Clark James
Published: October 2009

T
he
south-eastern part of Saxony, traversed by the Elbe, and formerly called the Meissner-Hochland, consists of a plateau of Quadersandstein cut into, especially in the northern portion, by ravines and deep and rugged valleys, and bearing numerous rocky precipitous hills, mostly of basalt, altogether forming the highly picturesque and peculiar country known as the Saxon Switzerland. At Pirna, on the north-west, the sandstone district is 450 feet above the sea and 120 feet above the river-valley; and it gradually increases in elevation towards the south-east until it reaches 960 feet above the sea, forming an inclined and uneven plateau, irregularly rectangular in form, about twenty miles long from east to west, and fifteen miles broad from north to south, with a mean elevation of about 640 feet. The plateau is traversed from south-east to north-west by the Elbe, from Tetschen, in Bohemia, to Pillnitz. Above the general level of the plateau rise a number of isolated, picturesque, rocky eminences, which increase in height gradually from north-west to south-east, thus coinciding with the general inclination of the plateau; they are situated in somewhat straight and parallel lines, almost coincident with that part of the river's course which is south-west to north-east from Schmitka (near the Larger Winterberg) to Pirna, beyond the Bärenstein.

This sandstone region is bordered by the Lusatian granite hills to the N.N.E., along an irregular line, rnnnlng through Hinter-Hermsdorf, Hohnstein, and Saxon Dittersbach, the last being about five miles north of Pirna. Its western edge abuts on the
On the Amiens Gravel
Authors: Tylor A.
Published: October 2009

T
he
author refers first to the prevalent views respecting the gravels of the Valley of the Somme, namely: (1) that there are two deposits of distinct age—the upper and the lower valley-gravels; (2) that the former of these is the older; (3) that the Valley of the Somme has been excavated to the depth of 40 or 50 feet since its deposition; (4) that both gravels contain bones of extinct animals, and implements of human manufacture, the lower gravels, however, containing the greater number of species of Mollusca, and the upper the greater number of flint implements; and (5) that the height (70 feet) of the gravels at St. Acheul above the present level of the Somme is much beyond the limit of floods, and that, therefore, they could only have been deposited before the river-channel was cut down to its present level. He then points out that the general effect of these views is to refer back the remains of man found at St. Acheul to an indefinite date, separated from the historical period by an interval during which the valley was excavated.

In former papers Mr. Tylor stated his belief that the upper and lower valley-gravels of the Somme are continuous and of the same age, which he considered to be close to the historical period. In this paper he states facts which appear to him to demonstrate the truth of his views, and describes a number of sections near Amiens, in which the levels were laid down from an exhaustive survey by M. Guillom, Chief Engineer of the Northern Railway of France.

The conclusions he has thus been able to arrive at are the following:—(1) That the surface of the chalk in the Valley of the Somme had assumed its present form prior to the deposition of any of the gravel or loess now to be seen there; (2) that the whole of the Amiens valley-gravel is of one formation, of similar mineral character, contains nearly similar organic remains, and belongs to a date not much antecedent to the historical period; (3) that the gravel in the valley of the Somme at Amiens is partly composed of débris brought down by the river Somme and by the two rivers the Celle and the Arve, and partly of material from the higher grounds washed in by land-floods; (4) that the Quaternary gravels of the Somme are not separated into two divisions by an escarpment of chalk parallel to the river, as has been stated; (5) that the evidence of river-floods extending to a height of at least 80 feet above the present level of the Somme is perfectly proved by the gradual slope and continuity of the gravels deposited by them; and (6) that many of the Quaternary deposits in all countries, clearly posterior to the formation of the valleys in which they lie, are of such great dimensions and elevation that they indicate a pluvial period just as clearly as the Northern Drift indicates a glacial. This Pluvial period must have immediately preceded the true Historical period.
Note comparing the Geological Structure of North-western Siberia with that of Russia in Europe
Authors: Murchison Roderick I.
Published: October 2009

M
y
old associate, Count A. von Keyserling, who, with M. de Verneuil, cooperated with me in producing the work entitled ‘Russia and the Ural Mountains,’ has recently acquainted me with some phenomena relating to countries beyond the limits of our researches, Which are, it seems to me, of sufficient importance to be laid before the Geological Society.

In the expedition undertaken by M. Lahost, to discover the remains of Mammoths in situ and other objects on the banks of the Lena, it was clearly ascertained that, besides those comparatively modern deposits in which bones of these animals are found, a vast tract of country lying between the rivers Lena and Jenissei is occupied by Upper Silurian rocks, which, judging from their organic remains, are of the same type as those collected by Keyserling on the river Vachkina, in the region of the Petchora, and described by him in our joint work.

Among the formations younger than the Silurian are Carboniferous rocks, some of which contain beds of coal several fathoms thick, whilst cupriferous schists and graphite also occur.

In alluding to the highly important researches of that good palæontologist Schmidt, who has been exploring several parts of Siberia, Count Keyserling states that he is of opinion that the chief masses of the Secondary deposits which have been observed in Northern Siberia are not, as Eichwald supposes, of Cretaceous age, but that on closer examination their fossils will be found to agree with those of Oolitic or Jurassic type, of which
On Floods in the Island of Bequia
Authors: Browne G. M.
Published: October 2009

O
n
the 17th of March, at 8 o'clock p.m., a steady strong wave was seen bearing down upon Admiralty Bay; it had no perceptible crest, and was 3 feet in height; it encroached upon the land to distances varying from 70 to 350 feet. A second, smaller wave followed. No shock of an earthquake was felt.
Description of Nga Tutura, an extinct Volcano in New Zealand
Authors: Hutton F. W.
Published: October 2009

I
n
the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand, between Raglan and the mouth of the river Waikato, there exists an extinct volcano, called Nga Tutura, which, owing to its position on the sea-cliff, is of considerable interest.

The south head of the Waikato is composed of a series of indurated shales and sandstones, containing
Belemnites Aucklandicus
Hauer,
Ancella plicata
, Fitt., and many fossil ferns. This series is supposed to be of Upper-Mesozoic age, and has here a dip of about 35° N.E. As we follow these beds along the coast in a south-easterly direction, we find their upper surface remaining tolerably level for about four miles, when the dip changes to the south-east, and in half a mile more they have descended below the sea-level, not to be seen again until we arrive at Otehe Point, about halfway between the Waikato and Raglan, where they just make their appearance dipping north, and are immediately cut off by a fault.

Upon these beds Tertiary rocks lie unconformably, the lower portion being considered of Miocene age. First comes a coarse-grained limestone, six or eight feet thick, often passing almost into a conglomerate at its base, but more pure and consisting of fragments of shells and corals and rolled pieces of limestone at the top, and containing
Fasciculipora mammillata
(Fitt.). This limestone thins out to the north, and is covered by a bed of argillaceous and calcareous sandstone, about 100 feet thick, containing
Schizaster rotundatus
, Fitt.,
Scalaria lyrata
, Fitt.,
Pecten Williamsoni
On the Anatomy of the Test of
Amphidetus (Echinocardium) Virginianus
, Forbes; and on the Genus
Breynia
.
Authors: Duncan P. Martin
Published: October 2009

A
fter
a careful examination of the Miocene
Amphidetus
from the Virginian Tertiaries, the author regarded the recent species of the genus from the European and Australian seas as a group of very closely allied forms. The Crag specimen of
A. cordatus
, described by Forbes, could not be found; but the examination of a series of recent specimens decided that they were not specifically different from the Miocene form.

The unusual form of the ambulacral spaces, the nature of the fasciole crossing them, and the resulting absence (more or less) of pores within the fasciole were asserted to be of third-rate value as regards structural importance; and the author did not consider that the genera
Echinocardium, Breynia, Lovenia
, &c. had a common origin, or that there was a close genetic relationship between them, because they had this fasciolar structure. He considered the fasciole to be an appendage to several generic groups which were distinctly separated by other structural distinctions. An examination of the Nummulitic
Breyniœ
in the Society's collection satisfied Dr. Duncan that there were only race characters separating them from
Breynia Australiensis
—a recent Echinoderm. The persistence of these species, widely distributed, and of great geological age, was very remarkable.
On Flint Flakes from Carrickfergus and Larne
Authors: Du Noyer G. V.
Published: October 2009

O
n
the 3rd of March last I had the honour to address a letter to the Director-General of the Geological Surveys of Great Britain, Sir Roderick Murchison, Bart., K.C.B., on the subject of worked flint flakes from the “drift” of the Belfast district, of which the following is an extract:—

These worked flint flakes, of which I send a typical collection to the Museum in Jermyn Street, were picked up by me, during the progress of my geological work last summer, from the gravelly drift and subsoil clay of the districts around Carrickfergus, Larne, and Belfast, in the co. Antrim, and Holywood and Bangor, in the co. Down.

I enclose a list and descriptive catalogue of these flint flakes, which I believe are capable of being subdivided into eleven groups, placing the rudest form of flake in the first.

When these singular implements were discovered, some four or five years ago, in the co. Antrim, along the chalk escarpment, their mechanical origin was questioned; indeed, I thought at first that their primary origin might possibly be due to the natural crushing of the flint nodules, which occur as a conglomerate enclosed in a red or hæmatitic paste, resting on the subaerially eroded surface of the chalk, and therefore directly interposed between it and the basalt,—granting at the same time that the chippings round the edges of the flakes were artificial.

Subsequent examination into the subject, however, clearly showed me that every flake, no matter how rude its form, provided it
On the “Waterstone Beds” of the Keuper, containing Pseudomorphous Crystals of Chloride of Sodium, in the counties of Somerset and Devon
Authors: Ormerod G. Wareing
Published: October 2009

D
uring
a recent visit to Devon, the Rev. W. S. Symonds stated that he thought he had recognized “the Waterstone beds” of the Keuper at Exmouth, this being, it is believed, the first time that they have been noticed in this county. As the point, however, was not clear, I devoted a few days to a cursory examination of the Red Sandstone from Culverhole point, where it crops out from under the Lias, to Exmouth. As some months will probably elapse before I can make a close examination of them, I send the following particulars as marking the position of the rocks of this district in the “Trias.” Between Culverhole point and Seaton I could not find Waterstone. From Branscombe Mouth to Weston Mouth I was not able to examine the coast. Between Weston Mouth and Salcombe Month many beds of gypsum appear in the cliff; and between Salcombe Mouth and the river Sid several beds of very fully ripple-marked “Waterstone” occur, as also
pseudomorphous crystals of Chloride of Sodium
. This, I believe, is the first instance of the occurrence of such crystals in Devonshire. The coast between Sidmouth and Budleigh-Salterton has not been examined by me. Between Budleigh-Salterton and Littleham Bay “Waterstone beds” and pseudomorphous crystals of chloride of sodium occur, I agree with Mr. Symonds that the beds found near Exmouth are Waterstone, but I have not been able to find there any trace of the pseudomorphous crystals.

In communications made by Mr. Strickland (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.
On Quaternary Gravels
Authors: Tylor A.
Published: October 2009

I
n
continuation of a paper on this subject in the Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxiv. p. 103, I now submit a number of measured sections selected as instances of the deposition of gravels of different character under different circumstances both of height above the sea-level and distance from the sea.

The illustrations and remarks in this paper relate to the unfossiliferous gravels of the rivers Taff, Rhondda, and Cynon, in Glamorganshire, South Wales, to those of the Aire, in Yorkshire, and to the fossiliferous gravels and brick-earths of the lower part of the Thames and Lea rivers, in the counties of Kent and Essex.

One section of the fossiliferous gravel of the river Avon, at Salisbury, is given for the purpose of comparison with those of the Thames; and a section across the valley of the Aire, in Yorkshire, is compared with those in the valleys of the Taff and Rhondda.

A map of part of Glamorganshire, and a longitudinal section of the bed of the river Taff, with the heights along its course measured above the height of spring tides at Cardiff, have been prepared to define the exact locality of the Welsh gravels alluded to. A similar map and sections of the course of the river Aire, in Yorkshire, with heights measured from the Ordnance datum, are given for comparison with the Welsh illustrations.

A sketch-map of part of the river Thames, and of the adjoining counties of Kent and Essex, and separate maps, on a large
Notes on the Geology of China, with more especial Reference to the Provinces of the Lower Yangtse
Authors: Kingsmill T. W.
Published: October 2009

So far as I am aware, no attempt has been as yet made to classify the several geological formations of this huge empire. Isolated accounts of small sections have, indeed, appeared, but these for the most part were the productions of travellers inexperienced in the nomenclature of the science. Two exceptions, however, may be mentioned: one of these is Mr. Raphael Pumpelly, who in the years 1863-5 examined the coal-beds of the north-eastern provinces; the other, Mr. A.S. Bickmore, who in the year 1866 penetrated from Canton by Kwangsi and Hunan to Hankow in the centre of the empire. Unfortunately Mr. Pumpelly, so far as I know, has published no full statement of his researches, the only account being a short notice in Silliman's Journal in 1866, which, unluckily, I have not had the opportunity of perusing in full; while Mr. Bickmore's stay was too short, and the restrictions imposed on him during his adventurous journey too severe, to have afforded him the opportunity of forming a regular classification. I shall in the course of this paper, however, allude to some very interesting observations of his, detailed in a paper read before the North-China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, and published in the volume of their Transactions for last year.

My own personal observations have been made during a residence of nearly seven years, distributed between Hongkong, Canton, Shanghai, and Hankow, having had besides the advantage of occasional visits to all the open ports in the South of China
Notice of Plant-remains from Beds interstratified with the Basalt in the County of Antrim
Authors: Baily W. H.
Published: October 2009

T
he
deposit referred to by the author was discovered by the late Mr. G. V. Du Noyer in cuttings of the Northern Railway of Ireland, near Antrim; the plant-layer consists of a red clay deposit from 4 to 8 inches in thickness, separated by a bed of 10 or 12 feet, containing nodular iron-ore, from the underying basalt, and by earthy beds of about equal thickness from the superficial basaltic rock.

The author regarded a large cone as that of a true
Pinus
, and branches of another coniferous tree as belonging to a
Sequoia
nearly allied to
S. Sternbergi
, Heer; of this species he thought a small imbricated cone might possibly be the fruit. Other fragments of Coniferæ seem to belong to
Cupressites
or
Taxites
. The fossils consist chiefly of leaves of true Dicotyledonous plants. The author compared some of them with species of
Rhamnites, Olea, Fagus
, and
Quercus
. Leaves of endogenous plants, such as Sedges and Grasses, occur not unfrequently. A large mass of fossil wood of dicotyledonous structure was obtained from the hæematitic deposit. Seed-like bodies are also found. The plant-remains are accompanied by by a few elytra of Beetles.

The author remarked that these plant-remains differ as a group from these of the island of Mull. Their alliance appears to be with Mid-European forms; and they are certainly of Upper-Tertiary age; probably Miocene.
Remarks upon the Basalt Dykes of the Mainland of India, opposite to the Islands of Bombay and Salsette
Authors: Clark George T.
Published: October 2009

T
he
following remarks are the result of observations made during the years 1845-6-7 upon the trap rocks of a part of the Bombay Presidency. They were laid aside as being, at that time, of no great interest in England, and are slightly alluded to in a letter from the writer to Dean Buckland, not intended for publication, but which was printed in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society for January, 1847 [vol. iii. p. 221].

The paper now offered to the Society was written in that year. Some recent remarks by Mr. A. B. Wynne upon the letter to Dr. Buckland induce the writer now to bring it forward. Whatever value it may possess is derived chiefly from the fact that it relates to a district but little known, geologically, and which, from the difficulties of climate and other local circumstances, is less accessible than might be expected from its easy distance from Bombay.

The physical features of Western India are very peculiar. The surface of the peninsula rises very gradually from the Bay of Bengal to an irregular line ranging north and south from twenty to fifty miles from the western coast. At this line the ground, there very high, terminates in an escarpment of from 100 to 1000 feet in depth, and more or less precipitous. The strip of land intervening between this escarpment and the western sea, though of irregular surface, and containing several lofty spurs from the high ground, and some detached ridges, is on
On the Red Chalk of Hunstanton
Authors: Wiltshire T.
Published: October 2009

N
ot
far from the apex of the angle which the Wash, opening out into the German Ocean, forms on the western coast of Norfolk, is situated a cliff of about a mile in length and 50 or 60 feet in height, on which, at its greatest elevation, is erected the Hunstanton Lighthouse. This headland, which gradually rises from the low ground on the north, and finally sinks towards the south through the effect of local denudation, is remarkable, even when viewed from a distance, from the circumstance that its face is marked by three parallel coloured bands, slightly inclined, and cropping out in succession on the surface soil, of which bands the uppermost is white, the next bright red, and the lowest yellow, each division being sharply defined, without any intermingling of tints at the lines of contact. A close inspection shows that the highest stratum, the white, consists of a hard calcareous substance, compact in texture, and much shattered and fissured, originally deposited in such a manner that its materials were arranged in definite layers, two of which (
a, b
), those forming the base, are represented in the annexed section drawn to scale. The first of these (
a
), in thickness about 2 feet 6 inches, is noticeable for the presence of an enormous quantity of fragments of
Inocerami
dispersed throughout its whole extent, and which under the influence of weathering impart to this portion of the cliff a jagged and rough appearance. Its characteristic fossils are spines of
Cidaris