bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On the Geology of the Island of Lafû, one of the Loyalty Group, east of New Caledonia in the Southern Pacific
Authors: Clarke W. B.
Published: October 2009

On the eastern side of New Caledonia, and within sight of that island, occur two groups, known on the charts as the Loyalty and Britannia Islands. The former group has been generally represented to consist of two, but has been recently found by Mr. T. B. Simpson to consist of eight islands, of which Lafû, sometimes called Dafoo, at the eastern, and Emingina at the western extremity, are the largest. Mr. Simpson's opinion is, that the original discoverer saw but one, but that he visited part of its south-western coast where an east and west bay, seven or eight miles wide at the entrance, and from ten to twelve fathoms deep in places, but in the middle more than ninety fathoms deep, is fringed with a narrow coral reef, and has the appearance of dividing the island into two.

Of the other islands or islets, one is about eighteen miles north of Emingina, the northern end of which is in 21° 26' S. and 167° 44' E., and the rest are intermediate between it and Lafû.

The present purpose is to offer some remarks on the geological features of one island of the Loyalty group, viz. Lafû. It may be quoted as an example of an elevated coral island, and is selected because it exhibits more strikingly than the rest of the two groups, which are of similar construction, the distinctive proofs of that phænomenon.

The circumference of Lafû is about ninety miles; its base is surrounded by a narrow
On the Laws of Development of Existing Vegetation and the application of these laws to certain Geological Problems
Authors: Walton John
Published: October 2009

The author's remarks are chiefly founded on the excentrical position of the pith of exogenous trees, which he states are caused by unequal heat afforded to the north and south side. He supposes that a north and south line drawn through the central axis in a transverse section of a tree will generally bisect the section, while an east and west line divides it into two unequal parts; but that at the equator and poles such section will be bisected by either line.

He then alludes to the prevailing wind as a disturbing cause, not however obliterating the action of the sun, and concludes that contemporaneous plants, whether fossil or not, being in their upright position with their roots downwards, and having lines of like development parallel to each other, have grown in the place where they are found and are in their original position. He also concludes that if the lines of development are not parallel in beds of different ages, the line of action of the cause of that development has changed. He considers that many important geological conclusions may be deduced by applying these propositions.

The author next proceeds to the subject of internal heat, and considers that since it would tend to produce an equality of development, we may determine its former extent of action by examining the trunks of exogenous trees.

Although at first he only applied this theory to exogenous vegetables, he afterwards considered that the central pith of Stigmaria and some other fossil
On the Geology of a part of Eubœa and Bœotia
Authors: Spratt
Published: October 2009

Since my examination of the freshwater deposits on the east coast of the Ægean sea and in the island of Samos, I have been enabled to pursue some geological researches on its western shores; and there, as I had expected, I found corresponding formations in several localities, establishing the fact of a great eocene lake having extended over the whole of the Grecian Archipelago, where now there is a sea which in many places is known to be more than 300 fathoms deep.

I shall first briefly notice the distribution of the older rocks in the Negropont. The southern part of the island is composed of gneiss, mica schist, chlorite and crystalline marble, elevated into very high ridges, and forming a very mountainous tract of country, the highest peak of which is Mount Elias, near its south extremity. It attains a height of 5000 feet. The formations dip in various directions and at all angles; generally the dip is either to the N.W. or S.E., and the angle not exceeding 25°.

The marble was extensively quarried by the ancients; numerous deserted quarries exist along a range of coast fifteen miles in length, in which columns and blocks of various sizes are still lying ready for transportation, and some exceed thirty feet in length. The marble is the Cipollino of the Italians, and these quarries seem to have been the chief source which supplied Rome for many of its buildings.

These older rocks terminate at Aliveri, and are succeeded by secondary
On a Tertiary Deposit near Lixouri, in the island of Cephalonia
Authors: Hamilton W. J. , Strickland H. E.
Published: October 2009

The tertiary deposit here described occupies a considerable portion of the peninsula of Lixouri, on the western side of the Gulf of Argostoli. It forms a series of ridges, extending for two or three miles to the north and south of the village of Lixouri, and running parallel to the strike of the secondary rocks of the island of Cephalonia, as well as of the whole of the Ionian isles, which conform in their directions to the great mountain systems of the Apennines and of Dalmatia. The beds slope gradually to the eastward, and present a succession of steep escarpments towards the west. The width of this tertiary zone may be about four miles from the sea on the east to the mountainous ridge of secondary rocks against which they rest on the west. The beds are all perfectly conformable, dipping a few degrees to the north of east by compass, at an angle of from 45° to 55°. Their aggregate thickness may be estimated at about 900 feet. They are remarkable for the great number and variety of fossils which they contain, some of the beds being almost wholly composed of shells, in the most perfect state of preservation, many of which belong to species now existing in the Mediterranean. A large proportion of these shells are identical with species figured by Brocchi from the Subapennine beds, indicating that this deposit must be referred to the Pliocene epoch. This locality is also interesting from the great thickness of the
On the Meaning originally attached to the term “Cambrian System,” and on the evidences since obtained of its being geologically synonymous with the previously established term “Lower Silurian.”
Authors: Murchison Roderick I.
Published: October 2009

In a communication upon the Silurian rocks of Sweden, published in the preceding number of the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, I stated my objections to some opinions of Professor Sedgwick contained in the previous volume, which suggested a re-arrangement of the recognised divisions of the Upper and Lower rocks of the Silurian system. I was then chiefly called upon to point out the inapplicability of the proposal to remove the Wenlock formation (or a great part of it) from the Upper to the Lower Silurian; for even down to last year Professor Sedgwick had invariably spoken of all the lower palæozoic fossils of North Wales and Cumberland as belonging to one or other of those natural divisions*. In a word, the Upper and Lower Silurian fossils published by me had been appealed to by him as the types by which he worked out their equivalents in the above slaty tracts; and even in his memoir published in 1846, he still divided the older palæozoic rocks of our island into Upper Silurian, Lower Silurian, and Cambrian†. In the memoir, however, which he read at the last meeting, Professor Sedgwick took a new course, for which I was unprepared by his previous publications‡ After indicating the order of the strata in and beneath the Bala limestone, he now puts forth what I can only understand as this general proposition, viz. that although the fossil type of such rocks is essentially what he and others had recognised as “Lower Silurian,” the
On the Batracholites, indicative of a small species of Frog (
Rana pusilla
, Ow.). Addendum to the Communication from G. T. Clark, Esq., Bombay
Authors: Owen
Published: October 2009

The portions of shale transmitted by Mr. Clark contain delicate, but for the most part distinct, traces of the, generally, entire skeleton of small anourous
Batrachia
, the osseous substance is black, as if charred.

The number of vertebræ, atlas and sacrum inclusive, is nine: the caudal vertebræ are fused into a long, slender cylindrical style, as in most anourous
Batrachia
.

In the specimen (fig. 1) which lies on its back, the posterior convexity of the vertebral bodies is shown.

The short, subcylindrical and very slightly expanded lateral or transverse processes of the sacrum, and the absence of ribs or their rudiments in the dorsal vertebræ, with the proportional expanse of the skull and length of the hind-legs, show the specimens to belong to the family of Frogs (
Ranidœ
).

There are seven abdominal vertebræ, with long and subequal transverse processes, that of the second (third vertebra including the atlas) being the longest. The humerus is cylindrical, not expanded as in
Cystignathus
. The head is a little larger relatively than in
Rana temporaria
,
R. esculenta
, or
Hyla viridis
; and still larger, therefore, than in the Toads and Natterjacks (
Bufonidœ
), or than in the
Pipa
: the expansion of the sacrum removes the genus
Pipa
and the
Bombinatores
from that of the present fossils. The following are admeasurements of the more perfect specimens:—

All the specimens belong to individuals which had completed their metamorphosis, and they are similar to one another in size; they may have belonged either to a not quite full-grown brood
On the Wave of Translation in connexion with the Northern Drift
Authors: Whewell W.
Published: October 2009

The great geological problem of the “Northern Drift” has been attacked in various ways; and the diffusion of Scandinavian rocks and northern detritus over a vast area in the northern part of Europe has been ascribed to various kinds of natural machinery. Of late, a large part of this operation has been attributed to “Waves of Translation,” produced by the sudden upheaval of the bottom or shore of the sea. This view is advocated in the ‘Geology of Russia’ by Sir Roderick Murchison. There are some very simple numerical calculations which belong to this subject, and which may throw some light on the probability of such a theory. These calculations must necessarily be hypothetical as to their quantities, but as to their quantities only; and even these will be capable of correction by a more careful survey of the facts. For the mathematical doctrine on which they proceed is rigorously true, and does not depend upon any hypothetical view of the structure of the masses which we have to deal with. Mr. Scott Russell. tells us that the wave of translation may be regarded as a mechanical agent for the transmission of power, as complete and perfect as the lever or the inclined plane. Assuming this property of the wave of translation as a basis, I shall point out some of the results of its operation in the case now to be considered.

It has been stated to the Geological Society, that, by supposing the sudden elevation of a submarine
On the Slow Transmission of Heat through loosely coherent Clay and Sand
Authors: Nasmyth James
Published: October 2009

When I lately had the pleasure to see you at the foundry, on drawing your attention to what appeared to me a remarkable example of the low capability of mineral substances for conducting heat, I was much gratified to find that you agreed with me in considering that the instance in question had an important bearing on several interesting geological questions, especially those relating to the theory of the central heat of the earth.

At your request I have much pleasure in sending you a statement of the instance in question, under the impression that it may chance to prove of some interest as an illustration of what may yet exist in respect to the state of the interior of the globe, as regards its high temperature.

The instance in question, you will remember, was that of a large plate-iron pot, containing eleven tons of white-hot melted cast-iron—a temperature so high as to be quite beyond all thermometric certainty, but well-known to be the highest intensity of furnace heat, being quite equal to that of welding hot iron.

This vast mass of white-hot melted cast-iron, you will remember, stood in the pot for upwards of twenty minutes, and but for a thin coating of clay and sand of about half an inch thick, would have soon melted the bottom and sides of the pot.

This half-inch thickness of mineral substance, however, was quite sufficient to prevent the conduction of the heat to the exterior; so completely, so, that after this
Letter from J. G. Anthony to C. Lyell, Esq., V.P.G.S., May 6, 1846, “On an Impression of the Soft Parts of an Orthoceras.”
Authors: Anthony John G. , Lyell C.
Published: October 2009

Dear Sir,—In accordance with the wish expressed by you a short time since, that I should communicate to you some account of the Orthoceratites found in the marlite near Cincinnati, I have thrown together a few brief notes which may perhaps serve as the basis of a paper on the subject.

The blue limestone formation, of which the marliet above alluded to is a member, was formerly supposed to represent the Trenton limestone of the “New York system,” but further examination has proved its identity with the “Hudson River group.” In the State of New York, where it is widely developed, it consists mainly of argillaceous deposits; but in this section it is quite calcareous, and is composed of alternate layers of a hard fossiliferous limestone and shale, or as it is frequently termed
marlite
, interstratified and lying horizontally. The thickness of the blue limestone at Cincinnati is about 450 feet. Quarries have for many years been opened in this deposit for the purpose of procuring the hard limestone for building and for paving our streets. In the removal of the stone for these purposes, many beautifully preserved remains of the “Aborigines of Creation” have been brought to light, and a greater number have been discovered on the hill-sides, where the refuse of the quarries has lain long enough exposed to the action of frosts and washings of heavy rains.

The layers of which the blue limestone formation is composed are by no means uniform in thicknes, the hard stone
On the Gypsiferous Strata of Cape Dauphin, in the Island of Cape Breton
Authors: Brown Richard
Published: October 2009

Previously to Mr. Lyell's visit to Nova Scotia in the year 1843, it was generally supposed that the marls and sandstones containing those remarkable beds of gypsum, which have recently occupied so much attention, were both in age and position analogous to the new red sandstone of Europe. Such indeed was my own opinion (as stated in an imperfect outline of the geological structure of this island which appeared in Haliburton's ‘History of Nova Scotia,’ published in 1829), founded chiefly upon the occurrence of gypsum and brine springs in a formation bearing considerable resemblance in lithological character to the new red sandstone, without any reference whatever to its fossils, which at that period had not been examined by competent observers.

Mr. Lyell, in a paper on this subject read before the Society in 1843, and more recently in his ‘Travels in America,’ has clearly shown, from their proximity to the older rocks, the great disturbances which (compared with the coal-measures) they have undergone, and more particularly from their characteristic fossils, that the gypsiferous strata of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton are the representatives of the lower beds of the carboniferous limestone of Europe; but hitherto I am not aware that any decided example of the superposition of the millstone grit and coal-measures has been observed. It affords me therefore much satisfaction to be able to furnish a section of the strata forming a lofty cliff at Cape Dauphin, the western boundary of the Sydney coal-field, where the carboniferous limestone and
On the Nomenclature of the Fossil Chimæroid Fishes
Authors: Egerton Philip Grey
Published: October 2009

In a former communication to the Geological Society in 1843, I endeavoured to show that the fossils described by Br. Buckland in his paper of November 1835, and referred by him to the genus
Chimœra
, presented differential characters of sufficient importance to warrant their separation from that genus. It was proposed to arrange them under three genera,—viz.
Ischyodus
, of which
Chimœra Townshendi
was the type;
Elasmodus
, typified by
Chimœra Hunteri
; and
Ganodus
, by
Chimœra Colei
. These generic distinctions were sanctioned and adopted by Professor Agassiz with the further elimination of certain species with falciform lower mandibles, such as
Chimœra Mantelli
, under the generic name
Psittacodon
. At that time I had not had an opportunity of examining the specimens discovered by Mr. Sibthorpe at Goldworth Hill, and described by Dr. Buckland in 1838 under the generic names
Edaphodon
and
Passalodon
, but having some fragments of the former genus, from Bracklesham Bay, I noticed the close resemblance of these to the other fossil Chimæroids, especially in structure, and alluded to it in the description of the upper maxillary bone of
Chimœra Agassizi
, and more pointedly in a subsequent paragraph referring to the general affinities of the recent and fossil Chimæroids. In the course of the present year I have not only seen the casts of Mr. Sibthorpe's specimens, from which the figures in the ‘Poissons Fossiles’ were drawm, but, through the kindness of Mr. Dixon, have had an opportunity of studying a series of specimens of these genera, in a very perfect
On the probable Age of the London Clay, and its Relations to the Hampshire and Paris Tertiary Systems
Authors: Prestwich J.
Published: October 2009

It is not intended on the present occasion to enter generally upon the subject* of the London clay, nor yet to describe its structure and fauna further than may he necessary to prove the argument of this paper, which is, that tne London clay of Highgate, Sheppey, and other places in the neighbourhood of London, apparently is not, as it has hitherto been considered, synchronous with the Calcaire grossier of Paris, nor yet with the clays of Barton, and the clays and sands of Bracklesham; but that it is of older date than these, and consequently occupies a lower position in the Eocene series.

Old terms are altered with difficulty; they have the sanction of usage and weight of successive authorities, and are in geology occasionally apt, by their theoretical signification, to stand in lieu of proof. In the case before us, considering up to a late period the contemporaneity of the marine strata of London, Bracklesham, Barton, and Paris well established, I thought it scarcely necessary to investigate the data on which their identification rested; or rather, proceeding under the full impression of its correctness, I yielded to it facts, and endeavoured to conform to it phænomena, which, had I allowed them their due influence, would have earlier led to independent inferences. The differences known to exist in the fauna of these groups had been attributed solely to changes of condition and distance—causes, which as they produce effects whose limits are not easily assignable, sometimes prevent inquiry by offereing
On Fossil Plants from the Coal Formation of Cape Breton
Authors: Bunbary C. J. F.
Published: October 2009

Since Mr. Lyell gave, in his ‘Travels in North America,’ a catalogue of the fossil plants occurring in the coal formation of Nova Scotia, I have received, through the kindness of Richard Brown, Esq., a fine collection from the Sydney coal-field. Cape Breton, including many species which are not in Mr. Lyell's list, and some which appear to be altogether new. As this collection also enables me to illustrate more satisfactorily the structure of some species which have hitherto been incompletely described, I have thought it might be worth while to lay before the Society some account of it, together with a few remarks on the geographical distribution of these extinct plants.

1.
Neuropteris cordata
,
Brongn.

This appears to be the most common Fern in the Sydney coal-field: most of the slabs of shale which I have seen from that locality contain fragments of it. The leaflets almost always occur separately, very seldom attached to the stalk, and they vary to an extraordinary degree both in shape and size, so that this species might deserve the name of
heterophylla
quite as much as the plant to which it has been applied.

Dr. Lindley* and Prof. Goeppert have noticed the small, roundish leaflets which are commonly found scattered among those of the more normal form of this species; but neither of them appears to have actually seen the relative position and connexion of the two kinds of leaflets; and Goeppert seems uncertain whether they belong to the same plant. Some of
On the Geology of some parts of the Alpine and Mediterranean regions of South-Eastern Europe
Authors: Boué Ami
Published: October 2009

Dr. Boué in this communication states his views in reference to the classification of the nummulitic rocks and the connected strata in various places round the shores of the Mediterranean. He points out especially the great extent of these deposits in European Turkey, as shown in a corrected copy of his Geological Map of that country which he has forwarded to the Society. In this map he also indicates the occurrence of Silurian formations in Carinthia, Styria, and some of the neighbouring regions.
On the Fossil remains of Mammalia referable to the genus Palæotherium, and to two genera, Paloplotherium and Dichodon, hitherto undefined: from the Eocene Sand at Hordile, Hampshire
Authors: Owen
Published: October 2009

To
Alexander Pytts Falconer
, Esq. of Beacon, Christchurch, Hants, and to his brother
Thomas Falconer
, Esq. of Wootton in the same county, British Palæontology is much indebted for some new and highly interesting fossil remains, which they have obtained at considerable trouble and expense from the Eocene freshwater formation in the cliffs at Hordle, Hants. I beg to express my sincere acknowledgments to those gentlemen for their liberal transmission to me, from time to time, of their valuable acquisitions from this interesting stratum, of which I purpose on the present occasion to describe the specimens of jaws and teeth of the herbivorous or hoofed Mammalia.
On the New Red Sandstone of Nova Scotia
Authors: Dawson J. W.
Published: October 2009

In several late papers on the carboniferous rocks of Nova Scotia, reference has been made to a deposit of red sandstone skirting the shores of Cobequid Bay, and resting unconformably on strata of the carboniferous system. I propose in the present paper, to describe this formation as it occurs in the above-named locality, and in other parts of the country bordering the southern arm of the Bay of Fundy, retaining provisionally the name of New Red Sandstone, which is at least locally appropriate.

The new red sandstone of Nova Scotia has already been described by Messrs. Jackson and Alger, and by Dr. Gesner. The attention of these geologists was however directed rather to the structure of the trap, and to the numerous crystallized minerals which it contains, than to the geological relations of the deposit; and they did not distinguish it from a group of sandstones, with beds of limestone and gypsum, occurring in its vicinity, which has since been shown by Mr. Lyell to belong to the carboniferous system.
On the Genera and Distribution of Plants in the Carboniferous System of New South Wales
Authors: Clarke W. B.
Published: October 2009

In Count Strzelecki's work on New South Wales, it is stated that the Australian coal-fields are entirely deficient in the genera
Sigillaria, Lepidodendron, Calamites
, and
Coniferæ
. This view Mr. Clarke considers as erroneous, and endeavours in this paper to remove. After some general remarks on the supposed similarity of the plants found in the Australian coal beds to those in India, he gives the following list:—

Genera of Coal Plants found by Mr. Clarke in the carboniferous deposits of New South Wales

1.

Pecopteris.

2.

Neuropteris.

3.

Odontopteris.

4.

Cyclopteris.

5.

Sphenopteris.

6.

Glossopteris.

7.

Genus intermediate between Tæniopteris and Glossopteris.

8.

Halonia.

9.

Cannæform plants.

10.

Reed-like stems.

11.

Calamites.

12.

Phyllotheca.

13.

Zeugophyllites.

14.

Equisetum.

15.

Lycopodites.

16.

New genus of plants with wedgeformed stems.

17.

Lepidodendron, sometimes Lepidostrobi

18.

Ulodendron.

19.

Sigillaria and Stigmaria.

20.

Coniferæ.
On the occurence of Trilobites in New South Wales, with remarks on the probable age of the formation in which they occur
Authors: Clarke W. B.
Published: October 2009

The only notices hitherto published respecting the occurrence of Trilobites in New South Wales are those given in Strzelecki's ‘Physical Description’ of that colony and Van Diemen's Land, and a brief mention made by myself in the ‘Sydney Herald’ long previous to the publication of that work.

The announcement made in the ‘Physical Description’ has reference to “small oblong impressions
resembling Trilobites
, not exceeding half an inch,, and which are to be met with in Yass plains and the Boree country. New South Wales, associated with
Favosites Gothlandica, Orthoceras
, and stems of
Encrinites
.” In another place, another species of “
Favosites
and
Amplexus arundinaceus
, and
remains
of
Trilobites
,” are mentioned as having been only at present noticed.

In the year 1842 I discovered numerous casts of Trilobites on the right bank of the River Paterson, in a sandy micaceous mudstone at a spot called Burragood; and in a concretionary limestone associated with brownish sandy shale, also concretionary, on the left bank of Binjaberri Creek, a feeder of the River Allyn. Since then I have found Trilobites in a rock of the same age, partly a pure limestone, partly a slaty clay, on the bank of the Allyn, at Colocolo near Camyrallyn, as well as near Trevallyn on the Paterson.
Remarks to accompany a Geological Map of Westernn Australia
Authors: Gregory J. W. , Gregory Francis T.
Published: October 2009

In this memoir an account was given of the rocks and minerals observed in various parts of Western Australia, especially in a section from the sea-coast to the summit of the Darling range. Specimens of the rocks collected were also exhibited to the Society.
On the Mineral character and Fossil Conchology of the Great Oolite, as it occurs in the neighbourhood of Minchinhampton
Authors: Lycett John
Published: October 2009

My principal design in this paper is to exhibit the organic remains of a district small in area, but peculiarly rich in fossil testacea. These likewise occur in a better state of preservation than is common in rocks of a similar geological character, the external ligaments of the bivalves, and coloured markings of the univalves, being not unfrequently visible. Of the remains of reptiles, fishes, crustacea, insects and plants of the oolitic period, the slates of Stonesfield have afforded good illustrations; but the shells are comparatively few as to species.
On the Geology of the Silurian Rocks in the Valley of the Tweed
Authors: Nicol James
Published: October 2009

There is perhaps no extensive formation in the British Islands of which we possess less certain geological knowledge, than of the rocks constituting the great mountain-chain which crosses the southern counties of Scotland from east to west. These deposits have indeed been long ascertained to be of far more ancient date than the old red sandstone and carboniferous rocks with which they are in contact; and from this and their mineralogical characters have usually been classed in the transition series of Werner, and more recently placed hypothetically on the parallel of one or other portion of the Silurian rocks of England. This very uncertain determination of their age has in a great measure arisen from the extreme rarity of their fossil remains, which till very lately were scarcely known to exist. Having in the course of last autumn succeeded in procuring a few specimens of organic remains from the central portion of this formation, in the upper part of the valley of the Tweed, I have thought that a notice of these may not be without interest to the Society. With this I shall combine some observations on the mineralogical character and position of the rocks in this district, and the indications which these afford of the geological age of the formation and the conditions under which it has been produced.
On the Fossil Remains of Birds collected in various parts of New Zealand by Mr. Walter Mantell, of Wellington
Authors: Mantell Gideon Algernon
Published: October 2009

It is not a little remarkable that one of the most interesting palæontological discoveries of our times, namely the former existence of a race of colossal Ostrich-like birds in the islands of New Zealand, though made in a British colony, and announced to the scientific world by an eminent British physiologist, has not hitherto been brought under the immediate notice of the Geological Society of London. I therefore consider myself particularly fortunate in having the opportunity, through the researches of my eldest son, Mr. Walter Mantell, of submitting for the examination of the Fellows of this Society, perhaps the most extraordinary collection of the fossil remains of struthious birds that has ever been transmitted to Europe, and which contains the crania and mandibles, egg-shells, and bones, of several genera and species, most, if not all of which have probably long been extinct.
Additional Remarks on the Geological Position of the Deposits in New Zealand which contain Bones of Birds
Authors: Mantell Gideon Algernon
Published: October 2009

Since I had the honour of communicating to the Geological Society a notice of the collection of fossil bones of birds from New Zealand, I have received a letter from Mr. Walter Mantell, dated Wellington, June 18, 1847, containing some details respecting the bone-deposits and the strata with which they are associated, which are of considerable interest, and confirm in every essential particular the conclusions suggested in my former communication. The following are extracts from my son's letter:—“The principal part of the best specimens I have transmitted to you I obtained from near the embouchure of a stream called Waingongoro, which lies about a mile and a half south of Waimate in the Ngátirúianúi district. The country hereabout is an elevated table-land, with deep tortuous gullies, through which the torrents and streams take their course to the sea. That of Waingongoro, which is as tortuous as any of them, appears to rise in Mount Egmont (the volcanic ridge which is 9000 feet high); indeed it must have its source there, or in the short chain of hills which lies between that mountain and the coast in a westerly direction; for in returning to New Plymouth by the mountain road—a forest-track at the back of the volcanic ridge—I must have crossed it, did it rise elsewhere.
Remarks upon the Internal Structure of Halonia
Authors: Dawes John S.
Published: October 2009

It was proposed by the authors of the ‘Fossil Flora’ that the genus
Halonia
should comprehend all those plants combining the surface of the Lepidodendra with the mode of branching of the Coniferæ,to which latter order they considered these fossils to be analogous. The discovery, however, of better-preserved specimens has clearly shown that the supposed remains of alternate branches, noticed more particularly upon one species, the
H. gracilis
, must have been merely impressions of the protuberances which characterize these fossils, and that they are in fact, like the Lepidodendra, dichotomous. A still further proof of cryptogamic affinity is now afforded by sections of a specimen from the neighbourhood of Birmingham, in which traces of the vegetable structure have been preserved.
On the Tertiary Deposits of the Moray Firth and the Great Caledonian Valley, with a brief notice of the Older Formations
Authors: Cumming J. G.
Published: October 2009

T
he
district which is the subject of the present memoir has been rendered familiar to geologists by the labours of Professor Sedgwick and Sir R. I. Murchison*, whose descriptions have reference to the older rocks, and to their connection with equivalents in the English system.

Very valuable additions have since been made to these records by Mr. George Anderson of Inverness, and Mr. Hugh Miller, whose accurate local knowledge, both written and oral, I was privileged to avail myself of. My attention however was chiefly directed to the distribution of the boulder-clays and the gravels of the tertiary series, and on these I venture at this time to offer a few remarks. Still, as introductory to a description of these more recent deposits, it may be useful to take a hasty view of the general physical contour of the country.

A very cursory glance at the condition of its surface must convince us that enormous denudation has occurred over the district under consideration. The now isolated masses of old red conglomerate, perched on mountain summits, must clearly at one time have formed continuous strata. We may instance particularly the fine dome-shaped mountain Mealfourvonie, on the western side of Loch Ness, rising upwards of 3000 feet above the sea. Craigora, rising to the height of 1500 feet above Temple, on the west side of the Bay of Urquhart on Loch Ness, is a round detached mass of old red conglomerate, which was obviously at one time connected with Mealfourvonie. Both these
On the Valley of the English Channel
Authors: Austen Robert A. C.
Published: October 2009

T
he
valley of the English Channel presents two points of geological interest which may be considered as new—the one relating to the nature of its bed, as a guide to the conditions of origin of our older marine formations; the other to its age as an area of depression. For the former purpose the area may appear to be too limited; the extent of surface, however, from the Straits of Dover to the outward line of soundings, is more than equal to the whole of the South of England from the Land's End to the Wash, an area which comprises the whole series of English geological formations. Having had frequent opportunities of cruising about this Channel, I have been enabled, at one time or another, to visit nearly every portion of its shores on either side, and to examine its bed with the dredge and sounding-lead.

The English Channel occupies a valley bounded by two parallel systems of elevation. The line of 49° 58', commencing from the east coast of France, near Dieppe, and which passes a little south of the Lizard Point, is as long a straight line as can be drawn within it. A physical area may have a general form and outline, which may not at all represent the direction of the forces by which it has been produced. The movements by which relief has been given to portions of the earth's crust are seldom continuously linear; the lines themselves, taken separately, are constantly seen to diminish
On Craters of Denudation, with Observations on the Structure and Growth of Volcanic Cones
Authors: Lyell Charles
Published: October 2009

I
n
the first edition of my ‘Principles of Geology’ published in 1830 (vol. i. ch. 30), I explained the grounds of my objection to the theory previously advanced by Baron von Buch to account for the origin of the Caldera of Palma, the Gulf of Santorin, and other bowl-shaped cavities of large dimensions, for which he proposed the name of “Craters of Elevation.’ I regarded the circular escarpments surrounding these vast cavities as the remnants of cones of eruption, the central parts of which had been destroyed, and I conceived that the removing cause had been chiefly, if not wholly, engulfment.

In the second edition of my ‘Principles,’ published in 1832, or two years later, I discussed more particularly the origin of the single deep gorge, which in Palma, Barren Island, and other so-called elevation-craters, forms a breach in the circular range of cliffs, surrounding the central cavity. This ravine or narrow passage I attributed “to the action of the tide during the gradual emergence from the sea and upheaval of a volcanic island” (ch. 22. vol. i. p. 452), and I at the same time alluded to its analogy to the single passage leading into the lagoons of many annular coral islands of Atolls.

Although I then distinctly announced this theory in regard to such narrow ravines, the idea had not occurred to me that the same denuding power of the waves and tides, which were thus appealed to as adequate to remove the rocks once filling such deep
Notes on a Section of Leckhampton Hill
Authors: Strickland H. E.
Published: October 2009

The well-known promontory of the Cotswolds, called Leckhampton Hill, affords probably the best locality in Gloucestershire for studying the relative position of the various beds of the inferior oolite and subjacent lias. From its great height and steepness, the entire series of the oolite is admirably exposed to view, and the extensive quarries from which Cheltenham has been mainly built, afford every facility for examining the formation. The geologists of Cheltenham and the neighbourhood are well acquainted practically with the subdivisions of the strata and their organic contents, but no exact definitions or precise measurements of these strata have, I believe, ever yet been made. Mr. Buckman's ‘Chart’ contains a section of Leckhampton Hill, and is valuable for its descriptions of the mineral character and organic remains of some of the beds. But it does not attempt to exhibit all the subdivisions of the oolite, or to show their absolute and relative thicknesses. It appeared therefore desirable that a more elaborate survey should be made, and with this object I gladly availed myself of the aid of the Rev. A. D. Stacpoole of Oxford, whose skill in the use of surveying instruments was of great service. Where the strata were exposed in a vertical escarpment and were accessible, they were accurately measured, but in other cases their thickness could only be ascertained by means of the sextant. By putting together the varied observations thus obtained, we constructed the section given at p. 242,
supra
. It is drawn on a uniform
Note on Fossiliferous Deposits in the Middle Island of New Zealand
Authors: Forbes E.
Published: October 2009

Mr. Hugh Cuming, the eminent conchologist, has lately received from Mr. F. Manse a small collection of fossils from two localities in the Middle Island of New Zealand. Though in a very bad state of preservation, they are sufficiently perfect to enable us to determine the genera, and to pronounce whether or not they are identical with or different from known New Zealand fossils, or animals now existing in the neighbouring seas.

The one locality is at Banks' river. The fossils are imbedded in a greenish grey sandstone. They consist of shells of the genera
Solecurtus
, one species;
Tellina
, one species;
Lucina
, three species;
Cardita
, one species;
Artemis
, one species;
Pectunculus
, one species;
Crenella
? one large species;
Modiola
, coated with
Membranipora
;
Turritella
, one species very abundant;
Calyptrœa
, one species; and
Trochus
, one species.

The other locality is at the cliffs of Blind Bay. The fossils are imbedded in a greenish conglomerate of small pebbles. They consist of a
Lucina
, a large species of Area, a
Cardita
distinct from that at Banks' river; one species of each of the following genera.
Turbo, Fusus ? Acmœa, Bulla, Tornatella
? and a
Haliotis
-like shell; also two fragmentary corals, apparently belonging to the genera
Turbinolia
and
Dendrophyllia
.

None of the fossils in either locality can be identified with any recent species. Their general aspect recalls very strongly that of eocene shells from the Bognor beds. The specimens have been presented by Mr. Cuming to the Museum of Practical Geology.
On the Vents of Hot Vapour in Tuscany, and their Relations to Ancient Lines of Fracture and Eruption
Authors: Murchison Roderick Impey
Published: October 2009

Introduction

In surveying the principal localities of those remarkable vents of hot vapour in the Tuscan Maremma, called “Lagoni,” “Fumacchi,” “Fumarole,” “Soffioni,” “Mofetti,” and even “Volcani,” I perceived that their issue took place upon ancient parallel lines of fracture, along which serpentinous and other eruptive rocks had been emitted. As I am not aware that this coincidence in lines of eruption, acted upon at epochs so remote from each other, has been previously adverted to in any geological account of Tuscany, I will first call attention to the phænomenon. I shall next take this opportunity of expressing my opinion respecting the origin of the “gabbro rosso” of the Tuscans, a rock intimately associated with serpentine; and, after a brief allusion to recent earthquake shocks along the same lines, the memoir will be terminated by glancing at the simultaneous production of great divergent elevations in Italy and in the Alps, after the deposit of the nummulitic eocene formation.
On the Stratified Formations of the Venetian Alps
Authors: de Zigno Achille
Published: October 2009

T
he
region to which the present memoir refers contains localities which at all times have attracted the attention of naturalists. The labours of Arduini, Fortis, Da Rio, Marzari, Brongniart, Catullo, Pagini, Brocchi, Trettenero, have pointed out its more remarkable features; and some of the Members of this Society have cast a rapid glance on the more interesting phænomena. Feeling convinced that this portion of our mountains would furnish the clue to the geology of Northern Italy, I have prosecuted my researches for several years, with the object of bringing the stratified formations of the Venetian Alps into co-ordination with the classic deposits of Europe. I have at length succeeded in recognising and establishing certain geological horizons, in rectifying some of the earlier observations, and in satisfying myself of the correctness of others subsequently made. I have had occasion to avail myself of stratigraphical and palæontological reasoning, according to the localities; and I indulge the hope that the result of my studies will be a more rational explanation of the structure of our mountains.

The district which I am about to describe is bounded on the east by the Tagliamente, on the south by the plain which extends to the Po.

The Tagliamente, after running from west to east along the valley called the ‘Canal di Sochieve,’ which is parallel to the main chain of the Alps, receiving the torrents which run from north to south (such as the Lumici, the Degan, the Bret, and the Fella), turns sharply to the
On British Fossil Lepadidæ
Authors: Darwin C.
Published: October 2009

M
r
. D
arwin
noticed that great confusion exists in the nomenclature of the comparatively few species of Cirrhipeds, hitherto found in a fossil state; arising both from the easy separation of the several dissimilar valves soon after the death of the animal, and from the imperfect characters afforded by the valves themselves, which are, as it were, but parts of the crustacean carapace, neither accompanied with, nor distinctly impressed by, any of the soft parts of the animal. He then pointed out such particular valves as were sufficiently distinct, and had sufficiently constant characters to he considered as characteristic of genera,–as, for instance, the keel, or dorsal, valve in
Sealpellum
, and the scutal, or inferior lateral, valve in
Pollicipes
. The pedunculated cirrhipeds (
Lepadidœ
) were stated to have made their first appearance in the lower oolite, and to have reached their culminant point in the cretaceous epoch. The absence of sessile cirrhipeds in the earlier and secondary formations, and their occurrence for the first time in the eocene deposits, were then noticed, the author dwelling on the characters of the genus
Verruca
, and pointing out that, as the type of a group intermediate between, and of equal value with, the sessile and the pedunculate cirrhipeds, it offered no real exception to the rule that sessile cirrhipeds do not occur in the secondary formations; but that, on the contrary, it harmonizes with the law of relation between serial affinities of animals and their first appearance on this earth. Mr. Darwin concluded with a few observations on the comparative ranges of recent and fossil eirrhipeds, and on the close affinities between the extinct and the living forms.
On the Occurrence of a Freshwater Bed of Marl in the Fens of Cambridgeshire
Authors: Hamilton J. W.
Published: October 2009

M
y
attention having been repeatedly directed to a peculiar bed of white, chalky-looking marl, partly overlying and partly interstratified with the black peaty soil through which the East Anglian Railway has been cut between Ely and Lynn, or rather between Littleport and Downham, I determined to examine the nature of the bed. With this view, I obtained a quantity of the marl in question for the purpose of examination. The bed is seen soon after leaving Littleport, and may be traced continuously for many miles, varying considerably in thickness, from about a foot, as well as I could judge, to three or four inches. In some places it is seen on the surface, in others it approaches it so nearly as to be turned up with the plough, while in others again it is two or three feet below the surface. Whether this difference is owing to the undulations of the ground or of the bed itself, I was unable to ascertain; I am, however, inclined to attribute it to the surface only. To what distance right and left of the railway it extends I have not yet been able to learn, but it is evidently very considerable. This however is certain, that whereas it was deposited subsequently to the great portion of the black peaty soil, it has been again covered up by a subsequent deposition of the same black substance.

On washing out the marl I found a considerable number of land and freshwater shells, of existing species.
Description of a peculiar Fossil Fern from the Sydney Coal Field, Cape Breton
Authors: Bunbury C. J. F.
Published: October 2009

The fossil plant of which I propose to give an account was communicated to me some time ago by Richard Brown, Esq., from the coalmines of Sydney, Cape Breton. I have shown it to several of my most learned friends, both botanists and geologists, who have all pronounced it to be entirely different from anything they had previously seen; nor have I been able to find any fossil with similar characters represented in any published work. The appearance of the specimen is indeed so peculiar and extraordinary, that its discoverer, who is well known to have an intimate acquaintance with the fossils of the Sydney coal-field, conceived it to present an actual union of the structures and characters of two distinct families. I have thought, therefore, that a careful description and figure of so singular a fossil might not be unacceptable to the Geological Society. Although I fear I must confess myself unable to give a very satisfactory explanation of the anomalies which it presents, still it seems desirable that the peculiarities of a specimen, at present unique, should be put upon record; and this notice, by exciting attention and discussion, may perhaps lead to a complete elucidation of the subject.
Notice of Fossil Bones at Portland
Authors: Neale A.
Published: October 2009

In making a road for the conveyance of stone for the construction of the Breakwater at Portland, a cutting has been opened to the depth of about 30 feet from the surface of the island, which is here about 400 feet above the sea-level. The rock (here covered by a superficial deposit, which is red below and darker at the top) is extensively fissured in every direction, the cracks being from 1 to 6 inches wide, and occupied by a deposit differing from the superincumbent soils. The rock also is here traversed by a cleft, 10 feet wide, running in a S.W. and N.E. direction, and containing large round black blocks of stone, fragments of bone, and teeth, imbedded in a black sand.