bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On the Geology of the North-east part of the Dobrutcha
Authors: Spratt T.
Published: October 2009

H
aving
had an opportunity, during the latter part of last year, of extending my geological inquiries in the eastern part of the Dobrutcha, and of obtaining a better idea of some parts of its character, I am induced to offer a few remarks as a continuation of my former paper on this locality.

It is known that the northern extremity of the Dobrutcha is terminated by a chain of mountains that obtain an elevation of between 1000 and 2000 feet. They consist of highly-inclined limestones, shales, and schistose rocks. But the bold features usually assumed by the description and elevation of rocks of this nature are generally subdued here by their flanks and shoulders being covered by a considerable deposit of arenaceous marls, of reddish, grey, and brown colours. The marls are undoubtedly of a late date; but their origin I am not able to determine, from the total absence of fossils wherever examined by me.

In this remark I allude especially to the group of superficial, earthy or arenaceous, red and brownish marls of the Steppe, as separable from the known freshwater marls ; for I have recently ascertained that the former are not a continuation of the lower fresh-water deposits which I have already noticed at Kustenjeh, and as I once supposed.

I shall commence my remarks at the north end of the Dobrutcha by simply referring to the existence of these older rocks at Isatchka, Tultcha, and Besh Tepeh on the Danube; and, although some appear to
On the Freshwater Deposits of the Levant
Authors: Spratt T.
Published: October 2009

T
he
brief account recently published of the extensive freshwater deposits which exist on the western shores of the Grecian Archipelago calls for a notice of those within my knowledge on the eastern shores.

The freshwater tertiaries of Smyrna and Scio have been traced by me as fragments along the eastern and southern coasts of Mitylene, as well as on the coasts opposite,—the detached and disturbed condition of these deposits being due to extensive outbursts of igneous rocks that form large districts within this island and on the main land opposite to it. For instance, the Moskonisi and Aivali districts, the Assos Range to Cape Baba, Touzla, and Alexandria-Troas, and, in Mitylene, the north-eastern part of the island, including Mount Lepethimus, as well as the entire peninsula west of Port Kelloni, are composed of volcanic rocks. Besides these there are several lesser protrusions of trap in numerous parts of the intermediate districts.

The vicinity of Mitylene presents an interesting association of the trap and the freshwater deposits, particularly to the south, as shown in the following section, fig. 1.

At Cape Vourkas we meet with the trap and tertiary strata in proximity, particularly on the east short of Port Kelloni, while the white freshwater marls are nearly vertical, and contain several specimens of a small
Helix
.
On the Estuary Sands in the upper part of Shotover Hill
Authors: Phillips John
Published: October 2009

1. F
rom
the earliest days of geological inquiry in England, the range of Sandhills on the north side of the cretaceous basin of London, rich in ochre, fuller's-earth, and sands of many colours, has been the subject of frequent examination. As early as 1723, Holloway *, writing to Woodward, traces the Range, and describes its geographical relations and principal products ; Smith, in 1800-5, mapped its course, identified it, as he thought, with the Iron-sand of Wilts, Kent, and Sussex, and placed it in his map (1815) between the Gault and the Portland Rocks. Conybeare † took a lively interest in the same rocks, and, from personal research, described them in Shotover Hill, end through a considerable tract to the north-east, referring them, as Smith had done, to the Iron-sand, a group in which he, like Smith, included the Hastings Sands. At this time, however (1822), the term "Iron-sand" included portions both of Lower Greensand and Hastings Sands, the complete distinction between these two groups not being as yet reached.

2. Dr. Fitton, whose memoirs on the Greensands and other strata below the Chalk have preserved the honour of England in regard to the geology of some parts of the Secondary rocks, appears, as early as 1827‡, to have traced Purbeck deposits at one point beyond the northern outcrop of the chalk-hills of Buckinghamshire, viz. at Whitchurch, near Aylesbury, where white fissile calcareous beds overlie the Portland rocks, and contain Cyclades and Cypridce. He slightly mentions Shotover, and speaks of
On a Boulder of Granite found in the “White Chalk,” near Croydon; and on the Extraneous Rocks from that Formation
Authors: Godwin-Austen Robert
Published: October 2009

So recently as 1811, when Mr. James Parkinson published his work on the ‘Organic Remains of a Former World’ petrifactions of animal and plant-structures were called “adventitious” or “extraneous,” whilst all mineral materials, whatever their character or the composition of the beds in which they occurred, would have been considered as properly belonging to such beds and in their natural positions. A true perception of the origin of the sedimentary strata of the earth's crust has produced a complete change in such views; the remains of animals, such as Mollusca, are inseparably connected with the deposits formed beneath the areas of water in which they lived.
On Cephalaspis and Pteraspis
Authors: Huxley Thomas H.
Published: October 2009

The genus
Cephalaspis
(Agassiz) was originally established to include four species of Devonian fishes,—
C. Lyellii, C. rostratus, C. Lloydii
, and
C. Lewisii
; but the differences between the first and the last of these species were so great, that the founder of the genus himself suggested the probability of their future separation.

The two groups of species are said by Prof. Agassiz to be contrasted not only by their forms, but also by their minute structure. In regard to form, the cephalic disc of
Cephalaspis Lyellii
is stated to possess an almost semicircular anterior outline, while its posterolateral angles are greatly prolonged backwards. The middle part of the occipital region. Prof. Agassiz adds, is cut off almost square (coupeé presque carrément). As regards this last point, however, my own observations are at variance with his description.

Several specimens in the museum of this Society show that the middle of the occipital margin is not truncated, but is greatly produced backwards, the margins of the produced portion being concave. The same peculiarity is clearly distinguishable in the specimen of
C. Lyellii
now in the British Museum, and figured by M. Agassiz, pl. 1.
a.
2 : indeed the artist has faithfully depicted the real contour of the occipital margin in the figure cited. The well-known occipital spine is supported by this produced portion of the disk.

The discoid bodies, corresponding to all appearance with the cephalic disc of
C. Lyellii
, upon which alone the species
C. Lewisii
being oval in contour and
On Fossil Shells and Striated Boulders at High Levels in Scotland
Authors: Jamieson Thomas F.
Published: October 2009

As the notices read before the Meeting from these letters are fully detailed by Mr. Jamieson in a Paper received shortly afterwards, the latter is here printed in full.
Notice of Superficial Deposits in Abernethy
Authors: Macnab Kennedy
Published: October 2009

Mr. K
ennedy
M
acnab
, of Inverness, communicated, in a letter to the Secretaries, the fact of flint arrow-heads and whelk-shells having been found at the depth of about 3 ft. 6 in. beneath the surface of a moss, covered with wood, in the parish of Abernethy (Inverness and Elgin).
On some Outline-drawings and Photographs of the Skull of
Zygomaturus trilobus
, Macleay, from Australia
Authors: Owen
Published: October 2009

A
bout
a month since. Prof. Owen received from Sir R. Murchison seven photographs, three of which are stereoscopic, of perhaps the most extraordinary Mammalian fossil yet discovered in Australia.

These photographs, with a brief printed notice of their subject by William Sharp Macleay, Esq., F.L.S., and some MS. notes by J. D. Macdonald, M.D., R.N., had been transmitted to Sir R. Murchison by His Excellency Governor Sir W. Denison, from Sydney, New South Wales; and by desire of Sir Roderick the Professor brought the subject under the notice of the Geological Society of London, to whom Sir Roderick desires to present the photographs on the part of His Excellency Sir W. Denison.
On some Sections of the Strata near Oxford
Authors: Phillips John
Published: October 2009

T
he
value of exact records of the peculiarities of local sections is strongly felt by every geological reasoner who touches problems of the distribution of oceanic sediments, the boundaries of land and sea, the mixture or alternation of fresh and salt water, or the local origin and geographical diffusion of particular forms of life. This is specially found to be the case while considering the lines of contemporaneity in the mesozoic strata of England, in which the influences of diversified tracts of land and lines of shore, and of unequal sea-depth and varying currents, are complicated by inequalities in the duration of the several groups of organic remains.

In the district immediately surrounding Oxford, sections illustrating these causes of local diversity may have more than ordinary interest at this juncture, since here some of the Oolitic strata are supposed to die out, while below them the Upper Lias, and above them the Cornbrash, continue unchanged in mineral character and unchanged in their organic contents; and others, as the Kimmeridge Clay and Coralline Oolite, are supposed to disappear, while either the Wealden takes a great northern development, or the Lower Greensand spreads out into an estuarine and fluviatile deposit. I propose to present, on the present occasion, sections showing the base and the top of the Great Oolite in the valley of the Cherwell. Hereafter I hope to offer similar data for the base of the cretaceous system, at Culham, in the valley of the Thames.

No. 1. Junction of Lias
Palichthyologic Notes
Authors: Egerton Philip Grey
Published: October 2009

T
he
“Old Red Sandstone” has recently occupied so much the attention of some of our most talented geological observers, that a kindred interest has been attracted to the examination of its fauna and flora. Of the former the Ichthyological branch is of paramount importance, inasmuch as the vast majority of the fossil remains hitherto discovered in this formation appertain to that division of the Animal Kingdom. It is therefore much to be regretted that the aid which might have been afforded to the general question by the accurate knowledge of the characteristic fossils, should have been so much weakened by the uncertainty which has gradually enveloped the subject, in consequence of the undue multiplication of species, the conflicting nomenclature, and rival schemes of classification propounded by those engaged in this investigation. These errors are, no doubt, to a certain extent unavoidable. The labour and difficulty of constructing from fragmentary specimens extinct forms unlike any now existing are very great. Again, when men of science in widely separated localities are engaged upon the same subject, much time must necessarily elapse before they can become mutually acquianted with each other’s progress; and this knowledge, when at last obtained, is frequently defective, having to be gathered, it may be, from foreign languages, and from descriptions without figures, often meagre and unintelligible. These are certainly extenuating circumstances. At the same time a vicious practice is too prevalent—of coining genera and species with undue haste from imperfect data, and so seeking to establish what is
On the Yellow Sandstone of Dura Den and its Fossil Fishes
Authors: Anderson John
Published: October 2009

I
n
his geological remarks on Dura Den, the author described the sedimentary strata in the vicinity as consisting of (in ascending order)—1. Grey sandstone, the equivalent of the Carmylie and Forfarshire flagstones, with
Cephalaspis
and
Pterygotus
. 2. The red and mottled beds, such as those of the Carse of Gowrie, and the Clashbennie zone with
Holoptychius nobilissimus, Phyllolepis concentricus
, and
Glyptolepis elegans
, 3. Conglomerates, marls, and cornstone, with few and obscure fossils. 4. The Yellow Sandstone, rich in remains of
Holoptychius
and other fishes, and about 300 or 400 feet in thickness. This sandstone is seen to rest unconformably on the Clashbennie series of the Old Red at the northern opening of the Den, and at the southern end is unconformably overlain by the Carboniferous rocks. It is also exposed beneath the lower coal-series of Cults, the Lomonds, Binnarty, and the Cleish Ilills. It is seen also in Western Scotland (Renfrewshire and Ayrshire), and in Berwickshire and elsewhere in the south, with its Pterichthyan and Holoptychian fossils. In the author's opinion it is entirely distinct from the “Yellow Sandstone” of the Irish geologists.

At Dura Den one thin bed in the Yellow Sandstone especially teems with fossil fish. The Pamphractus-bed, towards the top of this thick deposit, is the only other stratum bearing fossil remains.

In 1858 a remarkably fine
Holoptychius Andersoni
was met with in the fish-bed; and this, with many other specimens, fully bears out Agassiz’s conjectures for completing the form and details of the fish where his materials had been insufficient. Dr. Anderson thinks that the supine position of the
Holoptychii
is of rare occurrence; he has observed them usually to lie on their side.
H. Andersoni
and
H. Flemingii
are regarded by the author as specifically one, as he has not been able, in the numerous
Holoptychii
that he has seen, to regard as distinct the differences pointed out in the descriptions of these two reputed species.

Dr. Anderson also offered some remarks on the
Glyptopomus minor
(Agass.), the specimen of which was obtained from this locality; and he drew attention to two as yet undescribed fishes* also from Dura Den.
Remarks on the Geology of Spitzbergen
Authors: Lamont James
Published: October 2009

I
n
the summer of 1858 I passed a month cruising in my yacht around the shores of Spitzbergen and its many outlying inlets (or “skerries,” as we should call them in the Highlands), and, although I have but a very slight knowledge of geology, still I was very much struck by the singular geological aspect of the country. As I visited a part of Spitzbergen which has never before been seen by any one except the ignorant seal-fishers who frequent the coast, I have been induced to commit a few of my observations to writing, in hope that others better acquainted with the theories of glacial action and upheaval of land may be able to understand the changes which are being brought about in those regions by the above agencies.

We first reached the shores of Spitzbergen, about 20 miles north of South Cape, and inside of what is known as Stour-fiord or Wybe Jan's Water, an immense sound of about 300 miles long, and varying from 6 to 60 miles broad. This Sound is improperly marked in the maps as a Gulf, whereas it is in reality a Sound, dividing Spitzbergen into two nearly equal halves; but the north end, being very narrow, is invariably almost choked with heavy ice, and, being consequently impassable, has given rise to that error: boats are known, however, to have actually passed through from the north coast into Stour-fiord.

The first thirty or forty miles of coast along which we sailed consisted almost
On the Formation of Gypsums and Dolomites
Authors: Hunt T. Sterry
Published: October 2009

T
he
deposits of gypsum in nature may be divided into two classes. One of these comprises the gypsums formed by the alteration of beds of limestone. The vapours of solfataras, the sulphuric acid produced by the slow oxidation of moist sulphuretted hydrogen gas (as shown by Dumas), and springs containing free sulphuric acid are the agents which have changed and are still changing carbonate into sulphate of lime. Such springs, containing from

to

ths of free sulphuric acid (evolved probably from the reaction between sulphate of lime and siliceous matters under the influence of heat at considerable depths), are frequent in Western Canada; and their effects in giving rise to masses of gypsum in the quaternary clays of that region I have long since pointed out (Rep. Geol. Survey of Canada, 1848, p. 155).

The gypsums of the second class, which are the more frequent, are met with interstratified with marls, dolomites, and rock-salt, with which they are evidently contemporaneous. Reserving for another occasion the discussion of the theories which have been proposed to account for the origin and association of these substances, I propose to mention some recent observations of mine which serve to throw light upon the question.

When a solution of bicarbonate of lime in carbenic-acid water is mingled with one of sulphate of magnesia, there are formed sulphate of lime and bicarbonate of magnesia; so that in presence of an excess of bicarbonate of lime there is obtained a saturated solution of gypsum, from which
On a Flint Implement recently discovered at the base of some beds of Drift-Gravel and Brick-earth at St. Acheul, near Amiens
Authors: Flower John Wickham
Published: October 2009

T
he
implement or weapon which I desire to bring under the notice of this Society, and a drawing of which accompanies these observations (Pl. XI.), was found by me about a month since, when, in company with Mr. Prestwich and other Fellows of this Society, I visited some gravel-pits near Amiens. When discovered, it was imbedded in a compact mass of gravel, composed of large chalk-flints much water-worn and rolled, and small chalk-pebbles. It was found lying at the depth of sixteen feet from the upper surface, and about eighteen inches from the face or outer surface of the quarry, to which extent the gravel had been removed by me before I found it. The bed of gravel in question forms the capping or summit of a slight elevation of the chalk. A section of this pit, which Mr. Prestwich lately exhibited to the Royal Society, showed that the gravel presents here a thickness of about ten feet. Above this occurs a thin bed of coarse, white, siliceous sand, interspersed with small rounded chalk-pebbles; and above the sand is a layer of strong loam, of a red colour, which is now extensively worked for the purpose of making bricks. The remains of the Elephant, Horse, and Deer have been occasionally found in the gravel; and we found in the sand which rests upon it an abundance of land and freshwater shells, all of recent species. No fossils of any kind were discovered by us in the brick-earth lying on the
Note on some Remains of Polyptychodon from Dorking
Authors: Owen
Published: October 2009

R
eferring
to the genus of Saurians which he had founded, in 1841, on certain large detached teeth from the Cretaceous beds of Kent and Sussex, and which genus, in reference to the many-ridged or folded character of the enamel of those teeth, he had proposed to call
Polyptychodon
, Professor Owen noticed the successive discoveries of portions of jaws, one showing the thecodont implantation of those teeth, which, with the shape and proportions of the teeth, led him to suspect the crocodilian affinities of
Polyptychodon
; and the subsequent discovery of bones in a Lower Greensand quarry at Hythe, which, on the hypothesis of their having belonged to
Polyptychodon
, had led him to suspect that the genus conformed to the plesiosauroid type. The fossils now exhibited by Mr. G. Cubitt consisted of part of the cranium, with fragments of the upper and lower jaws and teeth of the
Polyptychodon interruptus
, from the Lower Chalk at Dorking, and afforded further evidence of the plesiosauroid affinities of the genus.

The cranial fragment included the frontal, parietal, and mastoid bones; and at the overlapping suture between the frontal and parietal was situated a large oblique ‘foramen parietale’—a part not present in the order
Crocodilia
, but characterizing the corresponding region of the cranium in the Plesiosauroids,—the ‘foramen parietale’ being likewise present in many Lacertians, in the Dicynodonts, the Ichthyosaurs, and Labyrinthodonts.

The temporal fossæ were large, and met upon the upper part of the parietal, with the intervention of a sharp and high ridge. The nasal
On the Rhizopodal Fauna of the Mediterranean, compared with that of the Italian and some other Tertiary Deposits
Authors: Jones T. Rupert , Parker W. K.
Published: October 2009

Introduction
.—The Mediterranean has been the source whence a large number of the known species of
Foraminifera
have been derived. Beccarius (1731), Plancus (Bianchi, 1739), Gualtieri (1742), Ginanni (1755), Soldani (1780 & 1789), and Fichtel and Moll derived most of the material for their notices of these microscopic shells from the Mediterranean. D’Orbigny also and later naturalists have drawn largely from this rich source.

Of late years, we have been favoured with the results of many dredgings taken in different parts of the Mediterranean by Prof. E. Forbes and Capt. E. Spratt, also with shell-sands from Leghorn and Venice by Mr. W. J. Hamilton, and with other shell-sands from both sides of Italy by Prof. Meneghini and the Marchese Carlo Strozzi (through the zealous kindness of Dr. H. Falconer), with sponge-sands from Crete and elsewhere (communicated by friends), and we have obtained other like material from various sources. We have thus been able to work out a very large series of the Mediterranean
Foraminifera
.

The authors already mentioned, as well as Defrance and others, have also described a large number of fossil
Foraminifera
, obtained from the Tertiary deposits of Tuscany, Piedmont, and other countries bordering the Mediterranean. These bear a close relation to the recent forms of the same area; and towards the elucidation of their affinities, we can now bring forward the results of a careful examination of an extensive series of the fossil
Foraminifera
of the Mediterranean region, either supplied to us by some of the friendly hands above
On some Fossils from the Grey Chalk near Guildford
Authors: Godwin-Austen R.
Published: October 2009

I
n
the cast of the body-chamber of a large
Nautilus elegans
, from the Grey Chalk of the Surrey Hills, near Guildford, the author found (the specimen having been broken up by frost) some lumps of iron-pyrites, and numerous specimens of
Aporrhais Parkinsoni
, with fragments of
Turrilites tuberculatus, Ammonites Coupei, A. varians
, and
Inoceramus concentricus
. These species are either rare in the Grey Chalk or not known to the author as occurring in this bed; and he believes that the specimens referred to were accumulated in the shell of the Nautilus (possibly by the animal having taken them as a meal shortly before death) at a different zone of sea-depth to that in which the Nautilus and its contents sank and became fossilized. Mr. Godwin-Austen referred to these specimens as being indicative of the contemporary formation of different deposits with their peculiar fossils, at different sea-zones; of the transport of the inhabitants of one zone to the deposits of another; and as a possible explanation of the abundance of small angular fragments of Mollusks, Echinoderms and Crustaceans in the midst of the very finest Cretaceous sediment.
On the Occurrence of a Mass of Coal in the Chalk of Kent
Authors: Godwin-Austen R.
Published: October 2009

T
he
first notice which appeared in the public papers relative to the coal found in the Chalk of Kent was the following:—

“
Coal discovered in Kent
.—While the workmen employed on the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway were engaged in tunnelling between Lydden-hill and Shepherdswell, a few miles from Dover, they came upon a fine seam of coal, and, what is most remarkable, the coal is on all sides surrounded with chalk, with the usual seams of flint as are seen on the cliffs of Dover. The more the seam is entered upon the better becomes the quality of the coal. Altogether it is an interesting study for geologists, and may probably in a short time become of vast importance to commerce and the community.”—
Dover Chronicle
.

To this succeeded an account of the visit of Messrs. Malden and Andrews (of the East Kent Natural History Society):—

“
The Discovery of Coal in Kent
.—In accordance with the arrangement made at the last meeting of the East Kent Natural History Society, the Rev. B. S. Malden and Mr. A. B. Andrews visited Lydden on Monday, for the purpose of ascertaining the facts with reference to the alleged discovery of coal. It appears that the substance found is in reality coal, though its occurrence in the position in which it lay is difficult to explain. The workmen engaged in executing Lydden tunnel found imbedded in the chalk, at a depth of 180 feet, a mass of coal weighing about 4 cwt. With the exception
On the Zone of
Avicula contorta
, and the Lower Lias of the South of England
Authors: Wright Thomas
Published: October 2009

From the preceding observations it appears that the
Avicula contorta beds
, which lie at the base of the Lias, contain a fauna of a special character; several of the
Conchifera
are identical with species found only in the Upper St. Cassian beds and Kössener-Schichten of continental geologists. These remarkable strata are grouped by one class of observers with the Trias, by another with the Lias; the difference of opinion among continental geologists has arisen from the circumstance that the majority of the species have a Triassic fades, whilst a few only are said to pass into the Lias.

In England, on the contrary, our grouping of the
Avicula contorta
beds has been based chiefly on their lithological character; and in part likewise from their being fossiliferous, and resting on the uppermost part of the unfossiliferous Red Marl; the fossils they were found to contain being assumed to be Liassic, from their proximity to the fossiliferous beds of the Lias.

It has been stated by Sir Philip Egerton and Professor Agassiz, that the Fishes of the English Bone-bed are either special to that breccia, or belong to species which are well known in the Muschelkalk of Germany. General Portlock, who found these beds in the North of Ireland, stated that they contained Muschelkalk fossils; and Sir Charles Lyell, in his ‘Manual,’ from the determination of the Fish, placed the Bone-bed in the Trias. Lastly, I have now shown that the
Conchifera
are special to this zone, and that none of them
On the occurrence of
Lingula Credneri
, Geinitz, in the Coal-measures of Durham; and on the Claim of the Permian Rocks to be entitled a System
Authors: Kirkby J. W.
Published: October 2009

T
he
recurrence of Carboniferous species in Permian strata is not new to palæontologists; for recurrent species from the Carboniferous fauna, and such as were supposed to be recurrent, have been noticed by several observers. Messrs. Lonsdale, Jones, Howse, King, and Davidson, as well as others, have identified Permian with Carboniferous species, or
vice versâ
, though it may be remarked that in some cases their determinations have been undoubtedly erroneous.

The discovery of another species which had long been thought characteristic of the Permian period, in Carboniferous strata, is therefore not so novel a fact as might appear at first sight. At the same time, I deem it well to record its occurrence, which is not without importance. It is of interest merely as the discovery of another species which is common to the faunæ of the two later palæozoic eras; and it is of consequence as a fact which assists in illustrating some of the physical conditions which prevailed during the deposition of the Upper Coal-measures of the North of England.

In the Permian formation,
Lingula Credneri
is confined to the lower strata. In England it is restricted to the “Marl-slate,” and the lower beds of the “Compact Limestone.” It is not common in these members, having been found only at Ferry Hill, Thrislington, and Thickley.

As a Carboniferous shell it only occurred to me during the summer of last year (1858), at the Ryhope Winning, near Sunderland. I first observed it in a thin bed of dark shale, at
Notes about Spitzbergen in 1859
Authors: Lamont James
Published: October 2009

H
aving
passed upwards of two months last summer (1859) on the coast of Spitzbergen, and amongst the great fields of floating ice in the surrounding seas, I beg to offer the few following observations.

I left Leith on the 6th of June; reached Hammerfest on the 23rd, left Hammerfest on the 26th, and arrived at Spitzbergen on the 2nd of July.

We found a large quantity of heavy drift-ice off the south-eastern end of Spitzbergen and amongst the “Thousand Islands.” At the mouth of Stour Fiord (“Wybe Jan's Water” of the charts) we met two small sealing-vessels, the masters of which told us that the north coast was unapproachable this summer, on account of the ice being jammed against the north-western corner of the island, about Hakluyt's Headland; and we therefore proceeded to coast around the edges of the ice towards the east side of the country.

On the 8th, during a dense fog, we passed the last of the Thousand Islands, and lay-to off the S.E. corner of Edge’s Land. The coast from here to Ryke Yse Islands is frightfully barren and desolate, and the mountains are quite destitute of vegetation; these mountains are limestone, and descend abruptly into the sea without the intervening flat muddy plain so usual in other parts of Spitzbergen*. There are three glaciers on this part of the coast, all protruding into the sea. The two southernmost ones are of no great size; but the third is one of the largest and most remarkable
On the So-called Wealden Beds at Linksfield, and the Reptiliferous Sandstones of Elgin
Authors: Moore Charles
Published: October 2009

W
hen
visiting the section at Linksfield, near Elgin, in the autumn of 1859, the author recognized a similarity of appearance between the shales and thin limestone-bands at Linksfield and those of the Bone-bed series (at the base of the Lias) at Pylle Hill, near Bristol, at Aust Passage and at Penarth, on the Severn, and at the Uphill cutting on the Great Western Railway. Giving in detail the sections at Pylle Hill, at Uphill, and at Linksfield, the author pointed out some close lithological resemblances, and stated that he recognized the “White Lias,” the “Cotham Marble,” the “Bone-bed,” and the gypseous clay-bands of the south in the quarry at Linksfield.
Cyprides, Estheriœ
, remains of
Hybodus, Lepidotus, Acrodus
, and
Plesiosaurus, Mytilus, Modiola, Unio, Cyclas, Astarte, Ostrea, Paludina
, &c., from the Linksfield beds, were among the palæontological evidences which the author brought forward as supporting his correlation of the beds in question. The following are the detailed Sections.

The author next offered some observations on the red layer of clay, sand, and stones intercalated between the Linksfield shales and the cornstone; and, not accepting Capt. Brickenden's opinion‡ of its having been thrust in by the action of ice against the escarpment during the formation of the Boulder-clay, he suggested that an early glacial period, contemporaneous with the Lower Lias, destroyed some of the lower shales and limestone of Linksfield, leaving their remnants imbedded in a red drift to be covered by the succeeding undisturbed deposits of t h e bone-bed series.

Mr. C. Moore next remarked that the Cornstone at Linksfield, on which all the above-mentioned beds rest, might possibly be of Triassic date, as he had observed on the flanks of the Mendips and elsewhere a stone, of a similar aspect, belonging to the Trias, and occasionally yielding remains of Reptiles and Fishes; to this rock the author refers the “druidical” stones of Stanton Drew.

Some observations on the discovery of reptilian and mammalian teeth near Frome, by the author, in a fissure containing a probably Triassic deposit,—on the possible relations of some of these to the
Reptilia
found in the Lossiemouth sandstone,—and on the probable Secondary age of the latter, concluded the paper.
On the Presence of the London Clay in Norfolk, as proved by a Well-boring at Yarmouth
Authors: Prestwich Joseph
Published: October 2009

T
he
northward extension of the London Clay has hitherto been considered to have its limits in the southern part of Suffolk. Its lower beds outcrop near Ipswich; at Harwich it is only 23 feet thick; and, as from thence to Bawdsey near Orford, the rise is to the northward, the impression is given that the Eocene series ends under the Coralline Crag somewhere about Orford or Aldborough, and that further north the Pleiocene series reposes directly on the Chalk; such being in fact their superposition throughout North Suffolk and Norfolk wherever the base of that series is visible.

An exception, however, to this order has been proved by a well-boring at Great Yarmouth, which was brought to my notice by the Rev. John Gunn, F.G.S., of Irstead.

It appears that in the year 1840, the firm of Sir E. Lacon and Co., being desirous of obtaining a larger supply of water, had a shaft dug to the depth of 22 feet, and then a boring carried down to the depth of 597 feet, by Messrs. Clark of Tottenham. Unfortunately this spirited undertaking was not successful so far as the water-supply was concerned; but geologists are nevertheless indebted to Messrs. Lacon and Co. for having preserved a full record of the boring, and specimens of the strata penetrated, which have brought to light some geological facts of interest.

On either side of Yarmouth the cliffs consist of Boulder-Clay, with underlying sand- and gravel-beds, ranging for miles in a comparatively horizontal position
On the Physical Relations of the Reptiliferous Sandstone near Elgin
Authors: Symonds W. S.
Published: October 2009

R
eferring
to Sir R. Murchison’s sections of the Elgin district, published in the Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. No. 59, pp. 424 and 428, which show a conformable sequence of strata from the Old Red Sandstone of Foths to the yellow sandstone and cornstone of Lossiemouth and Burgh Head, the author first stated that the siliceous marly rocks, or so-called “cornstones” of Glassgreen, Linksfield, Spynie, Inveragie, and Lossiemouth are in reality very dissimilar to the cornstones of Foths and Cothall; and he then pointed out the improbability of the so-called cornstone of Glassgreen continuing to dip north-westwardly under the sandstone of the Quarry-wood Ridge, especially as near Linksfield it is, at different spots, seen to dip away from that ridge. Evidence also of a break in the strata at the Bishop Mill quarries was advanced to show that the sandstone beneath this “cornstone” (presumed to be the Reptiliferous sandstone) is probably brought by a fault against the lower or Holoptychian sandstone, which latter towards Spynie the author thinks is surmounted by the Reptiliferous sandstone, and this last conformably by a marly siliceous rock or so-called “cornstone.”

Beyond Spynie Loch, northward, the author supposed that another fault had again brought up the sandstone with
Stagonolepis
and
Hyperodapedon
at Lossiemouth. Beyond this a cornstone-like rock is again seen to cover the sandstone.

The author then referred to the probable Liassic and Triassic character of the shales at Linksfield, and dwelt upon the suggestion that had been offered as to the probability of the layer of boulder-clay beneath the shales having been due to the mass of shales being a portion of a cliff in the glacial period, and having then slipped from a higher level. Regarding these shales as having been removed merely by a slip from their original site, and as conformably over-lying the calcarco-siliceous rock and sandstone beneath, Mr. Symonds expressed his belief that this sandstone, shifted by a fault against the Holoptychian sandstone at Quarry-wood, must be the Reptiliferous sandstone and of Triassic age. Lastly he remarked that the pebble-beds and sandstone, track-marked and rippled, of Burgh Head are far more like the Triassic conglomerates of England than like the Old Red rocks of Cothall and Foths.
Notice of the Discovery of Two Bone-caves in Northern Sicily
Authors: Anca François
Published: October 2009

Since you left Sicily, I have continued my palæontological researches, and I am happy in having discovered two bone-caves previously unknown. One of these is at Monte Gallo, at the western extremity of the Bay of Palermo, and is situated at an elevation of 160 feet above the sea-level; the other is situated near the village of Acque Dolei, at the foot of Monte San Fratello, in the north of Sicily, and is 214 feet above the sea-level.

These caves, especially the last, are very rich; and, what will astonish you, they contain a prodigious quantity of bones of
Carnivora
, including perfect jaws armed with molars and canines. I have collected also two molars and a tusk of
Elephas
, teeth and bones of
Hippopotamus
(of the two species, I believe, determined by yourself). Altogether, remains of the following were met with:—

Hippopotamus; two species.

Elephas antiquus.

Elephas Africanus.

Sus scrofa?

Equus.

Bos; two species.

Cervus (two species?).

Canis.

Ursus.

Hyæna.

Felis.

Lepus. And others.

Having this large group of genera, we may say that we have recovered in this cave an entire fossil Sicilian fauna.

I have also found in these two caves a large quantity of flint implements (“do silex en armes”); and it is remarkable that we do not generally see them but where there are great deposits of bones of Deer,—never otherwise. Lastly there occur coprolites of Carnivores, and another kind of coprolite, which, I suppose, belonged to Herbivorous animals.

I have been fortunate also in detecting
On certain Rocks of Miocene Age in Tuscany, including Serpentine, Copper-ores, Lignite, and pure Alabaster, used in Sculpture
Authors: Jervis W. P.
Published: October 2009

The geology of Tuscany is peculiarly interesting, though presenting many difficulties to the palæontologist and field-geologist, owing to the diversified changes which have been produced on the sedimentary strata since their consolidation.

These metamorphic agencies are still at work in Central and Southern Italy, either in the form of simple hot vapour-emanations, or the more extended and allied volcanos whence solid matter is also ejected. On the other hand, no such phenomena are seen N. of the Arno, where nature has been comparatively quiescent since the close of the Miocene period.

Most of the metamorphoses of the Italian rocks appear to be of comparatively recent origin; nor can I find any proof of their existence at all previous to the close of the Mesozoic period or tho beginning of the Eocene. Serpentinous rocks then first upheaved the littoral of Piedmont and Tuscany, where they formed the eastern barrier of the Maremme,—probably producing an archipelago of little islands surrounded by an iron-bound coast, many of them rising to the height of several hundred feet, covered by a peculiar flora in certain portions where soil was formed by the disintegration of the magnesian rocks. Four consecutive and allied eruptions are distinguished by Italian geologists. Three are considered as having occurred during Tertiary times; the fourth, during the Mesozoic epoch, is the oldest, and must be first spoken of.

The geography of the Serpentine-eruptions has been described by Savi, who enumerates four series, lying more or less parallel to the chain of the
On the Ossiferous Caves of the Peninsula of Gower, in Glamorganshire, South Wales
Authors: Falconer H.
Published: October 2009

T
he
object of this communication was to give a summary of researches made during the last three years by the author and Lieut.Col. E. R. Wood, F.G.S,, the latter of whom has carefully explored at his own charge, since 1848, some of the caves previously known, as well as several discovered by himself. The known bone-caves of Gower (of which Paviland, Spritsail Tor, and Bacon Hole have already supplied Dr. Buckland and others to some extent with materials for the history of the Cave-period) are in the Carboniferous Limestone; and, with the exception of that of Spritsail Tor, which is on the west coast of the peninsula, they all occur between the Mumbles and the Worm’s Head. The most important are “Bacon Hole,” “Minchin Hole,” “Bosco's Den,” “Bowen's Parlour,” “Crow Hole,” “Raven’s Cliff Cavern,” and lastly the well-known “Paviland Caves.” Bone-caves at the Mumbles, in Caswell Bay, and in Oxwich Bay formerly existed; but the sea has destroyed them. One cavern named “Ram Tor” between Caswell Bay and the Mumbles, presumed to be ossiferous, remains unexplored.

Before proceeding to describe the bone-caves and their contents, the author briefly noticed a raised beach and talus of breccia, which Mr. Prestwich had lately traced for a mile along Mewslade Bay, westward of Paviland; and he pointed out their important relationship to the marine sands and overlying limestone-breccia found in several of the Gower Caves. Dr. Falconer also referred to Mr. Prestwich’s recent discovery of some patches of Boulder-clay on the highland of
On the Fossils, from the High Andes, collected by David Forbes, Esq., F.R.S., F.G.S.
Authors: Salter J. W.
Published: October 2009

The number of species that we recognize in this collection, made with so much perseverance and at great personal hazard, are—

5
Lower? Silurian (Bilobite-schists).

14
Upper Silurian (grey sandy schists and sandstones).

3
Devonian.

13
Carboniferous.

D'Orbigny's collection of Silurian fossils contained 10 species, of which none have occurred to Mr. Forbes. They are—

Cruziana rugosa.

Cruziana furcifera.

Orthis Humboldtii.

Lingula marginata.

Lingula Muensterii.

Lingula dubia.

Graptolites dentatus.

Phacops (Calymene) Verneuilii

Phacops (C.) macrophthalma?

Asaphus Boliviensis.

There is some doubt about both his species of Phacops. They are probably Devonian.

Adding these to our list, we obtain 27 or 29 Silurian species for the Central Andes, belonging to a fauna specifically different from that of any other quarter of the world. I venture without hesitation to assert that the identifications by D'Orbigny with European forms, where I am acquainted with the species, are wrong. I am obliged to say this much, since that distinguished author has fearlessly united things which differ by the most obvious external characters, and has lent the sanction of his great reputation, on such evidence as this, to a former community of species, and an equable diffusion of heat. In regard to the Carboniferous forms, where M. D'Orbigny is unwilling to allow more than, a close analogy between the two continents, I am again compelled to differ from him, but it is in an opposite direction.
On a New Species of
Macrauchenia (M. Boliviensis)
Authors: Huxley Thomas H.
Published: October 2009

The vertebrate remains obtained by David Forbes, Esq., F.R.S., F.G.S., from the mines at Corocoro, under the circumstances detailed in his paper “On the Geology of Bolivia and Southern Peru,” consist of the following parts of the skeleton of apparently one and the same Mammal:—1. A portion of the right maxilla and palate, with fragments of grinding teeth. 2. Rather more than the right half of the occipital portion of the skull. 3. A middle cervical vertebra, nearly entire. 4. A fragment of a posterior lumbar vertebra. 5. A small portion of a right scapula. 6. A crushed fragment of the proximal end of an ulna. 7. Part of the proximal end of the left tibia. 8. The entire left astragalus, and part of the right astragalus.

The bones are all in the same, and that a very peculiar, mineral condition—the Haversian canals being for the most part filled up with threads of native copper; so that the fossils are not only exceedingly dense, but, in consequence of their internal flexible metallic support, their thinner and more delicate parts bend, rather than break, when force is applied to them.
On the Structure of the North-Western Highlands, and the Relations of the Gneiss, Red Sandstone, and Quartzite of Sutherland and Ross-shire
Authors: Nicol James
Published: October 2009

Before concluding, I must state that, even had it been proved that the mica-slate or fine-grained gneiss of Sutherland truly overlaps the quartzite, and that this overlap is the result of subsequent deposition, the fact would not bear out the conclusions that have been deduced from it, or establish that entire revolution in Scottish geology which has been supposed. Proof would still be wanted that the mica-slate of Loch Erriboll and Loch Hope is inferior to the great masses of granitic gneiss in the centre of Sutherland. We might ask for a continuous section through the interminable moors of the Moin, and for evidence that the Kyle of Tongue and the huge syenite domes of Ben Laoghal and Ben Stomino do not break the series and bring up anew the lower and older gneiss. But such continuous sections have never even been attempted, either there or through the wilds of Assynt and Strath Oykill, still less across the mountain-fastnesses of the Dirry Moor and Fannich Forest, so as to assure us that no older underlying gneiss comes up there. Till this is done, there is no evidence to connect the great mass of crystalline schists stretching from the north coast of Sutherland to the south of Inverness-shire more closely with the mica-slates of Ben Hope than with the gneiss of Scourie, Loch Inver, and the Gairloch, or to justify us in throwing aside mineral characters for some assumed synchronism in the age of the original, but now wholly altered, deposits.
On the Structure of the South-West Highlands of Scotland
Authors: Jamieson T. F.
Published: October 2009

The following paper is an attempt to throw some light upon the relations of those rocks which figure in our geological maps as the mica-schist, clay-slate, the chlorite-series, and quartz-rock of the South-western Highlands, and the prolongations of which, ranging N.E. through the middle of Scotland, form so conspicuous a feature in the geology of that country.

An examination of these rocks, as displayed in Bute and Argyle-shire, has led me to believe that from the quartz-rock of Jura to the border of the Old Red Sandstone we have a conformable series of strata which, although closely linked together, may be classed into three distinct groups, namely:—

1.

A set of lower grits, of immense thickness.

2.

A great mass of thin-bedded slates.

3.

A set of upper grits, with intercalated seams of slate.
On the Sections of the Malvern and Ledbury Tunnels (Worcester and Hereford Railway), and the intervening Line of Railroad
Authors: Symonds W. S. , Lambert Alan
Published: October 2009

In a paper published in the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal for April 1857 (p. 257), I described briefly the “Correlation of the Triassic Eocks in the Yale of Worcester and at the Malvern Tunnel.” These rocks have the following order on the flanks of the Malverns:—

1.

Upper Keuper Marls.

2.

Upper Keuper Sandstone.

3.

Lower Eed or Keuper Marls.

4.

Lower Keuper Sandstones (Waterstones).

5.

Upper Red Sandstone (Bromesberrow beds).

6.

Lower Red Sandstone (Stourport beds).

No. 6. The lowest of these deposits is a dark-red sandstone with black patches, and closely resembles the “Lower Red Sandstone” of the geological surveyors in mineralogieal character. It is to be seen at the back of the stables of the Belle Vue Hotel at Great Malvern, dipping from the hill, to the south-east, at an angle of 60°.

A large erratic block, angular and with no sign of subaqueous action, was found imbedded in this dark-red sandstone. This erratic block is different to any rock now exposed in the Malvern district, and appears to me to belong to the Cambrian grits of North Wales, or possibly to that of the Longmynd. It may be seen in the Museum of the Malvern Field-Club at the Messrs. Burrow's, Great Malvern.