bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On Abnormal Geological Deposits in the Bristol District
Authors: Moore Charles
Published: October 2009

In making excavations at Redland, on the edge of Durdham Down, about 45 years ago, some conglomerates, associated with Carboniferous Limestone, were opened up, which contained the teeth and scattered and broken bones of reptilia, described by Messrs. Riley and Stuchbury in the ‘Proceedings of the Geological Society’ for 1836 under the names of
Thecodontosaurus
and
Palæosaurus
. As they were then the oldest known reptilia and of a high order, much interest has always attached to them. A few years since, in drainage-works at the same spot, this conglomerate was again crossed, and some other bones added to the series deposited in the Museum of the Bristol Philosophical Society. The collection has since been reviewed and described by Professor Huxley, F.R.S., and an account of the physical characters of the district given by Mr. Etheridge, F.R.S.

Much uncertainty has prevailed as to the geological age of the Durdham-Down conglomerate. At first it was supposed to be Permian; but we have as yet no conclusive evidence of true Permian beds in the West of England. Mr. Etheridge has placed it on the horizon of the Dolomitic Conglomerate of the Keuper; whilst, owing to the discovery by myself of the same genera of reptilia, under somewhat similar physical conditions, in the Rhætic deposits of Holwell, and since then of true Rhætic remains on Clifton Down, I had referred them to the latter age—a point to be reviewed below.

In my paper on the abnormal conditions presented in the Frome district I especially
On two new Crinoids from the Upper Chalk of Southern Sweden
Authors: Carpenter P. Herbert
Published: October 2009

The large work of Prof. Geinitz on the fossils from the valley of the Elbe in Saxony contains a description of a small stalked Crinoid from the “Plänerkalk” of Strehlen that has long been known to contain stem-joints of the type to which d'Orbigny gave the name
Bourgueticrinus
. Although no calyx was ever met with, the characteristic stem-joints were supposed to be sufficiently indicative of the presence of the common
B. ellipticus
. Some ten years ago, however, a singularly perfect specimen was discovered, consisting of a complete stem with radicular cirrhi, and a calyx on the top of it (Pl. VI. fig. 1). But this calyx (fig. 2) proved to be totally different in its characters from those of the species of
Bourgueticrinus
described by d'Orbigny. In
B. ellipticus
the calyx is widest round the basal circlet, and tapers gradually downwards into the stem, while the outer surface of the radials has a considerable slant from above downwards and
outwards
. In d'Orbigny's other species,
B. æqualis
, both radials and basals, especially the latter, are relatively narrower and higher, and the whole calyx, together with the top stem-joint, is almost uniformly cylindrical; but in each case the top stem-joint is very large and relatively higher than that of any
Apiocrinus
, while in
B. ellipticus
it widens considerably from below upwards. Its height may be as much as or more than that of the basal and radial circlets together; and the joints immediately below it gradually diminish in width until they resemble the
The Geology of Central Wales
Authors: Keeping Walter
Published: October 2009

P
art
I

T
he
following covnnaunication contains some of the results worked out in frequent field-excursions during three years' stay at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. In many of these excursions I was accompanied by my students of the College ; and to them I am indebted for much help both in the museum and the field. Our principal field of work was, naturally, within a radius of some fifteen to twenty miles around the hewn of Aberystwyth ; and most of this country we have carefully searched and traversed through and through. The more distant areas to the south of Cader Idris, at Llanbrynmaer, Llandovery, Llandeilo, Cardigan, &e., have also been visited with a view to the determination of the extent and variation of the Cardiganshire rock-groups, and the discovery of their stratigraphical relations to other and better-known geological horizons.

Little has yet been done by geologists to elucidate the structure of this part of Wales : while the most careful labours of our greatest authorities have been devoted to the study of the northern counties and eastern borders of Wales, and also, of late years, to the south inPembrokeshire, this barren and chaotic area of Mid Wales has been always neglected, and is even now very rarely touched with the geological hammer. For the bibliography of our subject we have therefore but little to say, the most important contributions being :—the work of our great leader Sedgwick, published in the Society's Journal in the year 1847 (vol. iii
On the Coralliferous Series of Sind, and its Connexion with the last Upheaval of the Himalayas
Authors: Duncan P. Martin
Published: October 2009

I.
Introduction
&c.

A Memoir by Grant, illustrated by Sowerby, which appeared in the ‘Transactions’ of the Geological Society (series 2, vol. v. 1837), first brought the countries west and east of the Indus under the notice of European geologists, fossils from Sind, Baluchistan, and Cutch were therein described; and the types were presented to the Society. But it is to Mr. Vicary that science owes the first attempt at a complete description of the geology of Sind. Written in 1847, the fossils which should have illustrated his paper, and some others collected by Lieut. Blagrove in Cutch, were handed over to MM. d'Archiac and Jules Haime for examination and publication. Their fine work, the ‘Description des Animaux Fossiles du groupe Nummulitique de l'Inde,’ was published in 1852. They only recognized one geological horizon, the Nummulitic, although Grant had expressed an opinion that there was more than one fossiliferous series. Messrs. Cook and Carter added to the knowledge of the Baluchistan area in 1860; and the last-named naturalist felt it necessary to give a Miocene age to some fossils which Sowerby had figured for Grant. On the other hand, MM. d'Archiac and Jules Haime severely criticised M. d'Orbigny for stating that some of their Sindian species were of Falunian age, and decided against Dr. Carter's grouping of some of the marine Tertiary beds as Miocene.

In 1863 Mr. Henry M. Jenkins, F.G.S., at that time Assistant-Secretary of this Society, and myself were endeavouring to learn something about Tertiary deposits situated
Notes on the Microscopic Structure of some Anglesey Rocks
Authors: Bonney T. G.
Published: October 2009

In the following notes I shall endeavour to avoid repetition by grouping together those specimens which in some important characteristics have a general resemblance one to another. I may add that, as the purpose of my examination was petrological rather than mineralogical, I have not felt bound to spend much time in endeavouring to ascertain the exact species of some microlithic minerals which are accidentally present in one or two of the slides.
The Limestone of Durness and Assynt
Authors: Callaway C.
Published: October 2009

I
t
is well known that the late Sir R. I. Murchison based his determination of the Ordovician (Lower Silurian) age of the greater part of the Scottish highlands upon the discovery by Mr. C. Peach of Ordovician fossils in the Durness limestone. The views of Murchison were shared by many distinguished geologists, and have been generally accepted as one of the most assured and important conclusions of modern geological science. Wishing to ascertain for myself the truth of this opinion, I devoted a portion of last summer to the study of the limestone at Durness and Inchnadamff. I selected these localities because they alone are alleged to have yielded fossils from the limestone, and because Murchison regarded them as of primary importance in the construction of his argument. My researches led me to the conclusion, not only that the sections were broken, and therefore untrustworthy, but that the relations of the several rock-groups were inconsistent with the supposition that the limestone passed below any part of the newer metamorphic series. On my return from Sutherland, I found that many of my observations agreed very closely with those of Prof. Nicol; and I am glad to bear testimony to the accuracy of an author whose work has hardly received due recognition. It is certain that he made out many important points which escaped the observation of his distinguished rival; and I must, in candour, acknowledge that he has anticipated many of the results which I have now to submit to the.
On a New Species of
Trigonia
from the Purbeck Beds of the Vale of Wardour
Authors: Etheridge R.
Published: October 2009

E
arly
in this year the Rev. W. R. Andrews, of Teffont Rectory, near Salisbury, placed in my hands what at first sight appeared to be a new species of
Trigonia
from the Purbeck rocks in the Vale of Wardour. This new species was found by Mr. Andrews in the railway-cutting one mile west of Dinton Station in the Vale of Wardour; and its geological or stratigraphical horizon is the a “Cinderbed” so well known in the several sections in the Isle of Purbeck and elsewhere. This bed is here composed of hard grey marl and pale brown soft limestones, variable in their proportions.
Ostrea distorta
and casts of
Trigonia
abound in this Cinderbed, which here measures about 2 ft. 6 in. in thickness. The section accompanying this paper (fig. 2, p. 252) was constructed by Mr. Andrews, and most correctly represents the succession of the Lower and Middle Purbecks at the spot in the vale whence the new
Trigonia
came. It was from this marine “Cinderbed” at Durlston Bay that
Hemicidaris purbeckensis
, Forbes, was obtained, associated with
Ostrea distorta
, a
Trigonia
like
T. gibbosa, Cardium Gibbsii, Perna
sp., and remains of fish. No other locality or section of the Dorsetshire Purbecks has yielded the above. There cannot be any doubt that this
Trigonia
is not
T. gibbosa
. The Rev. O. Fisher obtained
Trigonia gibbosa
(?) from the middle Cinderbed of Fovant, Wilts; and the Rev. Mr. Andrews has obtained four other specimens of the same species from his immediate area; so
On
Astroconia Granti
, a new Lyssakine Hexactinellid from the Silurian Formation of Canada
Authors: Sollas W. J.
Published: October 2009

By the great kindness of Lieut.-Col. Charles Coote Grant, I have received a valuable collection of fossil specimens from the Silurian strata of Hamilton, Ontario. I hope, as opportunity serves, to offer descriptions of the more interesting of these fossils, and in the following short paper make a beginning by describing an incompletely silicified specimen of chert, which by its remarkable similarity to the chalk-flints of Trimmingham arrested my attention when studying those bodies. The specimen in question is a small piece (1 inch cube) of greyish siliceous dolomite with a gritty granular texture; on one face it bears a carbonized Hydrozoon, on another a silicified Polyzoon, and on a third shows the opening of a long winding cavity which extends into the interior. From the sides of this cavity some long cylindrical rods, very suggestive of sponge-spicules, were seen conspicuously projecting: under the microscope by reflected light they were seen to be covered with an irregular crystalline deposit, which made the resemblance to spicules less striking than when examined by the unassisted eye. The specimen was now broken into two pieces, and the part containing the rods and cavity placed in dilute hydrochloric acid. Solution with faint effervescence took place; and after standing for twenty-four hours the supernatant liquor was poured off for subsquent examination, while the sediment and small piece of siliceous dolomite remaining were well washed and further examined.

From the sides of the cavity in the dolomitic chert, cylindrical rods were still seen projecting, and under
On the Order Theriodontia, with a Description of a new Genus and Species (
Ælurosaurus Felinus,
Ow.)
Authors: Owen R.
Published: October 2009

Of Permian and Triassic Reptilia the most interesting, those that help to fill the hiatus separating the mammalian Marsupials from the cold-blooded Vertebrates, seem to me to be the extinct species constituting, or referable to, the Order
Theriodontia
.

To the characters of this Order given in my ‘Catalogue of the Fossil Reptilia of South Africa’†, viz. “Dentition of the Carnivorous type, incisors defined by position and divided from molars by a large laniariform canine on each side of both upper and lower jaws,” may now be added “dentition ‘monophyodont’”‡. At least I have not had evidence of an immature specimen showing a milk-series of teeth to be succeeded by a permanent series; but if such should be found in any of the extinct Reptiles of the present Order, such Order will be “Diphyodont,” like the Mammalian Carnivora; for there is no evidence of any third set of teeth to follow those which may have been preceded (though I doubt it) by a first or deciduous set. Of the adult dentition, whether it be “first” or “second,” the molars, as a rule, are inferior in size to the incisors, as both are markedly less than the canines. Add to these characters, “humerus perforated by an entepicondylar foramen”§.

The Reptiles sodistinguished or characterized are already referable to several genera; and although I fully recognize the artificial character of a more or less forward extension of the ossified ‘septum narium,’ there was a convenience in disparting the Theriodont genera known in 1876 into
On fossil Chilostomatous Bryozoa from South-west Victoria, Australia
Authors: Waters Arthur W.
Published: October 2009

Part
of the material forming the subject of the present communication I received in exchange from Miss E. C. Jelly, in a small test-tube, already washed out of the clay; and on two subsequent occasions she has kindly lent me a number of slides from her collection. The “Jump of clay” out of which they were washed was sent over to England marked “Yarra-Yarra, Victoria,” by Mr. John Allen some years ago; but the exact locality Miss Jelly has been unable to obtain for me. However, I find that Mr. H. Watts, in a paper “On fossil Polyzoa” (in the Trans. Roy. Soc. Vict. vi. 1865, p. 82–84), mentions a deposit from which Mr. Allen sent fossils, and says, “The deposit is described as being about thirty miles east of Warrnamboul, extending along the sea-coast for a distance of from six to seven miles, and is from thirty to forty feet in thickness.” A letter I wrote to Mr. Watts, on the possibility of its finding him, has elicited no response; and I therefore presume that he must be dead or have removed, and fear that the exact locality will not now be discovered.

From the memoirs of the Geological surveys I conclude that it will be found to be what the Australian geologists call Miocene, though as yet this has not been shown to be of the age of the European Miocene formation. Mr. Etheridge, Jun., writes that Allen prospected in the ‘quartz cement which was considered by McCoy
Upper Greensand and Chloritic Marl, Isle of Wight
Authors: Parkinson C.
Published: October 2009

Although the Isle-of-Wight Greensands have been well explored by eminent geologists, such as Fitton, Mantell, Ibbetson, and Saxby, there yet remains ample work for palæontologists in the classification of the fauna characteristic of each horizon. Hitherto the fossils from different zones have not been clearly separated, the collections from the Malm rock being mixed with those of the upper cherts and rags, and the Chloritic Marl with both. In forming a collection illustrative of the above series, it has been the writer's aim to divide every zone and to define the extent of each.

At the base of the section a band of chert nodules is indicated,measuring 2 feet, which is possibly the trim junction of Gault and Greensand, although in the Memoir on the Geological Suryey of the Isle of Wight 50 feet of mieaceous sands below this point have been included in the Greensand ; this has also been done more recently by Dr. C. Barrels, of Lille. It was from this section, exposed on the St.-Lawrence beach, that Captain Saxby procured a species of Crayfish; and a second specimen has been found within the lasteighteen months in the same locality. The importance of this horizon has apparently been overlooked ; for quite recently a further valuable addition has been made to the fauna by the discovery of a Chelonian previously unknown to pal~eontologists. From CaptainSaxby's day to the present time the locality has been neglected.About a year Mr. Mark Norman, a well-known local geologist,noticed a huge boulder
The Microscopic Characters of the Vitreous Rocks of Montana, U.S.A.
Authors: Rutley Frank
Published: October 2009

The specimens which have supplied the material for this paper were collected by Mr. James Eccles during a tour in Montana. They present so many interesting points of structure that a description of their microscopic characters may prove acceptable to those who are engaged in the study of British vitreous and devitrified rocks. Among the latter we have already found that certain structural peculiarities may still be clearly recognized, notwithstanding the changes which have led to their more or less complete devitrification. Through these changes, once vitreous rocks assume the character of felstones; and as it is highly probable that many of our ancient “felstones” and “hornstones” were once vitreous, it becomes important that we should note every structural peculiarity in glassy rocks of recent or late geological age which have undergone little or no change subsequent to their solidification. By doing this we are training our eyes to recognize similar structures in the devitrified obsidians, perlites, and pitchstones which ran over what are probably the earliest land-surfaces of which we have any trace. Zirkel, in his ‘Microscopic Petrography of the 40th Parallel N.,’ has described a large number of structures met with in the districts surveyed by Messrs. King, Hague, Emmons, and other members of the U.S. Government Survey; and it is to him we owe much of our knowledge concerning these minute structures. In this country the researches of Prof. Bonney and Mr. Allport have also served to increases the interest which rocks of this class will always
On the Mode of Occurrence of some of the Volcanic Rocks of Montana, U.S.A.
Authors: Eccles James
Published: October 2009

The volcanic district of the Yellowstone National Park, from which I obtained the various rock-specimens referred to in the foregoing paper, has been already described in detail by Dr. Hayden, Dr. A. C. Peale, and Prof. Bradley, in the reports of the U.S. Geological Survey of the Territories for the years 1871 and 1872.

In the autumn of 1878 I had the good fortune to accompany Dr. Hayden and other members of his survey in some parts of the district referred to; and although I have no intention of giving a detailed description of the volcanic phenomena which were observed, a short notice of the localities whence the specimens were obtained, and of the general mode of occurrence of the rocks, may be of some interest as a supplement to Mr. Rutley's description of their microscopic characters.

The Yellowstone National Park, within which are the head-waters of two of the great forks of the Missouri (the Yellowstone river and the Madison) and of the Snake river (one of the branches of the Columbia, comprises an area of about 3600 square miles, nearly the whole of which is covered up by volcanic rocks of great thickness.There are very few exposures of underlying sedimentary or other formations; and these are almost entirely limited to the extreme northern edge of the area. Some fifteen miles south of the southern boundary the extension of these volcanic rocks is seen to rest upon the northern spurs of the Teton range of mountains, at which point
On
Anodontacanthus
, a new Genus of Fossil Fishes from the Coal-measures; with Descriptions of three new Species
Authors: Davis James W.
Published: October 2009

The spines which form the subjects of the following descriptions are from the West-Riding Coalfield in Yorkshire, and the Ironstone occurring in the Lower Limestone series near Edinburgh. A stratigraphical description of the Cannel Coal at Tingley, from which the first two species have been obtained, may be consulted in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society issued for February 1880, page 56.

The three species of Ichthyodorulites forming the subject of this 9 paper are the only specimens of which I have cognizance possessing their peculiar characteristics. In some particulars they resemble the genus
Pleuracanthus
; they are composed of a strong, closegrained, fibrous substance. Their general form is also similar to that of the Pleuraeanths : the internal cavity is terminal at the basal extremity ; and the walls become thinner near the base in comparison with the remainder of the spine ; the method of implantation in the body of the fish must also have been the same. The great distinguishing feature between the two rests in the absence in this genus of any form of dentieulation. In the Pleuracanths there are two rows of dentieles either along each lateral surface or on some portion between the lateral and posterior lines. Whether this may be asufficient distinction to necessitate a second genus, or further discoverieswill prove that it must be included in the genus
Pleuracanthus
,remains to be seen; but for the present it may be better to consider it as a distinct genus, for the following reason: hitherto
On a new Species of
Plesiosaurus (P. Conybeari)
from the Lower Lias of Charmouth; with Observations on P.
megacephalus
, Stutchbury, and P.
brachycephalus
, Owen
Authors: Sollas W. J.
Published: October 2009

The nearly complete and very fine specimen of
Plesiosaurus
(Pl. XXIII. fig. 1) which forms the subject of the present paper is the latest addition to the already large collection of fossil reptiles preserved in the Bristol Museum.

It was found over a year ago, by Samuel Clarke of Charmouth, on the north-west corner of Blackven Water, half a mile west of the river Char, where it lay in a “table-ledge” of the Lower Lias, some seven feet above the “boulder-bed.” From its position and the species of Ammonite still associated with it, we may conclude that its geological horizon is that of the zone of
Ammonites obtusus
.

From the pectoral to the pelvic girdle it is imbedded in a layer of hard impure limestone, thick enough to hold the parts securely together, but at the same time thin enough to let the skeleton be seen on both sides, dorsal as well as ventral. The head and neck were preserved chiefly in shale; so that, to ensure the safety of the neck, it has been found necessary to imbed it in plaster; but the head, being filled in and about with limestone, has been left free, and can be turned about, handled, and examined on all sides.

The ventral surface of the fossil (P1. XXIII. fig. 1) is exposed onthe upper surface of the imbedding limestone ; the coracoids lie side by side nearly in the position they would have occupied in the dead animal lying on its back, except
On the Discovery of some Remains of Plants at the Base of the Denbighshire Grits, near Corwen, North Wales
Authors: Hicks Henry
Published: October 2009

I
n
A
ugust
1875, when searching for fossils in the Pen-y-Glog slate-quarry, which is situated about two miles to the east of Corwen, I noticed some carbonaceous-looking fragments and markings on the shales in association with the massive grit beds towards the top of the quarry, which I thought at the time might possibly be plant-remains. Last summer I had another favourable opportunity of examining these beds; and I was fortunate enough to discover undoubted plant-remains scattered very abundantly over their surfaces. I submitted these for further examination to Mr. Carruthers, of the British Museum, and had the satisfaction to find that he entirely confirmed my views as to their nature. He said they were undoubtedly “angular fragments of plants,” but that the specimens were not in a sufficiently satisfactory condition to determine the actual plants to which they belonged. I decided, therefore, not to bring the matter before the Society until I had another opportunity of visiting the quarry and of endeavouring to procure more perfect specimens. This I was able to do lately; and the additional materials now found have proved to exhibit structures sufficiently well marked to enable a very clear identification of several distinct plants to be made out. The specimens have been generally examined by Mr. Carruthers, and some specially by Mr. Etheridge and Mr. Newton, of the Jermyn- Street Museum.Amongst them have been found numerous small spherical bodies identical in general appearance, and in internal structure, with the
Pachytheca
described by Sir J. D. Hooker,
A descriptive Catalogue of some of the Species of Ammonites from the Inferior Oolite of Dorset
Authors: Buckman S. S.
Published: October 2009

Before commencing a descriptive catalogue of these Ammonites, it may be as well to give some idea of the various beds from which they come. This has been done before; but, various mistakes having crept in and new researches having given us fresh information, I deem it worth while to reintroduce the subject.

The beds under consideration begin with the “Sands” or “Passage-beds,” also called Midford Sands. They are from about 100 to 150 feet, perhaps more, in thickness, with interpolated layers of comminuted shells about a foot or so thick, occurring at intervals of from 4 to 10 feet. These layers contain a large conglomeration of broken shells, so that good specimens are scarce. I have obtained from them a
Rhynchonella
which is probably
R.cynocephala
(Richard.), besides
Harpoceras Moorei
(Lycett), and several species of
Trigonia
(clavellated and costate),
Lima, Astarte
, &c.; and I am led to suppose that these sands are probably equivalent to the lower part of the Cynocephala stage of Lycett, in the Cotteswold Hills.

Above these sands comes the stone of the Inferior Oolite. This stone changes at certain levels, both in composition, colour, and hardness. The Ammonites do not occur all in one bed, but this Inferior Oolite stone can be very well divided into four zones, which are extremely well marked, but vary very greatly in thickness at different localities; and it is probably this variation in thickness, and sometimes
almost complete
absence of a zone, that has led to very much confusion.

At
Notes on the Diamond-fields, South Africa, 1880
Authors: Dunn E. J.
Published: October 2009

The mining-operations carried on during the last few years at the diamond-fields, South Africa, have brought to light some additional facts bearing on the formation of diamonds; the most interesting is the exposure, at all the old mines (Kimberley, De Beer's, Du Toit's Pan, and Bultfontein), of considerable deposits of black carbonaceous shale underlying the surface beds of grey shale.

By the removal of the diamond-bearing ground of the old volcanic “pipes” constituting the above mines, the wall or rim is left unsupported; after rain immense masses of this shale, or “reef,” as miners term it, fall into the excavated gulf, leaving excellent clean sections of the horizontal strata; for the bedding of the shales is horizontal, except where locally disturbed by intrusive rocks, or at the sides of the “pipes,” where they are turned upwards for a few feet, perhaps by the gabbro in the “pipes.”

At Kimberley mine the surface-shales, grey or, in places, pink or yellow, which contain remains of small Saurians, are from 40 to 50 feet thick; underneath are black carbonaceous shales, for the most part arenaceous, and more than 100 feet thick. So combustible are these shales that in a part of the mine where they were accidentally fired they have smouldered on for more than eighteen months and are still alight.

Time did not admit of a search for plant-remains; but a diligentsearch, especially in the finer and more argillaceous beds, would be almost certain of success. Thin seams of very impure coal
On the Occurrence of the Remains of a Cetacean in the Lower Oligocene Strata of the Hampshire Basin
Authors: Judd John W.
Published: October 2009

Remains of the marine mammalia have been so seldom recorded from the Lower Tertiaries of Britain, that the discovery of a new form is of considerable interest to the geologist. Up to the present time the only species noticed was the
Zeuglodon Wanklyni
, described by Prof. Seeley in 1876. The remains of this species, which were found in the Barton Clay, would appear to have been unfortunately lost. The form which I have now the honour of laying before the Society is represented by a caudal vertebra only; but this appears to present some very interesting peculiarities.

The locality from which this specimen was obtained is Roydon, about a mile and a half south of Brockenhurst, in the New Forest. The brickyard at this place is almost the only locality in the New Forest at which the very interesting marine fauna of the Brockenhurst Series can now be collected. The beds exposed at this brickyard consist of sandy clays crowded with marine fossils; they have been exposed to the depth of 25 feet; but as no overlying freshwater beds have been seen in conjunction with them, the total thickness of the Brockenhurst Series cannot be determined. Judging, however, from the wide area over which the beds of this age have been found to be exposed, that thickness must be considerable. These thick marine strata are seen at Roydon to rest directly upon freshwater clays of a bright green colour and crowded with specimens of
Unio Solandri
, Sow., which doubtless belong.
On some new or little-known Jurassic Crinoids
Authors: Carpenter P. Herbert
Published: October 2009

The fine collection of Oolitic fossils which was made by the late Mr. William Walton, of Bath, and was purchased some years ago by the University of Cambridge, contains a very remarkable series of specimens of a Crinoid from the Great oolite of Lansdown, a well-known hill at Bath. Its occurrence seems to have been first recorded (though not first noted) in the year 1828 by the late Dr. J.E. Gray, who made a curious error with regard to this geological horizon, stating it to have been found in the Lias. He named the type
Apiocrinites Prattii
, and described it as intermediate in character between the
A. ellipticus
and
A. rotundus
of Miller.

Some years after the publication (1821) of the well-known work on Crinoids by the last-named author, some specimens of this species were shown to him by the Rev. H. Jelly, who states that Miller “was unable to satisfy his own mind as to their true nature and history.” in the year 1833 a semipopular illustrated account of these fossils was published by Mr. Jelly, and about the same time they were redescribed by Goldfuss, with the aid of some excellent figures, under the name of
A. obconicus
. he had, however , smaller series of specimens than those at Jelly's disposal, some of which now form part of the Walton collection; and the great peculiarity of the type, viz. the very variable length of the stem, which had been previously noted by Jelly, did not attract his attention.
Notes on the Polyzoa of the Wenlock Shales, Wenlock Limestone, and Shales over Wenlock Limestone. From material supplied by G. Maw, Esq., F.L.S., F.G.S.
Authors: Vine George Robert
Published: October 2009

The organisms found in the Wenlock Shales of Shropshire have been already alluded to by Mr. Maw and by Mr. Davidson in their joint paper in the ‘Geological Magazine’ for the year 1881. The remarks of these authors bore chiefly upon the Brachiopoda found in the shales; but the other organisms were casually alluded to in passing. Since this joint paper was written, I have had an opportunity of working over nearly one hundredweight and a half of the débris, and this, in all probability, may represent from six to eight tons of the unwashed clay. My object in searching was principally to pick out the Polyzoa and the smaller Actinozoa of the débris; but in doing this I felt very reluctant to pass over organisms which belonged to other than these two classes; consequently, to some extent, my collection consists of specimens illustrative of the Actinozoa, Echinodermata, Annelida, Crustacea, and Brachiopoda, as well as the Polyzoa of the shales. It is not my intention in the present paper to commit myself to remarks on the genera belonging to these classes otherwise than by presenting a Table of the whole series of associated fossils. This Table is divided into twelve columns, eleven of which are allotted to the several localities from which Mr. Maw supplied me with material; the other column affords me the opportunity of completing the range of species by recording their presence in the Wenlock Limestone.
The Zones of the Blackdown Beds, and their Correlation with those at Haldon, with a List of the Fossils
Authors: Downes Rev. W.
Published: October 2009

Living, as I do, almost at the foot of the Blackdown Hills, it has naturally been my aim and ambition to add something to our knowlenge of their much discussed and highly fossiliferous strata. For some time I almost despaired of achieving any thing. The absence of good sections, the great difficulty (not to say, very often, the impossibility) of seeing the fossils
in situ
, the fact that all the pits but a very few are now closed, and the confused and unsatisfactory way in which the fossils have often been collected in past times, make the subject at the present time a very tangled skein indeed.

Collectors of Blackdown fossils have almost without exception, and perhaps unavoidably so, bought their specimens from quarrymen. And this means, generally speaking, that a quarryman who has “happened on some shells,” has brought them home, and put them into a drawer or bucket or some such receptacle. Another find from another zone is the next day thrown in with them, and so on, until a sufficient quantity has accumulated, when the whole are thrown promiscuously into a hamper and sent to the address of the buyer.
Description of a new Species of Coral from the Middle Lias of Oxfordshire
Authors: Tomes Robert F.
Published: October 2009

Since the publication of my paper on the Fossil Corals of the Lias, published in the Society's Journal in 1878, only one new species has to my knowledge been obtained from the Middle Lias of this country, although an interesting series has been secured from the
Angulatus
-beds of the Lower Lias of Worcestershire. I refrain for the present from remarking upon the latter, but describe the Middle Lias species as follows:— Two Calices of Thamnastræa (Synastræa) Walfordi,
Tomes
. (Three times nat. size.)
Additional Notes on the Land Plants from the Pen-y-glog Slate-quarry near Corwen, North Wales
Authors: Hicks Henry
Published: October 2009

In my former paper, read before the Geological Society in May 1881, I mentioned that, in addition to the plant-remains from the Pen-y-glog grits and shales chiefly referred to in that paper, I had also obtained some evidence of a still earlier flora in the underlying slates. Since then I have revisited the slate-quarry; and with the kind assistance of Mr. Phillips, the manager of the quarry, I have secured specimens which prove beyond doubt that fragments of land-plants occur in tolerable abundance at several horizons to the very base of the quarry. In consequence of the slaty cleavage and the difficulty therefore of obtaining bedding-surfaces, large specimens can seldom be found. All the specimens are in a mineralized condition, the larger ones in the form of anthracite with a bright glassy fracture. The anthracite is very hard; and there is
often a thickness of from one-sixteenth to ⅛ of an inch remaining as the
result of the decomposition of a fragment of the plant.
Notes on
Prototaxites
and
Pachytheca
, discovered by Dr. Hicks in the Denbighshire Grits of Coewen, N. Wales
Authors: Dawson J.W.
Published: October 2009

Specimens of the first-mentioned fossil were kindly sent to me by Dr. Hicks, at my request, but unfortunately arrived when I was at my summer residence at Little Metis. Though without the means of examining them microscopically, I ventured to write, after studying them with a good pocket-lens, that they resembled
Prototaxites
, and could not be referred to Algae. The latter conclusion might appear rash; but there are, to the practised eye, indications in specimens of this kind which can scarcely deceive. The fibrous and highly carbonaceous nature of the darker specimens, and the silky and incoherent texture of the lighter-coloured ones, are characters never found in any fossil plants except those having durable woody tissues. Further, the occurrence of the material in angular fragments and in a condition approaching to that of the mineral charcoal of the Coal-measures, proves subaerial decay, little likely to have occurred in the case of aquatic plants. From the state of preservation of the specimens, I also inferred that, if really of the nature of
Prototaxites
, they might throw some additional light on its structure, as the specimens previously studied had been from entire trunks in a silicified state.
The Red Sands of the Arabian Desert
Authors: Phillips J. Arthur
Published: October 2009

The Nefûd, or great red desert of Northern Arabia, commencing about four hundred miles east of Sinai, extends from the walls of Lina in the east to Teyma in the west, and from the edge of the Jôt basin in the north to the foot of Jebel Aja in the south. Its extreme breadth is 150 miles, and its greatest length 400 miles; but the whole of this area is not composed of continuous sands. The most eastern portion of this desert (and probably its most western extremity also) consists of a series of long parallel sand-drifts from half a mile to five miles in width, separated by intervening strips of solid plain.

Palgrave describes the Netûd as “an immense ocean of loose reddish sand unlimited to the eye, and heaped up in enormous ridges running parallel to each other from north to south, undulation after undulation, each swell two or three hundred feet in average height, with slant sides and rounded crests furrowed in every direction by the capricious gales of the desert. In the depths between, the traveller finds himself, as it were, imprisoned in a suffocating sandpit, hemmed in by burning walls on every side, while, at other times, while labouring up the slope, he overlooks what seems a vast sea of fire swelling under a heavy monsoon wind and ruffled by a crossblast into red-hot waters”.
Notes upon some Specimens of Shropshire Rocks
Authors: Bonney T. G.
Published: October 2009

(55)
Lyd's Hole, Pontesbury
.—A rhyolite, with well-marked fluidal structure, much stained with ferrite and with occasional patches of opacite. The rock exhibits a devritrified structure, the crystallites in most parts assuming an acicular form, the majority no doubt being felspar; but some, of a pale golden colour, must be a different mineral, possibly a mica allied to sericite. There seems in parts a tendency to a microspherulitic and even micrographic structure; the ferruginous constituents assume many forms, from mere specks to little rods and granules. There are two or three larger crystals of felspar, containing apparently glass inclusions: the fluidal bands are crossed transversely by a much more deeply stained zone. The rock has a general similarity to those common in the neighbourhood of the Wrekin.

(56)
Pontesford Hill, North-End Quarry
.—A remarkably beautiful specimen. The slide gives a complete section of an elongated cavity filled with chalcedony . The enclosing border of rock is a rhyolite; this has a fluidal structure parallel to the longer axis of the concretion, is deeply stained with ferrite, and exhibits in tis crstallites indications of radial structure normal to the longer axis; within this is a zone of chalcedony, sometimes containing fragments of the rhyolite, the microliths of quartz being grouped in radiating tufts like the hairs in a sable-brish, a familiar appearance in agates; in places also they form regular spherulites; within this is an enclosure of minutely crystalline quartz. These hollow spherulitic concretions, subsequently partially or wholly filled by infiltrated minerals,
On a peculiar Bed of Angular Drift on the Lower-Chalk high Plain between Upton and Chilton
Authors: Prestwich J.
Published: October 2009

In making the new line of railway from Didcot to Newbury some sections of considerable interest were laid open between the main Great Western line and the village of Chilton. For the first three miles from Didcot the railway passes over the Upper Greensand, the lower part of which here consists of compact beds of greenish sandstone, and the upper part of beds of alight-coloured greensand, together probably more than 100 feet thick. Beyond these, at Upton, the Chalk without flints rises in a range of hills running east and west, through which the line is carried, exposing a fine section, a mile in length, of drift, Chalk-marl, and Lower Chalk (see section fig. 1).
Description of some Iguanodon-remains indicating a new Species,
I. Seelyi
Authors: Hulke J. W.
Published: October 2009

Although a very large number of
Iguanodon
-remains are now to be found in the public and private collections in this country, they consist, for the most part, of dissociated bones. Discoveries of several bones of this Dinosaur under such circumstances as warrant the belief that they formed part of one skeleton have been extremely rare, on which account our knowledge of the proportions of the several parts of the skeleton has remained very incomplete.

The announcement of the discovery of a very large series of Iguanodon fossils at Bernissart in 1878 raised the expectation that before long a complete osteology of
Iguanodon
would issue under the auspices of the Belgian government. An examination of some of these remarkable fossils, which the obliging director of the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle at Brussels allowed me to make in Aug. 1879, showed me that their importance had not been exaggerated, and it led me to defer the completion of this communication, which I had begun some time before. Having, however, recently been told by M. Boulenger, to whom their description is intrusted, that no exhaustive memoir on them is to be expected for several years, I no longer hesitate to present to the Society an account of some fossils obtained by myself in the Isle of Wight in 1870, which afford, in particular, very considerable information respecting the form and proportions of the several members of the hind limb.
On the Crag Shells of Aberdeenshire and the Gravel-beds containing them
Authors: Jamieson Thomas F.
Published: October 2009

In the year 1860 I sent to the Geological Society a short notice of certain beds of sand and gravel on the eastern border of Aberdeenshire, which I had found to contain fragments of shells resembling those met with in the Crag strata of Norfolk. These shells are much broken and worn—most of them mere crumbs; and few are in a condition to enable even a skilful conchologist to pronounce with certainty as to their specific character, although it is sufficiently clear that they represent a considerable variety of forms. Nevertheless characteristic specimens distinct enough for identification are occasionally got.

The Messrs. Searles V. Wood, senior and junior, who twice examined my collection, confirmed my opinion as to the Crag character of several of the species; and Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys, who looked at them in passing here a good many years ago, came to the same conclusion. The shells have a decidedly older and more fossilized appearance than those from our Scotch glacial beds; and some of them are filled with a hard calcareous paste or concrete, which is another feature that serves to distinguish them.
Analysis of five Rocks from the Charnwood-Forest District
Authors: Berry E. E. , Bonney. T. G.
Published: October 2009

T
he
following analyses, undertaken by the author at the request of Prof. Boney, may have, it is hoped, an interest not only of themselves, but aslo when viewed in connexion with the remarks previously made upon the rocks by Messrs. Hill and Bonney in communications already presented to the Society :—

This rock may be taken as a typical exmple of the coarser vaiety of the southern synetes. The analysis confirms our remark, that they are “somewhat intermediate between typical quartzsyenites and quartz-diorites.” The percentage of silica, however is very slightly lower than we should have anticipated from our microscopic examination.

This is a fairly typical specimen of the “northern syenites.” While leaving these still classed with thesouthern group, we called attention to their apparently more basic character and closer relations with the diorites. This conclusion, formed after examination with the microscope, is fully confirmed by the above analysis. The amount of Al
2
O
3
seems exceptionally low, as that of Fe
2
O
3
is high. The author, indeed, informed me that he was not quite satisfied with the results of the method which he had adopted for deparating the one from the other.

The rock of Croft Hill is a representative of teh dominant type in the outlying district int the vicinity of Narborough. It is hardly to be distinguished from that of Enderby, in teh N.E., and is closely allied to that of the Sapcote
massif
, on the S.W. It differs somewhat from the rock of Barrow Hill, to the west,
On the two British Types of the Lower Cambrian beds, and the Conditions under which they were respectively deposited
Authors: Hull Edward
Published: October 2009

The subject of this paper forced itself on my mind when drawing up anessay “On the Laurentian beds of Ireland;” and I had originally intended to place it as an appendix to that communication; but on further consideration I have thought it of sufficient interest to deserve separate treatment.

I propose to compare the Cambrian beds of the North-west Highlands of Scotland, which I shall call those of the “Caledonian type,” with their supposed representatives in South Britain and Ireland, which I shall call those of the “Hiberno-Cambrian type,” as regards both their petrological characters and their fossil contents, with the view of showing that they were formed respectively on either side of a ridge (or barrier) of Archæan rocks, which a recent examination of the north of Ireland enables me to trace along its whole course in the British Isles.

Before entering, however, on this special subject, I ought first to state the geological position of the beds I here call “Cambrian,” as the term is unfortunately rather widely applied at present amongst British geologists.
Additional Note on Certain Inclusions in Granites
Authors: Phillips J. Arthur
Published: October 2009

In a paper which I had the honour of reading before this Society on November 19th, 1879, entitled “On Concretionary Patches and Fragments of other Rocks contained in Granite,” I called attention to the fact that a certain class of such inclusions, usually more or less ovoid in form and resembling imbedded pebbles, are essentially composed of a fine-grained variety of the granite in which they are severally enclosed. The proportion of dark-coloured mica in these patches is almost invariably greater than in the rock in which they occur, and imparts to them a darker colour than that of the general mass. It was further observed, when sections made through both pebble-like inclusions and the enclosing granite are examined under the microscope, that along their line of contact minute crystals are found to extend from the one into the other. These rounded inclusions sometimes enclose a second similar nodule, differing from the first either in colour or in fineness of grain only.

Such inclusions are sometimes porphyritic in structure, and enclose large crystals of the felspar characterizing the enclosing rock. Thus, when the felspar of the surrounding granite is either red or pink in colour, that which is porphyritically distributed through the inclusions will be correspondingly red or pink; if, on the contrary, white felspar be a characteristic of the normal granite, the porphyritic crystals of the inclusions will likewise be white. The angles of felspar crystals so enclosed in ovoid inclusions are often much rounded.