bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Note on the Auriferous Rocks of South-eastern Africa
Authors: Sutherland
Published: October 2009

I
n
communicating the chief contents of a letter which was addressed to me by Dr. Sutherland, I beg to point out to the Society that the author seems to have arrived at some of the same conclusions as those deduced by Mr. David Forbes from his examination of the gold-bearing rocks of South America, which he described as resulting from the action of two very distinct classes of igneous rocks. (See Geol. Magazine, vol. iii. pp. 385 &c., Sept. 1866).

R
od
. I. M
urchison
.

Natal, South Africa, Sept. 8th, 1868.

A young man of the name of Parsons, who made a journey with me in March last along the southern rivers of this colony, washed some iron-sand, which gave distinct traces of gold. Since his discovery several persons have also succeeded in finding traces by the same means; but in no case has it been found in remunerative quantities; the particles never exceed the tenth or twentieth part of a grain in weight; the form is rounded and pitted, very much the same as the Australian “pepitas,” or nuggets, but visible only with a magnifying power.

Parsons has been temporarily employed by the Government to explore the rivers, with a view to settle the question whether or not the metal exists in such quantities as will pay labouring men fair wages while employed in its extraction.

I have gone carefully over chap. xix. of your fourth edition of ‘Siluria;’ and the conclusion to which I am driven is,—that the noble metal
On
Dakosaurus
from the Kimmeridge Clay of Shotover Hill
Authors: Mason J. Wood
Published: October 2009

E
arly
in the spring of 1866 I obtained from the Kimmeridge Clay of Shotover-hill, near Oxford, four entire teeth and one portion of a tooth of
Dakosaurus
, which is now for the first time described and figured as a British genus.

The only description of this reptile with which I am acquainted is to be found in Quenstedt's ‘Der Jura†.’ This author, after mentioning the circumstance of his having described it in a former work under the name of
Megalosaurus
, states that the only part of the skeleton known is a portion of a lower jaw containing six teeth, which are implanted in distinct sockets (
Alveolen
): a detached tooth, figured in the work referred to, well expresses the general characters given below, even to the crenulation of the trenchant margins.

It is noticed by Prof. Owen*, who rightly includes it among his “amphicœlian” Crocodilia.

Teeth of
Dakosaurus
are said to occur, associated with remains of
Pliosaurus, Gyrodus, Sphœrodus gigas
, &c., in the Potton Sands described by Mr. Seeley; these are its companions, both in the Upper White Jura of Schnaitheim and in the Kimmeridge Clay of England. Mr. Walker† also mentions it as occurring in beds probablyof the same age at Upware, in the Fens of Cambridge, and in similar company.

I have examined, through the kindness of Mr. W. Davies, a suite of the Potton fossils at the British Museum; but it would be almost impossible, owing to the worn condition of these fossils, which which have evidently been
On the Occurrence of Remains of
Eurypterus
and
Pterygotus
in the Upper Silurian Rocks in Herefordshire
Authors: Brodie P. B.
Published: October 2009

D
uring
a recent visit to Herefordshire I was fortunate enough to discover a great number and variety of Crustacean remains belonging mostly to
Eurypterus
and
Pterygotus
, the former predominating, some portions of which may perhaps differ from any yet figured and
described—though my friend Mr. Woodward, to whom I have sent them for examination, is inclined to think that there are no new species among them. Their abundance and
excellent state of preservation makes the discovery of interest, because I believe none have yet been found anywhere in Palæozoic rocks in England so perfect or well preserved.
The remains consist for the most part of considerable portions of the body (the largest measuring a little more than 1 inch in breadth near the middle of the
body, and two and a quarter inches in length without the head or tail, which are wanting) with attached body-rings and other appendages but having neither head nor tail, single body-rings of large size, detached heads, thoracic segments, tails of
Eurypterusterus megalops
, swimming-feet, claws, &c. Many might have been obtained entire, if the thin stratum in which they occur could have been worked; but from its position it was impossible to procure anything but detached fragments (though every piece of shale was crowded with them), so that the Crustacea were invariably broken, and I fractured many entire specimens in consequence. They are of a uniform brown colour, while those from Lesmahago, in Scotland, are always black, and are of the identical colour of the altered Silurian formation
On the Salt-Mines of St. Domingo
Authors: Ruschhaupt F.
Published: October 2009

T
he
author described the Cerro de Sal, or Salt-mountain of St. Domingo*, as subordinate to the main chain of mountains running in a S.E. and N.W. direction, its own direction being E.S.E. and W.N.W. The eastern part of the Cerro de Sal is very rugged and steep, rising to 550 or 600 feet; towards the W. it becomes lower, and forms a chain of irregular hills.

The rocks of which the mountain is composed are referred by the author to the “Red-Sandstone class.” Below, where the chief visible salt-deposits occur, the rocks are chiefly gypsum-schists, sometimes very argillaceous, rarely calcareous. The salt is generally surrounded by an ash-like mass, consisting of gypsum and clay. The higher part of the mountain is formed of gypseous rock not forming connected layers; this is compared by the author to the gypsum of the Keuper.

The salt-bearing beds are said by the author to be thrown up into a perpendicular position, and this upheaval is described by him as occurring for miles both in the hills and on the low savanas. Numerous salt-springs occur at considerable distances around the mountain.

About eighty holes have been opened by the natives upon the ridge of the mountain in order to get the salt. On the north side an immense ledge of salt is exposed, the soil having been washed away from it. The part exposed is from 250 to 300 feet broad, and is about 200 feet from the base of the mountain.

By an examination
On the Lignite Mines of Podernuovo, near Volterra
Authors: Beor E. J.
Published: October 2009

T
he
author stated that the deposit of Lignite at Podernuovo, near Volterra, is of lacustrine origin, and consists of two parallel strata of compact coal about 2.5 (=8 feet 4 in.) in thickness, separated by a thin stratum of marl, with marsh-shells. The lower coal-bed lies on a bed of marl with marsh-shells, and the upper bed is covered by a marine formation belonging to the Upper Miocene. The lignite comes to the surface near the Alberese, where it is thrown up in a large mass and extends for a considerable distance. In the Monterufoli valley, where the lignite is worked, its inclination is found to be about 42° at a depth of 40 metres, where it is intersected by an adit-level driven from the surface of the hill for the removal of the lignite. Two galleries have been driven at right angles to this to a distance of 120 metres right and left through the lignite. Some shifts occur bringing the upper bed down nearly to the level of the lower one; the inclination of the beds diminishes gradually; and the intervening stratum of marl decreases in thickness, and probably at last thins out altogether. The coal in the upper bed is better than that in the lower one. The author remarked that this lignite deposit differs from those of the neighbouring valleys (such as the Val di Bruno, Val di Pecora, Yal di Cornia, and Val di Cecina), in being purely of marsh origin, while they are estuarine.
On Beds of supposed Rothliegende Age, near Knaresborough
Authors: Ward J. Clifton
Published: October 2009

By permission of the Director-General of the Geological Survey I am enabled to lay before the Society a brief outline of some observations made during the past summer in the course of my professional duties.

In the neighbourhood of Knaresborough occur certain very well-marked and distinctive grits of a red or purplish-red colour; for the most part these rocks are coarse, frequently quite conglomeratic; oftentimes, however, they are mere sandstones, while in some places they pass into sandy shales. In some localities, as near Plumpton, the proportion of red felspar in the grit is very great, while in others white specks of decomposed mineral matter are scattered profusely through the mass. The quartz-pebbles are very often as large as pigeons' eggs, and form well-marked layers, generally at the base of the separate beds of grit.

The grit in the neighbourhood of Plumpton, near Knaresborough, forms most picturesque weathered masses. Between Spofforth and Plumpton, on the slope immediately below the magnesian-limestone escarpment, stand numerous detached pillars and masses of rock, some rising 15 feet above the level of the surrounding ground, others but barely protruding, their surfaces presenting all those curiosities of atmospheric action, in the shape of perforations, basin-holes, honeycombing along the planes of bedding, &c., which, although in many cases difficult to explain fully, yet seem still to be in process of forming. The soil of the fields in which these detached and picturesque rocks rise consists, as one would expect, of the decomposed grit, and seems of a
On a new Labyrinthodont from Bradford
Authors: Huxley T. H.
Published: October 2009

T
he
specimen which Mr. Miall has been so good as to send for my examination is without doubt a Labyrinthodont Amphibian. This is proved by the character of the vertebræ, of the ribs, and of the ventral armour. But the state of the fossil is such that it is not easy to discover points in which it can be strictly compared with those forms of Labyrinthodonts which are already known.

For example, nothing remains of the skull but some fragments of the upper and lower jaws. The piece of bone which represents the right upper jaw is 7 inches long, and has, like a fragment of the left upper jaw which lies below it, a pitted sculpture. A part of the right ramus of the mandible, with its symphysial end entire, is about 6 inches long, and about half an inch deep at the symphysis. Both upper and lower jaws bear close-set, even-sized teeth, nearly circular in section and somewhat recurved at their apices, which are rather obtusely pointed. Parallel longitudinal folds are indicated upon the basal halves of some of these teeth, the largest of which is not more than 0·5 in. long, by 0·15 in. thick at the base (Pl. XI. fig. 1). An impression of a conical acutely pointed tooth, much larger than any of these (seeing that it must have had a length of nearly an inch when it was entire), is seen upon the matrix, 2 inches below the ramus of the mandible.

These features
On the Caratal Gold-Field
Authors: Foster C. Le Neve
Published: October 2009

T
he
Caratal goldfield, for our knowledge of which we are indebted to Dr. Plassard, is situated in Venezuela, about 160 miles in a straight line east-south-east of Ciudad Bolivar or Angostura, the capital of the State of Guayana. It lies about 100 miles south of the River Orinoco, about seventy-five miles up from the principal mouth.

Before entering upon a description of the various kinds of gold-deposits, I must give a short general sketch of the geology of the district.

The country between Ciudad Bolivar and Pastora consists almost entirely of gneiss, with some mica-schist and hornblende-schist, and a little granite. All three varieties of rock are seen at Ciudad Bolivar itself. From Ciudad Bolivar to the Caroni there is a gently undulating savannah showing outcrops of gneiss as far as the neighbourhood of the Arasiama ridge, which is formed of itaberite. About Arasiama, and on both sides of the Caroni near Guri, the strike of the gneiss is, roughly speaking, east and west.

Beyond Charapo there is some hornblende-schist striking E. 15° N. in some of the land which forms the watershed between the basin of the Orinoco and that of the Essequibo. Where the road crosses it, the watershed is not more than about 1100 feet above the sea-level.

Further east, at Limones, I saw granite; but the greater part of the country consists of gneiss, which now gets a strike of N. 18° W. to N. 15° E. Both east and west of the Oronato I found
Notes on the Geology of Guyana in Venezuela
Authors: Tate Ralph
Published: October 2009

I. I
ntroduction
.—The observations on which this notice is based were made during a trip of some two months' extent in the latter part of last year, and though having reference to a small section of the province of Guyana, in Venezuela, yet are applicable to an extensive area. The leading geological features are presented in a line of section from the Orinoco, proceeding in a southerly direction; my examination extended to the newly discovered auriferous district of Caratal, distant about 140 miles in a right line from Las Tablas, on the Orinoco.

A few words in elucidation of the physical features of the country, will assist the reader in tracing out the leading geological characteristics of Guyana.

Skirting the Orinoco are the
Llanos
; these, as elsewhere, are characterized by a growth of coarse grass,
Cyperacœ
, and shrubby trees, the chief of which, and often the only species, is the
chaparro
(
Curtella Americana
); the soil is of the poorest description, being a loose sand, highly absorbent and of great heat-radiating power. At the distance of fifteen miles or so from the river, the land rises into scarped, low, more or less wooded heights, constituting the
serranos
, interspersed with grassy slopes and plains. These serranos by easy gradations lead us on to the range of the Itacama Mountains, which trend east and west and attain an elevation of about 3000 feet. The range occupies a breadth of about sixty miles; and its southern slope is bounded by an undulating grassy plain presenting
On the Nature and Cause of the Glacial Climate
Authors: Murphy Joseph John
Published: October 2009

I
n
the present paper I purpose to show how far I agree with, and where I differ from, Mr. Croll as to the views on the cause of the glacial climate set forth in his paper in the ‘Philosophical Magazine’ for August 1864.

Mr. Croll's conclusions may be stated in the three following propositions :—

1.

A glacial period occurs when the excentricity of the earth's orbit is at a maximum, and the solstices fall when the earth is in perihelio and in aphelio.

2.

Only one hemisphere, the northern or the southern, has a glacial climate at the same time.

3.

The glaciated hemisphere is that of which the
winter
occurs in aphelio.

I agree with Mr. Croll as to the first two propositions, but differ as to the third. I believe that the glaciated hemisphere is that of which the
summer
occurs in aphelio. The following propositions are self-evident when stated:—

When the excentricity of the earth's orbit is very considerable, and the winter of either hemisphere occurs in perihelio and its summer in aphelio, the nearness of the sun in winter will cause a mild winter, and his remoteness in summer will cause a cool summer.

Conversely, in the opposite hemisphere at the same time, the winter will occur in aphelio and the summer in perihelio: the remoteness of the sun in winter will cause a cold winter, and his nearness in summer will cause a hot summer.

Suppose, for instance, that when the excentricity of the earth’s orbit is
On the Graphite of the Laurentian of Canada
Authors: Dawson J. W.
Published: October 2009

T
he
author described the modes of occurrence of great quantities of graphite in the Laurentian limestones of Canada. It occurs both in beds and veins, the latter generally not true fissures, but shrinkage-cracks or segregation-veins. It is also disseminated, in scales &c., through the substance of the rocks. The graphitiferous rocks are widely spread, both in Canada and the neighbouring portion of the United States. The author discusses the origin of this graphite, which he ascribes to the conversion of the remains of plants into bituminous matter, from which the graphite has in its turn been derived. In some cases he has found traces of fibres which he thought might be the remains of terrestrial plants. In conclusion the author referred to the interest attaching to this matter in connexion with the study of the conditions prevailing at the time of the deposition of these limestones, and especially as furnishing evidence of an abundance of vegetable life in the “Eozoic” period.
On the Correlation, Nature and Origin of the Drifts of North-west Lancashire and a part of Cumberland, with Remarks on Denudation
Authors: Mackintosh D.
Published: October 2009

1. I
ntroduction
.

A
re
the drifts of different districts merely local variations of one great formation which cannot be systematically divided ? or can these deposits in their more persistent features be satisfactorily synchronized over extensive areas? As this is a very important question, and as little or no notice of any attempt to classify or correlate the drifts of the north-west of England has yet been communicated to this Society, the author hopes that the following account of observations made during prolonged visits to Blackpool, Ulverstone, and Lancaster in 1868-69 may not prove unacceptable.

2. C
oast
-S
ection of
D
rifts at
B
lackpool
.

There are perhaps few parts of England where such extensive and instructive sections of distinct kinds of drift are clearly exposed as in the immediate neighbourhood of Blackpool. Beyond an acquaintance with the fact, derived from the Geological Magazine*, that Mr. Binney, F.R.S., had found sea-shells in, and had written on these drifts about eighteen years ago†, when the triplex division of drift deposits had scarcely been suggested*, the author thought it best to remain ignorant of what had been said about this particular locality previously to his making a series of personal observations†

a.
Upper Boulder-clay
.—The existence of an Upper Boulder-clay along the coast is clearly defined. It stretches into the interior to an unknown distance. On the coast it thins out and disappears in a southerly direction. A considerable thickness of it may be seen as far south as Market Street, Blackpool, in a recess on the west
Notes on certain of the Intrusive Igneous Rocks of the Lake-district
Authors: Nicholson Henry Alleyne
Published: October 2009

T
he
rocks which I purpose noticing in the following communication are certain igneous rocks, of an intrusive character, and holding an almost identical position in the stratified series of the Lake-district of Cumberland and Westmoreland. The rocks in question are the syenite of the Vale of St. John, the syenitic porphyry of Ennerdale and Buttermere, and the felstone porphyry of Carrock Fell, all of which come into contact, on the one hand, with the Skiddaw Slates, and on the other with the series of the green slates and porphyries.

The Syenite of the Vale of St. John.

The area occupied by the main exposure of this rock is situated on both sides of the mouth of the Vale of St. John, distant about three miles to the east of Keswick, and occupying a space of nearly two miles from east to west by nearly a mile from north to south. On the east side of the valley it forms a cluster of minor elevations, of which the highest is known as Knotts. On this side of the valley the syenite, in its main mass, nowhere comes into contact with the green slates and porphyries, but is everywhere surrounded by the upper beds of the Skiddaw Slates, which are often more or less indurated and penetrated by numerous small veins of quartz near the line of junction. It is well exhibited in a quarry about a quarter of a mile to the S.E. of Threlkeld Station, where it is so regularly
Rodentia of the Somerset Caves
Authors: Sanford W. Ayshford
Published: October 2009

T
he
author has examined the Rodents from the caves of Somersetshire contained in the Taunton Museum, and found that many of them cannot be referred to species hitherto regarded as belonging to the fauna contemporary with the Mammoth in Britain. He enumerates species of
Arvicola
(including
A. glareola
, Schreb., and
A. ratticeps
, Blas.=
Lemmus medius
, Nilsson, and a species which may be new, and for which he proposed the provisional name of
A. Gulielmi
),
Lemmus
(
L. norvegicus
, Desm.),
Lagomys
(
L. spelœus
, Owen),
Lepus
(
L. diluvianus
, Pict.,
L. timidus
, Linn.,
L. hibernicus
, Bell, and
L. cuniculus
, Linn.),
Spermophilus
(
S. erythroganoides
, Falc.: the citation of
S. citillus
by the author and Mr. Boyd Dawkins is founded on a mistake), and
Cricetus
(
C. songarus
, Pall.).
On some recent Discoveries of Flint Implements of the Drift in Norfolk and Suffolk with observations on the Theories accounting for their Distribution
Authors: Flower J. W.
Published: October 2009

I
n
June 1866 I had the honour to lay before the Society a paper upon some flint implements then lately found at Thetford in the valley of the Little Ouse river†; I have lately occupied myself with further investigations of the same district, the results of which, are, I trust, of sufficient interest to justify me in bringing them to the notice of the Society.

The localities which I have now examined are four in number. In each of these flint implements have been found, and in several of them in great abundance, corresponding in the main, as well in fashion as in material, with those of St. Acheul, Thetford, Salisbury, and Icklingham, which are now so well known.

Broomhill
.—The first deposit which I have to notice is found at Broomhill, on the north bank of the river, about five miles from Thetford, and two from Santon Downham mentioned in my former paper. The implements, which are usually much rolled and worn, and are often stained to a chocolate-colour, are here found in a gravel-pit about 350 feet from the river-bank. They are usually met with in a bed of ferruginous flint-gravel about 2 feet thick, resting immediately on the surface of the chalk, and 5 or 6 feet above the level of the river. This gravel, which is very coarse and not much rolled, contains large flint nodules, some of them weighing over a hundredweight, and is mixed with rounded quartzite pebbles and rolled fragments of chalk. It is
Letter on Aërolites from Greenland
Authors: Wyke C. L.
Published: October 2009

Copenhagen, Oct. 10, 1871.

My Lord,—Two Swedish-Government vessels have lately visited this port, having on board a scientific commission which has just returned from an expedition to the coast of Greenland. They brought with them a number of aërolites which had been found on the coast upon the surface of the ground. These aërolites are all of the iron class, and consist of masses of what is called meteoric iron, of various sizes, the largest weighing no less than 25 tons.

As these curiosities were discovered in Greenland, one of them, the second in size, has been presented by the discoverers to the Danish Government, and has been placed in the arsenal in this city.

I have, &c.

(Signed)
Charles Lennox Wyke
.

Discussion
.

Mr.
David Forbes
having recently returned from Stockholm, where he had the opportunity of examining these remarkable masses of native iron, took the opportunity of stating that they had been first discovered last year by the Swedish arctic expedition, which brought back several blocks of considerable size, which had been found on the coast of Greenland. The expedition of this year, however, has just succeeded in bringing back more than twenty additional specimens, amongst which two were of enormous size. The largest, weighing more than 49,000 Swedish pounds, or about 21 tons English, with a maximum sectional area of about 42 square feet, is now placed in the hall of the Royal Academy of Stockholm; whilst, as a compliment to Denmark, on whose territory they were found
On the Diamond-gravels of the Vaal River, South Africa
Authors: Stow George W.
Published: October 2009

Geographical features
.—In travelling from the colony to the diamond-fields on the banks of the Vaal, the last shales similar to those of the Great Stormberg basin are met with at a short distance from the north bank of the Orange River, between Bethulie and Jager's Fontein. The sandstones continue beyond the shales (just as we find them on the southern or Great-Winterberg boundary of the same basin), and are visible in the ridges in the direction of Albania, to the north, and of Hopetown, to the south of the same river.

At a drift (ford) on the Reit River, a short distance beyond Jager's Fontein, a mass of rock, which has been termed “clay-slate,” makes its appearance. It is of a dark blue slate-colour, and is said to break with a slaty fracture. It is possible that this may be a schist more ancient and indurated than the shales of the Stormberg formation. Beyond this the greater part of the country is covered with calcareous tufa, on which in some places is a reddish sandy soil, about 2 feet thick. The ground is traversed by numerous dykes, and by other slight ridges which seem to be composed of metamorphic rocks. On a near approach to the Vaal River the direction of these ridges can be easily traced; and they all appear to trend E.S.E.-W.N.W. In many places quartz-reefs run parallel with the dykes, their thickness varying from a few inches to 15 or 16 feet. No satisfactory conclusion, however, can
Note on some Ichthyosaurian Remains from Kimmeridge Bay, Dorset
Authors: Hulke J. W.
Published: October 2009

These remains consist of several teeth and of fragments of a skull transmitted to me for examination last summer by J. Mansel Pleydell, Esq., F.G.S., to whom I have been already indebted on several occasions for opportunities of bringing under the Society's notice Saurian fossils from the Dorsetshire Kimmeridge beds. Unfortunately, as so commonly happens when the extrication of fossils from the shale is attempted by unskilled labourers, the bones were smashed into so many pieces as to render the restoration of the skull quite impossible. Estimated by the size of the broken pieces, the snout was probably not less than three feet long, and it was proportionately stout. Of the teeth some are shorter, more curved, and relatively stouter than the others. In both forms the crown is bluntly pointed, its base passes evenly into the root without any separating cingulum, and the proximal end of the root is laterally compressed, which gives its cross section an oblong figure (fig. 8), the longer sides of which are parallel with those of the dentary groove. The crown is strongly striated; the striæ diminish regularly from the base to the apex, near which they break up into lines of minute tubercles, which are continued to the very extremity. The most perfect of the longer teeth (only the extreme tip of the crown of which is missing) is
30 1/6
lines (English long, of which the crown forms
8 1/6
lines (figs. 1-3). The base of
On some undescribed Fossils from the Menevian Group of Wales
Authors: Hicks Henry
Published: October 2009

In this communication the author gave descriptions of all the fossils hitherto undescribed from the Menevian rocks of Wales. The additions made to the fauna of the Lower Cambrian rocks (Longmynd and Menevian groups) by the author's researches in Wales during the last few years now number about fifty species, belonging to twenty-two genera, as follows:—

Trilobites, 10 genera and 30 species.

Bivalved and other Crustaceans, 3 genera and 4 species.

Brachiopods, 4 genera and 6 species.

Pteropods, 3 genera and 6 species.

Sponges, 1 genus and 4 species.

Cystideans, 1 genus and 1 species.

By adding to these the Annelids, which are plentiful also in these rocks, we get seven great groups represented in this fauna, the earliest known at present in this country. By referring to the Tables published in M. Barrande's excellent new work on Trilobites, it will be seen that this country also has produced a greater variety, or, rather, representatives of a greater number of groups from these early rocks, than any other country. The species described included
Agnostus
, 5 species;
Arionellus
, 1 species;
Erinnys
, 1 species;
Holocephalina
, 1 species;
Conocoryphe
, 2 species;
Anopolenus
, 2 species;
Cyrtotheca
, 1 species;
Stenotheca
, 1 species;
Theca
, 2 species;
Protocystites
, 1 species, &c. The author also entered into a consideration of the range of the genera and species in these early rocks, and showed that, with the exception of the Brachiopods, Sponges, and the smaller Crustacea, the range was very limited.
Notes on the Geology of the Plain of Morocco, and the Great Atlas
Authors: Maw George
Published: October 2009

Of the geology of Barbary, nothing has heretofore been put on record excepting a few cursory remarks on the Morocco Plain by Dr. Hodgkin, in his account of Sir Moses Montefiore's ‘Mission to Morocco in 1864,’ and a short paper, by Mr. G. B. Stacey, on the subsidence of the coast near Benghazi, published in the 23rd volume of the Quarterly Journal. Barbary, with the exception of the immediate neighbourhood of a few of the ports, has been almost inaccessible to Europeans; and the extreme jealousy of the Moorish Government with reference to the mineral riches of the country has hitherto prevented any geological investigation.

During the spring of the present year I had the advantage of accompanying Dr. Hooker to Morocco and the Great Atlas, permission for our visit having been obtained from the Sultan through representations made to the Moorish Government by Lord Granville through Sir John D. Hay, our Ambassador at Tangier.

The object of the journey was mainly botanical; and as an engagement was given by Dr. Hooker that we should not collect minerals, the opportunities for geological investigation were very limited.

The observations I was able to make on the structure of the great chain, which had not been previously ascended by a European, and of the Plain of Morocco, are embodied in the accompanying section (Pl. III. fig 1). Stopping for about a fortnight at Tangier, we made several excursions in the neighbourhood. The western part of the northern promontory of Morocco, facing the
Appendix to Mr. Maw's Paper on the Geology of Morocco, being a Description of a New Genus of Fossil Scutelloid Echinoderm from Saffe, N. Africa
Authors: Etheridge R.
Published: October 2009

Amongst the specimens brought by Dr. Hooker and Mr. G. Maw, from Morocco, in North Africa, and submitted to me for examination, were some Urchins of the family
Scutellidœ
, of peculiar form, differing from any I had previously seen or examined, and certainly not referable to any described Tertiary species. Comparison with known forms, recent and fossil, failed to elucidate their true history more than to show that they evidently belonged to the Rotuline group of
Scutellidœ
amongst the Clypeasteroidea, nevertheless differing considerably from the genus
Rotula
(Klein) the only form to which they can be referred.

Rotula
now inhabits the sea and coast of Senegal, West Africa, from which two, if not three, species are known:—
R. Rumphii
, Klein; R.
Augusti
, Klein; and
R. Gaulteri
, Ag. There is, however, a marked difference between the characters of our new genus and that of
Rotula
, especially in the more elongated and oval form of the test, the extreme rounding or truncation of the fimbriation, or crenulation, upon the posterior margin, more acute anterior and less tumid lateral margins,— so much so, that a line drawn round the circumference of the test of
Rotula
, including the digitations, would describe a complete circle touching the periphery of the Urchin, whereas the form of
Rotuloidea
is an oval or ellipse—
Rotula
being circular,
Rotuloidea
oval; these, with
other differences
to be hereafter noticed, justify the establishment of a new genus for the reception of these North-African, fossil forms. The resemblance to and affinities with
Rotula
suggest
On the Foraminifera of the Family Rotalinæ (
Carpenter
) found in the Cretaceous Formations; with Notes on their Tertiary and Recent Representatives
Authors: Jones T. Rupert , Parker W. Kitchen
Published: October 2009

§ I.—In preparing lately some critical notes* on the Foraminifera from the Chalk of Gravesend and Meudon, figured in Dr. Ch. G. Ehrenberg's ‘Mikrogeologie’ (1854), we were much impressed with the desirability of pointing out as clearly as we could the specific relationship of those members of the “Rotaline” family of Foraminefera which have been found in the Chalk and associated strata, and have been figured and described by various palæontologists. This seemed the more requisite, inasmuch as these Foraminifera are mostly disguised by an old-fashioned and incorred nomenclature. The relationship, also, of the Cretaceous to the Tertiary and Recent
Rotalinœ
seemed to require elucidation.

§ II.—Without further preface, we proceed to notice that among Ehrenberg's figures (i.) from Meudon, near Paris (‘Geol. Mag.’ vol. viii. pp. 511 & 563), we recognize only:—

1.

Planorbulina ammonoides (
Rss.
)

2.

—globulosa (
Ehr.
).

3.

Pulvinulina truncatulinoides (
D'O.
).

4.

—Micheliniana (
D'O.

(ii). Frm Gravesend:—

1.

Planorbulina ammonoides (
Rss.
).

2.

Pulvinulina Micheliniana (
D'O.
).

§ III.—From Meudon, Sens, and St. Germains, near Paris, M. d'Orbigny had already obtained (in 1840*)l—

1.

Planorbulina Voltziana (
D'O.
).

2.

—Lorneiana (
D'O.
)

3.

—Clementiana (
D'O.
)

4.

—(subgen. Truncatulina) Beaumontiana (
D'O.
)

5.

Pulvinulina Micheliniana (
D'O.
)

6.

—craasa (
D'O.
)

7.

—Cordieriana (
D'O.
)

8.

Rotalia umbilicata (
D'O.
)

All of these M. d'Orbigny found also
Appendix. On some Bivalve Entomostraca from the Lias (“Infralias”) of Yorkshire
Authors: Jones T. Rupert
Published: October 2009

1.
Bairdia (?) ellipsoidea
, G. S. Brady, MS.

Carapace ovato-trigonal; somewhat compressed; highest (broadest) in the anterior third. Valves smooth, thick; right valve the largest, overlapping the other on the dorsal and ventral borders, and marked with a furrow within each of those edges for the reception of the fellow valve. Length
1/48
inch. Four specimens.

This somewhat resembles
Bairdia ovata
, Bosquet, sp. (‘Mém. Commission descr. Carte Géol. Néerlande,’ vol. ii. p. 73, pl. 5. Fig. 6), and probably belongs rather to
Pontocypris
than to
Bairdia
, both of which are marine members of the family
Cypridœ
. See G. S. Brady's “Monograph of the Recent British Ostracoda,” Linn. Trans. vol. xxvi. p. 360, &c.

2.
Cythere Moorei
, G. S. Brady, MS.

Carapace tumid; egg-shaped, with terminal lipsa nd flattened ventral surface; somewhat like a peach-tone in shape and ornament. Surface of the valves reticulate; the meshes rather coarse on the middle, but having a tendency to become longitudinal and parallel on the sides and towards the extremities.

Length
1/32
inch. Three specimens.

In general form this approaches
C. striatopunctata
(Römer) and
C. concentrica
(Reuss); but the reticulation differs. It takes its name after Mr. Charles Moore, F.G.S., one of the most enthusiastic of geologists, and a successful among Lias fossils.

3.
Cythere Blakei
, sp. nov.

Carapace oblong, subcylindrical, with marginal lips at the ends, obliquely rounded in front, contracted and rounded behind, somewhat compressed dorsally at the median third. Surface rough, with faint
On
Cyclostigma, Lepidodendron
, and Knorria, from Kiltorkan
Authors: Heer Owsland
Published: October 2009

1.
Cyclostigma kiltorkense
, Haught. Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 3, vol. v. p. 444.

Stem clothed with a finely wrinkled bark. It is covered with numerous and very close striæ; and these very fine striæ pass away into spiral lines, and are in some places joined together. When the outer bark is wanting we have only these fine striæ. Such a specimen I received as
C. Griffithi
, Haught.

On the bark there stand in regular rows small round warts, which have a circular depression at the top. These are surrounded by a projecting rim, which is often striatetd with fine cross lines. Sometimes these warts look like small hollows having a smooth middle part. The warts are about 2 millims. in diameter. They are from 8 to 13 millim. apart, and form highly oblique transverse rows. Pl. IV. fig. 5
a
is a piece of a stem; 5
b
a portion with the wart, magnified.

Branches
.—These agree entirely with the stems in the formation of the bark and in the warts. The bark is also wrinkled and covered with very fine and close striæ. The warts are from 6 to 8 millims. apart, and in a branch 13 millims. broad there are two or three in the oblique row (fig. 4, and, a portion enlarged, fig. 4
b
).

As remains of fruit-cones, which Schimper has described as
Lepidostrobus Bailyanus
(Traité de Paléontologie Vegét. ii. p. 71), are often found near the stems of this they probably belong to it. In support of
Migrations of the Graptolites
Authors: Nicholson H. Alleyne
Published: October 2009

Most geologists are now prepared to admit that the occurrence of the same species of marine animals in strata very widely removed from one another in point of distance may be accepted as a proof of “migration” having taken place. It does not matter, from this point of view, whether the deposits of the two areas are approximately of the same age, or whether they succeed one another in point of time—except that in the former instance we can hardly ever be sure which of the areas has been peopled from the other. It follows also from this view that strata containing exactly the same species of fossils, if very widely separated in point of distance, can never be
exactly
“contemporaneous.” They may have been formed nearly at the same time, and they will belong to the same geological epoch; but the one must really succeed the other in point of time. It will be understood, of course, that this statement is only intended to apply to cases in which identical fossils are found at points so far removed from one another over the earth's surface that we can never suppose them to have been connected by a single ocean the conditions of which were so uniform as to have allowed the spread of the same animals over its entire extent.

If we were thoroughly acquainted with the range of any given fossil vertically, and, at the same time, had all the necessary details as to what may be called
On the Glacial Phenomena of the Yorkshire Uplands
Authors: Dakyns J. R.
Published: October 2009

The Carboniferous hills that form the central axis and backbone of Northern England sink beneath the Triassic plain near the town of Derby. Between Derby in the south and Wensleydale in the north, this line of hills is broken through by the valleys of the Wye, in Derbyshire, and of the Calder and the Aire, in Yorkshire.

In Derbyshire and the part of Yorkshire south of the Aire basin, no glacial drift has been found on the eastern slope of the chain, save where the latter is broken through by the above-named valleys. Thus in Derbyshire plenty of drift occurs in the valley of the Wye and in that of the Derwent below its junction with the Wye, as if some of the drift that is so plentiful on the western slope of the Pennine chain had come eastward through the Wye valley; but north of the Wye none is found in Derbyshire on the eastern slope of the china. Again, some boulders of transported rocks, granite, and other foreigners are said to have been found in the bed of Calder; but no drift-deposits have been found in the Calder basin east of the anticlinal axis, save one patch of Boulder-clay at Mixenden, some miles above Halifax, quite at the edge of the driftless area. The boulders above mentioned would seem to have been washed out of the drift of Lancashire. On the other hand, the western slope of the Pennine range is everywhere thickly covered with drift nearly up
On the Phosphatic Nodules of the Cretaceous Rock of Cambridgeshire
Authors: Fisher O.
Published: October 2009

This paper contained an attempt to explain the origin of the phosphatic nodules which lie in a thin bed at the base of the Chalk in Cambridgeshire and are largely extracted, by washing the stratum, for the purpose of making superphosphate of lime. Two hundred and seventy tons per acre, at the rate of fifty shillings a ton, represents the valuable yield of the deposit, which is followed to the depth of about 18 feet. The nodules and other fossils of the bed are chiefly derivative, forming a concentrated accumulation from a deposit belonging to the Lower Cretaceous period. Some of the fossils, however, are believed to be indigenous to the deposit.
Plicatulœ
are attached to all the derivative fossils and nodules; and the sharp broken surfaces of the latter, with
Plicatulœ
on them, show that they were mineralized before they were deposited in their present
gisement
. The green grains of chlorite have been drifted into patches. Certain calcareous organisms are preserved; but many genera of mollusks only occur as casts in phosphate of lime. The deposition of the phosphatic matter has been determined by
animal
substances. There are two chief varieties of the “ordinary” nodules. The first are amorphous, or else finger-shaped; the second formed like a long cake rolled, partially or wholly, upon a stick. The surface of these two kinds of nodules is coriaceous and wrinkled; and they usually show marks of attachment to some foreign body. Certain species, clearly zoophytes, are converted into phosphatic nodules; and when sections are made of these, they are found to show under the microscope structures and spicula allied to those ofAlcyonaria. Slices of the
common
nodules show similar spicula, and occasionally reticular structure. When casts in plaster are made from
Alcyonium digitatum
, and coloured to resemble the nodules, the similarity in general form and structure of surface is very striking. The phosphate was probably segregated by the animal matter from its solution in water charged with carbonic acid, which is a known solvent of the phsophate; an analysis of the matrix has proved that phosphate of lime is appreciably present in it. The author doubted the derivation of the nodules from the denudation of the subjacent Gault, and exhibited a collection of these to show that they were distinguished by more stuntetd growth.

The deposit was on the whole considered to represent the thin band with similar fossils at the base of the Chloritic Marl, as seen in the west of England, in which district it is underlain by the true arenaceous Greensand. The absence of the true Greensand was attributed to the intervention of the old palæozoic axis of the London area; and it was finally suggested that a similar axis might stretch from Leicestershire to Harwich, causing the change in character of the Lower Cretaceous beds between Cambridgeshire and Norfolk.
The Classification of the Pleistocene strata of Britain and the Continent by means of the Mammalia
Authors: Dawkins W. Boyd
Published: October 2009

1.
The Principle of Classification
.

The Pleistocene period was one of very long duration, and embraced changes of great magnitude in the geography of Europe. The climate, which in the preceding Pliocene age, in Northern and Middle Europe, had been temperate, at the beginning of the Pleistocene gradually passed into the extreme arctic severity of the glacial period; and this change caused a corresponding change of the forms of animal life, the Pliocene species (whose constitutions were adjusted to temperate or hot climates) yielded place to those which were better adapted to the new conditions; and since, as we shall presently see, there is reason for the belief that it was not continuous in one direction, but that there were pauses, or even reversions towards the old temperate state, it follows that the two groups of animals would at times overlap, and their remains be intermingled with each other. The frontiers also of each of the geographical provinces must necessarily have varied with the season; and the competition for the same feeding-grounds, between the invading and the retreating forms, must have been long, fluctuating, and severe. The passage, therefore, from the Pliocene to the Pleistocene fauna must have been extremely gradual in each area; and the lines of definition between the two must be, to a great extent arbitrary, instead of being sufficiently strongly marked to constitute a barrier between the Tertiary and Posttertiary groups of life of Lyell, or between the Tertiary and Quaternary of the French geologists. The
On the Discovery of Palæolithic Implements in Association with
Elephas primigenius
in the Gravels of the Thames Valley at Acton
Authors: Fox A. Lane
Published: October 2009

The gravels and brick-earths of this part of the Thames valley have been classed by Mr. Prestwich† and Mr. Whitaker into two principal groups:—1st, the high-level gravels of Mr. Prestwich, occupying the summits of the hills above the valley; and, 2ndly, the valley-gravels, occupying the sides and bottom of the valley itself.

With respect to the former, or high-level gravels, some slight difference of opinion appears at one time to have existed between the two authorities whom I have quoted—Mr. Prestwich including the gravels upon Wimbledon, Wandsworth, and Clapham Commons amongst the high-level gravels, whilst Mr. Whitaker considers the gravels of Wandsworth and Clapham Commons to belong to the valley-gravels. He, indeed, if I understand rightly his memoir on Sheet 7 of the Geological Survey Map‡, appears to think it possible that the whole of the high-level gravel of Mr. Prestwich may be nothing1 more than higher terraces of the valley-gravel.

To enable the reader to understand at a glance the positions of the gravels I am about to describe, I have drawn a map of this part of the Thames valley, with contour lines of 10-feet levels strongly marked. A portion only of this map is given in the accompanying illustration (fig. 1), showing the part of the valley between Acton and the Thames. The margin of the London Clay is here shown by a dark tint, that of the gravel by a light one, and, for the sake of clearness, no distinction is made between the gravel and
On the Evidence for the Ice-sheet in North Lancashire and adjacent parts of Yorkshire and Westmoreland
Authors: Tiddeman R. H.
Published: October 2009

The materials on which the remarks are founded which I now have the honour of submitting to the Society, have been collected by my for several years past whilst carrying on the work of the Geological Survey. The process has been necessarily slow; for the direct evidences do not generally obtrude themselves upon one's notice, and they are so sparingly scattered over the ground, and so affected by the form of the ground and other local causes, that any generalization from a mere partial examination of the district would be worthless. It has been my privilege to go over the greater part of the area acre by acre; and although objects of more practical utility have been the chief aim of this examination, I have always been on the look-out for any records of the Glacial period which are graven on the rocks themselves. I believe that very few such which are exposed have escaped my notice; and those found I have endeavoured to register impartially, leaning as little as may be towards one theory or another.

I intend, first, very briefly to describe the physical features of the district.

The region lies between latitude 53° 38′ and 54° 18′, and extends from the great watershed of England on the east to Morecambe Bay and the Irish Sea on the west. To the N.N.W. are the Lake mountains, and to the south the plains of Cheshire and South Lancashire. The accompanying map (Pl. XXX.) will explain better than words the