bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On a New Species of Plesiosaurus from Street, near Glastonbury; with Remarks on the Structure of the Atlas and Axis Vertebræ, and of the Cranium, in that Genus
Authors: Huxley Thomas H.
Published: October 2009

T
he
locality where the
Plesiosaurus
, which forms the subject of the present brief notice, was obtained is already famous for its richness in such remains. In fact, the limestone beds of the Lower Lias at Street have already yielded at least three species of
Plesiosaurus—P. Hawkinsii, P. macrocephalus
, and
P. megacephalus
; and it seemed so unlikely that a fourth species should have inhabited the same area, that I was for a long while unwilling to admit the distinctness of the form at present under consideration.

The evidence which I shall bring forward, however, seems to me to admit of no other conclusion.

The specimen is a remarkably fine one. The limestone matrix in which it is imbedded being hard and free from pyrites, every part is well preserved ; and the value of the fossil is further enhanced by two circumstances :mfirst, the very slight amount of disturbance which the bones have undergone, so that the vertebrae from the third cervical to the last caudal are all in their natural positions ;secondly, the perfeetly lateral view of the body which is presented. The only important defects are the absence of the paddles, and the flattening and apparent loss of the lower jaw which the head has suffered.

The total length of the skeleton is about 7½ feet. The left side is exposed, and the neck and tail are strongly bent upwards, as if the creature had died in a state of opisthotonic rigidity. The head is twisted, so that its
On the Coal found to the South of Concepcion, in Southern Chili
Authors: Forbes C.
Published: October 2009

T
he
coal* is found in seams alternating with shales and overlaid by calcareous sandstone; fire-clay underlies the whole. The shales contain fine impressions of dicotyledonous leaves; and some of the sandstones above the coal abound with casts of a Mactra-like bivalve; and others with Turritellæ. From this association of fossils, Dr. C. Forbes believes that the coal is decidedly not of palæozoic age, and may be tertiary.
On a quantity of Crabs thrown up on the Beach in Payta Bay
Authors: Forbes C.
Published: October 2009

F
or
some time previous to the occurrence of a severe earthquake-shock, on or about the 30th August 1857, the Bay of Payta swarmed with crabs of a kind not generally observed, and ten days after the earthquake they were thrown up on the beach, in a raised wall-like line, 3 to 4 feet wide, and to the height of about 3 feet, along the whole extent of the bay, and above highwater-mark.

At the same time as the upheaval of the crabs took place, the water of the bay became changed, from a clear blue, to a dirty blackish-green colour, much resembling that off the Island of Chiloe, Concepcion, and the southern parts of Chili. Ten days afterwards, Dr. C. Forbes found that living specimens of the crabs were still numerous in the bay, but all appeared to be sickly, and numbers came ashore to die.

There were no appearances of any alteration of the relative position of sea and land in the vicinity, nor had any ebullition of gases been observed; although probably to both these causes combined the phenomenon described was due.
On the Age of some Sands and Iron-Sandstones on the North Downs
Authors: Prestwich Joseph
Published: October 2009

T
he
lower and central tracts of the valley of the Thames, from Reading to the sea, consist of Eocene strata, with a limited covering of Crag on the sea-board of Essex and Suffolk. This mass of Tertiaries is skirted on the south of the Thames by a belt of chalk, which rises by a gradual and continuous slope, broken by numerous small transverse valleys, until it attains an average height of from 500 to 600 feet: it is then abruptly escarped, forming a cliff-like declivity stretching east and west, and at the base of which extend the Lower Cretaceous and Wealden series. This elevated chalk-tract is about ten miles broad at Dover and Canterbury, and ranges westward, with a variable width of six or eight miles, to Guildford, where it contracts to a narrow ridge not half a mile broad. These Downs form a distinct and marked division between the Tertiary strata of the synclinal Thames Valley, and the anticlinal dome-plain of the Weald: they exhibit throughout a chalk-surface, either quite bare or covered on the hill-tops by a thin capping of reddish clay, sand, and flints, with, here and there, an outlier of the Lower Tertiary strata rising above the general level of the chalk-plateau, and forming slightly detached and more conspicuous hills. These outliers are continued at a few places to the very edge of the chalk-escarpment.

Besides the more general drift, and the few local Tertiary outliers, there are, however, scattered commonly on the very summit of
On the Palæozoic Basin of the State of New York. Part I. A Synoptical View of the Mineralogical and Fossil Characters of the Palæozoic Strata of the State of New York
Authors: Bigsby J. J.
Published: October 2009

It having appeared to others as well as myself that a
résumé
, such as is contemplated by the above heading, is desirable, I have attempted the task in the following pages.

The characteristic geological points have been distributed under a few heads, and then treated with brevity or fulness according to the demands of the occasion;—the heads being those of “mineral character,” “mode of transition” (among groups), “place,” “position or dip,” “thickness,” “fossils,” in general (typical), “fossils occurrent in Europe,” “recurrent in New York.”

My hope and intention has been to form a standard of reference with which to confront other palæozoic basins. The materials have been scrupulously selected from the best authorities;—from the able reports of the State Geologists of New York, and from the admirable researches of De Verneuil and Sharpe; introducing also some observations of my own, for it has been my privilege to visit many of the most interesting localities, and very much of the whole region.
On the Palæozoic Basin of the State of New York. Part II. Classification of the Palæozoic Strata of the State of New York
Authors: Bigsby J. J.
Published: October 2009

T
he
task of distributing the palæozoic sedimentary rocks of New York into natural divisions became easy after the publication of the ‘Silurian System’ of Sir Roderick Murchison.

This State is peculiarly favourable to such studies, from the directions, lofty sides, and other features of its principal lakes and rivers. Many of the latter, such as the Genesee, Black, and Onondaga Rivers, rise in the south, and, running north, cross and lay bare successive strata in the most satisfactory manner. Other streams, like the Mohawk, in the eastern part of New York, rise in the west, and also traverse nearly the whole series.

Glacial and other natural erosions, as well a s some prolonged artificial excavations, disclose the outcrops of the strata in a succession of exposures unparalleled in number and extent. In the counties of Herkimer and Otsego the cliffs often attain an elevation of a thousand feet, followed closely by others surmounting them.

No country in the world, says De Verneuil, presents so complete and uninterrupted a development of the Silurian and Devonian systems, if we except Sweden, where it is on a small scale. In these regions, therefore, our investigations are far simpler and more decislve than amid the disturbances of manv parts of Europe. We are in the position of the anatomist who examines a perfect animal instead of a mass of dismembered fragments.

As types of comparison, the palaeozoic rocks of this State are to be preferred to any other, as a whole.

In the following
On the Succession of Rocks in the Northern Highlands, from the oldest Gneiss, through strata of Cambrian Lower Silurian age, to the Old Red Sandstone inclusive
Authors: Murchison R. I.
Published: October 2009

T
his
memoir comprised a general sketch of the succession of the stratified rock-masses occupying the northernmost counties of Scotland (Sutherland, Caithness, and Ross), as determined by former observations of Prof. Sedgwick and the author, and of Macculloch, Jameson, Cunningham, Miller, and Nicol, and by the recent discoveries of Mr. C. Peach. In the commencement. Sir Roderick, having referred to the long-held opinion that the great mountainous masses of red conglomerate and sandstone of the west coast were detached portions of the Old Red Sandstone, alluded to Mr. C. Peach's discovery (in 1854) of organic remains in the limestone of Durness, which led the author to revisit the Highlands (accompanied by Prof. Nicol), when having found still more fossils, he expressed his conviction (at the British Association, Glasgow Meeting, 1854) that the quartzites of Sutherland and their subordinate limestones were of Lower Silurian age; and was strengthened in the opinion (which he had already published) that large portions of the crystalline rocks of the Highlands would prove to he the equivalents of the Lower Silurian deposits in the South of Scotland.
On the Gradual Elevation of the Coast of Sicily from the mouth of the Simeto to the Onobola
Authors: Gemmellaro Gaetano Giorgio
Published: October 2009

A
recent
alluvial soil which forms the plain of Catania is composed of rolled blocks (
ciottoli
) of sandstone, limestone, and basalt, with day and sand. Volcanic currents from Etna more or less recent, all augitic,—basalt, for the most part spheroidal and prismatic, a pleistocene formation which has succeeded to that of the Terre Forte of Catania, ancient prismatic and compact currents from Etna, recent alluvium from San Tecla to Mascali, formed of volcanic felspathic and augitic rocks—these elements constitute the topography of the coast of Sicily from the mouth of the Simeto to the Onobola.

From the Simeto to the Sciarra del Principe it is difficult to find characteristic features in the recent alluvium, such as may mark the lapse of time. The Sciarra del Principe, a volcanic current of 1669 ; the shore at Catania, in which are seen pebbles of sandstone, recent lavas, and fragmentary matter ; the Sciarra dell’ Armisi ; that of the Crocifisso of Lognina; the current of 1361,—these form the coast to the neighbourhood of Lognina, and have been much changed from their primitive aspect, these materials being daily used in the construction of the mole at Catania.

In the Scala di Lognina, from 4 decimetres to 1 metre above the level of the sea, among great blocks of lava which form the shore, one may observe a marine breccia, formed of small blocks of sandstone, augitic lava, and fragmentary matter, cemented together by a calcareo-siliceous cement.

From Lognina to Aci Castello, the volcanic
On Changes of Level in South Wales
Authors: Mason Richard
Published: October 2009

Mr. R
ichard
M
ason
, of Tenby, in a communication to the Secretaries, offered a
résumé
of the evidences, traditionary, historical, and physical, of— 1st , the probable depression at some pre-historic period of an extensive tract of country, covering the site of the Bristol Channel and Cardigan Bay; and 2ndly, of the more recent elevation of the land in the neighbourhood of Tenby, South Wales ; the elevated district being apparently confined to that lying on the Carboniferous Limestone. Evidences of a comparatively recent depression of the Cardiff area were also alluded to.
On the Gold-diggings at Creswick Creek and Ballaarat
Authors: Redaway W.
Published: October 2009

M
r
. R
edaway
noticed first the “bluestone” or concretionary basaltic lava at Creswick Creek, which composes also the rough bouldered surface of the country to a great extent. In the plains formed of this volcanic rock, small lakes or water-holes, from 3 to 12 feet in diameter, are in some places frequent.
On the Gold-Diggings at Ballaarat
Authors: Rosales Henrique
Published: October 2009

“B
y
the aid of machinery, and through the alteration of the mining-regulations granting extended claims, the old ground has been profitably re-worked: and, by the introduction of the frontage-system, which, according to the difficulties to be overcome, grants extensive claims on new ground, the present ‘leads,’ most of which are N.W. of the Gravel Pits, under the townships, are advantageously worked. The amalgamation of three or more claims is also allowed, the miners having then to put down only one shaft.

“The engines most in use are stationary, of from 15 to 20 horsepower, with winding and reversing gear. To the end of the winding-gear-shaft is attached the crank for the pump ; and the motion is also taken to drive a puddling machine, which is nothing but the arrastra working without mercury. The depth of sinking averages about 300 feet, of which in some instances there are as much as 200 of basalt to be cut through.

“"A t the junctions of the Frenchman's and White Horse Leads, in the Eldorado, the remains of a tree were found in an undisturbed position, with the roots fast in the wash-dirt.
On the Subdivisions of the Inferior Oolite in the South of England, compared with the Equivalent Beds of that Formation on the Yorkshire Coast
Authors: Wright Thomas
Published: October 2009

In the preceding pages I have (in the first place) endeavoured to show that we find the true equivalents of the Upper Lias Sands and Cephalopoda-bed of the South of England in the Yorkshire coast; for, although the lithological features of this formation are somewhat different in the north, still its palæontological characters leave no doubt as to the correlation of the Blue Wick beds near the Peak with the Cephalopoda-beds of Gloucestershire.

2nd. The chief object of this memoir was to demonstrate that the Inferior Oolite admits of a subdivision into three zones of life, and that each of these is characterized by certain species of
Mollusca, Echinodermata
, and
Anthozoa
, which are special to it.

3rd. That the zones are unequally developed in different regions in England; and the same remark applies to France and Germany. The individual beds composing these subdivisions are sometimes thin and feebly shown, or altogether absent in some localities, and are more or less developed in others. The zone of
Ammonites Murchisonœ
is the one most frequently absent; that of
Ammonites Humphriesianus
has a wider geographical area; whilst the zone of
Ammonites Parkinsoni
is the most persistent, and is frequently the only representative of the Inferior Oolite formation.

4th. That several
Conchifera
and a few
Gasteropoda
are common to the three zones, whilst most of the
Cephalopoda, Brachiopoda, Echinodermata, Anthozoa
, and
Polyzoa
lived only in one these subdivisions; and that each zone contains a fauna of its own, which sufficiently characterizes it.

5th. That
On some Reptilian Fossils from South Africa
Authors: Owen
Published: October 2009

T
his
subgenus is founded on four skulls, forming part of the collection transmitted to the British Museum in 1858, by His Excellency Governor Sir George Grey, K.C.B., from the sandstone rocks at the foot of the Rhenosterberg, S. Africa. These skulls belong, by their dentition, to the Dicynodont family, but present such strongly marked deviations from the type species of the genus (
Dicynodon lacerticeps
, Ow.) as to indicate a distinct subgeneric section; they were accordingly entered in the Museum list, and labelled in the cabinet where they are exposed to view, under the term
Ptychognathus
.

Dicynodon
(Ptychognathus) declivis, Ow. (Plate I. figs. 3, 4, 5.)

In this species, assuming the horizontality of the upper (fronto-parietal) plane of the cranium (P1. I. fig. 3 ll) as giving the natural position of the skull, the broad plane of the occiput meets the fronto-parietal plane at an acute angle, rising from the condyle upwards and backwards—a direction not hitherto observed in any reptile, and similar to that presented by the occiput in relation to the vertex in the feline and many other gyrencephalous mammals.

The fronto-parietal plane (ib. fig. 5) is bounded by an anterior ridge, 14, 15, extending from one superorbital process to the other, with a gentle convexity forward, including the interorbital space. From this ridge the facial part of the skull (fig. 3 15, 22) descends in a straight line in a direction nearly parallel with that of the occiput, but slightly diverging from that parallel as it cxtends downward
On the Ossiferous Grotta di Maccagnone, near Palermo
Authors: Falconer H.
Published: October 2009

D
r
. F
alconer
first described the physical geography of that portion of the north coast of Sicily in which the ossiferous caves abound, namely between Termini on the east and Trapani on the west. The geological structure of the tract had been ably investigated and mapped by Hoffmann. A great mass of Hippurite-limestone stretches from Termini to the eastern side of the Bay of Castellamare, which on the side towards Termini forms rugged precipitous or scarped cliffs skirting the sea-shore. From Cape Zaffarana to Capo di Gallo, a distance of about twenty miles, the coast-line is deeply indented by the Bay of Palermo; west of Capo di Gallo there is a smaller indentation, backed by Carini; and still further to the west there is the deep Gulf of Castellamare. At the bottom of these indentations the mountains of Hippurite-limestone recede from the coast, forming inland precipitous cliffs or rugged slopes, from the base of which stretch slightly inclined flats of marine Pliocene deposits, which disappear under the sea. These latter form nearly horizontal strata of a calcareo-argillaceous sandy breccia, full of marine shells and fragments of corals, &c. Philippi identified 209 species of Mollusca from this deposit in the neighbourhood of Palermo, the great majority being of living species. The ossiferous caves had been known from remote antiquity, and notices of them occur in Valguarnera, II Mongitore and other Sicilian historians. The botanist Cupani had figured and identified some of the bones. The author’s investigations had been directed to the caverns near Palermo and Carini. At Palermo the littoral pliocenc plain, celebrated for its richness as the “Concha d’Oro,” or shell of gold, is from a mile to one and one-half mile broad, and where it abuts against the Hippurite-rocks is from 180 to 200 feet above the level of the sea. The ancient Pliocene sea-margin is very distinctly seen at this elevation all round the bay, and the ossiferous caverns chiefly occur at from 30 to 50 feet above this level. Some of them, such as the “Grotta di Belliemi,” are at a higher level. The caves are studded all round the bay. The Hippurite-limestone hills skirting the coast are here from 1200 to 1800 feet above the sea; some of the heights more inland, such as Monte Griffone and Monte Cuccio, attain a height of upwards of 3000 feet.
On some Fossil Reptilian Eggs from the Great Oolite of Cirencester
Authors: Buckman J.
Published: October 2009

T
he
fossils which form the subject of this notice, were obtained by one of my pupils (Mr. Dalton), from the Hare-Bushes Quarry, about one mile to the east of Cirencester.

This quarry, which is largely worked for the use of its freestone, offers a good section of the upper beds of the Great Oolite of Gloucestershire,—the alternations of their bands of stone and partings of clay marking that unsteadiness of character by which the Bradford Clay and the Forest-marble appear to have commenced their depositions, the Bradford Clay (that is, a marly bed containing the fossils originally observed at Bradford, such as the
Apiocrinus rotundus, Terebratula digona, T. coarctata
, and
T. cardium
) being only local, but still observable in many positions both to the east and west of the Hare-bushes—the most remarkable being at the Acman-street or Tetbury-road Station, about two miles to the west of the Royal Agricultural College, where the bed is about eight feet thick in its deepest part, and whence Mr. Woodward obtained no less than 127 species of fossils.

Where, however, the bluer clays set in, marking the true Forest-marble, these will be found to contain but few fossils; at the same time, their position is well marked by their always resting on the upper, obliquely laminated, bed of the Great or Bath Oolite, as shown in the following

The specimen containing the fossil eggs (see Figs. 1 and 2) was found in the stage marked 4, and consists of the characteristic stone. It is
On the Sinking at Shireoak Colliery, Worksop, to the “Top Hard Coal” or “Barnsley Coal”
Authors: Lancaster John , Wright Charles C.
Published: October 2009

As the sinking at Shireoak to the “Top Hard or Barnsley Coal” is not only in a new district, but has also been carried through a considerable thickness of Permian rocks and Coal-measures which have not been proved elsewhere, we venture to think that our sections and some account of the strata passed through will be of interest to this Society.

In March 1854 Mr. Lancaster commenced sinking two pits for the Duke of Newcastle on the north-western side of his Worksop Manor Estate, where the Coal-measures are overlaid by a considerable thickness of Permian rocks. A bore-hole had been sunk some years previously on the same estate by Mr. John Woodhouse, to prove the minerals; and, though it was carried to a depth of more than 300 yards, no satisfactory results were obtained, no workable coal or ironstone being found.

The Permian beds are, we think, better developed here than at any colliery where they have been sunk through, though their total thickness is only 207 feet. The upper beds, as will be seen from the vertical section (p. 143), consist of thin and alternate layers of soft sandstones and red marls, which attain a total thickness of 60 feet. The Magnesian Limestone, however, forms the thicker portion. We found it divided into two principal beds; the Yellow, which was very hard and crystalline, 54 feet thick; and the Blue below it, containing bands of blue shale, 20 feet thick. Both together yielded 66 gallons of water a minute
On the Tertiary Deposits, associated with Trap-rock, in the East Indies
Authors: Hislop Stephen
Published: October 2009

I
n
introducing the following descriptions of some fossils from Peninsular India, I shall confine my remarks to the rocks, volcanic and sedimentary, with which those fossils are connected. They have already been noticed in a memoir, which, in conjunction with my friend the Rev. R. Hunter, I submitted to the Society in 1854.

On that occasion I endeavoured to prove that there was no foundation “for the supposition that the great outpouring of basalt in India took place in the ocean,”—that the water of the lake in which it really was effused was in many places “so shallow as to allow the igneous rock to rise above its surface into the atmosphere,” and that therefore the flatness of the tops of trap-hills was not owing to superincumbent pressure, as is generally believed, but was “the effect of the well-known law by which the surface of liquid bodies is reduced to the same uniform level.” The age of the deposit formed at the bottom of the lake, before it was invaded by the volcanic eruption, I considered to be Lower Eocene; and, while inferring as a matter of course that the overlying trap was subsequent to it, I expressed the opinion that the similar rock which was frequently found underlying was more recent than both.

In opposition to this last view it is held, that the underlying trap must have been poured out first, and the freshwater deposit formed over it. This, I admit, would be the theory attended with the
On the Bone-cave at Brixham in Devonshire
Authors: Prestwich J.
Published: October 2009

The cave has been traced along three large galleries, meeting or intersecting one another at right angles. Numerous bones of
Rhinoceros tichorhinus, Bos, Equus, Cervus tarandus, Ursus spelœus
, and Hyœna have been found; and several flint-implements have been met with in the cave-earth and gravel beneath. One in particular was met with immediately beneath a fine antler of a Reindeer and a bone of the Cave-bear, which were imbedded in the superficial stalagmite in the middle of the cave.
On the Coal-formation at Auckland, New Zealand
Authors: Weekes Henry
Published: October 2009

T
he
district is formed of stratified sandy clays, of Tertiary age; they vary in colour from white to light-red. The white clays contain beds of lignite, varying from a few inches to several feet in thickness. Sections of these beds are exposed along the banks of most of the tidal inlets with which the district abounds. In some places, near the hills, the lignite is seen to rest on trap-rock; elsewhere a shelly gravel underlies it.

At Campbell’s farm a whitish sandstone lies on the lignite, and at the junction is hardened, and contains ironstone-nodules; these, when broken, yield remains of exogenous plants. A fossil resin is found abundantly in the lignite. On Farmer’s Land the lignite is 16 feet thick, including a little shale; at Campbell’s it is 7 feet thick, but thins away. There is some iron-pyrites in the lignite, but not sufficient to deteriorate its value as a coal. Similar coal has been found at Muddy Creek to the S.W.; at Mokau, about 100 miles to the south; and near New Plymouth.

The Tertiary beds of Auckland are everywhere broken through by extinct volcanos, varying from 200 to 800 feet in height. The craters are generally scoriaceous, in a perfect condition, with a depression of the rim usually to the north or east. There are also around the district other volcanic hills, rounded, scoriaceous, more fertile than the crateriform hills, and apparently of an older date.
On the Geology of the South-eastern part of Vancouver Island
Authors: Bauerman Hilary
Published: October 2009

The following remarks are the results of observations made during the summer and autumn of the year 1858, and are designed to illustrate a series of fossils and rock-specimens collected during the same time from the glacial, tertiary, and cretaceous formations of the island, and from the metamorphic and igneous rocks of Esquimalt and Victoria. The observations have been made at Esquimalt and Nanaimo, and on board H.M.S. “Satellite” in the Gulf of Georgia. The references in the sketch-section annexed are to the map of the S.E. portion of Vancouver Island by J. D. Pemberton, published by Arrowsmith. The beds are described in stratigraphical order, commencing with the lowest.

1.

Metamorphic and Igneous Rock
.—These are everywhere seen in the neighbourhood of Esquimalt and Victoria, principally occurring in the form of dark-green sandstones and shales, which pass by insensible gradations into serpentine and chlorite-slate. They are very full of small strings and veins of quartz. The harder beds are very much jointed; and it is often difficult to obtain a fresh fracture, owing to their tendency to split into rhomboidal fragments, the surfaces of which are generally much rusted and tarnished from the action of water infiltered through the joints. Several beds of unfossiliferous crystalline limestone are associated with the metamorphic rocks above-described, and are often of considerable thickness. A section in the cliff at the Boundary Commission Barracks exhibits alternations of compact and shaly blue limestone over a thickness of forty feet, the strata being vertical. At another point on
Supplemental Observations on the Order of the Ancient Stratified Rocks of the North of Scotland, and their associated Eruptive Rocks
Authors: Murchison Roderick I.
Published: October 2009

I may now revert to the main object of this memoir, the establishment of a clear order of succession among the oldest rocks of the North-western Highlands, And here I have the satisfaction to reiterate that not only Prof. Ramsay, who accompanied me, but also Prof. Harkness, who has since visited the north-western region to satisfy doubts in his own mind, have both come to the conclusion that my general views (as laid down in the map, Pl, XII. vol. xv.) are correct.

On a point of such great stratigraphical importance, I cannot avoid quoting the very words of Prof. Harkness, who, after visiting the west of Sutherland, wrote to me thus:—The gneiss which occupies the western portion of Sutherland is of a character so unlike that which forms the more eastern mountains of this country, that lithological characters alone would almost justify the conclusion that it appertains to a different geological epoch. Its strike is, as you have shown, at variance with that of the newer gneiss where this latter is in contact with the quartz-rocks and limestones forming the Lower Silurians.

“A t many localities where the surface allows of the relation of the upper gneiss and its immediately underlying deposits to be seen, there is undoubted evidence of a perfect sequence and conformity of the strata which appertain to the upper quartz-rock and limestone and the overlying flaggy gneiss; and this latter, in some districts remote from the quartzites and limestones, presents the same uniform dip with
On the Geology of a part of South Australia between Adelaide and the River Murray
Authors: Burr T.
Published: October 2009

T
he
lowlands about Adelaide on the west and along the River Murray on the east consist of horizontal beds of limestone and calcareo-siliceous deposits, yellowish and reddish in colour, full of marine fossils, and of Tertiary age. Sometimes gypsum and ferruginous sand replace the limestone. These plains are arid—except where granite protrudes from the surface, presenting cavities in which rain-water collects. The author observed a similar Tertiary formation on Yorke’s Peninsula, at Port Lincoln, and to the S.E. to beyond Rivoli Bay; and it probably forms vast tracts in New South Wales and Western Australia. None of these Tertiary districts appear to exeecd an elevation of 300 feet above the sea.

In describing two volcanos in South Australia, Mount Gambler and Mount Sehanck, Mr. Burr remarked that, coming from the west or north-west, at about 20 miles from these hills a white ‘coral limestone’ [Bryozoan limestone] containing flint or chert takes the place of the limestones and calcareous sandstones with recent sand-formation previously passed over. This white limestone is remarkable for the numerous deep, well-like water-holes in it, within about twelve miles of the volcanic mountains, and about cast or west of them.

Mount Gambler has a height of 900 feet above the sea (600 feet above the plain), and has three craters lying nearly east and west and occupied with lakes of fresh water. Mount Schanck, at a distance of about nine miles magnetic south, is circular and has one large and two small lateral craters.

The author next
On some Tertiary Rocks in the Colony of South Australia
Authors: Woods Julian E.
Published: October 2009

I
propose
to submit to the Society a description of an extensive Tertiary deposit in South Australia, which has never received more than a passing notice from any who have previously called attention to it. The beds to be described occupy so great a tract even of the large colony of South Australia, that they will, I am sure, eventually call forth a minute examination from those more competent than myself. If there were any probability of a geological survey of the place, under Government-auspices, I would not step forward to do what would then be better done in a much shorter time. But there is no probability of this. Victoria, alone, of all the Australian colonies, as far as I am aware, employs a geological surveyor; and of course he will not be permitted to extend his investigations far beyond the boundaries of that colony. As therefore there is no likelihood of any organized scientific inspection of the country I am about to describe, I venture to submit to the Society my own imperfect observations on facts which it may prove useful for science to be in possession of meanwhile.

The formation which is the subject of my observations extends westward and southward from the River Murray. The line
xx
across the map marks the northern boundary of the district with which I am acquainted (about 290 miles long, by an average breadth of 70 miles). This is all occupied with the tertiary limestone, excepting some small patches of
On the Discovery of some Fossil Remains near Bahia in South America
Authors: Allport S.
Published: October 2009

O
n
referring to a map of Bahia, it will be seen that a line of hills runs from the Point of St. Antonio in a north-easterly direction. They form for some distance steep rocky cliffs, skirting the Bay, and continue in the same direction for several miles. They also form the seaward exposed edge of an elevated range of country, and present a steep slope to the N.W.; and are everywhere covered by red loam or sand, except where exposed to the action of the sea. These are gneissose rocks, usually exhibiting distinct lines of stratification or foliation, but not unfrequently passing into amorphous masses (see Map, fig. 1).

The direction of the general line of upheaval clearly coincides with that of the above range of hills, being N.E. and S.W.; the dip of the gneiss, where it can be well made out, being always to the N.W.

In Itapagipe Bay, near Cabrito, there is a white sandstone, interstratified with shale, the dip of which is also to the N.W. It forms a low hill, running nearly parallel with the gneiss hills, at a distance from the latter of three or four hundred yards in the direction of the dip (fig. 2). No organic remains have yet been discovered here; but this deposit has not been carefully examined.

At a distance of about two miles from the gneissose range, and running parallel with it, is the isolated hill of Montserrate (see Map, fig. 1), which extends for nearly a mile
On the Occurrence of Footsteps of Cheirotherium in the Upper Keuper in Warwickshire
Authors: Brodie P. B.
Published: October 2009

T
he
occurrence of certain footprints of
supposed
Labyrinthodont animals in the Upper Keuper in the neighbourhood of Warwick has been long known; and they generally consist of a series of small casts and impressions, chiefly the former, over a considerable extent of surface; but no larger footsteps have been before noticed in the district. These were obtained from Shrewley and Rowington, where the Keuper contains also remains of Fish and Plants, though not exactly in the same bed affording the footmarks.

The specimen to which I now wish to draw the Society’s attention was met with in a ploughed field, lying loose on the surface, having been evidently turned up by the plough, of which it bears the marks, in an extension of the same sandstone at Witley Green near Preston Bagot, about a mile from Henley in Arden, where it occupies high and undulating ground, the surface of which has been much denuded. The district is traversed by a N. and S. line of fault. (See Geol. Survey Map, sheet 54 N.E.) The sandstone crops out in a lane adjacent, and might easily be quarried; but I searched in vain for any other large slabs likely to contain any footprints, although no doubt they might be discovered along the same horizon ff the stratum containing them were worked. The specimen (of which I have sent a reduced photograph) consists of two casts in relief on the under surface of a slab of sandstone, 1 foot long and 9 inches
On the Flora of the Silurian, Devonian, and Lower Carboniferous Formations
Authors: Goeppert H. R.
Published: October 2009

W
hile
thanking you for your valuable work ‘Siluria,’ which you have had the kindness to send me, I have the honour of announcing to you that I have completed my work on the ‘Flora of the Silurian, Devonian, and Lower Carboniferous Formations’ It is already printed, and will be published at the expense of the Imperial Academy of Naturalists at Jena, accompanied by twelve lithographic and photographic plates*.

The number of all the fossil plants in the said formations amounts to 185 species. They are distributed (
a
) according to the orders or natural families, thus

Five of these belong to the Algæ; one to terrestrial plants—
Siyillaria Hausmanni
, Goepp., found by M. Hausmann in 1807 (Reise in Scandinavien, vol. v.; Kjerulf, Geolog. der südlichen Norwegens, p. 87) near Idre and Särne. It is perhaps the most interesting plant of the whole work.

One terrestrial plant,
Sagenaria Weltheimiana
, from the schist of Hamilton County, New York; but you and M. Verneuil consider that these beds belong to the Upper Devonian formation, in which, in Silesia, Thuringia, Ireland, and in the so-called Chemung? and Catskill formations of the State of New York, a much larger number of terrestrial plants has been found, amongst which this species of Sagenaria also occurs.

This formation contains fifty-seven species, of which seven belong to the Algœ; the others are terrestrial, and belong to the families which are found up to the close of the Palæozoic period, viz. the
Ferns, Calamineœ, Equisetaceœ, Lepidodendreœ, Lycopodiaceœ, Sigillarieœ, Coniferœ
, and
Nœggerathieœ
On the Freshwater Deposits of Bessarabia, Moldavia, Wallachia, and Bulgaria
Authors: Spratt T.
Published: October 2009

I
n
some brief papers recently published in the Society’s Journal, I have drawn the attention of geologists to the freshwater deposits which so extensively form the margin of the Grecian Archipelago and the Sea of Marmora.

I have also stated, that they seem to me to be connected with similar freshwater deposits which I have described as existing in the southern part of the Dobrutcha, between Baljik and Kustenjeh; and with others bordering different parts of the Black Sea, such as those noticed by Hamilton in the valley of the Halys near Sinope; and by Pallas, De Hell, and others at Kertch, Taganrok, and Odessa. All these give fragmentary indications of a great Oriental Lake having extended over the area of the Grecian Archipelago, the Black Sea, and Sea of Azof.

From recent observations made whilst employed within the Delta of the Danube and the adjacent lakes, I am enabled to state that large portions of the southern parts of Bessarabia, Moldavia, and Wallachia, reaching apparently to the foot of the Carpathian mountains, are composed of lacustrine deposits, purely of freshwater origin; although, from their containing a peculiar striated bivalve like a
Cardium
, and from the mistaking of a large fossil
Dreissena
for a
Mytilus
, by some early travellers, some portions of these deposits have been considered to be indicative of brackish water conditions; there having thus been an apparent admixture of marine with the freshwater shells of these strata.

Although I thought there was an error regarding the so-called
Notice of some Sections of the Strata near Oxford
Authors: Phillips John
Published: October 2009

I
n
England, unconformity between the Cretaceous and the Oolitic strata is discoverable at almost every part of the range of the junction of deposits, from the coast of Yorkshire to the cliffs of Dorsetshire. Everywhere evidence can be found of the wasting action of the sea on the Oolitic strata before the deposition of the superincumbent rocks, and sometimes evidence of the movement of the sea-bed (to which, perhaps, the watery agitation was due). In the country near Oxford, and from this point south-westward, the Portland Oolite has been thus greatly wasted, so as to remain in only a few detached masses. There seems reason to suppose that movements of the sea-bed of considerable extent followed the deposition of the Oxford Clay; for the Coralline Oolite fails, and the Kimmeridge Clay grows thin, and hardly traceable far from the Shotover Hills, in a direction towards the north-east.

The deposition of the Cretaceous series on the wasted Oolites was thus inevitably irregular; but in addition we have the varieties of littoral, estuary, and fluviatile deposits on the boundary-surface of the Oolites; great surface-waste, referable to the Postpliocene age; and faults which seem to be of great effect, but are not yet traced out.

Under these circumstances, it is at once a very interesting and a very perplexing problem of field-geology to trace out the detached, unconformed and wasted cappings of sand and ferruginous stone which, in several places, lie on the Kimmeridge Clay, and are not themselves covered by strata of
On the Old Red Sandstone of the South of Scotland
Authors: Geikie Archibald
Published: October 2009

Introduction
During the last summer, while carrying on the Geological survey of the Lammermuir Hills, I was particularly struck with the number of felspathic dykes by which the Silurian strata of that region are intersected. It was my wish to ascertain, if possible, the probable date of these igneous rocks; and for this purpose it became necessary to determine the exact relation between the Old Red Conglomerates and Sandstones of East Lothian, and the Old Red Sandstone and Upper Silurian in other parts of South Scotland. I soon perceived, however, that the determination of this point had a much wider range than at first sight appeared, and that in truth it bore directly upon the question of the true classification of the Old Red Sandstone. The district which promised to afford the most satisfactory results was the Parish of Lesmahago, where, according to the section by Sir Roderick Murchison, an ascending series could be made out from the Upper Silurian, through the Old Red Sandstone, into the Carboniferous group. I visited Lesmahago, and mapped the boundary-lines of the Lower Old Red Sandstone and Carboniferous rocks over an area of from 80 to 90 square miles. The results of this examination, in so far as they bear on the Old Red Sandstone, form the first and principal part of the present communication. I shall next refer to the extension of the Lesmahago features to the north-east, across the area of the Pentland Hills, into East Lothian and Berwickshire, and then point out
On some Cretaceous Rocks in the South-Eastern Portion of Jamaica
Authors: Barrett L.
Published: October 2009

B
elow
the thick Tertiary deposits in Jamaica are found thin beds of fossiliferous limestone, underlaid by igneous rocks. These strata form the subject of the following communication.

The newest bed of the fossiliferous limestones is exposed on the north side of the Plantain-garden River, three miles west of Bath. This section shows a bed of compact limestone, 8 feet thick, resting on a thick bed of conglomerate, and overlaid by shale.

The shale is of a dark colour and without organic remains. The limestone is compact and grey, with thin veins of calc-spar; it contains numerous fossils, all of them characteristic of Cretaceous or other Secondary strata, viz.
Inoceramus, Hippurites
, and
Nerinœa
.

The conglomerate is composed of rounded pebbles of igneous rocks and a white fossiliferous limestone; it is succeeded by a great thickness of unfossiliferous black shale.

A quarter of a mile higher up the river there is a section of some vertical beds of limestone, probably older than the series already described. A bed of conglomerate separates them from great masses of porphyry. This section (see woodcut) exhibits thin bands of limestone, alternating with shale, containing limestone-nodules. Some of the thin bands of limestone are crowded with fossils, principally
Inoceramus, Hippurites
, and a species of
Bulla
(?).

These fossilfferous beds are succeeded by a bed of conglomerate, 12 yards thick, composed entirely of pebbles of porphyry, identical in structure and colour with the adjacent mass. The conglomerate is not altered at its junction with the igneous rock. The
On the Probably Glacial Origin of some Norwegian Lakes
Authors: Codrington T.
Published: October 2009

T
he
lakes to which attention is called are those so frequently found situated at a short distance from the head of a fjord on the western coast of Norway. The fjord and the valley in which such a lake lies are parts of one mighty chasm bounded by almost perpendicular mountains, which rise often thousands of feet from the water’s edge. The valley generally shows traces of the former existence of a glacier, and is now occupied by a rapid river. Instead of at once emptying itself into the fjord, this river falls into a lake, perhaps six or seven English miles long, but rarely a mile wide, and very deep. Between this lake and the fjord, there is a barrier consisting of rolled stones, shingle, and coarse sand, roughly stratified, through which an outfall has been cut to the fjord. The distances between some of these lakes and the fjord are subjoined, from which the mass of these deposits may be estimated

The height of this barrier may be as much as 120 feet above the lake, in terraces one above the other. At the inner end of the lake a similar terraced deposit frequently occurs. This is the case at Vasenden, at the inner end of Gravens Vand, and at Sæbö at the inner end of Eidsfjord Vand, which one passes on the way from Vik to the Voring-foss. This latter lake is 1½ mile long and ½ mile wide, and, according to the peasants, 200 feet deep.
On the Occurrence of Crag Strata beneath the Boulder-clay in Aberdeenshire
Authors: Jamieson T. F.
Published: October 2009

I
n
the parishes of Slains and Cruden (see Map, p. 348) we have beds apparently of the same age as the English Crag formation. They consist of stratified sand and gravel underneath the boulder-clay, and reposing upon the old rocks of the district. I need not enter into any description of the locality in which these deposits occur, nor of their general character, as these will be found detailed in a paper on the Pleistocene of Aberdeenshire, which the Geological Society did me the honour of printing in the 14th volume of their Journal (see pp. 522–525).

I had even at that time some suspicion of their Crag character, from their position below tho boulder-clay, and, further, from the total absence of any glacial striæ or polish upon the pebbles: but I have since then made a close search amongst the comminuted shell-fragments that are everywhere sparingly scattered through the mass; and it is from the character of these, combined with the geological position of the strata, that I infer the age to be probably that of either the Red or the Mammaliferous Crag of England.

I have upwards of a score of hinge-fragments which I can safely refer to the
Cyprina rustica
or
Venus rustica
of Sowerby’s ‘Mineral Conchology’—a shell which is unknown in the drift-beds, and which, so far as I am aware, has been found only in the Crag; likewise a few fragments of the
Fusus contrarius
, another Crag form.

The prevailing species of
Pecten
, so far
On the Rocks, Ores, and other Minerals on the Property of the Marquess of Breadalbane in the Highlands of Scotland
Authors: Thost C. H. Gustav
Published: October 2009

Mica-schists, &c
.—On the property of the Marquess of Breadalbane (measuring in a curve nearly 100 miles from east to west, through Perthshire and Argyllshire) mica-schist predominates. The high mountains (Ben More, Ben Lawers, and others) forming the nucleus of the Grampians consist of the same rock, which throughout the property exhibits its many varieties of mineral character, and includes talc-schists, chloritic schist, and hornblende-rocks, often to a great extent. In juxtaposition to the mica-schist, in the northern and north-western part of the district, gneiss and granite appear. Among the more useful subordinate rocks is a calcareous variety of the mica-schist (limestone), in beds and in lenticular masses, containing as much as 90 per cent. of carbonate of lime. Another stratified rock found in close connexion with the mica-schist is clayslate, lying on the north side of Ben Lawers, and at a great elevation. The difficulty of access is the only cause why it is only rarely used as roofing-slate. These subordinate strata participate in most cases in the general bearing of the mica-schist, which is nearly east and west; while the dip of the mica-schist, though in general low, appears as often exceptional as conformed to rule. While in special cases the underlie surrounds the several axes of elevation, sloping from them on all sides, both the strike and dip are not unfrequently altered by the appearance of eruptive rocks and other disturbing masses, as, for instance, by intersecting veins and ridges of quartz. The latter mineral in general seems