bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On some Footmarks in the Millstone Grit of Tintwistle, Chesire
Authors: Binney E. W.
Published: October 2009

Some years since a series of strange impressions was found in one of the lower beds of Millstone Grit in a quarry belonging to James Rhodes, Esq., at Rhodes Wood, near Tintwistle, in Mottram-en-Longdendale, Cheshire. Mr. Rhodes was much struck with the impressions, from the fact of two of them bearing some resemblance to the mark of a human foot; and the workmen employed in the quarry, when they first showed him the impressions, remarked, “Master, somebody has been here before us.” During several weeks the quarry was visited by many hundreds of people from Glossop and the surrounding neighbourhood. The common opinion was that the impressions were the footprints of some of Noah's family. This was founded on the supposition that the ark had rested on the high hills above Woodhead. Other parties, who would not so readily admit of this change of all previously received ideas as to the resting-place of the Ark, contended that they were the footprints of people who had lived before the flood. These opinions are introduced for the purpose of showing how great was the resemblance of some of the specimens to the impressions of a human foot, in the eyes of ordinary people.
Notice of some appearances observed on Draining a Mere near Wretham Hall, Norfolk
Authors: Bunbury Charles J. F.
Published: October 2009

Wretham Hall, the seat of Wyrley Birch, Esq., is situated about six miles north of Thetford, in that extensive tract of open sandy plains which occupies much of the south-western part of Norfolk and of the north-western part of Suffolk; a tract which may be called upland in comparison with the fens, but of very moderate elevation above the sea-level, as is shown by the slow course of the streams flowing from it. About Wretham there are several
meres
, or small natural sheets of water, without any outlet. The one to which my attention was particularly called by Mr. Birch occupied about forty-eight acres, and was situated in a slight natural depression, the ground sloping gently to it from all sides. The water has been drawn off by machinery, for the purpose of making use, as manure, of the black peaty mud which formed the bottom. This black mud, which is in parts above 20 feet deep, is nothing else than a soft, rotten, unconsolidated peat; or perhaps it should be described as vegetable matter in a more complete state of decomposition than ordinary peat, showing no distinct trace of vegetable structure. At the depth of about 15 feet, in this peat, occurs a distinct horizontal layer, from 2 to 6 inches thick in various parts, of compressed but undecayed
moss
, unmixed with any other substance.
On the Occurrence of Coal near the City of E-u in China
Authors: Cobbold R. H.
Published: October 2009

On Monday, December 17, we left the city of E-u, and, after walking a few miles, met every hundred yards with men bearing coals. On inquiring of them where the coals were obtained, they pointed to some hills in front of us, called the “Coal Hills.” As the mines were said to be but a short way off our road, we determined to visit them. About a mile off the main road the work of the miners was very evident, and rude straw huts, dotted about on the sides of the hills, showed both where the pits were, and the residences for the workmen. Two of the nearest pits were visited, and I was sorry that I had not seen the working of coal in England, that I might have been able to make, in various particulars, a better comparison, and so give a clearer account. The pits were from 300 to 500 feet deep. The descent was made by about ten storeys (in the first we visited); so that only 40 or 50 feet were descended at once; and then a fresh platform, with a fresh windlass reaching another 50 feet; and so on to the last: from each platform galleries were cut, about 6 feet wide, following of course the vein of coal. The workmen did not descend by the basket, as I believe is usual at home, but climbed down the pit by means of beams let into the sides. The mouth of the pit was about 6 feet by 4, and this seemed to be the dimensions all the way down. The descent was thus very easily and very safely effected, the men swinging themselves from one side to the other, as if they were going down some huge chimney. About forty men were at work in each pit, besides those engaged in sorting and packing the coal on the surface. The coal was very bright, but it was not bituminous.
On the Silurian Rocks of Wigtownshire
Authors: Moore J. C.
Published: October 2009

The objects of the following communication are—1st, to point out a remarkable arrangement in the rocks which form the Peninsula between the Mull of Galloway and Corswall Point; and 2ndly, To show the relative positions of the Graptolitic Schists of Wigtownshire to the coarse Conglomerate and Limestones of Ayrshire.
On a New Genus of Cephalopoda,
Diploceras
(
Orthoceras bisiphonatum
of Sowerby); and on the occurence of
Ascoceras
in Britain
Authors: Salter J. W.
Published: October 2009

In this communication the author pointed out the apparent relations of this peculiar form, which has been figured in the ‘Silurian System’ and in ‘Siluria.’ It possessed ordinary septa, pierced by an excentric beaded siphuncle, and also had a deep lateral cavity (supposed hitherto to be a second siphuncle) passing down side by side with the siphuncle, and affecting at least seven, if not more of the uppermost septa.

Mr. Salter remarked that the structural peculiarities of
Orthoceras paradoxicum
and of
Gonioceras
might offer some analogy with the shell in question; but he thought that the real affinities were with
Ascoceras
and
Cameroceras
.

Mr. Salter also described a new species of
Ascoceras
(
A. Barrandii
), found not long since in the Upper Ludlow rock, at Ludlow, and at Stansbatch in Herefordshire. The genus is new to Britain.
On Trap-dykes intersecting Syenite in the Malvern Hills, Worcestershire
Authors: Symonds W. S.
Published: October 2009

Among the varied phænomena described and registered respecting the Malvern Hills in Prof. Phillips's admirable work in the ‘Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain’ (vol. ii. part 1), I am not aware of any notice of the effect of injected and intersecting trap upon the syenite of which the great mass of the Malverns is composed.

I had for some time been aware that greenstone and trap-dykes traversed syenite in a quarry worked between the Winds-point and the Obelisk, and to which last autumn I directed the attention of Mr. C. J. Fox Bunbury. Having been requested by Sir W. Jardine to examine the site of the great Malvern bonfire of January last, in order to discover whether any signs of the vitrification of the rocks were visible, I did so, and was immediately struck with the appearance of the roasted syenite which formed the platform, and the similarity presented by the baked mineral to syenite in contact with dykes of trap and greenstone at the quarry at the back of News Wood, half-way between Winds-point and the Obelisk.

I was accompanied during this investigation by a Swiss geologist, Dr. De la Harpe, well accustomed to metamorphic phænomena; he was much struck with this most interesting quarry.

I may here mention that a high wind prevented the flames of the Beacon fire ascending to any height, and I was informed by those present that an intense glow was concentrated upon the syenitic platform.
On the Possible Origin of Veins of Gold in Quartz and other Rocks
Authors: Ibbetson L. L. B.
Published: October 2009

Having mixed a solution of gold in nitromuriatic acid with five times its weight of water, and placed it in a Berlin evaporating-dish on a thick sheet of copper over a gas-lamp, the author observed a crack in the basin, which was increasing. On transferring the solution to another basin, he found that the crack presented a vein of gold; the pure gold forming small nodular masses along the fissure, both inside and out, and resembling veins of gold in auriferous quartz-rocks. Under the circumstances of the low temperature at which the solution was being evaporated, the diluted state of the solution still left unevaporated, and the difference of the appearance of the nodular form of the gold-vein from the usual appearance of the metallic gold obtained by evaporation from such a solution, the author thought it worth while to describe and exhibit the specimen to the Meeting.
On the Correlation of the Middle Eocene Tertiaries of England, France, and Belgium
Authors: Prestwich J.
Published: October 2009

In a former paper the author had shown the correlation of the strata beneath the Bracklesham series in England, the
Calcaire grossier
and
Lits Coquilliers
in France, and the Upper Ypresian system in Belgium, and had proposed to designate that lower series the “London Tertiary Group,” from the circumstance of these strata attaining the largest and most distinct development in the English area. In the present paper Mr. Prestwich entered into an account of the structures of the deposits next above. In France this is the
Calcaire grossier
, which the French geologists have divided into four stages:—1. a series of white and light-green marls, apparently of freshwater origin; 2. an upper divison, of calcareous rock, harder and more flaggy than the next below, and rich in
Miliolites
and
Cerithium
, mixed with a few freshwater shells and the remains of plants and land-animals; 3. a middle one, of a calcareous freestone abounding in marine organic remains (Grignon, Courtagnon, and other celebrated localities being in beds of this zone); and 4. a lower one of green sands, with few fossils. Each division attains at places a thickness of 30 to 40 feet, but the lower ones are thickest in the centre and west of the Paris basin; whilst the upper, on the contrary, are thickest to the eastward. The total thickness of the deposit, therefore, rarely at any one place exceeds 100 feet, whilst the Upper Bracklesham series, with which it corresponds, is more than 500 feet thick.
On the Occurrence of Crystallization in a Stucco-Casting
Authors: Buist G.
Published: October 2009

In 1847–48, having been much engaged in plaster-casting at Bombay, in the spring of the latter year I had thrown out a multitude of useless fragments, when, on the 28th and 29th of March, a furious thunder-storm and fall of rain occurred at the setting in of the monsoon. A week or so afterwards, as soon as the weather slightly cleared up, what was my astonishment to find nearly all the fragments presenting crystals of semitransparent selenite on their surface! These, on examination, were found partly imbedded in the earthy mass of stucco, in part protruding above its surface. When the specimens were taken indoors, the crystallization extended itself, and the whole mass became covered over with fine pearly spicula, like the crystals of the finest actinolite, only not radiating from points.

The stucco was prepared from a hard crystalline gypsum brought from the Persian Gulf; deprived of its water in the usual way, by being heated a little short of redness, then ground and sifted, and treated in the customary fashion. It was so absorbent that the rain disappeared from its surface almost as rapidly as it fell, so that the crystallization could not have arisen from saturation, in the ordinary sense of the term, or deposition from a menstruum.
On the Occurrence of Allophane at Charlton, Kent
Authors: Morris J.
Published: October 2009

For some time past a substance, having at first sight the appearance of amorphous carbonate of lime, has been noticed as occurring at the chalk-pit near Charlton, and to which the workmen applied the term “petrified water.” It was found in more abundance than at present during the progress of the old workings through some parts of the pit, although it is still to be obtained.

This substance, which has been carefully analysed by Mr. Dick, of the Metallurgical Laboratory of the School of Mines, Jermyn Street, proves to be allophane, which has not, I believe, hitherto been recorded as a British mineral. A. brief notice of its mode of occurrence may therefore be useful to those who are interested in the formation of minerals, and may possibly stimulate some farther inquiry as to its origin.

Allophane and the allied species are hydrous silicates of alumina, which differ in the relative quantities of silica, alumina, and water they contain, the latter ranging above 40 per cent. in scarbroite and allophane.

The nature and position of these minerals would seem to indicate that their origin is due to the slow action of chemical and other agencies upon the rocks with which they are associated, or more generally, as in the present case at Charlton, on the strata superposed to the rock in the fissures of which latter the mineral is deposited.
On the Red Sandstone and Conglomerate, and the Superposed Quartz-rocks, Limestones, and Gneiss of the Northwest Coast of Scotland
Authors: Nicol James
Published: October 2009

The Red Sandstone and Quartzite rocks on the north-west coasts of Sutherland and Ross possess many features of interest, which have long attracted the attention of geologists. The mountains, rising abruptly from the great table-land of lower hills in smooth rounded cones, spiry peaks, or long serrated ridges, their hoary summits shining in the sun like new-fallen snow, and sending down streams of rugged fragments to the deep sea-lochs that, running far up into the interior, wash their bases, present scenes of wild and varied grandeur unknown in other parts of the island. Nor does a closer examination lessen the wonder with which we regard these mountains. They are then found to consist, not of granite or igneous rocks, nor of the older so-called primary strata, crushed up and broken by some great convulsion, as their singular outlines might have led us to expect, but of stratified rocks of no great hardness, lying almost horizontally in thin even beds, an moulded into these strange forms by the slow agency of natural causes. Many authors have consequently been induced to notice them, from the time when Pennant, deceived by their external aspect, described them as formed of white marble; and Williams, with a more accurate knowledge of mineralogy, as granular quartz.
On the Newer Tertiary Deposits of the Sussex Coast
Authors: Godwin-Austen R.
Published: October 2009

It was only a very short time since, and that, too, in the most advanced treatises on systematic geology, that certain superficial accumulations of every European district were grouped together, as belonging to “the diluvial period.” Recent investigations are now beginning to assure us of the great amount of physical change which is referable to that period, and also that it was not transitory, nor convulsive, as it has been frequently represented. Already it is separable into stages and subdivisions, whereby the lapse of time is becoming clearly marked out.

The knowledge we possess of the history of these later changes is as yet a very imperfect one, and it is not perhaps too much to assert, that, of all geological periods, that which comes nearest to our own times is the one which is the
least
understood. If the accumulations themselves in these regions are wanting in those vertical dimensions which speak directly to the eye as to the vast duration of the older palæozoic, secondary, and tertiary periods, the very fact of great physical changes having taken place during comparatively much shorter periods of time is in itself a consideration which renders the earth's recent history even more strange than its remoter one.
On the Geology of Varna, and the Neighbouring parts of Bulgaria
Authors: Spratt T.
Published: October 2009

Varna and the Coasts to the South
.—The Varna district seems to consist generally of two distinct formations: viz. 1st, a series of yellowish and grey deposits, composed of calcareous sandstone and sandy marls, with sometimes an oolitic bed interstratified; 2ndly, a series of arenaceous marls, sands, and fine gravel, of a reddish-brown and greyish colour, which overlie the former, and occupy the tops of the ridges, or occur on the sides of some of the valleys.

The lower group is marine and appears to be of the Eocene Tertiary age; it attains a thickness of
fully 1000 feet in some localities. The overlying red sands and marls are seldom found in greater
thickness than from 100 to 200 feet in the immediate vicinity of Varna; having been no doubt much
denuded from that district. On the coast, however, at Cape Aspro, about fifteen miles south of
Varna, and ten miles north of Cape Emeneh, the termination of the Balkan, the cliffs show a
section of the two series of deposits together, as seen in the following sketch (fig. 1). A local
disturbance has here tilted the two formations to a greater inclination than usual, and exposed a thickness of fully
1000 feet of the red sand and marls.
Further Notice of the Eruption of Mauna Loa
Authors: Miller W.
Published: October 2009

This communication is a letter addressed to and transmitted by Mr. Miller, H.M. Consul-General at Woahoo. It describes some remarkable volcanic eruptions in the Island of Hawaii (Owhyhee), of which Mr. Coan was an eye-witness, during the last sixteen years; and includes an account of the great eruption of 1855–56. Mr. Coan has been the Resident Protestant Missionary at Hilo for twenty-one years; and was attending at the Annual Meeting in Honolulu when he wrote his letter.

In a despatch from Mr. Miller, dated July 30, 1856, the eruption in Hawaii is stated to be still active; and a copy of ‘The Pacific Commercial Advertiser’ newspaper, accompanying this despatch, contains a further notice of the eruption, which will be quoted in the sequel.
Additional Observations on the Geology of Bulgaria
Authors: Spratt T. A. B.
Published: October 2009

Having again visited the Bulgarian coast, Captain Spratt was enabled to confirm his observations on the freshwater deposits of the Dobrudcha, which were read before the Society in June last. These additional notices have been printed in the last number of the Journal (No. 49, p. 75, &c.), in connexion with the communication to which they have reference.
On the Freshwater Deposits of Eubœa, the Coast of Greece, and Salonika
Authors: Spratt T. A. B.
Published: October 2009

In a paper recently sent to the Society, containing geological notes, collected during the war, on the Bulgarian coast of the Black Sea, and on the coast of the Sea of Marmora and the Dardanelles, I have referred to some extensive freshwater formations in Eubœa and on the western coast of the Archipelago, which I examined some years ago, but the results of which examination were not communicated to the Society. I have now put together my notes made when examining these several localities; but not having the fossils before me, this communication is necessarily imperfect.

The fossils were deposited with my lamented friend E. Forbes, at the Museum of Economic Geology, soon after they were collected; but as he had in view their publication in connexion with some contemplated work of his own on the Ægean, the localities have remained undescribed; and, this object being now lost by the premature death of my deeply lamented companion and friend, the notes are now drawn up, especially on account of their connexion with the specimens from the eastern point of the Archipelago, and the accompanying memoir, recently communicated to the Society.

They are also connected with the notes on the freshwater deposits of the shores of the Smyrna Gulf, and the islands of Samos and Eubœa, already published in the Society's Journal.
On the Fossil Vertebræ of a Serpent (
Laophis crotaloïdes
, Ow.) discovered by Capt. Spratt, R.N., in a Tertiary Formation at Salonica
Authors: Owen R.
Published: October 2009

The characters for distinguishing and determining the fossil remains of Serpents are deemed, I believe, by most palæontologists to be less salient and satisfactory than in those of other reptiles. I have found, however, in the course of comparisons called for by the discovery of Ophidiolites in our own tertiary strata, more differentiating characters in Ophidian vertebræ than the works on comparative anatomy gave promise of; and no palæontologist would find a difficulty in distinguishing the vertebra of an eocene
Palœophis
(PI. IV. fig. 1),
e.g.
from that of any known existing Ophidian, provided the neural arch (
n, z
) were entire.

For the nomenclature of the parts and processes of an Ophidian vertebra, and for their chief modifications in existing Serpents, I must refer to my “History of British Fossil Reptiles,” pp. 135–139,
Ophidia
, plates 2 and 3. It will there be seen that in the genera
Python
(figs. 5 and 6),
Boa, Eryx, Coluber
(fig. 7),
Deirodon
, and
Hydrus
, the hypapophysis (
h
) subsides into a ridge, or a short subcompressed tubercle, in the vertebræ situated, behind the anterior third or fourth part of the trunk; but that in
Crotalus
(fig. 4),
Vipera
, and
Natrix
the hypapophysis,
h
, is continued, with more or less diminution of relative length, from all the vertebræ supporting free ribs.
On Annelide-burrows and Surface-markings from the Cambrian Rocks of the Longmynd. No. 2.
Authors: Salter J. W.
Published: October 2009

In a former communication (March 1856) I described a few obscure traces of animals from these old rocks in the Longmynd, and have now to add some further information, gathered during the last summer in the same locality.

The markings which were in that paper referred to the burrows of Annelides have been found in the greatest profusion, and through a much greater thickness of strata than before, not less than a mile in vertical measure; and they have been detected too in places considerably to the south and west of the localities before given.

I am glad of the opportunity of again drawing attention to the subject, partly because the woodent-section in the former paper, at page 247, Journ. No. 47, was accidentally made so as to exclude the most important beds, and partly because these annelide-markings have, during the present year, been sedulously searched for, and similar ones found, by my friend. Dr. J. R. Kinahan, of Dublin, in the undoubted Cambrian beds of Bray Head, Wicklow. His paper appeared in the January Number for 1857 of the Proceedings of the Dublin Geological Society.

The Section here given has numbers corresponding to the beds enumerated in the former paper; and the overlying Silurian strata (10, 11, 12) are introduced to show their relations to the highly inclined Cambrian beds under notice.
On some species of Acidaspis from the Lower Silurian Beds of the South of Scotland
Authors: Thomson Wyville
Published: October 2009

Having occupied part of my leisure for the last year or two in examining the fossils of the Silurian beds of the south of Ayrshire, described by Sir Roderick Murchison in 1851, I have met with many species and not a few generic types additional to those included in Mr. Salter's list accompanying Sir R. Murchison's paper on the Silurian Rocks of the South of Scotland. As most of the known British species of the genus
Acidaspis
have either been already described or are now in process of description, I take an opportunity of adding the few new forms which have hitherto occurred during the course of my investigations.

The specimens are few, and in many cases fragmentary. The first two species are an addition to a little group already represented among our Lower Silurians by
Acidaspis Jamesii
and
A. bispinosa
. The group is formed of minute species, usually rather meagrely ornamented, and having a tendency to the fusion of the various prominent parts of the head; a tendency which reaches its maximum in the subgenus
Trapelocera
, between which subgenus and
Acidaspis
proper (represented by
A. mira
, Barrande, and
A. Brightii
) Murch.) this group may be considered a link.
On some Remarkable Mineral Veins
Authors: Ansted D. T.
Published: October 2009

In a previous memoir (Quarterly Geological Journal, vol. xii. p. 144), I have described the conditions of the great copper lode of Cobre in the island of Cuba. I have now to offer remarks on three lodes, or rather groups of lodes; one in the central part of the same island (Cuba), and the others situated in the United States of North America.
Description of the Lower Jaw and Teeth of an Anoplotherioid quadruped (
Dichobune ovina
, Ow.) of the size of the Xiphodon gracilis, Cuv., from the Upper Eocene Marl, Isle of Wight
Authors: Owen R.
Published: October 2009

The subject of the present description (Pl. VIII.) is an almost entire lower jaw with the
permanent dental series, wanting only the four middle incisors. The specimen is from the
collection of the Marchioness of Hastings, and now forms part of the Palæontological
collection in the British Museum. The dental formula, as shown by the mandibular teeth, and by the
evidence on their crowns of the presence of the teeth of the upper jaw,
is the typical one in diphyodont Mammalia; viz.,
On the Occurrence of Bones of Mastodon in Chile
Authors: Bollaert W.
Published: October 2009

But few instances of the occurrence of fossil bones on the Western side of the Andes have been recorded. During my late visit to South America, I made inquiries as to the existence of fossil bones in the Isthmus of Darien, but I could not learn that any had been met with, although railway-cuttings across the Isthmus were in progress.

Old Spanish writers speak of “bones of giants” having been found at Manta, on the coast of the Pacific, 0° 59′ S., 80° 40′ W., and at Punta St. Elena in 2° 11′ south of the equator and also on the Pacific. Humboldt, from the information of others, states that these bones are remains of great cetacean animals.

South of this, in the desert plains of Tarapacá (19° to 22° S.), where something like fossil wood has been met with, and where also large excavations for nitrate of soda have been made for years past, some vestiges of fossil bones have been found.

Dr. Phillipi, who was lately commissioned by the Chilian government to explore the Desert of Atacama, does not mention the existence of fossil bones in that very large of country.

My late journey (1854) extended to south of Arauco in Chili, but no fossil bones of land animals could I find; nor could I learn that any had been met with.
On the Geology of Strath, Skye
Authors: Geikie A.
Published: October 2009

This paper will be published in the next line Number of the Journal.
The Silurian Rocks and Fossils of Norway, as described by M. Theodor Kjerulf, those of the Baltic Provinces of Russia, by Professor Schmidt, and both compared with their British Equivalents
Authors: Murchison R. I.
Published: October 2009

My former brief sketches of the Silurian rocks of Norway have recently been much improved and enriched by the labours of M. Theodor Kjerulf, who has published an excellent memoir, entitled “The Silurian Basin of Christiania.” He has also addressed to me descriptive letters, with illustrative diagrams, exactly defining the relations and dimensions of the different rock-masses, as well as the organic remains of each stratum; the most characteristic specimens of the latter having been transmitted to England for comparison.

The same zealous author has published a work in which he classifies the two great sedimentary deposits of South Norway, the one exhibiting a vast development of unfossiliferous rocks, to which he applies the name of Cambrian,—the other being the overlying Silurian rocks, of which he describes each stratum with its respective fossils from the Alum Shales upwards.

My able coadjutor in the work on Russia and the Ural Mountains, Count A. von Keyserling, had previously translated and sent to me a memoir, by Prof. Schmidt, on the succession of the Silurian rocks of the Russian province of Esthonia, and the adjacent isles, which portrays the distinctions of the various members composing the Silurian system with much greater precision and clearness than had ever before been applied to that region.

I now lay an outline of these documents befbre my associates, in order to show them how independent observers in other tracts have come to the conclusion, that the Silurian system, as defined by them, as well as by myself
Description of a small Lophiodont Mammal (
Pliolophus vulpiceps
, Owen), from the London Clay, near Harwich
Authors: Owen R.
Published: October 2009

The remains of Mammalia from Eocene beds below the Binstead, Gypseous, and Headon or Hordwell series have hitherto been very scanty, and for the most part fragmentary; whether from the clays of London and Bracldesham, or from the equivalent sands, conglomerates, or “calcaires grossiers” of the Continent. The best evidence of
Pachynolophus
—a Lophiodont genus represented by species of small size, characteristic of the conglomerate of Mont Bernon (
Pachynolophus Vismæi
, Pomel) and of the “calcaire grossier” of Nanterre, Passy, and Vaugirard (
Pachynolophus Duvalii
, Pomel),—consists of portions of upper and lower jaws, with teeth. The
Dichobune suillum
, Gervais, from the “calcaire grossier” of Passy, if it be a true
Dichobune
, rests upon a fragment of mandible with three teeth, and on a few detached teeth, with an astragalus. The genus
Propalæotherium
, Gervais (
Palæotherium isselanum
and
Pal. aurelianum
, Cuv.), is represented by similar fragmentary evidences of jaws and teeth from the lacustrine calcareous deposits at Buchsweiler, on the Lower Rhine, at Issel in the department of Aude, and at Argenton. The fossil eocene Monkey (
Macacus [Eopithecus] eocænus
) is known only by a small fragment of the under jaw with two teeth, and by a detached mandibular molar from the lower eocene sand of Suffolk. The best and most instructive mammalian fossil hitherto obtained from the London clay has been the portion of cranium with the molar series of teeth on which the genus
Hyracotherium
was founded. But the subject of the present communication is an entire skull with the complete dentition of both
On some Remains of Terrestrial Plants in the Old Red Sandstone of Caithness
Authors: Salter J. W.
Published: October 2009

N
umerous
fragments of plants have for several years past been discovered in the Old Red Sandstone of the North of Scotland; but as yet a few only have been figured. The specimens have now been gathered together by the Director of the Geological Survey for the purpose of illustration.

As no experienced botanist has yet been willing to take up such obscure relics, I have thought that some general notes on this old flora might be useful, if only to lead the way to a more critical examination of the specimens. Some of them will be figured also in the second edition of “Siluria.”

The best that I have seen are in the collection of Mr. John Miller, of Thurso, who has for some time directed his attention to these Devonian plants, and at the request of Sir Roderick Murchison, who long ago observed them, has most kindly entrusted to us the whole of his collection. Mr. R. Dick, of the same place, has also aided largely in these discoveries. Mr. C. W. Peach has more lately found similar plants at Wick, and Dr. Hamilton in Orkney. I have examined all these collections, and many of the specimens are now placed in the Museum of Practical Geology.

The fossils are preserved in hard, grey, sandy flagstones, which are in many cases abundantly marked with impressions of Annelideburrows in pairs (P]. V. fig. 6) ; and these probably indicate that there was no great depth of water where these beds were
On the species of Mastodon and Elephant occurring in the fossil state in England.—Part II. Elephas
Authors: Falconer H.
Published: October 2009

In the introductory portion of Part I. of this Memoir, the author alluded to the ambiguity that has existed relative to the mammalian faunæ of the Miocene and Pliocene periods, in consequence of palæontologists confounding several distinct forms of
Mastodon
, of different geological ages, under one name (
M. angustidens
); and on this occasion Dr. Falconer stated, that, in the application of the name
Elephas primigenius
(Mammoth) to a multitude of elephantine remains from various superficial and deep deposits, over a vast extent of territory, and of different ages, a similar, if not a greater, amount of error and confusion had arisen.
On some Comparative Sections in the Oolitic and Iron- stone Series of Yorkshire
Authors: Phillips John
Published: October 2009

Conclusion

On reviewing the facts here selected to illustrate and exemplify the variations of the middle and lower Oolites, and upper and middle portions of the Lias of Yorkshire, we find sufficient grounds to mark out approximately the geographical ranges of some remarkable mineral conditions—and accumulations of organic remains,—indicative of peculiarities in the depth and currents of the sea, the direction and proximity of land, and other great characteristics of the mesozoic period in this part of the earth's surface.

Reserving for another communication the development of this subject, which cannot be properly examined without additional details, I desire to call attention in the mean time to a few prominent data.
On the Geology of the Southern Part of Andalusia, between Gibraltar and Almeria
Authors: Anstead D. T.
Published: October 2009

T
he
object of the author in this memoir was to direct attention to several points of interest and importance in the Geology of the south of Spain. These had reference to deposits of various ages, including the metamorphic rocks, both of the Sierra Nevada and the coast.
Descriptions of Fossil Invertebrata from the Crimea
Authors: Baily William H.
Published: October 2009

T
he
specimens described in this communication were principally collected by Capt. C. F. Cockburn, of the Royal Artillery, who has also supplied the Note on the Geology of the Neighbourhood of Sevastopol, which is appended to this paper.
On the Gravels at Taunton, in Somersetshire
Authors: Pring J. D.
Published: October 2009

T
he
River Tone at Taunton occupies a small depression in the red marls, and runs through a vale overspread with red gravels and clays. Its affluents descend from greensand and liassic districts on the one hand, and from hills of Devonian rocks on the other.

In the excavations made at Taunton for sewering, and for the railway, the composition of the surface-beds throughout long spaces has been disclosed, and it is ascertained that at least two distinct and successive operations have produced them.

Immediately over the red marl lies a bed of coarse slaty Devonian gravel, with finer materials of the same kind, occasionally interstratiffed. In this no fragment of the upper rocks occurs. It has been deposited by the waters from the palæozoic districts alone.

This is covered by a liassie and flinty gravel, containing rolled Gryphææ and fragments of lias, with flints from the greensands. Near the surface the latter predominate.

Neither of these gravels ascends the slope of the hills : they are mere fluviatile accumulations. Remains of Rhinoceros and abundance of bog-timber were found at their base in the course of the excavation at the County Gaol at Taunton.

The West of England is remarkably free from the ancient posttertiary drifts so prevalent in the north-eastern and midland counties. The present communication, with the plans forwarded for its illustration, is intended as a contribution towards the history of the comparatively minute changes which have aided in the formation of the present surfaces, and which, though not very interesting, are yet essential portions of the complete study of geology.
Palichthyologic Notes, No. 10. On
Palæoniscus superstes
Authors: de M. Grey Egerton P.
Published: October 2009

T
he
pretty little fish discovered by the Rev. P. B. Brodie in the Keuper beds of Rowington, and submitted to me for description, belongs undoubtedly to the genus
Palæoniscus
. The extremities are unfortunately deficient, but enough of the tail remains to show that it was completely heterocerque. The specimen (Pl. XI. figs. 1 & 2) measures one inch and three-quarters in length, by six-tenths of an inch at its greatest depth. The pectoral fins are lost, together with the head and the scapulo-coracoid arch. The other locomotive organs are well preserved, with the exception of the extremity of the caudal fin. The ventral fins occupy a very advanced position in front of the middle line of the body. They are small, and contain few fin-rays, but the anterior edge is bordered with fulcral scales of considerable thickness.The anal fin is situated near the hinder extremity of the body. Ten rays are seen in the specimen (fig. 3), of which the three first are short, pointed, and undivided. The remainder have transverse articulations at distant intervals, and dichotomize towards their extremities. The hinder portion of the fin is deficient. The dorsal fin is placed immediately above the anal fin. I t contains about a dozen rays. Of these the fulcral rays arc more numerous and more elongated than those in advance of the anal fin. In other respects the two fins are very similar. The portion of the tail which is preserved, shows the scales of the dorsal ridge elongating gradually
On the Newer Red Sandstone, and on some other Geological Phenomena, near Loch Greinord, in Ross-shire
Authors: Nicol James
Published: October 2009

In several passages of his work on the Western Isles, Dr. Macculloch refers to the occurrence on the shores of Loch Greinord of two small spots of a red sandstone of newer age than the great mass of similarly coloured rock which forms so conspicuous a feature on the western coasts of the Highlands. In his memoir on the Geological Map of Scotland he also several times mentions this formation, which he considered as the only undoubted instance of the occurrence of the “Red Marl” of English geologists in the northern part of the island. Although evidently regarding these beds with much interest, he has not given any detailed description of them. In their valuable memoir on the formations in the North of Scotland, Professor Sedgwick and Sir Roderick I. Murchison likewise mentioned this deposit, and pointed out its resemblance to the New Red of England, and also to some beds seen below the Lias in Skye. This sandstone does not seem to have been subsequently noticed by geologists, probably from lying in a region so seldom visited by the scientific traveller. I have therefore been induced to lay before the Society the following notes collected in an examination of this deposit in the autumn of last year (1856).

The great headland of the Ruimore or Ru Rea that separates Loch Greinord from Loch Ewe consists chiefly of the older red sandstone of the west coast, covered more or less deeply by drift or detritus. On the shore of Lake
Note on the Bones of the Hind-foot of the Iguanodon, discovered and exhibited by S. H. Beckles, F.G.S.
Authors: Owen R.
Published: October 2009

T
he
specimens† exhibited by Mr. S. H. Beckles, F.G.S., and discovered by him in the Wealden-bed, south-coast. Isle of Wight, consist of bones of apparently the same individual of a more than half-grown Iguanodon, including the metatarsals and phalanges of the left hind-foot. This foot includes three toes.

To the inner (tibial) side of the innermost of the fully-developed metatarsals, there is attached a styliform rudiment of a more internal metatarsal: the distal end of this rudiment is broken off, but it gradually tapers to that end, and seems, like the splint-bones in the metatarsus of a horse, to have terminated in a point, and not to have supported a rudimental claw. The outer side of the outermost metatarsal shows no mark of any other bone, rudimental or otherwise, having been there attached. The co-articulating surfaces at the proximal ends of the metatarsals show them to have belonged , as their position in the matrix indicated, to the. same foot.

The innermost supports a toe of three phalanges, the middle metatarsal one of four phalanges, the outermost one of five phalanges. Only the ungual phalanx of the middle toe is wanting : and that no other phalanx is absent from this toe is shown by the modification of the distal articular surface of the penultimate phalanx ; which, like that in the adjoining toes, is less concave transversely, or is more uniformly convex, than the distal trochlear surfaces of the more proximal phalanges.

The modifications of the claw-phalanx of the
Notice of the Discovery of a Large Femur of the Iguanodon in the Weald Clay at Sandown Bay, Isle of Wight
Authors: Gibson T. F.
Published: October 2009

I
n
the year 1829 a paper was read before the Society by Dr. Buckland, giving an account of the first discovery in the Isle of Wight of the bones of the Iguanodon. The paper described particularly a metacarpal bone of this animal discovered by Dr. Buckland in Sandown Bay, “in the iron-sand,” to use his own words, “which forms the shore there, a little east of Sandown Fort, between high and low water,” and he states his belief that it was the largest bone of this description that had then been found.

In the month of October last, an unusually high tide and violent sea washed away a portion of the low bank which forms the boundary of the shore a little to the west of Sandown Fort, so as to render the section of the Weald Clay, which comes out at this point, perpendicular to the height of about 15 feet. This bed of clay lies mediately above the ferruginous sandstone in which Dr. Buckland discovered the metacarpal bone. About midway between the bottom and the top of the clay-bank, I found, lying in a horizontal position, a fossil bone of such unusual dimensions, that it appeared worthy of notice, as being the largest of its kind yet recorded. It measures four feet ten inches in its extreme length, and fourteen inches in diameter near the centre. It has suffered much from pressure, but is so far perfect, that Professor Owen, on inspection of a small claymodel of the bone, pronounced it to be, in all probability, the femur of an Iguanodon. Owing to the kindness of my friend Mr. Tite, who happened to be at Sandown at the time, and assisted me in some researches for further remains of the animal, which proved fruitless, I am able to exhibit the drawing of the bone, of the actual size, on the wall.

The clay-bed in which the bone was found is near the centre of the arch which, as is well known, is formed by the Wealden in Sandown Bay, dipping slightly westward. Where the same bed occurs on the reverse, or eastern dip, at a distance of about half-a-mile, large vertebree and other portions of bone are frequently found, but always much rolled and broken.
On the Triassic and Permian Rocks of the Odenwald, in the Vicinity of Heidelberg, and the Corresponding Formations in Central England
Authors: Hull Edward
Published: October 2009

T
he
resemblances and general relations of the Trias and Permian formations of the Thüringerwald and Hartz, with their representatives in England, have already been pointed out in the joint memoir of Sir R. I. Murchison and Professor Morris. The present communication refers to a neighbouring range of hills, destitute, it is true, of that fine assemblage of palæozoic rocks below the Permian, which have been shown to abound in the Hartz and Thüringerwald, but, in the case of the more recent formations, presenting many points of analogy with their contemporaries, both in the regions referred to, and in Central England.

It has been shown by Professors Sedgwick and King, as also by the authors of the memoir on the Hartz, that the Permian groups of Germany and this country can be strictly contemporanized, stratum for stratum. In visiting the Odenwald, it was partly my object to ascertain whether a similar parallelism might be observed in the case of the Trias. In doing so, however, occasion was taken to examine the Permian formation, which, though only sparingly represented in the Odenwald, presents those peculiar lithological characters which appear to identify it, not only with formations in the Thüringerwald and Hartz, but also with the trappoid breccias of Worcestershire.

Since the establishment of three well-defined subformations in the Bunter Sandstone of England, a notice of which I had the honour of laying before the Geological Section of the British Association in 1854, and which have been adopted by the Geological Survey of
On the Extinct Volcanos of Victoria, Australia
Authors: Smyth R. Brough
Published: October 2009

T
he
district within which volcanic products and other evidences of recent igneous action are found extends from the River Plenty (a tributary of the Yarra), on the east, to Mount Gambier on the west. Its most northern point is McNeil's Creek (a tributary of the River Loddon), in 37° south latitude, and its most southern Belfast, in 38° 21′ south latitude (see accompanying Map, fig. 1). Its extreme length is 250 miles, and its extreme breadth about 90 miles.

It is said that there are crateriform hills near Lake Omeo, on the flanks of the Australian Alps, and at Lake Tyrrell, near Castle Donnington, on the River Murray; but I have not such precise information as would warrant me to mark those as belonging to or connected with the district now under consideration.

By referring to the map it will be seen that this district is bounded on the south by the sea, and on the north it crosses the Spur from the Australian Alps near the Ballaarat Gold-fields. In the centre is a basin-like depression, the drainage of which is into Lake Korangamite.
On a remarkable Specimen of
Neuropteris
; with Remarks on the Genus
Authors: Bunbury C. J. F.
Published: October 2009

T
he
rarity, in a fossil state, of the young unexpanded or half-expanded fronds of Ferns has been remarked by more than one botanist. Fern-fronds in that early stage of development are very easily recognized by the peculiar and beautiful manner in which they are rolled up, forming a spiral carve, like the head of a crosier. This
circinate vernation
, as it is called, appears to be universal in all Ferns, with the exception of the small tribe of
Ophioglossaceæ
; and, in those numerous kinds which have perennial or evergreen foliage, fronds in this state may be observed at most seasons of the year. Their rarity as fossils is therefore rather remarkable. That they do occur is evidence, as Dr. Hooker observes, “that the evolution of the fronds followed the same law then as now.” Adolphe Brongniart has figured, in his great work, a fine specimen of such a circinate frond belonging to
Pecopteris Miltoni
; two are represented in Göppert's ‘Systema Filicum Fossilium’, and one in Geinitz's beautiful work on the Coal-formation of Saxony §. But all these belong to the genus
Pecopteris
; I am not aware that a similar state of any
Neuropteris
has yet been recorded. I therefore wish to lay before the Society a description and drawing of a specimen in my own collection, which may perhaps contribute to settle our notions of the true affinities of that genus.
On the Boring through the Chalk at Harwich
Authors: Prestwich Joseph
Published: October 2009

O
wing
to the insufficient supply and indifferent quality of the water at Harwich, several attempts have from time to time been made to improve that supply by means of deep wells in the Tertiary sands and the Chalk. None of these having been attended with the desired success, although in 1824 and 1826 two borings were carried down to a depth of 293 feet and 192 feet in the Chalk, a public work of great spirit has lately been undertaken under the superintendence of Mr. Peter Bruff, C.E., to bore deep into, and, if necessary, through the Chalk. I saw this well in August 1856. It had not then traversed the Chalk. In November last, however, the Rev. J. H. Marsden informed our Assistant-Secretary that the boring had been successfully carried through the Chalk, Upper Greensand, and Gault, and that immediately beneath the latter a “black rock” had been found, of which he sent up a specimen. Mr. Marsden shortly afterwards favoured us with the following section (Column 2), on which, as the geological results are so curious and important, I purpose making a few remarks, as well as on a suite of specimens which Mr. Bruff kindly submitted for examination.

The well, which is situated near the Pier and a few feet only above the level of the river, was commenced in July 1854, and in May 1857 had reached its present great depth.