bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Izalco and other Volcanoes in Central America
Authors: Gosling A.
Published: October 2009

It may not be wholly devoid of speculative interest to learn that the volcano of Izalco, in the Republic of Salvador, which has been in active eruption for over one hundred years, suddenly ceased to be so in the early days of December 1896.

Izalco, rightly named ‘the Beacon of Central America,’ is one of the most recent and interesting volcanoes in that part of the world; and I venture to quote some remarks respecting it which I contributed in January of last year to the North American Review:—

Nowhere on this planet, the island of Java, perhaps, excepted, are volcanoes so numerous and of such varied and eccentric conformation as in Guatemala. The most notable are Agua and Fuego, respectively 12,310 and 13,976 feet in height. During last century the former vomited forth volumes of igneous matter, beneath which lies buried the old Spanish city of Ciudad Vieja. Guatemala la Antigua, the former capital and seat of government under a Spanish viceroy, with its hundreds of fine churches and religious establishments, was, upwards of a hundred years ago, totally destroyed by earthquakes caused by the sudden and terrible activity of Fuego. Of recent years seismic disturbance has been of such rare occurrence in Guatemala that houses of two or three stories have replaced the low and substantial structures of former times, built to withstand the much-dreaded violence of the
tierra mota
.

‘In the Republic of Salvador, a volcano of recent formation, named Izalco, by whose
agency the capital, San Salvador
Coal: a New Explanation of its Formation; or the Phenomena of a New Fossil Plant considered with reference to the Origin, Composition, and Formation of Coal-beds
Authors: Gresley W. S.
Published: October 2009

The Author argues that the brilliant black laminæ in coal and materials similar to those that form these laminæ, which are found in earthy coals, shales, and clays, point to the former existence of an aquatic plant, having the general shape of the modern
Platycerium alcicorne
, which grew in place. He believes that much coal was formed by this aquatic ‘coal-plant,’ which grew amongst the mechanical sediments and the débris of the terrestrial vegetation that accumulated on the floors of sheets of water.
On the Nature and Origin of the Rauenthal Serpentine
Authors: Raisin Catherine A.
Published: October 2009

Introduction.

The general origin of the rock serpentine as a metamorphosed peridotite is now usually admitted since the investigations, which have hecome classic, of Profs. Tschermak, Sandberger, Bonney, and other later observers. An exception is made, however, for certain masses by some geologists. One of the most interesting of these is that described as the Rauenthal serpentine. The hypothesis which was put forward by Weigand in 1875 was that this did not originate from a peridotite, that it is indeed a metamorphosed rock, but is the result of the metamorphosis of part of a gneiss. The investigation of the genesis of this rock thus has a bearing on an important general petrological question. Exception was taken to the conclusions of Herr Weigand by Prof. Bonney from the study of microscopic slices. In consequence of this, on my return journey from Switzerland in 1895, I turned aside to visit the Rauenthal, and brought back a few specimens, with the idea that they might be useful in the further examination of the question which I hoped that Prof. Bonney intended to make. As, however, it was not possible for him to
visit the locality himself for some time, he asked me to continue the investigation, which I did
in the summer of 1896, spending about a fortnight in the district. From the numerous specimens
then collected, many slides have been prepared, the inferences from which seem entirely to
corroborate the views formed on the spot. I have been able fortunately to submit
Notes on some Volcanic and other Rocks, which occur near the Baluchistan-Afghan Frontier, between Chaman and Persia
Authors: McMahon C. A. , McMahon A. H.
Published: October 2009

While engaged, in the deserts south of the Helmand River, in the delimitation of the boundary between Afghanistan and Baluchistan, I made a small collection of such rock-specimens and fossils as I thought were characteristic of the geology of the country. I regret to say that I am not myself a geologist, else my collection would have been perhaps a more methodical one, and would probably have been supplemented by notes on the positions and surroundings of the specimens collected, and on other points of geological interest. I say perhaps, because even if I had been the most learned of geologists I doubt whether political and other duties would have allowed me time to do more than I did. At any rate my collection would not have been a larger one, for the simple fact that, owing to long marches and want of water and food, our transport-camels were almost unfit for work, and the mortality among them rendered it a matter of difficulty for us to carry even the necessaries of life.

Turning now to the physical geography of the country, one finds in it various natural phenomena on a gigantic scale, the study of which I venture to think may throw light on similar phenomena seen elsewhere on a smaller scale. I t is a country almost un-inhabited by man, where man has left nature to do as she pleases undisturbed. If you look at the map (P1. XVIII), you see high mountain-ranges fringing it on the
On the Origin of some of the Gneisses of Anglesey
Authors: Callaway Charles
Published: October 2009

The comparative ages of the subdivisions of the schistose and gneissic rocks of Anglesey have been discussed with very varied conclusions, but these discrepancies have been in great part the result of the unsettled state of opinion on the subject of metamorphism. The former belief that the granite was of metamorphic origin, and that a parallel-structure necessarily indicated an original sedimentation, could not fail to mislead the stratigraphical geologist. It is therefore requisite that the genesis of the respective rocks should be determined before attempting to revise the old classifications.

Before entering upon my task, I wish to indicate briefly the present state of our knowledge of the Archæan (pre-Cambrian) rocks of Anglesey. Dr. H. Hicks, F.R.S., divided them into three groups:—Dimetian (granite), Arvonian (hälleflinta), and Pebidian (schistose), these divisions being named in ascending order. I have never been able to define more than two systems, an older one, which, to avoid theory, I simply designated as ‘Gneissic’ and a newer one, which I described as ‘Slaty,’ and provisionally identified with the Pebidian. The Rev. J. F. Blake, F.G.S., admits the pre-Cambrian age of all these rocks, but he describes them as one continuous series, which he calls ‘Monian.’ Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., also regards the crystalline schists as Archæan, but Sir A. Geikie, F.R.S., and Prof. T. McK. Hughes, F.R.S., place some of the less altered schists at a higher horizon. The pre-Cambrian age of the bulk of the granitic, gneissic, and schistose rocks of Anglesey may therefore
II. Petrology
Authors: Raisin C. A.
Published: October 2009

The collect-ion of specimens sent by Capt. Lyons includes many rocks of similar class, but I have given short notes of all, as they represent a district on which no petrological information is available, and they show some variations. I have to thank Prof. Bonney for much kind help in my investigation.

In order to avoid repetition, the specimens have been grouped petrologically. Those in Groups vii & ix come from the ‘schistose’ area, but the majority are from the areas marked by Capt. Lyons as ‘crystalline rocks,’ among which only one specimen (Group viii) is sedimentary. The ‘crystalline’ districts may be described as (1) the ‘Southern’ (around Murrat), and the ‘Western’ (around Jebel Raft) separated by the southern tract of ‘schistose’ rocks; (2) an ‘Eastern’ district beyond the schistose outcrops just mentioned, extending over the watershed to the head of the Wadi Allaki. Of the crystalline rocks, those which bear most distinct signs of modification are treated first.

(i) Gneiss.

(18
1
: Murrat, from the Southern area). Of this only one specimen occurs; it is jointed, and has a rather fragmental aspect.—
Microsc
. The original constituents are often reconstituted. The quartz forms a clear mosaic enclosing minute zircons and other prisms. The clustered felspar-crystals or grains (sometimes plagioclase and somewhat idiomorphie) are altered, and may be bordered by minute mica; and a small amount of a green, rather dichroic, altered biotite occurs with some ferrite. The rock is a fine-grained biotite-gneiss, which appears to be granitic in its origin, probably somewhat
The Mollusca of the Chalk Rock: Part II
Authors: Woods Henry
Published: October 2009

Introduction.

The first part of this paper, dealing with the Cephalopoda, Gasteropoda, and Scaphopoda, appeared in the preceding volume of this Journal. In the present communication I propose to consider the Lamellibranchia, and to discuss the relations and distribution of the fauna of the Chalk Rock and the conditions under which that fauna lived.

The Lamellibranchs are represented by a larger number of species than either the Cephalopoda or the Gasteropoda, but, on account of the imperfect manner in which their remains are preserved, greater difficulty has been found in studying them than was the case with the groups considered in Part I. Again, there is evidence of the existence of forms other than those herein described, but the specimens now at my disposal are not sufficiently good for determination. I shall hope, after more collecting has been done, to be able to supplement this work, and shall be grateful for any opportunity of examining specimens from this zone.

For further assistance I must again thank the gentlemen mentioned in Part I., particularly Mr. Jukes-Browne, Mr. E. T. Newton, Mr. G. C. Crick, and Mr. R. M. Brydone.

II. Class LAMELLIBRANCHIA.

Family Nuculanidæ, Stoliczka.

Genus Nuculana, Link, 1807

[=
Leda
, Schumacher, 1817].
On Augite-diorites with Micropegmatite in Southern India
Authors: Holland Thomas H.
Published: October 2009

Prior to the great outburst of Deccan trap at the close of the Cretaceous period, there were two principal periods of volcanic activity in Peninsular India. One of these is indicated by the contemporaneous traps of the Dharwars—the oldest of our recognized Transition systems—and the other by the lava-flows of the Cuddapah system, whose precise position in the stratigraphical succession remains, on account of the complete absence of fossils, still undetermined. As a result of the great earth-movements which affected the strata of Peninsular India previous to the deposition of the Cuddapah system, the igneous rocks of Dharwar age have been greatly metamorphosed, and in this respect they stand in striking contrast to the Cuddapah traps, since the eruption of which the Peninsula of India has been remarkably free from geological disturbances. It is evidently in consequence of this remarkable freedom, both from extreme changes of level and the crushing effects of earth-movements, that rocks as old as the Cuddapahs have their original delicate structures, and primary constituents so susceptible as olivine and augite, preserved with striking freshness.

The numerous dykes of basic igneous rocks which break through the ‘pyroxene-granulites’ and gneisses of the Madras Presidency, and which, for reasons that need not now be stated, are regarded as the dyke-representatives of the Cuddapah lava-flows, vary in composition from very basic olivine-augite norites approaching saxonites, through augite-norites, to augite-diorites with micro-pegmatite. Detailed descriptions of these and the peculiar hemi-crystalline and vitreous varieties, which form the selvages of the larger masses
The Gravels and Associated Deposits at Newbury
Authors: Richards E. Percy
Published: October 2009

1. I
ntroduction
and R
emarks
on the G
eneral
G
eology
of the D
istrict
.

The observations recorded here were taken during the progress of the main-drainage works at Newbury in 1894. Pressure of work greatly curtailed my opportunities; nevertheless I trust that my notes, though not of so much value as I could wish, will be of use to geologists who are systematically studying our drifts and other gravel-deposits.

The strata which I have examined may be apportioned into four groups, as follows :—

(1)

Pre-Glacial Southern Drift.

(2)

Glacial (?) Drift.

(3)

A lower and an upper Palæolithic River-gravel.

(4)

Neolithic peat, loam, and shell-marl.

The Kennet Valley at Newbury is about 2 miles wide, broad and fertile, with flat water-meadows over the peat, stretches of cornland and firm pasture upon the river-gravel terraces, while woods clothe the low parallel hills which continuously enclose the valley.

River-gravels rest upon the Chalk-with-flints in the middle of the valley at Newbury; but a few miles down stream both the valley and the hills are formed in Eocene strata.

2. T
he
P
re
,-G
lacial
D
rift
.

The first-mentioned gravel in the above list occurs in wide regular layers over the Tertiary rocks in the district, and produces the heathy commons, on each side of the valley, occupying an average level of 440 feet above O.D. This gravel was said to be probably ‘Southern Drift’ by the late Sir Joseph Prestwich, in his ‘Westleton’ papers. The
Some Igneous Rocks in North Pembrokeshire
Authors: Parkinson John
Published: October 2009

The acid rocks which form the subject of the bulk of the following notes are situated at the eastern end of the Prescelly Hills in North Pembrokeshire. Although igneous rocks differing from these do occur to a large extent, their petrological interest is not great, and the mention made of them will be brief. The Prescelly range has a general trend in an easterly and westerly direction, and may be considered as extending roughly from near the village of Rosebush—noteworthy for its slate-quarries—to the village of Crymmych, some 7 miles to the west. The slates of the country are coloured on the Geological Survey maps as Llandeilo; and it is unfortunate that the difficulty of finding fossils prevents much further and more definite information being added.

Although apparently organisms are sometimes found in the Rosebush slate-quarries, neither my endeavours nor those of the men employed in the place Were successful during my visit.
About 1¼ mile west of Crymmych, however, a few fragmentary fossils were obtained.
An Account of the Portraine Inlier (Co. Dublin)
Authors: Gardiner C. I. , Reynolds S. H.
Published: October 2009

I. I
ntroduction
.

The coast of County Dublin is well known for the variety and interest of the rocks exposed along it, but there is probably no part of it more interesting than that in the neighbourhood of the village of Portraine, some 14 miles north of Dublin itself. Here occurs an inlier of pre-Devonian rocks which prove the occurrence in the district, during Bala times, of much volcanic action and of reef-building corals. The interest attaching to the rocks and the difficulty of interpreting their meaning are increased by the great amount of disturbance which has gone on and has given rise to extensive developments of conglomerate-like beds.

Volcanic rocks, which are certainly of the same age as those at Portraine, and coarse conglomerates, occur on Lambay Island, some 3 miles out to sea, and we hope to give some account of these at no distant date.

We were led to examine the beds at Portraine from a wish to compare them with the Bala Beds occurring in the neighbourhood of Kildare, which we described last year.

The Portraine area has, perhaps, hardly received so much attention from geologists as it deserves. The first description is that given by H. B. Medlicott; a brief account is given by G. V. Du Noyer, in the Memoirs of the Irish Geological Survey, the memoir including a list of some fifty fossils determined by W. H. Baily; later Prof. Cole writes of the area in his articles on ‘County Dublin, Past and Present’
Appendix
Authors: Cowper Reed F. R.
Published: October 2009

(
a
) Fossils from the Limestone at point C in the Map.

Trilobita.—The fauna of this limestone consists principally of trilobites, which both in species and individuals form the majority of the fossils. The following is the list of the trilobites, but the extremely fragmentary condition of most of the specimens rendered their identification a matter of much difficulty :—

Calymene Blumenbachi
, Brongnn.

Cheirurus bimucronatus
?, Murch.

—
juvenis
, Salt. (?
clavifrons
, Dalm.).

— [
Pseudosphærexochus
]
subquadratus
, Reed.

Cybele rugosa
, Portl., var.
a

— —, var.
attenuata
nov.

Harpes
, 2 spp.

Illænus Bowmani
, Salt.

— —, sp.
a

Illænus Bowmani
, sp. β

— —, cf.
oblongatus
, Ang.

Lichas
sp.

Remopleurides
sp.

Sphærexochus mirus
, Beyr.

Staurocephalus
sp.

Stygina latifrons
, Portl.

Trinucleus seticornis
, His.

— —, var.

Of the above the
Illæni
are the most abundant. Besides
I. Bowmani
there are fragments of a form (sp.
a
) possessing an ornamentation of small pits distributed with some regularity over the shell, with a very finely-punctated surface. But the specimens are too imperfect to determine the species.

Another form has the general appearance of
I. Bowmani
, so far as the fragments allow one to distinguish its characters, but the
The Cretaceous Strata of County Antrim
Authors: Hume W. Fraser
Published: October 2009

I. I
ntroductory
and D
escriptive
.

Although, during the last twenty years, the Upper Cretaceous strata of England and the Continent have been the objects of detailed investigation, the deposits of the same age, which form so conspicuous a feature in the North-east of Ireland, have been practically neglected. Two observers only, Prof. R. Tate and Dr. C. Barrois, have seriously attempted to classify these formations on definite palæontological principles, but the results at which they respectively arrived differ in several material particulars. The present paper is the outcome of two excursions carried out in the summers of 1895 and 1896: the first connected with, and following on, the Geologists' Association's visit to County Antrim, under the guidance of Mr. A. McHenry; the second aiming at a more detailed examination of the stratigraphy of the same district. The first and second parts will be devoted to the consideration of the various sections visited, together with an account of the results obtained by applying the methods of analysis and microscopical examination previously employed by me in considering the Upper Cretaceous zones of the South of England. In the third and fourth parts it is proposed to examine the theoretical questions arising out of these researches, dealing with the zonal classification of the Irish Cretaceous strata, the probable distribution of the land-masses, and the sequence of physical changes during the period under consideration.

My thanks are due to the following members of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, who have freely placed their local knowledge
Deposits of the Bajocian Age in the Northern Cotteswolds: The Cleeve Hill Plateau
Authors: Buckman S. S.
Published: October 2009

I. I
ntroduction
.

The present essay is in continuation of a former paper which described deposits of similar date in the Mid-Cotteswolds. The district now under discussion consists of an outlying isolated plateau, cut off from the main mass of the Cotteswolds on the east by the deep valley at Sevenhampton, and separated from the Mid-Cotteswolds by the Vale of Whittington. The best-known portion of this plateau is called Cleeve Cloud or Cleeve Hill; other portions include the hills above Whittington and Hewlett's Hill. For the purpose of the present paper the whole will be named the Cleeve Hill plateau.

The literature relating to the district is not extensive. The latest detailed section is that of Cleeve Hill given by Wright. As, however, the sequence of the strata set forth by that author differs so considerably from that which will be described in the present communication, it is not thought desirable to discuss his section in detail, or to combat his views. An almost entirely new reading will be presented now.

One more point may be referred to. A postscript to my communication on the ‘Mid-Cotteswolds’ (p. 461) first gave a short summary of the sequence found at Cleeve Hill. Further researches fully tended to bear out this sequence; and then, within the last few months, an important portion of the Rolling Bank quarry has been opened up, showing, in one exposure, confirmation of what was before an inductive surmise from the piecing together of several.

II. T
he
S
ections
of the
On the Pyromerides of Boulay Bay (Jersey)
Authors: Parkinson John
Published: October 2009

The acid lavas forming the more easterly part of the northern coast of Jersey have been the subject of investigation by many geologists. M. de Lapparent, in a note on the eruptive rocks of the Isle of Jersey published in 1884, summarized these accounts, and his paper was extensively quoted by M. Noury in his ‘Geólogie de Jersey,’ published a few years later, the quotations including those paragraphs which relate to the work of previous authors. The earliest is that of Macculloch, in 1817, in which a hornstoneporphyry is noticed from this neighbourhood. A geological map of the island was published by A. Transon in 1851, in which the northern half of Boulay Bay is represented as being occupied by porphyries, the southern by grit, while the line of demarcation between the latter rock and the more easterly conglomerate is correctly indicated. In 1879 the ‘spherular character’ of the rhyolites of Boulay Bay was briefly noticed by Mr. Thomas Davies, principally from specimens supplied to him by Dr. Dunlop, of Jersey.

M. Noury, in his work, supplements his quotations from M. de Lapparent with additional observations of his own on the characteristics and origin of the structures exhibited by the rhyolite, at the same time giving a map wherein the principal locality at which pyromerides occur is indicated. Since the publication of Noury's book, a few notes on Jersey have been intercalated in some general observations on the Channel islands by M. A. Bigot; and the Rev. Edwin Hill has
Exploration of Ty Newydd Caves, Tremeirchion, North Wales
Authors: Pollen G. C. H.
Published: October 2009

I. I
introduction
.

In November 1896 a committee was formed, consisting of Dr. H. Hicks, F.R.S., our President, Dr. H. Woodward, F.R.S., with myself as secretary, to excavate some caves at Tremeirchion, very near the caves of Ffynnon Beuno and Cae Gwyn. These last were excavated by Dr. Hicks and Mr. E. B. Luxmore, and during part of the time by a committee appointed by the British Association in the years 1883 to 1888, and it was hoped that the contents of the new caves might throw some additional light on the discoveries made there.

Our work is still far from complete, but Dr. Hicks, to whose authority I shall frequently appeal throughout this report, considers that the results already obtained are of sufficient interest to be brought before the Society.

In addition to organizing the committee of excavation, Dr. Hicks obtained two grants, from the Reserve Fund of the Royal Society and from the Government Grant Fund, to cover expenses. I am moreover indebted to him for much valuable advice and assistance, in examining the materials found, and even in visiting the cave in person.

I must also express my gratitude to Mr. A. Foulkes-Roberts, of Denbigh, for his very kind help in the prolonged negotiations that I have had with the tenants of Ty Newydd Cottage, after which I have named the cave. I must add that, since we first came to an understanding, the owner, Mrs. M. E. Griffiths, of Mold, has shown every disposition to assist me.
Cone-in-Cone: Additional Facts from Various Countries
Authors: Gresley W. S.
Published: October 2009

abstract

Examples of flinty stone in the ‘fire-clay series’ of the Ashby coal-field exhibit ‘areas of conic structure lying unconformably.’ In the same stratum of shale are large masses of the same flinty rock, more or less coated with conic structures, which appear to have been formed out of layers of shale and ironstone. The bending-up of the shale above the nodules and down below them, the close but unconformable covering of Permian breccia, and the staining of the whole section suggests, if indeed it does not demonstrate, to the Author that the growth of the cone-in-cone took place subsequently to the deposit of the Permian breccia. Several American and other examples are described, and a series of conclusions are appended to the paper.
A Phosphatized Trachyte from Clipperton Atoll (Northern Pacific)
Authors: Teall J. J. H.
Published: October 2009

The following remarks are based on five rock-specimens from Clipperton Atoll, referred to by Admiral Wharton in his description of that island.

One is a dark brown rock composed of porphyritic crystals of glassy felspar and a compact groundmass; the others are white or cream-coloured, and in some of these the same porphyritic felspars as in the first-mentioned rock may be observed. The examination of a series of microscopic sections shows that the rocks are all more or less altered trachytes.

The brown rock is the least altered. It consists of phenocrysts of sanidine (Pl. XXIII, fig. 1) set in a groundmass of microlitic felspars and brown interstitial matter. No ferro-magnesian minerals are recognizable. The conspicuous phenocrysts of sanidine are, as a rule, comparatively free from inclusions; but the rock contains also some patches of felspar, which are so crowded with inclusions of a brown substance that the felspar-material forms only a small portion of the compound mass.

An analysis of this rock yielded the following somewhat surprising result:—

The phosphoric acid is present in the brown substance, which evidently represents, in a more or less altered form, the interstitial matter of the original trachyte.

The microscopic sections of the white or eream-coloured rocks all show the structure of a trachyte. In some specimens the phenocrysts of sanidine have been more or less preserved, while the groundmass has been replaced by isotropic secondary material; in others the phenocrysts have disappeared, and their places have been wholly or partially filled up
On an Outlier of Cenomanian and Turonian [equivalent to Lower and Middle Chalk] near Honiton, with a Note on Holaster altus, Ag.
Authors: Jukes-Browne A. J.
Published: October 2009

The existence of an outlying tract of Chalk in the parish of Widworthy, near Honiton, has been known for many years, but no description of it has ever been published, although it is the most westerly inland tract of Chalk in England: the only more westerly patches being those on the coast.

It was known to Dr. Fitton, who mentions the occurrence of a particular stone called grizzle by the quarrymen ‘in a large pit or quarry at the bottom of the Chalk, near Sutton and Widworthy,’ remarking also that ‘it contains green particles, and does not burn to lime.’

The outlier of Chalk is marked on De la Beche's geological map published by the Geological Survey in 1845. In 1874 the district was re-surveyed by Mr. Ussher for a new edition of the Survey map, but he found that the quarry referred to was disused and overgrown.

My object in visiting the locality last year was to ascertain whether the succession of beds was similar to that on the coast, in which case the Chalk would be Middle Chalk (Turonian), and the Lower Chalk would be represented by quartziferous limestone and calcareous sandstone; or whether it included anything like the more ordinary kind of Lower Chalk, such as occurs at Membury and Chard.
The Structure of the Davos Valley
Authors: Jennings A. Vaughan
Published: October 2009

In several of the high Alpine passes and valleys there are certain structural features which show that important changes in the process of denudation have taken place, and that in many cases there has been an alteration or complete reversal of the drainage-system.

Among a considerable number of instances, that of the Upper Engadine or source of the Inn is perhaps the most familiar. Prof. Heim, Prof. Bonney, and others have called attention to this area as showing the way in which the gorges of the southern side of the Alps are cut back with far greater steepness than the river-valleys of the northern slopes. While Prof. Bonney regards the difference as due to the greater rainfall and more rapid current on the southern side, and the consequently greater erosive power of the torrents, Dr. Preller believes that it is not possible to account for the present condition of the district without presupposing a subsidence on the south. Whichever view may be held, however, there is no doubt as to the facts. It can hardly be disputed that the Inn once took its rise beyond Maloja, and that the glaciers on the south once contributed to its formation streams now diverted towards the Italian plain. The valley has in fact been decapitated, and its feeding-streams have been diverted into a new and opposite course.

The object of the present paper is to call attention to the conditions which exist in the adjacent area of Davos: conditions which are to some extent parallel, but, on the other hand, are distinctly more complicated and less easy of explanation.
On some Palæolithic Implements from the Plateau-Gravels, and their Evidence concerning ‘Eolithic’ Man
Authors: Cunnington William
Published: October 2009

Since the publication of the late Sir Joseph Prestwich's series of papers (1889–1896) on the chipped flints found by Mr. Benjamin Harrison on the Chalk-plateau of Western Kent, these specimens have attracted wide attention. For it was conclusively shown in those papers that the chipped flints came from a gravel which was much earlier than the gravels containing Palæolithic implements in the valleys of the existing rivers of the district. A British Chalk-plateau, in a period of intense cold or of on-coming cold, would hardly afford a comfortable cradle to the human race; and though Kent was not claimed as man's birthplace, it was held that the chipped flints of that county were the earliest and most primitive known specimens of his handiwork.

The enormous antiquity of these chipped flints was deduced, in the first place, from the stratigraphical relations of the gravel where they occur, which was referred to the Pliocene. The gravels are part of Prestwich's ‘Southern Drift,’ and were formed before the erosion of the Darent gorge or of the transverse Ightham valley. The plateau-gravels are therefore older than the existing river-system; but at present there is no evidence whatever to show that they are of pre-Pleistocene age.

The main claim of the plateau-flints to notice rests on the assumption that the chipping is of so primitive a character that it cannot be the work of the skilled flint-flakers of the Palæolithic age. These chipped flints have accordingly been held to represent the first crude attempts by
The Pliocene Deposits of the East of England: The Lenham Beds and the Coralline Crag
Authors: Harmer F. W.
Published: October 2009

The Pliocene deposits of the East of England have been studied for many years, and by many competent observers, but, unfortunately, no general consensus of opinion has been arrived at, either as to their systematic arrangement, or the conditions under which they originated: the views, for example, of Sir Joseph Prestwich, which have obtained considerable acceptance, differing in many important respects from those of the equally eminent authorities Mr. Searles V. Wood and his son.

Prestwich, in his well-known paper, divided the Coralline Crag into eight constant and determinable zones, and, on the other hand, regarded the Red Crag as forming two divisions only: the lower, including the deposits of Walton-on-the-Naze, Sutton, Bawdsey, Butley, Sudbourne, and Aldeburgh, and the upper, consisting of what he originally called ‘the unfossiliferous sands of the Crag’ (now believed to be a part of the deposit which has been deprived of its shells by the infiltration of water containing carbonic acid) and of the Chillesford Beds. The Norwich Crag, with which he grouped some deposits containing
Tellina balthica
, he held to be equivalent, partly to his lower (namely, to the Crag of Walton, Sutton, Butley, etc.), and partly to his upper or Chillesford division.

I still hold, for reasons to be given hereafter, that there is no sufficient evidence for dividing the Coralline Crag into the eight zones proposed by Prestwich; indeed, I now believe that the tripartite arrangement, formerly adopted by Mr. Wood, jun., and myself, can be no longer maintained, and that the
The Garnet-Actinolite Schists on the Southern Side of the St. Gothard Pass
Authors: Bonney T. G.
Published: October 2009

At intervals during the last 20 years I have studied the well-known garnet-actinolite schists which are exposed on the southern slope of the St. Gothard Pass from perhaps 500 to about 1600 feet above the mouth of the tunnel. They extend westward along the flank of the Val Bedretto to beyond All'acqua, with one slight interruption near this spot, and can be followed eastward to the vicinity of the Pizzo Columbe, that is, for a total distance of from 16 to 17 miles, the breadth of the outcrop, which is locally interrupted by elongated masses of more normal hornblendic schist, being at its maximum about 1¼ mile. They are intersected by the Val Tremola and the Val Canaria with its tributary glens, and are exposed on the right bank of the Val Piora. Here the lower part of the mass must be about 6700 feet above sea-level, that is to say, the outcrop rises at least 2500 feet in about 5 miles.

My later visits threw some light on the origin of these rocks; but I felt that more work in the field was necessary before I could come to any conclusion. Therefore I determined to return to the district and examine more particularly the outcrops near the Val Piora, of which hitherto I had seen little, having spent my time on another group of schists, which apparently overlie them. This intention was carried out in July 1897, and I had the good fortune to be accompanied by my friend
The Carboniferous Limestone of the Country around Llandudno (North Wales)
Authors: Morton G. H.
Published: October 2009

I. G
reat
O
rme's
H
ead
.

In Carboniferous Limestone, and the subdivisions into which it is divided in North Wales, were described in papers read before the British Association and the Liverpool Geological Society between the years 1870 and 1898. The most recent paper on ‘The Carboniferous Limestone of the Vale of Clwyd,’ is in the Proe. L'pool Geol. Soc. vol. viii, 1897-98. It contains a description of the subdivisions of the Limestone, including the Purple Sandstone, which consists of a series of sandstones and shales described by Mr. George Maw in 1865 as Permian, and more recently by Mr. Aubrey Strahan in 1890 as Coal Measures.

The following table shows the subdivisions that occur in the Vale of Clwyd, and in two other areas previously described. The Purple Sandstone is shown to be on the horizon of the highest subdivision of the Carboniferous Limestone in Flintshire and Denbighshire:—

The Great Orme's Head is a prominent headland on the seacoast of Caernarvonshire. It is separated from the mainland by an isthmus a mile in width and about 20 feet above Ordnance datum, and must have formed an island in post-Glacial times. Llandudno, the well-known watering-place, is situated on the southeast, and principally on the alluvial land. The Head is 2 miles in length from east to west, and 1 mile from north to south; it is bounded on the north and west by precipitous cliffs, which rise from the sea-level to an elevation of 200 or 300 feet. Along the southeastern side
Petalocrinus
, Weller & Davidson
Authors: Bather F. A.
Published: October 2009

Among the geological collections from Gotland, preserved in the Riksmuseum at Stockholm, there have long been some curious fan-like objects, obviously echinodermal, but beyond that of doubtful significance. Study of these in September 1890 led to the conclusion that they were crinoidal; not cup-plates, however, as some had supposed, but dichotomous arms in each of which the branches were fused together, forming what may be termed an ‘arm-fan.’ Although it seemed probable that they were of Inadunate affinities, they were not, in the absence of more precise evidence, described in Part I of ‘The Crinoidea of Gotland’ (Kongl. Sv. Vet.-Akad. Handl. vol. xxv, No. 2, Dec. 1893). Fortunately, about this time Mrs. A. D. Davidson, now of Whiting (Ind.), discovered in the contemporaneous rocks of Iowa similar fossils, two of which retained the five arm-fans in their natural position, like the petals of a dog-rose around a small calyx (text - fig. 1). These were shown to me by Mrs. Davidson on her visit to England in the summer of 1891, and proved the correctness of my surmise concerning the Gotland fossils. The Iowa specimens, however, were taken back to America, and subsequently submitted by their owner to the Assistant in Palæontologic Geology at the University of Chicago, Mr. Stuart Weller, who prepared a paper entitled ‘
Petalocrinus mirabilis
(n. sp.) and a New American Fauna.’

Now that Mrs. Davidson's more complete individuals have been described, and the genus erected on their broader basis, it is time to describe the three
Appendix on the Foraminifera from Bissex Hill and Bowmanston
Authors: Chapman F.
Published: October 2009

Two years ago I received from Mr. G. F. Franks a large number of rock-specimens which he had collected from the
Globigerina
-marls and overlying limestones on Bissex Hill, and at his request I undertook to investigate them for foraminifera.

The samples submitted were of small size, weighing
from 1½ to 3 oz., and from these a fairly representative series was chosen, consisting of eight rock-specimens. One of the samples examined and reported on by the late Dr. H. B. Brady (that labelled ‘Rotten Earth, Bissex Hill’) corresponds with the specimens which are now described.

The specimens that I have selected are friable; they can be broken down and washed without much difficulty; and, generally speaking, they yield about 50 per cent. of pure foraminifera, of which
Globigerinæ
form the greater part. Here and there the tests are encrusted with calcareous matrix, or remain cemented together, but many very perfect and finely-developed specimens of the various forms enumerated were selected from the washings.

It will be seen from the subjoined list (p. 553) that all the species recorded by Dr. Brady from Bissex Hill have again occurred in the samples now described.

Since the present study has resulted in the discovery of additional species of foraminifera, we are now ia a better position to form some idea of the geological age of the Bissex Hill
Globigerina
-marls. The previously-published list o[ Bissex Hill foraminifera (
Globigerina
-marl) contained 32 species: this number is now increased to 120. From the combined
On a Volcanic Series in the Malvern Hills, near the Herefordshire Beacon
Authors: Acland H. D.
Published: October 2009

The rocks of the Malvern Hills have afforded scope for much study and discussion. Dr. Holl, Mr. Rutley, and Dr. Callaway have elaborated papers on them. Mr. Rutley's relates mainly to the general character of the rocks; while Dr. Callaway devotes himself to an enquiry into the genesis of the crystalline schists, and the production of secondary minerals in shear-zones.

I propose to deal with a small area of the hills and describe some of the rocks to be found there. The district lies east and south-east of the Herefordshire Beacon, which has three spurs. The northernmost is Tinker's Hill, south of that comes Broad Down, and south of that again Hangman's Hill. The latter is, in its turn, bounded on the south by the ‘Silurian Pass,’ so named in the Geological Survey memoir by the late Prof. Phillips. The Beacon Hill itself is of the same character as the main axis of the hills.

Prof. Phillips called attention to these rocks, and remarked that they ‘appear partly in lines like dykes.’ Dr. Holl also mentioned them, and considered them to be sandstone altered by the intrusion of trap-dykes. He noticed that some of the dykes contain a large proportion of augite. In a note to p. 100 (
op. cit.
) Dr. Holl says that fragments of these rocks are found in the Gullet Wood conglomerate. This statement requires investigation, as it might form a clue to the age of the series.

Dr. Callaway has expressed the opinion that these rocks
On some High-level Gravels in Berkshire and Oxfordshire
Authors: Shrubsole O. A.
Published: October 2009

I. I
ntroduction.

A
fter
the appearance of Buckland's ‘Reliquie Diluvianæ’ the higher gravels of this district were for a time somewhat neglected. Much has now been done in the Geological Survey Memoir by Mr. Whitaker, and in papers by the late Sir J. Prestwich, Messrs. H. W. Monckton, H. J. O. White, A. :E. Salter, and other observers to throw light upon the interesting and difficult questions connected with the later physical history of this part of England. It has been found convenient in the present paper to refer to these gravels as a whole, but to treat more briefly those points which have been already discussed.

II. T
he
P
ebble-gravel
.

This term is used for the deposits, composed very largely of flintpebbles, which are found on the higher slopes of the Chiltern Hills, resting on Lower Tertiary outliers.

A familiar example of this gravel is that at Nettlebed, which has been fully described by Sir J. Prestwieh and Mr. White (
op. cit
.). It may be seen at various places on the plateau in the neighbourhood of Cadmore End and Lane End, near High Wycombe, by surface-indications; also at Coleshill, near Amersham, at which locality there is a very good section, showing about 5 feet of the gravel, but at a lower level (500 feet above Ordnance-datum).

The composition of the gravel will be seen from the following table, which states the percentage of the various stones in the samples examined :—

A pebble of chert, from the gravel at Nettlebed, was
Additional Notes on Rocks and Fossils from Franz Josef Land
Authors: Newton E. T. , Teall J. J. H.
Published: October 2009

In our previous notes an account was given of the rocks and fossils which had been collected by Dr. Kœttlitz and sent home in 1896. Another large series was brought back by the same gentleman on the return of the Jackson-Harmsworth Expedition in 1897. These specimens have been examined, and it is satisfactory to have to report that they confirm our previous conclusions, necessitating no modification of our previous notes, except as regards some of the altitudes at which the specimens were obtained; these, however, do not alter the relative positions of the beds. At the same time, there are some additional facts which it is desirable to place on record.

The corrected measurements of altitudes are given by Dr. Kœttlitz on a preceding page (p.636), and these, it will be seen, alter materially the position of the beds at Cape Gertrude as given in our section. There are two errors on p.503 of our previous paper which we desire to correct. On line 4 the 100 feet of basalt refers only to what is seen in the cliff-section, and on line 9 ‘highest’ should have been printed ‘lowest,’ which will be found to agree with the section and the measurement that we then had.

I. R
ocks
.

A very large number of rock-specimens have been examined, but as these belong, for the most part, to varieties already described in our former paper, it will be unnecessary to refer to them at any length in these general notes.

The common type
On the Remains of
Amia
from Oligocene Strata in the Isle of Wight
Authors: Newton E. T.
Published: October 2009

T
he
remains of fishes closely related to the living
Amia calva
were recorded by Prof. O. C. Marsh in the year 1871 from Tertiary strata in Wyoming (U.S.A.). These remains were thought to belong to two species, both about the size of their living representative.

In 1873 Leidy described and figured several vertebræ from the Bridger Beds of Wyoming which seemed to him to be allied to, but generically distinct from,
Amia calva
; for these he proposed the two generic names of
Protamia
and
Hypamia
, the former including three species and the latter one.

In the same year Cope described from the same locality, but without figures, a number of vertebræ with associated jaws and cranial bones; these he referred to five species, and included them in one genus, which he named
Pappichthys
. Two species of
Amia
were described by the same author from Eocene shales of Florissant, Southern Colorado, and two from Miocene beds, Cypress Hills, N.W. Territory (Canada). Subsequently Cope redescribed and figured his species of
Pappichthys
, discarding Leidy's names on the ground that no diagnosis had been given, and retaining his own name of
Pappichthys
, concerning which he says:—‘This genus differs from the existing
Amia
in the presence of only one series of teeth instead of several, on the bones about the mouth. The vertebral centra possess a smaller antero-posterior diameter, and relatively greater transverse diameter, in the anterior part of the column; but the value of these characters is not yet certainly understood.’ In so far
On a Megalosauroid Jaw from Rhætic Beds near Bridgend (Glamorganshire)
Authors: Newton E. T.
Published: October 2009

The specimen which forms the subject of the present communication was obtained by Mr. John David, of Porthcawl (Glamorganshire), from a mason, who was engaged in preparing stone for building a wall, at Stormy Down, near Bridgend. It is a block of hard whitish sandstone, which, having been split open, revealed the impression of a reptilian jaw nearly 11 inches long. This fossil was shown to my colleague, Mr. R. H. Tiddeman, who, appreciating the value and interest of so unique a specimen, asked that it might be sent to the Geological Survey Museum for examination. Mr. David not only acceded to this request, but most generously presented the specimen to the Museum, in order that it might be preserved in a national collection.

The block of sandstone was one of many which lie on the surface, and undoubtedly represent a bed which has weathered away in the immediate vicinity. Stormy Down is within the boundary of the Penarth or Rhætic Beds. on the old edition of the Geological Survey map; but whether the bed which yielded the fossil lies above or below the
Avicula contorta
-shales is a point still under investigation.

A number of internal casts of small lamellibranchs may be seen on the specimen, but, they are too imperfect for identification: one of them is an oval shell with the umbo near the anterior third, and is in all probability
Pullastra arenicola
; while another, rather larger and of triangular form, may be a
Myophoria
.

I have recieved