bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On the Serpentine and associated Rocks of the Lizard District
Authors: Bonney T. G.
Published: October 2009

T
he
following papers occur in the ‘Transactions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall:’—

“Sketch of the Geology of the Lizard District,” by A. Majendie, i. p. 32.

“Hints on the Geology of Cornwall,” by Sir H. Davy, i. p. 38.

“On the Serpentine District of Cornwall,” by the Rev. J. Rogers, ii. p. 416.

“Contributions towards a Knowledge of the Geology of Cornwall,” by H. S. Boase, iv. p. 160.

The subject is also treated in the following works:—

“On the Physical Structure of the Lizard District,” by Professor Sedgwick (Trans. Cambridge Phil. Soc. i. p. 291).

“Report on the Geology of Cornwall and Devon,” by H. T. De la Beehe (published 1839).

“On the Serpentinite of the Lizard,” by Profs. W. King and T.H. Rowney (Phil. Mag. ser. 5, vol. i. p. 280).

In the last of these papers the authors maintain the metamorphic character of the serpentine, but consider it probably an altered pyroxenic rock, like that of Bufaure in the Fassa-Thal. The paper appears to have been mainly written with the view of calling attention to imitative organic, especially Foraminiferal structures. So far as my experience goes, any thing of this kind is very rare.

The great work of Sir H. De la Beche, and the shorter paper of Professor Sedgwick, are models of careful observation; and several things mentioned hereafter have been already noticed by them. The former author strongly inclines to the belief that the serpentine is of igneous origin, though he admits some
On possible Displacements of the Earth's Axis of Figure produced by Elevations and Depressions of her Surface
Authors: Twisden J. F.
Published: October 2009

1. I
n
the Anniversary Address delivered to the Geological Society on the 18th February l876, by its President, J. Evans, Esq., the following passage occurs (p. 62):—“Taking our globe with the distribution of land and water as at present existing, I should like to inquire of mathematicians what would be the theoretical result of such a slight modification, geologically speaking, as the following :—Assume an elevation to the extent, on an average, of 4000 feet over the northern part of Africa, the centre of the elevation being, say, in 20° north latitude. Assume that this elevation forms only a portion of a belt around the whole globe, inclined to the equator at an angle of 20°, and having its most northerly point in the longitude of Greenwich, and cutting the equator at 90° of east and west longitude. Assume that along this belt the sea-bottom and what little land besides Africa it would traverse were raised 4000 feet above its present level over a tract 20° in width. Assume further that the elevation of this belt was accompanied by corresponding depression on either side of it, so as to leave the total volume of the mineral portion of the earth unaffected. Would not such a modification of form bring the axis of figure about 15° or 20° south of the present, and on the meridian of Greenwich— that is to say, midway between Greenland and Spitzbergen? and would not, eventually, the axis of rotation correspond in position with the axis
On Sand-worn Stones from New Zealand
Authors: Enys J. D.
Published: October 2009

B
efore
describing the Eolian or wind-worn stones, specimens of which are exhibited, I will give a short description of the locality from which they come. On the western side of the entrance to the Harbour of Wellington (situated on Cook's Straits, at the southern end of the North Island of New Zealand) is a peninsula attached to the mainland by an isthmus which has only a slight rise above the sea. This peninsula runs parallel to the mainland for two or three miles; and the connecting isthmus is about a mile across, dividing this space unevenly into two bays, which are known as Evans Bay and Lyells Bay.

On each side of the isthmus is a line of low sand hills; and between them is situated a flat piece of sand which is mixed with sufficient clay to form a hard bottom. On this rest the stones which are the subject of this paper.

From the ground on both sides of these bays being of considerable height and lying north-west and south-east, the prevailing winds, which blow from the same directions with great force, drive a cloud of siliceous sand from one set of sand dunes to the other. This sand, on a windy day, forms a dense mass reaching to about the knees of any one walking over the ground. The result of this is the gradual wearing away of the stones on this flat ground. Originally of the ordinary shape of broken stone, they begin by showing sloping
On the Circinate Vernation, Fructification, and Varieties of
Sphenopteris affinis
, and on
Staphylopteris
(?) Peachii of Etheridge and Balfour, a Genus of Plants new to British Rocks
Authors: Peach C. W.
Published: October 2009

Conclusion

Staphylopteris
(?) has been found by myself in the “blaes” (once in an ironstone nodule amongst the “blaes”), rather plentiful at West Hermand, West Calder; by Mr. Bennie, fossil-collector for the Geological Survey of Scotland, in shales at Currie, near Slateford; at Straiton, near Burdiehouse, in a piece of shale at the oil-shale pit, by Mr. D. J. Brown, of Edinburgh, and Mr. Bennie. All these localities are in the Calciferous Sandstones of the Carboniferous formation of Scotland.

All the diagrams were made by myself from specimens I collected. I send, with two exceptions (which are in the British Museum, but were also collected by myself), all the specimens figured; so that the Members can see for themselves how far they are to be trusted.

One more remark. None of the American specimens of
Staphylopteris
agree with the British one; and thus Professor Balfour's wish as to species has been carried out.
Note on a Rock-specimen from the Centre of the so-called Porphyritic Mass to the East of Tal-y-sarn
Authors: Davies T.
Published: October 2009

A microscopical examination of this rock discloses a very fine-grained ground-mass containing evenly distributed quartz grains, and a felspar in very small, dull, opaque, crystalline grains.

In thin sections, under the microscope, the quartz is found to he more abundant than at first was evident; indeed it forms a very considerable part of the mass. It is very angular in outline, and appears to be fragmentary, the rounded crystalline grains with inclusions of the ground-mass, so characteristic of the quartz-felsites and porphyries, being but sparsely represented. The felsitic groundmass is very uneven in texture, has very little action on polarized light, and is only occasionally to be observed folding in bands around a crystal of felspar or quartz. In some parts the quartz grains are so numerous and closely aggregated as to afford but little space for the ground-mass, and bear a close resemblance to some of the more quartzose members of the so called “ashes” of North Wales. The felspar, like the quartz, is very fragmentary and much kaolinized. Some altered magnetite is present.

The rock is evidently a breccia in which both the fragments and the cement are of the same mineral nature; it is, in fact, a quartz-felsite breccia.
On the Glacial Deposits of West Cheshire, together with Lists of the Fauna found in the Drift of Cheshire and adjoining Counties
Authors: Shone W.
Published: October 2009

I
n
March 1874, I communicated through Mr. D. Mackintosh, F.G.S., a paper on the “Discovery of Foraminifera, &c., in the Boulder-clays of Cheshire” (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxx. p. 181). Since that time I have continued my observations, which I now place before the Society.

The extension recently of the Midland Company's line from Mouldsworth to Chester has caused interesting sections of the Drift to be exposed. The accompanying section to this paper exhibits that portion of the line which commences where the road from Hoole to Trafford crosses it, and is continued from that point for two miles and a quarter to a point a little beyond where the road from Trafford to Guilden-Sutton passes under the railway. From the commencement of the cutting at the Newton-road bridge to a spot near the top of Newton Hollows, a distance of half a mile, the Upper Boulder-clay through which it passes contains very few (if any) striated stones, and no shell-fragments, though small rounded gravel is present throughout it.

The cutting varies from 5 to 10 feet in depth up this point, consequently only the upper part of the clay is exposed; its entire thickness at the commencement of the section I estimate at 30 feet.The sand may at intervals be observed to crop out from beneath the clay in a dell which runs parallel to the railway-cutting, called Newton Hollows, proving its (the sand's) continuance beneath the clay throughout this part of the section. I am indebted to
Notes on a Crocodilian Jaw from the Corallian Rocks of Weymouth
Authors: Newton E. Tulley
Published: October 2009

C
rocodilian
remains from the Corallian Rocks are so rarely to be obtained, that neither in the British Museum nor in the collection of the Geological Survey in Jermyn Street are there to be found more than a few isolated teeth from this horizon. Such being the case, I was led to attach some little importance to the discovery of the remains of a Crocodilian (?) jaw in the beds of this age at Weymouth; and as the specimen possessed certain peculiarities, it seemed desirable that some notice of it should be placed upon record. I have therefore ventured to lay before the members of this Society the following description of the fossil.

The general appearance of the specimen, which I believe to be a portion of a lower jaw, is shown in figure 1; it measures about 11 inches in length. Its present dilapidated condition is due partly to weathering before it was discovered, and partly to the friable nature of both the bone and the matrix, which added much to the difficulty of detaching it from the mass of rock in which it was imbedded. When first found, the upper or alveolar margins were imbedded in the matrix, and the lower parts had been so far denuded as to expose the alveolar cavities, and in some of the anterior ones parts of the teeth were still to be seen. A considerable part of the hinder end of the jaw is wanting. The right ramus has been broken across at c,
The Chronological Value of the Pleistocene Deposits of Devon
Authors: Ussher W. A. E.
Published: October 2009

Part I. D
eposits.

A: (a) The high tableland of the Cretaceous area of the Blackdown Hills and the summit of its outlying landmark, Haldon Hill, are capped by an accumulation of brown, yellowish, or grey clay full of broken unworn fragments of flint and chert. The clay rests alike on Chalk and Greensand in pipes*. Its character in Chalk districts is almost identical with that of the clay with flints in Kent; but near the westernmost extension of the Chalk (to the east of Sidmouth) the contained flints are seldom whole. In many places the matrix is thickly crowded with small flint chips and powder, giving it a grey colour and gritty texture, as on Haldon and Peak Hill, near Sidmouth. The clay with flints is confined to tableland areas : where the contour has been subsequently modified, it is only found on such heights as exhibit the original surface of the old plain from which they were isolated. The clay with flint and chert varies in thickness up to nearly 50 feet.

That it has suffered from denuding agencies is testified by the presence of

(β) Waterworn fragments of flint on its surface, bearing somewhat the same relation to the c]ay with flint and chert that is presented by the brick-earth to its representative in the south-eastern counties. This waterworn material is of very local occurrence on the Cretaceous tableland; upon Haldon it has been described by Mr. Godwin-Austen † and others.

(γ) A patch of flint– and quartz-gravel
Further Remarks on Adherent Carboniferous Productidæ
Authors: Etheridge R.
Published: October 2009

1.
Introduction
.

S
ince
I had the honour to communicate to the Society a paper on an “Adherent Form of
Productus
, &c.”*, I have obtained evidence that the habit of clinging or attaching themselves by their spines was not simply confined to certain forms of
Strophalosia
and
Productus
, but, there is good reason to believe, was possessed also by a species of
Chonetes
.

Before proceeding to describe the specimens upon which this belief is founded, I wish to make a few supplementary remarks on the adherent
Productus
.

2.
Note on
Productus complectens (
mihi
).

Subsequent researches have shown that the geographical distribution of this species is much more extensive than was at first thought. Mr. James Bennie has obtained some well-preserved examples of the younger state of
P. complectens
at Scremerston Quarry, near Berwick, in Northumberland, on the south side of the Tweed, and he has also met with examples at one or two localities in Fifeshire. I think it not at all improbable that
P. complectens
will be found at one or other of the Lanarkshire localities ; for, by the kindness of Mr. J. Smith, Eglington Iron Works, Kilwinning, I have been able to examine two small fragments of Crinoid stems, on which are what appear to be portions of two or three of the small clasping spines, but too fragmentary to pass a definite opinion on. Soon after my description was published, I was favoured by Mr. J. Smith, through Mr. Bennie, with the loan of the subject of
On the Affinites of the
Mosasauridæ
, Gervais, as exemplified in the Bony Structure of the Fore Fin
Authors: Owen
Published: October 2009

In the year 1848 Professor Henry Rogers submitted to me a series of fossil remains which he had discovered in a Greensand deposit in New Jersey, United States. The results of my examination were communicated to the Geological Society, January 31, 1849*. The paper was sent, in due course, to Referees for a ‘Report,’ but was lost.

Fortunately the President, Sir H. T. De La Beche, had made notes of the chief conclusions communicated and discussed on the 31st of January, and referred to them in his “Anniversary Address” delivered February 16, 1849†. To these brief notices I added, at the request of the Council, some observations on the characters of the skull and vertebræ deduced from the fossils, which I referred to the genus
Mosasaurus
; and, in reference to the metacarpal or metatarsal and phalangeal bones of the same genus, I quoted the President's note, “that they indicated the extremities of the great Saurian to have been organized according to the type of the existing
Lacertilia
, and not of the
Enaliosauria
, or marine lizards”‡.

Of the natatory character of the limb to which these metacarpal and phalangeal bones belonged, there was no question. The question was, to what type of natatory extremity that of the
Mosasaurus
should be referred? Cuvier had recorded his conclusion that the fins of the Mosasaur were more or less like those of the
Delphinidæ
or of the
Plesiosauri
§.

Subsequently, in my ‘Monograph on the Fossil Reptiles of the Cretaceous Formations’∥, referring the genus Mosasaurus
On some well-defined Life-zones in the Lower Part of the Silurian (Sedgwick) of the Lake-district
Authors: Marr J. E.
Published: October 2009

T
he
following paper treats of the different zones of fossils occurring in the strata between the Coniston Limestone and the Coniston Grits of the Lake-district, with the view of correlating the beds in the more central part of the district with those of the outlying districts in the neighbourhood of the Pennine chain, and of establishing the position of the boundary between the Cambrian and Silurian formations. This boundary, as indicated by the palæontological evidence, coincides with the position already assigned to it by Prof. Hughes, from the study of the district east of the river Lune (Geol. Mag. vol. iv. no. 8).
On the Skull of
Argillornis longipennis
, Ow.
Authors: Owen
Published: October 2009

I have been favoured by W. H. Shrubsole, Esq. F.G.S., to whom I was indebted for the humeral evidences of
Argillornis longipennis
, with a fossil from the same formation and locality (London Clay, Sheppey), which, when cleared of matrix, has afforded the subject of the following description.

It is a considerable portion of the skull of a bird (Pl. II.), wanting the lower jaw and fore end of the upper jaw: some prominent parts are abraded, exposing a pneumatic cellular structure.

The lenght of the fossil is 5 inches 4 lines = 135 millims.; the breadth across the lacrymals (fig. 2,
73
) is 1 inch 9 lines = 45 millims,; across the mastoids (ib.
8, 8
) 2 inches = 50 millims.; but these prominences have suffered abrasion.

The coalesced frontals (fig. 2,
11, 11′
), which are 2 inches 6 lines 63 millims, in length, have joined the præmaxillo-nasals (fig. 2,
1–22
) by a transverse suture, 1 inch 2 lines = 30 millims, in length. Posthumous pressure has driven this part of the frontal two or three lines below such base of the upper mandible (fig. 1,
11, 22
).

Defining the hind part of the frontal by a faint linear trace of a fronto-parietal suture, 7, the breadth of the bone is here 1 inch 6 lines = 37 millims. The whole of the preserved extent of the frontal is smooth, devoid of intermuscular crest or ridges, feebly convex behind the orbits, becoming as feebly concave transversely between the orbits—this concavity
Supplementary Note on the Vertebræ of
Ornithopsis
, Seeley,=
Eucamerotus
, Hulke
Authors: Hulke J. W.
Published: October 2009

At the close of last session I brought before the Society some additional evidence of the existence in our Wealden times of a huge Dinosuar whose vertebræ were characterized by marvellous lightness; and I endeavoured to show, by an examination of all the material at that time available for comparison, that although the vertebræ of this Saurian (
Ornithopsis
, Seeley,
Eucamerotus
, Hulke;
Bothriospondylus
, in part,
Chondrosteosaurus
, Owen) exhibited correspondences with those of certain newly discovered American forms (some of which had been recently noticed by Prof. Owen) which indicated affinity with these, yet there coexisted such differences as seemed to me to disprove their generic identity.

The liberality of the Rev. W. Fox now enables me to place before you photographs and drawings which, for the first time, afford complete information respecting the structure of the vertebral column in the neck and trunk of this remarkable animal.

Neck
.—Three cervical vertebræ in Mr. Fox's possession show the centrum in this region to be strongly opisthocoelous. The articular ball in this region is a larger portion of a sphere than in the trunk, and the cup is correspondingly deeper. The under surface of the centrum is singularly flat, a character which disappears in passing backwards and is little apparent in the trunk. The neural canal is very capacious. The præzygapophyses project considerably forward beyond the front of the neural arch, overhanging here the ball. Their articulating surface is large, of a roughly oblong form, and directed upwards and inwards. It is a single
On some undescribed
Comatulæ
from the British Secondary Rocks
Authors: Carpenter P. Herbert
Published: October 2009

My work on the
Comatulæ
of the ‘Challenger’ Expedition naturally led me to a consideration of their fossil representatives; and I found that although continental palæontologists have described several species from the Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks of Central Europe, hardly one has been recorded as occurring in the corresponding formations of the British area. It soon appeared, however, that this is not because we have none to record, but merely because neither descriptions nor names have been given for those which we have. In the following pages I propose to make good this deficiency; but I would first express my sincere thanks to Mr. Etheridge, of the Royal School of Mines, to Professor Hughes, of Cambridge, and to Messrs. Henry Woodward and R. Etheridge, jun., of the British Museum, for the ready kindness with which they have allowed me to make use of specimens in the collections under their charge. I am also greatly indebted to Dr. Wright, of Cheltenham, for placing at my disposal two specimens from his own collection.

Schlüter* has recently published some descriptions, together with excellent figures, of several new fossil
Comatulæ
from Germany, Italy, and Sweden. At the same time he has expressed some views as to their anatomy and classification which are inconsistent with some of his statements of fact, and still more so with the results of my own observations on the anatomy of the recent species.

He gives the following general description† of the “Knopf” or centrodorsal piece, which is the part
On the Fish-remains found in the Cannel Coal in the Middle Coal-measures of the West Riding of Yorkshire, with the Descriptions of some new Species
Authors: Davis James W.
Published: October 2009

In paper I had the honour to read before this Society in 1876*, a section of the strata composing the West Riding of Yorkshire Coal-field from the Elland Flag rock to the Blocking Coal is given. The Blocking Coal is probably the equivalent of the Silkstone Coal of the more southern part of the Coal-field, and is regarded by the members of the Geological Survey as the most convenient stratum to form the dividing line between the Lower and Middle Coal-measures. The coal-seams yielding the fossil fish-remains which form the subject of the present paper occur about 400 feet higher in the series than the Blocking Coal. The following section may serve to give an idea of the position of the Stone- or Gas-coal of Adwalton and the surrounding district :—

The whole series exhibits considerable variations in the character and relative thickness of the strata. The coals, though perhaps more persistent than the other members of the series, do not form an exception. Sections exposed in pits and borings in different localities prove the coals to thin off in certain directions and almost disappear; in some the coal is divided into two bands by lenticular masses of shale or sandstone many feet in thickness; in others two beds of coal gradually converge and form one thicker bed. In this respect the Middle Coal-measures differ from the Lower Coal-measures. The latter, especially in the Lower or Halifax series, are remarkably persistent. The Halifax hard and soft coals extend over the
On the Probable Temperature of the Primordial Ocean of our Globe
Authors: Mallet Robert
Published: October 2009

So far as my reading has extended, I am not aware that any author on physical geology or terrestrial physics has expressed any definite views as to the temperature of the primordial ocean—that is, of the large body of water which, as now collected together, fills the existing basin of the seas and great oceans, the configuration of which, like that of the surrounding continents, has, perhaps, not very largely changed during what is called geological time. Some very vague and indefinite notions may, indeed, be found in the writings of the early and long-since obsolete cosmogonic authors to the effect that the primordial ocean was probably at some indefinite period, and to some indefinite extent, warmer than the sea as existing within the period of human history; but no attempt to assign its temperature at any epoch anterior to our own has, to my knowledge, yet been made. Nevertheless it seems to me that, on grounds of very high probability deducible from admittedly physical laws, we can approach this problem with a facility and certainty of result greater than those which can be obtained in reference to many physical questions smaller in extent and apparently nearer our reach.

According to the calculations of Mr. Gardner, the extent of land is about 37,673,000 square British miles, leaving out, of consideration the Victoria continent, and that of the sea 110,849,000 square miles. That this cannot be regarded as furnishing the true proportion of land and water is evident, as there is
On the Oligocene Strata of the Hampshire Basin
Authors: Judd John W.
Published: October 2009

I. I
ntroduction

T
here
are perhaps few portions of the series of British strata which have attracted so large a share of the attention of geologists, both in this country and abroad, as the fluvio-marine formation which constitutes the highest member of the Tertiaries of the Hampshire basin. When we remember the numerous memoirs which, since the commencement of the present century, have been devoted to a description of these strata and of their fossils, it might well be supposed that little can remain to be done, either in working out the order of succession of the beds, or in determining their relations to the deposits of other areas. That such is not the case, however, I shall have occasion to show in the memoir which I now submit to this Society; and it may be well that, at the outset of this inquiry, I should briefly indicate the difficulties which beset the study of this particular formation, and the causes which have led to the serious discrepancies of opinion concerning the mutual relations and the geological age of the strata which compose it.

Among the difficulties which confront the investigator of the order of succession in these fluvo-marine strata of the Hampshire basin, the most serious is found in the tendency shown by the various members of the formation to undergo rapid variations in mineral characters within short distances. As in the Wealden and other similar deposits formed in deltas, so here, we find the whole mass of strata made
On Mammalian Remains and Tree-trunks in Quaternary Sands at Reading
Authors: Poulton Edward B.
Published: October 2009

The pit furnishing some interesting sections to be described in the following paper is situated on the Redlands estate, at Reading, a little east of the new Grammar School, and about a mile south-east of the market-place. The pit is about halfway up the south slope of the conjoined Thames and Kennet valleys, and is 36 feet above the river-level. It has been worked for gravel and sand for some years, and recently for clay; and the gravel-bed, from 10 to 15 feet in thickness, has been cleared out over an area 276 feet in length from north to south, and of about the same average length from east to west, where, however, the boundaries are irregular and, to the east, partly effaced. The beds exposed in the north face are far more perfect and instructive than elsewhere. This face, about 20–25 feet in average height, and, where completely exposed, 65 feet in length, is drawn to a scale of one-fifteenth in. to the foot in fig. 1.

A. About 12 feet thick, represents the gravels and reoent strata overlying certain reconstructed beds of sand and clay.

(1)

1 foot 6 inches thick, is the superficial alluvium containing elements derived from the waste of the gravel below.

(2)

2 feet 6 inches thick, is transitional between the alluvium and the underlying gravel. It consists of rounded and subangular flints scattered thinly through a base of yellow clayey soil.

(3)

8
On the Genus
Pleuracanthus
, Agass., including the Genera
Orthacanthus
, Agass. and Goldf.,
Diplodus
, Agass., and
Xenacanthus
, Beyr
Authors: Davis James W.
Published: October 2009

Hitherto specimens of
Pleuracanthus
have not been discovered in this country which would serve to illustrate the general characters or zoological position of this genus of fossil Fish. Teeth of
Diplodus
, almost invariably associated with the spines named
Pleuracanthus
, Ag. and
Orthacanthus
, Ag., are found in all the great coal-fields. In Staffordshire, Scotland, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, wherever fish-remains are found, there is some proportion of specimens of these genera. All the examples recorded are from the Coal-measures.

Though in England we have only the teeth and spines fossil, in Germany and Bohemia several examples have been discovered in which the whole of the fish is preserved. These specimens appear to be higher in the geological series, and have been relegated to certain passage-beds between the Coal-measures and the Permian, and to the Permian rocks themselves.

The ichthyodorulite
Pleuracanthus lœvissimus
was described by the late Prof. Agassiz, in his ‘Recherches sur les Poissons Fossiles,’ from an imperfect specimen obtained from the coal-shales of Dudley. On page 330 of the same classical work, whilst discussing the “défenses des Raies,” a second spine is mentioned as somewhat resembling
Pleuracanthus
, and, in all probability, related to it. It was named
Orthacanthus cylindricus
, and is figured in the third volume, plate 45. figs. 7-9 ; but the description was deferred to a supplementary volume, which, unfortunately, has never been written. At the same time that these spines were discovered, there were also found a number of fossil teeth, which were described and figured by Prof.
Description of Parts of the Skeleton of an Anomodont Reptile (
Platypodosaurus robustus
, Ow.) from the Trias of Graaff Reinet, S. Africa
Authors: Owen
Published: October 2009

I
n
a former paper† a dental character in a Triassic reptile was indicated which is repeated in some implacental members of the Mammalian class. I have also noticed a like correspondence in the skeleton of another reptile from the same formation in South Africa‡.

Pursuing the work of extricating from the matrix the Triassic fossils since received from that continent, indications still more interesting of such relationship have come to light, which I now proceed to submit to the Geological Society.

The evidence of the genus and species of extinct reptile above named, forming the subject of the present paper, consists of a series of seven thoracic vertebrae, with portions of ribs, a sternal bone, scapula, and a right humerus, all cemented to a mass of dark quartzose rock. A smaller mass included a femur with the pelvis; but the latter is still under the chisel. The parts exposed in the first block are the left side of the vertebræ, the scapula, and the whole of the anterior surface of the humerus, which bone remains attached, somewhat behind its natural position, to the right side of the present portion of thorax.

Vertebræ.—Of each vertebra the centrum is subcompressed ; the sides are slightly concave lengthwise between the thick convex borders of their mutually articulating terminal surfaces; these are concave (P1. XVI. fig. 1,
a, b
), the hinder one (
b
) is the deeper ; the extent of intervening part of centrum (
c
) is 5 lines. The external smooth lateral surfaces slightly
On certain Geological Facts witnessed in Natal and the Border Countries during nineteen Years′ Residence
Authors: Blencowe George
Published: October 2009

T
he
basal strata of Natal as seen on the coast are shales, which are succeeded by sandstones of various kinds for from twenty to twenty-five miles into the interior, after which, about the same distance of hard shale occurs in deep beds. The valley of the Umgeni seems to have been formed by subsidence, as the sandstone hills in the neighbourhood are greatly cross-fractured, and the beds dip with an inclination nearly corresponding to the surface-curve. This also is the case with other, shallower valleys in the neighbourhood. There are also, on the upper edge of the northern side of the Umgeni valley, cliffs, from which the front has fallen away, which are without a dip, as also in several other cases in the vicinity where the original level has been maintained, the edge of which presents a perpendicular cliff.

In the northern and north-western portion of Natal a white sandstone prevails, which increases in the thickness and hardness of the strata as we ascend. This part is a succession of irregular ridges and truncated cones in every variety of relative position. The present configuration seems to have arisen from denudation, as the sandstone of the remaining hills is horizontal and without cross-fracture. There is also a high plateau, known as the Biggars-Berg, about 50 miles long, which corresponds in structure and height with the highest of the remaining hills, and appears to be the only part which has been free from the denuding force which has scooped out the
Note on the Occurrence of a new Species of
Iguanodon
in a Brick-pit of the Kimmeridge Clay at Cumnor Hurst, three miles W.S.W. of Oxford
Authors: Prestwich J.
Published: October 2009

T
he
fact of this discovery was briefly announced in the Geological Magazine for May 1879. Since then the further progress of the works has made clearer the position of the seam in which the bones were found, and shown more exactly its relation to the mass of the Kimmeridge Clay and to the overlying Lower Greensand, about which some doubt was expressed at the time. This and the many fossils now obtained from the
Iguanodon-seam
must remove all such doubt.

The pit is situated to the left of the road leading from Oxford to Cumnor, at the foot of an outlying mass of Lower Greensand, forming a conspicuous and isolated hill rising to the height of about 500 feet. The Kimmeridge Clay here immediately underlies the Lower Greensand, without the intervention of the Portland beds (which are present on the other side of the Thames valley at Shotover), and rests upon the Coral Rag, which crops out at a distance of a few hundred yards both to the eastward and westward of the pit.

A tramway driven into the side of the hill led to the discovery of the bones in a thin sandy seam intercalated in the clay, and, at the point where discovered, about 4 feet deep beneath the surface.

The prolongation of the tramway, however, has now shown that the sandy seam runs into the hill, dipping at an angle of from 3° to 4° ; and by following up the beds till they pass under the
On the Discovery of the Place where Palæolithic Implements were made at Crayford
Authors: Spurrell F. C. J.
Published: October 2009

I
n
the large chalk-pit at Crayford, Kent, and in the adjoining brick-pits I have noticed for some time flint flakes which I was unable to convince myself belonged to the brick-earths in which they were found, believing, from their shape, colour, and mineral condition, that they had come from another stratum of the river-deposits.

I, however, watched regularly, with great care, and during the late winter found a few flakes which, from their appearance, I felt belonged to the gently deposited brick-earths in which they lay; but they were solitary and rare, and it was not until the beginning of March last that, on the removal of a part of the face of the cliff, I came upon a dense layer of chips, specimens of which are exhibited.

The sands and clays constituting the brick-earths of Crayford, lie under a low cliff of chalk and Thanet Sand, with a cap of gravel known as Dartford-Heath gravel. This ancient cliff (fig. 1) has in parts been worn lower than others ; at one of these spots, where the wearing has invaded the chalk itself, the brick-earths are exposed lying against the chalk, which is much weathered and has the face covered with chalk-rubble ; at the base of this section is a step in the chalk cliff, and a sort of foreshore seems to have been formed, consisting here of hard sand, and there of small heaps of flint stones brought down from the cliff above by aerial action. It is
On some new Cretaceous
Comatulæ
Authors: Carpenter P. Herbert
Published: October 2009

I
n
the following pages I have described some new Cretaceous
Coamtulæ
which have been placed at my disposal for this purpose since the publication of my paper on British Secondary Comatulæ in the February Number of this Journal (vol. xxxvi. pp. 36–55, pl. v.).

Two of the new species belong to the cabinet of the Rev. P. B. Brodie, M.A., F.G.S., who courteously offered them to me for description. The other three are in the Geological Collection of the British Museum, and (as before) I am indebted to the kindness of Dr. Henry Woodward, F.R.S., and of Mr. R. Etheridge, Junr., for the opportunity of examining them. To all of these gentlemen my best thanks are due.

1. A
ntendon perforata
, n. sp.

The centrodorsal is a thick pentagonal disk with steep sides and a hollowed dorsal surface (fig. 2,
b
). At the bottom of the hollow is an irregular central opening, and on its sloping sides are five others, radially disposed and separated by faint grooves. There are about fifty deep cirrhus-sockets, arranged rather irregularly; those which are best preserved show traces of striated margins and have small articular ridges crossing them at or slightly above the middle, which are pierced by the transversely oval openings of the oirrhus-canals (fig. 2,
c
). The ventral surface (fig. 2,
a
) is marked by various pitsand hollows, but is tolerably flat on the whole, except that one of the radial areas fails away very much toward the periphery. The basal grooves are indistinct
On the Skull of an Ichthyosaurus from the Lias of Whitby, apparently indicating a new Species (I. Zetlandicus, Seeley), preserved in the Woodwardian Museum of the University of Cambridge
Authors: Seeley H. G.
Published: October 2009

E
arl
Z
etland
many years ago presented to the Woodwardian Museum a superb skull of
Ichthyosaurus
, which pertains to a new species, and from its value in exemplifying the osteology of the skull is in many respects the finest specimen known.

The anterior part of the snout is lost, but what remains of the head is 28 inches long.
The snout has the aspect of having been at least 6 inches longer. Where fractured in front the
jaw is 3 inches wide and
2½ inches deep. Its greatest transverse width behind the eyes and in front
of the quadrate bones is
16¼ inches, so that it would appear to have been somewhat more than twice as long as wide. The occipital region unfortunately is badly preserved, and the basioccipital bone is a little displaced downward and forward. There is also some imperfection of the bones of the right orbit; but otherwise the skull is in excellent preservation. Being in a hard limestone it has escaped compression and distortion, and the limestone having been cleared with a chisel, the bones of the palate as well as those of the upper surface of the skull are beautifully displayed.

In transverse section behind, the outline is a trapezoid; the upper outline of the skull,
being flat and horizontal, is 10 inches wide and parallel to the lower outline. The base,
as already mentioned, is 16¼ inches wide. The oblique sides formed by
Note on the Occurrence of Remains of Recent Plants in Brown Iron-ore
Authors: Phillips J. Arthur
Published: October 2009

This bed of fossiliferous iron-ore is situated at Rio Tinto, in the province of Huelva, Spain, and is in close proximity to the celebrated copper-mines of that name.

In this portion of Southern Spain deposits of cupreous iron pyrites, consisting of a series of lenticular masses of ore, having a general direction a little north of east and south of west, extend from Aznalcollar, near Seville, in the east, for a distance of more than seventy miles westward to within the Portuguese frontier.

At Rio Tinto the deposits of this mineral are very extensive, and consist of a compact and intimate admixture of iron pyrites with a little copper pyrites, through which strings of the latter mineral sometimes ramify.

Although these mines appear to have been worked, and the copper smelted upon the spot, from time immemorial, it is evident from the vast heaps of furnace-slags, and from the extent of the various other remains in which coins and inscriptions of the reigns of the Emperors from Nerva to ttonorius have been discovered, that their great development under the Romans took place during the first four centuries of the Christian era. After the f.~ll of the Roman empire they seem to have been abandoned down to as late as the year 1727, from which date they were intermittently worked by the Spanish Government and by ,~arious private speculators until 1873, when they were purchased by an :English company. The extent of the mining and metallurgical operations anciently carried on in
On the Constitution and History of Grits and Sandstones
Authors: Phillips J. Arthur
Published: October 2009

The careful and exhaustive researches relative to the constitution and mode of formation of arenaceous rocks which have recently been published by Professor Daubrde, Dr. Sorby, and others, leave open a comparatively restricted field for the pursuit of similar investigations.Having, however, during the last two years paid considerable attention to the study of rocks of this class, I now venture to bring before the notice of the Geological Society some facts and deductions therefrom which would appear to have escaped the attention of previous observers.

For the convenience of developing certain ideas relative to this subject, I propose in the present paper, in the first place, to describe various grits and sandstones which have been microscopically and otherwise examined. In doing this the older rocks will be considered first, and those of more recent age subsequently noticed in the order of their geological sequence. The chemical composition of some typical rocks will also be given.

Secondly, the results of observations bearing on the effects produced by the action of flowing water on particles of sand and gravel transported thereby will be described ; and finally, the more important observed facts will be summarized, and their bearings discussed.

The difference between grit and sandstone is one not always distinctly marked ; and numerous definitions of the two rocks, often somewhat contradictory, have been given by various geologists at different times. It has even been stated by an eminent authority that rocks which in the north of England would be called grits,
The Archæan Geology of Anglesey
Authors: Callaway C.
Published: October 2009

I
ntroduction
.

I have to submit evidence in support of the conclusion that there are represented in Anglesey two Precambrian or Archsean groups, each distinguished by well-marked lithological characters. They may be named respectively the Slaty and Gneissic formations. The “Pebidian” schists, as recognized by Dr. Hicks, I include in the gneiss group ; but, in other par~s of the island, I have worked out a great assemblage of fragmental felspathic rocks, which I believe to be of true Pebidian age. I shall also attempt to prove that the quartz recks of hnglesey are included in the gneissie series. The microscopic notes, kindly furnished by Profi Bonney, are based upon the specimens only, and have all the value of independent evidence. The growing importance of these ancient rocks would seem to require that the provisional term “Precambrian” should give place to a word which can be permanently used ; and I have ventured to adopt the term "Archman,” so widely employed by Continental and American geologists. To the words “Azoic” and “Eozoic” there are obvious objections.

A. D
escription
of A
reas
and S
ections
.

I. M
enai
A
nticline
.

For convenience I accept this name for the rocks lying between Menai Straits and the great fault which throws down the newer Palæozoic rocks of Malldraeth Marsh, though the term is not strictly applicable. It is true that the strata on the south-east side of the area dip to the south-east, and those on the north-west side to the north-west; but between these two extremities the
Note on the Purbeck beds at Teffont
Authors: Andrews W.R.
Published: October 2009

The Rev. Mr. Andrews has made a careful section of the railway cutting at Teffont, which shows the Hastings beds and the Middle and Lower :Purbccks. The Roy. O. Fisher marked the divisions on the section. :Mr. Andrews is of opinion that no higher Purbeck beds occur in his neighbourhood than those shown on the section, and that the Hastings series were deposited upon the eroded Purbeck strata; the Purbeek strata continue 50 ft. or more below the base of the railway-cutting, as there are many quarries in the neighbourhood with many feet of Purbecks resting upon the Portland beds. The section in the railway-cutting ends 7 ft. below the “cinder bed ;” but the quarry near the Rectory has been carried 19 ft. below the “ cinder,” into hard grey marls, which are burnt for lime, and contain many fish, insects,
Archœoniscus
,
Cyclades
,
Cyprides
, &c.

The following is a detailed section of the Portland beds in the railway-cutting, drawn up by Mr. Andrews, which, although similar to the woodcut-section on p. 252, nevertheless enters more into the particulars of the beds, both as to thickness and succession, and will doubtless be found useful ff the district is visited and examined :—

D
iscussion

Mr. H
ulke
remarked that the fauna of the “Cinder-bed” being very limited, even where it was best known, namely at Swanage, any addition to it was of great importance. The discovery of the species described by Mr. Etheridge was especially important, the fossil being so strongly characterized
The Permian, Triassic, and Liassic Rocks of the Carlisle Basin
Authors: Holmes T. V.
Published: October 2009

I am enabled, by permission of Prof. A. C. Ramsay, Director-General of the Geological Survey, to lay before you the general results of the Survey examination of the Permian, Triassic, and Liassic rocks in the country bordering the Solway Firth; but I do not propose to discuss here the glacial drift and other superficial beds by which the surface of the ground is almost entirely covered, and which are the main hindrance to an understanding of the rocks which form my subject this evening.

Papers on the Permian and Triassic rocks of the North-west of England have been read before this Society by Prof. Sedgwick, by Sir Roderick Murchison and Prof. Harkness, and by Mr. E. W. Binney. But as few districts promise less, except as regards drift and peat-mosses, than that immediately around the Solway, it has hitherto been dealt with, as a whole, in a brief and cursory fashion. In addition, a knowledge of certain borings, the results of which are by no means generally known, is absolutely necessary to a correct view of the structure of the Carlisle basin (see Map, Pl. XI.).

The lowest bed with which we are here concerned is the great brick-red Upper Permian sandstone, so well shown at St.-Bees Head, and named, therefore, the St.-Bees Sandstone. Between St.-Bees Head and Maryport the coast consists of the underlying Coal-measures, the St.-Bees Sandstone having been swept away by marine denudation. But at Maryport it again becomes visible, its most northerly appearance being below Swarthy
Further Notes on the Family Diastoporidæ, Busk. Species from the Lias and Oolite
Authors: Vine George Robert
Published: October 2009

Since my first paper, “A Review of the Family Diastoporidæ for the purpose of Classification”, was written, a very important book has been published, namely ‘A History of British Marine Polyzoa,’ by the Rev. Thomas Hincks. In this work the classification adopted by Prof. Busk in his Monograph of the Fossil Polyzoa of the Crag, 1859, and also in his British-Museum Catalogue, part iii. Cyclostomata, 1875, is set aside for one that I have little hesitation in saying will prove to be far more valuable to the working student. Instead of separating
Diastopora
, and making it the type of a family, Mr. Hincks places this genus with others in his second group of the Cyclostomata, which he calls Incrustata, D'Orb. The family name which he adopts is Fam. II. Tubuliporidæ, which includes the genera

Stomatopora,
Bronn

Tubulipora,
Lamarck

Idmonea,
Lamouroux

Entalophora,
Lamouroux
.

Diastopora,
Lamouroux
(pt.).

Seeing that I have already committed myself to Prof. Busk's arrangement, it is impossible for me now to retreat; and, with this explanation, I must be excused for still adhering to the family name I used at first‡.

In his remarks on the Cyclostomata, Mr. Hineks says :—“ Simplicity is in the highest degree characteristic of the group; the cells are universally tubular; the polypide is without complexity of structure, and has a small number of tentacles; all appcndicular organs are wanting” §. In another