bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On the Carboniferous Flora of Bear Island (lat. 74° 30′ N.)
Authors: Heer Oswald
Published: October 2009

T
he
author described the sequence of the strata supposed to belong to the Carboniferous and Devonian series in Bear Island, and indicated that the plant-bearing beds occurred immediately below those which, from their fossil contents, were to be referred to the Mountain Limestone. He enumerated eighteen species of plants, and stated that these indicated a close approximation of the flora to those of Tallowbridge and Kiltorkan in Ireland, the greywacke of the Vosges and the southern Black Forest, and the
Verneuilii
-shales of Aix and St. John’s, New Brunswick. These concordant floras he considered to mark a peculiar set of beds, which he proposed to denominate the “Ursa-stage.” The author remarked that the flora of Bear Island has nothing to do with any Devonian flora, and that consequently it and the other floras, which he regards as contemporaneous, must be referred to the Lower Carboniferous. Hence he argued that the line of separation between the Carboniferous and Devonian formations must be drawn below the yellow sandstones. The presence of fishes of Old-Red-Sandstone type in the overlying slates he regarded as furnishing no argument to invalidate this conclusion. The sandstones of Parry Island and Melville Island are also regarded by the author as belonging to the “Ursa-stage,” which, by these additions, presents us with a flora of seventy-seven species of plants. The author remarked upon the singularity of plants of the same species having lived in regions so widely separated as to give them a range of 26½° of latitude, and indicated
On the Evidence afforded by the Detrital Beds without and within the North-eastern part of the Valley of the Weald as to the Mode and Date of the Denudation of that Valley
Authors: Wood S. V.
Published: October 2009

T
he
denudation of the Weald valley has long been a subject of interest and of contention among geologists. The theory of a rise of a dome of strata from beneath the sea and the offthrow of the waters on all sides from that dome, their escape through lateral fractures in the upheaved chalk, together with a slow wearing back of the fractured and denuded edges of the chalk in the form of cliffs, long held its ground in our text-books, and it is only of late years that this theory has met with partial dissent.

Sir Roderick Murchison was the first, I believe, to bring prominently into notice the fact that a large part of the débris contained within the denuded area consisted of angular chalk flints brought from the exterior into the inner part of this area, and so far therefore was at variance with the received hypothesis of a flow of the denuding waters outwards from the exposed subcretaceous strata, over the surface of which these flints were scattered. His view, after an elaborate description of the detrital beds of, more especially, the western part of the great valley, was that the denudation had been accomplished by a powerful aqueous agent directed eastwards from the apex or western extremity of the Weald valley, by which these flints have been thus scattered over the Neocomian strata of that part of the valley.

Another elaborate memoir treating of the detrital beds within the Wealden escarpment, and their bearing upon the
On some points of South-African Geology.—Part I
Authors: Stow G. W.
Published: October 2009

In this paper, which was illustrated by numerous sketches, sections, tables, and specimens, observations were made on the stratification of the Jurassic beds of Sunday’s and Zwartkop’s rivers, resulting from researches made by Mr. Stow, with the view of determining the exact position of the several species of fossils found at the exposures on the cliffs of these rivers, and from this the sequence of the various beds. He indicated the existence of at least nine separate fossiliferous bands, pointing out the relative positions of the several
Trigonia
-beds, Hamite-beds, Ammonite-beds, &c.

He next treated of the so-called Saliferous beds of the district, and gave his reasons for regarding them as later in age than the
Trigonia
-sandstones above alluded to, and therefore not equivalent to that part of the series named ”Wood-beds” by Dr. Atherstone.

Other researches of the author related to the Tertiary beds, both inland and on the coast. He distinguished three zones on the coast later in date than the high-level shell limestones (Pliocene?) of the Grass Ridge and other parts of the interior. One of the coast-zones he named the
Akera
-bed, from the prevalence of a delicate species of that genus. Another zone was described as following the river-valleys in the form of raised terraces, characterized by the presence of a large
Panopæa
. The latest shell-banks have been thought to be kitchen-middens ; but the author regarded them as shore-deposits in place. The author concluded by tracing the probable climatal and geographical changes in this region during geological times, and indicated, as far as his material allowed, the probable migrations of the Mollusca, especially of the
Venericardia
characterizing the Pliocene Limestone.
Note on some Reptillian Fossils from Gozo
Authors: Hulke J. W.
Published: October 2009

T
hese
fossils were collected by the late Captain Strickland, and forwarded by Mrs. Strickland, for examination and description, to Mr. Busk, who intrusted me with them for this purpose, informing me at the same time that they came from Gozo, the Gauda of Strabo, an island adjoining Malta, reputed miocene.

As one of the fossils indicates, I believe, a new crocodile, and the other, if Gozo be really miocene, if the jaw actually came thence, and if my determination should prove correct, shows the survival of an
Ichthyosaurus
to a much later period than that of the upper white chalk, the most recent formation in which any remains of this genus have yet been found, they seemed to me worthy of being brought under the notice of this Society.
Some Remarks on the Denudation of the Oolites of the Bath District, with a Theory on the Denudation of Oolites generally
Authors: Mitchell W. Stephen
Published: October 2009

T
he
theory commonly held as to the origin of the Oolite hills of this country is, that the strata of which they are composed were originally deposited in sheets continuous over large areas, that the valleys are
entirely
the result of denudation, which has left the intervening masses standing out as hills, and that it is generally possible to recognize on opposite sides of a valley at the different horizons the individual beds which were formerly continuous across that valley. The author believed that the following theory had equal claims to credence:—

That the sedimentary deposits of any particular Oolitic district were probably originally deposited in continuous beds, but that the limestones in many instances probably never extended beyond the areas they now occupy
.

The object of the paper was to show that the Bath district was one of these instances; and the following were the chief points brought under the notice of the Society.

In the Bath district, while the beds of the Great Oolite limestone are for the most part approximately horizontal over the plateaux of the downs, they
thin out
at the edges of the hills. Mr. Sanders in his map of the district has marked the few Oolite hills which come within the map as
everywhere dipping towards the valleys
.

There is no evidence here of a washing away of the underlying Fuller’s Earth, and a consequent drop of the limestone, as is suggested by Mr. Witchell to be the ease in the Cotteswolds*. The Fuller’s
On the probable Cause, Date, and Duration of the Glacial Epoch of Geology
Authors: Drayson
Published: October 2009

A
fter
referring to the evidence of the occurrence of a Glacial Epoch, and to the various hypotheses which have been proposed to account for it, the author brought forward the following considerations:—

Of the three principal movements of the earth, namely its daily rotation on its axis, its revolution round the sun, and the slow conical movement of its axis of rotation round the poles of the ecliptic, the third is, in the author’s opinion, the cause of glacial epochs. The angular distance of the pole of the ecliptic and the pole of the heavens is at all times the exact measure of the obliquity of the ecliptic, or the extent of the Arctic circle upon the earth. There is evidence that during the last 2000 years these two poles have gradually decreased their angular distance, so that, while the pole of the heavens moves round some curve at the rate of about 1° in seventy-two years, it approaches the pole of the ecliptic at a variable rate, at present about 46″ in a century. The author had calculated from the recorded positions of the pole of the heavens during the last 2000 years, the curve traced by this pole with relation to the pole of the ecliptic. He found it to be a circle, the centre of which is 6° from the pole of the ecliptic, and 29° 25′ 4.7″ from that of the heavens.

Taking this curve as a guide, the author finds that 2000 years ago the
On a new Chimæroid Fish from the Lias of Lyme Regis (
Ischyodus orthorhinus
, ♂)
Authors: Egerton Philip Grey
Published: October 2009

T
he
knowledge we have hitherto obtained of the form and structure of the fossil fishes assigned to the Chimæroid family is very limited, being derived solely from the dental plates and dorsal spines, which, from their superior hardness, have resisted the decomposition which has removed the more destructible cartilaginous structures with which they were associated. Whether these old monsters resembled the surviving members of the family in quaint form and bizarre aspect was a matter of conjecture. That they exceeded them in size is a matter of fact. The massive mandibles of
Ischyodus Townshendi
of the Portland age, or the enormous premaxillaries of
Edaphon gigas
of the Chalk era, sufficiently testify that the possessors of such powerful dental machinery must have been of heroic size compared with the surviving types of the family. The recent discovery of a specimen in the Lias of Lyme Regis, in which a considerable portion of the anterior structures of a Chimæroid is preserved, enables me to advance a step in clearing up the mystery which has hitherto shrouded this subject. It was described to me as a new species of shark, showing the dorsal spine
in situ
, and the upper and lower jaws. From a rough sketch of the specimen forwarded with the letter, I was inclined to think, from the peculiar mode of insertion of the spine, that it might possibly belong to a
Balistes
or a Siluroid fish, certainly that it could not be a shark; but on examining the specimen itself
On the Tertiary Volcanic Rocks of the Bristish Islands
Authors: Geikie Archibald
Published: October 2009

I
n
the present communication I propose to offer to the Society the first of a series of papers descriptive of those latest of the British volcanic rocks which intersect and overlie our Palæozoic and Secondary formations, and which, from fossil evidence, are to be regarded as of miocene, or at least of older Tertiary, date. Materials for this purpose have been accumulating with me for some years past. In bringing forward this first instalment of them, I wish to preface the subject with some general introductory remarks regarding the place which the rocks seem to me to hold in British geology, and on the nomenclature which I shall use in describing them. These remarks will be followed by a detailed description of the first of a succession of districts where the characteristic features of the rocks are well displayed. Other typical districts will be described in future memoirs.
On a New Species of Coral from the Red Crag of Waldringfield
Authors: Duncan P. Martin
Published: October 2009

T
he
solitary specimen of a compound Madreporarian which forms the subject of this communication, was found by Mr. Alfred Bell at Waldringfield, and was sent to me for description. The coral is interesting, because it belongs to a reef-forming type which has lasted from the Eocene to the present day, and which, doubtless, some day or other, will prove to be much more ancient.

The specimen had been considerably rolled and worn before its deposition amongst the other materials constituting the Red Crag, and it must therefore be regarded as a
remanié
fossil. It becomes, therefore, rather important that the geological age of the form should be determined; but as its mineralization affords no assistance in this inquiry, any satisfactory results must depend upon the correct appreciation of its palæontology.
The probable Origin of Deposits of “Loess” in North China and Eastern Asia
Authors: Kingsmill Thomas W.
Published: October 2009

T
he
Baron F. von Richthofen, in an able and interesting Report* of a journey undertaken under the auspices of the General Chamber of Commerce at Shanghai, alludes to the enormous area covered by the light-clay deposits of North China which he found at Chinkiang and Nanking, on the Yangtsze, and throughout almost the entire area of Honan and Shansi. Beyond the area mentioned by the Baron, they seem to extend into Shantung, to cover a large portion of Northern Anhwei, and, according to Pumpelli, to reach to North Chihli and Mongolia. The formation appears to answer in a great measure to the Kunkur formation of India, and in all probability extends far into the elevated plains of Central Asia. The name of “Loess,” taken from the similar deposit in the valley of the Rhine, has been applied by the Baron von Richthofen to this formation; and to it as a distinctive name, independent of any theory as to its formation, there does not seem any objection. So many different opinions have been held as to the origin of the Loess of the Rhine, that it is not surprising a similar difference should exist in regard to the vastly more extensive deposit of Eastern Asia. The latter, however, though almost identical in structure and composition with the former, differs widely from it in position, inasmuch as it is by no means confined to the valleys of the great rivers, but stretches almost uninterruptedly over the raised tablelands of Central and Northern
On the Principal Features of the Stratigraphical Distribution of the British Fossil Lamellibranchiata
Authors: Lobley J. Logan
Published: October 2009

H
aving
been engaged for some years past in investigating the organic contents of British strata, and in the enumeration of the species which have been recorded as occurring in each geological formation, I am enabled to bring before this Society a summary of the stratigraphical distribution of the remains of one of the classes of the Mollusca, the Lamellibranchiata, as far as it is at present known.

The results here presented are submitted with confidence in their reliability as being approximately correct to the present time, since well authenticated species only have been retained in my lists, and extreme care has been taken to exclude those numerous synonyms which are so frequently productive of incorrect conclusions.

The class Lamellibranchiata of De Blainville, or Conchifera of Lamarck, is represented in British strata so abundantly that the genera alone number nearly two hundred. I will not here attempt to give the details of the range and distribution of these very numerous genera, but confine myself at the present time to the consideration of the principal groups of the class.

The classification of the Lamellibranchiata that will be followed is founded on that of Lamarck, and differs little from the one given in the excellent and much used Woodward's ‘Manual of the Mollusca.’

In the accompanying Tables the usual geological scale has been adopted. The term
Siluran
is intended to embrace all the rocks included by Murchison in this “System,” namely, from the Liugula Flags to the Passage Beds.
Triassic
includes the Rhætic
Geological Observations on British Guiana
Authors: Sawkins James G.
Published: October 2009

A
detailed
geological survey of British Guiana, in the present state of the colony, would be a very difficult and prolonged undertaking, as the only lands not covered by dense forests are the coast alluvium, and the savannas or prairies of the interior; few roads extend beyond the sugar plantations on the former, and few Indian tracks over the latter; therefore it must be understood that my observations were chiefly confined to the rivers.

Along the coast the land is low, at many places (as at Georgetown) below the sea-level, composed entirely of sands, clays, and marine débris brought down by the larger rivers, which have been frequently silted up into lakes by the contra-action of the waves of the Atlantic ocean. The extent of this alluvium varies from ten to forty miles inland, where it terminates in low sand-hills of 10–70 feet elevation above the sea-level. These sand-hills extend inland until they are seen resting on granite. They are somewhat rounded by the action of the water of insignificant streams and rain.

The amount of rain, according to observations by Mr. Sandeman during ten years, shows an annual average of 102·826 in., the minimum being 68·680, and maximum 133·219; these facts will convey an idea of what the denuding influences in this colony are.

My first excursion was limited to what is called the Pomeroon district, comprising the Wainii, Barama, Barima, and Pomeroon rivers. The first granite was observed on the Wainii and Canyaballi, just below the mouth of
On the Persistence of
Caryophyllia Cylindracea
, Reuss, sp., a Cretaceous Species of Coral, in the Coral fauna of the Deep Sea
Authors: Duncan P. Martin
Published: October 2009

T
he
simple stony coral
Caryophyllia cylindracea
, Reuss, sp., is, comparatively speaking, a common fossil in the White Chalk.

Lonsdale described the form, under the name of
Monocarya centralis
, in Dixon's ‘Geol. of Sussex,’ 1850; but it appears that MM. Milne-Edwards and J. Haime had already named the species
Cyathina lævigata
in their Monographie des Turbinolides, ‘Ann. des Sci. Nat.’ 3
e
série, t. ix. p. 290, 1848.

D'Orbigny recognized the species in 1850 as a form which had been described by Reuss in 1846 under the name of
Anthophyllum cylindraceum
(‘Kreideformation,’ p. 61, pl. 14. figs. 23–30); and after altering the generic title, he created that of
Cyathina cylindracea
.

MM. Milne-Edwards and Jules Haime described the coral in their monograph of the British Fossil Corals (Palæontog. Society, 1850) under the name
Cyathina lævigata
, and, after recognizing the priority of Reuss in their ‘Hist. Nat. des Coralliaires,’ finally accepted the name of
Caryophyllia cylindracea
, Reuss, sp.

I have referred to the species in the Supplement to the ‘British Fossil Corals’ (Palæntog. Soc.) and in the Report on the British Fossil Corals to the British Association.

Hitherto
Caryophyllia cylindracea
, Reuss, has been considered a characteristic fossil of the White Chalk; and its horizon does not appear to have reached that of the uppermost beds of that series.
Note on an Ichthyosaurus (

I. enthekiodon

) from Kimmeridge Bay, Dorset
Authors: Hulke J. W.
Published: October 2009

O
n
the 22nd December, 1869, I brought under the notice of the Society two fragments of a long, slender snout with sauroid teeth of a peculiar form, obtained in Kimmeridge Bay by J. C. Mansel, Esq., F.G.S., which I was inclined to refer to the genus
Ichthyosaurus
; but the evidence not being quite decisive I was obliged to leave the true position of the Saurian indicated by them to be determined at some future time, whenever new material for the purpose might accrue. Meanwhile I gave it the provisional name
Enthekiodon
, from the thick capsule of cementum surrounding the tooth-fang.

A very few days afterwards, while making a short visit with Mr. Mansel to Kimmeridge Bay, we discovered great part of the skeleton of an indubitable
Ichthyosaurus
, the snout and teeth of which agreed so closely with those of
Enthekiodon
as to leave no reasonable doubt of their identity. Mr. Mansel generously added it to the splendid series of Kimmeridge fossils already presented by him to the British Museum, and it has lately been placed in the Palæontological Gallery.

The skeleton lies (as we found it on the reef) on its left side ; the head is bent upwards, the vertebral column makes a double curve, the greater part of the taft is missing, a large number of the ribs on the right side preserve their relations to the vertebral column and to one another nearly undisturbed ; beneath them is a black stain (cuttle-ink ?), in which are small
On the Structure of the Crag-beds of Suffolk and Norfolk, with some Observations on their Organic Remains
Authors: Prestwich Joseph
Published: October 2009

Conclusion

Nothing can be clearer than the relation of the Red to the Coralline Crag; but the Norwich Crag occupying a different area, and each area presenting a crag-series of its own type, without superposition or passage, their relation to one another must necessarily be established on other grounds. We have to see what other beds there may be common to the two districts, whether in each they bear a like relation to those Crag beds which are the object of inquiry, and whether the differences known to exist in the latter may not be owing to geographical distribution.

In this case we have the one common bed in the Chillesford Clay, which forms a zone limiting in ascending order the position both of the Red and of the Norwich Crags, both of which it overlies and with both of which it shows a close relation. But although we can follow the Chillesford Clay (retaining its usual characters and fossils) into the southern part of the Norwich-Crag area at Southwold, north of that district it is not fossiliferous and we can only identify it by position and mineral characters. Nevertheless we can follow this argillaceous zone, although a charaoter of uncertain value, with sufficient clearness to Bacton and Weybourne, and also inland to Norwich and Coltishall. In Norfolk, however, as the sands and shingle overlying the Chillesford Clay become interstratified with beds of laminated clay very similar in appearance to the Chillesford Clay, it might be a question whether the
On some Points in South-African Geology.—Parts II. and III. On the Dicynodon or Karoo Formation—its Forest-zones, as shown by Sections in the Winterberg and Stormberg (Dordrecht, Upper Kei River, and Klaas Smit's River), and its Denudation by Ice-action; with Remarks on the Climatal changes in South Africa.
Authors: Stow G. W.
Published: October 2009

In the Dicynodon (Karoo) formation † we find two or more distinct forest-zones in this eastern part of the colony. At Dordrecht (Albert), in the Upper Stormberg range, on the south of the Kaga Mountain (an offshoot of the Winterberg, in East Somerset), in the Kroome range, and in the Amatola Mountains (British Kaffraria) a thick and gritty sandstone frequently makes its appearance on the slopes of minor valleys, and on the flats at the same line of elevation $ and wherever it is exposed there is almost invariably an abundance of fossil wood. Near Greytown and the Kabousie nearly entire trunks of trees have been discovered. Near the Kom-Kom, a branch of the Kaga River, I have collected numerous specimens.‡

Section at Dordrecht

In the section (fig. 8) the portions marked
a
,
a
,
a
are covered with
debris
. No. 1 protrudes in enormous masses of greenstone or basalt (“ironstone” of the colonists), which, judging from the line of exposure, must be conformable with the strata on which they seem to rest§. About 50 feet below, a rather compact sandstone is exposed, resting upon a claystone (No. 2)∥, about two feet thick; this, again, upon No. 3, a coarse-grained greyish sandstone ¶, 8 2 twelve or fourteen feet ; and immediately beneath this is No. 4, grey indurated shale. Below this is a coarse friable brownish sandstone (No. 5), resting on No. 6, which is very similar, but full of ferruginous patches and nodules, specimens of which are sent **. Many
Description of the Skull of a Species of Halitherium (H. Canhami) from the Red Crag of Suffolk
Authors: Flower William Henry
Published: October 2009

While looking, a few weeks ago, over the very rich collection of Crag fossils formed by the Rev. H. Canham, of Waldringfield, near Woodbridge, that gentleman called my attention to an unusually fine fragment of a skull, which he had been unable to identify with any known form. He very obligingly allowed me to bring it to London for the purpose of careful examination and comparison; and I have the pleasure of exhibiting it to the Society this evening.

The specimen was found in the so-called “coprolite” or bone-bed at the base of the Red Crag at Foxhall, about two miles from Waldringfield; and it presents the usual aspect of the mammalian remains from that bed. It is heavily mineralized, of a rich dark brown colour, almost black in some parts, with the surface much worn and polished, and marked here and there with the characteristic round or oval shallow pits, the supposed
Pholas
-borings. Unfortunately, before it was extracted from the matrix in which it lay, it was broken by the pick into several pieces, some of which were lost by the workmen; but all that were preserved have been skilfully reunited by Mr. Canham.

The great interest of this skull consists in its affording the first recorded evidence of the former existence of an animal of the remarkable order Sirenia in this country.
New Facts bearing on the Inquiry concerning Forms intermediate between Birds and Reptiles
Authors: Woodward Henry
Published: October 2009

There is perhaps no single point along the whole line of defences raised by the opponents of the theory of Evolution which has been more warmly contested than the question of the significance attaching to the relationship of birds to reptiles. Professor Huxley truly remarks that “to superficial observation no two groups of beings can appear to be more entirely dissimilar than reptiles and birds. Placed side by side, a humming-bird and a tortoise, an ostrich and a crocodile, offer the strongest contrast, and a stork seems to have little but animality in common with the snake it swallows”.

“In perfect strictness,” writes the same authority, “no doubt, it is true that birds are no more modified reptiles than reptiles are modified birds, the reptilian and ornithic types being both, in reality, somewhat different superstructures raised upon one and the same ground-plan; but it is also true that some reptiles deviate so very much less from that ground-plan than any bird does, that they might be taken to represent that which is common to both classes without any serious error.”

“A
lizard
is not very far from being the centre of the circle, the periphery of which is occupied by
Chelonia, Ichthyosauria, Plesiosauria, Pterosauria
, and
Aves
”.
Note on an Astragalus of
Iguanodon Mantelli
Authors: Hulke J. W.
Published: October 2009

I am indebted to the courtesy of one of our Fellows, E. P. Wilkins, Esq., of Newport, Isle of Wight, for the opportunity of exhibiting this remarkable astragalus of Mantell's
Iguanodon
, a bone not contained in the rich series of remains of this Dinosaur preserved in the British Museum, and, so far as I can ascertain, hitherto unknown. Mr. Wilkins acquired it several years ago with other reptilian fossils obtained from the cliffs in Brixton Bay; and last September, when I paid a hasty visit to his collection, he showed it to me as a bone which had much puzzled him, and which he had been unable to determine. On learning its extreme interest, he anticipated my wish for a sketch of it by suggesting that I might take it with me to London and bring it under the notice of the Geological Society.
The Drift-beds of the North-West of England.—Part I. Shells of the Lancashire and Cheshire Low-level Boulder-clay and Sands
Authors: Reade T. Mellard
Published: October 2009

Before treating of the stratigraphical distribution of the Low-level Boulder-clay and sands of Lancashire and Cheshire in which the shell-fragments occur, I have thought it better to discuss first, by the light of the fragments themselves, the geographical distribution of the species represented, their mode of occurrence and condition, and the nature of the matrix in which they are found—some of the problems involved in an accurate interpretation of the glacial-marine phenomena of the drift of the north-west of England.
Notes on the Structure sometimes developed in Chalk
Authors: Fordham H. George
Published: October 2009

A paper on this subject (the peculiar parallel striæ found in Chalk), read before the Society last May, brought up a discussion in which such a great variety of opinion as to the origin of this structure was shown, that I thought the following few facts might perhaps be of interest.

In a pit one mile east of Ashwell, on the borders of Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, a small section of the “Chalk without flints” of the Geological Survey, about 40 or 50 feet above its base, is exposed. The chalk here is hard, and may be divided into layers, which differ considerably in structure. There are at least three varieties:—(1) layers of hard chalk, divided into slabs about an inch thick; (2) beds much thicker and more massive than the last; and (3) a bed of a concretionary nature. These beds are from six inches to several feet in thickness.

The concretions are marked nearly all over by the lines of this structure. I find that the lines are only found on the concretions (which are easily removed from the parent rock) and in their very immediate neighbourhood. The other beds are entirely free from any trace of the structure.
On the Traces of a Great Ice-sheet in the Southern Part of the Lake District, and in North Wales
Authors: Mackintosh D.
Published: October 2009

After a few introductory remarks on
roches moutonnées
, the distinction between primary and subsequent striæ, &c., the author proceeds to consider the main subject of his paper as follows.
Discovery of Foraminifera, &c., in the Boulder-clays of Cheshire
Authors: Shone William
Published: October 2009

In the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society for November 1872, Mr. D. Mackintosh described the Upper and Lower Boulder-clays of Cheshire, and he also appended lists of the Mollusca found therein.

I cannot add any thing to Mr. Mackintosh's description, it being a most accurate, full, and exact account of the lithological and stratigraphical characteristics of the drift-clays of Cheshire. For some time I had been searching for Foraminifera in these clays in the vicinity of Chester, but failed to find them. Last September, however, my friend Mr. J. B. Manning (Constable of Chester Castle) happened to find in the Upper Boulder-clay of Newton-by-Chester a boulder bored by
Saxicava rugosa
, in the cavities of which fragments of the shells remained. Wishing to possess these fragments, he proceeded to wash them out; but in doing so he observed that the holes were not filled with the red clay in which the boulder was found, but with sand. On examining this sandy débris beneath the microscope, we found that it contained several shells of
Polystomella crispa
. Mr. Manning thereupon remarked, “if we are to succeed in finding Foraminifera in the Boulder-clay we must look for stones with holes in them.”
On the Correspondence between some Areas of Apparent Upheaval and the Thickening of Subjacent Beds
Authors: Topley W.
Published: October 2009

1.
Introduction.
-The fact that the Secondary strata of England vary considerably in thickness as we trace them over any wide area is very well known. Professor Phillips long ago observed the south-easterly thinning of the Oolites in the Midland Counties*; and Professor Hull, in 1859, read before this Society a Memoir on this subject, giving the results obtained by himself and others engaged on the Geological Survey†. Recent investigations as to the probable extension of the coal-measures under the south-eastern counties, have again drawn attention to this subject; and much information bearing upon it is contained in the Reports of the Royal Coal Commission.

In the following paper I shall endeavour to show that, from these facts, some important conclusions may be drawn concerning that observed
dip
of the strata, and the disturbances which the strata are assumed to have undergone, conclusions which I think cannot be denied if the facts be granted, but which have hitherto been overlooked.

It is known that the Tertiary and Cretaceous beds under London lie in a “basin,” whilst as we recede from London the beds
rise
at varying angles; so that strata which occur at considerable depths. It has always been assumed that this is due to an
unheaval
of the beds in the direction in which they rise. I think, however, that if we allow the full weight to known facts as to the thinning out of beds (facts which every one accepts), we must conclude that this is in many cases
On the Occurrence of a Tremadoc Area near the Wrekin in South Shropshire, with Description of a new Fauna
Authors: Callaway Charles
Published: October 2009

The author stated that in an exposure of light-green micaceous shales dipping south-east at 50° at Shineton, near Cressage, which are represented as of Caradoc age in the Geological-Survey Map, he found a series of Trilobites and other fossils which induced him to regard these Shineton shales as belonging to the Lower Tremadoc series. He described as new species
Asaphus Eos, Conocoryphe Salteri, C. angulifrons, Platypeltis Croftii, Conophrys salopiensis, Lichapyge cuspidata, Lingulella Nicholsoni, Metoptoma Sabrinæ
, and
Theca lineata
. The author regarded these shales as the equivalents of beds containing
Dictyonema
found near Malvern and at Pedwardine.
On the Occurrence of Thanet Beds and of Crag at Sudbury, Suffolk
Authors: Whitaker William
Published: October 2009

I. Thanet Beds.

The newer Tertiary deposits of the Eastern Counties have had such a power of fascination over geologists that the older beds have been left almost unnoticed: indeed since the description of a few sections in Mr. Prestwich's essays on the Lower London Tertiaries, which have now been published 20 years and more, I know of but one paper (and this probably known to very few geologists)* that gives us any information about that series in the district in question, whereas the number of papers that treat of Crag and Drift is legion. It has therefore been an agreeable surprise to me to find, in the course of my Geological Survey work, that there are fine sections of the older Tertiary beds in Suffolk and the neighbouring part of Essex; and it was with some astonishment that I saw one of the finest sets of sections in the London Basin round the town of Sudbury, on the border of those two counties.

These sections convinced me that the lowest member of the Lower London Tertiaries, the Thanet Beds, crops out along part of the northern edge of the Tertiary district, an occurrence of which I had a very slight suspicion from other sections near Ipswich.

Mr. Prestwich has, indeed, doubtfully referred some of the sands of the northern outcrop to this division, though without describing any section; but he does not notice the particular part where it is now to be seen in many large and clear pits,
On the Character of the Diamantiferous Rock of South Africa
Authors: Story-Maskelyne N. , Flight W.
Published: October 2009

The character of the rock in which the diamonds are found in South Africa, in the various diggings of Du Toit's Pan, Bultfontein, (the Old) De Beer's, and the Colesberg Kopje or New Rush, is essentially the same.

In some observations I made to the Society on the occasion of a notice of Mr. Dunn's on the subject of the rocks of the Diamond-fields, I gave a brief account of the minerals of which the particular rock in question appeared to be composed. I had at that time only optical, crystallographic, and pyrognostic features to go upon. Since then these minerals have been carefully selected and separated, and have been analyzed in the Laboratory of the Mineral Department by the careful and accurate hand of my colleague Dr. Flight; and the results that gentleman has obtained confirm in almost every particular the forecast I gave to the Society regarding these minerals.

The specimens of rock examined by us came from various depths— from near the surface down to 180 feet (in the case of one mass from the Colesberg Kopje).
Note on some of the Generic Modifications of the Plesiosaurian Pectoral Arch
Authors: Seeley Harry G.
Published: October 2009

If not having a sternum the Plesiosauria differ from the Crocodilia and from all the Lacertian orders of Reptiles. Serpents with limbs being as yet undiscovered, the only true Reptilia which admit of comparison with Plesiosaurs in the pectoral bones are the Chelonians. And even here, at first sight, the resemblance is not so evident as to command attention; for the shapes of the plastron-bones in embryonic Tortoises are more suggestive of the pectoral and pelvic girdles of Plesiosaurians than are the internal chelonian bones which support the limbs, since in Plesiosaurs these osteological elements are expanded shields which cover much of the abdominal surface. When, however, the embryonic pectoral arch of such a Chelonian as the
Chelone mydas
(fig. 1) is critically looked at, only unimportant osteological modification is needed to change its characters to those of a Plesiosaur.

The chelonian coracoid bones (
c
) are rod-like; but their extension is entirely posterior to the articulation for the numeric: the bones approximate somewhat posteriorly, are somewhat concave on their outer margin, and terminate in cartilages of a shoe-shaped form, which are so extended inward that their toe-like terminations meet in the median line. Then, from the humeral articulation the two precoracoids (
pc
) extend inward towards the median line; they are inclined very slightly forward, and join either by their cartilages or intervening connective tissue.

If, now, a line be drawn to join the median points of meeting of
About Polar Glaciation &c.
Authors: Campbell J. F.
Published: October 2009

Evaporation and condensation, atmospheric and oceanic circulation are caused by unequal local temperatures. Rivers and land-glaciers alike result from atmospheric circulation, and from local condensation, and they flow for the same reasons at different rates. The existing Arctic current is part of ocean circulation, caused by unequal polar and equatorial temperatures. That current is a conspicuous fact. It is far larger and more powerful than any existing river or ice flow on land. It is more than three thousand miles long, and it is very broad; it moves vast fragments of the largest existing land-glaciers, and great sheets of thick polar sea-ice, at great speed. It lowers the perpetual snow-limit where it flows, and it there modifies climate and all that depends on climate. Within an area equal to that of India, in Greenland it increases local condensation, and snow-flake's, and snow-falls, and ice flows and rivers; and so it increases local denudation on shore while it works on the shallows. Ice rafts in the ocean-stream carry drift southwards; and the water which drags these loaded rafts over shallows and makes them drop boulders, also rolls and packs mud and shingle and builds a delta in the sea. This kind of polar “glaciation” and deposition of “drift,” caused directly and indirectly by one of the northern polar currents, cannot be denied. The agent is a true cause at work; and the work ought to be like that which I saw in Russia in 1873.

Where a sedimentary rock exists there water has been; and the drift-plains of Russia are spread upon sedimentary series little disturbed. That part of the earth's crust has been up and down many times without breaking much. If glacial periods, due to astronomical or other causes, have in fact increased evaporation and condensation, ice-flows, and rivers to any given extent, then polar currents must have gained power during these periods, because movements in air and ocean result from unequal local temperatures, on which also depend the local growth of ice on land.
The Steppes of Siberia
Authors: Belt Thomas
Published: October 2009

Many writers have described the great steppes or “tundras” of Siberia, and told of their vast extent and monotonous aspect, where the traveller, day after day, sees the nearly level plains extending to the horizon in long low undulations, succeeding each other like the gentle heaving of the surface of an otherwise calm ocean. From the western base of the Ourals they spread right across the northern extremity of Asia, nearly to Kamtschatka, unbroken, excepting where the rivers have cut deep channels, or where some ridges of rock rise through the level expanse of sand and loam.

Last October I journeyed across the south-west corner of these vast plains for more than one thousand miles, from Ekaterinburg, on the eastern slope of the Ourals, to Byanool, a small town 360 miles south-east of Omsk; and although compared with the whole area of the great steppes this part forms but a small portion, I saw enough to impress me with the idea of their enormous extent, and to excite my curiosity to try to discover the cause of this continental expanse of sand and loam. I lost no opportunity of examining natural sections of the ground; and fortunately these were not scarce, as the rivers had everywhere cut deeply into the sandy strata. I propose in the present paper to give a description of the strata composing the steppes, to offer a theory to account for their origin, and to seek to apply it to other parts of the earth's surface.
Descriptions of Species of
Chætetes
from the Lower Silurian Rocks of North America
Authors: Nicholson H. Alleyne
Published: October 2009

The Lower Silurian rocks of North America have yielded a very large number of small corals, which have been ordinarily referred by palæontologists to one or other of the three genera
Chætetes, Monticulipora
, and
Stenopora
. Before considering these, however, it would seem advisable to very briefly discuss the value of the above-mentioned generic divisions, the boundaries of which are by no means yet satisfactorily defined.

The genus
Stenopora
is defined by Lonsdale as follows:—“A ramose, spherical, or amorphous tubular polypidom; tubes polygonal or cylindrical, radiated from a centre or an imaginary axis, contracted at irregular distances, but in planes parallel to the surface of the specimen; tubular mouths closed at final periods of growth; ridge bounding the mouths granulated or tuberculated; additional tubes interpolated.” (Lonsdale in Strzelecki's ‘Physical Description of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land,’ p. 262, 1845.)
Note on a Reptilian Tibia and Humerus (probably of
Hylæosaurus
) from the Wealden Formation in the Isle of Wight
Authors: Hulke J. W.
Published: October 2009

I am indebted to Dr. Wilkins, of Newport, who has already so frequently afforded me valuable materials for the study of the fossil Reptilian fauna of the Isle of Wight, for the opportunity of bringing two very remarkable limb-bones before this Society. They were obtained several years ago, in Brixton Bay, by a fisherman since dead. The soft and brittle state of their tissues, the complete substitution throughout them of the red oxide of iron for the pyrites with which bones in this locality are usually impregnated, their envelopment in a concretionary matrix of this oxide and clay, and their incrustation with recent zoophytes and algæ concur in making it very probable that they had been long exposed to the waves and winds upon the shore between high- and low-water marks before they were discovered. The horizon of their
gisement
cannot be fixed more nearly than somewhere in the mottled purple and grey clays, therefore in the beds west of Cowleaze Chine, below the
Hypsilophodon
-bed. It is not even known that they were found lying so close together as to justify the inference from juxtaposition that they originally formed part of one skeleton. Dr. Wilkins informed me, when I first saw them in 1870, that he believed they were so associated when discovered; and the close agreement of their general facies, of their texture, of their mineralization, of the matrix about them, and of their algal and zoophytic crusts concur in rendering this extremely probable, and dispose me to regard them as members of one individual.
Note on a Modified Form of Dinosaurian Ilium, hitherto reputed Scapula
Authors: Hulke J. W.
Published: October 2009

The subject of this note is a bone the true place of which in the skeleton, I suggest, with much deference to the opinions of the eminent authorities who have described it, has been misapprehended. If the interpretation I suggest should prove correct, it will indicate an altogether new genus, perhaps even a new order.
Geological Notes on the Route traversed by the Yarkund Embassy, from Shahidulla to Yarkund and Kashgar
Authors: Stoliczka F.
Published: October 2009

In a former communication I had already occasion to notice that the rocks composing the Kuen-Lun range, near Shahidulla, chiefly consist of syenitic gneiss, often interbedded and alternating with various metamorphic and quartzose schists. Similar rocks continue the whole way down the Karakash river for about twenty-four miles. After this the road runs in a somewhat north-westerly direction, following a small stream leading to the Sanju (or Grimm) Pass. Here the rocks are chiefly true mica-schist, in places full of garnets. Near and on the pass itself chloritic and quartzose schists prevail, in which veins of pale green jade occur, numerous blocks containing this mineral having been observed near the top of the pass. All the strata are very highly inclined, often vertical—the slopes of the hills, and, in fact, of the entire range, being on that account rather precipitous, and the crests of the ridges themselves very narrow. To the north of the Sanju Pass, we meet again with metamorphic, mostly chloritic, schists, until we approach the camping-place Yám, where distinctly bedded sedimentary rocks cap the hills of both sides of the valley. These are dark, almost black, silky slates, resting unconformably on the schists, and are overlain by a grey, partly quartzitic sandstone, passing into conglomerate. The last rock contains particles of the black slates, and is therefore clearly of more recent date.
Geological Notes upon Griqualand West
Authors: Stow George W. , Jones T. Rupert
Published: October 2009

During the months of March and April of the year 1872, having, in conjunction with F. H. S. Orpen, Esq., Civil Commissioner of Griqualand West, been occupied in making a tour of inspection of the new territory (lately under the rule of the Chief Waterboer) for the information of his Excellency Sir Henry Barkly, I was able to collect a considerable amount of information, which I believe will throw much additional light upon the geological formations of this portion of the African continent. I propose to arrange the notes then made in a series of papers narrating the facts I was able to collect, and the conclusions to which they lead.

I shall first treat of the country from the banks of the Modder river before its junction with the Riet, towards the southern point of the great Campbell-Randt; secondly, of the ancient rocks of the Campbell-Randt and the territory to the west and north-west of that remarkable escarpment; thirdly, of the lower Hart or Kalong valley and such portion of the country to the north of the present diamond-fields as I was able to include in our reconnaisance; and lastly I shall offer such facts and observations as I have been able to collect after a residence of nearly nine months in the neighbourhood of De Beer's New Rush and Du Toit's Pan, in what is termed the “Panne Veldt.”