bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
On the Chalk of Buckinghamshire, and on the Totternhoe Stone
Authors: Whitaker William 
Published: October 2009

I
know
of but two short notices of the Totternhoe stone, and the older of these is merely to the effect that “the indurated Chalk Marle is extensively quarried at Totternhoe, in Bedfordshire*.”

Prof. J. Phillips, however, has been led to class this stone and the accompanying marl with the Upper Greensand, his words being as follows:—“In Bedfordshire the Chalk Marl produces a bed of siliceous chalky stone, which may probably be analogous to the firestone of Mesterham (Merstham), in Surrey, which is determined to belong to the Upper Greensand.”* * * * * “It is easy to understand how so variable a mass of sand (the Upper Greensand) placed immediately below the Chalk, and clearly in many places graduating into that calcareous rock, should in several instances become so cretaceous as to be hardly distinguishable from the Chalk itself. This happens in Bedfordshire, where the Tattenhoe (Tottenhoe†) stone appears to be the representative of the Upper Greensand‡.
I would remark that the name “Chalk-marl” is, I believe, used strictly for the lowest and more clayey part of the Chalk, and therefore that bed can hardly be analogous to the Upper Greensand which occurs beneath it.
The mapping of the Upper Greensand in Buckinghamshire gave much trouble to the Geological Survey, and it was only after repeated visits, by the help of fresh sections, and from a knowledge of a great length of country along the foot of the Chalk ridge, that the difficulty was cleared up, happily, too, without
On the Character of the Cephalopoda of the South-Indian Cretaceous Rocks
Authors: Stoliczka F. 
Published: October 2009

N
early
twenty-five years have elapsed since the fossiliferous Cretaceous deposits of the Carnatic first received attention through the zealous labours of Messrs. Kaye and B. Cunliffe, and since this first notice of fossils in the neighbourhood of Pondicherry and Verdachellum much has been done for the study of these rocks.

From Mr. H. F. Blanford's report* we know that the entire series of the Cretaceous deposits either rests immediately on the crystalline rocks, or is in some places only separated from them by a small thickness of plant-bearing beds. Dr. T. Oldham† identified three species of the plants from these beds with others occurring in the Rajmahal series in Bengal. From this identification he regards the plant-bearing beds of Trichinopoly as being of the same age with the Rajmahal group, which is generally believed to be at least Jurassic, the exact age, however, not being as yet settled. Above the plant-beds we have the Cretaceous deposits, which have been examined by Mr. H. F. Blanford and other officers of the Geological Survey, in the Trichinopoly and South Arcot districts, and near Pondicherry. In the two first-named districts Mr. Blanford separates them into three divisions—the Ootatoor, Trichinopoly, and Arrialoor groups. Near Pondicherry only two groups have been traced out, namely, the Valudayur and Arrialoor. The Ootatoor and Valudayur groups are the lowest and oldest among the whole series, the others being successively younger.
Since the extensive collections of South-Indian Cretaceous fossils, brought together from several localities by Messrs. Kaye and Cunliffe
Notes accompanying some Rhomboidal Specimens of Iron-Sandstone, &c. presented to the Society
Authors: Herschel J. F. W. 
Published: October 2009

Abstract

M
ost
of these specimens came from a quarry at Clanmullen, near Edenderry, King's County, and the remainder from the Collingwood Quarry, in the Weald of Kent. The Irish specimens are siliceous, containing some oxide of iron and a little manganese, and are homogeneous throughout. They all agree in the sharpness of definition and the exact parallelism and evenness of the flat surfaces; but, like those from the Weald, they are not constant in form or size, and sometimes are very irregular in angle and in the parallelism of opposite sides. The Wealden specimens, however, are all closed boxes, each containing a rhomboid of hardened sandstone, the outer case being highly ferruginous—in fact, the “Ironstone of the Weald.” Sir John Herschel endeavoured to account for the formation of the boxes, and Captain Dames added a Note stating the circumstances under which the Irish specimens occur.
On the Changes rendered necessary in the Geological Map of South Africa by recent Discoveries of Fossils
Authors: Rubidge R. N. 
Published: October 2009

I
t
may be necessary to remind those not specially interested in the geology of the Cape of Good Hope, that in a paper read to this Society in 1854, on the metallic deposits of Namaqualand*, I pointed out a peculiarity in the relation of the quartzose sandstones with the gneiss of that district—namely, the occurrence of horizontal beds of sandstone resting on the upturned edges of gneiss, and continuous with inclined sandstone, of like kind, interstratified with the gneiss.

In 1857† I gave reasons for thinking that this relation of the quartzose sandstones existed on a much greater scale in other parts of the Colony, and that it had misled geologists; that, for instance, the separation of the schists of the Bokkeveldt from the Clay-slate formation was an error of this kind.
The section published in 1856 in the Society's Transactions‡ I believe, from personal observation, to be nearly correct. The quartzose sandstones of Table Mountain rest unconformably on the edges of the slates and granites, which are generally believed to be of the same age as the above-mentioned gneiss, as they do at Cape Town and at Bain's Kloof; but at this place, Mitchell's Pass (or rather in the last range through which the pass winds), the sandstone is found highly inclined, and passing under the Bokkeveldt schists, which rest on it.
On account of this relation, the schists were supposed to be much newer than the clay-slate. Their fossil contents seeming to Mr. Bain to be Upper Silurian
On some Remains of large Dinosaurian Reptiles from the Stormberg Mountains, South Africa
Authors: Huxley  
Published: October 2009

I
n
a box of fossils sent to Sir R. I. Murchison, Bart., by Mr. Alfred Brown of Aliwal North, South Africa, and submitted to me for examination and determination, I found certain fragmentary large reptilian bones, to which a very considerable interest attaches.

The most important of these are two femora, a right and a left. The articular ends of both of these bones are wanting; and the shaft of the left is far less complete than that of the right, to which the following remarks more particularly apply.
It is broken into four pieces; but these, when carefully fitted together, have a total length of 25·5 inches; and it may be safely assumed that the length of the entire femur exceeded 30 inches, as its distal extremity is only beginning to widen for the condyles. At 20·5 inches from the proximal end, the transverse diameter of the shaft is 5·1 inches, the antero-posterior diameter 4·2 inches. The contour of the transverse section at this point is a transversely elongated oval, the posterior face being so much more flattened than the anterior as to make it almost semilunar.
Viewed sideways, the shaft of the bone is, for the greater part of its length, nearly straight, though its dorsal contour is a little convex. But towards the proximal end it becomes widened and flattened from above downwards, while, at the same time, its longitudinal contour becomes concave above and convex below.
In its dorsal, or upper, aspect also, the greater part
On a New Specimen of
Telerpeton Elginense
Authors: Huxley  
Published: October 2009

I
am
indebted to my friend the Rev. Dr. Gordon, of Birnie by Elgin, for the opportunity of examining the very beautiful and important specimen of
Telerpeton Elginense
, of which I propose to give a description in the present paper. It is the property of Mr. James Grant, General Assembly Teacher, in Lossiemouth, Elgin, who has been good enough to entrust it to Dr. Gordon for transmission to me; and it was obtained from the well-known reptiliferous beds of Lossiemouth, along with some highly interesting fragments of
Stagonolepis
and
Hyperodapedon
.

The fine-grained sandstone in which the fossil has been imbedded is broken irregularly into five pieces; and the several bones are represented by sharp and well-defined casts, the original osseous substance having disappeared, or being represented only by pulverulent bone-earth, or by oxide of iron. The body is curved towards the right side, and the head and neck are bent dorsad in a plane different from that of the trunk.
The length of the skull is 1·65 in., that of the vertebra] column, from the atlas to the anterior margin of the sacrum, is 4·5 in. From the front margin of the sacrum to the end of the undisturbed part of the tail is 2 inches. To this total of 8·15 in. it is probable that 2 inches more, at least, must be added for the distal moiety of the tail, which would give the entire animal a length of not less than between ten and eleven inches.
The fore
Notes on some Chemical Analyses of Variegated Strata
Authors: Maw George 
Published: October 2009

Abstract

T
he
author gave the results of some analyses for the determination of iron in the light and dark parts of variegated slates, sandstones, and marls, the colour of which is due to oxide of iron, and in which the variegation appears to be disposed independently of mechanical arrangement. The analysis in each case exhibited the fact that the lighter blotches, spots, and stripes contained a smaller proportion of the colouring oxide than the average mass, a proportion which implies an actual difference in the percentage of the metallic iron, and which could not be accounted for by any mere difference in the state of its combination. This shows an actual departure of a part of the colouring oxide out of the colourless patches, and a dispersive process which seemed to be the very reverse of the segregation of nodules of carbonate of lime and carbonate of iron out of a clayey matrix. Among the forms of variegation referred to were:—(1st) that resulting from the segregation of dark blotches out of a lighter matrix, the evenness of colour of which does not appear to have been materially affected by the withdrawal of a part of its colouring-matter; (2nd) that resulting from the segregation of dark blotches out of a lighter ground, each of which is concentrically surrounded by a distinct and well-defined zone lighter than the general ground; (3rd) strata variegated with light blotches containing a smaller proportion of colouring-matter than the general ground, but not arranged concentrically round a darker nucleus; (4th) the variegation of coloured strata with both light and dark blotches, containing respectively a smaller and larger proportion of the colouring oxide than the general ground, but which are not arranged, as in the second case, concentrically with each other.
Notes on the Geological features of Mauritius
Authors: Clark George 
Published: October 2009

M
auritius
is well known to be of volcanic origin, as is also the neighbouring island of Réunion, where there exists a volcano in constant activity. There is this great difference between the two islands: Mauritius is surrounded by coral-reefs, which protect nearly the whole of its coast, and by their shelter form excellent harbours, while the coast of Réunion is exposed to the full force of the ocean. The action of the waves is so strong on its shores that not a particle of the basaltic sand which strews them presents an angle. Its beach exhibits nothing but a mass of pebbles, varying in size from a foot or more in diameter to particles almost imperceptible to the naked eye.

The reefs of Mauritius support various islets, which have been generally regarded as forming an integral part of them, though rising to as much as thirty feet above the sea-level.
Gabriel Islet, is partly basaltic and partly calcareous; and it is on the latter that the late Dr. P. Ayres discovered the fossilized remains of a forest, of which he gave an account at the Meeting of the Royal Society of Arts and Sciences of Mauritius, in 1860.
Egret Island stands on a calcareous bottom surrounded by sand between the reef and the shore, about a mile from the former and half that from the latter, with a depth of water varying from half a fathom to a fathom. This island, which rises to a height of about thirty feet,
On the Lower Lias or Lias-Conglomerate of a part of Glamorganshire
Authors: Bristow Henry W. 
Published: October 2009

O
n
the 6th December, 1865, a paper was read before the Society, by Mr. E. B. Tawney, “On the Western Limits of the Rhætic Beds in South Wales, and on the position of the ‘Sutton Stone’”*.

The chief object of the above communication was (to quote the author's own words), “to discuss the ‘Sutton Stone’ as to its stratigraphical, lithological, and palæontological relations; to show from organic remains that its affinities were with the Triassic formation, and not with the Lias, as commonly supposed, and then to claim it as Rhætic, and in so doing to extend, for the first time in England, the range of Ammonites down into the Rhætic series” (p. 70).
In order to render his views still more intelligible, the author reiterates (at p. 72 of his Memoir), “These beds I now claim as Rhætic, and would unquestionably separate from the Lias. As developed on the coast, they are between 80 and 90 feet in thickness: to the lower half of this the term ‘Sutton Series’ may apply; and for the upper half I propose the name of ‘Southerndown Series,’ as they are best seen in the fine cliff-exposure under the hamlet of Southerndown.”
In further elucidation of the views already expressed, the author gives two sections at p. 75—one a vertical section representing, in the lower part, 39 feet of “Sutton Series” overlain by a thickness of 50 feet 9 inches “Southerndown Series,” which, again, is surmounted by acknowledged Lias, represented by the zone of
On the Strata which form the Base of the Lincolnshire Wolds
Authors: Judd John W. 
Published: October 2009

I. I
ntroduction
.

T
hat
the geology of Lincolnshire has been generally neglected is perhaps easily accounted for when we consider the difficulties of observation in this district, arising from the absence of sea-cliffs, the paucity of good inland sections, either natural or artificial, and the enormous development of the superficial deposits. This neglect, however, is much to be regretted, as a careful study of the strata of this county, besides revealing many phenomena of great intrinsic interest, is calculated to afford much assistance in working out the mutual relations of the remarkably different sections of Yorkshire and the south of England. It is in the hope of contributing Some materials towards the solution of this important geological problem that the present paper has been prepared.

The only previous notices of the district described in this essay, which I have been able to discover, are as follows:—
A paper* written by Mr. Bogg, in the year 1816,at the suggestion of Dr. Buekland, gives a tolerably correct account of the succession of beds lying to the west of Louth. Unfortunately, however, the author, relying on mineralogical characters only, was betrayed into the mistake of supposing the highly bituminous, slaty, and shaly beds of the Bain valley to be part of the Coal-measures, and, like many others before and since his time, spent considerable sums in boring for beds of coal in Lincolnshire.
In 1820 the district was examined by Professor Phillips†, who was then assisting William Smith to complete the Geological Map of
On Subaerial Denudation, and on Cliffs and Escarpments of the Tertiary Strata
Authors: Whitaker W. 
Published: October 2009

Abstract

F
rom
the fact that escarpments differ from cliffs in all their chief features, the author infers that the two could hardly result from the same action, but that, whilst the latter were made by the sea, the former seem to have been cut out by subaerial agents.

The chief contrasts between the two kinds of ridges are:—

1
Escarpments always run along the strike. Cliffs rarely do so.

2
The bottom of an escarpment is not at one level throughout. That of a sea-cliff is.

3
At the foot of an escarpment one does not find a beach or other trace of the action of the sea, but often such débris as would be left by a slow and quiet denuding agent.

4
Two escarpments facing the same way often run near and parallel to one another for many miles. Not so with cliffs.

5
The ridge of an escarpment is a nearly even line, and forms the highest ground of the neighbourhood. The top of a cliff is often very uneven and bordered by higher ground.

From an examination of escarpments of the Chalk and of the Tertiary beds, it was shown that though at first sight they might seem like old lines of cliff, yet a little study would destroy the fancied likeness, and it would be found that they are quite unlike cliffs
in the same beds
; for though, from their winding outline, these ranges of hills might remind one of some irregular coast, caused by rocks of different hardness wearing away at different rates, they have little in common with the far more even coast that is formed where there is but one kind of rock.

It was then pointed out that along the present coast the sea is not the only force engaged in the work of destruction, but that it is largely helped by atmospheric agents (the latter acting from above downwards, to detach and hurl down masses of rock, which the former, acting horizontally below, pounds down and sweeps away); and it was inferred that the joint action of the two kinds of force had a far greater effect than either alone.

In conclusion it was argued that as deposits of great thickness (such as the Wealden beds) had been made by rivers, it must be granted that (allowing for waste) still greater masses of rock had been destroyed by streams and by subaerial actions generally. The denuding power of the sea, however, was by no means denied; but it was allowed that as marine deposits much exceed in quantity those of freshwater origin, so the great denudations, the planings-down of vast tracts of which examples are given by unconformities, have been worked out by the action of the sea, but that, on the other hand, the far smaller denudations and
comparatively
trifling irregularities of the surface (our hills and valleys) have been worn out by the long-continued action of rain, rivers, and ice.
On the Bone-Caves near Crendi, Zebbug, and Melliha, in the Island of Malta
Authors: Spratt T. A. B. 
Published: October 2009

I. I
ntroduction
.

T
his
paper was, for the most part, written several years ago, but its publication has been delayed with a view to its accompanying the description of the remains of the extinct animals found within the several caverns, and more particularly the detailed description of the
Elephas Melitensis
(the Pigmy Elephant) by the late Dr. Hugh Falconer. His lamented and premature death causing a still further delay, it is now presented to the Society in anticipation of the immediate publication of Dr. Falconer's prepared drawings and final notes upon the Little Elephant, with other posthumous papers, under the editorship of his friend Dr. Murchison, F.R.S.,—and also in anticipation of an elaborate paper upon the same subject, which is being prepared by Mr. G. Busk, F.R.S., to whom the bones were transferred at Dr. Falconer's decease. The bones of birds have been described by Mr. W. K. Parker, F.R.S. &c.

II. T
he
M
aghlak
B
one-cave
.

The first of these bone-caves was discovered in the summer of 1858, on the south coast of Malta, near the town of Crendi. That part of the coast, for a distance of about six miles on either side of the cavern, presents a line of almost precipitous cliffs or bold scarps, extending from Marsa Scirrocco Bay, at the south-eastern extremity of Malta, to the small bay Foum el Rieh, at the north-western extremity and the base of the Bengemma heights or plateau.
These bold features terminate above in tWO distinct plateaux of nearly equal extent—the eastern
On the Geology of Benghazi, Barbary; and an account of the Subsidences in its vicinity
Authors: Stacey G. B. 
Published: October 2009

T
he
town of Benghazi is built on a sandy foundation with a super-stratum of clay. It is protected from the sea by a reef of sandstone rocks, now only 2 or 3 feet above the level of the water.

Inside the reef, the water reaches nearly to the clay cliffs, on which, during the winter gales, it has a very destructive effect.
Fifty years since, according to the testimony of natives, horse-races were held inside the reef, where now the water is in some places 5 feet deep; and, according to a European inhabitant, only a small strip of water existed there twenty-five years ago.
On the reef, remains of buildings are to be seen under water; and at Juliana Point the sea has made a breach, forming an island of the point, between which and the mainland the water is very shallow.
Hamilton, in his ‘Travels in North Africa’ mentions that the land has sunk, and supposes a sudden catastrophe; but, from the above and other evidence, I imagine that the land is sinking regularly, and comparatively quickly.
Small hills of sandstone exist to the north-east and south-east of the town, and are quarried for the stones of which the town is built.
The fundamental rock of the country is a Tertiary limestone, in which several interesting subsidences have occurred, some of which (the “Gardens of the Hesperides” of Beechey) are cultivated; others, more extensive, are filled with brackish water, and contain a large eel and another fish of
On the Structure of the Postglacial Deposits of the South-East of England
Authors: Wood Searles V. 
Published: October 2009

S
ome
years ago I entered upon an examination of the Glacial and Postglacial deposits of the East of England, and began to map the general distribution of the beds upon the small Index Map of the Ordnance Survey (10 miles to the inch), and, simultaneously with that, during a regular geological survey, on the ordinary inch to the mile Ordnance sheets 1 and 2.

I was induced to select the latter sheets for this purpose, principally because they comprised that part of England where the most important members of the Glacial and Postglacial series approached nearest to each other, and therefore the part likely to throw the greatest light on their relative structure—and in some measure because my place of residence afforded facilities for the task.
This survey, when I had made some progress, led me to believe that the entire valley-system of the East of England originated in centres of arc-like or curvilinear disturbance, which immediately preceded the elevation of the bed of the sea from which was deposited the wide-spread deposit of Boulder-clay forming the latest of the Glacial beds of the South of England. My view is that, these disturbances having given an impress to the surface, the denudation accompanying and ensuing upon the elevation of the sea-bed, by wearing more deeply the impress thus imparted, made it more conspicuous in the parts where this denudation was most prolonged. I found also that the rectilinear upheaval along the Wealden line of disturbance appeared to have been a