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Koo e Pree hye he ExOSd om ge . en me ace Se Ahearn 2 ps ofbnacr: 3? ‘ = wee at BO ty Poery a) ae a 4 Behan ty F-9- a Ka ee 4 beh eg ts = ’ i 3 Pag ber Di wes eae ‘ ” Met Tb ie be See a a ae : ‘a Ne ft Porn e Ta tid? Vag SR ae i ee rab he inwratonae a vires je rad swer aes 2nd B “se t eee ae 2 a toh Wop yee rd friey eas ot Cereb o pasees oF) _ieH 5 Se ee nd 4 a P® pe Aten ew dora ay Fre yee 440 Faeiegel ee awe ere gd? LES eee ‘ ay eee m pie > Cah Py Tee ary ee. i ie oo EB) Briel se ry so " ns ¥ Sa1hsh, eee ek ¢ #. DOE ot ay te. . . ree on Bar eat FOR THE PEOPLE FOR EDVCATION FOR SCIENCE LIBRARY OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 35 tr ae wir > as on nee i ie THE GEOLOGIST. 22+ $IA703 Un i3 JANUARY, 1861. HIGH AND LOW LIFE. By Georce E. Roserts. Our knowledge of the limits of animal life have been notably extended during the year which has just departed. Air, blown upon an adhesive surface by the aeroscope on the summit of Etna, twelve thousand feet above the sea level, has been found to contain large quantities of Diatomacez; and thus the presence of a zone of life has been discovered to us, soaring not only above the limits hitherto fixed, but above the range of physical phenomena in the mountain itself. And now the ocean-depths have given up a secret as marvellous. We are taught that at a depth below the surface nearly as great as the height of the infusorial zone above it, animals as high in the scale of being as starfishes are enjoying life. The one discovery is a fitting pendant to the other, and yet, how great is their difference ! In the one case the extreme rarification of the atmosphere seemed to our notions to render life impossible ; in the other, the enormous pressure of the opposite element, which in the homes of these star- fishes must amount to at least a ton and a-half on the square inch, is so greatly at variance with our belief, that we are confounded at the very outset of the inquiry. The capability in an animal so well accustomed to air as the starfish—whose ordinary domain is the sea- beach—to exist without it, and its inherent power of withstanding a VOL. IV. A 2 {THE GEOLOGIST. pressure that would upon the surface grind a rock to powder, ar studies replete with instruction and value—studies which can b turned to a good geological account, and made to bear reference to : past fauna as well as to a living one. I will attempt, therefore, t give an abstract of the valuable contribution to our knowledge o animal life in deep sea-zones, which contains the important discover T allude to ;* for asthe pamphlet is printed “ for private circulation,’ it is only attamable by the few. In it the author not only gives us in one view a resumé of our present data upon the subject, but a serie; of notes which point, with no uncertain finger, to a great extensior of them. Dr. Wallich’s zoological labours while on duty entitle him to ran!’ as no mean associate of the great naturalists to whom he gracefully dedicates his notes; and the modest way in which he introduces ee strong foundation for a most important inquiry, proves that he looks upon scientific experience * As an arch wherethro’ Gleams that untravell’d world, whose margin fades For ever and for ever when I move.”’ In sounding not quite midway between Cape Farewell and Rock- all, at a point east of Iceland, and in one thousand two hundred and sixty fathoms of water, the sounding apparatus brought up an ample specimen of coarse gritty-looking ooze, containing about ninety-five per cent. of Globigerina-shells (an important genus of the Foramini- fera) ; while adherent to the lowest fifty fathoms of the line, a number of starfishes, belonging to the genus Ophiocoma,came up. They had attached themselves while this part of the line, which had been paid out in excess of the depth, rested upon the bottom, not at all cal- culating what an upward journey their investigations would cost them, and what a greeting they would receive. They continued to moye freely about for a quarter of an hour after their introduction into human society, and from the naturalist »nd his wondering * “Noteson the Presence of Animal Life at Vast Depths in the Sea; with Observations on the Nature of the Sea-bed as bearing on Submarine Telegraphy.” By G. C. Wallich, M.D., F.L.S., &c.; naturalist to the expedition despatched in 1860, under the command of Sir Leopold M’Clintock, to survey the proposed North Atlantic telegraph route between Great Britain and America. 1860. a Bere | . ROBERTS—HIGH AND LOW LIFE, ; 3 friends the illustrious strangers received every courtesy and atten- tion. But, as may be supposed, they were too precious to be re- turned to the deep-sea home they had left, even supposing they could have got there; so were put in spirits, and consigned to an immortality they little expected. One fine fellow, who clung con- vulsively to the rope, was secured in situ, and is now a “lion” of scientific London. “Here, then,” says our author, “is a fresh starting-point in the natural history of the sea. Ata depth of nearly two miles below the surface, where it is difficult to believe the most attenuated ray of light can penetrate, we find a highly organized species of radiate ‘nimal living, and evidently flourishing; its red and light-pink- coloured tints.as clear and brilliant as those seen in its congeners who -.ve where the sun’s rays can penetrate freely. Differing in no respect of internal anatomy from the species of Ophiocome inhabiting shallow water, and evidencing, by their freedom of life and action, that cir- culation of sea-water, digestion, assimilation, and reproduction were carried on in their frames, unrestricted by the obstacles enumerated, in addition to the simpler but no less essential operations of locomo- tion and capture of food.” In the alimentary cavity numerous Gilo- bigerina-shells were found, more or less freed from their soft sarcodal contents. Now the Ophiuride, to which division of star-fishes Ophiocoma be- longs, differ from what are usually called true star-fishes of the well- known stellate or angular forms, by the absence of protrusile ‘suckers as organs for effecting motion ; the want being in them sup- plied by spine-covered arms, from which they derive the name of “spinigrada.’’ They have no power whatever of raising themselves from the bottom, or of travelling in other fashion than as creeping, crawling animals. Moreover, Professor HE. Forbes has told us in his “Monograph on the British Starfishes,” that the Ophiuride is a more local family than starfishes proper, and more affected by climatal causes. So that, though the discovery of any starfish under the circumstances is wonderful enough, the marvel is increased ten- fold by its being a Spinigrade form; for as the point of capture was five hundred miles from Greenland, and two hundred and fifty from Iceland—Cape Farewell in the former, and the “ Blinde Skier” ~ 4, THE GEOLOGIST. rocks in the latter being respectively the nearest land—it is impos- sible they could have been a chance drift, borne along by a current: from either country. “Therefore,” says Dr. Wallich, “all former opinion as to the limit of life in the deep sea must give place to such a startling fact. And where one form so highly organised has been met with, it is only reasonable to assume that other correlated forms may also exist; and we may look forward to the discovery, at no very distant period, of a new submarine fauna, frequenting the deeper fastnesses of the ocean, which, while furnishing a new field of research for those who are content to seek after living novelties, shall also throw a gleam of light on the geology and paleontology of the globe.” Respecting the Globigerina, those minute Foraminifera whose shells constitute so large a proportion of the “ oozy”’ deposits brought up by mid-Atlantic soundings, one interesting subject of debate has been set at rest by Dr. Wallich’s discoveries. They do exist ina living state at great depths, though the signs of hfe apparent in them when examined after an hour’s upward travel from the sea- bottom to the surface, were feebler than in those taken from beneath shallow water. Indeed, irrespective of the experiments by which the author arrived at this conclusion, the circumstances of their haying been detected in the digestive cavity of one of the starfishes makes it highly probable that they form their chief source of food. In sereral samples of Globigerina ooze, the minute cell-like bodies provisionally called “ Coccoliths” by Prof. Huxley were detected, looking at first sight very like the cells of the algal plant Protococcus (now shown to be an abnormal development of licken-gonidia) ; those Dr. Wallich considers may probably be the larvee of the Globi- gerne, They appeared in two states, as globules adherent to the surface of cellular mycelia, and as free moving bodies, showing in some instances the commencement of cell-division. Their discovery in a living state in this oose is of high geological importance; for microscopical investigation, undertaken by Mr. Sorby, proves their existence in chalk-rocks, associated there, as they are in this North Atlantic ocean, with Globigerine. Indeed, chalk itself is seen to be little else than a compacted mass of Foraminifera shells, whole and fragmentary, and may be best described by using the very words by ROBERTS—HIGH AND LOW LIFE. a which Dr. Wallich introduces to science the recent deposit. Light from discoveries of to-day is thus thrown backward, and thus finds reflection in analogous conditions of deep-sea deposits and buried animal-life at a remote geological period, which in turn aids us in investigating present life, and proves that conditions favourable to Foraminifera-life could support Radiata, Echinodermata, and Mol- lusea, which, could we dredge as well as sound in the deep Atlantic, would doubtless reward our search. As yet, no companions to the Ophiocome and Gilobigerine have been taken from the enormous depth at which these forms of life exist, but a living Serpula was obtained from a sounding of six hundred and eighty fathoms, in conjunction with a living Spirorbis, Other free Annelids, and two amphipod Crustaceans, were also taken alive at four hundred and forty-five fathoms; depths, be it remembered, far beyond any previously-known habitat. Some remarkable phenomena connected with atmospheric in- fluences are noticed by Dr. Wallich during his cruise, such as the almost entire absence of those varied forms of animal life which usually present themselves upon the surface, such as Pteropods. This he attributes to the severity of the past season, which appeared to have exercised such an influence upon surface-water life, that even Diatomaceze were scantily represented. And another matter worthy of note was the scarcity of drift-timber, in ordinary years borne along by the deflection of the Gulf-stream, and cast upon the coast of Greenland. This our learned author advisedly regards as a proof of a variation in the course of the Gulf-stream proper, before it was caught up and deflected by the Arctic current; or, what is still more probable, that this year has been marked by an extension of the Arctic current, sufficiently great to overpower and deflect the Gulf- ‘stream, bear down its floating burden to other lands, and materially lower the temperature of Northern Europe. Some sensible hints as to the surveying of the sea-bottom beneath deep water are given by our author; and he suggests, with a kindly feeling towards further investigators, a sensible method of procuring Diatomacez, Polycystiner, &c., from sea-water, which being quite new, and likely to turn many good things into the hands of those who study these tiny but most important organisms, I am glad to in. CEE 6, Pe 6 THE GEOLOGIST. clude in my abstract. When the boilers of steam-ships are being cleaned, procure portions of the calcareous deposits scaled off the interior, and by treating them in the usual way with nitro-muriatic acid, Diatomacean-forms and Polycystina-shells may be detected in considerable quantity. By obtaining these deposits from ships plying within known limits, a series of free floating Diatomacece might be secured which would afford good data for the ascertainment of their range, distribution, and limits. And so, heartily thanking Dr. Wallich for this crumb of friendly feeling, I close his pamphlet. The year that has just departed has thrown no light of equal importance on geological history; though it has been a very notable year in geological science— notable in the importance of its discoveries, thoughtfully made, and carefully introduced; and beyond measure notable in its crop of theories, and in the agitations produced by them. But of these latter “helps to knowledge” we have surely had enough. Dr. Wallich has sent the ball rolling in another direction; and his labours are more clearly reflected in the mirror of Truth than is any attempt to claim creative power for the working of secondary principles. A CHRISTMAS. LECTURE, ON, *COBRe By J. W. Sauter, F.G.S. Not a great many years ago the “bigwigs” in England were assembled in conclave, and the élite of science was called before them. There were a great many lumps of a blackish-brown substance on the table, and a great deal of smelling, and burning, and poking of the same black lumps by the same “ bigwigs” and learned men. It was the great “'Torbane Hill Coal” case. “The point was in question, as all the world knows, To what the said substances ought to belong.” Was it pure carbon? Was it carbonaceous shale? Was it shale without much carbon? Was it carbon without much shale? Was it bituminous shale? Was it coal-shale ? Wasitcannel ? Was it coal? We are afraid to say how many guineas were spent, or how many microscopes were busy in London and Edinburgh. But after all : _ ES SALTER—A CHRISTMAS LECTURE ON COAL. 7 the question was simply this, “ What is coal?’ We are not going to try to give a definition ; but if we can show our young readers (ard there are, we hope, a good many of them) a few of the facts connected with the structure, contents, mode of formation, &c., of a coal-field, perhaps we may be able to answer the formidable query, “ What is coal?” without calling in the aid of counsel, and our fee is—one shilling. As this is a Christmas lecture for our young friends, we hope our senior readers will not take it amiss if elementary phrases are introduced, and afew woodcuts given to illustrate what they know very well.* And perhaps we may be allowed to speak in the first person singular ; it 1s more conversational. First, then, where is coal found, and how? Of course we all know it is a mineral substance, bedded deep in the bowels of Old Mother Earth. And I need not tell most of you that Old England has more of it than any other European nation; that she is much dependent on it for all her industry; that it has helped to make her peaceful conquests over half the world. And some of you may perhaps know that she is now so tired of using it in this way, that she is going to make a present of one-half of it to her dear friend France—for pur- poses of war! A glance at some of the places celebrated for coal will perhaps be the best way to learn the mode of its occurrence. Let us take for instance a place where they send our best coals from, but where it is no use to send coals to. The Newcastle district is perhaps, all things considered, the richest in England. The river Tyne, rising, as many decent rivers do, in the pure air of the Cheviots, waters all the central parts of Northumberland, and enters the sea at Tynemouth, with far less unsullied purity than it left the mountains with. It is saying much for the traffic on its banks, that the Tyne is nearly as black as the Thames before it reaches the sea. This traffic is wholly in coal. The Tyne cuts its way through the very heart of the coal-field ; the flourishing towns of Hexham, Gateshead, and Newcastle being some of those which dot its banks, while Tynemouth and Shields are the grand ports for its black produce. Get out your map of Eng- land if you please, as we shall have further occasion to refer to it. And now I think of it, the little map, coloured by Sir Roderick Mur- chison, and published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, is the best we can have, for it has both map and geology all in one.t Well, we are on the banks of Tyne, looking at the never-ending chimneys and coal-engines. The river is full of collier-brigs; and at the ports there are the long high jetties for embarking coal, and the blazing coke-heaps on the wharves, for the black diamond is not only life but light to Newcastle. * And it must be understood that we are not going over again the same ground which Prof. Buckman took in the first volume of this work. He was showing us how to search for coal, this is for those who know very little about it. + Stanford’s, Charing Cross. Price 5s. 8. THE GEOLOGIST. Last, not least, there are the iron furnaces; for in England, happy England, coal is always found in company with iron—the objects of industry with the means of employing industry; the material, and wherewith to work it up; two of the great civilizers of mankind hand in hand. Coal cannot live without iron, and assuredly iron cannot get on without coal. I will now just sketch the outlines of this coal-field, and you can follow me on the map. You see it is of a long shape, skirting the sea-board from a point a little south of Alnwick, and, passing by Morpeth, it swells out to its greatest width on the Tyne ; then crosses the Derwentwater, runs past Durham and Bishops Auckland, till it reaches the Tees, not so very far from Barnard Castle and Rokeby. Here it sweeps round to the east, and gives that classic region a wide berth. Scott would never have thought of laying the scene of Rokeby among barges and chimneys; and I doubt whether Bertram ~ would have proposed to swim the Tees, had it been choked with coal- dust. The loves of Redmond and Matilda, too—well, let that pass. From Shields southward you will perceive that the coal-field does not actually reach the sea. There is a narrow strip of Magnesian Iamestone runs all along the sea border, and the most familiar coal- ports, Monkwearmouth, Sunderland, Hartlepool, are not on the coal. However, Walls End, from which in our simplicity we think all our coals come, is actually on the coal. I have been told, however, that there is sometimes more Walls End (that is, brick-bats) in my coal- cellar than I had ever supposed. I do not know if the number of coal-pits in this magnificent field is accurately estimated. They employed over forty thousand men some years back. The deepest pits are where you might expect them—about the middle of the coal-basin, north of Durham. Some of these are of great depth indeed; one thousand six hundred or one thousand eight hundred feet does not look very much on paper, but if we try to measure it by means of the highest buildings we are acquainted with, we shall understand its enormous depth better. In the north part of the field, three hundred to five hundred feet is nearer the mark. I shall here recommend to anyone who wants to know more about coal and coal-pits than we can tell them in this short lecture to buy a little work by the Rev. F. Leifchild, called “ Our Coals and Coal Pits.” Isuppose there are very few persons who might not profit by it, and few young ones who would not be merry over it. It may have some errors; what work has not? but it is full of useful and pleasantly told information. And now, that we may understand clearly what a coal-field is, we must give a sketch of a coal-basin, such as is usually found in Britain. You may turn back to vol. 1., p. 188, to see another section by Prof. Buckman: his will not, however, do for our purpose, and we shall refer to the one on the opposite page now and again. é If we were to walk along the banks of the Tyne, however, we - should only see about half the basin, as far as g for instance; the SALTER—-A CHRISTMAS LECTURE ON COAL. 9 remainder is hid beneath the sea. But even that half will show the beds in the same order or succession. The Mountain Limestone is a fine rock, and forms most of the high moory ground on the west. Many a border skirmish has been fought upon the heather that ~ : i { RUT Hg Le Th — / Re nee, ea pa at : ~ Fig. 1.—Ideal Section of a Coal Basin, to show the usual arrangement of the Beds, and the Dislocations caused by Faults. a, Old Red Sandstone; 4, Carboniferous or Mountain Limestone; c, Millstone Grit; d, Fare- well Rock, sandstone chiefly ; e, f, g, h, coal seams, or beds, the layers of coal from one foot to ten feet thick, and with shafts piercing two, three, or more of the beds, as the case may be; 7, Magnesian Limestone and Red Sandstone, unconformable on the Coal-beds. covers its surface; and many a bold moss-trooper has ridden for dear life across the bogs that ornament this formation,* and the one suc- ceeding, viz., Millstone Grit. It should be noticed that the “ Millstone Grit” is all or nearly all sandstone—sometimes clayey, but more often hard; and the lower part of the coal-formation itself is nearly all sandstone, with a few bands of clay or shale. But as we rise higher in the beds, the clay grows more and more, the sandstone still being present in large quantity, till shale, as itis called, often makes up the chief part of the beds. Under every seam of coal, with scarcely an exception, lies a bed of what is called fire-clay, a rather hard clay, which makes excellent linings for stoves and furnaces, and which besides is used for crucibles and other purposes. Of this clay more by-and-bye, when we come to speak of how coal is formed. e e ece c ec o Fig. 2,—Ideal Section showing Granite and Killas (soft slate), with Metalliferous Veins. *, granite; a, killas; ¢, ¢, c, metal veins. And now. it will be seen from our diagram, and from what has * “He rode a small but hardy nag, : That o’er a bog—from hag to hag— Could bound like any Bilhope stag.” VOu, IV. B 10 THE GEOLOGIST. been said, that coal is always found in layers and beds, not in veins, as metals are. If you compare the following sketch of a mining country with the coal-field above given, you will see the difference at once. This difference is of the greatest importance in mining for coal, as we shall see by-and-bye, but we must not wander from our point at present. I have only run over one of the coal-fields of Britain yet, and not quite the largest. There is the Whitehaven coal-field, which sup- plies all Lancashire, and which has galleries far beneath the sea. The great Yorkshire coal-field is one of our busiest manufacturing districts. We may well say that, when we remember that Bradford, Leeds, and Halifax are the very heart of the cloth trade. This im- portant field runs down in a long strip to Nottinghamshire, passing by Doncaster and Mansfield. It includes nearly one thousand square miles, and it is really larger than this, for they have been trying of late to find coal beneath the Magnesian Limestone to the east of it. The Duke of Newcastle has lately sunk shafts, and profitably too, through the limestone and the red rock beneath, and then pierced the coal, and got plenty of it. Now the Yorkshire coal-field runs down (see the map) all the eastern side of Derbyshire, outside the Mountain Limestone of that beautiful tract. On its west side runs the Lancashire coal before- mentioned. Thus both sweep round the limestone hke a mourning cloak thrown over the shoulders; and here again we see the close connection of Mountain Limestone, Millstone Grit, and Coal. The little tract called the South Staffordshire coal-field is a rich, nay, for the size the richest of all our coal-fields. Except one in Nova Scotia, this little coal-field contains the very thickest seam of the invaluable mineral known in the whole world, for the “ Thick Coal” of Staffordshire is thirty feet. AndI believe more iron, is got here than in any other district of the same area. The Dudley and Wolverhampton ironmasters are the princes of the trade, though South Wales is treading closely on their heels. I need only mention that five million tons are raised per annum in this district—worth a million and a quarter pounds sterling. There are the smaller fields of Ashby de la Zouch; the Tamworth. coal-field, with its beds thrown up in nearly a vertical position; the Bewdley or Forest of Wyre; Shrewsbury ; Lee Botwood; Clee Hills; all little patches, which once no doubt were joined together. But the restless sea swept over them, and since they have been raised into dry land, the breakers have beaten against their coasts till they have left us only shreds and patches of what was once a continuous coal-field in mid England. Then there is the Flint coal-field, which keeps the North Welsh- men warm. Itranges from the sea near Chester to Oswestry, on the borders of Shropshire, and, in conjunction with the lead-works in the limestone (Mountain Limestone again you perceive) which, runs all the way along its edge, keeps a large population busy. It does one’s heart good, when going into Wales for a holiday (and you SALTER—A CHRISTMAS LECTURE ON COAL. ll are always kept waiting at the Llangollen Road Station), to turn for a while and look over this busy coal-field perched high on its lime- stone terrace. Don’t give all your attention to the mountains, but think of the labour that is going on around you, amid those hundred chimneys and in that dingy atmosphere ; and reflect, too that the pic- turesque scenery on your left is, like much else that is beautiful, only for holiday wear, while the hard work on your right is the true con- dition of our life if we would attain the useful. Then if we take the train to Bristol, we shall find another small but productive coal-field, thoroughly well worked, and for its area very rich. It has been computed to contain six thousand millions of tons. If they could only get it all! It supplies one and a-quarter millions annually. Across the Severn is the Forest of Dean, an oval mass of high ground, rich incoaland iron. It was one of the earliest places where iron was worked; and the old rude furnaces are still occasionally discovered. There are twenty to thirty seams of coal here; and if you want to see what a coal-field really is, on a small scale, look at the model by Sopwith of this district. It is im the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn-street ; and you may know more about a coal-field in an hour by consulting it than by reading this lecture for double the time. Now we are near the great South Wales coal-field, or coal-basin, as it is better called; a mighty mountain mass that runs for seventy miles from Monmouth to Pembroke. Across its width, from Swan- sea to Merthyr, it measures full twenty-five miles. Its area is com- puted at one thousand nine hundred and forty-five square miles, and its production is enormous. Nearly all our steam-coals come from thence ; and there it is that those wonderful furnace-coals, called anthracite, are found. If you draw a line across the field from north west side is anthracite, or stone-coal, and all on the east bituminous, or caking coal*—-very nearly so. There are, of course, some excep- tions to this remarkable rule, for which I really can give you no good reason. It is supposed that deep-seated volcanic matter has acted on the western half; but we see no trace on the surface of this. The fact is certain, nevertheless, and avery curious fact itis. Those who have had occasion to travel along the network of railways which run among these hills will know that the coal crops out, as it is termed (that 1s, shows itself), along the sides of the hill in seams. It does not hide itself here in deep underground workings, but is sometimes even wrought out in the face of day asa quarry, more often obtained by levels into the heart of the mountain, in the way they work for metals. And they have such abundance of water-power, that when compelled to raise coal from greater depths, they can often employ what are called lifts, or balances (cisterns which are alternately filled with water or coal), and so make the water itself lift the coal out. * For an excellent short description of this field by Dr. G. P. Bevan, the reader may turn to vol. i. of this work, p. 126, &e. 12 THE GEOLOGIST. Add to all these natural advantages a very large supply of coal im- portant for Government use, some very intelligent masters and over- seers, cheap labour, and easy access along the valleys* to the ports, and you will not wonder that South Wales should be prosperous. . There is an Institute for Engineers specially for this coal-field; and he must be a second-rate man who cannot realize his £800 or £1,000 a-year at least by the charge of a set of works. Many of the owners are extremely wealthy, and hospitable too. And somewhere on the northern crop I visited a friend, who is at once magistrate of his dis- trict, lieutenant of a rifle corps, surgeon of a large work, organist, lecturer, a good geologist, and a kind man. The north and south borders are called respectively the north and south crops. Along the northern edge the strata he pretty flat, or gently inclined. They rest upon the terrace of Millstone Grit and the Mountain Limestone precipices overhanging the red sandstone country of Crickhowel and Abergavenny. On the southern crop the beds of rock he ata steep angle, and again from beneath them come out the Millstone Grit and Mountain Limestone of Oxwich and the Mumbles; or, further west, the great limestone cliffs of Tenby, which of all places is the place to study Mountain Limestone, Old Red Sandstone, and contorted coal-strata. There is one more coal-field in Britain, but a poor one, the culm- measures of Devon, only worked for local use; and it is more than probable that these culms are coal-beds in the Millstone Grit series. For in Scotland, of which we have not yet said anything, and where the richest seams are found, not only in their proper beds, above the Millstone Grit, but mm it and all through it. Nay, it does not stop here, forin the Lothians and Fifeshire, as indeed is the case in Northumberland, there are coals and coal-shale among the beds of Mountain Limestone, thin layers of this black fuel lying under mountain masses of the limestone rock ; and here and there are coal sandstones, rippled and worm-marked, showing the action of large lakes, or, much more probably, of the tides on the surface only just before occupied by a coal forest. Nor is this all, for deeper still, and far below the Mountain Lime- stone, the Scotch coal-beds lie in the Lower Carboniferous strata. The celebrated Burdie House beds of coal and limestone are among these. The great quarries of coal sandstone around Edinburgh, from which their fine building stones have been quarried, lie far below the lowest level of the Mountain Limestone. There is a charming little work—the “ Story of a Boulder,” told by Archibald Geikie, that gives aclear notion of the Scottish coal-fields in most pleasant and readable style. ad then for Ireland. We might almost write a chapter on the coal of Ireland as short as Swammerdam’s famous chapter “ On the Rats of Africa’—“ There are no rats in Africa,” said the naturalist ; and it is all but the same in Ireland. ‘True, there is a patch or two * The Crumlin Viaduct in Taff Vale is a splendid work of art. SALTER—A CHRISTMAS LECTURE ON COAL. 13 at Dungannon, and in Clare and Kilkenny ; but the beds are so poor in coal, and the produce altogether is so very small. It would almost seem as if Providence had made amends for the scanty sup- ply, and indicated the direction Ireland’s industry should take, by covering her fertile limestone plains with the exhaustless peat. Peat is the Irishman’s friend, and like the seal to the Greenlander, sup- plies him with hight, warmth, and even building-materials ; and now they are manufacturing peat, it will be meat and drink to the Irish peasant. We have seen how coal is found, and where in Britain; how it lies there in beds or basins, not in veins or bunches; how it occurs mainly in the great Paleeozoic formation, above or about the geologic place of the Mountain Limestone. And this is true for nearly all of Europe, and of the mighty coal-fields of America. But it is not the case over the whole world. Even in our own country there are coal-beds in our oolite rocks, above even the New Red Sandstone ; and in Yorkshire these rocks are neither few nor barren. This “oolitic” coal is the common coal of Virginia, in the United States. A similar coal forms our staple supply in the East Indies. We have oolitic coal at Natal and along a great part of southern Africa. Australiais supplied with oolitic coal. Wherever English- men found a colony, there is coal; but it is not all of the same age. Borneo is not yet ours, but there is coal. And there is tertiary coal. Our own little coal-field at Bovey Tracey, Devonshire, is a miniature representative of much larger brown-coal fields in Germany. The Miocene coal of the Rhine is httle better than a fossil peat ;—sticks, and leaves, and fruits, and here and there an insect, a fish, a frog, are found in this freshwater coal. If a fox got drowned in these old swamps, he, too, turns up as coal for German firesides. Nothing comes amiss. Some varieties of this tertiary coal are little else than pond conferve matted close together, and layers of such like peaty matter form the dysoile, or “ paper coal.” So there is every transition in mineral composition from the peat bog to the coal-bed; and it is not anticipating our next lecture to say that all coal, of whatever kind or value, is vegetable produce. It would be out of place to doubt that our youngest readers know this fact ; what we propose to do next time is to give a short account of the methods of extracting these precious black diamonds ; to show what kinds of vegetables produced our great coal-fields ; and to dis- cuss briefly the valuable services we receive from “ Coal.” (To be continued.) 14 THE GEOLOGIST. RESEARCHES ON PSEUDOMORPHS. By M. DELesse. Translated from the “Annales des Mines’* by H. C. Satmon, F.G.S. (Continued from page 453, vol. 11.) PSEUDOMORPHISM. When a mineral presents itself under a form which does not belong to it, there is then what I shall call psewdomorphism. The substance from which the mineral borrows its form may be of any kind—inorganic or even organic. It is called original or pseu- domorphosed, while the mineral which replaces it is called pseudo- morphic. Pseudomorphism by alteration is that in which the psendomorphie mineral still contains the elements of the original substance. Pseu- domorphism by displacement is that in which this is not the case. In order to understand the difference which exists between these two kinds of pseudomorphisms, it suffices to mention as examples iron- pyrites, which changes into limonite, still preserving its crystalline form ; or fluor, which after being completely destroyed, is replaced by quartz. The name of paramorphism has been given to the kind of pseudomorphism which is produced without modification of chemical composition. Arragonite changed into calcite, and pyrite changed into marcasite are examples, At first sight it seems that these metamorphoses of minerals must be very exceptional, but observation teaches us, on the contrary, that they are met with in a number of localities; they are, moreover, extremely varied. In fact, they include all the alterations to which minerals are subject in their structure and in their chemical compo- sition. They include also, as a particular case, the decomposition of minerals ; and kaolin, for example, results from a true pseudomor- phism of felspar. When organic bodies, whether animal or vegetable, are pseudo- morphosed, there is produced what M. Naumann has called zoo- morphs and phytomorphs.t The pseudomorphism of organic bodies may likewise be established as easily as that of the best crystallized mineral ; for, although the form of these bodies may not be simple and ge dmabtrienl it is, however, quite characteristic, and moreover it corresponds to a known composition. Besides, the study of this pseudomorphism is not less interesting than that of minerals, and it takes place by the same processes. The comparison of the original * Vol. xvi., p. 404, 6th livraison: 1859. + C. F. Naumann: “ Elemente der Mineralogie.” SALMON——-RESEARCHES. ON PSEUDOMORPHS. 15 substance, organic or inorganic, with the mineral which has replaced it, permits us immediately to recognize and understand its metamor- phism; moreover, as the minerals and organic bodies have a gene- rally constant form and composition, their metamorphism may be much more accurately defined than that of rocks. The principal researches in pseudomorphism are due to Werner, Haiiy, Mohs, Langrebe, Freiesleben, Blum, Breithaupt, Haidinger, Mitscherlisch, Sillem, C. F. Naumann, G. Bishof, G. Rose, Haus- mann, Dana, Phillips, Kenngott, Scheerer, Rammelsberg, Plattner, Reuss, Hermann and Antoine Miller, Léonhard, Zippe, Quenstedt, Glocker, Von Dechen, Suckow, Noggerath, W. Stein, Feetterle, Scacchi, Delafosse, Descloizeaux, Roth, Wiser, Von Zepharovich, Nauck, Tamnaw, De Carnall, C. Von Haiier, Foster, Whitney, Jack- son, Fowler, Websky, G. Brush, Smith, Shepard, Bronn, Vinkler, Volger, Hessel, Oppe, Fr. Sandberger, Dieffenbach, Schiiler, Credner, Gutberlet, Dauber, Beck, Carius, Greg, W. G. Lettsom, Fox, Séch- ting, Veibye, Forchhammer, Von Rath, Kjerulf, Von Richthofen, Gergens, Richter, Girard, Jensch, Heffter.* Difficulties of distinguishing between Hnvelopment and Pseudo- morphism.—Before summing up the observed facts, it seems to me necessary to call special attention to certain deceptive appearances in pseudomorphism. In the first place, when two minerals envelope each other, if the enveloped mineral is completely destroyed and has disappeared, the enveloping mineral may easily retain its form; there is then pro- duced a special metamorphism which arises from an incrustation, and which is visibly connected, in the most intimate manner, with envelopment. Now it sometimes happens that one mineral is sur- rounded by another which results from its alteration, which is especially what we observe in anhydrite and gypsum. Certain mineralogists have conversely presumed from this, that when two minerals envelope each other, the one results from the pseudomor- phism of the other. This may certainly be the case sometimes, but we may soon easily discover that it is not what occurs most usually. Moreover, when a mineral is crystallized, it frequently envelopes a very notable proportion of another mineral. The dominant mineral is not even that which gives to the mineral its crystalline form; and generally it has been considered as pseudomorphic. Is there here, then, an envelopment; or, on the contrary, pseudomorphism? The solution of this question presents, as we shall see, very great difficul- * The publications relative to pseudomorphism have been so multiplied of late years, that it was necessary to renounce giving a list of them here. They are to be found specially in the various publications of Germany, particularly the “Neues Jahrbuch” of Leonhard and Bronn ; “ Jahresbricht’’ of J. Liebig, Her- mann Kopp, and Will; “ Zeitschrift der Deutschen Geologischen Gesellschaft ;” * Poggendorf Annalen ;” &c. Besides, they have been summed up in the classical works of R. Blum, C. F. Naumann, Haidinger, G. Bischof, Dana, Kenngott, &. 16 - THE GEOLOGIST. ties ; and in order to solve them we must, in the first place, seek to ascertain how envelopment is produced. When a mineral crystallizes, the substance which it envelopes remains sometimes amorphous. This, for example, is what takes place in the sand which is found in the rhombohedrons of calcite from Fontainebleau. It is the same with miacle, (andalusite,) which, according to M. Durocher, has retained a part of the schist in the midst of which it formed. But the mineral enveloped in another which is crystallized, has most frequently been crystallised itself. If we consider two minerals in those conditions, we must distinguish the case in which their crystals are independent, and that in which they are symmetrically arranged. Ist, Envelopment without Symmetrical Arrangement.—The first case is the simplest and also the most frequent. Generally, when two crystallized minerals envelope each other, their crystals have any direction with regard to one another, and are independent. Thus magnetite in hornblende, chlorite in calcite, mica in augite, in hornblende, in orthoclase, and in the felspars, are most frequently in crystals completely independent of the minerals in which they have formed themselves. As long as the enveloped mineral is found in crystals clearly isolated and not numerous, no confusion is possible between envelopment and pseudomorphism. On the contrary, we find ourselves in the presence of the greatest difficulties as soon as the enveloped mineral becomes sufficiently abundant to disguise, as it were, the enveloping mineral ; or when it is associated with it so intimately that the one passes in- sensibly into the other. For example, garnet has been considered pseudomorphic after idocrase because it is observed sometimes in its interior; and this is, indeed, what I had the opportunity of verifying in the collection of M. Wizer, at Zurich. But it is necessary to remark that the idocrase is, in its turn, enveloped by the garnet. Although it is very easy to conceive the metamorphism of these two minerals, since they have nearly the same chemical composition, I think we should only admit it if it were clearly established that the garnet can substitute itself entirely in the place of the idocrase. We should also observe the same reserve with regard to iolite, (dichroit, cordierite,) and mica; for iolite, whenever it bears no trace of alteration, often covers itself with very numerous scales of mica, under which it so disappears, that it is necessary, in order to recognize it, to examine its fracture in a plane perpendicular to the scales. In the variety of Amity (Maine) which has been designated under the name of chlorophyllite it is easy to establish that the large scales of green mica are very close together, and that they alternate with the bluish white. Is it quite certain that mica pseudomorphoses kyanite (disthene) ? I do not think so; it has merely seemed to me that kyanite frequently enveloped a greater or less proportion of mica, which was mixed with it, and into which it might even pass. But there is nothing in this SALMON—RESEARCHES ON PSEUDOMORPHS. AZ circumstance which should surprise us, for kyanite is found especially in rocks which are very rich in mica; moreover, the mica which penetrates it is completely identical with that of the mica-schist in which it is formed. It is, therefore, very plain that the mica and the kyanite were crystallized simultaneously, and at the same time as the rock which incloses them. The same remark applies to andalusite, to chiastolite, to staurolite, to hornblende, to augite, &c., which are often more or less penetrated by the micas. In the very numerous specimens I have examined, the various minerals were not pseudomorphosed; they simply en- veloped the micas, which were identical with those of the rocks in which they were formed. The largely lamellar chlorite, which in chlorite-schist envelopes and penetrates, often in the most intimate manner, crystals of mag- netite, and which does not differ from that which constitutes the chloritic schist itself, does not seem to me to result any the more from a pseudomorphism. I am inclined to believe that it will be necessary to make pretty numerous suppressions among the minerals which are regarded as pseudomorphic, and particularly among the silicates. The only pseudomorphic which should be retained are those which take the form of another, and which are, besides, susceptible of replacing it completely. It is, moreover, easy to understand that when minerals have crystallized simultaneously, they were in a position to associate and'envelope themselves in easy proportion; which, indeed, before long will become still more evident. 2nd, Hnvelopment with Symmetrical Arrangement—Envelopment is sometimes accompanied by symmetrical arrangement, and then it is necessary again to distinguish many cases. Symmetrical arrangement is observed, in its rudimentary state, whenever the two minerals are grouped in respect to each other with a certain symmetry. This, for example, is what seems to occur in the galena of Neudorf, in the Harz, which forms a thick and more or less regular crust around calcite. According to Messrs. Scheerer and Blum, this galena is in very brilliant crystals, which attain the size of a nut, and present combinations of the octohedron, the cube, and the rhomboidal dodecahedron. It envelopes the calcite, and is also enveloped by it. Its thickness is often reduced to that of a sheet of paper. Garnet offers the same peculiarities at Arendal, at La Bergstrasse, and at Le Canigou; for its crystals envelope calcite which is likewise crystallized, and the thickness of their sides may become microscopic. Sometimes also a crystal of garnet envelopes pistacio-green epidote (pistazite), which in its turn envelopes the calcite. Moreover, garnet may similarly envelope felspar, quartz, hornblende, diallage, gypsum, &e. The idocrase of Christiansand, which has formed in the saccarhoid limestone, is in large crystals, which have only a few lines of thick- ness, and which also envelope the calcite. VOL. IV. C 18 THE GEOLOGIST. Phlogophite mica occurs in reddish-brown laminz, which invests in a very remarkable manner the augite of Monroe, and which are disposed almost perpendicularly to its faces. The mica which is formed in hornblende, augite, iolite, pinite, chlorophyllite, presents sometimes a determined direction, and its lamine are parallel. The felspar of the syenite of Norway, as we have seen, envelopes natrolite, which in its turn envelopes a kernel of this same felspar. Fluor envelopes pyrite concentrically. Symmetrical relations may again be well observed in macle* (an- dalusite), which has symmetrically grouped the schist which it envelopes. It appears also im certain crystals of hyalin quartz, which contain small grains of quartz, which are crystalline and very distinct ; these latter are grouped parallel to the faces, either of the regular hexagonal prism, or of the pyramid which surmounts it. This, for example, M. Des Cloizeaux has observed in the quartz of Brazil. He has also shown that Iceland spar contains isolated grains of calcite, which are generally grouped parallel to the faces of the metastatic or to those of the primitive rhombohedron. When pyrite is disseminated in microscopic grains in spathic carbonate of lime, it also groups itself, following the same plane; and it is the same with the chlorite (ripidolite) which is enveloped by the dolomite of Tra- verselle. But the symmetrical arrangement may be still better characterized than in the preceding examples; and then it occurs at once in the two minerals, either by relation to a centre, or by relation to axes, accordigg as one or the other case occurs; it is hence central or axial. Central Symmetrical Arrangement.—Metalliferous lodes sometimes show a well marked central symmetrical arrangement. Thus at La Chevrette, in Dauphiné, spathic iron envelopes quartz, and both pre- sent crystals symmetrically arranged towards a centre, from which result a radiated structure. According to M. Burat, it is the same with towanite, blende, and galena which are enveloped by the fibrous and radiated augite of the mines of Tuscany. Rocks which have a globulous structure also especially afford us particularly clear examples of envelopment with a central symmetri- cal arrangement. In the Rapakiviy of Finland and in certain por- phyries, the oligoclase envelopes the orthoclase, around which it forms a regular aureole. In the pyromeridet of Corsica, the globules are composed of felspar crystallized in needles, which start from the circumference or the centre, and which follow the direction of the radii. In orbicular diorite the felspar envelopes the hornblende, and the lamine of the two minerals are symmetrically arranged towards * Chiastolite. + For this rock see Gotta— Gesteinslehre,” p. 123.—H. C. 8. + Ibid, p. 102.—H. C. S. FOSSIL FLINT IMPLEMENTS. 19 the centre, at the same time that they are grouped in concentric zones.* Central symmetrical arrangement may visibly occur in minerals of very diverse compcsition. When it is tolerably regular, as in the case of the globular minerals, it gives a radial structure. (To be Continued.) THE EVIDENCES OF THE GEOLOGICAL AGE AND HUMAN MANUFACTURE OF THE FOSSIL FLINT IMPLEMENTS.+ By THE EpITor. (Continued from vol. ii., page 408.) Amiens and Abbeville do not, however, enjoy a monopoly in these flint imple- ments ; they are found, apparently, all over the earth. Atany rate, we can boast in our land of such treasures, and we can proudly record that the first discovered specimens belong to England. Let Amiens and Abbeville by all means be commemorated as the scenes of M. Boucher de Perthes’ persevering investiga- tions, which have furnished the incitement to the present remarkable inqury— let the names of Boucher de Perthes, Prestwich, Falconer, Flower, and Evans, be duly honoured as the pioneers of the investigation ; but let us also think of Hoxne, Grays, Liford, Maid- stone, Stanway, and the scores of other places where mammalian bones have been found in our owra land— and, let us hope that our young geologists will set to work, and reap a rich harvest in the yet ungarnered fields. Does not this first recorded implement—this earliest discovered relic—(fig. 5) treasured and pre- served in the Sloane collection, the nucleus of the British Museum, and entered in that old catalogue, two hun- dred years ago—encourage them. Does it not say in unmistakable language “ Under your feet these relics may be found?” There is another of these spear-shaped flints, which M/ has obtained a great deal of notoriety in the late dis- cussions. It was found at Hoxne, in Suffolk—a place Fig. 5.—Flint Implement memorable in the history of the good king Edmund, pound wm Gray's inn Lane, the saint and martyr—and was described, and figured lection, British Museum. in the “ Archeologia,” (see cut9, p. 20), by Mr. Frere, Size 7 inches by 4inches. the finder, who, with remarkable acuteness, seems to have fully comprehended the value and true bearing of his discovery. His per is, even now, an excellent epitome of the subject; and we give it at ength, just as it was read in 1797, before the Society of Antiquaries of London. \—f * Recherches sur les Roches Globulenses: par M. Delesse. (Mémoires de la Soc. Géol., 2 ser., t. iv., p. 301.) yy Being an illustrated explanatory article of Mr. Mackie’s Geological Diagram, o. VI. 20 THE GEOLOGIST. “ An account of flint weapons discovered at Hoxne, in Suffolk, by John Frere, Esq., F.R.S., and F.A.S., in a letter to the Rev. John Brand, Secretary; read June 22, 1797. Str,—I take the liberty to request you to lay before the Society some flints found in the parish of Hoxne, in the county of Suffolk, which, if not particularly objects of curiosity in themselves, must, I think, be considered in that light, from the situation m which they were found. See pl. xiv. xv. From pl. xiv., “Archzologia,” vol. xiii. Size | From pl. xv., ‘‘ Archwologia,’”’ vol. xiii. Size, 5 inches by 3 inches. 73 inches by 4 inches. Reduced Outlines (scale one-fourth), of the Flint Implements found by Mr. Frere, at Hoxne, Suffolk. A.D., 1797. They are, I think, evidently weapons of war, fabricated and used by people who had not the use of metals. They lay in great numbers at the depth of about twelve feet, in a stratified soil, which was dug for the purpose of raismg clay for bricks. The strata are as follows :— 1. Vegetable earth, one and a half feet. 2. Argill, seven and a half feet. 3. Sand, mixed with shells and other marine substances, one foot. 4. A gravelly soil, in which the flints are found, generally at the rate of five or six in a square yard, two feet. In the same stratum are frequently found small fragments of wood, very perfect when first dug up, but which soon decomposes on being exposed to the air; and, in the stratum of sand, (No. 3,) were found some extraordinary bones, particularly a jaw-bone of enormous size, of some unknown animal, with the teeth remaining in it. I was very eager to obtain a sight of this; and finding it had been carried to a neighbourmg gentleman, I inquired of him, but learned that he had presented it, together with a large thigh bone, found in the same place, to Sir Ashton Lever, and it, therefore, is probably now im Par- kinson’s museum. The situation in which these weapons are found may tempt us to refer them to a very remote period indeed; even beyond that of the present world; but whatever our conjectures on that head may be, it will be difficult to account for the stratum in which they lie bemg covered by another stratum, which, on this supposition, may be conjectured to have been once the bottom of the sea. ‘The FOSSIL FLINT IMPLEMENTS. pA I manner in which they lie would lead to the persuasion that it was a place of their manufacture, and not of their accidental deposit; and the number of them was so great that the man who carried on the brick-work told me that before he was aware of their being objects of curiosity he had emptied baskets full of them into the ruts of the adjoining road. It may be conjectured that the dif- ferent strata were formed by inundations happening at different periods and bringing down in succession the different materials of which they consist, to which I can only say, that the ground in question does not lie at the foot of any higher ground, but does itself overhang a tract of boggy earth, which ex- tends under the fourth stratum: so that it should rather seem that torrents had washed away the incumbent strata, and left the bog-earth bare, than that the bog-earth was covered by them, especially as the strata appear to be disposed coal and present their edges to the abrupt termination of the high ound, orf you think the above worthy of the notice of the Society, you will please lay it before them. I am, Sir, with great respect, your faithful humble servant, JOHN FRERE.” In the cases of both the above mentioned flint-implements we have distinct records of their having been associated with mammalian bones. Having gone briefly but succinctly through some of the eee evidences that these worked-flmts have been extracted from true geological formations, in fact that they are really fossi/, we will briefly allude to the general misnomer of “‘celt,” as applied to these relics. The polar bear who stopped in his pursuit of the arctic voyager to turn in- side out with his fumbling paws the worsted glove which the sailor had dropped to attract the beast’s attention and facilitate his own escape might not have had a more puzzling article for his mental capacity than geologists and anti- 10 Ss “g Si a 13 : ize,5 x 2 1ze, 23 X Size, 6 x 23 ? ig 12 Size, 94 x 33 Figs. 10—13.—Stone Implements from Guernsey. In the collection of Professor Tennant. quaries have had in these implements. “Celts” they certainly are not, whatever their former use may have been, as anyone may see who will compare ps THE GEOLOGIST. them with figs. 10, 11, 12, 13, or any other representation of a true “ celt,” which is in fact a chisel, and wrought to a cutting edge at the broad end; while these fossil instruments are nearly or totally unwrought at the broad end, but are en up toa more or less sharp pot, which is evidently the part that was used. Of the fossil flint-knives, arrow-heads, and javelin-points, such as we shall here- after refer to, no doubt as to their uses can arise in the minds of any who will take the trouble to compare them with instruments adapted to the same purposes in hunting—the favourite pursuit and main source of existence of all savage tribes—which are still in use by the aborigines of various countries, or rather are known to have been so in recent times, for European tools of iron have rapidly and very generally supplanted stone-implements, even m the remotest regions. But the same definiteness of purpose or applicability is not evident in the larger and pear-shaped instruments to which we first drew attention. These, if they were used by the hand, must have been used at the poimt ; celts, having the broad end ground or rubbed to a cutting-edge, were used as chisels, or mounted in fragments of horn or wood, as axes or hatchets. —— == = —SS—==—= Length of Handle about 16 inches. “Ul Z £q “UL 9 ‘Ozig F.g. 14.—Stone Celt set in portion of Stag’s-horn, with Transverse Hole for Wooden Handle. In the British Museum. The pointed fossil implements might possibly have been used as wedges for splitting trees, and other like purposes ; or bound in split sticks as battle-axes, and formidable weapons they would have made. But the most reasonable use seems to me that of spear-heads, lashed on to stout poles; and wielded by strong and active men they would have been heavy and formidable weapons against the great deer and oxen of that age of gigantic mammalia upon the herds of which primitive man—if he lived in the days of the mammoth as the association of the bones of that huge beast with these relics of the first human workmanship seems at least to prove—would have occasion and necessity to make constant onslaught for his subsistence, his clothing, and his articles and materials of daily use. Against the great elephants, tigers, and cave-bears of that age we think they could only have been used—if at all—under the pressure of the imperative necessity of personal defence, and never for the purpose of offensive attack. Hence if we are to find any traces of their uses in the shape of indentations, scars, or wounds upon the bones of the extinct quadrupeds, it should be on those of the great herbivora, and not those of the carnivora that we should expect to find them. Professor Owen in his “ British Fossil Mammalia,” has noticed the injury FOSSIL FLINT IMPLEMEN'S. | 23 done to a rib of a Megaceros hibernicus, and attributed it to the pomt of the antler of another deer; but now there seems more probability that the injury in question might have been effected by one of these so-called “celts.” M. Lartet has also given us accounts of fossil mammalian bones bearing incisions and marks made by apparently blunt weapons, such as would have been produced by these flint-implements. WLEZZy 77 i2¢40 YGF f Lh WN ie Fig. 15.—Stone Hatchet, with Handle, from New Caledonia, South Pacific Ocean. Size: length with handle, 19 inches ; head of hatchet, 10 inches. We have figured (fig. 15) a stone adze from New Caledonia, to show by a os ange with its form that the fossil implements could not have been similarly lashed on and used for the purposes for which such instruments are adapted, and which thus affords a negative evidence in favour of the idea of their being rude spear-heads. Besides the larger spear-shaped and pear-shaped weapons, there were smaller and flatter flints, of an oval shape, which it is thought were used as sling-stones or as axes. The first of our examples of this kind (fig. 16) was found in the Fig. 16.—Small Flint Instrument from the ravel of Amiens. Size, 4 inches by 22 inches, Fig. 17.—Small Flint Instrument from Gravel at Hoxne, Suffolk. Size, 4 inches by by 23 inches, drift-gravel of Amiens, by M. Boucher de Perthes; the second (fig. 17) at Hoxne, in 1797, by Mr. Frere; the latter is preserved in the collection of the Society of Antiquaries. 24, THE GEOLOGIST. : kable flint-instrument, probably a lance- or — 2: Snare gears sonclig ned from ae opel gravel above the London Clay, at Hornsey, im Middlesex, and now in the collection of Mr. N. T. Wetherell, of Highgate, to whom it was brought a short time since by one of the quarrymen as a fossil fish; Fig. 18.—Flint Javelin menernt the workman mistaking the white chalky found in the Puperrornsey, Middlesex. spot at one end for the eye, and the nu- merous fine chippings for scales. It is about six inches long by two inches broad, and but little more than a quarter of inch in its central thickest part. aM Mackie’s Diagram a VI. there is figured from the collection of the Society of Antiquaries (fig. 12 of diagram) a very long, narrow, and re- markable flint-instrument, apparently either a lance-head or a dagger, although it may have been used for the more pacific purposes of a knife. From its Fig. 19.—Flint Implement in the Collection. of es Society of Antiquaries. Size: 10 inches by oeailg 12 inches. general appearance one would suspect it to have come from some sandy or gravelly ea and to be of veritable geological age; but there is no entry in the Society’s catalogue of either the time or place of its discovery, and it may after all be only of Celtic date. We give also another worked instrument fig. 20 (fig. 19 of diagram) eae as — contained in the same collection, but of which ‘the Collection of the Society of Anti. also no record of the circumstances of dis- quaries of London, Size: 6 inches covery are preserved. It may be a gravel by 13 inches. specimen. We now turn to another class of fossil implements, formed of mere flakes of flints, which are more likely to escape detection than the larger instruments we have been describing, not only from their smaller size, but also from their liability to breakage, and the consequent resemblance of their broken pieces to mere natural chippings and fragments of flits. The flake-imstruments are Fig. 21.—Flint-flake Knife from the Turbary of the Somme, at Abbeville. Natural size. well known from Celtic graves, and are commonly met with amongst the relics of all savage tribes, in the form of arrow-heads, knives, dart- and javelin-points, and saws; and flake-knives and flake arrow-heads have also been met with in ossiferous caye-, and gravel-deposits, and as well as'in peat-bogs, turbaries, and. FOSSIL FLINT IMPLEMENTS. 25 other similar deposits of the like intermediate age. Figs. 23 and 24 are two portions of fossil flake-knives from Kent’s Hole, a large cavern rendered Fig, 22.—Broken Fragments of a Flint-flake Knife. memorable by the researches of the late Dr. Buckland. These were presented to the national collection in the British Museum, by Mr. Godwin-Austen, and ik Figs. 23, 24.—Flint-flake Knives, from the] Fig. 25.—Flint-flake Knives from the Tur- Ossiferous Cavern, Kent’s Hole. Scale, bary of the Somme, at Abbeville. Nat. size one-fourth. Presented to the British Mu-| 4% mches by 1} inches. Collected by M. seum by R. A. Godwin-Austen, Esq., F'.G.S. Boucher de Perthes, where they may be seen in the cases of the British antiquities room. Figs. 21 and 25 are portions of flint flake-knives from the Turbary of the Figs, 26—31.—Flint Arrow-Heads from Redhill. Nat. size. In the Collection of the Society of Antiquaries. valley of the Somme, at Abbeville, and were collected by M. Boucher de Perthes. Figs. 26 to 31 represent various forms of flint arrow-heads, from VOL. IV. D 26 THE GEOLOGIST. specimens collected at Redhill, in Surrey, and presented by Mr. C. Roach Smith to the Society of Antiquanes of London. These give sufficient illus- tration of this class of articles, whether of fossil, Celtic, or modern date. Flake- saws are met within graves; but we are not aware that any of these have been d in any really geological formation. wg Sy lal (figs. 32 to 36) can scarcely be said to belong to the class of flake-instruments, although formed of fragments of flints, as they have been always more or less, and sometimes elaborately, chipped and trimmed into the Figs. 32—36.—Flint Arrow-heads from Canada. In the collection of Dr. @. D. Gibb, F.G.S., of London. Scale one-fourth. required shapes. The specimens figured are from specimens brought from Canada, by Dr. G. D. Gibb, F.G.S., of London, and a notice by him of this class of objects is printed in the “Notes and Queries,” page 422, of vol. ii. Fig. 37 is aspecimen of this class of objects made of smoky quartz, from Peru. Such chipped arrow- heads are found in India also, and sometimes these are of “blood-stone.” In other parts they are made of obsidian and other volcanic and hard rocks, and their distribution is very general. There is nothing, how- ever, positively known as to their being of geological age, although it seems probable that many of them Fig. 37. —Arrow-head of are; especially the American and Canadian specimens, Smoky Quartz, from Peru. which may belong to the very remote age of the Nat. size, 2; inches by 15 oreat mammalia. Their dates of manufacture are, inches. In the collection of ; C. Rickman, Esq. however, very various, and some of them are un- doubtedly of comparatively modern workmanship. We now turn to another subject—the indications we have of the human workmanship of the veritable fossil implements which have been found with the bones of extinct mammals. First, then, there are two or three leading facts which seem to attribute these implements to asame and primitive people, namely, the extensive geographical area over which they are found; their general resemblance to each other, whether of the large or small kinds ; or from whatever country, whether England, France, Sicily, Denmark, the French African possessions, Lithuania, Poland, and, as far as we know also, Canada and America. There is also the apparent identity of the methods employed in working them to their required forms, and which is so remarkable as almost to convince us of, at least, the identity of origin and community of the probably wandering tribes by which they were mate and used. The first and most powerful argument of their hwman manufacture is the unmistakeable evidence of design. They are evidently—a first glance satisfies us of this—iastruments adapted to specific purposes. No living being designs or makes anything as a means to accomplish an end or purpose but maz. No other being exhibits — forethought in manufacture; none whatever. No other being uses a cutting or piercing Instrument; none. They seize, tear, gore, with their claws, beaks, FOSSIL FLINT IMPLEMENTS. 27 tusks, or horns, but they use no auxillary instrument. A monkey may tear down a branch of a tree, or cast a stone, but it makes not a club of the one, nor trims the other for a sling, an arrow, ora spear. The second, but still a most material evidence is afforded by the manner or method of the workman- ship employed in producing certain definite forms of implements. Let us first take the larger pear-shaped and spear-shaped instruments. A large flint has been here taken from the chalk itself, sometimes from a gravel-heap, and by a series of chippings from the outer part or sides the desired pointed, spear- or a as is attamed. If we see these chippings ina stone barbed arrow- ead from a Celtic grave or a tumulus, no one disputes its human work- manship any more than anyone disputes that of one of the well-known Yorkshire forgeries. But because it is asserted these fossil implements come from stratified deposits of geological age, there spring up directly voices which in loud language ignore the efforts of the hand of man and attribute —too commonly without the slightest knowledge of . the implements themselves, the natural fracturage of Figs. 38, 39.—Forgeries of flint, or the nature of the circumstances under which eee paplements. the geological formations were deposited—their re- gular and definite forms to the attrition of the flints with each other by the influence of waves or currents of water. Anyone who will take the trouble to chip off a flake from an ordinary flint nodule will see that the fracture gives a series of concentric ares one beyond the other, the convexity of which always points in the direction in which the blow was struck. Anyone looking at one of these fossil implements will see the fracture of the separate flakes plainly marked out by these lines of concentric ares and undulations, and will as plainly see that these flakings have all been made by blows given at the sides, and are broken out, because the lines of fracture all point from the outer edges or sides towards the central ridge (see fig. 1, p. 405, vol. iii., or figs. 5—9, 16, 17, vol. iv.) just as they would do if wrought by the hand of man into a designed and given shape, but as they never would be from casual and chance blows, which would necessarily strike im all directions just as accidentally might happen. The chippings of the flints, if by design, would be regular and systematic, which they are; if by natural causes, irregular and unsystematic, which they are xot. Moreover, the flints of which these instruments are made have been selected— those of a firm unfractured substance have been chosen. Everyone acquainted with chalk districts or pebble-beaches knows how few flints are firm and solid compared with those which present more or less numerous fine divisional planes of fissure, and how readily these latter fall to pieces at a slight blow of the hammer. We find none of these fossil instruments formed of the shatterable flints, which, if accident formed these instruments, should not have been ex- cluded from the formative chipping processes; on the other hand, we find these fossil instruments formed of remarkably hard and compact nodules, such as were likely at most only to have been battered and pitted by the waves, but which could only have been fased by definite and appropriate blows struck by the hand of man. - We need not again speak of the design exlubited in the fossil flint knives, arrow- heads and javelin-points, about which no doubt could arise in the minds of those Fig. 40.—Concentric Lines of Fracture in Flints. 28 / ! i ‘ 1 1 ‘ ' ' ‘ ‘ | | | i ' 4 ne Ge en aS ae UE GES SO ness us ag et een inte nian tS” aseeeeen= oo eee ee eee THE GEOLOGIST. wlio would look at those articles. But the same certainty of their human origin is not to the inexperienced so evident when these flake instruments are broken, as they are extremely likely to be. They are then, appa- rently, only so many —— chips; but the impress of design clings to the smallest fragment, and from a chip a quarter of an inch im length one could almost speak with cer- tainty. The method of manufacture of obsidian instruments by the Peruvians and South Sea Islanders gives the easiest possible solution of the process, which is compara- tively easy of accomplishment in that mineral, but rather more difficult in flint, although the method is nevertheless the same in both. We will suppose, however, that. the savage has got a block of obsidian —he first trims itto an angular form, six-sided, eight, ten, or any number of sides will do—thus, (fig. 40.) He then byaseries of smart blows struck at each of the corners, a, a, a, (fig. 41,) splits off each of the angles, as lon narrow flakes, broad at the top, an tapering away more or less to a point, and having a sharp cutting edge on either side, (as marked out by the dotted lines,) and characterised by a ridge formed by the angle of the block, passmg down the front; the back being flat or very slghtly convex. From the chipping off ofthe angles the block will assume the shape now indicated, (fig. 42,) its second stage, being still an octagon with the angles or corners all truncated, and presenting a flat ribbon-like band which will characterize the second set of flake-knives formed by the chipping of these truncated angles. It will be seen that the second operation reduces the block to its primitive form with sharp cornérs or angles; a third operation will restore again the truncated stage, and alternately each successive flaking will bring about the alternate con-: ditions, so that all the flake knives “WROD OYOVT WIMOY “VIUOpoTeO MON UIOI “GUIO UBIPISGO WIT ‘suoAep—ep “FH “SST obtained by the process will show - bef FOSSIL FLINT IMPLEMENTS. 29 the origin and the method of flaking by the presence of a sharp ridge, or a flat band passing down the front side only, the back being alike in both cases, flat or nearly so. In this then we have a palpable and unmistakable brand, applicable alike to the modern or fossil flint instruments, and by which we can satisfy ourselves by the smallest fragment (see fig. 22, page 25) of a broken specimen, because it must be borne in mind that such is not to be produced by any natural breakage, but can only be effected by the destgz which brings the block at Jirst tnto the required shape, and ¢hen causes the fracturing blows to be given in a peculiar and designed manner. Try your hand at breaking out these flakes. At first you will fail miserably, Persevere and you will acquire the Avack with precision and certainty. And this /wack being peculiar, the character of the flakings are peculiar also, and not such as would result from natural pulverizing or breakage by collision with each other. And now I approach another topic in this interesting investigation, on which I wish to speak with the utmost caution and guardeduess, and with courtesy and consideration to the feelings and sentiments of every one of my readers. I wish to offend no prejudices or belief —to interfere with no doctrines, theory, or faith—but one important reflection will arise at this stage in my mind, and therefore, probably, also in the minds of others. What were these first men like? Did they stand erect and noble? Were they high intellectual beings, the fit progenitors of alofty-minded and world-conquering race? The voice of Science is dumb. Darwin has lately given powerful arguments in favour of the development doctrines, and the natural production of higher and higher forms of animal and vegetable life, by the amelioration and improvement of species. We look from the apes and monkeys tothe ourangs and chimpanzees, and we pause before the wonderful semi-human expressive face of the gorilla—a stalwart active brute— through whose unearthly eyes something not unlike human intelligence seems to beam. We look at its thick lips and flattened nose, and our thoughts turn involuntarily to the bandied legs, thick lips, low forehead, and black tawny skin of the wool-headed negro, and for one moment we may think “Good heavens can there be a nearer link of men and brutes?” In days gone by—days gone by ages ago—in those days when the mammoth and Irish elk, the cave-hear and hippopotamus dwelt in our land, was there then a nearer closer link of man and beast? I know not—I speak rot—but such a thought will arise when we look at the great four-handed beasts of our own day on the one hand and on the other regard the primitive rudeness of workmanship of these fossil instruments. The whole race, tribe, commonality, or nation—be it what it may —of primitive men seems possessed of but two or three ideas in the manufac- ture of these flint-implements. From Denmark to our own Island—over regions now the seats of many nations —they chipped their flints and formed their weapons on the same primitive plans, by the same primitive means. ‘There is no effort whatever at ornamentation: nor even of polishing or smoothing. The makers of them do not seem to have attained to the idea of rubbing down to a point or an edge, and never to have gone beyond the first rough efforts of chippmg out. Low as we are accustomed to regard the Celtic race in the scale of civilization, these first men must have been much lower and yet one would not be willing to believe them unendowed with unperishing souls like ourselves. Curious low fronted skulls have been found in caves, in fields near ossiferous or bone-bearing fissures—have been found under circumstances of suspicious ier to bone-deposits ; but no real evidence is yet obtained. Men’s minds ave not yet been directed to this point, or men have shirked this topic in their investigations. I do not attempt to draw a conclusion in these remarks: [ direct attention merely to a point of necessary investigation, as one on which evidence must sooner or later be accumulated; and the more workers there are 30 THE GEOLOGIST. in the field, the greater and more powerful will be the testimony to the truth. This leads, of course, to the consideration of the more direct question whether human bones have ever been found in the ossiferous caves and fissures, and ordinary mammaliferous deposits? Undoubtedly they have; Buckland, Schee- merling, and many other writers have recorded human skeletons in cave-and other deposits containing mammalian remains ; but such has been the constant practice of ignoring any true association of such remains with those of mam- malia in the same deposit—in fact an utter refusal to admit any evidences of a greater antiquity than some 5,000 or 6,000 years for the creation of the human race—so that authors neglected such evidence when they found it, or wrote obscurely and timidly about it, even when it was forced in an undeniable manner upon their notice. Hence the reason why we have few or no illustrative cases. It may be worth while here to allude to another class of existing antiquities— the great monoliths and other stone monuments—found alike in our own and the remotest and most distant and widely separated lands, whether as the supposed “Druid’s circles,” “sacrificial altars,’ and rock-basins of our own country, the raised stones of India, or the rock inscriptions of Arabia. Are these ancient monuments to be associated with the progress of the primitive race to whom we attribute these chipped implements of flint? Again, I answer not, I merely suggest. In this important investigation no man is yet, perhaps, prepared to answer. We know not, in fact, where we are—we are as it were In a strange land which we have not yet explored, amongst a strange people whose language we have not yet learnt. Soon, perhaps, we may master the task—or it may be long before we unravel the mysteries. “ Labour conquers all things,” says the Latia proverb, and we must labour on persevermgly to make out the first history of our race. I will now turn to another phase of the great geological question we are investigating. Of what age—what relative geological age, that is—are the mammaliferous deposits in which these flint implements are found? The great age of the drift gravels and other superficial mammaliferous deposits has never been rigidly determined. We know that they belong to, or preceded, or were formed just after the memorable Glacial era—when glaciers extended from the mountais of Wales into the valleys now filled with their debris, as they now do in Switzerland; when the great Swiss glaciers themselves were miles larger in extent: when icebergs dropped as they melted imto the sea, under which a great part of our island was then submerged, the great stones and rocks uplifted from distant coasts, and strewed our island and a great part of similary sunken Europe with gigantic boulders and mud, forming those deposits known as the Boulder-drift and Till. The necessity of investigating rigorously the origin of these superficial deposits, has, since the question of the first appearance of man, become imperative; although the progress made must be neces- sarily slow, and the work often unsafe from the difficulty of always detecting the intermingling of modern matter, to which these nearly superficial beds from their proximity to the actual surface, have been of necessity subject. But such difficulties must no longer stand in the way, they must be boldly met and fairly grappled with; and in this respect Prestwich, Falconer and other geologists are doing their duty. We must no longer be content to believe that one kind of mammoth was associated with one kind of rhinoceros, and another species of mammoth with another species of rhmoceros; but we must know whether for certain this is so. The latest researches tend to show that the true mammoth lived in this island at least, both before and after the Glacial epoch. If so, we must look to the oscillations of our land and the formerly submerged tract of Europe for the explanation. Perhaps we may consider that as the submergence of this area took place in the glacial era, the great pachyderms were of neces- sity driven back in their terrestial range by the sea as 1t encroached; and as : PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. Se the submerged area towards the close of the glacial epoch began to be re-elevated and to rise again out of the waters, the Alephas primigenius and some of its associates which were able to outstand the inclemency of that severe period, wandered back over their ancient territory, and mingled with the newer forms which similarly had wandered from other regions during the changes of land and sea; and thus the northern and the perhaps southern forms met together in the same temperate zone. We know from Ed. Forbes’ studies that the mollusea of our district migrated thus during the glacial age into Italy, and that some have since returned to our shores, while others have not yet reached again their ancient habitats, but are steadily working on towards it. We know also that in the deep holes and pits of the ocean there still are colonies of the old northern forms which spreading over the submerged area of those cold times have not been able to extricate themselves from such cavities, from which their dwarfed descendants are now to be dragged up. This is a speculation which I throw out for young and active geolgists to take up. My time is too fully occupied with the business and cares of life to allow me to devote much time now to field-studies, but there are many who are glad of holidays, and who will be glad to know what is useful work to do in their pleasure-takings ; for them it is I throw out these ideas, not being selfish enough to wish to retain them when I cannot myself work them out. In some of the Glamorganshire caves Colonel Wood and Dr. Falconer have found a deposit containing Litforina (perriwinkle) shells, and which deposit is comparable with the deposit often associated with the raised beaches of our coasts known to geologists under the name of “ head,” and which is equivalent to parts of the so-termed sub-aérial deposits of Mr. Godwin-Austen. Both above and below the cave-deposits, containing recent species of marine shells, the bones and grinders of Hlephas primigenius are found, as they are also in other places, commingled with the remains of the hitherto supposed younger and older races of the ancient mammalia. With respect to the ancient mammoth, we know that it was clothed with a coating of long hair, by which and its thick skin it was well provided against the inclemencies of the glacial age; but how is it with the hippopotamus—so like, so undistinguishable from the existing H. major, the inhabitant of torrid climes. I confess this creature’s remains are a puzzle to me; for granted that it could withstand the cold of that period, our knowledge of the present habits of the species does not permit us to believe that it could subsist without water. But I will proceed no further with the discussion of the habits of the great mammalia. 1 wished to exhibit in its true state the knowledge we possess of the first relics of the human race, and to point out the marks and character which indicate on the worked flints the evidences of human handling. PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. GroLocicat Socrety or Lonpon.—November 21, 1860. “On the Geology of Bolivia and Southern Peru.” By D. Forbes, Esq., F.R.S., F.G.S. With Notes on the Fossils by Prof. Huxley, F.R.S., Sec. G.S., and J. W. Salter, Esq., F.G.S. The author described the Post-Tertiary formations of the maritime district. These beds, containing existing species of shells, occur at various heights up to forty feet above the sea-level. Guano deposits are frequent along the coast, and deposits of salt also in raised beaches a little above the sea. The author 32 THE GEOLOGIST. uld not verify Lieut. Freyer’s statement of Balani and Millepore bemg at all high - the side of the Morro de Arica, a perpendicular cliff at the water’s edge; indeed, from the state of old Indian tumuli along the beach, and other circumstances, the author believes that no perceptible elevation has here taken place since the Spanish Conquest, although such an alteration of level has occurred in Chile. The sand-dunes of the coast, and their great mobility during the hot season, were noticed. From Mexillones to Arica the coast is steep and rugged, formed of a chain of mountains, three thousand feet high, consisting of rocks of the Upper Oolitic age. At Arica the high land recedes, leaving a wide plain formed of the debris of the neighbourmg mountams ; and in the middle of this area was observed stratified volcanic tuff contemporaneous with the formation of the gravel. The saline formations were treated of as three groups, according to their height above the sea-level, and were shown to be much more extensive than generally supposed, extending over the rainless regions of this coast for more than five hundred and fifty miles. They are mostly developed, however, between latitudes nineteen degrees and twenty-five degrees south. These salines are supposed to have originated in the evaporation of sea-water con- fined in them as lagoons by the original ranges of hills separating them from the ocean. ‘The nitrate of soda had, m the author’s opinion, resulted from the chemical reactions of sea-salt, carbonate of lime, and decomposed vegetable matter (both terrestrial and marme). The borate of lime, occurring with the nitrate, is connected with the volcanic conditions of the district, and was pro- duced by fumaroles containing boracic acid. Where the highest range of salines extend beyond the rainless region, they are much modified in the rainy season, and generally take the form of salt plains encircling salt lakes or swamps. The creat Bolivian plateau, having an average elevation of thirteen thousand or fourteen thousand feet above the sea, consists of great gravel plains formed by the spaces between the longitudinal ranges of mountains being filled up by the debris of these mountams. The most western of these consists of Oolitic debris with volcanic tuff and scoriz ; it bears the salines above-mentioned, and is nearly destitute of water. The central range of plains, formed from the dis- integration of red sandstones and marls, with some volcanic scorie, is well watered. The third range consists of plams made up of the debris of Silurian and granitic rocks, and is auriferous. The thickness of this accumulation of clays, gravel, shingle, and boulders is immense at places. At La Pas it is more than one thousand six hundred feet. Contemporaneous trachytic tuff was found also in these deposits. In fresh-water ponds on this plateau, at a height of fourteen thousand feet (lat. fifteen degrees south), Mr. Forbes found abundance of Cyclas Chilensis, formerly considered to be peculiar to the most southern and coidest part of Chile at the level of the sea (lat. forty-five degrees to fifty degrees south). The volcanic formations were next noticed. Volcanic action has continued certainly from the pleistocene age to the present. The line of volcanic phe- nomena is nearly continuous north and south. Cones are frequent, some of them twenty-two thousand feet high and upwards; but craters are rare. Vol- canic matter, both in ancient times and at present, has in a great part been erupted from lateral vents, often of great longitudinal extent; recent trachytic lavas from such orifices have covered in some cases more than one hundred miles of country. Besides trachyte, there are great tracts of trachydoleritie and felspathic lavas. On the whole, in these South American lavas silex abounds, and it has been the first element in the rock to erystallize; whereas apparently in granite quartz is the last to crystallize and form the state of so- called “surfusion.” Diorites (including the so-called “ Andesite”) occur in PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 33 force along two parallel north and south lines of eruption in this region, reach ing through Chile, Bolivia, and Peru, for more than forty degrees of latitude. These diorites, and more especially the rocks which they traverse, are metalli- ferous; and the author looks upon the greater part of the copper, silver, iron, and other metallic veins of the countries as directly occasioned by the appear- ance of this rock. Shales and argillaceous limestones, with clay-stones, porphyry-tuffs, and porphyries form the mass of the Upper Oolite formation of Bolivia, equivalent to Darwin’s Cretaceo-Oolitic Series of Chile. At Cobija they are traversed in all directions by metallic veins, chiefly copper, and which, as before mentioned, appear to emanate from the diorite. ; Red and variegated marls and sandstones, with gypsum, and cupriferous and yellow sandstones, and conglomerates, come next in order; they have a thick- ness of six thousand feet, and are much folded and dislocated. These are con- sidered by the author to resemble closely the Permian rocks of Russia. Fossil wood is not uncommon in some of these strata, which extend for at least five hundred miles north and south. Carboniferous strata occur chiefly as a small, contorted, basin-shaped series of limestones, sandstones, and shales, with abundant characteristic fossils. The quartzites which are generally supposed to represent the Devonian formation in Bolivia, but which the author is rather disposed to group as — Upper Silurian, are really not of very great thickness; but are very much folded, and perhaps are about five thousand feet thick. The Silurian rocks (perhaps fifteen thousand feet thick) are well developed over an area of from eighty thousand to one hundred thousand miles of mountain-country, including the highest mountains of South America, and giving rise to the great rivers, Amazon, &c. ‘These slates, shales, grauwackes, and quartzites yield abundant fossils even up to the highest point reached, twenty thousand feet. The problematical fossils known as Cruziana or Bilobites occur not only in the lower beds, but (with many other fossils) in the higher part of the series. Lastly, the differences between the sections made by M. D’Orbigny, M. Pissis, and the author were pointed out, though for the most part difficult of explanation. D’Orbigny makes the mountain Llemani to be granite; it is slate according to the author. M. Pissis describes as carboniferous the beds in which Mr. Forbes found Silurian fossils,—and so on. “On a New Species of Macrauchenia (M. Boliviensis).” By Prof. T. H. Hux- ley, F.R.S., Sec. G.S., &. Some bones, fully impregnated with metallic copper, which had been brought up from the mimes in Corocoro in Bolivia were submitted to Prof. Huxley for examination. ‘The mines referred to are situated ona great fault, and the bones were probably part of a carcass that had fallen in from the surface,—the copper-bearing water of the mimes having mineralized them. A cervical and a lumbar vertebra, an astragalus, a scapula, and a tibia show complete corres- pondence in essential characters with those bones of the great Macrauchenia Patachonica described by Prof. Owen in the Appendix to the “Voyage of the Beagle,” but the relative size and proportions of the vertebra, the tibia, and the astragalus indicate a distinct species, much smaller and more slender; and in some points of structure this new form (MV. Boliviensis) approaches more nearly to the recent Auchenide than to the larger and fossil species. The fragments of the cranium show some peculiarities of form; but, on the whole, it has many resemblances to that of the Vicugna. Prof. Huxley pointed out that this slender and small-headed Macrauchenia may have been the highland-contemporary of the larger I. Patachonica; just Vou. fy. E 34 THE GEOLOGIST. as nowadays the Vicugna prefers the mountains, while its larger congener the Guanaco roams over the Patagonian plains. Lastly it was remarked that, as Wacrauchenia was an animal combining, to a much more marked degree than any other known recent or fossil maminal, the peculiarities of certain artiodactyles and perissodactyles, and yet was cer- tainly but of post-pleistocene age, it presents a striking exception to the com- monly asserted doctrine that “ more generalized” organisms were confined to the ancient periods of the earth’s history. For similar reasons the structure of the Vacrauchenia is inimical to the idea that an extinct animal can always be reconstructed from a single tooth or a single bone. “On the Paleozoic Fossils brought by Mr. D. Forbes from Bolivia.” By J. W. Salter, Esq., F.G.S. The fossils of Carboniferous age brought home by Mr. Forbes are the well- known species described by D’Orbigny. Several are identical with European forms (as Productus Martini, &c.), and are cosmopolitan; others are peculiar to the district (Spirifer Condor, Orthis Andii, &c.). Mr. Forbes has brought a “ Devonian” trilobite (Phacops latifrons or Ph. bufo), in a rolled pebble, from Oruro: it is a widely-spread species. Another allied form was found by Mr. Pantland, many years back, at Aygatchi. In other respects the “Devonian” evidence is scanty. In Mr. Forbes’ fine collection of Silurian fossils none of D’Orbigny’s ten Silurian species occur; nearly all are such as are met with in Lower Devonian and in Upper Silurian rocks—TZentaculites, Orthis, Ctenodonta, Pileopsis (?) ~ Strophomena, Bellerophon. South Africa and the Falkland Isles yield a similar fossil fauna. The Bilobites in this collection differ, some of them probably generically, from D’Orbigny’s figured species. A little Beyrichia from the upper part of the Silurian series im Bolivia appears to be like a North Ameri- can form figured by Emmons as Silurian. December 5, 1860. “On the Structure of the North-west Highlands, and the Relations of the Gneiss, Red Sandstone, and Quartzite of Sutherland and Ross-shire.” By Professor James Nicol, F.G.S. Geoocists’ Assoctation.—This Society re-assembled for the winter Session on the 5th November, at 5, Cavendish Square, when the Rev. Walter Mitchell ide a lecture “On the Application of Crystalography to Mineralogy and Geology.” Crystalography, it was stated, was capable not merely of explainmg many facts connected with mineralogy, but also of throwing light on various phe- nomena belonging to geology. Thus, with respect to the latter science, the cleavage of crystals illustrated the great cleavage planes of the stratified meta- morphic rocks, and their modified form assisted in determining the temperature at which strata had been produced. The views and researches of Mr. Clifton Sorby were dwelt upon, and the geometrical laws of Crystalography treated at some length Dec. 3. 1860. Mr. Mitchener reaa a paper on a New Red Sandstone quarry at Stourton, in Cheshire. This quarry is remarkable for the abundance of reptilian footprints which it contains. Mr. Pickering presented to the Association a very fine collection of land- and fresh-water fossil shells from the Upper Tertiary deposits at Copford, in Essex, accompanyning his observations by an interesting paper descriptive of the localities where they were obtained; and referring also to other brickfields and deposits at Fisherton, West Hackney. Reculvers, and Kennet Valley. a ee EOE ee a (oh) or PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. Liverpoot Grotoeicat Socrety.—Oct. 23rd, 1860. The following papers were read :-— “On Fulverites from the Red Crag of Suffolk.’ By Henry Duckworth, Esq., F.R.G.S. and F.G:S. “On the Geology of the Neighbourhood of Shelve, Shropshire.” By George H. Morton, Esq., F.GS. This paper was illustrated by sections; also bya large and interesting collection of both upper and lower Silurian fossils collected in the district by the author of the paper and several other members of the society. The longitudinal range of hills present very high land to the east of Shelve. Reposing thereon are the Stiper Stones, rugged hills of siliceous sandstone, dipping west-north-west, the summits being about one thousand six hundred feet above the level of the sea. These are considered to represent the Lingula flags of North Wales. Small cavities are common in the hard sandstone, some of which Mr. Salter considers to show traces of Lingule. Annelide-burrows have also been observed. Above these rocks, which are some three thousand feet thick, is a series of dark slaty strata, containing the following fossils :—Didymograpsus geminus, Ogygia Portlock, Afglina binodosa, Theca simplex, Cucullela anglica, Redonia com- planata, Lingula plumbea; also one or two species of Orthoceras, and several indistinct forms. These have been found in the lowest accessible strata, and may be considered the earliest fossils in the district. The Llandeilo rocks, above the Stiper Stones, are about fourteen thousand feet thick. The strata dip sixty degrees and seventy degrees, and at smaller angles. Excepting in particular beds, fossils are rarely to be found ; but in several places they occur in profusion, such as’ Dictyonema sociale, Ogygia Burchii, Bellerophon pertur- batus, all of common occurrence in the upper Llandeilo. Glyptocrinus basalis, (McCoy,) has also been found associated with Zrinucleus Lloydii, and Orthis striatula, &c., high in the series at Meadon Town. Many of the Shelve fossils are figured in the second edition of Siluria. The “Corndon,” the highest isolated hill in the locality, is a great outburst of trap rock. Beds of volcanic ashes several feet thick, are interspersed with strata several feet thick, containing organic remains, at Marrington Dingle. At Hope quarry, two miles from Shelve church, the upper (Silurian) Llandovery rock is seen, reposing unconformably upon rounded bosses of trap and Llandeilo rock. Near that place are high cliffs of contorted strata. The district is of extreme interest to geologists; for within a circular space of country some seven miles across, so many geological phenomena are to be studied under great advantages. Dee. 11, 1860. Thomas Urquhart, Esq., presented to the “Liverpool Free Museum,” through the medium of the society, a beautiful series of Devonshire fossils, under the name of the “ Pengelly Collection,’ many of the specimens having been cut and polished in order to show their internal structure, Mr. Morton made some remarks upon them, and on the geographical distribution of Devonian fossils in Europe. The following paper was then read — “On the Oolite beds of Yorkshire as compared with their equivalent deposits in Wilts and Gloucestershire. By W. 8S. Horton, Esq. This communication was illustrated by a vertical section taken fromSwindon to Birdlip, and compared with one of the Yorkshire coast from Filey to Whitby. also a horizontal one from Oxford to Shortover Hill. After a short description of each bed, down to the cornbrash, reference was made to the extreme variation exhibited by the succeeding strata, which were co-ordinated as follows :-— 36 THE GEOLOGIST. Yorkshire. Wilts and Gloucestershire. Cornbrash : : Cornbrash. Upper Shale and Sandstone Forest Marble, Bradford Clay. Bath Oolite ; ; Bath Oolite. Lower Shale and Sandstone Fuller’s Earth. Inferior Oolite . Inferior Oolite. Both the upper and lower shales and sandstone are of fresh-water or estuary origin, and contain numerous plants, with Lquisetum columnare, sometimes retaining its erect position, and occasional thin seams of imperfect coal. The upper series may be observed to the south of Scarboro’, m Gristhorpe Bay. At Stainton Dale and Peak Hill. which forms the south side of Robm Hood’s Bay, the lower series attain their greatest development, and are upwards of four hundred feet in thickness. At this spot the whole of the strata, from the Bath Oolite to the Upper Lias inclusive, may be observed m one grand section, which attains an elevation of nearly six hundred feet above the beach. The Upper Lias forms an undercliff, from which the superincumbent Lower Oolite strata rise almost perpendicularly, and are all but inaccessible. NOTES AND QUERIES. An “Earty Encuisu” view or ADHEMAR’s THEORY.—We are justified in designating many geological notions, troduced fifty years ago, as “ Harly English :” for the like simple form of a first-pointed window they have served the framework for an after-filling of thought-tracery, and have not suffered an obscuration from subsequent additions. This is particularily noticeable in theoretical geology; no theory, either relating to physical or palzontological geology has appeared upon the stage in its full dimensions, but like other great results of thought, has been built up slowly and added to im after times. As an example of this, I wish to bring before the notice of your readers, an early germ of the “ Periodicy of Deluges,” theory of M. Adhemar. I find it as an article in an old magazine, bearmg date “February 4, 1812.” The article is along one, but the followimg intelligible reswme concludes it :— “The following are the general deductions, which the preceding facts and reasonings seem to establish. 1. That the changes upon the earth’s surface, and the consequent phenomena of the strata and the fossil remains, are referable to certain known motions of the earth as a planet. 2. That those motions are the revolution of the perihelion point, (a line of apsides,) in twenty thousand nine hundred years, producing opposite effects in both hemispheres every ten thousand four hundred and fifty years, and the diminishing obliquity of the ecliptic at the present rate of a degree in six thousand nine hundred years. 3. That the perihelion forces, in varying their declination, gradually accumu- late the seas in that hemisphere to which they are perpendicular ; and that the gradual accumulation takes place in either hemisphere, while the point of the maxima advances through twenty degrees of declination in a period of about three thousand four hundred and eighty eight years. 4. That the accumulation of the seas in that hemisphere, in which lies the direction of the perihelion parallel is a consequence of the accumulated centri- petal force, which produces or requires a corresponding increase in the centrifugal force, or oscillating momentum of the waters. NOTES AND QUERIES. ay 5. That the increments of quantity and momentum of the seas act by slow degrees on the land of the affected hemisphere, so as to produce sufficient space for their own accumulations, till in sufficient time the space occupied by the land is reduced in proportion to the accumulating spaces occupied by the seas. 6. That as the seas encroach on the land in one hemisphere they retire from the other, on the known principle of their equilibrium ; but, during the operation of the perihelion maxima, they are also accumulated in volume sufficient to make new encroachments in the land, adding more and more to their momenta in each following year. 7. That (m 1812,) the perihelion forces operate In maxima on the 31st of December, over the parallel of twenty three degrees seven minutes south ; that these forces are now moving northward, at such a rate as that in the year 4,719 they will arrive at a middle southern decliation; in 6,463 will act over the equator; in 8,207 will advance to a middle northern declination, producing sensible effects on that hemisphere; and, between the year 8,207 and 15,184 will probably be the means of covering the northern hemisphere with sea, nearly as the southern hemisphere is covered at present. 8. That in tracing the progression of these forces through former periods, it appears that they passed the equator to the south about the year 4,002 before Christ, producing probably such terrestrial phenomena as those described in the first chapter of Genesis; and that they reached a middle southern decli- nation about the year 2,258, producing probably such sensible effects in that hemisphere, as are described m the Mosaic and other accounts of the deluge. 9. That this motion of the perihelion forces over different parallels of terres- trial latitude, by producing an alternate prepondency of seas in both hemispheres, sufficiently accounts for the marine strata, and for all the marie phenomena observed upon or under the surface of the land, the gradual operation of chemical agencies being sufficient to account for the substantial changes in the bodies themselves. 10. That, if the freqnent discovery of tropical remains in the latitude of Britain, be considered as evidence that these remains were natives of these latitudes, the change of climate may be referred to the diminished angle formed by the planes of the equator and ecliptic, which takes place at the rate of fifty-two seconds in a century, and of a degree in above six thousand nine hundred years ; and which would have been equal to forty-five degrees at seven revolutions of the perihelion point, or one hundred and forty-nine years ago.” This paper is signed “‘Common Sense.” It certainly may take rank as an honoured curiosity of geological literature —Gyorer HE. Roperts. Fruryt IweLeMents IN THE Drirr. — The recent finding of some Flint Implements, evidently the work of man, im a stratum which geologists have been accustomed to consider of a date long anterior to the human era, has given rise to much discussion and conjecture; some appearing ready to admit, (though no human remains were found with them) that this discovery carries back the creation of man to an almost incalculably remote period; though so many existing facts tend to demonstrate his comparatively recent origin — facts that are quite independent of scripture-chronology, or the testimony of tradition. By what means these manufactured flints become imbedded in the formation referred to is a question that, perhaps, can never have a perfectly satisfactory solution ; but an idea that seems to have some possibly explanatory bearing on the point, was suggested to me in reading the other day an account of the construction of the Thames Tunnel. In the course of making the excavations for this work, the difficulties that arose from the nature of the soil in some parts induced the contractors to pro- cure a diving bell, for the purpose of examining the bottom of the river. On 38 THE GEOLOGIST. the first inspection that took place by means of this machine, a shovel and hammer were left on the spot by the divers; but these tools were, contrary to their expectations, nowhere to be found on their next visit. In the progress of the excavation, however, while advancing the protecting wooden framework, this missing shovel and hammer were found in the way of it, having descended at least eighteen feet into the ground, and probably resting on, or mixed up with some ancient deposit. Supposmg these articles had not been recovered by the excavators ; and that the soft stratum through which they sunk so deeply had, by some geological changes in the locality, become solidified, and encrusted with several layers of fresh soil, and that some future geologist had found the lost hammer and shovel in the position described, it would, doubtless, have furnished as strong an argument in that day for the vast antiquity of the human race, as the discovery of these said flit implements m the drift has done in our own. I am not aware of what material the superincumbent stratum above the drift in that place is composed; but, however compact zow, it may possibly in a former age have been sufliciently liquified by some aqueous irruption or sub- mersion to cause substances of the specifle gravity of flint to sink through it ; as the silex has evidently done through the chalk im a fluid state, or as our shovel and hammer did through the soil in - he river. Whatever difficulties may attend this hypothesis, they certainly are not greater than are involved in the startling, and wholly unsupported assumption that the late flint discovery proves man to have existed before the straits of Dover were formed, or the mammoth and other fossil animals had become extinct. After all, it may perhaps be a question whether surmises and speculations of this kind are at all needful im the present case—whether geologists themselves have not occasioned all the doubt and mystery respecting these flint-instruments, by assigning an antiquity to the Drift formation which does not belong to it ; assuming a fact which is only theory based on some erroneous data. Indeed, between the advocates for the remote and those for the recent creation of man, it is solely a question as to the authenticity of the respectively ascribed dates, or which of these widely varying periods has the greatest weight of probability or evidence to support it; and here, apart from the Mosaic account of this event, all the past history and present state of man upon earth tends to prove (in geological language) his moderv introduction on our globe—that he was the last, as well as the most perfect of all the great and marvellous works of God. If, therefore, there are valid reasons for concluding that man has not been in existence more than somewhere about six thousand years, the theory that would give him a date of forty or fifty thousand, especially if founded only on the discovery of wrought flints m so equivocal a formation as the Drift, cannot be considered to be of sufficient authority to shake the generally entertained belief on the subject—Qu RE. Roman ANTIQUITIES UNDER Boe Hartru at Cantersury.—Dear Sir,— A large pipe drain is beg laid down in Canterbury, the course of it runni the whole length of the city from the houses in Barton Fields, beyond the Lon- — Chatham Railway on the Dover Road, to the River Stour at East ridge. The cutting is from ten to fifteen feet deep. In one part of the line the workmen came to a stratum of bog earth, lying at about nine feet below the pavement. On each side of the black earth, and at the same depth, remains of Roman pottery, and, apparently, Roman foundations of buildings were found. These men also dug up some ornaments for the person, and other similar things. Some of this earth I have subjected to the process of boiling in acid, and upon examining with the microscope the residue, I found various Diatomacee, Cosci- nodisci Navicula, &e. NOTES AND QUERIES. 39 It is wonderful how widely these minute organisms are disseminated! At first I thought the black earth might be the accumulation of a large cesspool; but I think the discovery of these fresh-water organisms will make it apparent that the bog was the bed of an ancient stream running into the River Stour in the time of the Romans.—I[ am, yours, &c., Jon BRENT. Rep anp Waite CHALK OF YORKSHIRE.—Dear Sir,—In the Geologist for the month of November, 1860, I perceive some notes by Major-Gen. Emmett, R.E., F.G.S., on the above-named formations, which, if not corrected might be the cause of some disappointment to those of your readers, who, during the summer months may visit this neighbourhood, and gather fossils from the red chalk at Speeton; and the white chalk at Sowerby, Manton, Flamborough, Buckton, Bempton, Speeton, &e. What I wish to say on the above subject is, that the red chalk is not found any where nearer Flamborough than at Speeton. This fact is fully stated im the Rev. Thos. Wiltshire’s Monograph on the “ Red Chalk of England,” published at your office, as also in the Geologist, vol. ii., > 261. : I would further observe, that, although much of the red chalk at Speeton is hard, yet there is, also, much of this chalk which is quite soft—so much so that it can be crushed with ease between the finger and thumb. I have never yet washed this soft chalk for the sake of its foraminifera; but I have not the least doubt that those who wish to do so would find it equally prolific in fossils, if not more so than the harder chalk. The white chalk at Sowerby, near Flamborough, is much softer than any part of the same formation at Flamborough, Bucton, Bempton, or Speeton. All the chalk in the latter places are remarkably indurate; and, in fact, from Flamborough Dyke on the south of Flamborough, around the Head, and as far as the cretaceous formation extends on the north side of it, we find all the chalk very hard indeed , yet we have many softer portions of white chalk, both at Sowerby and in the pits in and around Bridlington, so that any person who wishes to procure soft chalk, either red or white, out of which they want foraminifera, may procure any quantity they may think proper; and I should like to exchange a quantity of these soft rocks for a mounted specimen of each variety of foraminifera found therein.—E. Trnpat, Bridlington. InsEcT-REMAINS IN THE PaLupina Beps at PeckKHAM.—Dear Srr,—Mr. Rickman, in his paper read before the Geological Society on the 7th November, stated that he had not found any insect-remains in the Paludina bed at Peckham. This has caused me to regard with renewed interest a fossil which I obtained on breaking open a mass of this deposit last spring. From a comparison with the figure and description given by Mr. Westwood, in his paper on fossil insects, (Geol. Journ., vol. 11, p. 381,) of a specimen from the Corfe Clay, it appears to me that my fossil is an elytron of a small Beetle. As Mr. Rickman expressed _doubt, in a letter which you published a few months ago, as to the correctness of the opinion which a friend of mine had formed with regard to a specimen in his possession, I wished, before L announced the presence of insect-remains in the Peckham beds, to obtain the opinion of some com- petent authority. 1 therefore enclose a sketch, ; and shall be pleased to know if you consider Insect Remains from the Palu- the subject worthy of your attention. I have another specimen very similar to this, but not so perfect. I have also another one, smaller and rather different in shape, but similarily marked with strie. I enclose also some specimens belonging to a friend, one of which is different from any of those in my possession.—Yours, &c., C. HE, Evans, Hampstead. 40 THE GEOLOGIST. These specimens have been forwarded to us; and through the kindness of Mr. H. Woodward have been submitted to the examination of Mr. F. Smith, of the British Museum, whose opinion is expressed in Mr. Woodward’s letter. — Dear Srr,—Mr. Fredk. Smith has looked at the Peckham specimens with me, and the result arrived at is as follows :—Three specimens are not determinable ; two other perhaps are not insect at all; one is the elytron of a species of Curculionida, genus Strophosomus? or Cucorhimus? and another an elytron of a species of Elater—Yours truly, Henry Woopwarp. Drirt IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE.—Duar Sir,—In the course of my geological readings, I do not gather much knowledge regarding’ the prevalent direction of Drift in the southern hemisphere, If you could kindly give me any information respecting it, through the medium of that interestig depart- ment, the “‘ Notes and Queries” of the Geologist Magazine, you would much oblige, your very obedient servant.—J. Curry, Boltsburn, Eastgate. New Species oF Rata FROM Monte Boics.—From Count Marschall, we learn that Professor Molin has lately discovered three new species of the genus Raia among the fossil fishes of Monte Bolca; and that this Tertiary fish-fauna, generally supposed to be analogous with that of the Mediterranean, exhibits on close examination a somewhat tropical character. REVIEWS. A Handbook for Travellers in South Wales and its Borders, including the River Wye; with a Traveller’s Map. London: Joun Murray, Albermarle-street. 1860. Murray’s handbooks are known everywhere. Wherever the traveller or tourist intends visiting a district or a country, he is sure in the first place to seek for one of Murray’s Guides. It is fortunate for South Wales that, pos- sessing so much geological interest, the authorship of Murray’s handbook for that region has fallen into the hands of so good a geologist as our friend and correspondent, Dr. Bevan, who from his long residence there possesses also peculiar advantages for the task. The enormous development during the last twenty years of mining enterprise and the opening of new railways have made such material alterations in those parts that no one but a resident could never have accomplished a successful guide for the wanderer in search of the com- mercial, the useful, and the antique or the picturesque. In the first three chapters on the physical features, geology, and manufac- tures, the student of our science has an admirably. succinct account of all the principal matters of interest to him; while at page 29 all the “points of interest for the geologist” are specially picked out—like plums from the pud- ding—of the work, and handed to him in one luxurious dish. Such perpetual and indefatigable ramblers as geologists invariably are— — whenever they can be induced to look beyond their own dear dusty quarries at the social scenes and antiquarian relics that are everywhere to be met on the long, long roads which they with heavy loads so lightly travel,—they ought to be the “right men” for tourists’ guides ; and Dr. Bevan, who has undoubtedly kept his eyes open to all worth seeig, seems as much at home in the rest of his book as the traveller’s companion as he undoubtedly is in the geological and physical descriptions of his district. THE GEOLOGIST. FEBRUARY, 1861. ON BRITISH CARBONIFEROUS BRACHIOPODA. By Tuomas Davinson, Esq., F.R.S., F.G.S8., ere. Four years have elapsed since I first commenced my researches among the Carboniferous Brachiopoda of Great Britain ; and I should certainly by this time have completed my task, had not the unfortu- nate delay in the publication of the last two or three volumes of the Paleontographical Society induced me to undertake other work which would not require to lie printed and unpublished for upwards of one year and a half. My monograph cannot, consequently, be completed or entirely published for some time to come, perhaps a year or more ; but as my researches in connection with the subject are almost ended, since the whole series of species at present known have been as carefully examined as my means and materials would permit, it may, perhaps, be as well that I should at once expose the results of my laborious enquiry, in the hope that by so doing some further assistance and advice may be proffered; which might enable me to make the monograph still more complete, and at the same time admit of my correcting in the concluding pages those unavoidable mistakes which have been commited during the interval which has elapsed since the commencement of its publication. It may be thought by some while perusing the accompanying cata- logue that the work to be gone through was but small in comparison with the time employed, but such would be an erroneous assumption, and a sad return to the numerous friends in England, Scotland, and Ireland, who have so zealously afforded their valuable and valued assistance, by incessantly ransacking the country in order to obtain every possible specimen that might assist and tend to complete the history of British Carboniferous species. Thousands and thousands of specimens have been assembled and transmitted to me by rail and post; and if I refrain from mentioning names it is because my full VOL. IV. F 42 THE GEOLOGIST. acknowledgements are recorded in my larger work, which, when complete, will compose a quarto volume, illustrated by some fifty or more plates. I may likewise mention that, with very few exceptions, I have had the great advantage of obtaining the loan of the original specimens from which each species had been first described, so that my comparisons have generally commenced with the type. As a great many so-termed species have been rejected, it will be desirable to enter upon some few explanatory details. At the time when I commenced my researches among the British Carboniferous Brachiopoda, some two hundred and fifty so-termed species had been recorded ; but after a most searching investigation, I could not conscientiously make out more than about one hundred and eight; and even of this number some few should be located among the varieties, so that the determined species would not, at the present time, in all probability exceed about ahundred. In the second and improved edition of Prof. Morris’s “ Catalogue,” published in 1854, one hundred and ninety three species are recorded, but of these about eighty-one only are retained in our lists. It would be impossible in this short paper to enter into many statistical details ; but we may mention that in 1836 Prof. Phillips enumerated about one hundred species, as having been found in England, and of which fifty-two are by us retained. Since the period of the publication of the “ Geology of Yorkshire,” many more species have been discovered, so that about ninety-seven are pro- visionally catalogued. The species from Scotland have been care- fully examined, and from forty-nine to fifty retamed. The Irish species have not, perhaps, been so completely studied as we might wish; and it is very possible and probable that the rocks of that island have afforded some few more than the seventy-three here admitted. In 1844, Prof. M‘Coy described two hundred and twenty-nine species, stated by him to have been found in Ireland, but figured only about sixty; and to this number several others were subsequently added by other naturalists, so that Mr. Kelly’s Catalogue* comprises no less than two hundred and thirty-seven! If we compare Mr. Kelly’s lists with the one here given a very great difference will be perceived; for notwithstanding all my good will and the liberal assistance of many Irish geologists, who assembled for my use every possible species, I have not been able, as already stated, to identify more than about seventy-three. Mr. Kelly’s Catalogue comprises a great number of Silurian and Devonian species not known to me to occur in any Carboniferous rocks hitherto examined; and I may without hesitation assert that the larger number are, at any rate, due to incorrect identification ; for the examination of many of the original specimens in Sir Richard Griffith’s collections have convinced Prof. de Koninck, Mr. Salter, and myself of this important fact. = ©On the Localities of Fossils of the Carboniferous Limestone of Ireland :” Journal of the Geological Society of Dublin: 1855. DAVIDSON—ON BRITISH CARBONIFEROUS BRACHIOUPODA. 43 Many of M’Coy’s so-termed Devonian species were not, however, to be found in any of the Irish collections, and their existence as Carboniferous fossils must, consequently, remain as “ not proven,” for the author of the “ Synopsis,” does not furnish us with any evidence as to the correctness of his determinations in the shape of illustrations. Mr. Kelly, whose knowledge of Irish geology appears to equal, or even exceed that of any other man, expresses himself very averse to my rejecting so many Devonian species, said to have been found in his Carboniferous strata and localities, and considers I am not justi- fied in passing judgment on the contents of between seventeen and eighteen thousand square miles of Carboniferous limestone said to exist in the sister island; but I do not presume to pass sentence upon any but those I am certain to be due to incorrect identification, and which have been so stamped by Prof. de Koninck, Mr. Salter, and myself, and at present existing in Sir R. Griffith’s collection. All I wish to say with reference to the others is that, never having been able to procure the sight ofa specimen, Iam bound to state and believe that their existence is “ not proven ;”’ but I shall be delighted to admit and catalogue hereafter any of which a specimen or correct figure can be produced, and which on comparison will be found to agree with Silurian or Devonian types. In my monograph I have described those species only of which I have seen a specimen, or of whose existence I felt certain, and of which I was able to give a figure; for it appeared to me preferable to limit myself to what was certain, than to swell out my work by the introduction of a large amount of very doubtful matter. Mr. Kelly has informed me by letter that a large portion of the doubtful fossils were got in localities of the Calciferous slate, a band which lies next under the limestone ; that out of some seventy not proven to me, because I have not seen specimens, twenty-two were obtained at Lisnapaste and Donegal; that in these localities there is a great variety; and that they occur in black soft shale, as soft and as easily decomposed by exposure to the atmosphere as any that occurs in the coal-measures ; that a lump of this black shale exposed to sun and rain fur one sum- mer, would slake or fall to pieces; and he therefore suppuses that by far the larger number of Lisnapaste specimens that were originally in Sir R. Griffith’s collection were lost by their removal to the Great Exhibition held in Dublin, in 1852, as those tender shales would not bear the agitation of carriage, and consequently mouldered away into very small fragments. That there are six or eight other localities in the Calciferous slate in which similar shales occur with fossils, and that he finds upon looking over his lists that most of the Devonian species I object to were obtained in those localities. Along with Lisnapaste there is Larganmore, Bruckless, Kildress, (the red shales near Cookstown in the Old Red series), Bundoran, Malahide, Curragh, etc. Having premised so much, we will now give a catalogue of all the species at present known to us from England, Scotland, and Ireland. THE GEOLOGIST. i CATALOGUE OF BritTISH CARBONIFEROUS BRACHIOPODA, ~ In my ollection. Treland. C * |Terebratula sacculus, Martin, Petrif. Derb., tab. xlvi., figs. 1,2, 1809 ; Dav. Mon.,* pl. i, figs. 23, 24, 27, 29, 30, ete. * |______— hastata, Sow. Min. Con., tab. ccccxlvi., figs. 2-3, 1824; Dav. Mon., pl. i., figs. 1-12; var. virgoides, M’ Coy, var. ficus, M’Coy. * |_______ Gillingensis, Dav. Mon., pl. i., figs. 18-20; pl. iii.,} + fig. i., 1847. * |—_ vesicularis, De Koninck, An. Foss. de la Bel-} + | + gique, sup., pl. lvi., fig. 10, 1851; Dav. Mon., pl. xxv., figs. 1-7, = Seminula seminula, M’Coy. * |Athyris Royssii, L’Eveillé, Mémoires de la Soc. Geol. de} + | + | + France, vol. ii., pl. ii., figs. 18-20, 1835; Dav. Mon., pl. xviii., figs. 1-11, = T. fimbriata, Phil., = T. glabr- istria, Phil., = T. depressa, M’Coy. +on + | England. + + + | Scotland. % expansa, Phil., Geol. York, vol. ii., pl. x., fig. 18) + 1836; Dav. Mon., pl. xvi., figs. 14-16 and 18; pl. xvii., fies. 1-5. * = lamellosa, L’Eveillé, Mem. de la Soc. Geol. de| + ‘ France, vol. i, pl., figs. 21-23, 1855; Dav., pl. xvi., fig. 1, and pl. xvii., fig. 6, = T. squamosa, Phillips. plano-sulcata, Phillips’ Geol. York, vol. ii., pl. x.) + | + | + fig. 15, 1836; and Dav. Mon., pl. xvi., figs. 2-13, 15, = A. paradoxa, M’Coy, = A. obtusa, M’Coy, = T. ob- longa, Sow. globularis, Phillip’s Geol. of York., vol. ii., pl. x.,} + fie. 22, 1836 ; and Dav. Mon., pl. xvii, figs. 15-18. # ambigua, Sow., Min. Con., pl. ccclxxvi., 1822; and| + | + | + Day. Mon., pl. xv., figs. 15-28, = T. sublobata,* Port- lock, = T. pentaedra, Phillips. subtilita, Hall. Howard Stansbury’s Exploration of} + - the Valley of the Great Salt Lake of Utah, pl. iv., figs. 1-6, 1852; Dav. Mon., pl. i., fig. 21-22, pl. xvii, figs. 8-10. ge squamigera, De Kon., Desc. An. Foss. de la Bel-| + ~ gique, sup., pl. lvi., fig. 9, 1851; and Day. Mon., pl. xviil., figs. 12, 13. * |Retzia radialis, Phillips’ Geol. of York., vol. ii., pl. xii., figs.) + | “+ 40, 41, 1836; Dav. Mon., pl. xvii., figs. 19-21. ulotric, De Kon., Desc. des Animaux Foss. dela} + Belgique, pl. xix., fig. 5, 1843; and Dav. Mon. Carb., pl. xvii., figs. 14, 15. Spirifera striata, Martin, Petrif. Derb., t. xxiii., 1809; Dav.| + + Mon., pl. ii., figs. 12-21, and pl. iii., figs. 2-6, = T. spi- rifera, Lamk., = Sp. attenuata, Sow., = 8. princeps, M’Coy, = 8. clatharata, M’Coy, = 8. condor, D’Orb., = 8. triplicatus, Hall, Logani, Hall. * |____. Mosquensis, Fischer, Programme sur la Choris-| + + tites, 1825 ; Dav. Mon., pl. iv., figs. 18, 14, = C. Sow- erbu and Klewii, Fischer, = S. choristites, V. Buch, = incisa, Goldfuss, = S. priscus, Eichwald. % * * Mon. refers to my Monograph of Carb. Brachiopoda, published by the Paleontogra- phical Society ; S. Mon. refers to my Monograph of Scottish Carboniferous Brachiopoda. In my Collection. * |Spirifera hwmerosa, Phil., Geol. York., pl. xi., fig. 8, 1836, ae * DAVIDSON—ON BRITISH CARBONIFEROUS BRACHIOPODA. Catalogue of British Carboniferous Brachiopoda. aud Day. Mon., pl. iv., figs. 15, 16. dwplicicosta, Phillips’ Geol. York., vol. ii., pl. x., fig. 1, 1836; and Day., pl. iii., figs. 7-10, pl. iv., figs. 3-11, = 8S. furcata, M’Coy, = S. fasciculata, M’Coy. — planata, Phillips’ Geol. York, pl. x., fig. 3, 1836 ; and Dav. Mon., pl. vii., figs. 25, 36. triamgularis, Martin, Petrif. Derb., pl. xxxvi., fig. 2, 1809; and Dav. Mon., pl. v., figs. 16-24. trigonalis, Martin, Petrif. Derb., pl. xxxvi., fig. 1, 1809 ; and Day. Mon., pl. v., figs. 25-35. bisulcata, Sow., Min. Con., pl. ccecexciv., figs. 1, 2, 1825; and Dav. Mon., pl. iv., figs. 1, 2, pl. v., fig. 1, pl. vi., figs. 1-22, pl. vii., figs. 1-4, 7-16, = S. semicir- cularis, Phillips, = S. calcarata, M’Coy (not Sow.), = 8. tramsiens, M’Coy, = S. grandicosta (?), M’Coy, = 8. crassa, De Kon., = S. planicosta, M’Coy, etc. convoluta, Phillips’ Geol. of York., vol. ii., pl. ix., fig. 7, 1836; and Dav. Mon., pl. v., figs. 9-15. rhomboidea, Phillips’ Geol. of York., vol. ii, pl. ix., figs. 8-9, 1836; and Dav., pl. v., figs. 2-8. ——— fusiformis, Phillips’ Geol. of York., pl. ix., figs. 10, 11, 1836; Dav. Mon., pl. xiii., fig. 15. This isa doubtful species. mesogonia, M’Coy, Synopsis, pl. xxii, fig. 13, 1844; and Dav. Mon., pl. vii., fig. 24. distans, Sow., Min. Con., pl. eecexciv., fig. 3, 1825 ; and Day. Mon., pl. viii., figs. 1-17 and 18 (?), = S. bi- carinata, M’Coy. cuspidata, Martin, Trans. Lin. Soc., vol. iv., pl. iii., figs. 1-4, 1796; Dav. Mon., pl. viii., figs. 19-24, pl. ix., figs. 1,2, = S. swbconicus, Martin. triradialis, Phil. Geol. York., vol. ii., pl. x., fig. 7, 1836 ; Dav. Mon., pl. ix., figs. 4-12, = 8S. trisulcata, Phil., = S. serradialis, Phil. Reedii, Dav. Mon., pl. v., figs. 40, 47, 1857. Doubtful species. —— pinguis, Sow., Min. Con., pl. cclxxi., 1820; and Dav., pl. x., figs. 1-12; = S. rotundata, Sow. (not Martin), = S. sub-rotundata, M’Coy. ovalis, Phillips’ Geol. York., vol. ii., pl. x., fig. 5, 1836; Dav. Mon., pl. ix., figs. 20-26, = S. ewarata, Fleming, = hemispherica, M,Coy. integricosta, Phillips’ Geol. York., pl. x., fig. 2, 1836; Dav., pl. ix., figs. 13-19, = S. rotundata, Mar- tin (?), = paucicosta, M’Coy (?). glabra, Martin, Petrif. Derb., pl. xlviii., figs. 9, 10, 1809 ; Dav. Mon., pl. xi., figs. 1-9, and pl. xii., figs. 1-5, 11, 12, = S. obtusa and S. oblata, Sow., = S. lin- guifera and S. decora, Phillips. ——— rhomboidalis, M’Coy, Synopsis, pl. xxii., fig. 11, 1844; and Dav. Mon., pl. xii., figs. 6-7. + + | Ungland. | Scotland. Ireland. +. us or) In my Collection. * THE GEOLOGIST. Catalogue of British Carboniferous Brachiopoda. Spirifera Urii, Fleming, Br. An., p. 376, 1828; and Dav. Mon., pl. xii., figs. 13, 14, and Dav. Se. Mon., pl. i.*, fig. 30, = unguiculus, Phil., = clannyana, Kon. Carlukiensis, Dav. Mon., pl. xiii., fig. 14, 1857. lineata, Martin, Petrif. Derb., pl. xxxvi., fig. 3, 1809; Dav. Mon., pl. xiii., figs. 4-13, Sc. Mon., pl. i.%, fig. 31, = M. strigocephaloides, M’Coy, — S. reticulata, — §. mesoloba, Phil., = S. imbricata, Sow. elliptica, Phil. Geol. York., pl. x., fig. 16, 1836 ; Dav. Mon., pl. xiii., figs. 1-3. Spiriferina laminosa, M’Coy, Synopsis, pl. xxi., fig. 4, 1844; and Dav. Mon., pl. vi, figs. 17, 22, = 8S. tricornis, De Kon. cristata, var. octoplicata, Sow., Min. Con., pl. dixii., figs. 2-4, 1827; and Dav. Mon., pl. vii., figs. 37-47, 60, 61, = Sp. partita, Portlock. minima, Sow., Min. Con., tab. ecelxxvii., fig. 1, 1822; Dav. Mon., pl. vii, figs. 56-59. A very doubt- ful species. insculpta, Phil., Geol. York., pl. ix., figs. 2, 3. 1836; Dav., pl. vii, figs. 48, 55, = 8. quinqueloba, M’Coy. Cyrtina septosa, Phillips’ Geol. York., vol. ii., pl. ix., fig. 7, 1836 ; Dav. Mon., pl. xiv., figs. 1-10, pl. xv., figs. 1, 2. dorsata, M’Coy, Synopsis, pl. xxi., fig. 14, 1844; Day. Mon., pl. xv., figs. 3, 4. carbonaria, M’Coy, Br. Pal. Fossils, pl. i.D, figs. 12-18, 1855 ; Dav. Mon., pl. xv., figs. 5-14. Rhynchonella reniformis, Sow., Min. Con., pl. eccexcvi., figs. 1-4, 1825 ; and Dav. Mon., pl. 19., figs. 1-7. cordiformis, Sow., Min. Con., tab. eccexcyv., fie. 2, 1825; and Dav. Carb. Mon., pl. xix., figs. 8-10. A doubtful species. acuminata, Martin, Petrif. Derb., pl. xxxii., figs. 7, 8, and pl. xxxiii., figs. 5,6, 1809; and Dav.|- Mon., pl. xx., figs. 1-13, pl. xxi., figs. 1-20, = T. platy- loba, Sow., = T. mesogonia, Phil. ° plewrodon, Phillips’ Geol. of York., vol. ii, pl. xii., figs. 25-30, 1836; and Dav. Mon., pl. xxiii., figs. 1-20, = T. Mantie, Sow., = T. ventilabrwm, Phil- lips, = T. pentatoma, De Kon., = T. triplex, M’Coy, = Davreuxsiana, De Kon. —___—__—— flewistria, Phillips’ Geol. York., pl. xii., figs. 33, 34, 1836; and Dav. Mon., pl. xxiv., figs. 1-8, = T. twmida, Phillips, = H. heteroplycha, MW Coy. ———_—_————- pugnus, Martin, Petyrif. Derb., tab. xxii., figs. 4-5, 1809; and Dav. Mon., pl. xxii., figs. 1-15, = T. sulcirostris, Phil., = A. laticliva, M’Coy. angulata, Linneeus, Syst. Nat., p. 1154, 1767 ; and Dav. Mon., pl. xix., figs. 11-16. trilatera, De Kon., Animaux Foss. de Ja Bel- gique, pl. xix., fig. 7, 1843; and Day. Mon., pl. xxiv.. fig. 23-26. + | England. + | Scotlond. ++ Ireland. com Hf DAVIDSON—ON BRITISH CARBONIFEROUS BRACHIOPODA. Catalogue of British Carboniferous Braehiopoda. In my Collection. England Scotland. Treland Rhynchonella ? gregaria, M’Coy, Synopsis, pl. xxii., fig. 18, 1844; and Dav. Carb. Mon., pl. xv., figs. 27, 28. Not sufficiently studied. Rh. nana, M’Coy, Synopsis, pl. xxii., fig. 19, 1844; Ire- land. R. semisulcata, M’Coy, Synopsis, pl. xxii., fig. 15; Ire- land : doubtful species ?. * |Camarophoria crumena, Martin, Petrif. Derb., pl. xxxvi.} + | + | + fig. 4, 1809 ; and Dav. Mon., pl. xxv., figs. 3, 9, = C. Schlotheimi, V. Buch. Var. ? T. proava, Phil., Geol. of York., vol. ii., pl. xii., fig. 37, 1836 ; and Dav. Mon., pl. xxv., fig. 10; England. globulina, Phil., Ency. Met., vol. iv., pl. iii.,} + fig. 3, 1834; Dav. Mon., pl. xxiv., figs. 9-22; T rhom- boidea, Phil. — T. seminula, Phil, = H. longa, M’Coy ?. + isorhyncha, M’Coy, Synopsis, pl. xviii., fig. 8, + 1844; and Dav. Mon., pl. xxv., figs. 1,2. Not suffi- ciently studied, from want of material. ? laticliva, M’Coy, Br. Pal. Foss., pl. iii.p,| + figs. 20, 21, 1855; Dav. Mon., pl. xxv., figs. 11, 12. Not sufficiently studied, from want of material. * |Strophomena (rhomboidalis) var. analoga, Phillips’ Geol. o York., pl. vii., fig. 10, 1836; Dav. Mon., pl. xxviii., figs. 1, 13, =P. depressa, Sow., = P. rugosa, His., = C. quadrangularis, Steminger, — L. tenwistriata, Sow., = IL. distorta, Sow., = L. nodulosa, Phil., = L. multi- rugata, M’Coy. * |Streptorhynchus crenistria, Phillips’ Geol. York., pl. ix., fig. 6, 1836; and Dav. Mon., pl. xxvi., fig. 1, pl. xxvii., figs. 1-5, and 10 ?, pl. xxx., figs. 14-16, = 8S. senilis, Phil., = Lept. anomala, J. de C. Sow., Min. Con., tab. dexv., fig. 1b, = O. wmbraculum, var. Portlock, = O. Bechet, M’Coy, = O. comata, M’Coy, = O. caduca, M’Coy, = O. keokuck and O. robusta, Hall. * Var. A. T. arachnoidea, Phillips’ Geol. of York., vol. ii., pl. xi, fig. 4, 1836; Dav. Mon:, pl. xxv., figs. 19-21, pl. xxvi., figs. 2-4 (lower fig.) 5,6, = VU. Portlockiana, Semenow; England, Scotland, Ireland. Var. B. S. Kellii, M’Coy, Synopsis, pl. xxii., fig. 4, 1844. ; Dav. Mon., pl. xxvii., fig. 8 ; England, Scotland, Ireland. Var. C. 8S. cylindrica, M’Coy, Synopsis, pl. xxii., fig. 1, 1844; and Dav., pl. xxvii., fig. 9; Ireland. * Var. D. 8S. radialis, Phillips’ Geol. York., pl. xi., fig. 5, 1836 ; Day. Mon., pl. xxv., figs. 16-18; England, Scot- land, Ireland. * |Orthis resupinata, Martin, Petrif. Derb., pl. xlix., figs. 13, 14, 1809; Dav. Mon., pl. xxix., figs. 1-6, and pl. xxx., figs. 1-5, = O. connivens, Phil., = O. gibbera, Portlock, = 0. latissima, M’Coy. ——-—- Michelini, L’Eveillé, Mem. Soc. Geol. France, vol. ii., figs. 14-17, 1835; Dav. Mon., pl. xxx., figs. 6-12, = S. a ts 1@ @) THE GEOLOGIST. Catalogue of British Carboniferous Brachiopoda. In my Collection. filiaria, Phil., = O. circularis, M’Coy, = O. divaricata, M’Coy. * |Orthis Keyserlingiana, De Kon., An. Foss. de la Belgique, pl. xiii., fig. 12, 1843; Dav. Mon. , pl. xxviii., fig. 14. P antiquata, Phil., Geol. York, ‘tab. xi. , fig 20, 1836 ; and Dav. Mon., pl. xxvii., fig. 15. Not sufficiently studied from want of material. * |Productus giganteus, Martin, Petrif. Derb., pl. xv., fig. 1, 1809; and Day. Mon., pl. XXXVii., xxviii, xxxix., and = A. crassa, Martin, i 32 aurita, Phil. P. Edelburg- ensis, Phil, Pf: macima, Mm’ Gey, =P. hemisphericus, part Sow. * |—______ latissimus, Sow., Min. Con., tab. ccexxx., 1822 ; and Dav. Mon. Scottish Brach., pl. ii., figs. 8, 9; and Mon., pl. xxxv., figs. 1-4. * |_______ Cora, D’Orb., Palzeont. du Voyage dans Ame- rigue Meridionale, p. 58, pl. v., figs. 8-10, 1842: De Koninck, Mon. du Genre Productus, pl. iv., fig. 4, pl. v., fig. 2, = P. corrugata, M’Coy; Dav. Mon. , pl. XXXVi., Sie. de * |___ z semireticulatus, Martin, Petrif. Derb., pl. xxxii., figs. 1, 2, pl. xxxii., fig. 4, 1809; Dav. Mon. Scottish Brach., pl. iv., figs. 1-12; and Mon., pl. xlii., figs. 1-6, and pl. xliv., figs. 1-3, = A. antiquata, Martin, = P. concinna, Sow., =P. pugilis, Phil., = P. scotica, Sow., = P. sulcata, Sow., = P. flewistria, M Coy (according to Prof. De Koninck), A. producta, Parkinson. Var. Martini, Sow. Min. Con., pl. ecexviy, figs. 2-4; Dav. Mon., pl. xlii., figs. 7-11; England, Scotland, Ireland. * |——_—_——. longispinus, Sow., Min. Con., tab. Ixvui., fig. 1, 1814; Dav. Scottish Carb. Mon., pl. ii., figs. 10-19, and Mon., pl. xxxv., figs. 5-17 = P. Flemingii, = P. lobata, = P. spinosa, Sow., = P. setosa, Phil. humerosus, Sow., Min. Con., tab. ccexxii., 1822 ; Day. Mon., pl. xxxvi., fig. 1-3. striatus, Fischer, Oryct. du Gouv. de Moscou, pl. xix., fig. 4, 1830 and 1837; Dav. Mon., pl. xxxiv., figs. 1-5, = P. inflata, Phil., = P. meformis, V. Buch, = L. anomala, J. de C. Sow., Min. Con., tab. dexv., fig. 1, | a,c, d, (not b). margaritaceus, Phillips, Geol. York., pl. viii., fig. | 8, 1886; Dav. Mon., pl. xliv., figs. 5-8, = P. pec- | tinoides,, Phil. proboscideus, De Vern., Bulletin de la Soc. Geol. de France, vol. xi., pl. iii., fig. 3, 1840; Dav. Mon., pl. a = Xxxii., figs. 1-4. ermineus, De Koninck, Desc. des Animaux Foss. de la Belgique, pl. x., fig. 5, 1843; and Dav. Mon., pl. XxXxiil., fig. 5. sinuatus (Lept. sp.) De Koninck, An. Foss. de la Belgique, sup., t. lvi., fig. 2; and Day. Mon., pl. xxxiii., | figs. 8-11. | England. | Scotland. Ireland. In my Collection. Sd * DAVIDSON—ON BRITISH CARBONIFEROUS BRACHIOPODA. Catalogue of British Carboniferous Brachiopoda. England. + costatus, Sow., Min. Con., pl. dix., fig. 1, 1827, = P. costellatus, MW Coy ; ; Dav. Mice: , pl. xxii. ., figs. 2- 9. muricatus, Phil., Geol. York, vol. ii., pl. viii., fig. 3, 1836; Dav. Scottish Carb. Mon. , phi ii., fig. 25, pl. iv., * fig. 25 ; England, Scotland; Dav. Mon., pl. xxx., figs. 10-14. carbonarius, De Kon., Desc. des An. Foss. de la Belgique. pl. xii. bis, fig. 1, 1843 ; and Dav. Mon., pl. xxxiv., fig. 6. undatus, Defrance, Dic. des Sc. Nat., vol. xliii.,} + p- 354, 1826; De Kon., Desc. des An. Foss. de la Bel- gique, pl. xii., fig. 2; Dav. Mon., pl. xxxiv., figs. 7-12, == 3. tortilis, MW’ Coy r. arcuarius, De Kon., Desc. des Animaux Foss. de] + la Belgique, pl. wil. fig. 10, 1848; Dav. Mon., pl. xxxiv., fig. 17. aculeatus, Martin, Petrif. Derb., pl. xxxvii., figs.| + 9, 10, 1809; and Day. Mon., pl. xxxiii., fig. 16-20, = P. lawispina, Phil. Youngianus, Dav. Mon. of Scottish Carb. Brach.,| + pl. i., fig. 26, and pl. v., fig. 7, 1860; and Mon., pl. xxxill., figs. 21-23. Keyserlingianus, De Kon., Desc. des An. Foss.de} + la Belgique, pl. x., fig. 8, 1843; Dav. Mon., pl. xxxiv., figs. 15, 16 Wrightii, Dav., Carb. Mon., pl. xxxiii., figs. 6, 7, 1861. tessellatus, De Kon., Desc. des An. Foss. de la} + Belgique, pl. ix., fig. 2, 1843 ; and Day. Mon., pl. xxxiii., figs. 24, 25. and pl. xxxiv., fig. 14. ——_——_ plicatilis, Sow., Min. Con., tab. eccclix., fig. 2;} + and Dav. Mon., pl. xxxi., figs. 3-5. mesolobus, Phillips’ Geol. of York., vol. ii., pl. vii.,} + figs. 12, 13, 1836; Dav. Mon., pl. xxxi., figs. 6-9. sub-levis, De Kon., Desc. des An. Foss. de la Bel-| + gique, pl. x., fig. 1, 1843; Dav. Mon., pl. xxxi., figs. 1, 2. Christiani, De Kon., Monographie du Genre Pro-| + ductus, pl. xvii., fig. 3, 1847 ; Dav. Mon., pl. xxxii., fig. 1. scabriculus, Martin, Petrif. Derb., pl. xxxvi., fig.} + 5, 1809 ; Dav. Scottish Carb. Mon., pl. iv., fig. 18, and pl. v., fig. 6, Mon., pl. xlii., figs. 5-8; = P. quincuncialis, Phillips. pustulosus, Phillips’ Geol. of York., vol. ii., pl. vii.,}. + fig. 15, 1836 ; Dav. Mon., pl. xli., figs. 1- 6, and pl. xJii., figs. 1-4, = P. ovalis, Phil., = P. rugatus, Phil., = P. pyxidiformis, De Kon. spinulosus, Sow., Min. Con., tab. lxviii., fig. 3,) + 1814; Day. Mon., pl. xxxiv., figs. 18, 20, = P. granu- losus, Phillips. punctatus, Martin, Petrif. Derb., pl. xxxvii., fig. 6,) + 1809 ; Dav. Scottish Carb. Br., pl. iv., figs. 20, 22, Mon., pl. xliv., figs. 9-18, = P .elegans, = P. laciniatus, M’Coy ———— fimbriatus, Sow., Min. Con., tab. cccclix, fig. 1,) + 1823 ; and Day. Mon., pl. xxxiii., figs. 12-15. VOL. IV. Scotland. + or oO THE GEOLOGIST, Catalogue of British Carboniferous Brachiopoda. In my Collectior.. | Rngland. | Scotland. Treland * \Chonetes papilionacea, Phil., Geol. of York., pl. xi., fig. 2,) + 1836, Dav. Mon., pl. xlv., figs. 3-6, = Lept. multiden- tata, M’Coy, C. papyracea, M,Coy. Dalmaniana, De. Kon., Desc. des Animanux Foss. de la Belgique, pl. xiii., fig. 3, and pl. xiii. bis, fig 2, 184°3. comoides, Sow., M. C., tab. cecxxix., 1816. Buchiana, De Kon., Desc. des An. Foss. de la Bel- gique, pl. xiii., fig. 1, 1843; and Dav. Scottish Carb. Mon., pl. ii., fig. 1. ( Var. crassistria, M’Coy, Synopsis, pl. xx., fig. 10, 1844; | and British Carb. Foss., pl. ii.n, fig. 5; England, ?~ = Ireland. | Var. tuberculata ?, M’Coy, Synopsis, pl. xx., fig. 5, 1844; Ireland. Var. bifurcata, Dav. Mon. Settle, Yorkshire. Hardrensis, Phil., Figs. and Descr. of the Pal. Foss. of Cornwall and West Somerset, pl. ix., fig. 184, 1841 ; and Dav. Mon. of Scottish Carb. Br., pl. ii, fig. 2-7, = C. (Lept.) sub-minima and C. (Lept.) gibberula MW Coy. Doubtful species, varieties, or synonyms. C. volva, M’Coy, Synopsis, tab. xviii., fig. 14; Ireland. C. (Orthis) suleata, WCoy, ,, » 5 6; a C. (Lept.) perlata He eae eg f a C. (Lept.) seri ata . S Ue i C. polita, M’Coy, Br. Pal. Foss., t. iD., fig. 30; England. C. Laguessiana, De Kon., An. Foss. de la Belgique, tab. xii. bis, fig. 4 ; England. P * \Crania quadrata, M’Coy, Synopsis, pl. xx., fig. 1, 1844; and Dav. Scottish Carb. Mon., pl. v., fig. 12-21. ? Rychholtiana, De Kon., Animanux Foss. de la Bel-| + + gique, pl. xxiii, fig. 5, 1843, = C. vescicularis, M’Coy, *= Synopsis, pl. xx., fig. 3, 1844. — ? trigonalis, M’Coy, Synopsis, pl. xx., fig. 11, 1844. + * |Discina nitida, Phillips’ Geol. of York., vol. ii., pl. xi., figs.) + | + | + 10-13, 1836; and Dav. Scottish Carb. Mon., pl. v., figs. 22-29, 1860, = O. cincta, Portlock, = D. bulla, MW’Coy. Davreuxiana, De Kon., An. Foss. de la Belgique, pl. - xxi, fig. 4, 1843. Lingula sqyuamiformis, Phillips’ Geol. York, vol. u., pl. xi.) + | + | + fig. 14, 1836 ; and Dav. Scottish Carb. Mon., pl. v., fig. 30-35, 1860, = L. marginata, Phil., L. Portlockii, W Coy. * mytiloides, Sow., Min. Con., tab. xix., fig. 1,2,1813;} + | + | + Dav. Scottish Carb. Mon., pl. v., figs. 38-43, = L. ellip- tica, Phil., = L. parallela, Phil. of ++ ++ ++ +s Credmeri, Genitz, Versteinerungen des Zechsteinge-| + birges, pl. iv., figs. 23, 29, 1848. = Scotica, Dav. Scottish Carb. Br., pl. v., figs. 36, 37, + 1860. 97 | 51 | 73 Total to Great Britain, 107 species. ? DAVIDSON—-ON BRITISH CARBONIFEROUS BRACHIOPODA. 51 OBSERVATIONS. Terebratula.—Four species have been provisionally admitted; but as they appear all so closely connected by intermediate or passage shapes, it may still remain a question whether they in reality are more than varieties or modifications in shape of a single species? It has often been said and thought that T. hastata was no more than an elongated full-grown condition of Martin’s 7’. sacculus, and it is at times hardly possible to distinguish certain examples of T. Gullingensis and 7’. vesicularis from Martin’s shell. 1’. virgoides has been supposed tobe distinct from 7. hastata; but after a lengthened examination of the original specimen figured in the “ Synopsis,” and another from the same locality (Windmill, in Ireland), I could not make up my mind to separate it from 7’. hastata, to some specimens of which it bears much resemblance. J’. vesicularis is a very variable shell; for, while some specimens present the deep triundate or triplicated dorsal valve, or frontal margin, in the greater number of individuals this is very slightly marked, and even absent. 1’. vesicularis was for long believed to be a small shell not exceeding seven lines in length, but some large examples recently discovered at Bowertrapping, in Scotland, have exceeded an inch in length. It would, therefore, not be impossible that all the British Carboni- ferous Terebratule hitherto discovered may, perhaps, belong to a single species, capable of assuming different shapes, and not pre- senting a greater extent of modification than what we find in the 7. Australis as well as in many other recent and fossil species. Are not the Jurassic Ter. plicata and T. fimbriata entirely smooth up to a cer- tain age, and indeed often so to an advanced age, when they suddenly, or by degrees, becomes more or less regularly or irregulary plicated during the remaining period of their growth? For the present, how- ever, and until our ideas as to the absolute necessity of enlarging the circle or range of variation to be permitted to a species be admitted and understood, the four species of Terebratula recorded may be provisionally retained. Athyris or Spirigera.—In external shape the species of this genus approach more to Terebratula than to any other, and therefore in a good or natural arrangement should preceed Spirifer. Of Athyris, eight species have been provisionally retained from among the many synonyms, while the value of A. globularis and A. sqywamigera may still require confirmation, for of both these shells the material at my command has been very scanty; and it is even uncertain whether the identification with A. squamigera (de Koninck) be correct. Of fetzia there appears to exist two species, of which R. radialis is both the less rare and most variable shell; for in some localities it appears to occur as a small race with slender ribs, which in other localities individuals twice the size with stronger ribs are prevalent. Of Retzia ulotriv Tam acquainted with but two or three British examples, so that a search for more would be very desirable. 53 THE GEOLOGIST. Spirifera.—Twenty-five species (?) are here provisionally retained, for the reasons already given, viz., the want of sufficiently certain connecting links ; but it is highly probable that with time and study some few of these may be dispensed with, or retained as mere varieties. Martin’s Spirifera striata is the largest and most typical form of the genus, and must therefore always be considered a good species ; but T would recommend a further study of Sp. Mosquensis, Sp. humerosa, and Sp. duplicicosta, in order to ascertain whether they are also good species, or modifications of Sp. striata; for I confess that many examples of the three last-mentioned species could be but doubtfully separated from Martin’s shell. Sp. planata and Sp. triangularis appear to be good species. Sp. bisulcata has varied considerably in form ; and I am quite disposed to agree with my friend, Prof. de Koninck, in the idea that Sp. crassa and Sp. grandicostata are simple modifications in the shape of Sp. bisulcata. It is even a question requiring further examination whether Sp. trigonalis should be considered separate ; and, although Sp. convoluta is a wonderfully transverse and curious shell, Iam not yet quite satisfied that it is not likewise related to S. bisuleata. Sp. rhomboidea, Phill.,is still an uncertain form, of which my material has been too scanty ; and as I am uncertain whether | was justified when uniting it to Sp. convoluta, it will be better for the pre- sent, at least, to retain it as separate. Of Sp. fusiformis but a single fragmentary specimen has been hitherto discovered, so that its specific claims cannot be definitely admitted. Sp. mesogonia is also a rare shell, for I have never seen of it more than the figure in the “ Synopsis ;” and Irish geologists and collectors will do well in searching for more specimens. Sp. cuspidata is a good species, distinct from Sp. distans; to which last 1 would unite Sp. bicarinata, which M’Coy established on a single imperfect specimen from Cork, in the possession of Dr. Haimes, and which has much of the appearance assumed by certain examples of S. distans. Sp. triradialis is a good species, but very variable in the arrangement and number of itsribs; and of which the Sp. trisulcosa and Sp. sewra- dialis of Phillips are evident modifications. Sp. Reediz must be looked upon as a doubtful species, requiring, perhaps, to be here- after expunged ; my material was very scanty, and I have since had doubts as to its validity. Sp. pinguwis is a good but variable species, into which should perhaps be combined, as varieties, Sp. ovalis and Sp. imtegricosta, for many intermediate shapes are often found, so much so that the paleontologist is often puzzled how to determine with which of the three they should be located; but, the larger number of specimens being tolerably distinct and easily recognisable, we may be excused for provisionally retaining the three denominations. Sp. glabra is another excellent species, or a type round which are clustered many modifications not sufficiently marked to constitute separate species; for, although the typical form of Sp. glabra possessed smooth valves, it is not uncommon to find in other examples faint indications of lateral plication, or obscurely flattened or slightly rounded ribs, the fold and simus remaining always smooth. These DAVIDSON—ON BRITISH CARBONIFEROUS BRACHIOPODA., 53 modifications lead us gradually to Sp. rhomboidalis, which might also be nothing more than a variety of Sp. glabra. I merely express here on this and other questions the results of my own impressions or personal observations, which may be more or less erroneous. Sp. Uri is a good little species, which I believe to be a recurrent form of the Devonian, and present also in the Permian strata, notwithstanding Prof. King’s assertion to the contrary. Sp. Carlukiensis, as far as I know, 1s also distinct ; while Sp. limeata is another excellent species, but exceedingly variable in shape and sculpture ; at one time I felt disposed to unite with it Sp. elliptica; but having subsequently felt somewhat uncertain, have since preferred to consider it provisionally separate. Sp. Uri, Sp. lineata, and I believe Sp. elliptica had their surfaces closely covered with numerous small spines, and it is possible that other forms were so invested. Spiriferina.—Of this subgenus three species only appear to have been properly distinguished, viz., Sp. laminosa, Sp. insculpta, and Sp. cristata, var. octoplicata.. Sp. minima has been established on one or two specimens still very doubtfully characterized; as all my efforts have been unsuccessful in the endeavour to obtain more, I consider the name hardly worth retaining. Cyrtina.—Of this subgenus two good species appear to exist, viz., C. septosa and C. carbonaria, a third, C. dorsata, is somewhat doubt- fully determined, on account of the imperfect material at my command, which consisted of two fragments only from the Carboniferous limestone of Cork, in Ireland. It would, therefore, be very desirable that geologists in that locality should have a search for better speci- mens. Fthynchonella.—Nine species are provisionally retained; but the claims of Ith. cordiformis have not been satisfactorily established ; and of Rhynchonella ? gregaria but two imperfect valves have come under my examination. Lhynchonella ? trilatera appears to be also a very rare species, for I am acquainted with only a very few specimens from Derbyshire, in the British Museum, and in that of the School of Mines: it appears also to be a rare shell in Belgium. Rh.? nana and th. semisulcata are by far too doubtful to deserve more than a passing notice; and it is deeply to be regretted that paleontologists can bring themselves to fabricate species on such insufficient and imperfect material, adding only confusion where such should be care- fully avoided. Camarophoria. — Four species have been recorded; but more abundant and better material with reference to CU. isorhyncha and C. lateralis must be obtained before these can be definitely adopted. Of the first I am acquainted with but a single imperfect example : of the second, with those only in the Cambridge Museum. C. Crumena, Martin, is a well made out species, and evidently the same as that from the Permian rocks known under the designation of C. Schlotheinuv ; and although I consider myself justified in referring Terebratula rhomboidea and T. seminula of Phillips to the same 54 THE GEOLOGIST. ‘ author’s (. globulina, the matter may perhaps demand some further examination. Strophomena analoga.—This species appears to have been recurrent from the Silurian and Devonian periods; and although certain small differences of secondary value may be observed in the St. rhomboi- dalis (Silurian) and the St. analoga; they are both constructed on a similar model, and appear to be varieties of a single species. As however some small differences in detail may be noticed in the Carboniferous shell, the term analoga should perhaps be retained, if not as a specific, at least as a varietal designation. Streptorhyncus crenistria, Phillips. Many so-termed species have been fabricated out of varieties or variations ix the shape of this very variable shell; andofwhichthe larger number (if not all) are undoubted synonyms. Three or four of these may however still demand further examination and study, so as to determine whether they should be considered more than varieties of S. crenistria? I have therefore pro- visionally retained the following designations, S. arachnoidea, 8. Kella, S. cylindrica, and S. radialis, as named varieties of S. crenstria. Of S. cylindrica I have never seen any other than the type, and although S. Kellii is stated to be plentiful in certain Irish localities, but three specimens in all have passed under my observation. Prof. Phillips informs me that he believes S. radialis to be quite distinguishable and distinct (except from S. Darwiniana) from S. crenistria; and M. De Verneuil expresses a similar opinion. Orthis—Of this genus O. resupinata, O Michelini, and O. Keyserlin- giana are well made out species; but the Orthis ? antiquata has not been sufficiently studied; and indeed all my efforts have been unsuccessful to procure the sight of any other than the original specimen figured in the Geology of Yorkshire, now in the British Museum. Productus —Of this genus some thirty species have been retained : nor does the attentive study I have made of the species lead me to imagine them more variable or difficult of recognition or identification than are the other Brachiopoda of the Carboniferous period; but have been perhaps less attentively studied by the generality of geologists. In my monograph I have endeavoured to describe and illustrate all their external and internal details; but with reference to some few the material in my possession or at command was insuffi- cient ; and I would urge upon those who may be favourably located to search for specimens which would enable paleontologists to clear away those doubts that may still remain unsolved. Productus giganteus is both the largest and typical species of the genus, but very variable in its shape. Large examples are abundant in certain localities; while young specimens appear to be less com- monly found or collected. P. hemisphericus is a badly made out species? and I am not yet able to concur in the opinion recently expressed upon the subject by my learned and much esteemed friend, Prof. de Koninck; and to whose labours science is so much indebted. I am, on the contrary, DAVIDSON—ON BRITISH CARBONIFEROUS BRACHIOPODA. dO disposed to believe that Sowerby’s figures of P. hemispheericus, belong to varieties of P. giganteus. This matter will be further discussed in my monograph, for the limits prescribed to this commu- nication will not permit of more lengthened explanations. PP. humerosus has been established on some singular internal casts; the shell itself not having been hitherto discovered; but I cannot agree with those who would refer these casts to either P. giganteus or P. senvreticulatus. The prominences in the casts or deep conical hollows (in the shell) for the accommodation of the oral arms indicate that the ventral valve was enormously thickened. ‘The position of the adductor or occlusor muscle in the ventral valve is also slightly different from that common to P. giganteus, and which would of itself, in this instance, denote a specific difference. The material, however; is so very imperfect and insufficient that very little can be said upon the subject. P. proboscideus, and P. ermimeus, P. arcuarius, are new species to England, and a very interesting discovery entirely due to the indefatigable exertions of my zealous and kind friend, . Mr. Burrow, who has in the most liberal and generous manner presented me with his best, and by me figured specimens. The discovery of P. proboscideus, (known in one Belgian locality only,) and of so many other species at Settle, im Yorkshire, render that locality especially interesting, as it exactly represents with us the equivalent of the celebrated locality of Visé, in Belgium. P. sub-levis is also a new species to Britain; but Iam not yet satisfied regarding the differences said to exist between it and P. Christiant; and should urge a search for more examples of both of these large and almost smooth species of Productus. The first has been obtained at Leek, in Staffordshire, as well as at Llangollen. The second is stated by Prof. de Koninck to be from Wales, but of which the locality is still unknown. P. Wright is a small species with fringe, found by Mr. J. Wright, at Midleton, near Cork, m Ireland, it differs from P. tessellatus in several respects, and both appear good but rare British shells. P. Youngianus has appeared to me new; and in this opinion I am supported by Prof. de Koninck, P. carbonarius Gf a good species) is decidedly very rare, for I have never seen more than two British examples which would agree with Prof. de Koninck’s description and illustrations of the species. The distinction between P. costatus and P. mwricatus are also difficult to determine, and I am now disposed to believe that if the last is not a distinct species, it may be a good variety of P. costatus. Productus sinuatus, under the designation of Leptena sinuata, appears to have been noticed for the first time in England by Prof. M’Coy, and. notwithstanding its well defined area, should be located under Productus, of which it possesses all the characters, with the exception of its well-defined ventral area, a character rare but not impossible in the genus Productus; and I am glad to find that Prof. de Koninck entirely coincides with the opinions I have expressed upon the subject relating to his remarkable species. P. siwatus has also been recently ~ 56 THE GEOLOGIST. discovered at Bowertrapping, in Scotland; and which I was happy, to recognise among some duplicates kindly presented to me by Mr. Young. Prod. Grifithianus de Koninck has been recorded by Mr. Morris and others as a British species; but no examples referable to that shell have come under my observation. We need not prolong our observations with reference to the other well-known species of this important genus, but pass at once to Chonetes, for its species appear still involved under considerable confusion, and will require much further investigation under favourable circumstances before they can be properly or satisfactorily arranged. The difficulty is principally caused by a number of badly defined so-termed species, fabricated in Ireland and America on insufficient material. ; The only British species which I have been able to recognise with any degree of certainty are C. comoides, C. papilionacea, C. Buchiana, CO. Hardrensis, and perhaps C. Dalmaniana; but I am still uncertain with reference to this last, (although we possess examples identical with those of Belgium,) on account of the great resemblance certain specimens bear to others of C. papilionacea. C. Buchiana appears to be a well marked species, on account of its fewer or stronger ribs; but these also vary to a considerable extent. It is quite evident that the shell figured as Lept. crassistria, by Prof. M’Coy, in the “ British Pal. Fossils” is a synonym of C. Buchiana; but I am still under some uncertainty whether the typical form of C. crassistria, published in the “Synopsis,” be really the same. Anyhow, on accouut of its fewer and simpler ribs, it will be preferable to provisionally locate both it and C. tuberculata under C. Buchiana as uncertain varieties. The next difficulty is in the determination of what are the synonyms — ofthe good species for which we have retained the designation of C. Hardrensis, and of which C. sub-minima and C. gibberula in M’Coy are evidently synomyms; but I would not venture to speak with so much confidence with reference to CU. volva, C. sulcata, C. perlata, and CO. serrata, M’Coy, all established on imperfect Irish specimens ; but it is at the same time highly probable that if not all, the greater number are simple variations in shape of a single species. All we know of C. sulcata consists of a single ventyal valve. OC. (Lept.) serrata is fabricated from not even half of a similar valve! OC. volva bears much resemblance to C. Hardrensis; while C. perlata is perhaps also a small variety of the same? C. polita, M’Coy, although described as smooth ? looks very like many examples of C. Hardrensis or C. volva ? in which the ribs are somewhat obliterated. It would therefore be impossible with the scanty material at my command; and in the present state of our information to determine which of these Irish forms are species or synonyms; and it would therefore be very desir- able that Irish geologists or collectors should carefully assemble numerous specimens of Chonetes from the localities where the so-termed species were mentioned to occur. The C. Laguessima stated to occur at Derwick in England, and Rahoran in Ireland, is probably also nothing more than a variation of Hardrensis? Having done all that was within my power to clear up these difficulties, — oo] DAVIDSON—ON BRITISH CARBONIFEROUS BRACHIOPODA. 5¢ without that success I had anticipated, I must leave the matter as an open question, notwithstanding the advantages I had of being able to examine the original specimens or fragments upon which the so- termed Irish species ? have been founded. Crania.— Three species have been retained; but of these C. quadrata is the only satisfactorily determined species. Of Crania? trigonalis | have never seen more than the original type, and it is still uncertain whether it is a Brachiopod, notwithstanding that we are acquainted with several similarly striated or costated species in the rocks of other periods. Of Crania? (Patella) Ryckholtiana de Koninck = CU. vesicularis, M’Coy, 1 am acquainted with but a single Irish _ Specimen; but the shell would appear to be less rare in certain Derby- shire localities. It would be very desirable however to procure more specimens of both C. trigonalis, and C. Ryckholtiana, and especially those showing the interior. Discina.—Two species only have been retained, viz., D. nitida and D. Davreuaiana de Kon.; but as of this last but a single example has been found by Mr. J. Wright, in the limestone of Little Island, in Ire- land, itis therefore here doubtfully recorded. [may also mention that I am strongly impressed with the idea that the Perm'an D. Konincki cannot be specifically separated from the Carboniferous D. nitida. Lingula.—The many so-termed species are reduced to four, viz., Lingula squamiformis, (which has sometimes attained upwards of one inch and a half in length). L. mytiloides, a more elongated species, LL. Credneri, which may possibly be a variety of L. nvytiloides, and L. Scotica which is separable from all the others by its tapering beaks and peculiar external sculpture. Having thus briefly exposed the present state of my researches in connection with British Carboniferous Brachiopoda, as well as men- tioned some of the difficulties which still beset my mind with reference to the positive value of certain so-termed species, and exposed my ignorance as well as the absolute necessity for much further research, let us cast a rapid glance on the Brachiopodous life during the depo- sition of contemporaneous (?) Carboniferous rocks in other parts of the world, in order to ascertain whether our British fauna in this respect was not to a certain extent universally represented. In Europe we find that where carboniferous strata prevail a vast majority of the same Species exist; and as those of Belgium, France, Russia, etc., are already so well known, from the researches of several distinguished paleontologists, we will at once proceed to India, where out of twenty- five or twenty-six species of Carboniferous Brachiopoda hitherto determined, some fourteen or fifteen were found (on an examination I have recently made) to be specificaly identical with British forms of Spirifera striata, S. lineata, S. octoplicata, (cristata,) Athyris Royssit, A. subtilita, Retzia radialis, Rhynchonella pleurodon, Streptorhynchus cremstria, Orthis resupinata, Productus striatus, P. costatus, P. semi- reticulatus and P. longispimus, and a further research in these distant regions will no doubt bring to light a larger number of common species. VOL. IV. H 58 : THE GEOLOGIST. The Australian and Tasmanian carboniferous rocks have also afforded their quota of common species, for although the forms from those continents have not been sufficiently examined, still from a passing glance I have given to collections sent home from Bundaba, and Port Stephen in Australia, as well as from Van Diemen’s land, I have already been able to recognize T. hastata, Sp. striata, Sp. glabra, S. lineata, Eh. pleurodon, Strept. crenistria, Orthis Michelini, Prod. cora, etc. If again and bya rapid stride we should find ourselves cast on some of the Spitzbergian frozen coasts, we may there pick up several of our common species, such as Sp. octoplicata, Strept. crenistria, Pro. semireticulatus, P. costatus, etc., along with other forms not known in Britain, and lastly, not to extend the limits ofthis paper - beyond reasonable bounds, should we visit the prodigiously extended carboniferous regions of America, we shall there also find a vast per- — centage of species identical with our own, but which in many instances are still hiding their true characters under the disguise of borrowed names. Possessing as I do a very extensive series of Ameri- can Carboniferous species, and for which I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Worthen, as well as to that of some other American geologists, and having compared these with our British species and specimens, I may mention from among others not yet sufficiently studied, the followimg few as being identical with our own S. sacculus, Athyris ambigua, A. subtilita, A. plano-sulcata, A. lamellosa, A. Royssti, Retzia radialis, Spiifera striata, 8. bisuleata, S. lineata, S. Urit, S. octoplicata, Rh.pleurodon, Orthis Michilim, Strept. crenistria, Prod. cora, P. punctatus, P. longispinus, P. semireticulatus, P. scabri- culus, P. costatus, Crania quadrata, Discina mitida, Lingula mytiloides, etc. This rapid but convincing proof of the existence and distribution of many characteristic British species all over the world where con- temporaneous carboniferous rocks have been deposited, should inculcate upon us the absolute necessity of carefully examining and re-examining our species, so as to avoid the unfortunate results that may ensue from arbitrarily narrowing their limits of variation—thus violating the law of nature, as well as retarding the advance of science.* Much indeed may be expected from the rising generation of young naturalists, who, unprejudiced and unfettered, may work out for themselves a new path; and by seeking to determine with more attention than has hitherto been done what are the resemblances that exist between so-termed species, may be able to trace and connect those modifications that have been produced by time and circumstances ~ * Darwin considers the term species as one arbitrarily given, for the sake of convenience, to a set of individuals closely resembling each other ; and it does not effectually differ from the term variety, which is given to its less distinct and more fluctuating forms: that the term variety, again, in comparison with mere differential differences is also applied arbitrarily, and for convenience sake; that no one can draw any clear distinction between individual differences and slight varieties, or between individual differences or more plainly marked varieties, or sub-species or species. : SALTER—A CHRISTMAS LECTURE ON COAL. 59 on the descendants of the parent type, although it would not be possible for me fully to subscribe to Darwin’s theory—which I do not perfectly realise, without much further examination and reflection —still there is so much truth in many of his views and statements regarding “The struggle for existence” and “principle of natural selection,” that the subject has full claim to a calm and dispassionate examination, and may lead us by degrees to the better understanding of many problems relating to species and their org than we at present possess. Sou hEsTMAS LECTURE ON “COAL” By J. W. Satter, F.G.S. (Continued from page 13.) In our last lecture stress was laid on the fact that coal-beds, unlike mineral veins, are stratified—not injected, or filling cracks in the earth as metals do. And when we use the term stratified, we mean that the materials we are considering—coal, ironstone, sandstone, clay, shale—were all deposited sheet over sheet, layer over layer, principally by the agency of water. In scarcely any other way, except by water, can we conceive of materials being spread abroad over vast surfaces, in that even and regular manner which we call “ stratified.” As a rule, the matters ejected from the mouths of fiery volcanos are only rudely heaped up, and unless they fall into the sea, do not undergo this smoothing, spreading-out process. The sand of the sea-shore however, and the pebbles on its margin, and the mud of its great depths, are truly “ stratified;” andif a fertile plain, or a marshy district were submerged in the waters, the materials on that surface would be soon covered over by the ooze and sand and shingle, and would then be said to be “interstratified” with them. In this way coal-beds occur among beds of sandstone and other rocks. It is seldom that any coal-field contains more than twenty-five or - thirty workable seams: and perhaps these altogether do not amount to above eighty or one hundred feet at the utmost, while in South Wales the coal strata are twelve thousand feet thick. The mass, you see, is rock. The miners have names for all the other beds, or “measures” as they term them. Some of them are amusing, In Staffordshire, for instance, the beds of sandstone (once loose sand).receive the names of White, grey, green, and blue rock; Rough rock; and “ Peldon.” This last is a very common term. 60 THE GEOLOGIST. The clays or shales are more oddly named — Clunch; Ground; Partings; Binds; Clod; Shale; Pouncil batt; Table batt; Pricking and Blacktry. Tronstone beds rejoice in the appellations—Pennystone; Brown- stone; Whitery; Lambstone ; Blue flats; Cakes; Grains; Gubbins; Ballstone ; Bindstone ; Silver thread; Diamonds; Getting rock; and “ Poor Robins.” The bad coals are—Bass ; Smutt; Black bazil, &c. And every coal bed has its namie too. There are the—Top four-foot coal; Yard coal; Brook coal: Robin’s; Flying reed; Deep coal; Mealy grey coal; White coal! Stone coal; Shallow coal; Old-man’s coal; “ Heathen” coal; Stinking coal; Bazils; Slipper coal; Sawyer coal; and Bottom coal. I’m sure that is enough. Moreover, every district has its own vocabulary. Only fancy what the Welsh must be! But whatever be the kind of bed over the coal there is one invariable rule below it. A bed of clay, called “ fire clay” —a fine soft substance — useful for furnace-pots and furnace-bricks—occurs beneath every seam. Sir Wilham Logan, now at the head ofthe Geological Survey in Canada, first found this out in Wales. It is the clue to the history of coal; and we shall have to refer to it again. . Please to bear in mind that these layers or beds of coal are re- markably regular. It is of the greatest consequence in mining that they are so. If you find, for instance, that the Old Man’s Coal is always next to the “ Heathen” Coal, and the “ white coal” comes next (I don’t know that they do), you are safe for the whole coal-field. You have only to measure the distance between the Old Man and the © Heathen, and so on, and you know whereabouts to expect them in any other part of the field. } We have reason to believe too that every bed of coal and ironstone has some peculiarity in its fossil contents; and if this should turn out to be true, we shall have a still better means of ascertaining in what part of a coal basin our pits may be sunk—a very important pomt— for if our mines should happen to lhe upon the lowest beds of the whole series, (say at h, im the woodcut, p. 9,) it would be a ~ rather unprofitable investment to buy ground there. But if on the contrary, we are likely to be on the “Top coal,” why then, work away merrily’; we may say, altermg Mrs. Hemans’ sense, but not — her words,— ** Yet more—the depths have more ;—what wealth untold Far down, and shining in their stillness lies,” T will not add another line—for geology does not admit of parodies, — and good sense refuses them. Well, now, we’ve found our coal. The next thing is to get it. England requires:for home consumption and for export nearly seventy — million tons per annum; and if you put all her coal-fields together they do but measure nine or ten thousand square miles. Yet SALTER—A CHRISTMAS LECTURE ON COAL. 61 by good? management we contrive to get that enormous quantity annually from them. On an average coal fetches nine shillings a ton. So that here is thirty million pounds sterling, and more. Besides we raise four million tons ofiron. Each costs about a penny a mile per ton carriage by the railway. And where carts are used, a shilling a mile per ton must be paid for them.* Coal and Iron together would pay two-thirds of our taxes for the year! America is richer in coal than we are; she has twelve times as many square miles of coal-beds. But her forests are yet so extensive, that she does not—including British America—find it necessary to raise above seven millions of tons a year. This is scarcely so much as France gets from her scanty coal seams. All honour to her genius and industry (would they were always employed in arts of peace) ; she gets seven and a half millions from about one thousand eight hundred square miles of coal. But what shall we say of little Belgium, which raises eight millions out of her five hundred square miles! Belgium has plenty of iron too, and she makes muskets, but does not wish to use them. Russia will scarcely tell us much about her coal-mines. She gets less than a million tons per annum! Austria is almost equally poor; and the whole of Germany does not raise much above five millions. England has very nearly three thousand collieries. in profitable work, and four government inspectors to see that they are safely handled. As the beds in a coal basin, though regular, are often much broken, it is usual to bore the ground before commencing the operations for extracting it. The boring apparatus is very simple. It consists of a gigantic gimlet, which from its weight also acts as a chopper or a chisel. It is made of iron, tipped with steel; and of joints which screw together as they are successively pushed down—the point being either a cork-screw or scoop for soft strata, clay, &c., or a chisel for harder rock. The principal instrument in use is called a “wimble.” It consists of a steel cylinder, or rather a plate of steel rolled round into a cylindrical shape, but so that the edges over- lap a little; and it is found that this curled-up plate, with a square notch cut out of the sharp-edged end, is about the best form for the double work of chiselling the stratum and bringing up the fragments, Then there is a scoop for mud called a sludger; and a great many varieties which may be screwed on to the end of the rod. But the main end and object of all, is to cut the beds through, one after the other, and bring up such fragments to the surface as shall show the nature of the ground through which the rod passes. The instru- ment is worked by four men when the depth is not very great; but horse or even steam-power must be. used in deep borings; and the work is very expensive, since the rod must be continually drawn up and the fragments removed. For eight hundred feet down they can tell very accurately what beds they are passing through. * My friend, Mr. Robert Hunt, supplied me with these facts about our coal consumption. 62 THE GEOLOGIST. All this is only preliminary: there must be a door to your house if you are to get into it, and the shaft is the door to a coal mine. This is the first thing to be completed. It must go the whole depth of the mine, in order that they may get rid of the water that soaks through the strata. This is man’s great enemy when he is mining—at least the first one—for bad air is at least as great an enemy afterwards. The shaft then is sunk to the “dip” end of the main, or lowest level of the floor, in order that all the water which may percolate into the workings may eventually flow down into the “sump” or cistern that lies at the bottom of this “ engine shaft.” Fig. 3.—Diagram of Shafts, a b, engine shaft,—d, the ‘‘sump,”’ or cistern; c, upcast shaft,—d, its furnace. It is no light work to sink a shaft—eleven or twelve feet wide— to a depth of perhaps one thousand feet. The materials are sometimes very soft, as shale; but this has the disadvantage that you must line it with brick or wood throughout. Sometimes the rock is hard enough to stand alone; then the matrix is a tough rock andvery difficult — to cut. Oftentimes the leaky state of the bed makes it necessary to line it with wooden “ tubbing”’ throughout; and this is an old custom. More recently it has been found advantageous to use iron cylinders the whole way! A shaft a thousand feet deep will ordinarily cost about three thousand pounds ; and if a two hundred and fifty horse- — power engine be required, there is another five thousand pounds to begin with ; and while on the subject of expense, it may be well to say at once that fifty thousand to two hundred thousand pounds are no uncommon sums required to set a colliery fairly going, before a bucket of coalis drawn. But then if it yields—and it ought to yield—twelve per cent., it is no bad speculation after all. 1 They generally find too they must sink two shafts; and the pump- ing engine will not do for drawing also. The two shafts are required for ventilation ; and they serve also to prevent the mischief of letting everything down ana drawing everything up the engine pit. We will leave the ventilation alone just now ; and only say with reference to — the engine that the quantity of water required to be removed is often — enormous. The way in which water finds its way into a coal pit is the same as that in which it finds its way into Artesian wells. The water comes — 2 SALTER—A CHRISTMAS LECTURE ON COAL. 63 from the surface, a, a, runs down the porous strata, till it comes to the bottom of the basin, and there finds its own level. It will not run through the clay (b), and hence you have only to drain what lies above it in the strata, a. Nay more, if one part of the basin be cut Sandstone. er) Fig. 4.—Section of Coal Basin. a, porous beds; 8, clay; c, water level. off from the rest by faults, as in our diagram, p. 9, only what lies on its own side of the fault will have to be drained by any shaft. So that a fault is a positive advantage, paradoxical as it may sound. Though they cut up, and often tumble the beds much, yet being filled with clay, they effectually shut off the water of one compartment from the other; and render it possible to work in the dry, when otherwise you would have to work in the wet. Like many other apparent dis- advantages, they do good after all. We may guess what a terrible plague the water is to the miner, when we know that in sinking some shafts, the engine has had to draw off three thousand gallons a minute, with a pump eighteen inches diameter. Itis still worse in the Cornish tin mines. It is a curious fact that in deep mines the water is generally salt— often salter than the sea. It often, too, contains green vitriol (sulphate of iron) iodine, bromine, and other constituents of sea-water, which no doubt it once was. We shall see that by and bye. And now we've got our shaft down to the lowest poimt—our pumps at work—nearly all our money spent; and we have to find out how to work the pit to the best advantage: for some pits will send up three hundred or four hundred tons a day; and an acre of coal with sixteen thousand tons in it may be cleared off, by a good method of working, in six weeks! The winding engine or “ whimsey” is not nearly so powerful as the pumping engine—seldom one hundred horse power—and round the drum over the pit’s mouth are coiled the flat chains (of three or four links,) or strong ropes, which last they find best for drawing coal. The baskets or “skips” are of various shapes in different mines. A common form, which strikes a stranger wit’: some surprise, is a low flat box ou wheels, on which the coal is piled; and when the pile is high enough, a broad iron hoop is thrown over it; more coal is added; other hoops thrown over that—till the pile is as high as can be raised O64 THE GEOLOGIST. with safety. The hoops effectually prevent the coal from falling off; — but it has an odd appearance, like a black crinoline petticoat. Suppose then the miner at the bottom of his shaft, it is not all straight forward digging then. There is a structure in coal, and he © must take advantage of it. It is full of joints which cut it up into squarish pieces ; one set being backs or cutters, and the other joints ; and the art is to drive the pickaxe and lever along these two sets so as to work the coal in the easiest directions. This structure can be seen even inthe little specimens in ourown coal scuttles, and is due to the pressure the coal has received since it was hardened. There is nothing crystalline about it, as some have fancied. It is a sort of cleavage. As most coal lies on a slope, the first gallery is driven horizontally along it at the lowest level, a,a. This horizontal gallery, which must “is > x los ae GZ g g ZA A) 14 JY M4, Z Ae Z “ll WS CoyN AWW Zi Z Y g . Y Z Z Z tty Z A, Fig. 5.—Plan of Mine-workings. follow the curves of the strata, if there be any, is called the “ dip- head level ;” from this they drive galleries wpwards, (the coal is brought much easier down than up) from a, a, to A and B in our plan, and cut cross ones at right angles—keeping all at quite regular distances; and so proceeding forwards and sideways, in squares, to the extent of their working, or of such portions as they choose to work out first. The galleries made by the hewers are called “stalls” ; the pillars of coal left between are called “posts”; and the usual mode of working is to go over the whole space in this way, leaving posts large enough SALTER—A CHRISTMAS LECTURE ON COAL. 65 to support the roof, and gradually driving the galleries or stalls forward, up the slope of the mine. The coals are brought down the galleries, which have each a tram- way laid in it, in small wheeled cars, which either carry the skips or are themselves detached from the train, hauled up, returned empty, and again wheeled up by the “putters,” or boys employed for this purpose. Ponies generally draw the loaded cars in lines along the diphead level to the mouth of the drawing shaft; and these ponies, sleek and well-fed, live in the warm mine and like it. They learn to hold their heads low, for there is never too much space in a coal gallery ; and if we would imitate them, we should escape many bumps through life. When all the galleries are cut, then they begin to thin the “posts” —and this is a work of some little danger. Not only is the roof inclined to come down on the miners’ heads, but the floor often bulges up beneath their feet. Such a disturbance of the ground, arising from the great pressure above, which forces down the pillars into the clay beneath, is called a “creep.” It has an odd effect on the buildings over the colliery. They begin to fall sideways out of the perpendicular; square windows take a lozenge shape; doors, &c. will not open, being jammed at one corner. Ceilings fall, bit by bit, upon the inmates; and altogether a “creep” produces unpleasant feelings for all concerned. But it cannot be helped—the black stores below are worth more than the buildings above; and, therefore, they must go the way of all buildings. The process of thinning may begin at one corner, a, (the furthest from the shaft,) before all the galleries are finished; and when a good many of the “posts” are thinned as much as they will bear, they extract even these, substituting wooden posts for coal ones. The space then looks like a forest of dead props, among which you may easily lose your way; and, as these decay, down comes the whole mass, slowly but surely, till the roof and floor meet in a broken irregular mass. The hollow space with its ruin of shale and sandstone—of sound and decaying props, is then shut off from the other compartments of the mine. No ventilation is further given to that quarter, called a “goaf,” and foul gas and tar-water, and every abomination, may collect there till time shall end. It is a sort of Tophet. There is another way of working, much used in thin seams and small collieries, and universally preferred in Scotland. It is “long wall” working. In this method the galleries are driven (as before from a dip head level) parallel to one another the full extent of the mine, but not near together, and the coal between the ways is then worked out bodily ;—small entries being made through the wall, and all the intermediate coal “ got’ out, enough only is left along the sides of the ways to ensue the safety of the latter. Our diagram shows a piece of this sort of work. (See p. 66). The rubbish, (roof, floor, &c.,) which must be got out inthe main ways with the fuel in thin seams of coal or ironstone, (for ironstone is got in almost every coal pit,) need not be taken away; but is filled into VOL. IV. I 66 THE GEOLOGIST. the empty spaces, 6, as the coal is extracted. And a sort of bed is thus made to receive the descending roof. It is stiflmg work in these thin seams when the poor hewers have to lie on their sides and ply, their picks against the black wall in face of them, with a yellow : NOS Sass aves se SES Fig. 6.—Plan of worked-out Mine. a, the galleries with their walls of solid coal; B, C, the “‘goafs,” or worked-out spaces filled with shale and rubbish; D, shaft; 5 e, dip-head level. candle flaying in the one hand, (or a Davy,) the elbow resting in a hole cut to receive it, and the whole man sweating in a hot atmosphere for hours together. It is a heavy price to pay for comfort above ground. But they do not murmur; and a good hewer will clear eighteen shillmgs a week, after paying for his candles, tools, &c.; while the overmen receive twenty-five to thirty shillings. The thick coal of Staffordshire was formerly mined on the “ pillar and stall” system; and Mr. Warington Smyth has given a graphic picture of a “ side of work in the ‘thick seam,’ when a large fall of coal is brought down from the dusky heights of that lofty chamber. The thunder of the fallmg masses, which seem to shake the solid earth, contrasts fearfully with the dead silence that ensues. The hardy colliers scarce break it by a whisper, while in suspense they listen for the slightest crack which might portend a further fall.” But the enormous height of this coal-chamber, often thirty feet, was of itself a source of danger; and the pillars required, and which must be all waste, so large, that it is now found profitable to work it in “long- wall” method, a half or more of the seam at a time, beginning at the top. By this means they get all or nearly all the coal—about thirty thousand tons to an acre. They used to get but sixteen thousand. There are four hundred and twenty collieries in this district alone. About one third of the coal they raise is expended in their furnaces ; (for near a million tons of ironstone are raised in this field annually, besides the coal formerly mentioned, page 10). About half as much is sent from other places; and a year or two back this quantity produced six hundred thousand tons of pig-iron from sixty-four SALTER—A CHRISTMAS LECTURE ON COAL. 67 furnaces. There are one hundred and two mills and forges in the Staffordshire district. For this information, also, I am indebted to ‘Mr. Robert Hunt, of the Mining Record Office. We are not talking, however, of Staffordshire, but of coal mining in general, and now a word on the ventilation—the most important of all things for a mine after the water has been expelled. Without a furnace to create an upward draught in the one shaft, ‘so that the air may rush down the other and travel through the mine, the work would be well nigh impossible. The way this precious air is made to circulate throughout, instead of merely going from one pit to another, is partly explained by our diagram, fig. 5, p.64. The arrows point the way the air goes up one side of the workings, round the fur- ther end, along the working faces of all the galleries, and then back again nearly to the same point to the upcast shaft, U. There tha contaminated air, after passing the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, gains the upper world, and makes room for a better and purer element. The air is restricted to this course by the air-doors, which are marked as black lines in our plan, across the galleries. These are strongly framed doors, of iron chiefly, and are kept by boys, “ trappers,” as they are called, whose sole and solitary work it is to open and shut these trap doors whenever a train of waggons passes. A few words of converse with the “ putter” lads, who bring the loaded skips down the “ ways”—or it may be, quite as likely, a scuffle with them—are the only relief these poor boys have (they are mostly very young) during the dark and solitary hours. They cannot afford a “low” or candle for the “trapper” boys ! In most of the important mines, a separate “windway” or “airhead” is driven by the side of the galleries (or an air-tight wooden tube is carried along), exclusively devoted to air from the downcast shaft; and then, after supplying the miners in the stalls, finds its way back along the galleries, escaping every time an airdoor is opened. The Same method is adopted in longwall work. But occasionally, as I learn from Mr. Smyth, they work two galleries side by side; and use one of these for the incoming air, and the other for the return draught. Whichever mode is adopted, the principle is the same, viz.: to carry the air all round the mine, drawing it forcibly down one shaft and up another, at the other end of the system. Be it remembered the - actual heat of the earth is much greater below the surface than above; that choke-damp (an elegant term for carbonic acid) and other poisons too sometimes, are present in the mine; and ventilation, whether by fans or furnaces, will be seen to be vital to the work. Any neglect in this important matter exposes the miners not only to the displeasure of the overseers, and the ill report of the govern- ment inspector, but to the positive danger of explosion from the foul gas, which is ever accumulating in the mine. The fearful fire-damp, which has played so terrible a part of late, is generated rapidly in the coal pit. It is carburetted hydrogen, the same gas which burns harm- lessly in our streets. It rushes out from many a fissure and dark chamber upon the miner, who, in spite of all the precautions taken for ze é 68 THE GEOLOGIST. his safety, often ventures on his work with a naked candle, ins of the useful instrument which Davy and Stephenson had given him. I need not speak of this “wonderful lamp,” which lights to treasures as valuable and far more durable than those Aladdin found. Who would have thought, when Davy was pondering on the fact, that flame did not pass readily through narrow tubes—and trying shorter and shorter lengths of these in philosophic sport—that he was really making a discovery which has saved the lives of thousands. The government inspection, now regularily carried on, will do much to encourage those that do, and shame those managers that do not conform to the regulations laid down for their benefit. But more, a great deal more is be looked for from the education of the miners and their children. They have friends for the body, and for the mind too; and a life spent underground cannot kill out the intelligence and virtue of a man who is determined to hold it fast. And now we have done with coal for the present, let us try and find out how it was formed. It is perfectly understood that it is made up of plants. Weneed not enter again into that proof: coal is full of them. You cannot stand five minutes by the side of a shaft, and look at the heaps of dark blue shale brought out of it, without finding them full of fern-leaves, — and grass-like plants, and bits of diapered or fluted cylinders highly ornamented; with occasional fir-cones, or what look like them, and a heap of other fragments. The coal itself bears witness to the quantity of plants in and about it. It is generally too solid—too crystalline so to speak—to show its structure well. But here and there the charcoal fragments in it are covered with vegetable tissue, and the microscope reveals still further traces. Of these I will say a little more in our next number, for my space and time too are somewhat limited at present ; and with the fact that plants in myriads are found m the coal, above the coal, and wnder the coal, I must request my young readers to be contented till next month. (To be Continued.) ON SOME NEW FACTS IN RELATION TO THE SECTION OF THE CLIFF AT MUNDESLEY, NORFOLK.* By JosepH Prestwicu, F.R.S., F.G.S. Ty the fine coast section extending from Happisb ectic ppisburg to Weybourne the Boulder clay is laid open to an extent nowhere else ofunted in England. The relation of this Boulder clay, on the one side, to the Forest bed and Crag underneath, and, on the other, to the series of * Read before the Meeting of the British Association : i at Oxford and published by permission of the Author. ies: June, 1860, PRESTWICH—ON CLIFF SECTION AT MUNDESLEY. sands and gravel above it, is there exhibited in full detail and great variety. It is our type section of the Glacial period. In the interesting account of this coast given by Sir Charles Lyell,* in 1840, one place is noticed, where, owing to the wearing away of the cliff considerable changes have since taken place, and a section of importance has been more clearly exposed than it was at the period referred to. I allude to the section at Mundesley, where the Freshwater deposit was thought to be intercalated in the Boulder clay—an anoma- lous position and one difficult of explanation. In my paper read before the Royal Society, in May, 1859, speaking of the flint imple- ment-bearing strata at Hoxne, I mentioned Mundesley, amongst other places which are probably synchronous with it. I am therefore desirous to show, briefly, the nature of the resemblance, and to prove that this Freshwater deposit really overlies the Boulder clay and is not mtercalated m it. Itis not as a matter of controversy that I now bring the subject forward, but merely as one of fact, for I believe that all geologists who have lately visited the spot, including Sir Charles Lyell himself, now view the section in the same light. (See section, fig. 1.) I was at once satisfied that such was the order of super- position when first I visited * Phil. Mag. for May, 1840, p- 353. Fig. 1.—Sxcrion or tHe Curr at MunpEstEY, NorFOLK, 38ft SIMA fas ‘ — SA Bias > T “ ras os TID = am é —<$ 7 “ns = tig == r ‘ Dan etal , = c=, : =: ms ites 5 \* rer CaS “ne gE! (aj ISD “i +) YA) \\ av NAL). SIs, aaiaaia FN TA Be ‘ LAA <>» ws, A OAR SCANS : 165 yards. Interval of about 200 yards, now occupied by the sea wall. 2. Laminated grey sandy clay. or) eo) Forest bed, *o x3 ge £25 ae snae A eae, meee e2ey SEE a ESa > Bm P's 2 3 SEo% ASaq nae dg Cp o- gSea aoge ne AE Bog eo re GORE-S Hy Shao e532 DQ S2mo88 bhe'S 25 Capt ~_= gu caas 26 bags Eeggaa ere edged 4 8 OCR HSQOR 1S OE enn” Bat sss with bones, shells, insect-, and fish-remains. dy beds. } peaty beds. [The upper numbers give the heights. ] Black Brown 4, Sub-angular flint gravel. 1. Upper san a, Sub-angular flint gravel. 2. . 3. b, Freshwater deposit U 70 THE GEOLOGIST. this coast in 1848, and several visits since paid to it, in company with Mr. Morris, Mr. Godwin-Austen, and other geologists, confirmed myself and my companions in the same view—a view, I find, which agrees with that taken by the Rev. Mr. Gunn, who has made this part of the coast his especial study for some years past. So variable, however, 1s the condition of the cliff, that on each occasion some new point of interest has been displayed. ' jp ete with the lowest beds of the series, the Chalk and over- lying Crag are not exposed. The dark sandy clay (gy), known as the Forest bed, from the abundance, amongst other remains, of stems and trunks of trees found in and on it, here forms the base of the cliff; but it is only exposed at a few spots, and when the talus, too frequent at the foot of the cliff, is washed away. Immediately upon it is a thin bed of'sand, gravel, and clay, in variable proportions, con- taining a number of mammalian remains, and especially characterised by the Hlephas antiquus. Above this is a series of thin beds of sand (hk), with subordinate gravel and clay seams, together from twelve to twenty feet thick. No fossils had hitherto been found here in this part of the section, but in a visit there in 1858, the Rev. Mr. Gunn showed me, on the south of Mundesley, a thin seam of pebbly clay (x) in the lower part of this series, and only one or two feet above the Forest bed, full of Freshwater shells, chiefly Unio, Cyclas, Pisidiwm, ete., all, I believe, of recent species, and like those in the overlying Freshwater deposit (b). * On examining the same zone, on the north of Mun- desley, I could not find the same clay bed, but I found in a higher seam of sand Cylas and Suceinea; and further I found above this level, and in the middle of h, a thin seam full of some marine shells, but in a very fragile condition. They consisted of the common Mytilus edulis, with Balan attached to some Inttorina littoralis,? Natica, and one or two other indeterminable specimens. Above this series (h) is the great bed of Boulder clay (g), here not more than seven to fifteen feet thick. North and south of Mundesley, this is succeeded by a series of laminated clays, upper Boulder clay, loams and sands, (f), of great thickness—with a bed of gravel capping the whole. But at Mundesley these upper beds haye been removed and an old valley, the bottom of which is occupied by a Freshwater deposit, cut through them. The section, which is well exposed in the cliff, shows the former old valley to have been deeper than the present one, and scooped ont through all the sands and gravels (f), the Boulder clay (g), and down nearly to the so-called Forest bed. The bottom of this depression is lined first by a bed of gravel, and then filled up to the depth of twenty to twenty-five feet by a peaty clay, abounding in * It is probable that this bed of Freshwater clay, before the building cf the sea-wall might, without a clear exposure of the cliff, have had the uppearance of being prolonged from b—being on the same level, and much like in mineral ae ae Se ae ee) gravel (64), which necessarily cuts off all communication wi e beds beneath, clearly isolating and separating the upper Freshwater beds (b), from the lower one (i). Sa i PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 71 land and Freshwater shells, all of recent species, together with remains of fishes and insects; and for the list of which I refer to Sir Charles Lyell’s paper. Some mammalian remains have also been found, but the only bone I myself obtained was, apparently, that of the ox. Now this deposit is underlaid throughout its width, and thereby distinctly separated from the Boulder clay, by the bed of ochreous flint gravel (b*), two to four feet thick. It is overlaid by by another bed of gravel and brick earth (a), of five to ten feet, also newer than the sands and gravel (f). The way in which these two gravels merge one into the other, at each end of the section, is very instructive. In superposition, therefore, above the Boulder clay, this bed resem- bles the Hoxne deposit, as it does likewise in its Freshwater character and shells, and in its unconformity to the existing line of drainage; for a reference to the section will show that this Mundesley deposit is not exactly coincident with the line of the present valley. I con- sider it is a deposit in which flint implements like those of Hoxne may probably be found—especially, however, would I suggest a careful search to be made in sandy part (b!), and the gravel (5*). The determination of the exact superposition of this bed is further of consequence, inasmuch as some important questions, connected with the fauna of the pre-glacial and post-glacial periods, hinges materially upon it. In this inquiry, therefore, I have, for the present, limited myself merely to the question of position, and to pointing out the presence of the Freshwater shells at h?, and the band of mussels in h?, otherwise leaving aside the other important question of organic remains.* . I have annexed a rough but proportionate and measured section of - the beds, taken at different favourable periods. PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. Royat Institution.—Dr. Tyndall’s lecture on the 18th ult. was a memorable one in the annals of even that famous institution, of which Faraday is one of the brightest ornamants. The Radiation of Heat is an old and familiar subject; but Professor Tyndall has crowned it with some new and most important facts — “On the Influence of Gases and Vapours upon the Rays of Heat Emanating from a Dark Hot Surface.” Before an audience of five hundred persons, of the highest rank and education in the metropolis, Dr. Tyndall, pale with anxiety for the success of those experi- ments, almost unrivalled in their delicacy, on which the enunciation of his capertant facts depended. demonstrated forcibly the new truths that the heat radiated from dark bodies differs in many respects from the heat radiated by * T am happy to say that the fossils, both of the Forest bed and of the Fresh- water beds (b), are now engaging the active attention of a very zealous observer, . who will, no doubt, add materially to our present lists. 72 THE GEOLOGIST. luminous bodies. The solar rays reaching the earth lose some of their properties on radiating from it—for it is well known all material substances not absorbing heat are radiating it, and by the aid of instruments of the most refined character, Dr. Tyndall has determined that such dark heat-rays pass without loss through absolutely dry air—that they permeate many of the gases ; but their progress is arrested by the perfectly colourless and transparent olifiant gas. Amongst vapours the dark coloured bisulphate of carbon opposes no obstruction, but the attenuated vapour of ether stops them completely; while the vapour of water admits of their permeation with difficulty. Carbon-vapour in the air would facilitate the radiative action of the earth’s surface, and occasion its rapid cooling, but water-vapour prevents the heat radiations from passing away, and preserves that temperature necessary for the existence of animals and plants. The warm gulf-stream, impinging on our coast, charges the air with moisture, and this envelope spreading over our island compels the heat absorbed from the sun by day to be retained in the earth at night, but if any circumstances produced a drier atmosphere we might suddenly find ourselves reduced to all the severities of an arctic climate. : What are the bearings of these new facts on the ancient geological condition of the Carboniferous age and the Glacial period, are questions at once suggested to our ‘nind, for it appears to us tlat the presence of a large quantity of carbon- vapour in the atmosphere, as there has been generally supposed to have been in the Coal-era, would of itself have facilitated the radiation of heat from the earth’s surface, and have promoted its rapid cooling; but as besides this additional quantity of carbon, there is supposed to have been a vast amount of moisture in the air, we have thus to consider what would be the effect of the commingled con- dition on the climatical state of the globe during that interesting and important era. The effect of a drier atmosphere in allowing the free radiation of heat is also, evidently, a point which cannot in future be left out of our speculations, on the causes of that extraordinary period of cold—the Glacial period. GroLoeicaL Socrety or Lonpon.—December 19, 1860. 1. “On the Geological Structure of the South-west Highlands of Scotland.” - By T. F. Jamieson, Esq. 2. “On the position of the beds of the Old Red Sandstone in the Counties of Forfar and Kincardine, Scotland.” By the Rev. Hugh Mitchell. Com- municated by the Secretary. January 9, 1861.—1. “On the Distribution of the Corals in the Lias.” By P. B. Brodie, M.A., F.G.S. ; 2. “On the Sections of the Malvern and Ledbury Tunnels, on the Wor- cester and Hereford Railway, and the intervening Line of Railroad.” By the Rev. W. 8. Symonds, A.M., F.G.S., and A. Lambert, Esq. NOTES AND QUERIES, _PrERyGoTEAN Ova.—Where through the English range of the “Old Red” tilestones has Pterygotean ova (Parka decipiens, Page) been met with besides the Trimpley quarry, near Kidderminster >—Grorcr E. Roperts. Fosstt Onanes.—Mr. R. W. Wallace in a most able paper on the Borneo orang, says :—“ One cannot help reflecting on a former condition of this world which NOTES AND QUERIES. 73 would give a wider range to these strange creatures, which at once resemble and mock the “ human form divine”—which so closely approach us in structure, and yet differ so widely from us in many points of their external form. And when we consider that almost all other animals have in previous ages been represented by allied yet distinct forms—with what intense interest and anxious expectation must we look forward to the time when the progress of civilization in those hitherto wild countries may lay open the monuments of a former world, and enable us to ascertain approximately the period when the present species of orangs first made their appearance, and perhaps prove the former existence of a aied species still more gigantic in their dimensions, and more or less human in their form and structure !”’ Beps or Fuinr Pessres at Cuartton.—Mr. Edm. Jones having informed me of the remarkable difference in the character of the two beds of flint pebbles at Charlton, near Woolwich, and presented specimens, I requested him to fur- nish me with a section showing the position of the beds, which he has kindly done. The flints from the upper or No. 1 pebble-bed are readily broken by the shghtest blow of the hammer; while those from the lower, or No 2 bed are intensely hard and tough, and are broken only with the greatest difficulty. It is not easy to perceive the reason of this difference, as both are ordinary chalk-flints.— Section at Charlton (Mr. Allen’s Pit). Soil containing pebbles, atid 6 in, broken. 45 At 20 feet north of this section Yellow sand containing pebbles ~|o this bedis 4ft. in thickness. (No. 1). i 4 At 24 feet north of this section White sand, with seams of red this bed is only 6 ft. 9 in. sand. This line is very clearly defined. Yellow sand, with pebbles (No. 2) Yellow sand, with pebbles and remains of Cyrena, etc. Seams of yellow, red, and white = sand, and blue clay. {“ 18 feet north of this sec- tion this bed is 4ft. ft, 2ft. 3in, E Pebble bed, with the remains of bs sent Cerithium, Neritina, elanopsis, etc., mostly crushed; seems to have been a large shell-bank, from the manner in which the shells are heaped together and water- worn, or eroded, Dark blue clay, containing’ Cy- rena and Melania, VOL. IY. k 74: THE GEOLOGIST. {ew Fossrts FRoM SKIDDAW Saree wee it - wae re tea call aders to a new and very interesting locality for fossils—_ the attention of wer: celebrated Skiddaw slates. Mr. Bryce Wright, of Russell-street, who is well known in the natural history trade, devotes some time annually to collecting them: and he has a store on hand, from the neighbourhood of Keswick, New Crustacean from of the Graptolites sagittarius, G.latus, G. tenuis ; also a new Skiddaw-slates. (yu stacean form allied to Dithyrocaris, very abundant. Lastly, he has discovered—and we owe him many thanks for domg so—the branched Graptolites (which Sir W. E. Logan first brought to light in Canada), of this shape. Prof. J. Hall considers them only to belong to the genus Graptolites, which has a simple stem with one row of cells. | pp But this is certainly not the case, for N¢ the true simple Graptolites are perfect from end to end. I shall shortly, I hope, describe the new branched dichotomous form under the name of Dichograp- sus; meanwhile I think I am doing some service by calling the attention of those living near the Skiddaw slates to the unexpected riches of that formation. Trails of worms (and those abnormal things called fucoids), are abundant enough everywhere in them. But no good list has yet been published; and the formation is almost a virgin one for explorers. Can no one find the Lingula flags on the flanks of the Saddleback? We are beginning to disbelieve in metamorphic rocks being unfossiliferous.— Yours truly, J. W. Saver. GEOLOGICAL GUIDE TO THE OnNY VaLLEy.—In commencing a geological trip up the Onny Valley, the most convenient place to start from is the Craven Arms, a station on the Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway; and taking the turnpike-road towards Shrewsbury for about a mile, a stile is reached on the left hand side, whence a foot-path leads across a field near the bridge over the Onny River. Proceed along this path about three hundred yards and cross over the railroad, then turn down to the river and follow up the stream to the top of the meadow—the Wenlock shale may there be observed exposed in the river bed, and if the water is low some fine specimens of Phacops longicaudatus may be procured, together with Calymene tuberculosa, Cardiola interrupta, Loxonema elegans, Orthoceras subun- dulatum, Beyrichia tuberculata, and Graptolithus priodon. The most prolific beds are just below the fence, close to the left hand bank. Keep on up the side of the brook until arriving at a foot-bridge, which cross and immediately go into the field above; nearly at the further end is the celebrated “Onny Section,” showing the lower members of the Wenlock shale, (or Purple Beds,) the Llandovery or Pentamerus limestone, and che upper beds of the Caradoc sandstones, lying nearly conformable, and in one continuous section. From the Wenlock shale has been procured Cheirurus bimucronatus, Encrinurus punctatus, E. variolaris, a new trilobite; Orthis biloba, Beyrichia tuberculata, NOTES AND QUERIS. 75 Leptena levigata, Strophomena pecten, Atrypa reticularis, Rhynchonella furcata, Petraia bina. The only fossil that [ am aware of having been found in the Pentamerus limestone, in this locality, is Penxtamerus undatus ; it 1s a very thin band here, and only to be observed by careful search; it lies about the middle of the section. From the Caradoc sandstone at the further end of the section, some very fine and perfect 7rinucleus concentricus have been observed ; several heads of Ampyx pinnatus, and one entire specimen; fragments of Remo- pleurides radians, Illanus Davisii, Calymene Blumenbachii, a new Raphistoma, Orthis elegantula and a new fossil allied to Siphonetreta. At the top of the second meadow above this place again cross the stream, at a spot where a pole hung by a chain is suspended, and on the side of a section of Caradoc sandstone, a new fossil Spherospongia hospitalis may be readily observed, as the marks of hammers show clearly the exact situation in the cliff where they are to be found ; and besides this new fossil, many others belonging to this formation are there to be procured. Continue up the stream to Longville Common, where a quantity of loose stones, of a greenish olive and yellowish brown colour have been thrown down from several old quarries above, belonging to the middle Caradoc formation. These stones here are rather barren ; still some good speci- mens of Modiolopsis orbicularis, Bellerophon bilobatus, B. acutus, Strophomena expansus, and several species of Orthis may be procured. At the further end of the common, cross the river by the steppmg-stones, and immediately over the turnpike-road leading to Bishop’s Castle, is a large quarry of Bala limestone, the beds of which are all pitched up perpendicular, owing to several large faults in the neighbourhood. The stone is very hard, of a light blue colour, and much used for road-purposes ; few fossils have been obtained, being here a rather barren rock ; Dut Mr. Salter, Paleontologist of the Geological Survey, found a short time ago a new Lingula, which may be obtained in abundance; small portions of Diplograpsus pristis, some very large Strophomena grandis, with other organisms are to be found. The lower members of the Caradoc sandstone lie conformable to it on the lower side of the quarry, and some of the beds are very rich in organic remains; the best beds are about half way up the bank, and may easily be known by the hollows in the side, where the right strata have been worked, the stone is of a light brown colour, and of a tough sandy character. A sharp chissel-shaped hammer is the best for these beds. Some perfect Trinucleus concentricus have been observed here, together with a new Asaphus; several other Trilobites, which I think are not described ; some very beautiful Fexestelle, Beyrichia complicata, and several fossil shells. These beds would probably yield several new organisms, if a careful search were made, as hitherto they have received but very cursory inspection from geologists. About a mile and a half higher up the road, is a bill called the ‘ Broken Stones,” the lower part of which is composed of the Longmynd or Bottom- rocks; and the top of Caradoc sandstone, very poor in fossils. All the rocks here are very much pitched about in consequence of numerous faults. From the Bala limestone to the Wenlock shale, which are about two miles apart, the road, with the exception just mentioned, passes through the lower beds of the Longmynd rocks, from which no fossils have yet been obtained. After passing the Wenlock shale, in which no sections are to be seen, the road again passes through the Caradoc sandstone, which continues to the Marsh brook ; on the sides are several quarries full of the general remains peculiar to this formation. The most prolific section is in the private drive, close to Marsh Brook Station through the coppice to Minton, where a large proportion of Caradoc fossils are to be procured. The following are some of them that have been obtained there: —Tentaculites anglicus, Phacops conophthalmus, Homalonotus bisulcatus, Trinucleus concentricus, ermoid plates, species of Fenestella, Nebuli- pora lens, Orthis unguis, Orthis elegantula, Orthis vespertilio, Strophomena 76 THE GEOLOGIST. grandis, anew species of Trematis, a species of Ambonychia, Bellerophon sulcatus, — Modiolopsis orbicularis, Lingula ovata, and a species of Nucula. - The reader is referred for further information on this interesting and beautiful locality to Messrs. Salter and Avelin’s paper, in the tenth volume of the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society. —A. Marston, Ludlow. TERMS USED IN THE DESCRIPTION OF THE BRACHIOPODA.—S1R,—I should be greatly obliged if some of your correspondents would favour me with a definition of the terms “ mesial fold” and “beak ridges,” which occur in Mr. Davidson’s valuable monograph on the Brachiopoda, published by the Paleon- tographical Society. These two expressions, which are used frequently, are not explained, as 1 am aware, in the body of the work.—Yours, A StupEnt. Our correspondent enquires what is meant by the term “ mesial fold” and “beak ridges;” perhaps the accompanying sketches will explain these and other terms better than could be expressed by words. \\ \\ \ \ \\ \\ SSA \ 2 Ws. \ \\\\ WS E ww WQ\ “ y ™~, 4,8 sige) or dorsal valve ; k, larger, or ventral valve ; a, beak; 3, fissure; ec, pseudo-delti* inochi. = om fold; f, ribs; s, sinus; g, lines of growth; the line m v is the bake i oe oe ee meg which may be angular or rounded ; the line m andl», Gre'acd p dein brat etween o and p is the frontal margin ; between The “mesial fold” is therefore a longitudinal mesial elevation which often. exists in the dorsal valve of many species of Brachiopoda, and to which corres ch a sinus in the opposite, or ventral one. The “beak ridges,” or “lateral. — trie? are ridges which in certain species of Rhynchonella, etc., exist on the _ a airs pede! of the beak, leaving a flattened or concave space between them cers : nge-lne. These “ lateral ridges” are either continued along the side out recurving to joi the hinge-margin, or, after proceeding some distance, NOTES AND QUERIES. 77 curve inwards to join the hinge margin. The “beak ridges,” or “lateral ridges” are well displayed in such shells as Waldheimia resupinata, W. numis- malis, ete. Figs. 3 and 4.— Terebratula. t, larger, or ventral valve; %, smaller, or dorsal valve; a, beak; ¢, foramen truncating the extremity of the beak ; r, deltidium ‘surrounding a portion of the foramen; 2, beak ridge ; v, flattened or slightly concave space between the beak ridge and hinge line; 7, umbo or beak of the dorsal valve. T. Davipson. Fossiz Fern.—I have unsuccessfully searched the last’ number of “The Geologist” for any information concerning the interesting specimen of a fossil plant from the coal-measures of South Wales, figured at page 461 of the last volume. 1 am quite ignorant of the flora of the coal period; but having had some experience among recent plants, I was at the first glance led to the con- clusion that the specimen is a partially developed frond of some fern. There is nothing leading us to suppose that the stem has any connection with Lycopo- diacee. There are many species among recent ferns the young fronds of which would present precisely similar appearances. In Polystichum and Cyrtomium for instance, (not to mention other genera,) the stipes and rachis will be found quite as shaggy as in the plant figured. A partially developed frond of Cyrto- mium would also present the same appearance (if pressed flat) in regard to having the pinne all on one side of the rachis. Older fronds upon the same plant would not appear half so shaggy, as their squame, or scales, are very deciduous ; and two-thirds of them fall off before the frond attains its full size. The form of the whole frond shows that its vernation was circinate, another proof, if it were needed, that the plant was a fern. ; I quite agree with Dr. G. P. Bevan, that we sadly need some new and com- prehensive work upon fossil plants. But in the meantime the publication of such new and interesting species as the present in the pages of this magazine would greatly enlarge our knowledge of them. Our metropolitan museums would furnish ample material for such a work, if any person of note could be prevailed upon {o take the matter in hand—C. W. Crocker, Kew. This subject has not escaped our attention, and has already been the subject of conversation with a thoroughly competent gentlemen, whom we hope to induce to undertake the task.—Ep. Gxot. INFLUENCE OF PEROXIDE OF IRON on ANIMAL Lire.—Dexar Srp, the late Sir H. De la Beche, in the Mem. Geol. Surv. of Great Britain, vol.i., page 51, says, “We have made experiments to ascertain the influence of peroxide of iron 78 THE GEOLOGIST. upon marine and fresh-water life, and, as might be expected, the presence of this substance was found to be highly injurious to it, so that the animals quitted the peroxide of iron as speedily as conditions would permit.” Where these experiments ever put on record? Ifso, where? If not, can — you tell me what was the nature of the experiments? Information on this — subject will greatly oblige, yours truly, W. P. REVIEWS. The Coal-Fields of Great Britain: their History, Structure, and Duration. With Notices of Coal-Fields in other parts of the world. By Know. Hurt, B.A., of the Geological Survey of Great Britam. London: Edw. Stamford, Charing Cross : 1860. This is a small but extremely interesting and valuable book—valuable chiefly> _ however, for the consideration of one topic—the duration of the produce of our coal-fields. When we look at the fact that of the ninety-five millions of tons now raised for the supply of the whole world, the British Isles alone con- tribute seventy-five millions; and that our home consumption also, is not only enormous, but perpetually on the increase—the vital character of the question, in a national pomt of view, is strikingly apparent ; and Mr. Hull’s statements, brief as they are, will be read with great interest even by those who are not geologists. While we have a good deal of information given us of the general character of the strata, physical geology, and fossils of our own, and the principal foreign coal-fields, in a very condensed form, all these matters are brought to bear upon the one important point —the exhaustion of our coal-mines. The results which Mr. Hull has arrived at are briefly given in his own recapitu- lation, and are as follows:—1l. There are coal-deposits m various parts of England and Wales, all at depths down to nine or ten thousand feet. 2. That mining is possible to a depth of four thousand feet, but beyond this the high temperature will prove a barrier. 3. The temperature of a coal-mine at a depth of four thousand feet will probably be found as high as one hundred and twenty degrees Fahr.; but there is reason to believe, that by the agency of an efficient system of ventilation, this temperature may be so reduced, at least during the cooler months of the year, as to allow of mining-operations without unusual danger to health. 4. That for working mines of greater depth than two thousand or two thousand five hundred feet, underground stages, with independent wmding machinery and engines, will be found not only to render very deep. mining practicable, but also to lessen the amount of risk from accident, 5. Lastly. Adopting a depth of four thousand feet as a limit to deep mining, there is still a quantity of coal in store in England and Wales, sufficient to afford a supply of sixty millions of tons for about a thousand years.” In his summary of resources, Mr. Hull gives for England and Wales a total coal-containing area of three thousand seven hundred and eleven square miles which he considers may be worked to a depth of four thousand feet, giving thus a total available quantity of fifty-nie thousand one hundred and nine millions of tons. Taking the present produce at sixty millions, and allowing three millions for the crease of future years, he considers the above supply of coal will last for a thousand years; and “that for many generations to come the mineral resources of England are capable of bearing any drain to which they can possibly be subjected, either for home or foreign consumption.” REVIEWS. 79 For our part we are inclined to join issue with Mr. Hull, on some points— two in particular. First, we think he has underated the annual drain upon our coal-store: and, consequently, the supply he calculates upon will not last a thousand years. Moreover, we think the exhaustion will be accelerated by a much larger increased demand than the three millions of tons he allows. But then on the other hand we do not think he has admitted a// the available store we possess. He has restricted mining-operations within a depth of four thousand feet, on account of the increase of temperature—regarded, generally, by geologists as equal to one degree of Fahrenheit for every sixty feet—and that greater depths present insurmountable difficulties for engineering operations. Doubtless, in one sense this isa right way to view the question, because as Increased depth causes proportionably increased expenses, and greater cost of the material the more we should be placed at a disadvantage with respect to other nations whose coal-fields might be more accessible. When needs must, however, our en- gineers will undoubtedly surmount both the difficulties of mining, and find also some plan for keeping the mine cool enough for the workmen. We must also bear in mind that if the temperature increase with the depth, it does so in an ever decreasing ratio; and that from one degree to fifty feet from the surface, we have at greater depths to go seventy-five or eighty feet for an equivalent increase. Our space, however, will not allow us to discuss these questions at length. Mr. Hull’s book opens out a very important subject for consideration, and will, we trust, draw a wider attention from the public, and more detailed information from the School of Mines. Some important data have already been printed by Mr. Robt. Hunt, in his Mineral Statistics ; and we hope to see these extended, and the whole subject grappled with in a manner worthy of a national institution. Mr. Hull’s book deserves attentive reading; and being inexpensive, that result ought to be attained. On the Primordial Fauna and the Taconic System. By Joacuim BaRRANDE ; with additional Notes, by Juues Mancov. Boston, U.S.: 1860. One great value of scientific research is the kinship it makes between peoples who would else know little of each other, and without it have no inducement to become better acquainted. Commerce is said—and very truly, too—to make communion between man and man, though a geographical division of a thousand leagues may part them; but the deep thinking men of any nation, if this was the only “free passport,” would be shut out from participation in the great and varied benefits accruing from an extended intercourse. For they, whom “men of business” usually look upon as “ half witted,’ and as men be- hind the age—“ busying themselves about things unprofitable, and past finding out”—have no stake in the wide-cast net which is fast covering the earth, and drawing its riches into certain vortices of trade, to the impoverishment of the many and the enrichment of the few. So that unless rock unto rock Sects as truly as American cotton does to English gold, or African ivory to Birmingham guns, the value of the highest scientific researches a man could engage in would be lost in its best and noblest sense, from being locked up within the brain that imagined it, or exported wildly, without hopes of an im- ported return corresponding to it in value. Science which conduces to com- merce, being made subservient to the lower purposes of trade, will always be cosmopolitan in its extension, and be well thought of everywhere; but it is of theoretical geology we are now writing, and this, because it cannot be made to agree with any standard of human weight or measurement, commerce will have naught to say to. But here do not let us be misunderstood. We have 80 THE GEOLOGIST. never advocated theoretical geology: we do not advocate it now. The age of logical learning is too young for any theories to be put forward which aim geological learning young ly t e | at completeness, or that do more than indicate the position of a truth, hereafter to be found, with greater labour and pains. But deductions from known and established facts so insensibly grow into theories when they are treated of, that the utmost care has to be used by those who make studies of any branch of natural science, lest that which is hypothetical should be made to pass for a truly-based conclusion. And though the domain of the “true and established” _ is gaining every day somewhat of the treacherous and unstable ground of the “ uncertain,” and so chances of error are diminishing, yet at no time do we be- lieve, since geology began to be studied, was there Jess taste for drawing unduly upon the steady gain of honestly-got and costly facts, or a stronger feeling among those who are building upon the strong foundation, that the wealth of what is real and true should zot be perverted to suit a visionary scheme, or made to bear witness to what may turn out a false and deluding theory. These thoughts have occurred in considering a certain question of great interest and importance which has arisen out of the endeavour to classify the older Taconic (Cambrian) and Silurian rocks of America. That these Taconic rocks are the representatives in the New World of the Primordial zone of Europe, chiefly developed in Scandinavia and Bohemia, is generally accepted among geologists; while the only hesitation felt is from the fact that these European “Bottom-rocks” show very scanty traces of life throughout their thirty thousand feet of thickness, whereas on the American continent they con- tain more than one hundred species of crustacean and molluscan life, and are indeed nearly as rich in fauna and flora as is the Lower Silurian of Europe. In a letter from M. Barrande, of Bohemia, to M. Jules Marcou, of Boston, dated August 14, 1860, we find the passage which set us thinking how grandly” one nation may become interlinked with another, through a scientific discovery of harmonies existing between the construction of the contments they inhabit. Two European lands—England and Spain—are brought into cousinship with Canada and the States, by similarity of rocks and sympathetic arrangement of their layers; for M. Barrande has reasonable grounds for his expressed opinion that the Taconic schists and limestones of Vermont reproduce im America the black shales which lie against the western flank of the Malvern Hills in our own land, and the schisty deposits which hold a similar position with regard to the Cantabrian Mountains in Spain. For though slight variations and, in the western continent, augmentation of animal life occur, yet the position in time of the beds is beyond doubt identical; and we are glad to read M. Barrande’s remark “that it is a great and noble question, whose final solution will com- plete the imposing harmonies existing already between the series of Paleozoic faune of America, and that of the contemporaneous faune of Europe, leaving to each the imprint peculiar to its continent.” It is indeed a noble question; and while it is one that science can settle by unremitting study, her votaries need not envy the triumphs of commercial enterprise. Let that great means of spreading good, work beneath banners of success, and gather in fruits till its barns can hold no more; but still, there will be moments when labourers in the world’s hive will be undazzled from the. glare of their golden sun, and wish themselves with almost a sigh of regret, among those few workers who are toiling in the shade, and there building up, with materials beyond all the gold of commerce to buy, a fabric which shall be a mind-dwelling for ever! THE GEOLOGIST. eit MARCH, 1861, posal NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF CLEVELAND. By Cuarces Prarr, Esq., Oxrorp. THE district of which it is the object of the present paper to describe the principal geological features, has within the last few years attracted an extraordinary amount of interest and attention, as well from scientific observers as from those who are always seeking some fresh outlet for the investment of their capital. Until a period so recent as little more than twelve years ago, it was only for its fertile meadows and picturesque scenery of hill and dale, that Cleveland had gained any celebrity ; but a metamorphosis so truly marvellous has’ since that time taken place, that it is already entitled to be associated with the most productive iron-making districts in the United Kingdom, and what, in all probability, will be its future position in that respect I shall not now venture to predict, although present circumstances would seem to indicate that, at no very distant day, the great iron- fields of South Staffordshire and South Wales must give place to their youthfal opponent in the north. The discovery, or more properly speaking, the development of the great ironstone deposits of Cleveland in 1848 has given such a stimulus to the iron manufacture of the district, and indeed, of the country, as has seldom been experienced by any other branch of trade. The present flourishing town of Middlesburgh, which, with its new environs, has a population of nearly twenty thousand, for the most part dependent on the iron trade, was, forty years ago, represented by one solitary farmstead, with a census of five inhabitants: and in like manner have all the surrounding villages in the neighbourhood of the new works and mines multiplied their former dimensions with amazing rapidity. But difficult though it be to know such facts and i6t séels to make them known, I must pass on from my few observations VOL. IV. L 82 THE GEOLOGIST. on its social geography, to what is my proper subject—the Geology of Cleveland. f The district is one of peculiar good fortune with respect to the attention it has received from scientific explorers, and the number of notices which it has called forth in various forms from those who have so investigated it. I might seem, indeed, to be performing a superfluous task in thus adding to their number, did I not feel confi- dent that a compendious résumé of the chief points of interest will prove acceptable to many, even of those who have kept pace with all that has hitherto been written on the subject. Much of what I shall say has, doubtless, in one shape or other been said already; but I shall say little which I have not proved by personal examination on the field, and at the same time shall correct some errors which I have discovered in the remarks of some of those who have preceded me. For a more elaborate account of the history of this district, and for more extensive sections and analogies than I here am able to give, I may refer the reader to a very valuable paper read by Mr. John Marley, C-E., before the Society of Mining Engineers, at Newcastle, and published in the fifth volume of the proceedings of that excellent society. A voluminous monograph has been very recently brought out on the Cleveland ironstone, which contains much valuable infor- mation. The writer, however, evinces a want of comprehensiveness in his general ideas of geology; and the volume, besides some in- accuracies, contains so much which can only be of interest to the writer himself, that I regret my inability to commend it, either as a literary production, or as a scientific manual remarkable for brevity and perspicuity. To other volumes and notices I shall give reference as I proceed; although I may mention that, to Professor Phillips in particular is due the merit of having been the first, and I need hardly add, the ablest investigator of this interesting portion of Yorkshire. The whole of Cleveland may be divided into the great plain, or lowlands, and the hill-country, or highlands; the former of which is to.a great extent surrounded and abruptly determined by a noble - range of hills, varying in altitude from one thousand to one thousand five hundred feet, and which gives the whole scene the appearance of a vast natural amphitheatre. , Before I proceed to a descriptive account of the various strata, it may be well to make a few observations upon the most striking physical features, and the theory by which they are accounted for. No one who has visited the lovely dales with which the south-east of Cleveland is adorned can have failed to have been struck by the gentle acclivities, the curiously-shaped “nabs,” and the noble escarp- ments, which alternately present themselves to the view; and most observers, doubtless, who have thought of the matter, have in their own minds fixed upon some actionary cause for all the pleasing diversifications of scenery. To most, probably, the watery element at once presents itself as the most familiar cause from which such a result could flow ; and by some I know, the tiny stream, which slug- gishly meanders through the vale, has been dignified by beg made NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF CLEVELAND. 83 the agent of the metamorphosis. If, however, we consider the por- tion of the strata at various points, the different angles and directions of declination at which we find them, we arrive at once at the con- clusion that aqueous action can only be referred to as the means of having modified the superficial irregularities which had previously been occasioned by a more powerful—a subterranean agency, _ Thatthe Oolitic and Lias formations have obtained very much further in a north-westerley direction—how much further I see no data for ascertaining—their steep escarpments and abrupt termination towards that quarter most clearly evidence ; and that the present inclinations of the strata, dipping as they may be found to every point of the compass, have been acquired subsequently to their formation, is only in accordance with the great principle of horizontal deposition. The general dip, however, of the strata is towards the south-east. The tremendous convulsion which raised the great Penine Alps of England—that subterranean convulsion which uplifted the mountain limestone to a height of a thousand yards through a length of nearly seventy miles, which, in all probability, broke the continuity of the Yorkshire and Newcastle coal-fields, and which is justly termed one of the most magnificent examples of dislocation n Europe.—This stupendous disruption, | say—to which we may refer so many pheno- mena—may be regarded as the probable cause of much which may not otherwise be easily accounted for in the physical aspect of Cleveland. How vast and potent must have been the oceanic currents, which caused the denudation of so great an extent of strata! But, upon the fractured edges of the dislocated strata, the violent action of the waves and currents would exercise a wondrous wasting and excavating power. Here, then, we have causes sufficient for the changes we observe ; but, whether the actual efficiencies in operation, is a question for others to decide. The rivers, as Professor Phillips observes, run from the north part in valleys which the sea made for them: the gradual wasting, through atmospheric agencies of the shales below has caused the superin- cumbent solid rocks to fall away, and crumble in their turn. If we follow the course of the North Yorkshire Railway we shall see at a glance some of the instances of dislocation to which I have referred above. A little more than a mile eastward from the village of Kildale we notice the sandstone rock of the Inferior Oolite (which I shall hereafter call the “ Bottom Sandstone rock’’), a few yards only above the level of the valley on our right hand, going eastward; whilst, on the left towards Weyworth, it caps the summit of the valley at a very considerable height, and is easily traced descending very rapidly, as far as Commondale Station. At Castleton, which stands upon this same Sandstone rock, a very considerable dislocation is easily observed, which extends to a great distance eastward, and becomes more and more apparent where the vale of Danby is narrower, as at Danby Crag and Howlsike. The Esk here runs im a synclinak axis of the strata, as is most clearly discernible in Crunkley Ghyl, to which I shall have occasion to refer hereafter. 8A THE GEOLOGIST. Before I proceed further with my notes, it may. be as well to give a tabular section of the various strata as exhibited in this district. preparatory to their minute diyision and explanation. It will be observed that they are confined to the middle and lower divisions of the great Mesozoic series. Although I have endeavoured to show in my section the compara- tive thickness of the several divi- sions, we shall find that they vary very considerably in the extent of their development at different parts of even the small district under our present notice. The following may be understood as a general view of the series : g, Impure limestone, with shales, sandstones, &c., above 200 feet. f, Shales, sandstones, ironstones, with fossil plants and thin seams of coaL—o00 feet. e, Sandstone and ferruginous beds —70 feet. d, Upper Lias shales—200. feet. c, Ironstone and marlstone series —150 feet. b, Lower Lias shales—500 feet. a, Poecilitic gypseous marls. I shall now proceed to examine the various beds of which these series are composed, taking them in the order of their deposition. a, It is only the extreme western and north-western part of Cleve- land where we find the lowest divi- sion of our section apparent on the —— surface, and where, in fact, it forms SS, —Csithe extreme northern termination SSS —CCoof that long continuous New Red belt, which has one extremity in the rich vales of Taunton and Exeter, and its other. in the broad estuary of the Tees. It is most easily seen in the district under notice, on the banks of the Leven and other smaller streams “near Hutton Rudby, although I am not aware that its thickness has ever been accurately ascertained. A short distance below the village, the whole bed of the picturesque Leven is paved with the ripple-marked shales, which are so general in this part of the series. To the geolo- gical student of vivid imagination, how strange to stand upon these rippled beds and call to fancy’s view the scene which, eons upon eons Bath Oolite. Lias. Trias. NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF CLEVELAND 85 ago, was there presented, before the mountains he now sees before him were brought forth, or ever the hills around him formed! To sink through part of these shales and all the intervening strata to the coal formation below has been, as we need hardly wonder at, long a favourite, project with the landed proprietors upon whose estates ey ero out. to the surface; but, whether a consummation so devoutly to be wished, is ever likely to be realised, is a question which may well be doubted. If we consider the inclination of the seams at the southern extremity of the: Durham coal-fields, (which is about enty 3 miles north of the district of which we speak, and the possi- ag 9f Be. attémpt. being made at a point where the coal attains a the fault t (as we know the Lias is seldom conformable to a ae series): and, moreover, if we think of the doubt ms may reasonably be entertained as to whether the coal-measures do actually underlie the Lias of North Yorkshire or not, and the great depth to which must in any case be sunk before the question can be pronounced to be finally solved, I cannot certainly hold out any hopes that for many years to come Cleveland will be reckoned amongst the coal districts, or that ever a trial will be made with a result to ‘satisfy all, who are either scientifically or pecuniarily interested in the matter. Bim ugh the search for coal has so often proved unfruitful, yet the prospect of such a rich mine of wealth does so easily beguile Tanded squire, that it seems an idea which the personal experience sta ender a to realize this fond hope alone can banish from his mind. if we believe Sir Roderick Murchison,* amid all their failures we never meet with an individual who is really disheartened ; but a frequent exclamation is, “ Oh, if our squires were only men of spirit, we should have as fine coal as any in the world!” An attempt was recently made on the estate of Visount Falklapd, of which I cannot refram from speaking in anything but terms of commendation—since the abandonment at a depth at which few would look for any result more than has been arrived at, has done nothing towards setting the question at rest. Its continuance, if persisted in, should be a matter for public, rather than private expenditure. As regards the gypseous marls of which we were speaking above, there seems nothing of sufficient interest in them to detain us longer i in our examination. b, Phe Lower Lias shales obtain over ‘most of the plain or lowlands of Cleveland, and are seen to a considerable height in most of the escarpments of the Jong range of hills. "These beds, which we may safely estimate at five hundred feet in thickness, consist for the most part.of a dark homogeneous indurated clay or shale, sub-calcareous ds and layers of ironstone nodules, which are too much incon- erable to be worked for profit, although when found on the shore, loose from and washed out of the surrounding shale, they have been shippedan small quantities for the furnaces on the Tyne. An excellent natural section of the upper part of the Lower Lias is visible on the Cleveland coast at Huntcliffe, and inland in the steep ravines on the ag * Silurian system, parti., p. 328. 86. THE GEOLOGIST. north side of Carlton, or, more properly, Dromonby Bank. In some parts, it it is very abundant in organic remains, and contains — whole rocks which are little else than a congeries of extinct molluses the Gryphea incurva being one of the most familiar and characteristic. No part of the Lower Lias has ever in this district been wrought for economic purposes. From this we proceed to one of the most im- portant divisions in that respect, namely— c, The Ironstone or Marlstone Series—The lower part of this series, which we may estimate at a total of one hundred and fifty feet in thickness, consists of alternations of shale, marlstone, and sandstone, of a soft and argillaceous character, generally abundant in fossil reliquix, especially in Belemmnites, Ophiuride, and Cardium truncatum, and partially ferruginous. A good section may be obtained at the same points as I referred to in the last division, and the marlstones may be well seen in the prominent edges which they form in the far~ famed Roseberry Topping, at the east end of the Wainstones Bank, and many other elevations. It is, however, to the great ironstone-band, which forms the highest stratum in this series, that this district owes all its celebrity as an iron-producing country, and in respect of which we may truly say, it is a “good land, and a land whose stones are iron.” The seam was first developed in 1848, in the picturesque hill of Hston Nab, where the yield may be calculated at about fifty thousand tons to the acre. The following detailed section is from a communication by Mr. John Marley, C.E., to Professor Phillips :— fi. |e Tronstone—top block, left as roof... 0 11 (parting) Tronstone—second block ............ 2 2&1 ahem (parting) 17 0) Tronstone—main block ............... 130 ee (parting) > aoe Tronstone—bottom block, (variable) 1 10) ct): aaa aap LR eAO RGR Me 285 Nee i 8 Tronstone-band’ 0.2 Ps RE rcepe ma ee 6 00 au pandstoudc-hand (90 (10) 0 10 The above gives a solid mass of ironstone rock no less than seven- teen feet in thickness! This is, however, the point at which we find its greatest development, since at Grosmont, near Whitby, the same series is found in this altered and divided state :— hale oi) 5 cation ee 2, se 0 Ironstone—* Pecten-seam,’’ in two bands, separated __ by one feet six inches of shale ..................... Shale 4. 2 2 ewe wane 6 006 65 ome Co see Oe eke aww ieee (ee ene) wa 4.06, eS) bm we le Seco of NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF CLEVELAND. 87 fi. 30 hos seo Sos Sikes. wee Pandang icakane sedoumeeas zi 1d) POC F522. 6. ne bed w cde c cea ede oe es akeaee ene a6 NS 5) a). Sk in bina iv nid sch Sow a oe 18 0 Beecone—“ Avicula-seam’” ... .....:cccs..-.1-00----00-.. | & O 38 6 In the Grosmont district, however, as I shall have occasion to mention hereafter, the inferiority of these seams to their thickness at Histon is compensated by the presence of other seams above, which are not similarily developed at Eston Nab. The extent of country over which the Cleveland ironstone bands extend cannot be estimated at less than two hundred square miles, capable of producing from twenty thousand to nearly one hundred thousand tons an acre. The present total yield of Great Britain is something like three and a half millions of tons of iron, from (say) thirteen million tons of stone. Although Cleveland was not worked until 1848, its produce is estimated at six hundred and thirty-three thousand tons of pig-iron from near two million tons of ore. From the extensive mines at Eston alone the vast quantity of two thousand six hundred and twenty tons nineteen hundred weight has been wrought in one day,—thirteen thousand four hundred and-seventy four tons in a week,—six hundred and thirty- eight thousand six hundred and twenty in one year; and a total during the past ten years of four millions sixty-one thousand nine hundred and eighteen tons. This ironstone is chiefly a carbonate of protoxide, of a greenish grey colour, and yields by government analysis thirty-three per cent. of metallic iron,* although the average should probably be given at about thirty per cent. The following is what is generally requisite to the manufacture of one ton of pig-iron:—ironstone (calcined), two tons twelve hundred weight, or uncalcined, three and a half tons; coke, one ton fifteen hundred weight; coal, one ton; limestone, fif- teen hundred weight. What countless tons of iron, therefore, may be extracted from the vast beds of Cleveland—sufficient to supply, for hundreds of years the whole demand of the British Isles! In every direction from the maximum thickness at Eston, we find the seam grows gradually thinner and thinner, especially towards the south-west, where it may be said to die out at Thirsk. At Swainby also the seam is reduced to about four feet, and divided by rather more than a foot of shale. The seam at Eston is formed of a compact coalition of what are found in other parts as two distinct seams, parted by as much as nearly thirty feet of shale at Grosmont, and the eastern extreme of Cleveland; the upper of these two seams, as in the Grosmont section, is designated the “Pecten seam,” from the vast number of pectines (Pecten cequi- walvis), which are found in it; and the lower the “ Avicula seam,” * See appendix. 88 THE GEOLOGIST. owing to the abundant remains of Avicula cygnipes in it. Towards the east the “Pecten seam” acquires more the concretionary spheroidal form, as usual with argillaceous deposits,and approaches nearer in appearance to the hard, compact clay-stones of the: coal«measures at Bierley and Low Moor: . As the diminution in thiékness towards the south-east and west from Eston is very gradual, it is impossible to fix any line of demarcation to point out the exact boundary within which it is of sufficient value to be worked. ... , ae An interesting paper was read by Mr. H. C. Sorby, FGS, before the West Riding Geological and Polytechnic Society,* in whith the’ writer endeavoured to show that the Cleveland ironstone was altogether — an altered limestone-rock, in which the carbonate of lime had be changed to carbonate of iron, by the percolation, probably, of some! chalybeate water, and that the ironstone was not deposited in its present condition. I confess that I am not inclined to adopt those views — without further examination, as I think the whole analysis of the ore’ does anything but favour such a theory. In concluding’ my fotée « this most important division, I need only add that these Lias bands are’ very extensively wrought, at Eston, Upleatham, Codhill, Hutton’ Lowcross, Belmont Banks, Rosedale} on the coast, Grosmont in Eskdale, and several other parts of Cleveland. The usual royalty- — rent paid in the district varies from fourpence halfpenny to eight- pence per ton of twenty-two and a half hundred weight; and, so cheaply may it be worked, that it can be sold with profit at half-a/ crown a ton at the mine’s mouth. Such brief statistics may be of interest to those readers who are in any way connected with this _ great branch of manufacture. I now ascend to d, The Upper Inas Shales, which also possess great importance im an economic point of view. After about thirty to forty feet of hard sandy shale, which is the lowest rock in the upper Lias, we find what — is generally called the “ Hard Jet Rock,” a variable shale rey ce in thickness, enclosing irregularly jet and pyrites. On the Coast, a: at Kettleness, the rock is harder ard more productive of jet than in the interior of the country: the raw material is, according to quality, worth from two shillings to twelve shillings per pound, and the tota value of the jet-manufacture at Whitby, whither it all goes from this district, is estimated at twenty thousand pounds perannum. Owing to the great quantity of iron-pyrites, or nodules of sulphuret of iron, which these shales contain, it not unfrequently happens that upon being dug out in the search for jet, and exposed to the action of moisture and the atmosphere, the sulphur combines with the oxygen — of the air and of the water, and in this decomposition sufficient heat 1s generated to cause spontaneous ignition. An instance of this — decomposition occurred not long ago in Westerdale, and caused no little wonder amongst the homely inhabitants; it is, however, of * Report of Society’s Proceedings, 1856-7, p. 457. | + There are two “ Rosedales” in this district celebrated for their ironstones: — one near Staith on the coast, and the other fifteen miles inland. j NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF CLEVELAND. 89 frequent occurrence on the coast at Runswick Bay. Here, it is scarcely necessary to remind the reader, is a most marvellous pro- fusion of Ammonites, Belemnites, &c., and an abundance of the now familiar remains of Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri. An excellent section of these rocks, and a delightful field for geological observa- tion, will be found in the quiet and picturesque bay of Runswick. Above this jet-rock are about eighty feet of shale with ferruginous nodules, irregularly interspersed, and for the most part aggregated round Ammonites and other organic bodies. Being very compact and argillaceous, they closely resemble some of the clay-ironstones of Derbyshire, and claim a similar, though far from a synchronous origin. Above this shale, again, we reach the fine argillaceous deposit so well known by the name of “alum-shale,” which is from eighty to one hundred feet in thickness, and has been worked for the manufacture of alum since about the year 1594, when alum-works were first introduced into the district of Guisborough, by Sir Thomas Chaloner, where these shales have ever since been more or less ex- tensively wrought. Scattered up and down through the whole length of Cleveland, we find traces, in vast heaps of calcined shale and large excavations, of abandoned alum-works, as at Carlton Bank, Kirby Bank, above Great Ayton and several other places, whilst we find in present operation the works near Guisborough, at Boulby, and at Kettleness. The process of manufacture is simply as follows : the decomposition of the shale is accelerated by being burnt in large heaps by the manufacturer, who avails himselt of the carbonaceous character of the shale, and the sulphur of the iron is changed into sulphuric acid, which forms a sulphate of iron and alumina; by sub- sequent processes of evaporation, the sulphate of alumina is purified, and potash is added to render the salt crystallizable. Above the alum-shale is a stratum about twenty feet in thickness, which is usually termed the “ Cement-rock,”’ from its containing numerous calcareous nodules, which are used in the manufacture of Roman cement. These nodules will, for the most part, be found to be an aggregation round an organic nucleus ; and by baking them until they divide, I have frequently procured most beautiful specimens of fossil Ammonites. Above this is found, in a perfect section, a deposit of about four feet of mdurated clay known as the “soft jet-rock,” from its containing a quantity of jet, inferior however to that in the hard jet-rock, of which I spoke before. This rock, in opposition though it be to many, I shall make the highest one and the conclusion of the Lias formation, the upper division of which, as I have described it above, may in summary be given as follows: ft. in. Sort jekmoeks Is Aaah Aas... about 4 0 Comentistick: 574s ay... a) 5 GO ft; in Alum-shale (used in manufacture of alum) 80 0 to 100 0 Alum-shale (noé so used, and with many 2 ee) Bee, 60 Oto 80 0 RRM FO POGK gsi, vs.c es eee ede 18 0 ELS 20 Oto 40 O VOL. IV. M 90 THE GEOLOGIST. The deposition of the Oolitic and Lias formations, unhke that of the Coal-measures and New Red Sandstone, was evidently continous, and is without any traces of an interval elapsing between. In pro- portion, therefore, as we find the transition from one to the other more gradual and undefined, we may regard the section as more perfect and complete. At the head of Fryup Dale, for example, we find the tran- sition line far less marked than at Roseberry and most other places ; and therefore we may assume that it is a more perfect section than the others. The basement-bed of the Inferior Oolite has, in the south of England, been the object ofa contest between Dr. Wright on behalf of the Lias, and Professor Buckman for the Oolites, as may be seen in a paper read by the latter before the Geological Society.* I shall, however, here content myself by merely stating that there are reasons, which I cannot now spare space to adduce, for regarding the next important stratum, as it sometimes appears as the lowest member of the inferior Oolite. e, There is no bed amongst all which I have described, which varies so much in so short a distance, as the lowest bed of the division which I have before termed the “Inferior Oolite and ferruginous beds.” They give an aggregate of about seventy feet at many points in the district. This is, at one place a vast iron-rock of thirty-two feet in thickness, and at another a mere silico-ferruginous mass of no commercial value. At many places, as for instance at Eston, Hutton, Lowcross, Fryup, and Grosmont, its importance may be said to be almost in inverse proportion to that of the lower, or “ Pecten-seam,” in consequence of its being geologically higher up than the other seam, which is often called the “ Eston-seam,”’ from having been first opened out near a village of that name: this band we now speak of is commonly called the “top seam,” although improperly, as a higher one still has been wrought. The “ Oolitic seam,” as I shall now call it, is worked on the east near Staithes, and at Beck Hole in the Gros- mont district, and at Rosedale in the interior of the country. Near Staithes it assumes a compact and argillaceous appearance, and is at the best part about four feet thick. At Beck Hole it is not less than fifteen feet thick, and has a more open and oolitic structure, and in appearance more resembles the Lias seam at Eston. At Rosedale its character is again changed, and it has become a vast oolitic iron-rock thirty-two feet thick, attractable by the magnet, and yielding, as a maximum, nearly fifty per cent. of metallic iron. To develope this invaluable deposit, a line of railway is now being made across the moorland heights, from near Ingleby Greenhow on the North York- shire Railway—a distance of about ten miles. To account for, if I~ may use the term, the metallic richness and the great thickness of — this Rosedale iron-rock, has long been a puzzle to many of the local — geologists, who have thought its value and extent less than some — anticipate, At the quarry, indeed, where most have observed it, and where it was primarily opened out as “metal” for the roads,—rich * Proc. Geol. Soc., Quarterly Journal, vol. xii., p. 292, and vol. xiy., p. 98. — NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF CLEVELAND. 9] metal too, it appears—the seam assumes such an aspect as might deceive many ; since owing to the percolation of water through the countless cracks and fissures at its outbreak, the iron has become oxidised gradually more and more; and where not quite oxidised throughout, the blocks consist of a nodule in the middle, of almost unaltered dark blue ore, of nearly equal parts of protoxide of iron (about thirty-three per centum where richest), and peroxide of iron (about thirty-two per cent.), and several concentric layers of brown ore, the outer of which contains all the iron in a peroxide state, and clearly showing a change to have taken place from a protoxide to a hydrated peroxide. In the drift made a little eastward of the quarry we find, after eighty yards of hard shale, other eighty yards of the altered brown ironstone, with blue nodules, which increase in size as we proceed, until at last we reach the solid rock, unaltered by any percolation; intensely hard; of a blackish-blue colour; highly mag- netic; lying in horizontal layers; scarcely fissured, and thirty-two feet in thickness. A considerable distance from this drift it has been twice bored down to, at a depth of forty-five fathoms, and proved still of the same great thickness: although its per centage will probably average less than has been given above, there seems no reason to fear that the seam will soon be exhausted. Some have thought that this rock exhibited symptoms of igneous origin; others have made it out to be affected by heat, subsequently to its deposition ; and some have even tried to trace a cause-and-effect—a connection between the Whin-dyke, seven miles away, and this astonishing stratum of iron- ore. There is however not the slightest foundation for any such surmises, as we find it in a horizontal position, in distinct lamin, between the upper Lias and sandstone-rock of the Inferior Oolite,— most assuredly the natural place of its deposition. The depositing waters were vreatly impregnated with oxide of iron, which congre- gated round any solid object ; and accordingly in each oolitic particle, there is some nucleus of shell, sand, &c., which is perceptible under the microscope, as in oolitic limestones, in the interior of each of tre grains. There have, I believe, been no organic remains discovered in the rock, owing, it is possible, to part of the iron being in the peroxide state—in which case it is a. noticeable fact that there is either very great scarcity, or an utter absence of traces of animal life. Whether, however, these two facts, so generally coincident, are related as cause and effect, is a question for further consideration. The Lias iron-seams, which contain the iron in a protoxide state only, show the ocean at the period of their deposition to have been very prolific in organic life. An interesting view of this oolitic iron-seam may be obtained by tracing its development from Crunkley Ghyl up the eastern side of Great Fryup Dale to Fryup Head, and again to its appearance in Northdale, on the other side of the moor, and opposite to the great iron-quarry of Rosedale, which I have just remarked upon, and where, as I observed, the seam appears to attain its maximum thick- ness and to possess also its maximum dose of iron. The outbreak of f 92 THE GEOLOGIST. the seam has, owing to the decomposition of the iron, a reddish- brown appearance ; and, where sufficiently rich in iron, shows the usual “scrappy” layers, or envelopes, owing to the percolation of water. This is very noticeable at Fryup Head, where the seam is ot great thickness. 3 ; I now pass upward to the “bottom sandstone rock, of which I spoke before, and which is the great and safest guide in searching for the iron- stone strata. It runs along the summits of the sides of most of the Cleveland dales, and has been used very generally in the district for building purposes. At Sleights, near Whitby, it has been exten- sively wrought for local use, as also for shipment, and is in fact the © great building stone for the whole of Cleveland. It caps most of the chief hills, or “ banks,” as they are called in the district, crowning the summit of Roseberry Topping, Easby Bank, &c. The excellent state of preservation of the stonework in the ruins of Guisborough Abbey, and Mount Grace Priory, attests the durability of the rock. I now come to the next division in my section (f), which it would be difficult to subdivide in such a manner as to be equally applicable to all parts, where the rocks contained in it crop out to view. Above the bottom sandstone rock, however, are alternations of shales, thin iron-bands, and gritty sandstone layers, about sixty feet in total thick- ness. We then come to avast series of sandstones and shales of various colours and thicknesses, and amongst them are some seams ~ which demand a short notice. In this series we find a variable stratum of fire-clay, which is well seen in the excavations of a recently-formed Fire-clay Company at Skelderskew, in Commondale, where it is of considerable thickness, and, it is also stated, of great commercial value. Embedded in an impure sandstone bed above this seam are found vertical Equisetites, in great abundance—the Hquisetum colum- nare. Higher up, amidst the countless beds of shale and sandstone, we find a thin seam of coal, of sufficient importance however to be worked for local use, although the thickness is never more, and some- times a few inches less, than sixteen inches. This seam, which is accompanied by fossil plants in the shales above and below, is similar to one discovered in the same oolitic series of Brora, in Scotland, and worked from the patriotic—certainly not pecuniary—motives of a late Duke of Sutherland. In the North Yorkshire district it is worked at Rosedale Head, Danby End, and, until recently, at Great Fryup Head. It may be seen out to the day on the side of the road from Castleton to Guisborough, about half a mile from the former place ; and in the hill as you ascend to Danby Beacon from Howlsike. An acre of this moor-coal is generally estimated to contain about two thousand chaldrons of thirty-two bushels. The appearance of this carboniferous deposit has not failed to excite hopes in some whose scientific knowledge, it need hardly be said, is like the coal-seam— limited : that by going further down, better, or—as some even think —the Durham coal-seams will be discovered. Although men seem born with the “only-go-deeper” notion in their heads, it seems un-- necessary to remark, that any hopes of finding coal superior to that i NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF CLEVELAND. 93 now worked, are entirely without other foundatlon than the above instinctive notion. I had almost forgotten to mention another seam of iron-stone amongst these higher strata, which has a more argillaceous aspect than the others, though its thickness is less considerable. It is, as all the other strata, of anything but uniform thickness; and at present the only place where it has been fully explored and worked to any extent is at Burton Head, near Ingleby Greenhow. It has, I believe, also been worked at Raithwaite, near Whitby. At Ingleby mines the stone was found to obtain in three bands, with shale intervening, giving a total of rather more than four feet of iron-stone, and two and a half of shale between. These mines, however, are for the present abandoned, although a great sum has been laid out on an incline-plane, and other preliminaries to active operations. To anyone who is familiar with the section of the Bath Oolite, in the south of England, it must be at once apparent how different are the analogous beds, in the district which I have been describing. This last great division (f), is isochthonous with the Fuller’s-earth group of Bath, although we can see so little similarity in their com- ponents. g, The last division in my section is the earliest wherein is any trace of a limestone rock; and its aspect in Commondale, where we see it most easily, bears little or no resemblance to the type of an oolitic limestone. It is very much debased by an admixture of silica, iron, and other extraneous matter, which causes it to be of Little value for agricultural purposes. So little indeed is it regarded as a lime- stone, that it has long since ceased to be burnt for any purpose; and whilst it was regularly burnt formerly at the kilns on the high moor- land above Commondale, great care had to be taken lest it should run into a flux from too intense aheat. Although as a limestone its value can never be considerable, yet if silica were required with any argil- laceous ironstone to help to form a clay, it might probably be of service to any furnace near where it exists: as such however is very impro- bable with most of the Cleveland iron-seams, we can only wish it had been more calcareous. I append an analysis of this seam as at Commondale, made by Prof. Henry, who gives a much more favour- able one than appears in Prof. Phillips’ “ Geology of Yorkshire.” Above this limestone is another very thick series of sandstones, shales, &c., very similar to those in group /f, of which I have often spoken. As they present little that is noticeable, I shall not attempt to examine them, although we find them occupying some of the highest ground in North Yorkshire, as at Danby Beacon and White Cross. With this notice I shall conclude my observations on the sedimentary rocks, and proceed to make a few remarks upon the only igneous rock which we find in the district—the well-known basaltic dyke, which has been termed “ one of the most remarkable phenomena of English geology.” It extends in almost a straight line from Cock- field Fell, in Durham, to Maybecks, in the east of the North Riding— a distance of seventy miles. It is unaccompanied by any dislocation, 94, THE GEOLOGIST. and its only visible effect is the charring of the coal, which it divides in Durham, and the ordinary results of intense heat upon the con- tiguous shales, limestones, and sandstones. Its width is from seventeen to about sixty feet, and is greater in the middle than at its two extremities. Its depth, it need not be added, is unfathonable. When unaltered by weather it is of a dark blue colour; but owing to the iron which it contains, the outer portion becomes rusted upon exposure, and exfoliates like an ironstone. An excellent view of this “frolic of nature,” as it has been called, may be seen in a cutting which the railway has made through it near Castleton, and its caustic effects on the bordering strata fora very short space on each side, and total absence of dislocating fracture may be clearly observed. Owing to its intense hardness, it is of invaluable utility as a material for the roads to a great distance on each side of it, for which it would otherwise be a difficulty to find a stone sufficiently durable. It is, and when the proposed lines are completed will be much more, exten- sively wrought, and sent to a great distance to pave the streets of several of our large towns. There are many instances of alluvial deposits, and many isolated granitic boulders at the foot of Carlton Bank, at Lealholme Bridge, and other places, which I cannot now stay to remark upon. With reference to the vast superficial accumulations of peat at Danby End and other places, I shall quote an extract from a work published about eighty years ago,* as an illustration of a geological theory at that period, and at the same time to impart a piece of interesting information for any “Judeeus Apella” of the nineteenth century: “ Hazel-trees and nuts with kernels in them are found in our peat- bogs, covered up most probably by the deluge; and I cannot help observing here, that these nuts prove toa demonstration that the flood of Noah happened in the autumnal season of the year, and most probrably in the month of September, when it is known that kind of fruit is always ripe with us here in Yorkshire.” I may here observe before, before I conclude, that there are traces to be noticed, at Furnace Farm, near Fryup End, in Commondale, at Castleton, and other places, of the rude manufacture of iron in ancient times. At the above places are large heaps of scoriz, from which the metal has been but imperfectly extracted, and amongst which I have found pieces of the metal itself. These primitive iron- masters, who lived most probably in monkish times, seem from the small pieces of ore which I have found to have merely collected the loose boulders; or outside pieces of the thin rich nodular bands, and, of course, used charcoal only, as may abundantly be seen, in their reduction to a fluid state. It now merely remains for me to express my regret at not bemg able within the scope of this essay to dwell, as I should greatly have wished, upon the characteristic and other fossil-remains of the seyeral groups; and to express the obligation I am under to the * Hist. of Whitby ;” by L. Charlton: 1779, p. 353. NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF CLEVELAND. 95 works of Professor Phillips,* who has devoted much time and atten- tion to the geology of this interesting district, which my observations will, I think, abundantly prove to be one of great fascination to the man of science, and of great importance in the national economy. Analysis of the Cleveland Ironstone (Pecten-Seam), by Prof. Percy. 0 5S SEG iii 0 Ne ee 39°92 ETN asic oo sugars nab cid ee ak v bien eae 3°60 ee Sat le 2S Pe ay Sn eee 7°86 A Di re oi ca a at win n)s nike p puenne 7°44. IEEE, 0 it eta Ma oaenillia dine orcas 3°82 DR Ss. 712 ne 5 a age oan Sinaia AR”, bee ama open 22°85 Other substances in small quantities....... 73 100:00 go pl AE Jee ES SA a 30°62 Analysis of Dark-Blue Magnetic Ironstone from Rosedale, by W. Crowder, E'sq.t I Eh ae 33°55 NE Ia 31°40 Eee alll a es Sang Re At a a 16°05 LR tel TAA ha a 2°35 Ne eee la an se ems 1:29 elo ede NR RT Re 10-26 Fe ee 4°50 res Ota ee to eee” a PO ON ee. 1°34: 100°74 MS SEE et te es 48°07 Analysis of Commondale Limestone, by Prof. Henry. mnrnen ea OM ROR eek ek barn pues vecbic ad 44:8 OA eae Ue Fee 51°4 eeINA BROrOxIGe Of FOR, |, «eu... ke. depen casas. os 2°6 NS a tA og fia valids cpvibbiciecs~Wvoani 1:2 100: * “Manual of Geology ;” “Geology of Yorkshire,” part i.; “ Mountains and Rivers of Yorkshire ;” “ Oolites of Yorkshire,” in Geol. Quart. Journ., vol. xiv. + Edin. New Philos. Journ., Jan. 1857, p. 40. 96 THE GEOLOGIST. ON NEW BRACHIOPODA, AND ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LOOP IN TEREBRATELLA. 7 By Cuartes Moors, F.GS. (Continued from page 445, vol. ii.) TuecipeumM. Defrance. Thecidewm ornatum. Moore. Pl., i.., figs. 1—3. Shell inequivalve ; punctuate, rather rugose, front deep, rounded ; attached by a considerable portion of the ventral valve; beak slightly incurved ; deltidium small and depressed. The ventral valve is flat- — tened on its under side. Its interior is surrounded by an elevated, slightly granulated margin. Under the deltidium are seen two raised oval processes, separated by a longitudinal septum, which — occupies the greater length of the shell. The exterior of the dorsal valve is rugose and flattened. The interior possesses a narrow, thin, punctuated margin, immediately succeeding which is a ridge of single eranulations, which are stronger towards the frontal margin, gradu- ally disappearing as the ridge passes upwards. Springing from the centre of this granulated ridge is a septum, slightly tapering from its — base, on either side strongly serrated, between which is a central longitudinal groove. The septum occupies nearly the whole height allowed by the cavity of the shell, and divides it to nearly three-— fourths of its length. From the top of the septum there are thrown off two extremely delicate lamelle, forming a loop which curves downwards towards the front of the shell, where they bifurcate, and — are then again united to the shell at its inner sides. Above the sep- — tum and attached lamelle a band occurs, forming a bridge over the — visceral cavity. This is united to the granulated ridge, which thus © completely surrounds the inner portion of the valve. 4 Obs.—The preservation of the loop as shown in the enlarged fig. 3, plate i1., is remarkable, smce in the original specimen it is in — substance scarcely thicker than the finest unspun silk, and extremely — brittle. The interiors of the Brachiopoda are only to be developed — by careful manipulation in dissecting or opening up the valves. Many of the interiors of the Thecidide are very beautiful; but I~ have never as yet seen any species equalling in delicacy of structure — that under consideration. It is from the Coral Rag of Lyneham; Wilts, where it is not uncommon. Thecidewm pygmewm. Moore. PI. ii., figs. 4—7. Shell microscopic, longitudinally oval; both valves convex; attached to other bodies at the upper part of the ventral valve; beak slightly produced ; area short; deltidium ill defined. A thin raised — MOORE—ON NEW BRACHIOPODA, ETC. 9% ridge passes round the front and sides of the dorsal valve, until it reaches the dental sockets. It is without a central septum, nearly always present in other species, the only ornamentation within the ridge being numerous punctuations. Obs.—This shell is very numerous in the Coral Rag of Lyneham, associated with the 7’. ornatwm and the T’. triangularis. I have been unable to trace any passage into either of the above species, other- wise it might have been considered a young stage of one of them, As it is altogether different in character, and as the shell, though so minute, is very persistent in its form, I have ventured to give it the above specific designation. Thecideum triangularis. D’Orbigny. This species has hitherto been noticed only in the Middle and Upper Lias and the Inferior Oolite. I have now obtained it from the Lower Lias of Keynsham, which is the oldest formation in which it has yet been found. It then passes through the beds above men- tioned, and is very common—attached to Lima, Ostrea, and other shells—in the Fuller’s Earth of Combehay, near Bath. It occurs also in the coralline bed of Hampton Cliffs, and again in the still higher zone of the Coral Rag of Lyneham. No other species of Brachiopod has yet been known to have attained so long a range as is indicated by the above facts. Its uninterrupted passage through so many forma- _ tions points out the absence of any considerable climatal or other changes during the deposition of the beds in which it is found. I have evidence of the presence of several other species in the Inferior Oolite of Dundry, one very nearly approaching the 7’. Des- longchampsii, Dav.; but as only separate valves have been found, it will be unsafe at present to say more respecting them. Cranis. Retzius. Crania canalis. Moore. Pl. ii, figs. 8—10. Shell subquadrate, usually flattened, at other times more or less coni- eal. The outer surface of the young shell exhibits a few coarse striz, which continue to the margin of the valve. In the adult these become much more numerous, many of them passing as narrow spines, some distance beyond the outer margin of the shell. The in- terior of the valve is concave, showing two pairs of muscular im- pressions, not strongly marked; the anterior pair curving upwards towards the posterior, which are rounded and larger. When viewed from the inner side the valve is seen to be surrounded by a flattened ridge, which is continued outwards in long spinose expansions, which are furnished with narrow longitudinal grooves, or canals, through the whole of their length. Obs.—This is one of the most beautiful species of this interesting genus of shells. It is from the raggy beds of the Inferior Oolite of VOL. IV. | N 98 THE GEOLOGIST. Dundry, which have furnished me with so many new forms of Bra- — chiopoda. The upper valve only is known. . Crania Saundersii. Moore. PI. ii, figs. 11, 12. Shell rounded ; exterior of the valve flattened, or shghtly convex ; surface wrinkled; shell-structure smooth. The interior of the valve shows four muscular impressions ; the upper pair beg rounded and depressed, the anterior, occupying the middle of the valve, are raised and prominent, ear-shaped, and curved outwardly. Obs.—By its exterior it would be difficult to distinguish this shell from the C. antiquior of the Great Oolite of Hampton Cliffs, but the interior of the valves differ. In the C. Sawndersi the two pairs of muscular impressions are more widely separated, the lower pair being much stronger, and in shape different from those of the C. an- tiquior, and there is also the absence beneath them of a longitudinal ridge usually present in the latter shell. It is from the Inferior Oolite of Dundry, near Bristol. I have much pleasure in naming it after Wm. Saunders, Esq., of Clifton, to whom the Museum of the Bristol Philosophical Institution is so much indebted. The shell also occurs in the Inferior Oolite of Min- chinhampton, Gloucestershire. Crania Ponsortii. Eug. Deslongchamps. PI. u., figs. 9, 10. The shell described under the above specific name was found by M. Deslongchamps in the Great Oolite of St. Aubin. It occurs in the coralline beds of Hampton Cliffs, and with it the Crania antiquior of Jelly is found in great numbers. The outer surface of the latter shell is characterized by possessing a somewhat rugose, or wrinkled surface, and the interior by its well defined muscular impressions, which always occupy the same position in the species, and give pretty uniformly the same pattern to the interior. The interior of C. Pon- sorti: appears to be undistinguishable from it, the chief difference being in their outer surfaces. This, in the C. Ponsortii, possesses pli- cations which give it a slightly spimose aspect. After examining many examples of the C. antiquior, I have observed in some of them a tendency to become more rugose, and to pass gradually into the form represented by the above shell, and I am therefore disposed to consider it only a variety of C. antiquior. Discina. Lamarck. Discina Dundriensis. Moore. PI. ii., fig. 15. Shell small, thick, broader than long, flattened, apex smooth, elevated ; exterior showing narrow bands of concentric lines of growth, which are slightly plicated, giving to the shell a wrinkled surface. It is from the Inferior Oolite of Dundry, and is the only species known in that formation. It appears to be rare; for after a lengthened examination of these beds, I have only succeeded in ob- taining three specimens. MOORE—ON NEW BRACHIOPODA, ETC. 99 Discina orbicularis. Moore. PI. ii, figs. 16—18. Shell small, orbicular, tapering to an elevated apex, giving the shell a somewhat conical form; margin smooth and rounded. Outer surface of valve smooth, with numerous concentric lines of growth ; the inner smooth and very concave. Obs.—This shell does not appear to have attained a larger size than is indicated in pl. iu, fig. 18. Itis from the fish-bed and the clays associated therewith in the Upper Lias of Ilminster. By its form it is readily distinguished from any other species. Discina Townshend. Forbes. A very fine specimen of this shell, belonging to the Museum of Economic Geology, was figured by Mr. Davidson in the volume of the Paleontographical Society for 1850. Its locality was then un- certain, though Mr. Davidson was informed it was from the Oxford Clay. Subsequently it was suspected to be from one of the lower beds of the Lias. Having discovered the species in the “ Avicula contorta zone’’ at the base of the Lias, near Taunton, I am enabled to settle its position. M. Hdward Suess, of Vienna, has informed me that he has also obtained the shell in the Rhetie beds of Austria, in which the “ Avicula contorta zone” is included. Discina Humphreysiana. Sowerby. This species has hitherto been found only in the Kimmeridge Clay. It may be desirable to record its presence in the Coral Rag of Lyne- ham, where it is abundant. Rthynchonella spinosa. Schlotheim. In the Cotteswold and other lower oolites this shell has been sup- posed to indicate a particular zone. Although it is therein especially abundant, itis by no means confined to it. I have obtained the species from the Fuller’s Earth, near Bath, and also in the Bradford Clay. Some very dwarfed or young forms of it are to be found in the upper beds of the Inferior Oolite of Dundry. Terebratula carinata. Lamarck. This shell has hitherto been found only in the Inferior Oolite. Some specimens smaller than the type-form are to be found in the coralline bed of Hampton Cliffs, which Iam unable to distinguish from this species. (To be Continued.) 100 THE GEOLOGIST: A LECTURE O77> C02 t By J. W. Satter, F.G:S. (Continued from page 68.) We finished last month with the fact that plant-remains were found in plenty both above and below the coal. I shall draw your attention first to the roof-shale—or clay over the coal—“over-clay” as it 1s often called: for in this the great majority of remains are preserved. In the roof-shale two kinds of plants are the most conspicuous— fern-leaves, and the diapered cylinders mentioned in our last. These are the prevailing fossils, though there are a great many besides. Looking first at the fern-leaves, which from their beautiful forms cannot fail to strike the observer’s eye, one is surprised to notice the extremely perfect state in which they occur. Delicate fronds, spread out as for the sheets of an herbarium, with hardly a leaflet disturbed from its true place, crowd the roof-shales of nearly all coal-mines. Dr. Buckland sang the praises of this beau- tiful tracery, which covers the roof of the mine, in glowing strains such as it will — not do for a plain geologist to imitate. I have a lurking suspicion, however, that the ereat doctor conceived the passage not m the mine, but owt of it. At least one hundred and twenty species are known in our British coal-strata. So perfect are they occasionally, that the little fruit-patches (sori, as botanists term them), are found upon the backs of the fronds. This — is not very common, except in one kind— the Pecopteris, which happens to be more abundant than most of the others, and in some species of this the frmt is found. There is a specimen in the Museum of Practical Geology which shows these little seed-patches. It is from the Forest of Dean; and Mr. G. Roberts has shown me several, and given me some from the coal-field of Bewdley Forest. We shall give a figure of this fruit in our next number. Fig. 6.—Portion of a frond Some ferns, mines! of the re remind of Alethopteris (Pecopteris) lon- US Closely of the tree-ferns familiar in our euutier.— Brong, hot-houses; others resemble the humble bs Those who really wish to know more about coal-plants than this little sketch will give them, should read the article on coal in the new edition of Mantell’s “Wonders of Geology.” By T. Rupert Jones, Esq., of the Geol. Society. SALTER—A LECTURE ON COAL. 101 fern-fronds of our lanes and hedge rows. But all are perfect. It is rare to find a disturbed or crumpled leaf, though of course they are often only fragments, such as our brooks and rivers float down. I am writing for the younger readers still, or otherwise this sort of lecture would have no business in a scientific periodical, and I shall not, therefore, burden your memories with a number of Latin terms, which would be very intelligible to students, such as I hope you may all one day be. However, coal-ferns have not received christian or surnames such as our wild ferns rejoice in. Lady fern and Rock- brakes, Black Maiden-hair and Moonwort, are a great deal easier to remember than Newropteris Scheuchzerti, and Alethopteris lonchitidis. Pecopteris plumosa is not such a hard sounding word; Pecopteris Miltonii and P. muricata are both tolerable. Butit so happens that some of our common coal-favourites, like favourite children, have very long and unpronounceable names. Yet we do not like either the less for that. All those I have mentioned above are well-known fossils: all of them are found on the conti- nent as well as in England; and one or two of them are to be picked up at every coal-pit. The pretty Alethopteris lonchi- tica may be obtained in the nodules of ironstone in Shrop- shire, and large slabs of it come from Durham. It is sometimes known under another name, Pecopteris lonchitica, but the above is the true one. We have represented only a single “ pinna”’ of the plant, for in its perfect state it looks a good deal lke our common heath-fern, Pteris aquilina. The P. plumosa is like the Lady-fern. P. loreopteridis, a strong-leaved fern, with a thick stalk or rhachis, a good deal resembles the Lastrea, and so on. Fig. ee torterie os rometorie) Serlii. There is a beautiful fern com- = rary mon near Bristol, the Alethopte- ris Serli, which has fine large leaflets like the Polypody except that it is a compound leaf (vipinnate) instead ofa simple one. There are larger ferns still—the species of Newropteris as they are called, which rival in size our tropic species. But these, numerous as they are, and common too, for there are as many of them as of the genus above quoted, are not quite so often met with. They too, though very rarely, show ¢he fruit on the under side of the leaflets. There are the delicate Sphenopteris, whose leaves are of all shapes and 102 THE GEOLOGIST. sizes, agreeing in nothing so much as the particularly slender and narrow shape of the leaflets and branches. They look lke parsley leaves, coriander leaves, mimosa, and some again look lke what they are — finely divided ferns. Figure 7* shows the peculiarly graceful character of the tribe. There are several other kinds of “ onteris’’, with which, as the Scotch song says, “I’m laith to vex ye.” But I must mention one that is not very common in the coal, but which has been found in a perfect state in some beds older than the coal, both in Treland and in Scotland. Thisis the Adiantites Hibernicus, a fern first brought to notice by that eminent man and ardent naturalist, Edward Forbes. It is common in some rich fossil beds in the upper part ofthe Old Red Sandstone of Ireland. It puts one in mind of the fern which is the glory of Killarney—the King or Royal-fern, Osmunda regalis—about the same size, and with the spreading broad leaflets set onabroad stem. But whereas our Killarney friend carries her fruit on her head, that is to say, the terminal leaves and pinne are changed into fruit-bearing spikes, the fern that grew in old old times on the margin of the Paleozoic bogs has its lower or bottom pinne crowded with seeds. (To be continued.) ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF CEPHALASPIS AND PTERASPIS IN ENGLAND. By Grorce EK. Roperts. T nope our scientific tourists of the approaching season will take their goodeyes into Herefordshire quarries. For now that the Scotch mono- poly of the Old Red fishes is broken up, they will be found to repay time and trouble, if searched for in that and the adjoining counties; and something like a reasonable history of these strange old littoral fishes may be the result of a single season’s work. There is a great deal about them well worth knowing, and their remains will be found tolerably abundant, though very fragmentary, both in the sandstones and cornstones ; and therefore I have a peculiar pleasure in intro- ducing our primeeval fish-fauna to the notice of those on search already—or hoping to be as the season advances—for relics of ancient life. Before I call particular attention to some fruitful localities, let me say a few words upon the physical condition and geographical aspect of the age they lived in. Though I ought rather to say ages, for they anticipated the advent of the system they are popularly said to belong to—that vast life-era—the extent of whose inland-seas and shallow littoral ocean-zone we see in the sandy, shaly, and gravelly betls which contain owr fishes, and of whose deep seas the thick-bedded * The figures of Sphenopteris Schlotheimii, Adiantites Hibernicus, and Osmunda regalis will be given in the next number, ROBERTS—DISTRIBUTION OF CEPHALASPIS AND PTERASPIS. 103 limestones of Devon are witnesses—called by us Old Red or Devonian; and first appeared upon the stage in true Upper Silurian times ; for the Pteraspis Ludensis of the Lower Ludlow shales of Leintwardine (county Salop),is the oldest representative of thefamily. Its discovery in these older rocks, though of great interest, did not in the least surprise me; for a sea-deposit, so clearly marked out as littoral by its starfishes and its shrimp-like crustacea, would be the natural home of shore-fishes, which Cephalaspides undoubtedly were. Moreover, the shells and fuci which the Lower Ludlow rock has everywhere in keeping, tell a certain tale of its shallow-water condi- tion; and enable us by studying them to read with greater ease and increased interest, the record written by succeeding seas. Indeed, if we are to understand the physical aspect of the Old Red age, we must make ourselves well acquainted with the foregoing Silurian; for no aid will be of greater value to us, or more beautiful as a study, than the slow and gradual transition from the deep-sea condition which prevailed over the border-counties I am calling attention to, during the accumulation of the marine limestone of the Wenlock series, and the inland lakes of brackish water, terminated, probably, by wholly freshwater conditions, which have left us the fine silty shales of the Upper Old Red as their legacies. And thus it comes to pass, that not only for the first stages of its new physical career, but also for the birth-place of its life-forms, the Upper Silurian age is insolubly linked with the Old Red Sand- stone ; and in every exposure of these older rocks, which contain littoral crabs and star-fishes, we may reasonably expect to find the ancestry of the ancient shore-fishes lam describing. But though they thus anticipate the age they are popularly said to belong to, they did not—so far as we know—live beyond the close of the Old Red system; and beyond doubt their metropolis is in the grey and red cornstones of Herefordshire and Worcestershire. The position of these beds (see section, page 104), which are seen in many places in these border counties to pass through a tilestone series into the underlying Silurian, is now clearly made out, and only their fossil history waits our reading. And this must be learnt by us before the true contemporaneous relations of the two very distinct rock-series which we together know as the Devonian system can be cleared up; before we can see what com- munication, if any, existed between the shallow waters which laid sandy sediment in Herefordshire, and the deeper ocean, which has left us hard coral-rock and shells, im Devon. Upon the physical boun- daries of these waters, Eichwald has some instructive remarks in a short memoir prefacing the fish-fauna of his “ Lethcea Rossica,” in which he points out the marked difference between fishes of the shore and fishes of the open sea, and describes some new forms of osseous fishes from the Devonian rocks of Russia, not unlike our English Cephalaspids. And now I will mention the results of my own hunting among the Old Red quarries, and I hope, by tlfus putting others upon the trail, many good fishes may be taken. For more specimens are wanted before even their (precise) position 104 THE GEOLOGIST. TICS a , o EE oOo a E a ‘Great Conglomerate. é 3 3 Bi e 3 ; Upper Sandstones. e a a ee = = /| Upper Cornstones. eS 2 3 £3 se a a id y/; _ y/, yy 3 g Cephalaspis asterolepis and C.. __-s-2[// Lyellii, Pteraspis Lloydii (2). i 4 ee and Sandstones. 3 EI 4 ‘ & jj x) Es Rn 3) i 5 z La) n BY a Yy ‘Lower Cornstones. = 4 = ‘= A Cephalaspis Lyellii, Pteraspis. __.____ Grits. 3 Lloydii, and P. Lewisii. S 4 G a < fa i] . =| = Cephalaspis Lyellit (2?) and C. = Murchisoni, Pteraspis rostra- tus and P. Banksii. AI z Oo = ? Pteraspis truncatus, :% Banksii, a and P. rostratus, Cephalaspis es Salweyti, C. Lyellit (Y, Auch- 4 enaspis Salteri. A Pteraspis Inudensis. Lower Ludlow Rocks. Upper Silurian Series. Picraspis Ludensis, ROBERITS—DISTRIBUTION OF CEPHALASPIS AND PTERASPIS. 105 among fish-families can be decided. Probably a kinship existed between the two chief forms of ichthyic test of Cephalaspis and Pteraspis, and it is most likely that our noble friend, the sturgeon (Acipenser), will have to own them of his family; for, as Prof. Hux- ley has lately pointed out, they bear, in shape and arrangement of head-plates, a great affinity to the genus Spatularia, a North American attaché of our larger and caviare-giving fish. It may help the comprehension of those who are unfamiliar with the osseous head-shields of these old ganoid fishes, if I sketch the two forms whose acquaintance will be most easily made by exploring collectors, Cephalaspis and Pteraspis. Form of shell is a very deceptive guide both in fish and crustacean life; indeed, if we made our affinities from this alone, one great genus would include many species of both orders, for the shape of Cephalaspidean bucklers is copied almost literally by several crustacea. A new Harpes from the Silurian limestones of Oesel, figured by Hichwald, agrees not only in shape of head, but even a position of the eyes with Cephalaspis ; while it would be a matter of serious concern where to draw the line between the head-plates of Eurypteris and Cephalaspis. But it is from the closest and most minute examination that species and even families are determined among those which lived during the infancy of vertebrated life. A, Cephalaspis Head-shield. 1, Ornamented external layer. B, Pteraspis Head-shield (as usually found*). 1, External ridged layer. 2, Intermediate cancellated layer. 3, Internal shell layer. * A restoration of this is promised us by Prof. Huxley. Pteraspis Lnudensis, the oldest fish with which we are at present acquainted, was found in the Lower Ludlow mudstones at Churchill Quarry, near Leintwardine, and has been well described and figured, side by side with its ally, Pteraspis truncatus, from the Upper Ludlow rocks, by Mr. Salter, in the “ Annals of Nat. Hist.” for July, 1859. VOL. IV. 0 106 THE GEOLOGIST. P. Ludensis ranges up into the Upper Ludlow shales, in which it was found as far back as 1852 by Dr. Harley, of King’s College. I have not heard of other Cephalaspids being found in Upper Ludlow rock, but in the Downton sandstone they reappear, and are abundant in the neutral ground lying between that rock and the tilestones, and still keep the company of Euryptera and Pterygoti. The Down- ton sandstone is well displayed near Kington ; where mm a quarry near Bradnor Hill, two forms of Pteraspis were discovered by Mr. Richard Banks. These are described and figured by him in the Geol. Soe. Journ., vol. xii., p. 93. The noted railway-section near the Ludlow station is in the zone of these passage-shales, and has been most indefatigably worked by Messrs. Lightbody and Marston. Other exposures of these fish- bearing shales occur, though all are not equally prolific. The earliest true Cephalaspis comes to us from the lowest layer of the passage- bed. Auchenaspis, an allied genus was first found in the Ludlow ex- posure of the shales, but lately our best specimens have come from a south-east extension of the bed, cut through by the railway near Ledbury. An interesting memoir of this exposure will be found in the Geol. Soc. Journ., vol. xvi., pp. 195-7. Its author, the Rev. W. 5%. Symonds, proves the existing relationship between the Ludlow and Ledbury deposits; and notes the discovery of Pteraspis in red and mottled marls and sandstones (passage-rocks), lyimg above Downton sandstones at the tunnel-mouth; and of abundance of Auchenaspis (which may be described as a small Cephalaspis with a neck-collar, or plate filling up the space behind the eyes, and between the cornuted prolongations of the shield), in the top layers of the transition beds, answering in stratigraphical position to those on the Ludlow railway. The upper tilestones are the next repositories of Cephalaspids with which I am acquainted. Many good specimens of Pteraspides came out of this rock when it was quarried at Trimpley, near Kidderminster, and two heads of Cephalaspis Murchisoni (2?) were met with by me; but when I saw the locality last, some very fine potato-plants were making good use of their time just over the hole which had given me good fossils, and two cottages near-hand owned the quarry as a garden; so no more Pteraspides at Trimpley. But one notable exposure is left to us at Whitbatch, three miles north-east of Ludlow—a classical spot as having given the late Dr. Lloyd the first Pteraspis buckler, which still retains its name of P. Lloydii. The relationship between these tilestones and the overlying hard cornstone rock, pure enough in this neighbourhood to be burnt for lime, is plainly to be seen in the quarries in the Downton drive, and a more instructive walk cannot be taken than that leading through the Whitbatch woods to Hayton, Sutton, and Bouldon. Indeed, it is to this ground that I wish to direct the special attention of travelling geologists, for I cannot think it has had full justice done to its merits. Pteraspis is not uncommon in fragments among the tilestones in the great quarry on the west side of the drive to the Hall—by the way, there is a band of corn- ROBERTS—DISTRIBUTION OF CEPHALASPIS AND PTERASPIS. 107 stone interstratified, which must not be confounded with the true Old Red cornstone which is quarried and tunnelled into beyond this quarry—and I have lately met with some bits of fish-armour, with cunningly convoluted striz, fragments of a related though, as yet, undescribed genus. These also occur in a brown-red coarse grit, at the Wall Hills, near Ledbury, though higher in stratigraphical position. I have said that through the Whitbatch portal we enter a very fine field of research, but our route must be advisedly taken ; and I do not recommend another halt in our march until we have left Down- ton Hall and its woods behind us, and are looking down from the high grounds of Hayton, upon the beautiful dale of the Corve. If we trace northward from Upper Hayton the lines of cornstone in out- crop parallel to the course of the Dale, we shall come to some notable exposures. At some points, Hayton’s Bent, for example, they are cupriferous, though the poorness of the ore obtained, (a carbonate), has yielded but little copper, and failure has attended the works. And at another spot, near the farm-buildings of Downton Hall, they have yielded an ore of lead, in the well-known form of cubic galena. But it is for fishes we are searching, not metals. There is a small quarry ina field at the top of Hayton, which one would think a terrible place from its being called the “Devil’s mouth,” but there is nothing alarming about its appearance, nor has it any strange connections that I could see, save its treasures of Cephalaspid fish. I think I never saw Pteraspis Lloydii of equal size to those I have taken in this quarry, though I could meet with no other species. The stone is here a fine-grained light-coloured sand-rock, inter- stratified with true cornstone. Two miles east of this place, in the Upper Cornstones of Hopton Cangeford, the monarch of the Cepha- laspides in point of size, the great C. asterolepis, was found by Dr. Harley. More of this noble fellow when we mount up to him in time, and ascending order of beds. On the same horizon, and yielding more or less evidence of their former life are the cornstones of Hall’s Barn, near Kidderminster, and of Cradley, near Malvern. In both places I have found frag- ments of Cephalaspis and Pteraspis in abundance; but I need hardly remind the collecting geologist that good scutes are of very unfrequent occurrence; the majority of specimens having been laid with the breccia- like gravel, whose weight and unequal pressure were enough, even if motionless and undisturbed by currents, to have broken up the shell- like plates. And in fact such an amount of grinding did actually take place among the shallows and pebble-reaches of the Old Red lagoons, that more than one layer of coarse grit lying above the lower cornstone is seen by a lens to be crowded with blue and purple atoms of fish-shell, the triturated remains of many a good Pteraspis. Steering north, with a slight easterly inclination, from the Hayton quarry, we shall find several breakages into the lower cornstones, near the apex of the ridge, at Sutton and Bouldon and Tugford. Pteraspidean plates are to be found at each of these places, and a halt 108 THE GEOLOGIST. may be advantageously made at every quarry. The Sutton quarry is — well worth staying at, for here the head-plates of Pteraspisare offrequent — occurrence, and are much better preserved than elsewhere, phosphate of iron having coloured them blue and purple, and chemically fixed the outer striated layer of shell—so seldom found in position—to the internal cancellated and filmy ones. At Bouldon too, in the quarry near the mill, Pteraspis is not unfrequent; but the cornstone is coarser, made up of larger and more angular pebbles, and the fossils have suffered many breakages from being laid in their company. On the opposite side of the dale, good Pteraspides have, I believe, been found at Norton, a small village nearly opposite to Hayton; and if we turn eastward from that point, and skirt the foot of the Titterstone Hill, we shall get some specimens of much interest from a quarry near Farlow. Indeed, the finest specimen of P. rostratus I ever saw, came from a sandstone rock occurring with cornstones, near the forge in that village. There is another good exposure of fish-bearing Old Red which has had scant justice done to it—the beautiful country lying north of Brom- yard. At Hinston and Acton Beauchamp, near this town, Cephalaspis Salweyt has been met with. This is a large species, having its enamel layer covered with “pearly drop-lke tubercles” of small size, which, together with its other distinct characteristics of shape and ornamen- tation are described by Mr. Harley, in the Quart. Journ. Geol. Soe., vol. xv., p. 504. I think it likely that the Upper Cornstones occur near Tedstone Delamere, though I have been unable to verify this by a visit. This hard brecciated band is well worth searching for, as it contains in the two openings made into it, of which I am aware, that very beau- tiful species, Cephalaspis asterolepis—the monarch, by virtue of size and ornamentation, of the “ Buckler-heads.” A short memoir is given by Mr. Harley, in the Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xv., p. 503, which, as we learn from a note appended, will be incorporated with the description of Cephalaspides to be published by the Geological Survey. The outer surface of the head-shield possessed by this regal fish is ornamented by tubercles, variable in size, but larger than those of C. Salweyi. But the most wonderful structure is that of the immer plate—borrowing the words of Mr. Harley—“ It presents lacune and long branching canaliculi precisely resembling those of human bone. Many of these are completely injected with a transparent blood-red material ; and so beautifully are they thus displayed, that one ignorant of the structure of bone would be able to apprehend it by a glance at a minute part of this ancient fragment. So wonderfully indeed has nature treasured up her secrets in this disentombed relic of a time so distant as to be incalculable, that she distinctly reveals in their — minutest details the structure of canals rot more than the one fifty- thousandth of an inch in diameter, and such as defy the skill of the anatomist to inject.” Several good specimens of OC. asterolepis have been from time to time obtained by me from an exposure of the Upper Cornstones at Heightington, near Bewdley. But the mine is now NOTES AND QUERIES. 109 exhausted ; for my good friend, Mr. Baugh, of Bewdley, who has followed up my researches in Worcestershire by constant and unwearied attention, assures me that no other specimens can be got from the stone brought up from the now filled-up quarry. Less is known about the tuberculated Cephalaspides than of those whose head-shield is ornamented by scale-like area,marked out by the out-cropping ofminute vascular canals, entering the disk from beneath, and exhausting them- selves upon its surface. This true reading ofthe external appearance of C. Lyellit is contained in a paper by Prof. Huxley, in the Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xiv., p. 270. Equally careful and minute is the description there given of the layers which unite to form.the cephalic shield of Pteraspis. Briefly their characters may be thus given—the innermost layer is a thin delicate lamina of enamel, some- what nacreous, and occasionally tinged with colour; the middle layer is composed of vertical plates of like substance, so arranged as to enclose polygonal cells, whose summits or external apertures are closed by an excessively delicate filmy layer, minutely reticulated ; and lastly the outer plate consists of a hard layer, strongly ridged, whose summits are turned outwards. In one species I have observed the external edges of these ridges to be minutely toothed. Most of the characters of this triple armour are shown in the annexed sketch of Pteraspis. Thus I have briefly called attention to the occurrence of these fishes in several places, though their condition is usually fragmentary, in the Old Red of England. And so, we bid our adieus to these shield-bearing ancients; but only that we may meet them elsewhere, and obtain from them in the field their willing tribute to our scientific treasury. Much has been written about them, but more remains to be said. And while the story yet to be told is in the careful keeping of an accurate naturalist, any collector who can find and contribute a readable frag- ment may be proud of being associated, not only with a memoir of the earliest known fish, but also with that which dignifies the study of Cephalaspis and Pteraspis—the history of the first appearance of vertebrated life. NOTES AND QUERIES. TERTIARY StRaTA IN Kent.—Dear Srr,—lIt has been aptly said by one of your correspondents that deep railway-cuttings, though presenting difficulties to the engineer, are great hina to the geologist ; and the sections exposed in the new London, Chatham, and Dover Railway, are particularly interesting in showing the geological features of East Kent. As one who has taken deep interest in the geology of the county, and has studied these cuttings, particularly that over the chalk near Canterbury, at Beakesbourn, perhaps I may be permitted to give ashort account of them, through the medium of your valuable journal. 110 Geological Sections on the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway, between Canterbury and Beaksbourne, Barton bridge. Bridge. Fig. 1. Dover Road, crossing. No. 2 cutting. No. 1 cutting. a No. 3 cutting. THE GEOLOGIST. To those readers who may not have studied the geology of Kent, I may state that our principal knowledge of the Lower Tertiary formations there are derived from those excellent papers on the Thanet sands, and the Woolwich series by Mr. Prestwich, in the Geolo- gical Society’s Journal; and it will be remembered that these sands are the British representatives of the Lowest Tertiary or Lower Eocene deposits: These series are abundantly exhibited overlying the chalk in the railway-cut- tings between Woolwich and Canter- bury. The lowest more particularly in the cuttings between Canterbury and % Beakesbourne, which I willnow describe. The London, Chatham, and Dover Railway, after crossing the valley of the Stour, passes to the south-east of Can- terbury, and the first cuttmgs are through chalk. It crosses the Dover road at about a quarter of a mile south- east of che town; the depth of the cut- ting in the chalk bemg about ‘twenty feet—that is to say, there is a depth of about fifteen feet of chalk, and over it a depth of five feet of brick-earth (post- Phocene). Between the chalk and the brick-earth is a stratum of irregular flmts, about six inches in depth, as shown in the accompanying diagram. In No. 1, @ represents the chalk; 6 the flint stratum; and ¢ the drift. In No. 2 cutting, ¢ represents the drift, and da stratum of sand of ochreous colour, having a thin stratum of iron- stone, supposed by me to represent the Woolwich sands. In No 8 cutting, ¢ represents the drift; d the Woolwich sands; e the glauconite; f the grey plastic marl. These two last represent the Thanet sands of Prestwich; but seem to differ in their lithological cha- racter from those described by him. There is nothing particularly worthy of note ine and d; but stratum e is composed of an indurate greenish sandstone, im its upper portions ap- proaching in colour to the ochreous sand at d, having chertstone inter- spersed. This sandstone is very hard in places; but not in large blocks. It appears split into perpendicular and transverse sections, and abounds in Chalk beyond this. Fig, 2.—Beaksbourne Cutting.—f, Gravel; g, Sand; h, Peat. NOTES AND QUERIES. Lit shells; the characteristic one of which is Pholadomya cuneata. This sand- stone does not effervesce with acids, except in portions which show evident traces of shells. Beneath this at f we have grey or blue marl, the upper portion immediately under the sandstone beg mostly composed of a green sand abounding in shells much like Cyprina Morrisii. This rock passes into a tenaceous grey plastic clay, very Cdl and possessing a complete conchoidal fracture. ‘This grey marl is very distinct in colour and appearance from the green sandstone above; it abounds in lignite and iron pyrites. The depth of the Beakesbourne cutting is about thirty-five feet. The average depth of stratum J is about eighteen feet, of e about ten feet. The fossils found in the green sandstone, e, consist of Pholadomya cuneata, Pholadomya Koninckit, Cucullea decussata, or C. crussatina; small Corbula (?), Cytherea, Cyprina, Turritella, Natica, Glycimeris and Panopea in casts ; fossil fruits ; several casts of Pholadomya, differing from most already described ; some Echinanthus, or Echinoderm. In the grey marl, F, were found Pholadomya margaritacea (?), Rostellaria, Cyprina Morrisiit, Natica, Pinna, Tellina; also a supposed Venericardia. Several curiously cylindrical bodies resembling Calamites, lobsters’ claws, &c.* From the organic remains found in these cuttings we should have no difficulty in referring them to the Thanet sands of Prestwich, bat they seem to differ in lithological character, and approach very closely to those sections described by Sir Charles Lyell, as occurring at Tournay, under the term of Glauconite, and grey marl, and classed in Belgium as the Lower Landinian. It has been surmised that these formations in Belgium were represented in Britain by the Thanet sands ; and these sections I have described would seem to warrant the conclusion. I have attentively read Mr. Prestwich’s paper on the Thanet sands ; but do not find that he has described any portion which exactly corres- ponds with these sections. He speaks of the Thanet sands as to their lithologic character, and describes them as “consisting essentially of a base of a light- coloured quartose sand, mixed in its lower beds more especially with more or less argillaceous matter, but zever passing into distinct clay.” ‘The argillaceous matter is usually light-coloured, and does not therefore colour the a merely giving a certain amount of cohesion, so that when dug the beds are sometimes semi-indurated. In some places moreover, the clay with which the sands are mixed is dark coloured, as in the lower beds at Pegwell and Herne Bay.” The sands described as dark coloured by Mr. Prestwich, are for the most part not accessible, being below low-water, or obscured by recent deposits ; and it must be remembered that the sands at Reculver are represented as being seventy feet down to the chalk, though only twenty-five feet of them are exposed. It would thus be seen that Mr. Prestwich’s description would only refer to the upper part, and this the least considerable. However this may be, I believe that there is much yet to be learnt of this important geological forma- tion, and these cuttings I have been describing eel reward the search of the diligent geologist. Before concluding, I may add that I have had the oppor- tunity of observing the lower beds of the Thanet sands, having sunk a well at Stourmouth, passing through the Thanet sands down to the chalk, which I reached at a depth of one hundred and forty feet from the surface, and a depth of one hundred feet from the lowest bed of sand; so that this dark coloured blue clay, which I term the basement bed of the Thanet sand is of considerable * Tt is not to be supposed that this is anything like a complete list of the fossils found in these cuttings, but most of those I have had an opportunity of examining; and the difficulty attending the correct determination of species from casts and shells in which the hinge is not exposed, renders the correct naming of these Sage ere | so inexperienced geologist as I am, a matter of great difficulty. I, therefore, with great diffidence give the names as an approximation of the truth.—G, D. 112 THE GEOLOGIST. thickness, and would more deserve the name of plastic clay. I have reason to believe, moreover, that this deposit is not always present; as I have observed, only a slight trace of it in a section that is exposed, of the Thanet sands at Wingham, where the section exhibited reaches to the chalk.—GrorcEe DowKER, Stourmouth House, Wingham, Kent. ' ApHEeMAR’s THEORY.—In“‘ The Geologist” for January, there appears in the “Notes and Queries,’ “ An ‘Early English’ View of Adhemar’s Theory.” Allow me to call your attention to a work, of which I copy below the title page. “ An Essay on the Physico-Astronomical causes of Changes on the Harth’s Surface,” by Sir Richard Phillips. With preface by Willm. Devonshire Saull, F.G.S., &e. Published by Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, 1832. A note shows it was “First published in the Monthly Magazine, in 1812, and re-printed with other essaysin 1821.” The first publication, in 1812, was evidently the Maga- zine “article” from which your correspondent quotes.—C. K. Bones or THE Dopo.—At a meeting of the Zoological Society, Dec. 11th, Mr. A. Newton noticed the discovery of some bones of the dodo in the Mauritius. GEOLOGICAL Excursions To THE CHANNEL IsLANDs.—As comparatively little is known of the geology of these extremely interesting islands, a few words on the subject, perhaps, may not be unacceptable to the readers of “THE Grotocist.” The tourist, embarking either at Southampton or Weymouth, will, on arriving at any one of the Channel Isles, be struck at once with the difference in the geological character of the rocks arouud him to that of those he has but the day before left behind him; and on closer examination he will perceive, instead of the low Tertiary cliffs of the Isle of Wight and its vicinity, or the oolitic crags of Portland, that he is surrounded by mica-schist, granite, and syenite, or other primary non-fossiliferous rocks. No true organic remains: there are within his reach, and during his stay in these islands he must content himself with specimens of rocks and minerals. It is my intention therefore to bring before my readers, in a few geological excursions, the principal features of interest in these islands, hitherto almost unexplored by the geologist: To begin with Jersey—the largest and most important of the group. After passing by the low sandy shore—where, by the bye an important and comparatively recent geological change has taken place, which will be here- after spoken of—and the tall granitic cliffs on the south-western side, which have been here and there excavated into caverns by the action of the sea, the traveller will arrive at the chief town, namely, St. Helier’s, and on landing will see on his right hand a fortress, which is built on a lofty rock of syenite. The pier on which he will land is made of a beautiful pink or reddish-coloured granite, which is extensively quarried on the opposite side of the island, at a place called Mont Mado, where great crystals are occasionally found in the granite quarries; but these are of rare occurrence. The granite here worked varies in colour im the different quarries ; some is of the reddish variety above- mentioned, some is grey, and some of a yellowish tint.* The first place worthy of notice to which I would introduce my readers is the north-western point of the low flat sandy bay before mentioned, where it was stated an important geological change appears to have taken place. Tradition asserts that in this bay of St. Quen’s there formerly was a large forest extending far out where the sea now is, and which ages ago was buried beneath its waves. But let us inquire: into this statement : in the the first place, there are landowners who even to this day pay rent for land which their ancestors formerly possessed in this forest. At .low water, during spring tides, if search be made, stumps of oak trees can be found firmly imbedded in the sand; these show, at any rate, that although ; s ee. T believe, to oxide of iron. There is only one narrow vein of this kind found in this is : NOTES AND QUERIES. 1138 the extent of the forest may have been greatly exaggerated in these traditions, yet that in a former age there were decidedly trees growing there; and that the sea has encroached, as I believe it still continues to do, on the land. I have no doubt that if search was made peat would be discovered under the sand, as is the case in a similar locality at Vason Bay, Guernsey, which I will speak of hereafter, where filbert-nuts and vegetable remains are found, just as in the peat- deposits in Ireland and other places. From this spot the rugged cliffs of the northern shore commence extending onward for about twelve miles: they are granitic; but veins of syenite, quartz, felspar, and porphyry everywhere intersect the granite. On this coast there are numerous quarries of the granite already mentioned at Mont Mado; also some porphyry quarries at a place called Fremont. The stone here looks almost as white as chalk; but on being broken it is often curiously stained with oxide of iron. If after passing these quarries the road is taken to the left, it will pr over the cliffs to Bowlay Bay, which is a very interesting locality to the eologist. ' ; ee commences the curious conglomerate, or pudding-stone, which extends along the eastern coast. It consists of fragments of rocks cemented together with an argillaceous paste containing oxide of iron. In this vein it occurs of a beautiful green colour. Here, too, numerous pieces of a compact green felspar are to be found strewed over the beach in various directions. The conglomerate extends along the shore as far as St. Catharine’s Bay, where it abruptly ceases, and joms the porphyritic rocks which form the coastline as far as Groutville Bay, where the schistose rocks, forming the southern portion of the island, commence. On the road near Gorey one of those singular Druidical cromlechs will be seen, of which there are several in the island. In these, human bones, and even entire skeletons, amulets, flint-implements, celts, cleavers, ashes, and pieces of pottery, have from time to time been discovered. Beds of amygdaloid are found in the island, which is much used for building- purposes. In many of the syenite quarries, on the surface of the stone, slight traces of binoxide of manganese have been found. Green porphyry is also quarried in some parts of the island. The following is a list of the principal minerals which have been found in the various parts of the island of Jersey. Iron-pyrites; oxide of iron; binoxide of manganese ; copper-pyrites; quartz; epidote; carbonate of lead; felspar; hornblende; titanium, The geology of the island of Guernsey is more varied, and consequently more interesting than that of Jersey; but I can only briefly notice a few of the most striking points init. The southern part of the oe rises to the greatest height, and consists chiefly of gneiss and other similar rocks; the western side is principally syenitic. Granite makes its appearance at the northern extremity; then hornblende (both schistose and amorphous) follows on the eastern side; syenite appearing here and there. ‘The town of St. Peter-Pont is situated in a valley, “aise the junction of the syenite and gneiss. There serpentine is found; also taleose schist. A blue grey variety of granite is extensively quarried and much used for building-purposes; and veins of that curious mineral, “graphic granite,” are found in the island. The rocky scenery of the southern cliffs is extremely grand and magnificent ; and there are some curiously shaped rocks at a place called Moulin Huet. These appear to be of a schistose character ; and on account of the decomposition of the rock by the inflwence of sea and air, numerous minute cones have been formed, and the disturbed portions of stone lying about in every direction give a very picturesque appearance to the scene. In the parish of Torteval trap is found, veining the gneissic rocks, and presenting the usual terrace-like appearance. Small and narrow veins of crystalline carbonate of lime are found in the gneiss, VOL. Iv. a 114 THE GEOLOGIST. but these are very scarce. The following minerals have been found in this district by a local geologist. Sulphate of iron, mundic, specular iron-ore, sulphuret and the black and green carbonates of copper, carbonate of iron, jron-ore, brown and pearl spar, sulphuret of lead, carbonate of lead, sulphuret of manganese, epidote, schorlite, actinolite, prehonite, steatite, asbestus, tale, and pot-stone. ; ’ On the western side of the island there is a bay where an extensive peat-bed was discovered not many years since. It happened thus: after a heavy gale, masses of wood and peat were seen floating about, and several pieces were’ stranded by the force of the waves on the shore; the sand and shingle which form the sea-bottom having been removed by the fury of the storm, these beds of peat, which lie exactly below them, were thus exposed and portions uplifted, which to the astonishment of the islanders were strewed over their shores. «Trunks of full-sized trees, accompanied by the wreck of humbler plants, which once carpetted the meadows where they grew, roots and rushes, surrounded by moss, gave evidence of the rank luxurianee of the locality. The compression of the trunks and boughs exhibit the first indication of that flattened form which all fossil plants undergo, by the supermeumbent pressure durmg the slow’ decomposition of the vegetable fibre, without the eomplete destruction of the texture of the wood. The trees were overspread with coralines, fuci, and sertularie ; and riddled with the numerous perforations of three species of Pholas, P. dactylus, P. candida, end P. parva, the dead shells of which were found in their holes. Pieces of pottery, stone-implements, teeth of horses and’ hogs, have likewise been discovered in the peat.”* This peat is used for fuel, and is called by the natives “ gorban’” (eorban, 7. e., a gift). From the position and appearance of this peat, we may conclude that an extensive forest once extended along a great part of the western shores of Guernsey, and that the sea has gradually encroached on the land at this side of the island; and it is well known that part of Guernsey, called the “ Braye du Val,” was only prevented from being swallowed up by the sea by means of an embankment made near the Val church in the year 1808; for the encroach- ments of the sea over this tract of land became yearly more and more apparent. The shores of this part of the island are low and sandy, everywhere dotted with little hillocks of drifted sand. Druidical cromlechs are here very abundant, in which many curious relies of antiquity have been discovered. The largest cromlech is composed of five cumbent stones of immense weight, covering an area of twenty-nine feet long and twelve wide; in this were found many human teeth and bones, and some entire earthern vessels. There are several other “druidical temples” in the vicinity of ’ Ancressé. On the south-western side of Guernsey there is a rocky islet called Lihon, which is accessible to the pedestrian at low water; but at high tide must be reached by means of a- boat. On account of the beds of gravel, which here repose on the granite, as also from marks of a supposed ancient sea-margin on the rocks, some have imagined that the present elevation of the district is much higher than formerly ; these layers of gravel have been accounted for, however, as having been washed by rivulets and rain from the high southern lands of Guernsey down to this lower part of the island; but there still remains the marks on the rocks at Lihon to be accounted for. There is a similar appearance of a raised sea-beach on the north-western coast, near a place called “ Paradis.” The islet of Lihon consists chiefly of gneissic rocks, traversed in some places by vems of felspar. There are the remains of an ancient priory; and in the rocks on the shore of this island are to be seen two curious natural basins— scooped out of the rock by the violence of the sea — which tradition asserts * Extract from a letter of Mr. Jukes to the “ Guernsey Star.’’ NOTES AND QUERIES. 115 were used as baths by the nuns of the convent of Lihon. A similar excavation occurs near Gréve de Lecgq, in Jersey. Situated about seven miles from Guernsey, and twelve from Jersey, lies the beautiful little island of Sark. This island is about three miles and a half im length, and one and a half in breadth. Although small, there are a great many objects of interest in it. It is divided into two parts, Great and Little Sark, connected only by a tall and narrow pass, called the Coupée. On the west side of Sark there lies another still smaller island, called Brechon, or “TIsle des Marchands,” which is divided from Sark by the Guilot stream, or channel ; this island is about three-fourths of a mile in length, and half a mile broad. Granite _and syenite, as usual, form the basis or lowest rock, on which a great variety of the metamorphic rocks repose, forming the body of the island. The granite makes its appearance at the two extremities of the island ; then syenite follows, in which on the southern side many mineral veins exist, and at a place called Port Gorey, in Little Sark, mines of silver were for some time worked; but the amount raised was not considered sufficient to defray the expenses of the working, so they were after some time entirely abandoned. A great variety of minerals were found in these mines, amongst which were muriate, chloride, and sul- phuret of silver, carbonate, sulphide, sulphuret, and phosphate of lead, carbonate and sulphuret of copper, sulphuret of antimony, and antimoniferous . galena, The beautiful mineral, ruby silver, was also found, and veins and crystals of carbonate of lime. Heaps of the silver ore still remain scattered, about near the mouths of the shafts, where good specimens can be obtained. At the time the mines were abandoned the amount of silver which was raised was upwards of twenty-eight thousand ounces, besides a great deal of copper and lead. At the Coupée, before mentioned, there is a vein of porcelain-clay, about eleven feet in thickness, which appears to have proceeded from the decomposi- tion of the granite. This is mostly white, but oxide of iron (red, purple, and yellow), and veins of quartz, intersect it in many parts. The rocks in this locality are of mica-schist, and at a place called “Le Pont du Moulin” they assume an interesting appearance, on account of their horizontal stratification, this is particularly remarkable in three masses of rocks, called the Alterns (Les Antelets), near this spot. Saxa, vocant Itali, nudiis que in fluctibus aras.—Virein. These singular looking masses stand out alone, some distance from the shore, and look like piles of masonry, or some artificial structure. Probably they were the buttresses of a natural arch which has been washed away by the sea. On approaching the northern point the original granite again makes its appearance, il on the eastern side of the island vems of trap, greenstone, and quartz occur. Porphyry too is found near Le Gréve ; the quartz sometimes is found of a pink colour, somewhat resembling the rose or milk quartz so abundant in Norway and Sweden. Pot-stone, or lapis ollaris, is found near Havre Gosslin, and is used by the inhabitants in making vessels for domestic use, as it can easily be cut -with a knife. Tale, hornblende, actinolite, and chlorite are also found. The island of Brechon, or Isle des Marchands, consists chiefly of gneiss; but veins of different rocks occur, and here a mineral lode was discovered and worked with some success; but this also was finally abandoned. Copper was the principal metal found there. Another metal lode was discovered at Le Pot. In Little Sark, in many of the caves metallic traces are discernible : iron pyrites is found in some of them. I cannot conclude these remarks on the geology of these islands without some notice of the curious caverns found in many of the cliffs, called by the natives “creux.” These are crater-shaped cavities, having generally steep rocky sides 116 THE GEOLOGIST. above, and in all cases a tunnel which communicates with the beach ee The tunnel, probably, was formerly the cave, the top or ceiling of which giving way, produced the curious tumel-shaped appearance as seen from above. There are several of these; one near Sorel, in Jersey, called Le creux du vis,” and two in Sark, called “Le creux terrible,” and “ Le Pot, being among the most remarkable. There are many other ordinary shaped caves in all the islands, produced both by the action of the sea on the softer strata, and by the first great upheaval tins a raised these islands from the ocean.—J. H. Mac- sTER, Stoke Goldington. , ba AT DONALD’S Hitt, TRELAND.—DeEarR S1r,—As any fact which eluci- dates the occurrence of osseous remains in what is called “The Drift,” and the probable age or history of that deposit as determined by such collateral evidence, is at present of especial interest to geologists, the accompanymg sketch and remarks, taken from one of my note books, wi'l, I am sure, interest you. Surface, with soil. | | | | ) | | | | MD: h y) 7 HL) in li Uh 1 4 on Me Quarry in Chalk, or ‘‘ White Limestone,” at the base of the Basalt, 700 feet above the sea. South flank of Donald’s Hill, townland of Kilhoyle, co. Derry : (sheet 17, Ord. map), 1, Drift clay, formed by the disintegration of the basalt. 2, Basalt, compact at top, becoming soft and earthy below, and resembling a variegated shaly sandstone. 3, et <a containing sub-angular lumps of red and grey (chalk-drift, below the bagalt). 4, Upper chalk with flints, hardened to a compact limestone with conchoidal fracture. 5, Layers of flint. A A, Base line of recent drift. B B, Hollows in the surface of the chalk, containing fragments of deer’s horns and bones. On the southern flanks of Donald’s Hill, county of Derry, town-land of Kilhoyle, and at an elevation of seven hundred feet above the sea, a large quarry was opened many years back, in the hard, or as it is called by geologists, “altered chalk,” known locally as “‘ white limestone,” at the very limit of the escarpment of superincumbent basalt which covers the entire remaining upper portion of the mountain. The chalk, which, as usual in the counties of Derry and Antrim, resembles a close-grained compact white marble, with a conchoidal fracture—is here, as elsewhere, overlaid by a stratum of drifted sub-angular flmt shingle, enclosed in what was once chalk mud; but which is now nearly as hard as the chalk itself. On this ancient chalk-drift the basalt rests—the junc- NOTES AND QUERIES. Te tion between the two being sharply and clearly defined, (vide right hand side of the sketch). The cutting afforded by this quarry shows that the basalt, the ancient chalk- drift, and the chalk itself, have been denuded; and a layer of dark brown clay, formed apparently exclusively of disintegrated basalt, spread over all to the depth of eight feet. The surface of the chalk beneath its ancient flint drift, as well as the more recent basalt clay deposit, has been worn into hollows and cavities of variable width and depth; and in those filled by the basalt clay, the quarrymen frequently find the fragments of deer’s horns ee bones. (See left hand side of sketch at b, b). With regard to the probable age of this drift basalt clay, there are some who may probably suppose that it is comparatively recent ; and the product of rain sox snow wearing away and washing down the basalt from the Eig lands of the mountain on to its flanks. Such would be a hasty conclusion. Rain acting on disintegrating rock does not deposit its sediment, or fine detritus, on the flanks of hills; but carries them by the floating power and velocity of its waters to the lowest lands of the plains, and eventually to the bed of the ocean. If that was the origin of the deposit, its formation should be still progressing ; but it is very evident that the contrary is the case. On carefully studying the facts presented to us in this quarry, it is clear that the era of the last great denudation was drawing to a close before the formation of this basalt clay, which must have been deposited as mud at the bottom of possibly a shallow sea or estuary. It belongs therefore to the Glacial or Escar Drift, which bears the same relation to the other rocks as this clay does to those beneath it. The horns of the deer, and bones of the same animal, or of others, may have been washed into the sea, and swept by tides and currents on to this bank of silt, through which they sunk till they rested on the surface of the chalk beneath. If this supposition be true, and I see no reason to question its correctness, we have evidence here to show that deer, and very possible other animals, existed in these latitudes, while the land presented a very different configuration to that which it now has; and a large portion of what 1s now the north of Ire- land was more than seven hundred feet lower than at present, and therefore sub- merged beneath the level of the sea—Truly yours, Gzo. V. Du Noyrr, Dublin. DITHYROCARIAN CRUSTACEAN REMAINS aT PorTMADOC.—Sr1r,—Allow me to inform your readers that the “ New Crustacean form allied to Dithyrocarus,” referred to in your last number, page 74, occurs in this neighbourhood (Port- madoc), and has recently been collected by me from the lower Lingula beds at Wern. My specimen is the exact size of your woodcut, which is rather larger than the Skiddaw specimens lately sent me by Mr. Gregory, of 3, King William Street, Strand, who has, I understand, some very fine examples.—l am, Sir, yours obediently, Jonn Asn, Portmadoc. Curious GrotocicaL Fact.—In a field, the property of Mr. Renton, situate a short distance from the point where the Leeds and Liverpool Canal is crossed by the Midland Company’s railway, at Idle, near Bradford, is a considerable lull, or piece of rising ground, which has been noticed to be gradually attaining greater elevation during a period extending over the last thirty years. ‘Lhere are even young men who remember the field being quite level, whereas now there is a mound near the middle of it. The cause of this singular elevation has given rise to much speculation. Some persons suppose that it is owing to the upward pressure of water in the bowels of the earth—* Times,” Nov. 22, 1860. What does this mean?—QUERIST. We do not know the hill referred to, but we should think from the above 118 THE GEOLOGIST. aragraph that the rise of the ground mentioned was caused by some neigh- ouring hill or higher land, the weight of which, pressing on soft clay beds, would cause them to rise up, probably at their outcrop. The accompanying diagram will illustrate this action. Ifa limestone hill @ presses by its weight (see downward arrow g) ona clay stra- tum, 4, resting on hard rock, ¢, the Zz <====| effect of the weight must be to com- SS Corres or flatten the clay bed 4. If this at ene ek clay bed can find a vent, which it would naturally do at its outcrop, 2 &, the effect of the pressure would be to cause the clay land to be squeezed out there in the direction of the arrows, 4 ¢; the highest elevation, or crown of the dome of the raised tract (shown by the dotted lines) being at d. This kind of elevation is not uncommon in gault dis- tricts, which are thus pressed up between the Chalk and Lower Greensand.— Ep. GEOL. Fosstts FRoM Outp Rep SanpstoneE at Wairsatce.— Srr,—lt may be interesting to some of your readers to know that I have procured a nearly perfeet Cephalaspis Lyellii, from a quarry of the Old Red Sandstone at Whitbatch, near Ludlow. I believe this to be the most perfect Cephalaspis that has been found in this neighbourhood—I only know of one other specimen showing any portion of the body ; that specimen was procured some years ago, from some men that were breakers of stone for the road near Pontrilas; but the exact locality where it came from is unknown. The quarry at Whitbatch is a very prolific one for Cephalaspides ; and some very fine Pteraspides have been procured from it.— I am, Sir, yours, &c., ALFRED Marston, Cove Street, Ludlow. List of Fossils found in the Old Red Sandstone, in the neighbourhood of Ludlow, By A. Marston. Species. Localities. Cophalaspis- Ly eltt :.. vivir ccxesnveviene Whitbatch, Bouldon. ———— Seley ecreceesccccecenears Oakley Park, &c. ——— asterolepis iricccccccrencens Whitbatch. Onchus, fish-defence .............e0ceeees Whitbateh. Pheraspis rostratus —oiccecccececsescecees Downton Hall drive. Thay MA. sa viii ite oh Re Whitbatch. CeO ick siacgrididatids Ree Bouldon, near Bouldon Hall. Spiny Stem of Tree: .ics iscsi. psweetes Whitbatch, Hucoids, weary: large: .csageveisivvioeles Bouldon. Egeg-packets of Pterygotus ............ Whitbateh. Mish Tracks » ius. dissusmeeuteh lee Bouldon, SKELETON OF A NONDESCRIPT ANIMAL FOUND NEAR Burnos Ayres.—In a book of travels in Spain, published (anonymously) about sixty years ago, the writer, in describing his visit to the museum at Madrid, mentions that “The most remarkable and interesting object in the cabinet of natural history (which occupies a suite of ten rooms), is the skeleton of a nondescript animal which was discovered some years ago, buried about forty feet in a mountain, near Buenos Ayres. The length from its rump to its nose is about thirteen feet: its height a little more than six. The breadth and size of its body are very astonishing; and the collar- and blade-bones are not unlike those of the human species. ‘The legs are uncommonly stout, particularly those behind, which are of such prodigious and wonderful strength that they must have been designed to support, upon occasion, the whole body of the animal reared up; an idea which is rendered more probable from the length of the claw and the solid piece of bone which projects behind, forming a basis to the leg. Whether it REVIEW. 119 was a carnivorous animal or not is still, and will probably always remain, in great doubt. The enormous claws are in favour of such a conclusion; but the evidence of the mouth is against it, which is merely furnished with common grinders, without fangs, or any traces of them, though that part of the skeleton is entirely perfect. The neck is long enough to touch the ground. It is evidently of the cat kind, and appears to have been a sort of gigantic tiger. The breadth of the animal and the solidity of its bones are wonderfully striking.” Can you inform your readers whether the remarkable fossil animal above mentioned is still in the museum at Madrid; and whether it has been seen and described by anyone who (from the great advances made in geology of late years), i$ better qualified to give a more particular and scientific account of it than the writer of these travels >—Qu RY. Errata tn Mr. Prestwicn’s Paper on CriirF Section at MUNDESLEY, Norroik.—At page 70, 9th line, omit reference mark (y); 30th line, for littoralis read littorea. REVIEW. The Cleveland Ironstone. By J. Bewicx. London: John Weale. 1860. In a paper which appears in our pages this month upon the geology of Cleveland, the writer has made a casual reference to the volume before us, by Mr. Bewick, which has very lately appeared from the press; but as it is in- tended to be an exhaustive treatise on the subject, it demands a more particular notice than we might otherwise have bestowed upon it. The volume shows a vast amount of observation amongst the strata of the district, and gives a tediously-minute history of the development of the Lias iron-seams in the Whitby district, where their commercial value appears first to have been recognised. We may date the birth of their importance, indeed, from the year 1838, when the Wylam Iron Company leased the ironstone on the estate of the Marquis of Normanby. Mr. Bewick’s observations, however, are too much confined throughout to what is usually called the “Grosmont district,” which has now been outstripped in point of importance by the dis- coveries in the neighbourhood of Guisborough. When the writer speaks of the fossils of the Lower Lias as “the remains of antediluvian animals which enjoyed life, in all probability, at a date far beyond our chronology,” he will find few geologists to dispute the probability; but when he longs for “some Newton to teach us more than we know of the dirth of matter,’ the probability of his hopes being realized is scarcely so well ounded. In most pages there is work for a judiciously handled pruning-knife ; whilst there are within them the elements of a scientific treatise of the greatest value. The inaccuracies which we notice in the present volume might easily be rectified, and much interesting matter added, which is now wanting. We do not certainly see any reason for “inferring” from any facts which the volume contains, “that the rocks upon which the Lias rests are of a very un- even character,” although such may undoubtedly be the case. When, again, the basaltic dyke, which intersects the district, is referred to as the “probable disturbing element” by which the rocks in Commondale are said to be uplifted on their edges, a glance at the phenomena there exhibited would at once nega- tive such a supposition: on each side of the dyke the strata retain their hori- zontal position, or whatever inclination they may have had previously, without 120 THE GEOLOGIST. any sign of violence or alteration, except such as we should expect from their having formed the walls of a dyke of molten matter. The strata are never either “twisted” or “contorted,” as most would understand the terms, and certainly not, near Dibble Bridge and Westerdale, as Mr. Bewick has deseribed. The seam at Fryup End, which we find there spoken of as the Lias seams which have been opened out and show a thickness of ten feet, is in reality the oolitic seam of the Inferior Oolite immediately below the great sandstone rock, as may be seen in the narrow defile of Crunkley. The Lias beds are, at this par- ticular point, two hundred feet below the surfaee; the seam opened out is analogous to the great Rosedale iron-rock, which is sufficiently explained in the article to which we have above referred. . Mr. Bewick’s plan of colouring green the strata covered by grass, ete., is an unscientific mode of overcoming a trifling difficulty; a short glance would have shown him, for example, that the village of Castleton rests on the Inferior Oolite. The granitic boulders are, in all probability, from Shap Fells, in Westmoreland, and not from Devonshire, as that author suggests. As a proof of Mr. Bewick’s great enthusiasm, we may give his laborious calculations of the aggregate tonnage of iron-ore to be extracted from the whole of Cleveland; the figures are—for they are worth recording—4,820,000,000 tons; which, he adds, will suffice for treble the number of all the furnaces in Great Britain until A.D. 2,540! What will be done in January, 2,541, Mr. Bewick does not add. Such a calculation, however, although taken literally as a mere idle curiosity, will serve to express a practically unlimited supply, whilst we have no doubt but the higher seams wili ere then be better known and more used. The Staiths’ fishermen profess to know to a dozen the number of herrings on their coast, and we must class Mr. Bewick’s calculations with theirs, as pat- terns of exactitude. The map of Cleveland which accompanies the volume we can only admire for its neatness of execution, and express a wish that it had been more accu- rate : since a map of such dimensions ought to be of invaluable service in an examination of the geology of the district. In the first place, the basaltic dyke appears to have been dotted through the country about Danby without the slightest regard to accuracy; from Parke’s Howe, at Fryup, to its appear- ance on the moor above Commondale, it is marked far to the south of its natural line. We notice the oolite colour covering many large tracts where the Lias shales most evidently exist; as, for example, in the Vale of Kemps- withen, and part of Sleddale; the whole of Scugdale, Lownsdaley Northdale (Rosedale), the country near Ingleby Manor, between Little and Great Fryup: at the head of the former, and near Swainby, as well asa large tract near Roseberry. To the south of Guisborough there isa similar error in colour, and countless instances along the sea-coast. The Trias and Lias are divided by a seemingly arbitrary boundary, very wide from the actual one, as near Eston Junction and at Hutton Rudby. The words “German Ocean” might mis- lead a stranger, by commencing, as they do, several miles up the river Tees ; but we shall dismiss our corrections by a disproval of the entire neglect of such vast and important alluvial deposits, as are found at Saltburn, Runswick, Lealholme Bridge, and other places. A geological map, in our opinion, should mark the first geologic series beneath the superficial accumulations, and the one before us, if intended to do so, but ill fulfils the intention. In conclusion, we would recommend all who can to investigate for themselves one of the most interesting parts of England to the geological student. THE GEOLOGIST. APRIL, 1861. AV LECTURE ON “CO A I” ‘ By J. W. Satter, F.G.S. (Continued from page 102.) Ix many respects the plants and animals of the coal differ much from forms now living. It is probable that the greater part of them are even of different groups or families from the existing ones. But the ferns at least show strong traces of affinity. Here and there we meet with the young fern-leaves coiled up as they now lie on the heather, ready to unfold on the return of spring. We all know these “ Bishops’ Fig. 1.—1. Curled up fronds (circinate) of Pecopteris (Brongniart). 2. 3, Fructification of ditto. crooks” that nestle in the bottom of the fern-baskets ; and when I saw a grand specimen in Mrs. Stackhouse Acton’s cabinet (it now graces VOL. IV. Q 135 JHE GEOLOGIST. our museum in Jermyn Street), with the delicate coil of pinne, every leaflet im its place, I almost leaped for joy. It was from the Le Botwood coal-field. There is one figured in this work, vol. iii, p. 460 (but the finder has not yet been told, I think, what his fossil is): it is from South Wales, and a beautiful specimen, U7 a SS , NF Boas aa A = A Se nals, ml eS \ — 4 i boxe D> pe a \ ped 4% N of F ys yE‘o Fig. 2.—Sphenopteris Schlotheimii, a coal-fern from Strasbourg. Our space was too crowded last month to give the necessary figures of the ferns ; and it is but limited now. The leaves or fronds of the delicate Sphenopteris, mentioned p. 101, are very abundant. There are a number of species. 8S. elegans, S. crassa, and especially S. affinis occur in the lower coals, beneath the mountain limestone — of Scotland ;—S. artemisicefolia, S. Honinghausi, 8. linearis, S. trifoliata, are all characteristic of our upper coals, and the two last are found in France and Germany. Our figure represents the Sp. Schlothemmu of Brongniart, a plant that is found in the coal — shales of Strasbourg. SALTER—A CHRISTMAS LECTURE ON COAL. 123 The Adiantites of the Old Red Sandstone, mentioned last month, will be figured, and full descriptions given of it by the officers of the Irish Geological Survey ; it is only, therefore, needful to give a sketch Fig. 3.—Osmunda regalis, living at Killarney. Fig. 4.—Adiantites Hibernicus, fossil in To show the terminal fructificatfon of Kilkenny. To show the lateral spikes the living fern. of fructification in the fossil. figure of it here, especially as it does not actually belong to the coal, though the same genus is found there. We must now pass on from the ferns, and speak of the cylindrical stems so common in the coal. The other plants of the coal, which strike us most, are the fluted stems called Sigillaria. They abound in all the shales, with every kind of varying proportion in the patterns, which nevertheless is of a regular and definité kind. It consists of longitudinal flutings, generally ir right lines, sometimes a little zigzag; and on the surface of the flutings are scars, either round or somewhat kidney-shaped, or hex- agonal—or even double ovals—or purse-shaped, narrower above than below, and always with a couple of dots in them, which are the marks of the vessels that supplied the leaves. For the scars are the bases of the leaves, which are seldom found; they are of a long shape, with a rib down the middle. The stems vary from a few inches broad to three feet in circumference, and specimens have been found that must once have been sixty feet long. They are generally quite flat in the shale, and often broken to pieces; and they are, most generally, covered with a coat of coal. The scars outside the coal-envelope are not quite the same as those which show within, but pretty nearly so. Our figure shows this (Fig. 5). 124 THE GEOLOGIST. The Sigillaria was a tall tree, with a bare trunk regularly pitted by the leaf-scars. It branched at the summit, and bore long narrow leaves, as above said; its fruit is not known. Its internal structure has been examined in some very perfect specimens, by foreign and English bota- nists (fossil-botanists as some folks call them),—Brongniart, Hooker, Dawson, and others. [t is a good deal like the Cycas, known in our green-houses as a Cape plant, but in some respects more like Ferns. Nor is there any living family of plants which tallies with it, though in a rough way it has been supposed by good judges to belong to the great tribe Coniferse—to which our fir-trees, pines, cedars, and junipers belong. Hooker regards it as nearer the club-mosses, and especially near to Lepidodendron. AAS FNC eH EN | alt ty hy J Fig. 5.—Sigillaria.—Internal cast of stem, with portions of the bark, carbonised, id Fig. 6.—Sigillaria—the common coal-tree. Stem, perhaps 15 feet high: with its roots Stigmaria) b- The patterns on the bark differ in all the species, of which no less than fifteen are known in England alone. We have figured two of the more remarkable ; and really they might be used for paper- SALTER—-A CHRISTMAS LECTURE ON COAL. 125 hangings in the studio of the geologist. Who will try copies from nature for this purpose ? y d Nii 9 g | N/K millliy Mel mun " | mills ‘) OW - Ry J9 ili J9 | | 9 | \ G monty 0 i I" iy i Y ny J iq aI | filth Q \) ln qr 4 9 Y) Lj 2 — 2 PF Das SS Fig. 7.—Sigillaria elegans. Patterns of bark Sigillaria. Fig. 8.—Sigillaria Defrancii. Pattern of the markings on the bark. But Sigillaria is not always found lying prostrate. It is very often upright, as it grew; so many instances are known of this that it is almost useless to repeat them. A stump, ten feet high, is figured in Dr. Mantell’s “ Wonders,’’* a book worthy of every young geologist’s ambition. Others have been noticed by Sir Charles Lyell, and a whole forest of short stumps was discovered in 1838, near Chesterfield, during the diggings for a railway. There were no less than forty trees—a few feet apart—on this one spot. South Wales coal-basin, others have been found. In Durham, at Newcastle, and in the Hugh Miller, in his interesting book—“ First Impressions of England and the Eng- =) lish,” (p. 233)—has described his visit to the celebrated Wolver- hampton coal-forest. Here seventy-three stumps, in three tiers, one over another, are closely packed: and three successive forests —on the same spot—seemed to him the best way of accounting for it. Ithink we have a better explanation; but I am not sure of that. But, then, these trees have roots to them ; and the discovery of these roots has opened up a new chapter in the history of coal. Nay, it has deciphered that history; for till Sir W. Logan found that ey coal-bed had its underclay full of roots, and till Mr. W. E. Binney ery , of Manchester, traced these roots (which are called Stigmaria, (fig.), to their connection with the tree, we never truly knew how coal was formed. 2nd Edition.—By T. Rupert Jones, Esq., Vice-Sec. Geol. Society, 1858. 126 THE GEOLOGIST. I ought to have said however, that the bark of the Sigillaria is in general the only part preserved. There was within it only a soft tissue of cells, with a central stem or axis of wood, the latter occupying but a small part of the cylinder. The soft tissue easily disappeared © while fossilizing, or even before the tree fell, for we often find the stump filled with sand, and broken fragments of vegetables mixed within it. In one or two trees of this kind in the sandstone beds of Nova Scotia, Professor Dawson and Sir C. Lyell found a whole colony of centipedes or such like things, with snails and lizards! We must see how this happened when we come to the mode in which coal was deposited. The clay beneath the coal called an “underclay” just as the roof-shale is called “ overclay’—is, as I have said, full of plants. These are the Stigmarie, and our figure above shows what they are like. Nowthe great importance of Sir William’s discovery was. this,—that the only fossil found in the clay is, with the rarest exception, the Stigmaria; and it is invariably present. The fire- clay as it is called, is generally a pure sediment: and close upon it lies the coal, as pure coal as the other is clay. Now if we want to know what plant the coal is made of, we must certainly ask the under- clay where the roots grew; for there, if anywhere, we shall get an answer. Here Mr. Binuey’s discovery comes into play, for if Stigmaria is the root of Sigillaria—and is universal in the fire-clay—then, of course, Sigillaria is universal in the coal. We have seen, too, that fragments of the Sigillaria trees are among the com- monest in the shale that lies above the coal-bed. In truth the trees were higher than the depth of the coal- seam. Thus we may easily conceive that the roots of a tree may be below the coal— which is seldom above a few feet thick—the lower part of its stump fairly im the coal, and its bole and branches all above. Thus it is we find the flattened stems, and thinner branches and leaves, so often in the roof shale. NN There is another tree, Le- Fig. 9.—Pattern of bark (Lepidodendron), pidodendron, whose roots we do not certainly know, but which appears to have grown in the underclay. It is almost as com- mon as Sigillaria, and nearly as large. Perfect specimens have been found, forty feet in length from the soil to the end of the branches. But of course it is the rarest of things to meet with such trees. SALTER—A CHRISTMAS LECTURE ON COAL, 127 Lepidodendron differed from Sigillaria in the arrangement of the leaf-sears, which pack closely in quincunx fashion over the surface. Our sketch shows this. The patterns are equally beautiful and as applicable to pictorial design as in the other case. The diamond shape of the scars will help you easily to recognise fragments. There are many species of these trees. The commonest of all I think is the L. Sternbergu, of which a full length figure is to be found in the revised edition of Dr. Mantell’s excellent book—“ Jones’s Won- ders,” as it ought to be called—p. 749. I have only given you frag- ments of branches, stems, leaves, fruit cones and their seeds or Stem (a), and leaves, catkin (b), seed-vessels (c), and seeds or spores (d) of Lepidodendron., We have added (e) its supposed root Halonia, spores. It is well’ known now that Lepidostrobus (b) is the fruit or catkin of Lepidodendron. The little mountain club- moss, which rears its yellow catkins amid the sheltering boughs of the heather,—its stem clothed with long scale-like leaves,— is the best representative, in England at least, of these old giant forms, as large as forest-trees, which abounded so greatly in the times of the coal. There is yet another plant, so very common in coal-shales, that it ought to be mentioned separately. I meanthe Calamites. We have not space for a figure, and refer you to the book above quoted, p. 736, where the plant is, however, drawn upside down in fig. 3—quite right in figs 1 and 2. The look of these plants is so much that of the horsetail (Equisetum) of our ditches, that it is no wonder ordinary fossil-hunters should take them for blood-relations. * And I have added the Halonia, which I fully believe to be the root of Lepidodendron, 128 THE GEOLOGIST. Yet this plantwas probably nearer to the great trees above-mentioned than anything else we can mention. The stem (or rather pith, for we do not see the stem itself in one case out of a hundred, but only the cast of the pith) is ribbed, and jomted just like Equisetum stems, but very rarely shows any leaves. Its leaves and branches were pro- bably the plants called Asterophyllites and Sphenophyllm, and they look much like the “goose-grass” with which as schoolboys we used to bleed our tongues in sport. These two are very common. Some have broader leaves than others, and an Ame- rican author of repute (Dr. Shumard, I believe) has seen reason to think that they were aquatic plants—that the broad leaves were the floating leaves, and the narrow ones the leaves that grew beneath the water. The common white buttercup which looks so gay in spring time on the ponds will serve to illustrate this supposition. Others do not think it quite a true one. To show how near some of these Calamites approach to the structure of ferns, I give here two cross sections, one of a tree fern, taken from Brongniart’s work (Fig. 11), the other of the plant of a Calamite family (Fig. 12), figured by Dr. Fig. 11.—Section of tree fern, Fig. 12.—Section of one of the Calamite showing the large bundles of tribe, showing the smaller bundles of vessels. vessels surrounding the pith, Fig. 13.—Poriion of cross section magnified. Unger, in a work on the fossil plants of Saxony. Fig 3 shows a portion of one of these cross sections magnified, the bundle of vessels among the cellular tissue. Now then, for some real solid wooded trees—and with these we must finish—for the coal-flora after all was a scanty one compared with living nature. The individuals were abundant enough, but they were of comparatively few families of plants. SALTER—A CHRISTMAS LECTURE ON COAL. 129 Fir trees of one sort or another were abundant in the coal-period, and have been so in every succeeding formation. But here, as in every other case, the coal-trees were different from the modern ones. Now we have abundant spruce, and larch, and fir; junipers, and cypress trees, and yews; and in the tertiary and oolitic times these were common trees. But the Araucaria tribe, to which the graceful Norfolk Island pine belongs, is only to be met with rarely. At least it is confined to a small portion of the globe. In the coal time it was the prevailing form. There is no need to give a drawing of the _ structure of this wood, for it has been given by every author who has written on the coal. Wood is made up long fibres, which fibres communicate with each other by pores. The’ wood of coniferous trees is specially remarkable for the large disks which surround these pores. They are disposed in straight rows, and most of the Conifere have only asinglerow. But the Araucarie have a double row—or more than a double row; and all the coal fir-trees are of this kind. Again there is a remarkable difference between the coal-trees and their living representatives. In no living fir-tree does the pith show of any size, except in quite the young shoots. After that age it gradually diminishes in diameter, or rather does not increase with the growth of the tree, being pressed upon by the successive layers of the a Coniferous wood (Dadoxylon), with its pith, Sterubergia leaves (Cyclopteris), pro- bably of the same coniferous tree; fruit and seeds (Trigonocarpum) of the same. wood, till in a cross cut of a piece of fira mere trace of this substance, so important in the first stages of the young branch, is to be seen. The case is different with the old fir-trees of the coal. Here (accord- ing to the excellent observations of Dr. Williamson, of Manchester), the pith is of enormous size, and retains that size during the after- stages of growth, if it does not actually increase. It was long ago known under the name of Sternbergia, and is often as thick as a large man’s thumb, or even thicker, I have seen some as thick as a child’s wrist, VOL. IV. R 130 THE GEOLOGIST. Dr. Williamson found that this pith was iabe.ded in a wood which was in all respects a true fir-tree, and which bas been known under the name of Dadoxylon. Itis not certain that all the firs belonged to this one genus; most probably they did not. At all events Dadoxylon is a very common coal-fossil. Here then we have the wood and the pith; and let me say that any one who is disposed to examine the contents of his own coal scuttle may do so with advantage, for the charcoal he will find in it shows, under the microscope, a beautiful tissue like that described above. As an opaque object it is very beautiful, and polished slices . sometimes show it equally well. Prof. Queckett, of the College of Surgeons, has distinguished himself for his researches into these tissues, and in the wonderful “'Torbane Hill case,” referred to in the opening of this lecture, his skill was largely called into requisition. But having got the wood, one naturally wishes to find the leaves and seeds. What were they ? Some years back a suspicion entered my mind that the leaves commonly called Oyclopteris might belong to this family of trees. It is true they might be ferns, to which order they have been usually — referred. But there are fir-trees, or at least Coniferze, which have broad leaves very much of the shape of these supposed ferns. Heart- shaped or fan-shaped leaves, with a shorter or longer stalk, and the veins so like that of the fern, that it is difficult to distinguish frag- ments. These are the Salisburia. They are trees well known in our parks and gardens, and there is a noble specimen at Kew. Let anyone compare a figure of the Cyclopteris of the coal with a leaf of the living Salisburia, and he will be struck with the strong resemblance. The possibility of this has of course occurred to those skilled botanists who have written on coal-plants; but none of them have, I think, been rash enough to call the Cyclopteris the leaf of Dadozylon, or to suggest, as I do now, that many of the leaves called Noggerathia, and even some called Adiantites are nothing more or less than leaves of the coniferous trees, which we know abounded in these old forests. It is otherwise with the fruit. Professor Henslow. some time back showed me the fruit of Salisburia, and compared it with the Trigono- carpon from the Manchester coal-sandstone. And Dr. Hooker, by a series of original researches into these coal-nuts (published in the Royal Society’s Transactions), has demonstrated that tsey are the fruits or nuts of coniferous trees, each with a large fleshy envelope like the fruit of the yew. Well then, if Dadoxylon is the common fir-wood of the coal, and Trigonocarpwm the common coal fruit, we need only put two and two together; and if we cannot convince the cautious botanists, I hope I may convince my student readers there is a strong probability that the one is the fruit of the other. Coal pine-trees; coal pine-leaves, and coal pine-fruit! We are getting on. But this is not quite all. The same distinguished botanist to whom I have so often referred (who has shown us the SALTER—A CHRISTMAS LECTURE ON COAL 132 true structure of the Lepidodendron and its seed; and has illustrated the fruit of these old fir-trees), suggested years ago, in the gallery of the Museum of Practical Geology, that. the one supposed flower of the coal belonged to the fir tribe too. Tt is called Antholites, and may, as he admits, certainly be what it was at first described to be—the flower spike of a plant not distantly related to the pine apple! There are some prickly leaves (if they be not fern-stalks) in the coal-shales, which render this possible,—not, I think, probable. But on the other hand these a so-called flowers have no very LABS Z —— regular parts, and are not a bit SS LA like any living ones that I = CZ know. They look to me, as FSY|YS_SZJZJIA7 a _E___== they did to Dr. Hooker when _— = ; GED —— he first examined them, very ——— == like unfolding buds of Coni- Z = — ferze, with somewhat broader —— leaves than we are accustomed ou ' * to see in modern firs or larch, but not broader than many of EE SSS8 “i (Rg SS the yew tribe. As I do not ———————— know that the author I have ~~ named still holds the original opinion, I do not quote him for it; but only give my own., Of the Cycas tribe, so abun~. dant in oolitic times, a few re- PY Sponiferous beds of the Altai Woustains."" -Presentatives occur. They aro not characteristic of the coal, and are rare in England. We give a foreign specimen. And now a few grass-like plants, of whose nature we cannot say much, for want of the fructification, would end the series, had it not been known that they are fungi in the coal! I know but little about them, and will therefore say less ; but there they are—three species. Of the animals of the coal I shall have a little to say next month, when I hope to finish this rather lengthy lecture. I am not tired of it myself, but our young readers may be. 132 THE GEOLOGIST. SOME REMARKS ON MR. DARWIN’S THEORY. By Freprerick Wo.taston Horton, F.G.S. I said that “all the years invent ; Each month is various to present The world with some development.”—Tennyson. A.rHoucH most of my readers will be perfectly acquainted with the theory proposed by Mr. Darwin to account for the various forms of life that we see on the globe, yet, for the sake of clearness, I will briefly enunciate it. Mr. Darwin first shows that individuals of the same species vary one with another. He then shows that, owing to the rapid increase of animal and vege- table life, by which many more are born each year than can possibly survive, there is a continual warfare going on among them for food and other necessaries. This he calls the “struggle for life.” He then shows that if any animal or plant should have, by varia- tion, any organ or property so modified as to give it some advantage over its fellows in the struggle for life, it will, as a general rule, live longer and produce more offspring; and these offspring will have a tendency to inherit the organ or property modified in the same man- ner: but if in one of these offspring the organ should be still further modified, it will give him a like advantage over his brethren, and his offspring again will have a tendency to reproduce the organ in its more modified state; and soon. This he calls *‘ Natural Selection.” Mr. Darwin thinks that this, together with the minor causes of habit, use and disuse, climate, &c., are sufficient to account for all the. various forms of organic life, by the gradual transmutation of one species into another. As all naturalists allow that species vary, it seems that the difference in the opinions of some of them on this subject arise on the question of limits. Are these varieties of species limited, or are they unlimited ? A limiting value of a variable is a quantity to which the variable may approach ever so near, but never reach; if therefore it can -be shown that there is a limiting value to the variation of species, Mr, Darwin’s theory could not be extended beyond that limit. At present no one has been able to assign to it any limits at all; in fact it will be a very difficult thimg to do so, for it would be of no use to prove that any one organ of a particular animal could not change into the rare organ of another particular animal, as it is never supposed that the higher form of life has passed through every lower form; for the same reason that the sep which nourishes one leaf of a tree has not passed through all the other leaves. The way this question has generally been argued is, not by trying to define any one strict limit beyond which variation cannot pass, but eo REMARKS ON MR DARWIN’S THEORY. . ae by trying to show that there are reasons for believing that a hmit does exist somewhere. The following are the most important ones that have been brought forward to this effect. is 2. 3. All varieties made by man, if left to themselves, show a tendency to revert to the original forms; while natural species do not. All varieties made by man interbreed freely, while natural species do not. Species remain constant for immense periods of time, as is proved by the exact resemblance of the mummies of Egypt, and many fossils, to living forms. . Some genera, as Lingula, &., have existed ‘with very little varia- tion from the most ancient times to the present. . Instead of progressing, some animals seem to have degenerated ; as the recent armadillo from the glyptodon, &c. . We have no right to argue on domestic breeds, since they have been chosen on account of their plasticity. I will now give answers that have been made ta these objections. i. 2. 3. It cannot be proved that many of our domestic animals revert to their original forms when left to themselves; for it has always been found impossible to say what their original forms were: but if this was the case, a simple experiment would decide. Recent varieties certainly do show this tendency, because of the extremely short time during which selection has been going on; and the rapidity, owing to artificial causes, in which the change took place. In a wild state the changes progress very slowly by natural causes, and therefore by the time a variety has changed sufficiently to be called a new specics, it has given up all thought (if I may so express myself) of reverting to its original form. “Man can hardly, or only with great difficulty, select any devia- tion of structure, except such as are externally visible, and he rarely cares for what is internal.” Besides, the varieties formed by man have only been in existence for a few thousand years, while natural species have been so for hundreds of thousands; for until they have been formed long enough to deviate markedly from other species they are “only called varieties. The answer to this argument is that they have not yet had time to change, owing to their conditions of life not having been much altered. The mummies of Egypt are perhaps four thousand years old, but Mr. L. Horner, the President of the Geological Society, has shown that man, sufficiently civilized to-manufacture pottery, existed in the valley of the Nile thirteen or fourteen thousand years ago. And the same with the fossils; as we go further back in time we see living forms get rarer and rarer until at last they die out altogether. If a form has managed to exist for a long time without change, it is 134 THE GEOLOGIST. triumphantly produced by the anti-transmutationists; if, on the contrary, it has changed in ever so shght a degree from an extinct form it is called a new species. 4. Suppose a large area covered with sea, and Lingula, &c., spread over it. Now suppose a part of this area to be gradually elevated, the Lingule and other animals living on it would undergo variation to meet the change of conditions ; but those on the stationary area would remain constant. Next suppose the elevated part to sink again: the new forms on it must either die out or change, and the Lingulz would again spread over the whole area; and beg better adapted to those con- ditions, from long residence in them, would kill off, perhaps, some of the new forms. Again, another part of the area might be raised; and so on. ‘The chances are that some of the Lingule would always be on a stationary portion, and thus hand down their offspring with little variation, for any length of time. It is a fact which strongly corroborates this, that nearly all the genera which have a long range in time are inhabitants of the deep sea, and therefore have also a large range 1m space. 5. It is not supposed that the armadillo is descended from the elyptodon; on the contrary the latter seems to have become extinct, and to have left no progeny, while some other form may have been the progenitor of the former. 6. “ On the contrary domestic breeds show all degrees of variation, as the pigeon, dog, &c., on one side, and the cat and goose on the other. Perhaps there is not much difierence of variability in animals, constancy can generally be accounted for ; pigeons can be mated for life, and are kept in large quantities, and therefore vary much; cats ramble at might and cannot be watched, and are kept in small quantities ; donkeys and pea- cocks are also kept in smait-quantities, and the breeding of donkeys is not much cared for; geese are only valued for two purposes, food and feathers, and no pleasure seems to have been felt for different breeds.” Let us now see what reasons there are for supposing that variation is at present unlimited ; or, in other words, that all animals have de- scended from a common prototype. By admitting it to be true we can easily understand— 1. Why species have come into the world slowly and successively: 2. Why “the families of each divlsion (of moluscs) which are least unlike (Orthoceratide and Belemnitide) were respectively the first developed.* 3. Why species have not necessarily changed together, or at the same rate, or in the same degree; yet in the long run all have undergone modification to some extent. * Woodward's “ Recent and Fossil Shells,” p. 417. 14. 15. 16. i 18. 19. 20, 21. 22, 23. REMARKS ON MR. DARWIN’S THEORY. 135 Why the extinction of old forms is the almost inevitable conse- quence of the production of new ones. Why, when a species disappears, it never re-appears (although this is within the range of possibility). Why groups of species increase in number slowly, and endure for unequal periods of time. Why, the more ancient a form is, the more it generally differs from those now living. Why all the forms of life are linked together. Why there is often great difficulty in drawing a line between two species. ; Why, as a general rule, in life on the globe there have been ‘an ascent, and progress in the main.’ . Why the lower forms of life have larger specific existences than the higher ones*. Why the older forms lived unchanged for longer periods of time than the newer ones, + because they were more widely distributed. . Why the deep-sea shells and those of the land and fresh-water enjoy a longer range in time than the littoral species; for the littoral species being confined to narrow zones in depth are much more likely to suffer from elevation or subsidence than those that live in the deep-sea, or on the land and in fresh- water. Why some animals and plants have rudimentary, and some- times useless organs. Why the homologous parts, so different in the adult, are alike in the embryo. Why the embryos of the higher animals resemble, at different stages of their existence, the embryos of the lower animals.t Why “in their infancy the molluscous animals are more alike, both in appearance and habits, than in after life.§”’ Why the limbs, &c., of all animals are formed on the same plan. Why the flowers, branches, &c., of plants and trees are but rudimentary or metamorphosed leaves.|| Why animals very often resemble in colour and appearance the localities which they frequent. Why in geographical distribution there are generic as well as specific centres. Why typical groups and species are widely distributed, while aberrant forms are usually confined to small areas. Why the inhabitants of islands bear some relation to those of the nearest continent. * Owen’s Palzontology, p. 49. +Anniversary Address of Professor Phillips to the Geological Society in Feb. 1860 { Carpenter’s “ Principles of Comparative Physiology,” p. 95. § Woodward’s “ Recent and Fossil Shells,” p. 10. || Lindley’s “* Elements of Botany,” p. 354. ne 136 THE GEOLOGIST. 24, Why the extinct fauna of a country bears a close analogy to the living fauna. . Why the proportion of species increases from the oldest forma- tions to the newest. 26. Why species were more widely distributed formerly than now; for as more species were developed, the more local they must have become. I know of no answers to these arguments; they are simply facts acknowledged by everybody, except perhaps those for which I have given my authority. Taking everything then into consideration, I think that the evidence is greatly in favour of variation being at present unlimited.* The second argument against Mr. Darwin’s theory is that natural selection, although allowed to be a “vera causa” of variation, is not powerful enough to produce the great differences that exist among or- ganic forms ; or, in other words, that the cause is not equal to the effect. The cause may be compared to the power of a machine that has to be increased or diminished according as the time in which it is re- quired to produce a given effect is shortened or lengthened. I believe that no one but a geologist has any conception of the enormous length of time comprehended in the term “ geological period ;” and, although all or nearly all of my readers will be geologists, yet I think that it will perhaps be as well to try to get some very rough idea of it, especially as “time” has been brought forward in answer to other arguments. Mr. Darwin has shown that for long periods of geological time volcanic action has been pretty regular and persistent beneath Chili, and that the average elevation of the coast is about three feet in a century ;¥ but in the “Pampean mud,” im which the remains of Megatherium, Mylodon, &c., are found, is sometimes twelve thousand feet above the level of the sea; this would make its age four hundred thousand yedrs, yet it is only of Pleistocene age, and was formed perhaps since man inhabited the globe. How old then is the Pliocene ? How old the Eocene? How old the chalk? Ten million years is the least that can represent it; and yet it is not more than a twenty-fifth part of the thickness of the sedimentary strata of Great Britain. In such an enormous time, then, how smal! may have been the cause of the gradual change of the lowest form of life into the highest P— much less than a struggle for life or death. * By at present unlimited, I mean that there is no limit between the lowes’ and the highest known forms of life, but beyond the highest there may bea limié to which we are approaching. ‘ t Proceedings of the Geological Society, vol. ii., p. 446, and Darwin’s “ Geology of South America.” London: 1846, . (To be Continued.) Par REMARKS ON CEPHALASPIDES. CEPHALASPIDES OF FORFARSHIRE. C7 ’ 2 oS ess ‘2 s@) Ss ‘> ee! re <7 Ses SS g os oS = s<t C2 bn. i’ a \ ~ a Te Cephalaspis in Mr, Powrie’s collection. Srr,—The communication in your num- ber for this month (March) from Mr. G. Roberts, in which he carefully conducts the enquiring geologist over some of the most interesting Silurian and Old Red Sandstone districts in England, and clearly points out the places where the remains of these curious primeval fishes, the Cephalaspides, are to be looked for, makes me think that a short notice of what Forfarshire has done towards better- ing our acquaintance with at least one of these fishes, the Cephalaspis, may not be<