Ee eer a io % )) 7 as CNS \ / t THE GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. NEW SERIES. DECADE Y. VOL. V. JANUARY—DECEMBER, 1908. 2037459 “GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE Monthly Journal of Geology: WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED en) Gib) © OG, 1 Saree NOS. DXXIIIT TO DXXXIV. EDITED BY HENRY WOODWARD, LL.D., F.RB.S., V.P.Z.S., F.G.S., F.B.MS., LATE OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY; PRESIDENT OF THE PALZZONTOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY 5 if MEMBER OF THE LYCEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, NEW YORK; AND OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, PHILADELPHIA; HONORARY MEMBER OF THE YORKSHIRE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY; OF THE GEOLOGISTS’ ASSOCIATION, LONDON; OF THE INSTITUTION OF MINING AND METALLURGY, LONDON; OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES OF EDINBURGH, GLASGOW, HALIFAX, LIVERPOOL, AND SOUTH AFRICA; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF BELGIUM; OF THE IMPERIAL SOCIETY OF NATURALISTS OF MOSCOW; OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF MONTREAL; AND OF THE MALACOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF BELGIUM. ASSISTED BY WILFRID H. HUDLESTON, M.A., F.BS., F.G.S., F.L.S., F.C.8. GEORGE J. HINDE, Px.D., F.RS., F.GS., &. AND HORACE BOLINGBROKE WOODWARD, F.R.S., F.G.S., &c. NEW SERIES. DECADE V. VOL. V. JANUARY—DECEMBER, 1908. LONDON: MESSRS. DULAU & CO., 37, SOHO SQUARE, W. 1908. dae 4 Wal ; j i tet vi 2 See f. ene ie, «WSR «Aap ee Ue ‘ AC) Se Ganga ie a hae hs | Ce Wiebe (700 | S0RERTFORDE Flt >| = + if Teun) Pele j ie veg « ria? te - eae Nila se 3 j eaten eee ti | ee ee oe “ay PRINTED RY STEPHEN AUSTIN AND SONS, LTD. é ‘12 y Tih 1.49248 7 j ¢ " [« ae PEO Ths io .] é ? s ix I i = Ai ’ Li i ae aa a. ‘ I, here fui f | A ' j aA I Sal ) iy 3 4 , ef i AA e OUNE Sere or | Vee 7; XXI. XXII. XXIII. XXIV. XXY. LIST OF PLATES. Portrait of Sir John Evans, K.C.B., F.R.S. . Map of Towan Head and Newquay, Cornwall . Nun Cove, Newquay, Cornwall Carboniferous Corals Carboniferous Corals Carboniferous Corals Flowing Well, Kharga Oasis, Egypt Portrait of H. C. Sorby, LL.D., F.R.S. Skull and Mandible of Prozewglodon atrox Section of Tooth of Labyrinthodont Reptile Sketch-map of Federated Malay States . Receptaculites, Girvan . Rock Sections, Lurcombe, Newton Abbot Typhloniscus and Zygospira . Croft Quarry, Leicestershire . Bardon Hill and Croft Quarries, Leicestershire New Chalk Crinoids, Seaford Head, Sussex The Pau Valley and Silurian Slates Rock Sections, Gavarnie District, Pyrenees Upper and Lower Old Red Sandstone, Whiting Ness and Seaton Point Upper Old Red Sandstone, Cove Haven, Seaton Bay FACING PAGE 1 Wal Haliserites Dechenianus, Goppert, Silurian, Gippsland, Victoria, Australia Figs. 1-3, end of Left Humerus of Macacus sp., Fresh-water Bed, West Runton, Norfolk; Figs. 4, 5, Horn-core of Gazeila Dawiesii, Hinton, Norwich Crag, Bramerton : Dentition of Cynognathus crateronotus Lebetodiscus Biri. de a ie aa za ‘, OL st a GT ee ts he BRR oe, ec Memare av) eat a 1 Alycia A ae we ie | 1 aa, ee qi Boge oli ere tats cn ' hi Tle lio Daabiadion ol M re) Pm ints goer wa | | rn . | pate. me ee Jeg rien nd ig 1) . . re Ne ted I + Tia am un 4g eee Wat Ty vrs e l ar ae hah in} y \ al tin Cn hy eee ir edt a ie Aa hii ’ en Te i Ta 7 cu ife ie feibiektaw's, loathe iin f , a oie : + 4 ee a caves (ho ae i 4 ag A eae aR ite lef mila ole cee é Sr WS FL A: ara Wer 1 if | estan er iret Cae ) . Mt Poe 7 J torent, eh Lily Notes Wats ‘ } (uoigP ry My Gan tead Mielyst tilt) oes . vay he fy , arn ihn wainilit iT me hee, oyvi ea Ay ' i ; thd Tin awe ta | bebe woe ah , 4itey Pek it ee ee et ae) tl Cee ee »" { [ j . é / , j ( Fu | 7 wi) TRO) 1 es ROPE LE THY etmek Teh bi wate . er as ATLL: ee! Nisa caliente yf > i) oF ae J € ‘ rt " F “(es *. Val i en ’ ‘ ny ‘ oe, Rok Stn weuhonlh Pave SEC WMTAL Teh, tte lapel Al lodges. an 9S beety my tae Tee 4 Ry a a Micahine Ns ch te aye =~ eee ht | RN ye WARY N Wine) potest Jerald vu ‘a ne S} v Y } ,* - RL, A . What Gis walt Pca ce ld eb Ans, 1 a n in ; ' ‘ pel, 4} oi ve Vue) ua) pa : ity a N LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT. Diagrammatic view of cliffs, Headland Hotel, Newquay, Cornwall . Transverse section of Zaphrentis omaliusi; tabula of same represented by contours Map otf Northern Kharga, Eeypt . Section through Kharga Oasis Zaphrentis delanouei (vertical section) Outlines of Zaphrentis konincki Diagrammatic sketch of Raised Beach, Newquay, Cornwall : Right innominate bone of IWyoryctes rapeto, gen. et sp. nov., Forsyth Major . Section Lower Keuper Sandstone, Guy’s Cliff House, Warwick Section on opposite bank of Avon Section in large quarry, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire River-windings, figure-of-8 loop . Deviation of a river towards a tributary Map of Tiverton District Section from Morebath, near Dulverton, to River Clyst . Outlines of Cauninia cornucopie Transverse sections of Caninia cornucopie Left humerus of Dinodocus Mackesoni . Plan of Worgret Hill . Section at Worgret Hill Eastern face of excavation for reservoir at Worgret . Section through the Dorset Syncline, showing position of Bovington Borehole Section showing well, headings, and borings, Bournemouth Waterworks . Cervical vertebra, Scaphonyx Fischeri, A. S. Woodw., gen. et sp. nov. Dorsal vertebra, Scaphonyx Fischeri, A. S. Woodw. Digit with four phalanges, Scaphonyx Fischeri, A. 8. Woody. Ungual phalange, Scaphonyx Fischeri, A. 8. Woodw. Map of quartz-felsite exposures, Carnarvonshir. St. Agnes Earthquake, Cornwall . Carnarvon Earthquake Derby Earthquake . : : 9 6 Western side of Tygerberg-poort, Cape Colony. 6 : : : : Diagram of Tygerberg Range ‘Lambeau’ of Witteberg quartzites in sité “Vili List of Illustrations in the Text. ' Pollicipes aalensis, Richardson, sp. Noy. Section across the Gavarnie overthrust . Map of Gavarnie District, Pyrenees Structure of the lower part of the Pic de Mourgat . Preanaspides precursor, H. Woodw., gen. et sp. nov. . Preanaspides precursor, WH. Woodw. Preanaspides precursor, H. Woodw. (abdominal segments, telson, and uropods) Gampsonyx fimbriatus, Jordan & v. Meyer Acanthotelson stimpsoni, M. & W. Paleocaris typus, M. & W. Anaspides tasmanie, G. M. Thomson . Sketch-map of the Geology of Fortarshire Map of outlier of Upper Old Red Sandstone, Arbroath Diagram of increasing temperature : Sketch-section through middle of South Africa Hipponyzx dibleyi, Sherborn, n.sp. (Figs. 1, 3), White Chalk, Cuxton, Kent Hipponyx blackmorei, veIREY) nsp. (Fig. 2), Chalk, East Harnham, Salisbury : ; ; : ; : : é The Hooghly River below Calcutta Continuation of the Hooghly River The River Exe (Topsham to Exmouth) . Diagrams of rivers with stable channels 5 . Loricula Darwini, H. Woodw., sp. noy., Middle Chalk, Rochester Loricula pulchella, var. minor (after Fritsch) Sketch-map, Petrography of Egypt Woodcut, Glen Roy : Page-map of part of Oxfordshire . Subvective skeleton of Lebetodiseus Dicksoni . Cyclus simulans, F. R. C. Reed, sp. noy. Ideal section through Vredefort Massif from fae W.N.W. Permanent magnet with adjustable poles No. 523, Decade V.—Vol. V.—No. I. Price 1s, 6d. net. “eae THE GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE OR Klonthly Journal of Geologn. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THe GHOLOGIST. EDITED BY HENRY WOODWARD, LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S, &c. ASSISTED BY WILFRID H. HUDLESTON, F.R.S., &c., Dk. GEORGE J, HINDE, F.R.S., &c., anv HORACE B. WOODWARD, F.R.S., &c. © JANUARY, 1908. CONTENTS. I. OniGrnaL ARTICLES. Page Reviews (continued). Puge Eminent Living Geologists: Str Joun Progress of the Geological Survey of Eyans, K.C.B., ID CHEE. IMzIRGS 3 Grea Britains yy. on. sae aceeneeean (With a Portrait, Plate I.) ......... 1 | The Cotteswold Naturalists’ Field Club 41 Notes on the Drift and Underlying Tl Becowie saw Peocewcn Deposits at Newquay, Cornwall. By ‘ : ; B. B. Woopwarp, F.L.S., F.G. SS Geological Society of lLondon— ete. (Plates 11 and III, and Fig. November 20th 1907 cto. se seer 41 HME LEMUID) sansa Crcesaswe : Rs ass 0 8 4, - Sand with land shells 0 6 5. Sand’ 5 sig ear (0) 6. Layer of closely packed My rytilus shells with feagtients of slate 0 2 7. Sand 0 6 8. Masses of charred. Mytilus shells, burnt. earth, charcoal, and burnt stones (vi in Fig. 1) 5 aon “be 500 po OG 9. ‘Traces of ‘ head,’ resting on killas. DECADE Y.—VOL. V.—NO. I. 2 18 Professor A. P. Coleman—The Sudbury Nickel- Ores. Layer No. 6 corresponds to the lower Mytilus band in the sections F to G and again at L. It is the upper kitchen midden of Mr. Warren, and contains some stones that appear to show the action of fire, but no burnt earth. Land shells occur plentifully just above, in, and immediately below it. Both this band and No. 8 are limited in extent, covering about 9 feet. The latter much resembles the true kitchen midden at E, only no trace of a regular hearth is seen, and though quite as black when first dug out its contents, except the charcoal, dry paler. Besides Mytilus it yielded shells of Patella and Purpura lapillus, but no traces of land molluscs. It is rather remarkable that no mention of these two interesting cooking sites is made in the Geological Survey Memoir, although Mr. Warren pointed out their existence three years before that work appeared. Judging, however, from the scant notice of Mr. Warren’s paper, obviously inserted after the memoir had been written, the compiler not only was unacquainted with it at the time he visited the spot, but did not even make himself properly acquainted with it afterwards. (Zo be concluded in our February Number.) III.—Tue Supsury Nicxer-Ores. By Professor A. P. Cotzman, of the University of Toronto. N Professor Gregory’s interesting presidential address contained in your journal for October, there is a reference to the origin of the Sudbury ores, in which he expresses the opinion that they were deposited from solution long after the first consolidation of the rocks with which they are associated. As the Sudbury ore deposits are perhaps the best examples in the world of the magmatic segregation of sulphide ores it seems a pity that the weight of Professor Gregory’s authority should be given against the correct view. Probably he has not read the reports on the region by Dr. Barlow and myself in which incontrovertible proof of the magmatic origin of these ores has recently been given.’ In the report prepared by myself it is shown that all the ore bodies are found at the lower edge of a laccolithic sheet of norite, blending upwards into micropegmatite, or on dike-like pro- jections from this sheet. The laccolithic sheet is 37 miles long, 17 miles wide, and has dozens of ore bodies connected with its basic edge. The adjoining rock may be granite, gneiss, green schists, graywacke, etc., without affecting in any way the monotonous character of the ore. The ore bodies may contain fragments of the adjoining rocks and sometimes also of the norite, for some crushing and faulting has taken place ; but everywhere the solid ore passes into pyrrhotite- norite, and then into norite spotted with blebs of ore. The sulphides have sharp boundaries against the adjoining rocks, but blend into the norite. The blebs of pyrrhotite may be found hundreds of yards from the ore bodies and completely enclosed in the norite with no fissure or 1 Barlow, Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv. Canada, part H; Coleman, The Sudbury Nickel Field, Bur. Mines, Ontario, vol. xiv, part 3. T. Mellard Reade— Oceanic ‘ Deeps.’ 19 channel by which they could have reached that position by the aid of circulating water. The freshest norite of the region is found close to ore bodies and enclosing parts of the ore. Even so susceptible a mineral as hypersthene stands unchanged beside inclusions of pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite. In thin sections of the freshest specimens the sulphides are found embedded in original rock-forming minerals, such as hypersthene, augite, biotite, and even titaniferous magnetite, with no decomposition products between. It is noteworthy that the ores, the heaviest parts of the original magma, everywhere occupy the lowest points in the eruptive sheet, bays projecting into the country rock, or long and sometimes inter- rupted offsets from the basic edge of the sheet, showing that gravity was an important segregative force. Even in the narrowest offsets, however, there is always some norite to show the connection with the main body of that rock. _ Ore bodies never occur at a distance from the norite-micropegmatite sheet, and not one has been discovered elsewhere in northern Ontario after long and careful prospecting. That this eruptive mass was the source of the ore is evident, and it is equally evident that ore and rock reached their present position in a molten condition. It should be added, however, that a certain amount of later rearrangement of the sulphides has taken place, though there has not been sufficient water action to cause any banding or ‘crustification’ nor to introduce any appreciable amount of gangue minerals, such as quartz or calcite. Practically every geologist who has visited the Sudbury ore deposits agrees with Dr. Barlow and myself as to their magmatic origin, and the only objections made to the theory have come from those who have studied specimens apart from their field relationships, or who have drawn inferences from the present arrangement of the ores as shown on polished surfaces. To determine the present arrangement of the ores throws very little light on their origin, for we are all agreed that a certain amount of solution and redeposition has gone on, especially in offset deposits, like the Copper Cliff mine. Any theory of original deposition of the ores from circulating waters must give a reason for the constant association of the ore with a single sheet of eruptive rock, for its presence only at the lowest points on its edge, for its blending upwards into the eruptive, and for the isolated blebs and masses enclosed in the fresh eruptive. All these relationships are easily explained by the magmatic theory, but very difficult to account for by any other. TV.—Ocranic ‘ Drzps.’ By T. Metuarp Reape, F.G.S., F.R.I.B.A., A.M.I.C.E. NE of the most characteristic features of the great oceans is the presence of what have been aptly termed ‘deeps,’ enormous depressions in the ocean bottoms. Havingin my “ Evolution of Earth Structure’? discussed their distribution and probable origin, I was 1 Longmans, 1903. 20 Rk. G. Carruthers—A Revision of some Carboniferous Corals. naturally attracted by the notice in Wature of the surveys of the vessel ‘¢ di’? and the cable-ship ‘‘ Stephan’? during 1903 and 1905 in the western and south-western parts of the Pacific Ocean. Drs. G. Shott and P. Perlewitz, in a paper recently issued in the Archiv der deutschen Seewarte, taking into consideration previous work by U.S. ship “Hero”? and of the German vessel ‘‘ Planet,’”’ consider that these soundings throw a great deal of new light on the configuration of the sea bottom in those regions. They state that the troughs forming the deeps are usually about 10 miles wide, excepting the Guam deep, which is as much as 20 across. The most interesting statement to me is that in their opinion the troughs are the result of subsidence occurring on an enormous scale along lines of fracture, and that it is probable the disturbances which produced these structures are comparatively recent. In p. 316, “ Evolution of Earth Structure,’ I have said that the ‘deeps’ in ‘‘ my view are produced by a sagging of the earth’s crust similar to that which originated the Mediterranean basin,” and further, ‘¢They may not be very old and necessarily more lasting than the deep basins in continental land such as the Black Sea and Lake Baikal.” It is pleasant to find that these later investigations by practical men tend to confirm my views and lead independently to similar conclusions, especially as the explanation involves the origin of other features of the sea bottom and the vexed question of the permanence of the larger features of the oceanic areas. The narrowness of the troughs, if the figures are reliable, is striking, and points to vertical subsidence rather than lateral pressure. The subsidence in so narrow an area would doubtless be accompanied by fracture, but whether it is so or not we may legitimately infer, as I have done, that the originating cause is a local shrinkage of the magma under and beyond the area of the trough and deep down in or below the lithosphere. The attainment of a reliable knowledge of the configuration of the ocean bed can only be of slow growth. Thanks largely to telegraph cable requirements, we have been adding to the facts in a fairly liberal manner of late years. Let us hope that the good work will continue notwithstanding the wireless phase of electrical development. V.—A Revision oF soME Carponirerous Corats.! By R. G. Carrutugrs, of the Geological Survey. INTRODUCTION. ORE than sixty years have now elapsed since the publication of the classical monograph of MM. Milne-Edwards and Jules Haime, ‘‘ Les Polypes Fossiles des Terrains Paleozoiques.” It can only be expected that many of the original descriptions of species in that work have for long been in need of amplification and revision. This applies with added force to the corals of the Carboniferous Limestone, in view of the impetus given to the paleontological study 1 Communicated by permission of the Director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. ; R. G. Carruthers—A_ Revision of some Carboniferous Corals. 21 of that formation, by the vigorous revival of zonal work witnessed in the last few years. Those species in most urgent need of revision belong to the lower, or Tournaisian division of the Limestone, since their satisfactory determination affords a basis for evolutionary studies on the succeeding faunas, and an attempt is here made to deal with a few of these forms. The great French actinologists were compelled, in the absence of opportunities for slicing and microscopic investigation, to confine their attention to the external characters of their specimens, assisted occasionally by such rough vertical sections as could be obtained by fracture. ‘his also was the case in what appears to be the only authoritative re-description of their species, published in 1870 by M. de Koninck, in his well-known volume entitled ‘‘ Nouvelles Recherches sur les Animaux Fossiles du Terrain Carbonifére de la Belgique.” Indeed, in the introduction to that work, M. de Koninck expresses regret at his inability to take advantage of the newer methods of research then being inaugurated. The older authors were not enabled, therefore, to completely define their species; for obviously the internal, as well as the external, structures must be determined before an adequate idea of the nature and relationships of these corals can be gained. Indeed, of the two, the internal structures are the more important, since, until they are known, the meaning and value of the chief external feature, the calyx, cannot be duly appreciated. For the elucidation of these internal structures, great use has been made, in the present investigation, of serial transverse sections. Such treatment is entirely necessary, if reliable conceptions on these points are to be gained; by this means the progressive changes occurring during the growth of the coral are ascertained, specific differences are more correctly gauged, and, most important of all, the phylogenetic nature of various structures realised. It is true that the exigencies of space can rarely permit of such sections being illustrated in their entirety ; that is, indeed, the case in the present instance, but the results obtained can, at any rate, be embodied in the text. For a re-description of species to be of any value, it is evident that if paratypes are not available (i.e. examples named by the authors themselves), then, at any rate, the specimens used should resemble the originals in nature and preservation as closely as possible, and should be derived from the same locality (i.e. they should be topotypes) ; these conditions are fulfilled in the present case. The holotypes of the species to be immediately described were collected from Tournai and sent by de Koninck! to Milne-Edwards and Haime for description in their ‘‘Polypes Fossiles.” In his own work (the ‘‘ Nouvelles Recherches’’), published thirty years later, de Koninck dealt with similar material from this locality, whence also the specimens on which the present account is based (the majority forming the Piret Collection at the British Museum) have also been derived. These corals are silicified; the exquisite preservation of most of their calices resembles that of recent corals far more than those of Paleozoic age. 1 With the exception of Michelin’s Caninia cornucopie and Caninia cornu-bovis, which, however, also came from Tournai. 22 Rk. G. Carruthers—A Revision of some Carboniferous Corals. The corals in the Piret Collection were first of all compared with those in the Musée Royale d’ Histoire Naturelle at Brussels, to ensure their identity with de Koninck’s figured specimens. A certain number were then cut, the transverse sections serially and at right angles to the axis of the coral, the vertical sections mostly down the centre of the cardinal fossula, a few also being cut in a vertical plane, between the fossular depressions, Both internal and external characters of the various species being then known, it was possible to recognise and examine further examples in other collections, and make some notes on variation and distribution. These latter observations, however, cannot pretend to have any great value or completeness. Very much more work requires to be done before the zonal value of these small corals can be ascertained. The evidence at present available is so scanty, and the districts that have been thoroughly searched are so few, that it must be some time before definite conclusions on this point can be stated. Some general observation on the results so far attained will be found at the conclusion of the paper. My indebtedness to many sources of information and assistance is great. First of all, my sincere thanks are due to the authorities at the British Museum (Natural History) for permission to examine and cut the very beautiful corals in the Piret Collection, and to the Geological Survey for facilities in the investigation ; without such aid this work could not have been undertaken. I also wish to thank MM. Dupont and Rutot, of the Musée Royale d’Histoire Naturelle, Brussels, for their courtesy in allowing me to examine the collections there preserved. It is hardly possible to adequately acknowledge the kindness of Dr. A. Vaughan in allowing me to make the freest use of his extensive collections from the Bristol district, for a constant supply of fresh material, and for the most generous and ungrudging assistance throughout. I am also indebted to Dr. Matley and Dr. Vaughan for material from the Rush area (co. Dublin), and similarly to Professor E. J. Garwood, and to the members of the Yorkshire Geological Society, for material collected in the Arnside and Colne—Clitheroe districts respectively. Finally, I wish to sincerely thank the Trustees of the Sladen Fund for a grant in furtherance of this work, without which the accompanying illustrations could not have been so numerous or complete. SrerraL Formation AND TERMINOLOGY. Before proceeding to the description of the species, it may be of assistance to the general reader that attention should here be drawn to the peculiar mode of septal formation, so characteristic of Rugose corals, since an acquaintance with the facts concerned explains many difficulties and apparent anomalies met with during an examination of these corals, especially with regard to the fossule. As it was not till 1870 that Kunth’ first established his law of growth, many years after the appearance of MM. Milne-Edwards and 1 Zeit. Deut. Geol. Ges., vol. xxi (1869). R. G. Carruthers—A Revision of some Carboniferous Corals. 28 Haime’s publications, and as these latter still remain to many English readers the chief work on Paleozoic corals, it must be said that, although found in the larger paleontological textbooks, Kunth’s work has not, perhaps, received in this country the attention it deserves. According to this law, the insertion of new septa in a Rugose coral takes place at three points in the circumference of the corallum, approximately 80° apart, the chief of these being at the cardinal septum, with the remaining two points on each side at the alar septa. New septa are successively added on each side of the cardinal septum, the youngest being always next to that septum. On one side only of each of the two alar septa new septa are also added, the youngest always next to those septa, on the side remote from the cardinal septum. Since these young septa are necessarily short, there is consequently, in transverse sections, a break in the grouping of the septa at each of these three points. These breaks form the fossule, the largest being naturally at the cardinal septum ; this is called the cardinal fossula, or more simply ‘the fossula.’ The other two breaks, comparatively inconspicuous, are similarly referred to as the ‘alar fossule.’ Occasionally a fourth fossula is developed immediately opposite the cardinal septum, and is called, from the primary septum dividing it, the counter fossula. No new septa are ever developed here, although the minor septa flanking the counter septum are occasionally more elongated than the others. These fossule are further marked by depressions of the tabule, varying in degree in different specimens. . The development of new septa according to Kunth’s law may also be seen on the exterior of any rugose coral with good longitudinal ribbing, since each alternate groove corresponds to the position of a@ major septum; in any case, the arrangement can be seen on removing the epitheca by acid or filing, so as to display the septa within. Fic. 2. Fic. 1, Diagram A.—Transverse section of Zaphrentis omaliusi. Primary septa: H, cardinal septum; G, counter septum; A, A, alar septa; L, L, counter- lateral septa. a-c, the remaining major septa are lettered in the order of their formation. The minor septa are indicated by the ridges at the bases of the interseptal chambers. F, cardinal fossula; A-F, A-F, alar fossulee ; C—F, counter fossula. Fic. 2, Diagram B.—Tabula of Z. omaliusi, represented by contours (aifter Vaughan). The deep depression is at the cardinal fossula, the three smaller ones at the alar and counter fossule. (See infra, p. 26.) 24 R. G. Carruthers—A. Revision of some Carboniferous Corals. A diagram, Fig. 1, is appended as a key to the terminology used in this paper. In this connection the work of Kunth is followed, with two exceptions. The first, not of any importance for our present purpose, is the recognition of two more primary septa (the counter-lateral septa) in addition to the four enumerated by the German author. The second point concerns us more nearly. Previously most figures of the calyx and of cross-sections of rugose corals were so arranged that the cardinal fossula, if it occurred on the convex side of curvature of the coral, was shown on the upper side of the figure; if, on the other hand, the cardinal fossula occurred on the concave side of the coral, it was shown on the lower side of the figure. In the illustrations accompanying the present paper the cardinal fossula is in all cases shown on the upper side of the figure, since it is believed that recent work! enables us to extend to rugose corals the orientation adopted by common consent for other Anthozoa. The terms ‘major’ and ‘minor’ septa are here used instead of the commoner terms ‘primary’ and ‘secondary.’ Since only the first six septa to be developed can properly be regarded as primary, the small intermediate septa should, if the common nomenclature be retained, be called tertiary septa, as has indeed been sometimes done. To avoid any confusion, it seems better to adopt some non-committal terms for the long septa and their intermediates, and therefore the terms ‘major’ and ‘minor’ septa are here used. Genus ZAPHRENTIS, Rafinesque & Clifford. Corallum simple, turbinate, conical or cylindro-conical, usually more or less curved. Major septa well developed, reaching quite, or very nearly, to the centre of the corallum. J/inor septa may or may not be present; they are usually short. No columella is developed. The conspicuous cardinal fossula is variable in position, and is com- pletely enclosed and surrounded by septa, which fold round and form its walls. The tabule, though variable in character, are always a prominent feature, and are in direct connection with the wall; convex vesicles may arise on their upper surfaces, especially towards the circumference of the corallum; but these never assume a vertical alignment, and consequently in no case is there any trace of an external dissepimental zone of the nature of that found in Campophyllum and similar genera. The above definition of the genus Zaphrentis is largely taken from that given by Messrs. Nicholson & Thomson (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. Iv, vol. xvi, 1875, p. 426). In that article the nature of the cardinal fossula is for the first time regarded as ‘‘a character of primary importance in the definition of the genus.” A restriction of this kind is necessary if the genus is not to attain unwieldy pro- portions, and although the above definition does not pretend to be founded on the specimens from which the original diagnosis was prepared, it undoubtedly represents the genus as understood at the present time. I have been unable to gather from the original de- scription of MM. Rafinesque and Clifford any clear idea as to the nature of their specimens, and for the present, therefore, have retained the conventional definition in common use. 1 Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. vir, vol. xviii (1906), p. 362. R. G. Carruthers—A Revision of some Carboniferous Corals. 25 ZAPHRENTIS oMALIUSI, M.-Kd. & H. (Plate IV, Figs. 1-4.)} 1851. Zaphrentis omaliusi, M.-Edwards & Haime: Pol. Foss. d. Terr. Pal., p- 3387, pl. v, figs. 3, 3a. 1860. 4 he M.-Edwards: Hist. Nat. d. Corall., t. i, p. 344. 1861. 2% 30 de Fromentel: Int. a i’et. polyp. foss., p. 289. 1872. A an de Koninck: Nouv. Recher. sur Anim. Foss. d. Terr. Carb. d. 1. Belg., p. 94, pl. ix, figs. 4, 4a. Hadrophyllum Edwardsianwn, ibid., p. 52, pl. iv, figs. 2, 2a. 1905. Zaphrentis aff. Phillipsi (pars), Vaughan: Q.J.G.8., vol. Ixi, p. 269, pl. xxii, figs. 2c-e. EXTERNAL CHARACTERS, Corallum gently curved and conical, in the adult portion much less so, sometimes becoming almost cylindrical. There is longitudinal ribbing on the epitheca, more strongly marked towards the tip of the coral; round the calyx this may be supplemented by fine annular striations: (Pl. IV, Fig. 2). Slight constrictions of growth are present, but ‘rejuvenescence,’ in the sense of an interruption in the continuity of the epitheca, never occurs. Excellent figures are given both by Milne-Edwards & Haime and by de Koninck. Calyx deep, with abruptly descending sides. In young specimens a quadrate division of the septa within is well seen, four fossule being visible (Hadrophyllum Edwardsianum, de Kon.), but in the adult the septa usually have a very radial arrangement, with only one break, due to the shortness of the cardinal septum. Frequently, however, both cardinal and counter fossule are visible even in the adult; the former always lies on the convex side of curvature of the corallum. A good figure is given by Milne-Edwards & Haime. That of de Koninck is poor in perspective. The mayor septa are strong, reaching to the centre of the calicinal floor, where they are slightly flexuous, thickened, and fused together, though still distinct from each other. They taper quite gradually up to the rim of the calyx. The minor septa are entirely rudimentary, only appearing as low ridges between the thickened bases of the major septa. Average dimensions. Height of an adult specimen, 2-3cm.; diameter of calicinal rim, 1:2-1°5 cm. ; depth of calyx, 1—1°3 cm. InvrrnNaL CHARACTERS. _ (a) Transverse Sections.—The disposition of the major septa is far more readily seen in cross sections than in the calyx. They are seen to characteristically possess a curvature concave to the cardinal fossula. In sections across the adult portions of a corallum this curvature is sometimes not so marked, and occasionally a certain number of the septa may even be bent in the opposite direction for a portion of their length (Pl. IV, Fig. 4). The lobing and close interfusion of their inner ends gives rise to a dense mass in the centre of the section. This feature is not constant, however; examples may be found where the septal ends are not thickened and only join in the very centre of the coral. .The rudimentary minor septa only appear in sections across the 1 Plates IV and V will appear in February. 26 BR. G. Carruthers—A Revision of some Carboniferous Corals. adult portions of a corallum; they are never well developed, and are often barely perceptible. The cardinal fossula is very generally a marked feature. Always completely surrounded by the major septa, in the lower part of the coral, it is broad and expanded at the inner end, but has a tendency to narrow higher up in the corallum, and though in typical examples a slight expansion of the central part is retained up to the floor of the calyx (Pl. IV, Figs. 1 and 4), continuous narrowing usually sets in beyond that point. The cardinal septum completely divides this fossula almost to the floor of the calyx, but latterly becomes much thinner than its neighbours. In extent the cardinal fossula never seems to reach beyond the centre of the coral, and usually falls short of it, often to a considerable degree; it would appear that sections cut across the more strongly curved parts of the coral show a short, broad fossula, and wice versd. A common and remarkable feature is the development of a counter fossula through a slight enlargement of the two interseptal chambers on each side of the counter septum. ‘his character is almost always present in some degree in the young stage of growth of a normal example of the species (Pl. IV, Figs. la and 4a), and is often persistent throughout. This counter fossula is proportionately longer than the cardinal fossula, but, unlike the latter, of course never shows any appearance of young septa at its base. The counter septum may be either longer or shorter than its neighbours; when longer it is usually more markedly lobed at its inner end, thus approaching the distinctive character of the genus Lophophyllum (Pl. IV, Fig. 1a). There is a tendency for the septa in each of the four quadrants to fuse together at their inner ends, the fused ends meeting in the centre of the coral. From this tendency arises the prominence of the fossule. Dr. Vaughan’s best figure is 2e (see Q.J.G.S., 1905, p. 269, pl. xxii). (b) Vertical Sections.—The arched tabule, with their convex upper surfaces, are of an essentially simple type. They lie from 1 to 2mm. apart, having depressions at each of the fossule, the extent of these depressions varying with the degree of development of the fossulee. This being the case, the appearance of the tabule varies according to the direction of the section. Consequently, their nature is more clearly shown, not by the usual vertical section, but by a contoured figure of one of their number, as has been done by Dr. Vaughan, with whose kind permission the accompanying text-figure is reproduced. (See ante, p. 23, Fig. 2.) Localities. Millstone Grit: Greenfoot Quarry, near Glenboig, Lanarkshire (rare). Upper (?) Visean: Hollins Delf, and other quarries near Colne; Horrocksford Quarry, near Clitheroe (D ?). Tournaisian: Big Weston Wood Quarry, Portishead, near Bristol, Clevedon, Failand, Woodspring (Weston), and other localities in the Z, subzone of the South-Western Province; Burrington, near Bristol (Z, subzone, rare); Rush Slates, co. Dublin (especially R4a, the position of which is given in Q.J.G.S., 1906, p. 276, fig. 1). R. G. Carruthers—A Revision of some Carboniferous Corals. 27 Remarks. Under the name of Hadrophyllum Edwardsianum, de Koninck described (Nouv. Recher., p. 52, pl. iv, figs. 2, 2a), in my opinion, a young specimen of Z. omaliusi. He carefully described the strongly quadrate arrangement of the septa in the calyx, and the development of a counter fossula (on account of the latter character he referred the specimen to the genus Hadrophyllum), features which are seen to be characteristic of the young stages of growth of Z. omaliusi, though obscured in adult calices, and I have no hesitation in referring the specimen to that species. An examination of his figured specimen showed that it was much weathered; to this fact the unusual depth of the epithecal ribbing is due, as also the presence of a small median groove down the centre of each of the ribs, a fact to which de Koninck drew attention in his description. This latter character is not, however, of any specific value, but may be found in any much weathered Zaphrentid corals. Z. -omaliust can, asa rule, be readily separated from other Zaphrentids. Z. phillipsi, M.-Kd. & H., has a certain resemblance, but according to the authors’ account possesses very thin major septa, with a curvature (according to the figure in the ‘ British Fossil Corals,” pl. xxxiv, fig. 26) convex, instead of concave, to the large fossula, which also has a long dividing septum in the calyx. Radical differences are also shown in the epitheca, which in Z. phallipst does not seem to have longitudinal ribbing, and above all is frequently so affected by rejuvenescence as to have its continuity interrupted (see Polyp. Foss. d. ‘err. Pal., pl. v, fig. 1). The differences from Z. delanowet will be referred to presently when dealing with that species. Some resemblance to Z. omaliusi is occasionally displayed in the calyx of a young specimen of Caninia cornucopia, Mich. (non M.-Ed. & H.). But besides other differences the fossula in this latter species is deeper and longer, and in transverse sections is seen to be of a totally different character, being open at its inner end with the flanking septa usually disconnected, while in transverse sections the septa in the two cardinal quadrants are always affected by accessory thickening, a feature never seen in ZL. omaliusz. With the exception of the two varieties to be immediately described the nearest corals to Z. omaliust seem to be Densiphyllids, especially D. charlestonensis, Thom. ‘These are, however, fundamentally distinguished by the possession of a most inconspicuous cardinal fossula, narrowing continuously to the centre of the corallum, and the major septa are almost purely radial in disposition, altogether lacking the characteristic curvature of those in Z. omaliust. Distribution. The species seems quite local in its occurrence. Dr. Vaughan has kindly supplied an account of its distribution in the South-Western Province, but as it will be more convenient to insert these notes after the description of Z. delanouet, it is sufficient to mention that in that region Z. omaliusi attains its maximum in the Upper Tournaisian subzone Z,, while it is again common in the Upper Tournaisian Rush 28 Rk. G. Carruthers—A Revision of some Carboniferous Corals. Slates of co. Dublin, correlated by Dr. Vaughan with subzone Zy. But in other areas the species is found on different horizons. For instance, in the Colne—Clitheroe district it is found in limestones very probably of Upper Visean age, and is there rather common and quite typically developed. Again, in Scotland good examples seem very rare, but almost the only specimens yet obtained were found in the Millstone Grit near Glenboig, in a band of cement lying not far below the junction of the Upper and Lower Carboniferous floras. Never- theless, no really typical examples have so far been found in the underlying and richly fossiliferous Lower Limestone group (Visean) and not one in the Tournaisian Cement Stones, where other small Zaphrentids are not uncommon in certain localities. With the evidence at present before us the conclusion seems justifiable, therefore, that 7. omalius: has an extensive vertical range, but may be locally confined to definite horizons. ZAPHRENTIS OMALIUSI, Var. AMBIGUA, var. noy. (Plate IV, Figs. 5 and 6.) EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. Dr. Vaughan has noticed the occurrence of this variety in the Rush Slates, and has drawn attention to the chief distinction from the Rush Zaphrentids (see QJ.G.S., vol. 1xii, 1906, p. 314, first paragraph on ‘variants of the Rush Zaphr entis ’ a Corallum similar in shape and external ornamentation to Z omaliust. The calyx is also similar to that seen in Z. omaliusi, save for the large size of the counter fossula lying on the concave side of curvature of the coral. InTernAL CHARACTERS. (a) Transverse Sections.—The chief characteristic of this variety is at once seen to lie in the counter fossula, This is developed to an extraordinary degree, more so than in any coral with which I am acquainted. Though initially small, for sections taken near the tip of the coral are essentially the same as similar ones in the normal species (compare Fig. 5a with Fig. la, Pl. IV), this counter fossula becomes increasingly apparent during the growth of the coral. The two septa forming the sides become more or less parallel, and in the final stages of growth an expansion occurs at the inner end, varying in degree with different specimens, and giving, in sections cut just under the calyx of an adult, a broad club-shaped outline to the counter fossula (Pl. IV, Fig. 6). The counter septum extends down the centre of this fossula throughout, and never becomes shortened to any appreciable extent, even in the calyx itself. The cardial fossula, on the other hand, is comparatively small and inconspicuous. The septa forming the sides also show a tendency to parallelism, though this appearance is naturally modified if the section happens to show the incoming of new septa (a feature never seen in the counter fossula). In accordance with the extreme development of the counter fossula, the fusion of the septa of each of the four quadrants is very marked, and takes place further from the centre than in the normal species ; R. G. Carruthers—A Revision of some Carboniferous Corals. 29 the fused ends meet in the centre of the coral. Apart from this fact the septa are certainly less flexuous and more uniformly curved than in the normal species. A majority of the specimens I have examined also show decidedly thinner, and sometimes more closely packed, septa than in Z. omaliust. This does not, however, seem at present to be a character of any great value. Exceptions certainly exist with strong septa fusing to a dense mass in the centre of the coral. (b) Vertical Sections.—As in Z. omaliusi, though the depression of the tabule at the counter fossula is proportionately greater. Localities. Upper (?) Visean: Horrocksford Quarry, Clitheroe (common). Tournaisian: Rush Slates (R4a, R8a, and especially R66, for position of which see Q.J.G.S., vol. lxii (1906), p. 276, fig. 1). Remarks. The differentiation of this variety from Z omaliusi, lying chiefly in the character of the cardinal and counter fossule, has been sufficiently dealt with in the foregoing description. In the possession of a prominent fossula, divided even in the calyx by a long septum, Z. omaliusi, var. ambigua resembles Z. phillips:, as described by Milne-Edwards & Haime; but the latter has its prominent fossula on the convex instead of the concave side of the corallum, while the epithecai characters are very different. It also seems probable that the prominent fossula of Z. phillips: is a cardinal rather than a counter fossula, and the same distinction immediately separates Z. delanouer from Z. omaliusi, var. ambigua, to which it otherwise has a great resemblance. At both of the known localities the variety is found in association with normal examples of Z. omaliusi, and although the two are easily separable in typical examples they are united by intermediate forms whose reference to one or the other of the two corals is often no easy matter; and, indeed, it will be seen on comparing Figs. la and 5a on Pl. LV that the young stages of the species and its variety are essentially identical. Distribution. I am at present acquainted with only two localities for this curious variety. These seem, however, to lie on very different horizons. That in the Rush Slates has been correlated by Dr. Vaughan with the Upper Tournaisian subzone Z, of the South- Western Province. The other locality is Horrocksford Quarry, Clitheroe, where examples are abundant in certain shaly partings between beds of massive limestone containing a brachiopod fauna, indicating, according to Dr. Wheelton Hind, an Upper Visean horizon somewhere about the base of D or the top of 8. ‘These correlations, therefore, if correct, indicate a considerable vertical range for the coral. Z. OMALIUSI, var. DENSA, var. noy. (Plate IV, Figs. 7 and 8.) Shape, dimensions, and epithecal characters as in Z. omaliusi. The calyx also is very similar, save that the radial disposition of the septa 30) = R. G. Carruthers—A Revision of some Carboniferous Corals. is more pronounced, the cardinal fossula only being denoted by the shortness of the cardinal septum. In transverse sections the distinctive characters of the variety are well expressed. Here the curvature of the mayor septa is seen to be extremely even and regular throughout. The counter septum and its neighbours are prominent, being generally longer (Pl. IV, Figs. 7, 7a), though sometimes shorter (Pl. IV, Fig. 8) than the rest. Nevertheless, the interseptal chambers on each side of the counter septum rarely enlarge to form a counter fossula, though one, or both, may be so elongated as to reach the centre of the dense mass of fused septa lying in the centre of the corallum; this dense central area is of somewhat greater size than that observed in Z. omalius?. The inconspicuous cardinal fossula has a characteristic shape, narrowing inwardly, instead of slightly expanding as it does in the normal species. This occurs even in the young stages of growth, though sometimes masked by the insertion of young major septa. Vertical sections show that the tabul@ are essentially of the same simple type as those in the normal species, but there is only one depression on their surfaces, corresponding to the single fossula usually present in this variety. Localities. Upper Visean: Crosshouse (Lower Limestone Group of Scotland) (D); Thornton and other quarries near Colne, Lancashire (D ?); Warsaw Knoll, near Clitheroe (D?); middle and upper part of horizon Y, Burrington, Mendips. Tournaisian: Big Weston Wood Quarry, Portishead, near Bristol (Z,. subzone), very rare; coast at Malahide, co. Dublin (loc. I), and Rush Slates, R 4a, R6a, and 8a. Remarks. The points of difference between this variety and Z. omaliusi proper are certainly not great. Nevertheless, these differences are so constant and are so readily detected in a hand-specimen that in my opinion they clearly merit varietal distinction. The variety forms an intermediate link between Z. omaliust and Densiphyllids of the type of D. charlestonensis, Thom.! When the septal curvature is but slightly developed it becomes a most difficult and often, so far as I can see, an impossible matter to separate the two corals. Such cases must, however, be expected in dealing with considerable assemblages of similar forms. It is tempting to suppose that Z. omalius:, Z. omaliusi var densa, and D. charlestonensis represent so many stages in one line of evolution, more especially when it is remembered that in the Bristol district var. densa is chiefly found just above the maximum of Z. omaliusi, and D. charlestonensis occurs much higher up in D,—Ds of the neighbouring district of the Gower and Oystermouth, and is common on a probably similar horizon in Scotland and is again found in the shales overlying the Derbyshire Limestone. Nevertheless, 1 J. Thomson, ‘‘ Corals Carb. Syst. Scot.’?: Proc. Phil. Soc. Glasgow, p. 152, pl. vi, figs. 21, 22, etc. (1883). A. kh. Hunt— Facts observed on the Sea-floor. ol when other areas are examined difficulties present themselves. For in the Colne—Clitheroe district, in limestones which at present we have every reason to regard as lying in the Upper Visean or D zone, we find Z. omaliusi and especially Z. omaliusi, var. densa, freely developed, and D. charlestonensis scarce, although from the above line of reasoning it might be expected that the latter would easily be the dominant form. And, further, in the Cement Stones (Tournaisian) of Liddisdale, where Z. delanouei is so (comparatively) abundant, only one of these corals has so far been found, and that, contrary to expectation, is an undoubted D. charlestonensis. It may be said that the evolution from Z. omaliusi was accelerated or retarded, as the case may be, in various districts. Such an hypothesis would certainly present an easy way out of the difficulty, though not a very acceptable one to the zonal investigator. All we can say at present is that while there can be no doubt of the genetic affinity of Z. omaliust and Z. omaliusi, var. densa, on the other hand it is not certain that the affinity extends to D. charlestonensis, the latter being possibly a homceomorphic form. (To be concluded in our next Number.) VI.—Facts opservep By Lirur. Damant, R.N., ar tHe SEA-BoTrom. By Artuur R. Hunt, M.A., F.G.S. f{\AKING into consideration the apparently hopeless tangle in which the ripplemark and submarine erosion questions had become involved, I submitted to the Devonshire Association in July last a paper entitled ‘‘ The Ripplemark Controversy,” in which I attempted to bequeath the subject to posterity im such a form that anyone interested in the enquiry could pick it up where it had been dropped. It was, at any rate, my own farewell, or was so intended to be. Last summer, however, in the progress of night manceuvres, the torpedo boat No. 99 was—fortunately, in the interests of science—sunk in 25 fathoms off Torbay. The vessel was recovered, and beached in Torbay. My curiosity was excited as to whether the divers could elucidate any of the submarine problems; but naturally, men only incidentally employed about the salvage could give me no information, and I hesitated to trouble the officers, besides being uncertain to whom I might apply. However, when Lieut. Damant, R.N., was appointed as a special officer to instruct divers, and as I knew he had been engaged in the salvage of No. 99, I finally deicded to lay the case before him. The result has been that, instead of my taking leave of ripplemark and the physics of the sea-floor, ripplemark has abruptly taken leave of me. Lieut. Damant has scarcely appreciated the importance of his evidence, and as he has never contemplated publishing anything on the subject, I am going to ask the hospitality of the GuronogicaL Magazine to secure for our distinguished diver national priority for his observations. I may observe that in the Blue-book on Marine Erosion, just published, Mr. Aubrey Strahan, on being requested to furnish information on submarine disturbance, could find nothing better than 32 A. R. Hunt—Facets observed two conflicting authorities, derived, one from an old provincial paper of my own, and the other from ‘‘ The Sea Coast”’ of my friend Mr. W. H. Wheeler, M. Inst. C. E. Mr. Wheeler declares that ‘‘when there is considerable wave- motion on the surface of the sea at a depth at which divers are able to work the water is found to be motionless” (‘‘ The Sea Coast,” p. 15). But he further asserts that ‘‘ wind-wave action extends a very little way below the surface’ (Coast Erosion, Question 4290). The formula given me by Lord Rayleigh, in the paper referred to, enables anyone to calculate what submarine disturbance is caused by any wave of known dimensions, and the depth to which it extends. I have myself been collecting information on this general subject since 1871, and have often pointed out the apparent certainty that the bottom down to about 50 fathoms must be appreciably disturbed. by wave-currents if the records of the lengths and heights of waves are correct. My own collected evidence stopped short at a sounding which by the chart is somewhere between 36 and 41 fathoms. The evidence was a rolled and partially incrusted soda-water bottle, which was exhibited to Section C at Southampton in 1882, and has since been exhibited at a professional meeting of engineers to illustrate a professional paper. The facts on which I have chiefly insisted have been the influence of alternate wave-currents on the marine fauna, and on erosion and deposition ; also the independent and combined effects of tidal currents. My arguments were necessarily based on experiment, on sea and river observation, and on the authority of physicists. As Lieut. Damant has been down to 35 fathoms, and assures me that there is no difficulty in 30 fathoms, the physics of the shallow seas will obviously become a subject of ordinary observation, freed from the perils of induction, speculation, and conjecture. As a matter of fact, my own work of 36 years has been superannuated before it has even been accepted as sound. ‘The following observations tell their own tale :— “F7LM.S. ‘ Excellent,’ Portsmouth. ‘“‘T have seen sharp, well-defined ripplemarks upon sand at from 8 to 10 fathoms 3 2 ‘On the theory of the adaptation of certain gasteropodous shells in shape and arrangement of spines to a form difficult to capsize on a flat surface being due to the necessity of providing against fairly violent water movements, I have often watched the state of affairs down below ; a gentle rhythmical swaying movement (in the vertical plane) of shreds of weed, sprigs of polyzoa on stones, and the flexible tubes of various worms is always noticeable at 12 fathoms and perhaps HOLE) s.Pad (Signed) ‘*G. C. C. Damanr. “© 12th October, 1907.”’ ‘“¢H.M.S. ‘ Excellent,’ Portsmouth. the tide on the bottom certainly is not a steady horizontal sweep; it seems to come curling and twisting along in ‘gusts,’ but this is only an impression. When hanging on, prone on the bottom to prevent being swept away by a too strong tide, one is accustomed to hear the sharp pattering on one’s helmet of a regular hailstorm cé by Ineut. Damant, R.N., on the Sea-floor. 30 of shingle and smadl stones; this is not continuous, but occasionally gusts of it come along, probably associated with upward currents. ‘‘In Loch Striven, a deep narrow inlet on west coast of Scotland, -near Kyles of Bute, specially chosen for deep diving experiments owing to the absence of perceptible tide, I found impalpable mud, not ‘set’ but almost in suspension on the bottom at 35 fathoms. It flew up in a cloud when one set foot on the ground, and altogether cut off what little light there was. (Signed) ‘*G. C. C. Damanr. ‘627th November, 1907.”? ‘¢Tsland Sailing Club, Cowes. «|, . Yes, I and another, a gunner, went down to 35 fathoms as a maximum at Loch Striven. I have often been at 30. . . . ‘‘The sand round No. 99 torpedo boat the other day—you know where she lay—seemed utterly bare and lifeless. I saw one ‘ whelk,’ noe he looked absurdly lonely. 3 on that occasion of seeing © ripplemarks in sand at about 12 gee I remember being very much struck by the isolated chunks of rock, of about 10 Ibs. I should judge, with weed on them, which stood on, rather than stuck up out of, the sand. There was a fair sea on, too much for our targets to stand. . . . shot were to be seen on the bottom, but, of course, they may have only just been fired. (Signed) “‘G. C. C. Damanr. “©99th November, 1907.”’ In these conversational records of incidental observations Lieutenant Damant has unconsciously decided some hotly debated questions, and suggested several topics that might occupy the minds of physicists, geologists, zoologists, and engineers. My own feelings may be better imagined than described. They are analogous with what, I presume, those of an astronomer would be who had chanced upon a celestial visitant from comet and nebula, who just incidentally mentioned all the facts concerning those bodies which had perplexed and divided astronomers for generations. What has greatly astonished myself is that Lieut. Damant’s attention should have been called to some of my own special puzzles, e.g. that of blocks lying on sand. Blocks of half a ton or more lie on the sandy bed of the English Channel off the coast of South Devon, and the trawlers occasionally take them in their nets. (See an example in the Museum of the Torquay Natural History Society.) I should esteem it a great favour if this article were published, for otherwise the foreigners are sure to cut us all out, as they did in the case of the evidence of Kent’s Cavern and the Antiquity of Man. That great fact was decisively proved in 1846 by the Torquay Natural History Society, following up the earlier researches of the Rev. J. McKEnery, but the report of the explorers could find no publication except in the columns of a local visitors’ directory, of which publication, I believe, there are but two copies in existence, though I have reprinted the report at my own charges. So far as I can at present see, Lieut. Damant’s observations have confirmed rather than disproved induction by tank and formula. DECADE Y.—VOL. V.—NO. I. 3 34 Reviews— Royal Commission on Coast Erosion. seve Ve EW Se I.—Royrat Commisston on Coast Erosion. Minores or Evipence and Appendices thereto accompanying the First Report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into and to report on certain questions affecting Coast Erosion anD THE Rectamartion oF Troan Lanps 1n tHE Untrep Kinepom. Vol. 1, parts 1 and 2. 1907. HE Commission was appointed on July 9th, 1906, and its first meeting was held on July 24th. ‘The members comprise the Hon. Ivor C. Guest, M.P. (Chairman), Sir William H. B. ffolkes, Bart., Sir Leonard Lyell, Bart., Sir William Matthews, K.C.M.G., W. P. Beale, Hsq., K.C., M.-P., F:G:8:, ° ‘Commander (Ga Frederic, R.N., H. Rider Haggard, Esq., Professor T. J. Jehu, M.D., A. L. Lever, Esq., M.P., R. B. Nicholson, Esq. (Town Clerk of Lowestoft), P. O’Brien, Esq., M.P., T. Summerbell, Esq., M.P., and A. 8. Wilson, Esq., M.P. The Terms of Reference were as follows :— To inquire and report— (a) As to the encroachment of the sea on various parts of the Coast of the United Kingdom, and the damage which has been or is likely to be caused thereby ; and what measures are desirable for the prevention of such damage: (6) Whether any further powers should be conferred upon Local Authorities and owners of property with a view to the adoption of effective and systematic schemes for the protection of the Coast and the banks of tidal rivers : (c) Whether any alteration of the law is desirable as regards the management and control of the foreshore : : @ Whether further facilities should be given for the reclamation of tidal ands. Part 1 of the First Report (5 pp., price 1d.) merely gives the notification of the issue of the Commission, and a statement that 27 meetings had been held and 56 witnesses examined. Part 2 contains Minutes of Evidence, with Index, 504 pp.; and Appendices with Index, 516 pp. (price 8s. 9d.). Here, indeed, is abundant, nay voluminous, material for study in the form of 11,367 questions and answers, and copious appendices. Officers of the Board of Trade, of H.M. Woods and Forests, the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, the Board of Agriculture and Ordnance Survey, the Local Government Board, and the Geological Survey were examined; likewise sundry local officials, other pro- fessional geologists and engineers. ‘There is no doubt that great and serious erosion is taking place along certain portions of the coast of England, notably between Bridlington and Kilnsea in Holderness; at Cromer, Happisburgh, and Caistor in north-east Norfolk; at Lowestoft, Kessingland, Pakefield, and Southwold in Suffolk ; in Essex and Kent; at Rottingdean in Sussex ; at Freshwater in the Isle of Wight; by Poole Harbour and at Lyme Regis in Dorset; and at Watchet in Somerset. Remarkable evidence was, however, given by Colonel R. C. Hellard, Director General of the Ordnance Survey, to the effect that during the past 20 to 25 years there has been an actual gain of land of rateable Reviews—Royal Commission on Coast Erosion. 30 value to England and Wales of 30,752 acres; the total gain being 31,171 acres, and the net loss 419 acres. In this estimate the fore- shore, or the area between ordinary tide-marks, is not reckoned as part of the land; but the loss in the amount of foreshore, principally due to artificial reclamation, is estimated at 31,000 acres. Among the particulars given in reference to the gain and loss of acreage in counties during about 35 years, the following are of special interest :— Loss. Gain. Loss. Gain. Yorkshire... ... (74 nes iS |i URGME oso abo 000 28 ih 519 Lincolnshire ... 400 By 9106 Sussex Ban eee MOE 3 aa 1018 Norfolk ... ... 339 ta 3480 | Hampshire soo OS ee 852 Sutrollseeg Os Fei 151 | Dorset See OO. ise 52 pBissexe anne vce LES ah 562 | Somerset ... ... 33 wae 256 It was admitted that a certain amount of the reclaimed land is still under water at high-tide spring-tides. Suffolk has suffered the greatest loss of any county in England and Wales, and Southwold in particular has been a great sufferer in recent years. The Board of Trade have no power to construct works to protect the coast; all they can do is to prevent, if necessary, the removal of shingle or other beach materials. It is admitted that land protected in one place may mean loss in another. Individual rights may thus be opposed to the general benefit. There is thus need of general control on the coasts with regard to the removal of shingle or stone from foreshore, and to the erection of groynes and sea-walls. There is much information regarding groynes constructed of wood, ferro-concrete, chain-cable, and sheet-iron. The utilization of chain-cable is interesting, as possibly it may act as a nucleus for the formation of a protective iron-pan or conglomerate. Much interesting information was given on the movements of beach material, as influenced mainly by wave action due to prevailing winds, and partly by flood-tides. Hach district, however, has to be studied independently in connection with local circumstances, for on parts of the Cumberland coast the beach material is moved by the flood-tide from N. to S8., in a direction contrary to the prevailing wind. In heayy gales, of course, the movement is in the direction of wind and sea. In the Channel the drift is mainly from west to east, but the strength of the ebb-tide is said to be, if anything, greater than that of the flood-tide. On the west side of Selsea Bill the shingle is moved from east to west. The influence of the lateral movement of water manifested by the breaking of waves is said to extend to a depth of at least 40 fathoms. There is considerable travel of heavy shingle in moderately deep water of 5 to 10 fathoms, where there are strong bottom-currents. Indeed, material is said to be moved in depths up to 40 fathoms, but the enormous displacements in shoals off the eastern coasts do not appear to take place below 5 fathoms. It is clear that we have much yet to learn of the transport of shingle, etc., along the sea-bed below low-tide. Thus the material of the foreshore was considered rightly to be not wholly derived from the waste of adjacent cliffs, but opinions differed 36 Reviews—Geological Survey of Ireland— as to the amount of material that is thrown up from the bed of sea below low-water. It was admitted that much scouring takes place off shore and that shingle travels below low-water mark. It was said to pass Beachy Head on to Dungeness, and the opinion was even expressed that no natural headland in the country completely arrests the travel of shingle. On the other hand, it was asserted that stones in bays do not get out, that the shingle was retained in compartments between headlands. Here the Chesil Bank came in for discussion, and the old question was revived whether the Budleigh Salterton pebbles, which form a small portion of the material, came direct from the Devonshire cliffs, or were derived from a former raised beach of which tiny remnants still exist. Here it may be observed that no Budleigh pebbles are known to occur in the Tertiary (Eocene) gravels. Incidentally other questions of geological interest arose, with regard to the warp of the Humber, and ‘‘ Is clay a mineral ?”’ Geological evidence on the waste of particular portions of the coastline in England and Wales was given in order as follows, by W. Whitaker, Clement Reid, H. B. Woodward, C. Fox-Strangways, G. A. Lebour, A. Strahan, J. R. Ainsworth Davis, 8S. H. Reynolds, R. H. Worth, T. V. Holmes, and T. Mellard Reade (by Memorandum). We look forward with interest to further information on the important subject of Coast Erosion, and to the conclusions at which the members of the Royal Commission after their long and patient. labours will arrive. Il.—GrotocicaL Survey oF IRELAND. Tue Gxotocy oF THE Country arounD Limerick. By G. W. Lamptuen, F.R.S., S. B. Wirxinson, J. R. Kitroz, A. McHenry, H. J. Seymour, and W. B. Wrieutr. Dublin: printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Alex. Thom & Co., 1907. 8vo: pp. vi, 119, with 7 plates and 11 text-illustrations, price 2s.; with colour- printed map, price 1s. 6d. E have received from the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, Whitehall, the above memoir, which has been prepared by the Geological Survey of Ireland under the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland. It is the last of four memoirs, the result of field-work carried out under the superintendence of Mr. Lamplugh, prior to the severance of the Geological Survey of Ireland from that of Great Britain. The preface is therefore written conjointly by Dr. Teall and Professor Grenville Cole. The value of a detailed Drift map is amply shown in the colour- printed sheet which accompanies this memoir. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that in an area where the ‘solid’ rocks appear only in comparatively small and isolated tracts, it would be difficult to grasp. the underground structure without the aid of the section at the foot of the map, or without the earlier hand-coloured sheets on which the ‘solid’ rocks were distinctly shown. The section shows how the dominant features of the country were pre-Glacial. Geology of Limerick. Ov The older rocks include Silurian, referred to the Llandovery division; also Upper Old Red Sandstone, conformably overlain by the Carboniferous, with which are included sundry volcanic rocks. The greater portion of the area is underlain by the several divisions of the Carboniferous Limestone series, comprising shales and limestones, the latter in places oolitic, cherty, and dolomitic. The highest shale division is grouped with the Yoredale Beds, and the overlying flagstone series with the Millstone Grit. These strata were originally classed as Coal-measures, but no coal appears ever to have been found in them. The igneous rocks in the Limestone series are due to contemporaneous volcanic action, and, although interbedded, Mr. Kilroe believes that many of the lavas are intrusive in the tuffs and ashes associated with them. Petrological notes are contributed by Mr. Seymour. With regard to the physical features, it may be mentioned that the Old Red Sandstone of the Cratloe Hills on the north rises to a height of a little more than 1,000 feet, and the volcanic rocks of Knockroe in the south rise to 672 feet. More detailed accounts are given of the superficial deposits, which include Boulder-clay, Glacial Sand and Gravel, and Alluvial deposits. To these descriptions Mr. Lamplugh contributes a general intro- duction, and it may be safely averred that much of the work of his colleagues is due to his inspiration. He has in fact left indelible traces of his wide experience on Glacial phenomena in the several Irish memoirs with which he has been connected. We learn that the Boulder-clay is the direct product of an ice-sheet which invaded the country in a general direction from north-west to south-east ; and that while most of the included rock-fragments are local, yet with them are occasional boulders of granite which may be traced to a parent source on the north side of Galway Bay. The position and arrangement of the stratified glacial gravel and sand is shown to be incompatible with marine agency, and it is held to represent the material of the ice-sheet modified by fluvio-glacial action. The greater part, if not the whole of the area, appears to have undergone glaciation, but only the minor features have resulted from this and subsequent action. Thus the Basin of the Shannon, which, in the area of the map, extends from Castleconnell to Bunratty and Mellon Point below Limerick, occupies a course that must be regarded as essentially post-Glacial. Any pre-existing channels in this area are concealed by the covering of Drifts. An interesting feature on the map is the indication of the general characters of the soils on each subdivision, whether solid or drift. To this subject Mr. Kilroe has given special attention, and it is necessary to qualify the indications above given by his observations. Thus he mentions that the boulder-clay, ‘‘ represented by one tint on the map, is present in at least five distinguishable varieties, which yield correspondingly different soils and subsoils.” It would obviously be impossible to indicate such minor changes on a one-inch map. Other topics of economic interest are duly discussed, and the work concludes with a useful bibliography. 38 Reviews—Dr. Steinmann’s Paleontology. IIJ.—A Text-svok oF PALzonTOoLOoGY. ErnrtUwRuNG IN DIE PatAontoLociz, von Dr. Gustav SrernmMann, Ord. Professor der Geologie und Paliontologie an der Universitat Bonn. Zweite, vermehrte und neubearbeitete Auflage, mit 902 Textabbildungen. Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann, 1907. Price, marks 15.20, bound. MY\HE first edition of this work (not to be confounded with Steinmann and Déderlein’s ‘‘ Elemente der Palaontologie,” 1890) appeared in 1908, and consisted of 466 octavo pages with 818 figures. The second edition consists of 542 pages (94 x 63 inches) with 902 figures. In the new edition 62 pages are devoted to Paleobotany, of which 7 deal with Dicotyledons, which occupied half a page in the first edition. Insecta, to which only two-thirds of a page were allotted previously, are now described by A. Handlirsch, of Vienna, in 14 pages ; Reptilia occupy 29 as compared with 23, and Mammalia 53 as compared with 383 pages. Since the late Professor Karl A. von Zittel wrote his great ‘‘ Handbuch”’ and his smaller ‘‘ Grundziige der Paliontologie,” the fault of most text-books of paleontology has been that they are often little better than systematically arranged descriptive catalogues of fossils, written with very little reference to evolution, by drawing attention to which the dry bones may have some living interest imparted to them. The distinguishing feature of the present work is the attention which the author draws to the probable phylogeny of the forms described, although the arrangement remains systematic for facility of reference. Whether one agrees with the author or not, his views on the relationship of genera (and higher groups) to their supposed ancestors and descendants are always interesting. Perhaps the most remarkable of his suggestions is that the Tertiary marine mammalia are descended from the Secondary marine reptilia, viz., the Delphinide from the Ichthyosauria, the Physeteride from the Plesiosauria, and the Mystacoceti from the Thalattosauria (Pythono- morpha). Professor Stemann read a paper on this subject before the Seyenth International Zoological Congress at Boston in August last. In a final summary (in his book) Professor Steinmann draws attention to the supposed frequent sudden extinction and equally sudden first appearance of some of the important groups of animals, and arrives at the conclusion that the usual systematic arrangement of plants and animals has nothing to do with the phylogenetic connection between the separate forms, but rather obscures it, because the systematic do not coincide with the genetic lines, but cut across them. Among fossil plants, he says, if we regard the mode of reproduction on which the systematic arrangement is based as a feature which may undergo change, and the purely morphological characters of mode of branching, form, venation, and arrangement of leaves as relatively persistent characters, groups are arrived at which are much less forced than those based on systematic arrangement. So also, if the four classes of quadrupeds Amphibia (-++ Stegocephalia), Reptilia, Aves, and Mammalia are regarded, not as phylogenetic units, but as different stages of organization which have been reached or passed through in Reviews—Dr. F. X. Schaffer—Guide to Vienna Basin. 39 more or less similarly directed progress by numerous series of phyletic stems already existing at the end of Paleozoic times, their evolution presents itself as a relatively simple and clear process of metamorphosis in which there is no space for large groups to either appear or become extinct abruptly. B. Hozson. LTV.—Gerorocicat GuipE to THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF VIENNA. GrOLOGISCHER FUHRER FOR EXKURSIONEN IM INNERALPINEN BrckEen DER NACHSTEN UmcGEBUNG VON WIEN. Von Dr. Franz X. Scuarrer. Sammlung geologischer Fitihrer XII. Sm. 8vo; 11 Abbildungen im Text. Gebriider Borntrager, Berlin, 1907. HIS is another of the excellent little Geological Guides issued by the Brothers Borntrager. The idea of writing this one occurred to the author when he was preparing for the excursions in the neighbourhood of Vienna in connection with the meeting of the Geological Congress in that city in 1902. The material for the work was already in the author’s possession in his ‘‘ Geologie von Wien ”’ (part ii). Naturally only a few of the most important of the excursions could be dealt with in the small work under review. Beginning with a brief bibliography of the subject, the ‘author continues by giving the geological history of the Vienna Basin, which he calls the concluding episode in the formation of the Alps; that great chapter in the shaping of the physical contour of Kurope, which has always had a particular attraction for students. Let us depict in brief terms its past history as the author gives it, though but few traces remain by which the picture may be clearly presented to the mind’s eye. The Mediterranean had entered with its rich fauna into the sinking region, and in this area fresh-water beds were deposited before it had sunk below the level of the sea. The shore lay at a somewhat higher level than that at which its shore formations now stand. An immense portion of this inland sea was cut off from the ocean, and under the influence of inflowing fresh water a brackish-water fauna came into existence, and this can be traced up to the highest beds deposited near Vienna. While the transition from the marine to the Sarmatian stage is marked by a discordance or break in the succession of the beds connected with the retreat of the sea, the Sarmatian beds merged gradually into the Pontian, and the sea-level reached the same height as at the Mediterranean stage. The very thick beds of at least 500 metres (1,640 feet) in thickness mostly indicate a medium depth of water, the deposit having taken place on a slowly sinking sea- bottom. During the Pontian period a sinking of the water-level is noticeable, and at the same time a stream coming from the north-west finds its way into the basin. In Vienna its traces are not only seen in the high-level terraces, but also in the thick ‘schotter’ (conglomeratic deposits) which the stream has brought down here to the margin of the sea. The terraces can be traced near Vienna at heights ranging from 50 to 200 metres above the present level of the Danube, and they stretch still farther south of this area. Loess and also fresh- water limestone were deposited at about this period at the edge of the 40 Reviews— Geological Survey of Great Britain. basin. The smaller watercourses coming from the marginal hills blended their schotter with the fresh-water limestone, and the transition to the present time is so gradual that the dividing-line cannot be recognized. While in the more central part of the basin immense masses of sediment have been deposited, those of the margin are very much thinner. Erosion alone can have created the present geological conformation. This little work is well illustrated by means of natural sections, reproduced from photographs, and by numerous diagrammatic sections in the text. There are also many tables of characteristic fossils. AL, Ee ie V.—Summary oF Progress or THE GeEoLocicaL Survey oF GREAT Britain AND THE Museum oF PracricaL GroLocy For 1906. 8vo; pp. 181, with three text-illustrations and one plate. London, 1907. Price 1s. \HIS number of the ‘‘ Summary of Progress,’’ which was issued in the autumn, is less in bulk than its predecessor by more than twenty pages: a reduction due not to the fact that the publication is for the first time notified as ‘“‘of Great Britain,” instead ‘‘ of the United Kingdom,” but to the shorter record of field-work in Scotland. Progress has been made with the mapping of the Highland Schists, but at present ‘‘ the difficulties of interpretation and correlation appear to increase rather than diminish,’’ and ‘‘no general theory as to the structure or sequence of rocks has been formed on which all officers ’ are agreed.”’ The rocks of the Lizard area have been undergoing detailed examination, and they too have presented problems not yet solved, as their relations with the Devonian and earlier sedimentary strata on the north have yet to be demonstrated. Elsewhere in Cornwall, as also in the coal-fields of South Wales, Derbyshire, and Scotland, and in the adjacent tracts of older and newer strata, the work has proceeded in areas often of much difficulty, but without those conflicting opinions which beset the crystalline schists. The zonal distribution of fossils has received special attention in the Ordovician, Silurian, and Carboniferous rocks of Pembrokeshire, and in the Carboniferous of Scotland, and has not been neglected in other regions. Economic geology rightly occupies some space—in the details of coal-bearing strata in England, Wales, and Scotland, in remarks on the eastern extension of the Nottinghamshire coal-field, in the account of the fluor-spar of Derbyshire, and in the suggestion made that bordering Cornwall ‘‘ There must be a large amount of detrital tin-ore at the bottom of certain of the bays margined by rich tin-lodes.” In the Appendix there is an essay on ‘‘The Scapolite-bearing Rocks of Scotland,’ by Dr. J. 8. Flett; a statement of the ‘ Total quantity of Tin, Copper, and other Minerals produced in Cornwall, particularly with regard to the Quantities raised from each Parish,” by D. A. MacAlister ; and detailed records of ‘‘Some Well-sections in Middlesex,” by W. Whitaker and George Barrow. Reviews—The Cotteswold Club. 41 V1I.—TueE Correswotp Narurauists’ Frenp Crus. fY\HE Proceedings for September, 1907, being part 1 of vol. xvi, contain a record of the excursions of this Club during 1906, and of the Winter meetings of 1906-7. An interesting excursion to the Lickey Hills was made under the direction of Professor Lapworth, and another notable excursion, in celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Club, was made to Bourton-on-the-Water and Burford. Among the papers published is one by Mr. 8. 8. Buckman on ‘‘ Some species of the genus Cincta.’’ Of these the genotype is Zerebratula numismalis, Valenciennes, afterwards known as Waldheimia numismalis. Two plates are given to illustrate this and nineteen other forms of Cincta. Another paper of considerable interest is by Professor C. G. Cullis and Mr. L. Richardson, entitled ‘‘ Some remarks on the Old Red Sandstone Conglomerate of the Forest of Dean and the Auriferous Deposits of Africa.” During the course of last year some stir was made in the newspapers about a discovery of gold in a locality about 200 miles distant from London. The locality is in the Old Red Conglomerate about one and a half miles south-west of Mitcheldean Road Station. The authors report that a small amount of both gold and silver do occur, ‘‘but it still remains to be proved that the gold occurs in any part of the rock, either at or below the surface, in sufficient quantity to be workable with profit.” RHPORTS AND PROCHHDINGS. i I.—Gerotoeicat Socrety oF Lonpon. 1.— November 20th, 1907.—Sir Archibald Geikie, K.C.B., D.C.L., Se.D., Sec. R.S., President, in the Chair. The following communications were read :— 1. ‘Glacial Beds of Cambrian Age in South Australia.” By the Rev. Walter Howchin, F.G.S., Lecturer in the University of Adelaide. The known extension of the beds in question is 460 miles from north to south (Onkaparenga River to Willouran Range). The greatest width across the strata between Port Augusta, at the head of Spencer’s Gulf, in an easterly direction to the Barrier Ranges of New South Wales, is about 250 miles. The beds occur as part of a great conformable series, in the upper part of which Cambrian fossils have been found. The rocks above the glacial beds are mainly purple slates and limestones; below they are quartzites, clay-slates, and phyllites, passing into basal grits and conglomerates, resting on a pre- Cambrian complex. The beds consist of a groundmass of unstratified indurated mudstone, more or less gritty, carrying angular, subangular, and rounded boulders, up to 11 feet in diameter. In most sections there are more or less regularly stratified bands. The thickness of the glacial series has been proved up to 1,500 feet. The commonest rock- type among the boulders is a close-grained quartzite; but gneiss, porphyry, granite, schistose quartz, basic rocks, graphic granite, mica-schist, and siliceous limestone occur. The discovery of ice- scratched boulders has placed the origin of the beds, according to the 42 Reports and Proceedings—Geological Society of London. author, beyond doubt. The strie are often as distinct and fresh- looking as those occurring in a Pleistocene boulder-clay. Up to the present eighty definitely glaciated boulders have been secured, besides the known occurrence of other erratics too large for removal. Under strong pressure and movement in their bed, some of the boulders exhibit evidences of abrasion; but this produces features which cannot well be confounded with those due to glaciation. The pressure that has induced cleavage has caused the elongated boulders to revolve partly in their bed and place their long axes parallel to the cleavage- planes. In this movement some of the stones have become slightly distorted, and many show the effect of fracture in the form of pseudo- striation on exposed surfaces. ‘The lines, however, are of equal size and depth, and parallel to each other over wide surfaces; while the glacial striz are generally patchy in their occurrence, of varying intensity, and divergent in direction. A series of illustrative sections are described. It is considered that Mr. H. P. Woodward’s suggestion, that the ‘ boulder-clay’ had its origin from ‘ floating ice,’ appears to be most in accordance with facts. The interbedded slates and lime- stones may possibly indicate the occurrence of interglacial conditions, 2. ‘On a Formation known as ‘ Glacial Beds of Cambrian Age’ in South Australia.” By H. Basedow and J. D. Iliffe. (Communicated by Dr. J. Malcolm Maclaren, F.G.S.) Some 8 miles south of Adelaide a typical exposure of the con- glomerate is bounded to the east by a series of alternating quartzitic and argillaceous bands of rock, comprising the central and western portions of a fan-fold, partly cut off by a fault. Further evidence of stress in this margin is given in the fissility, pseudo-ripplemarks, contortion and fracture, and obliteration of bedding in the quartzite bands, and in the pinching-out of them into lenticles and false pebbles. On the west side the conglomerate is bounded by the ‘‘ Tapley’s Hill Clay-Slates,” and there is evidence from the nature of the junction beds that the conglomerate itself is isoclinally folded. In that portion of the conglomerate which is adjacent to its confines, ‘ boulders’ of quartzite are apparently disrupted portions of quartzite bands, since these are in alignment with the truncated portions of bands still existing, and are of similar composition. The authors are not at present in a position to account for the presence in the conglomerate of boulders of rocks foreign to the beds that border the conglomerate, or of such as possess markings comparable to glacial strie, by their theory of differential earth-movements; but they consider that a boulder-bed subjected to lateral pressure would probably lend itself to the production of ‘false pebbles,’ through the disruption of inter- calated hard bands within itself or on its boundaries. Il.— December 4th, 1907.—Sir Archibald Geikie, K.C.B., D.C.L., Se.D., Sec. R.S., President, in the Chair. The following communications were read :— 1. ‘The Faunal Succession in the Carboniferous Limestone (Upper Avonian) of the Midland Area (North Derbyshire and North Stafford- shire).”” By Thomas Franklin Sibly, B.Sc., F.G.S. Reports and Proceedings—Geological Society of London. 43 The area dealt with is the irregularly-shaped periclinal mass forming the southern end of the Pennine anticline, with a few small outliers. The base of the limestone is not shown, and the whole series exposed constitutes a greatly expanded development of the uppermost zone of the typical Avonian succession of the South-Western Province, namely, the Dibunophyllum-zone. The most extensive section—that along the Midland Railway, between Longstone and Buxton—shows a thickness of about 1,500 feet. Three subzonal divisions are distinguished, as follows :— D3. Subzone of Cyathaxonia rushiana: represented in the South-Western Province by horizon e and the lower part of the Millstone Grit. Dz. Subzone of Lonsdalia floriformis: correlated with the Upper Dibunophyllum zone (Dz) of the South-West. D,. Subzone of Dibunophyllum @: correlated with the Lower Dibunophyllum zone (D,) of the South-West. An abnormal development of the Lonsdalia-subzone, consisting of richly fossiliferous Brachiopod beds, in which the typical coral fauna has very little representation, forms a conspicuous local feature in various parts of the western half of the area. The passage-beds between the Carboniferous Limestone and the Pendleside Series are included in the Cyathaxonia-subzone. Locally, these passage- beds attain a thick development. A local unconformity between the Carboniferous Limestone and the Pendleside Series, indicating con- temporaneous elevation and erosion, occurs in the eastern part of the area, A close general similarity exists between the Dibunophyllum- zone of the Midland area and that of North Wales. These two areas should be regarded as constituting a Midland Province. A comparison of the Dibunophyllum-zone of the Midland with that of the South-Western Province brings out the following more important differences:—(a) The Brachiopod fauna of the Lonsdalia-subzone of the Midland Province is considerably richer than that of the equivalent part of the South-Western sequence. (6) The Cyathaxonia-subzone of the Midland Province, which attains a maximum development in Derbyshire and North Staffordshire, is practically undeveloped in the South-Western Province. The paper concludes with a description of certain corals and Brachiopods from the Midland area, some species and varieties being new. 2. ‘Brachiopod Homeeomorphy: ‘ Spirifer glaber”” By S. S. Buckman, F.G.S. The smooth, catagenetic, stage of shells may have been attained by the loss of different distinctive features, pointing to polygenetic origins. The series of shells figured by Davidson as Spirifera glabra do not all agree in being smooth; some are radially costate, some have a pronounced mesial fold, others hardly any, some are very transverse, others are narrow. There is good evidence that several of the forms ranged under this species are Reticularie (M‘Coy), more or less smooth. Thus Sp. obtusus, regarded by Davidson as a synonym of Sp. glabra, shows faint reticulation, has the dental plates, and must be classed as a Reticularia; while quite smooth forms with similar plates also occur (Sp. lata, Brown, and Sp. glaberrimus, de Koninck). But other forms 4+ Correspondence—T. C. Cantrill. called Sp. glabra seem to have been derived from radially costate ancestors. ‘he use of the generic name Martinia for various smooth Spiriferids of the Devonian and Carboniferous thus becomes wholly unjustifiable, as it simply denotes a stage of catagenetic development at which several different stocks of Spirifers arrive. As the outcome of this study the author restricts the genus Spirdfer, and allocates several British and foreign species among the genera usella, Choristites, Trigonotreta, Brachythyris, Martinia, and Reticularia. He also gives in an appendix a revised explanation of Davidson’s plates xi and xii of the Monograph of Carboniferous Brachiopods. CORRESPONDENCE. =e GLACIATION OF THE USK AND WYE VALLEYS. Srr,—At the meeting of the British Association at York in 1906 a paper on the Glaciation of the Usk and Wye Valleys was read by the Rev. W. Lower Carter, and was printed in abstract in the Report (pp. 579-580). An abstract appeared also in the GrotocrcaL MaAGazInE (for 1906, pp. 521, 522). The author there records several interesting and important glacial phenomena, and it is to be hoped that he will find occasion to continue his researches. There is, however, one point on which it is necessary to register a corrigendum. After speaking of the purely local drift in the region (an Old Red Sandstone district) he calls attention to certain ‘‘erratics of volcanic ash and brecciated limestone” (B.A. Report), or ‘volcanic ash and breccia” (Geox. Maa.), which overlie the local drift; and he supposes them to be derived from distant Ordovician sources. A recent visit—unofficial and connected with quite other matters— to the district enables me to say that the erratics of ‘ volcanic ash’ and ‘breccia’ or ‘brecciated limestone’ to be seen in the village of Trecastle and on the neighbouring hillsides, and again at Talgarth and along the course of the river Enig above the town are, in fact, boulders of cornstone, of both the conglomeratic and the non-conglomeratic variety ; and that instead of being derived from distant Ordovician sources they are traceable to quite local outcrops of that rock in the valleys in which they occur. No doubt ice had much to do with their transport, but their journeys to their present resting-places were not so romantic as a derivation from Ordovician sources would involve. T. C. Canrritty. GEOLOGICAL SuRVEY, JERMYN Srreet, S.W. 7th December, 1907. RE SPELLING OF PLACE-NAMES. S1r,—The slight demurrer offered by your reviewer of the Geological Survey Memoir on ‘‘ The Geology of the Country around Ammanford ”’ in the November number of this Magazine (1907, p. 515), as to the alteration of the spelling of the place-name ‘ Llandeilo’ to ‘ Llandilo,’ reminds me of an intention I had of enquiring, through the medium of your Magazine, the views of some of your readers as to the desirability Correspondence—L. Richardson—J. G. Hamling. 45 of altering the specific names of fossils derived from place-names so as to accord with the present rendering upon the Ordnance Survey Maps. The well-known Rheetic fossil Plewromya crowcombeia (Moore) is given as Pleuromya crocombera—the w is omitted—in the Geological Survey Memoir on ‘“‘ The Geology of the Country between Wellington and Chard” (1906, p. 27). L. Ricwarpson. CHELTENHAM. 14th December, 1907. NORTH DEVON ATHENAUM: GIFT OF THE PARTRIDGE COLLECTION. Str,—This institution has recently received a most valuable gift, the large collection (Partridge Collection) of Devonian and Culm fossils made by Mrs. Coomaraswamy in North and South Devon, and by Dr. Coomaraswamy on the Continent. Included in the Partridge Collection are fourteen specimens figured in the Rev. G. F. Whidborne’s Monograph of Devonian Fauna (Paleontographical Society) and the GerotocicaL Magazine, five of them type-specimens. This, added to T. M. Hall’s already there, makes the North Devon Atheneum Collection one of the most complete of its kind in the kingdom. The specimens being too numerous to be all displayed, Dr. Coomaraswamy has made a selection, for the exhibition of which special cases have been provided; the remainder have been placed in drawers, and, like all the specimens in this Museum, are available for purposes of study. Devonshire, even prior to this most liberal gift, was rich in local geological collections. It may now be said without exaggeration that the Museums at Exeter, Plymouth, Torquay, and Barnstaple, between them contain practically a complete collection of the fossils. and rocks (so far recorded) of the county. J. G. Hamurne. THE CLosE, BARNSTAPLE. OBITUARY. THE RT. HON. WILLIAM THOMSON, BARON KELVIN, P.C., O.M., G.C.V.O., LL.D., D.C.L., Past PRESIDENT OF THE Roya SOCIETY, ETC. Born June 26, 1824. Diep DrcemBer 17, 1907. Iw the death of Lord Kelvin geologists have lost one who took keen interest in the physical and astronomical aspects of their science, and aided perhaps more than any other philosopher in this country to place the subject of Cosmogony on a scientific basis. He dealt with the evolution of the heavenly bodies, with changes in the position of the earth’s axis of rotation, with the probable condition of the earth’s interior, and with the thermal conductivity of rocks. In one respect his views regarding the earth found little support. His calculations on the increase of temperature beneath the surface and the rate of loss of heat from the earth led him in 1862 to argue that the age of the 46 Miscellaneous—Model of Eurypterus. earth must be restricted to about one hundred million years ; and he subsequently reduced the estimate to between twenty and forty million years.! Huxley, in one of his famous addresses to the Geological Society (1869), showed that while geologists had no reason to be greatly concerned at an estimate of 100,000,000 years, yet the data on which the restriction was based were insufficient and inconclusive. Further researches have not tended to modify this judgment. William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, was the second son of James Thomson, Professor of Mathematics in the University of Glasgow, and the son became Professor of Natural Philosophy in the same University during the lifetime of his father. Regarded as the foremost man of science in Britain, it was fitting that a final resting-place in Westminster Abbey should be selected, near the tombs of Newton, Herschel, Darwin, and Lyell; and there he was buried in the presence of a large and distinguished gathering on the 24th December, 1907. MISCHLILANBHOUS. ——— British Museum Mope. or Hvryprervs.* In the Upper Silurian rocks of the island of Oesel, in the Baltic, are found the fossil remains of an Arthropod called Kurypterus Fischert. This animal is of interest as one of an extinct group of Arthropods that appear to have been allied to the modern Limulus or king-crab, as well as to the Scorpions. These particular fossils have a further interest in that the chitinous substance of the outer coat of the animal has been preserved unaltered in chemical and physical composition. Thus Professor G. Holm, of Stockholm, has been able to dissolve the remains out from the rock by means of acid, and to mount them on glass slides in Canada balsam. On the preparations thus obtained he based an elaborate description, published in the Memoirs of the Academy of Science, St. Petersburg (ser. vit, vol. viii, No. 2, 1898). It can now be said that the structure of this species is known better than that of any other extinct arthropod. Several of Professor Holm’s preparations preserved in the Geological Department of the British Museum are quite marvellous, and it is difficult to believe that one is looking at a fossil at all, still more one dating from the Silurian epoch. The perfection of these specimens and the interest of the animal suggested to members of the staff of the British Museum (Natural History) the advisability of preparing a complete model of it, and such a model in coloured wax, of about twice the natural size, has now been made under the direction of Dr. W. T. Calman and Dr. F. A. Bather by Mrs Vernon Blackman, whose beautiful models of plants, of the parasite of malaria, and of the tsetse fly are well known to all visitors to the Natural History Museum in the Cromwell Road. 1 See Sir A. Geikie’s Text-Book of Geology, 4th ed., vol. i, 19038, p. 79. 2 From Science, November 15th, 1907, pp. 679-680. Miscellaneous—Royal Medal to Dr. Traquair. 47 The model was first placed on exhibition on the occasion of the visit of foreign geologists at the Centenary of the Geological Society of London and evoked their enthusiastic admiration. It measures 23 x 15cm. The wax of which it is made will stand any extremes of temperature likely to be met with in a museum, and the colours are believed to be quite permanent; they are based upon those of the recent Limulus, and Sir Ray Lankester has shown great interest in their selection. The model, which, it may be mentioned, has been subjected to the careful scrutiny of Professor Holm himself, certainly looks quite as natural and lifelike as any specimen of a recent Arthropod exhibited in the museum. The Geological Department hopes to have a limited number of copies of this model, which it will be prepared to exchange with other museums. Naturally a model of this nature, which has taken a very long time to make, demands an exchange of considerable value, but for information on this matter inquiries should be addressed to Dr. A. Smith Woodward, F.R.S., the Keeper of the Geological Department, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, 8. W. Roya Mrpat to Dz. R. H. Traquair, F.R.S., F.G.S. In the Anniversary Address to the Royal Society by Lord Rayleigh on November 30th, 1907, the President said His Majesty has approved the award of a Royal Medal to Dr. Ramsay H. Traquair, F.R.S. Dr. Traquair is honoured on the ground of his long- continued researches on the fossil fishes of Palaeozoic strata, which have culminated, within the past 10 years, in his discovery of new groups of Silurian and Devonian fishes, and in his complete exposition of the structure of Drepanaspis, Phlyctenaspis, and other remarkable forms. For nearly forty years Dr. Traquair has been busy with the description of fossil fishes, mostly from the Paleozoic rocks of Scotland, and he is deservedly held to be one of the most eminent palzontologists of the day. He has been highly successful in the interpretation of the often very obscure and frag- mentary remains which he has had to elucidate, and his restorations of fishes have won such credit as to appear in all modern text-books of Paleontology. It may be said that his work, notwithstanding the great difficulties of the subject, has well stood the test of time. Dr. Traquair has done much to advance our knowledge of the osteology of fishes generally. His earliest memoirs on the asymmetrical skull of flat-fishes and on the skull of Polypterus remain models of exactness. His acquaintance with osteology enabled him to show how former superficial examination of the Paleozoic fishes had led to wrong inter- pretations. He demonstrated that Chirolepis was not an Acanthodian, as previously supposed, but a true Paleoniscid. In 1877 he satis- factorily defined the Paleoniscide and their genera for the first time, and conclusively proved them to be more nearly related to the Sturgeons than to any of the other modern Ganoids with which they had been associated. He thus made an entirely new departure in the interpretation of extinct fishes, replacing an artificial classification by 48 Miscellaneous. one based on phylogenetic relationship. His later memoir on the Platysomide was equally fundamental and of the same nature. All subsequent discoveries, many made by Traquair himself, have con- firmed these conclusions, which are now universally accepted. In 1878 Dr. Traquair demonstrated the Dipneustan nature of the Devonian Dipterus, and somewhat later he began the detailed study of the Devonian fishes. His latest researches on the Upper Silurian fishes of Scotland are equally important, and provide a mass of new know- ledge for which we are indebted to his exceptional skill and judgment in unravelling the mysteries of early Vertebrate life. Awarp BY THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, PARIS, FOR RESEARCHES IN PrerrograpHy.—The Academy of Sciences, Paris, has awarded the Delesse prize to Dr. J. J. H. Teall, F.R.S., Director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, for his researches in petrography. Tue Royat Grotocrcat Socrery or Cornwatt.—The annual meeting of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall was held at the Camborne School of Mines in October, Mr. A. K. Barnett, F.G.S., Mayor of Penzance, presiding. The event of the meeting was the presentation of the William Bolitho medal for the year to Mr. Upfield Green, F.G.8., whose excellent work in connection with the geology of Cornwall had, in the words of the report of the Council, ‘fully merited the highest distinction in their power.’—ining Journal, Noy. 2nd. Sepewick Musrum, Campriper.—Dr. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., who two years ago presented to the Sedgwick Museum his valuable collection of rocks, has now presented also the whole of his collection of rock-slices, consisting of some two thousand seven hundred specimens. Professor T. McKenny Hughes says the gift is one of great scientific value.— Morning Post, November 20th, 1907. Museum or Pracricat Grorogy.—After a service of thirty years Mr. Alexander Pringle, M.A., has retired from the post of Assistant- Curator, which he has held to the great advantage of the institution and of the public. To the numerous enquirers in reference to minerals and ore-deposits, to gems and precious stones, he was ever ready to give sound information, for lke the late Thomas Davies he had acquired great experience and eye-knowledge of minerals. He is succeeded by Mr. W. F. P. McLintock, B.Sc. (Edin.). Erratum.—In Professor J. W. Spencer’s article, published in the Gronoctcat Macazine for October, 1907, p. 441, on the ‘‘ Recession of Niagara Falls,” three words were accidentally dropped out in line 4 from foot of page. Instead of ‘‘ Almost all of the physical changes in,” etc., please add the three words in italics, viz., ‘‘ Almost all of the discoveries in the physical changes in,” etc. Decade V.—Vol. V.—No. II. Price 1s. 6d. net. THE GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE Monthly Journal of Geology. WItTH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THe GHOTLOGIST. EDITED BY HENRY WOODWARD, LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S., &c. ASSISTED BY WILFRID H. HUDLESTON, F.R.S., &c., Dk. GEORGE J. HINDE, F.R.S., &c., anv _ HORACE B. WOODWARD, F.R.S., &c. FEBRUARY, 1908. CONTENTS. I. OnrernaL ARTICLES. Page OrrcinaL AntictEs (continued). Page Flowing Wells and Sub - Surface Water in Kharga Oasis. By Hucu J. L. Brapney, Assoc. R.S.M., F.G.S. (With a Map and Section. ) _ Notes on the Geology of Basutoland, South Africa. By the Rey. 8S. 8. Dornan A Revision of some Ceomterons Corals. By R. G. Carrutuers, of the Geological Survey. (Plates TV and V and two Diagrams.) Uintacrinus in the Ringwould Area, near Dover. By Dr. AxtuuR W. Rowse, F.G.S8. Actinocamax verus at Walmer and St. Margaret at Cliffe. By Dr. Artuur W. Rowe, F.G.S.......... LONDON 63 74 79 :-DULAU & CO., Notes on the Drift and Underlying Deposits at Newquay, Cornwall. By B. B. Woopwarp, F.L.S., F.G.S., etc. (With a Text- figure. ‘ Genenes Il. Reviews. Dr. T. Rice Holmes: Ancient Britain and the Invasions of Ozsar Geology of Ontario : IIT. Revorts anp PRocEEDINGS. Geological Society of London— December 18th, 1907 January 8th, 1908 IV. CorresponDENCE. Dr. C. W. Andrews, F.R.S. : Mr. Horace B. Woodward, F.R.S.... VY. MisceLtanrous 37, SOHO SQUARE. — ee eS The Volume for 1907 of the GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE is ready, price 20s. net. Cloth Cases for Binding may be had, price 1s. 6d. net. &. 2/4. Hipparion. | An Interesting Series of Models designed to Illustrate the ; Ancestry of the Horse. _ Besides the above there are half-skulls (Cranium and Mandible) of Phenacodus | primevus, Cope, and Onohippidium Munizi, Moreno ; also a series of Casts and Models of Feet (Fore and Hind) of Anchitherium, Hipparion, Hyracotherium, Mesohippus, Phenacodus, Protohippus, Protorohippus. Price of Complete Set, £25. Address: ROBERT F. DAMON, WEYMOUTH, ENGLAND. THE GHOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. NEW SERIES /(DEGADE Vai VOL. Vi No. II.— FEBRUARY, 1908. ORIGINAL ARTICIES. HAs eS I.—Ftowine WeEtts AnD Sus-Surrack Water In Kwarca Oasis. By Hucu Joun Liurwettyn Brapnettz, Assoc. R.S.M., F.G.S. ITH the exception of an article written by me for Sir William Willcocks and published in his ‘“ Nile in 1904,”! and a reference to the relations of the Eocene and Cretaceous in the oasis ot Kharga in a paper read before the Geological Society in 1905,? nothing has, I believe, been published on the water-supply and geology of this district since Dr. Ball’s report in 1900.3 Since my first acquaintance with the Libyan desert oases, where from time immemorial a considerable population (at the present day exceeding 30,000) has flourished, the origin of the underlying artesian water, on which the very existence of the inhabitants depends, has always appealed to me as one of the most interesting problems of Egyptian geology. It was not, however, until two years ago, when I took up more or less continued residence in the oases, that I was able to pay special attention to the subject and make a commencement of attacking the problem by undertaking a detailed study of the geology and water-supply of a definite district, the northern part of Kharga oasis. Before proceeding to a description of the actual district in question it may be well to briefly remark on the chief characteristics of the surrounding country as a whole, a more detailed account of which I hope shortly to give in a separate publication. The Libyan desert is the easternmost and most inhospitable portion of the Sahara, or Great Desert of Africa. On the north and east its boundaries are clearly defined by the Mediterranean Sea and the highly cultivated valley of the Nile; on the south it is bounded by the Darfur and Kordofan regions of the Egyptian Sudan; south- eastwards its limits may be regarded as coterminous with the elevated 1 «The Oases and the Geology of the Nile Valley,’’ being Chapter 5 of ‘‘ The Nile in 1904,”’ by Sir William Willcocks, K.C.M.G., Cairo, 1904. 2 “ The Relations of the Eocene and Cretaceous Systems in the Esna—Aswan Reach of the Nile Valley’’: Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. lxi (1905), pp. 667-678. ’ “ Kharga Oasis: its topography and geology’’: Egypt. Geol. Surv. Report, Cairo, 1900. DECADE Y.—VOL. V.—wNO. II. 4 50 Hugh J. L. Beadnell—Flowing Wells, Kharga Oasis. district of Tibesti, while on the east it stretches to the outlying oases of Fezzan and Tripoli. Its area is approximately equivalent to that of the British Isles. Except for a narrow belt fringing the Mediterranean the region is practically rainless, so that unlike the more elevated deserts on the other side of the Nile, where the rains are of sufficiently frequent occurrence to maintain a water-supply in the isolated water-holes and yalley springs, and to allow of the growth of a fairly permanent though scanty herbage in the more favoured areas, the greater portion of the Libyan desert is quite devoid of vegetation, and is uninhabited even by nomad tribes. ‘lhe extreme barrenness of the region as a whole, however, is in great measure counterbalanced by a number of isolated highly fertile oases, in which there is a permanent resident population. The chief groups of oases are the Siwan on the north, that of Kufra on the west, and the Egyptian, including the four large oases of Baharia, Farafra, Dakla, and Kharga, on the east. The Egyptian oases occupy extensive depressions cut down nearly to sea-level through the generally horizontal rocks forming the Libyan desert plateaux. These depressions owe their origin in great measure to the differential effect of subaerial denudation acting on rock masses of varying hardness and composition. Variation in the original conditions of deposition has resulted in a preponderant development. in some areas of soft argillaceous beds, and subsequent folding has raised these beds in some districts and depressed them in others. Wherever during the general denudation of the country these soft deposits have become exposed, weathering has proceeded at an increased rate and gradually produced deep and broad depressions separated by elevated plateaux. Geological Sequence in Northern IKharga. The geological succession (excluding Pleistocene and Recent superficial deposits) in the northern part of the oasis of Kharga, determined by actual measurement of the different stages exposed on the floor and in the cliffs of the depression, and from numerous bores put down within the last two years, is as follows :— Average thickness in metres. ee Libyan... 1. Plateau Limestone ... 115 ‘ "| Passage Beds... 2. Esna Shales and Marls 55 ( 3. White Chalk Lrg Danian ..< 4. Ash-grey Shales... ... f° (5. Exogyra Beds... ... 30 Upper CRETACEOUS 6. Phosphate Series... ... 70 Campanian ile Red Shales chi. kes SRERE 50 (Nubian Series) 8. Surface-water sandstones 45 pa aed 3 9. Impermeable Grey Shales 75 10. Artesian-water Sandstones 120 630 See Map, Fig. 1, p. 51. The numbers 1-10 correspond with section (Fig. 2) given on p. 55. For the Eocene limestone, which everywhere caps the plateau between the oasis and the Nile Valley and also the northern bounding: Oasis. 51 Hugh J. L. Beadneli—Flowing Wells, Kharga + WY Un el Dabadibo”. . my Sy am ie L b be, ye, ary, Xx We >» rw” obey 4 SS SS RK eS = a) streerec tar atid), ' a < . ~~ SS oats NORTHERN KHARGA + iy S wn vil SY S ee aS S taps ¢ o . = : . SS hy “ail 144 } yy dt hin SS a 4 < =: As ws 4 / Ravi) ae nit 4) AN WN ‘\ AS EN S WSS > a _ oe 7 \ < SS aes et ar Maa x + § Mss + SEN a “SS we + + ey et oe 4 yt Whitey =e 6 98g wey < ey, oe 3 eace Soy, + SS ws S . hy e Aewywen tty ee os ° = s+ 2 SNA a SGr Si a + 5 Ve + NN Reon roc i 9 “ . a ROS ONO igo’ Cons - . O- GS G an OO he 0 . 4 fee & ANY pg a YY, bs % § YG + "Ss + © Qe 4S _f Plateau Limestone fe (Gee. he ie siicarcoae ESWeRSEGIES Ac 2 S| et Wy White Chalk re ne 5s s Ashe gmey Shales“) 9 22 1% 5 oR Bd. 8 8 2 Exogyra Beds. :- Beis 3 MH 15, P. = Phosphate Series te: °Ge io! ES Red Shales. ; B Gorn e = Zz Zon Surface. waler Sandstones Qasree yGhuala = + ZZ, ‘mpermealile Shales. - E eg 3,7 % 5 5 Pas hve : : me WA OE K/LOMETRES. 2 Bel. Cy 2, oo», 62 Hugh J. L. Beadnell—Flowing Wells, Kharga Oasis. wall of the depression, I have adopted the convenient term of ‘‘ Plateau Limestone.”’ Between it and the White Chalk of the Upper Cretaceous come the Esna Shales and Marls, which, as I have shown in a former paper, are to be regarded as passage beds between the Cretaceous and Eocene systems.' It is true that in the lower layers fossils with typical Cretaceous affinities occur, but on the other hand forms of equally pronounced Eocene character are found in the upper bands. Lithologically there is nothing to distinguish one part of the band from another ; typically it is made up of laminated shales, which by increase of carbonate of lime pass insensibly both upwards and downwards into the limestones above and below. The total thickness of the stage varies greatly in different parts of the oasis; his variation was regarded by Ball? as indicating an unconformity between the Eocene and Cretaceous, whereas it is due solely to the fact that varying thicknesses of the upper and lower portions become in places so markedly calcareous as to be indistinguishable from the limestones above and below. In some cases practically the whole, as a band of laminated shale, has disappeared, and then the Cretaceous limestones merge directly into those of the Eocene above. Although the shales below the White Chalk differ little in colour from the Esna Shales above or from the shales of the Hxogyra series below, I have retained Zittel’s term ‘‘ash-grey shales’”—though ash-grey is by no means their usual tint—to avoid the possibility of confusion. They are grouped most naturally with the White Chalk, which nearly everywhere forms a marked band at their summit ; other less conspicuous bands of chalk or chalky marl sometimes occur intercalated in the shales on a lower horizon. With regard to the Lxogyra beds, it is only necessary to remark here that they are almost everywhere marked by hard bands made up of the shells of fossil oysters. Below comes a group of shales containing a number of prominent intercalated bands composed of fish-bones, coprolites, and phosphatic nodules; the series is so well marked in northern Kharga that it is difficult to understand how it had until recently escaped notice, yet that such was the case is evident, as Ball makes no mention of the beds in his report nor are they shown in the published sections. Considering the great development of phosphatic beds in the neighbouring oasis of Dakhla, the extension and thickness of which had been fully mapped and reported on by me in 1898,5 it was no surprise to find similar beds in Kharga when I made a casual examination of the succession at one or two points in the early months of 1905. Since then I have traced the beds over a large area of northern Kharga, and found them to consist asa rule of an upper brown coloured series, individual beds of which in places exceed two metres in thickness, and a lower division consisting of three or four bands of harder and lighter-coloured rock, in which the nodules are sometimes cemented by iron pyrites. These bone-beds mark the 1 Op. cit.: Q.J.G.S., vol. Ixi (1905), p. 675. 2 Op. cit., p. 94. 8 « Dakhla Oasis: its topography and geology’’: Egypt. Geol. Surv. Report, Cairo, 1901. Hugh J. L. Beadneli—Flowing Wells, Kharga Oasis. 53 invasion of the area by the Cretaceous sea, the underlying shales and. sandstones being as far as known devoid of all fossil remains except vegetable impressions and silicified wood, having in all probability been accumulated in an immense inland lake. Underlying the phosphates is a great thickness of an almost homogeneous red or purple shale, below which occurs the first water-bearing sandstone; this will presently be described in detail. Between this sandstone, which for purposes of easy reference I have designated the ‘‘surface-water sandstone,’ and the underground sand- stone from which the flowing wells of the oasis derive their water, is a 75 metre band of grey shale or clay; it is this bed which forms the confining and impervious cover, and prevents the water in the beds below from reaching the surface except when provided with such means of escape as artificial boreholes. ‘To all intents and purposes these shales are impermeable, at any rate over the district in question, and may therefore be referred to as the ‘impermeable grey shales.” The upper layers of this division are visible on the floor of the depression in some parts of the oasis, notably in the Bellaida district west of Jebel Tér, and in the neighbourhood of Ain Mukta to the east of the same range. Their thickness has been determined from the results of about twenty bores put down on the area about midway between Jebel Tér and Jebel Ghennima near the eastern scarp of the depression.! . The Longitudinal Monoclinal Flexure. Although over the Libyan desert as a whole the general dip of the different sedimentary deposits is steadily northwards, we find con- siderable local variations, especially in the oasis-depressions. In northern Kharga there is a difference of level of over 200 metres between the same beds on either side of the depression, the dip being in fact eastwards, as will be seen from the accompanying section across the oasis from the summit of Jebel Tarif to the top of the eastern plateau in the neighbourhood of El Dér. The dip appears to markedly decrease, if not die out altogether, on either side, and the structure of the area might therefore be regarded as a simple monocline were it not for the dominant line of disturbance which runs in a north and south direction along the centre of the oasis parallel to the longer axis of the depression. This line of folding and faulting is most marked in Jebel Tér, a hill range bounded by faults and formed of beds let down through a vertical distance of over a hundred metres. Southwards the line of disturbance—in some places a fault, in others a monoclinal fold—can be traced past Jebel Tarwan, Nadura, and Kharga village to the conspicuous highly inclined beds of Gorn el Gennah, and thence passed the old ruined temple known as Qasr el Ghuata, immediately 1 The localities referred to in this paper are shown on the accompanying map, p. 51, the topography of which is based on the maps of the Survey Departmental Report. The scale (1 : 500,000) is of course too small to show each division of the Eocene and Cretaceous, and the boundaries of such as are indicated must only be taken as approximate. On the Survey maps the names of the two prominent outliers of the plateau on the east side of the depression have their names reversed; the most northerly is Jebel el Ghennima, the other to the south Jebel Um el Ghennaim. 54 Hugh J. L. Beadnelli—Flowing Wells, Kharga Oasis. south of which the White Chalk is let down some 300 metres on to the floor-level of the oasis, it and the underlying shales being bent into an almost symmetrical oval basin or centroclinal fold. In all probability the isolated eminences near Bulag, Gala, and Girm Meshim mark the prolongation of the line of fault southwards, and it may quite possibly continue throughout the depression. The difference in level on either side of the line of disturbance is as a rule very marked, the floor of the depression on the downthrow side being very considerably lower than that on the west or upthrow side. As might be expected, the line of partial or complete fracture directly affects the water-supply, and one of the most noteworthy features of the country south of Jebel Tér is the grouping of all the most important wells near but on the upthrow side of the fault, in spite of the ground on this side being at a considerably higher level. Probably the sandstones rise gently to the west, in which case the underground flow in this neighbourhood may be from west to east, which would account for the best yields being obtained from bores put down near but to the west of the fault; on the other side, although the actual surface level is lower, the water-bearing sandstones occur at a deeper level, and possibly the line of fracture in great measure cuts off the supply.' Ball reported that the most striking evidence of faulting in the oasis was between Jebel Tér and Jebel Tarif, but although the possibility of this fault being connected with and causing the tilted strata of the Gorn el Gennah is referred to, he finally appears to have abandoned this view, as his map shows the fault as extending over only a com- paratively short distance lying midway between Jebel Tér and Jebel Tarif and running in a N.N.E. and S.8.W. direction. This misplacing of the line of fracture led Ball to believe that the majority of the wells were on the east or downthrow side of the fault, whereas, as I have shown, they are in reality on the opposite or west side, the actual line of flexure passing almost direct from Jebel Tér through the Gorn el Gennah. Surface-water Sandstone. The stratigraphical position of the beds of this division will be seen by reference to the section. They have an average thickness of 45 metres, and consist almost entirely of sandstones of varying degrees of coarseness, often highly ferruginous, and containing occasional beds of aluminium and magnesium sulphates. Bands of shale are met with here and there, but as a rule are confined to the upper and lower portions of the series. Members of the group outcrop on the nearly level floor of the oasis over large areas to the east of the line of disturbance, while to the west, where, as I have shown, the general elevation of the beds is higher, they form the foothills of Jebel Tarif, Jebel Tér, and the high cliffs which rise to the north of Um el Dabadib and Ain Lebekha. Probably the sandstones which form the surface of the desert between Kharga and Dakhla and cover large areas to the south of these oases, also belong to this group. 1 Op. cit., pp. 95-97. 5) Hugh J. L. Beadnell—Flowing Wells, IKharga Oasis. “19(q [a pur ‘sroyrenbpeeyy “A AAO “IAL Peder FueL peqer Ysno1yy worssardaq otf} sso10v Uorqoos pollejap :sisvQ vsiwyy—'s “OL auoxpung-epa-uvisaiy of ‘sspoyg Kaugagpaussiluite “suayspuns.zpmcoolinsg __“Sayous Pew CERES EASE] | CVA IESE EVI spag ebpssog 3NJIOI YIMOT saYLIWOT/Y - Lilla Za 4 Y Bic 00/ Pag 2 Sa, ZZ a” Fauayy ‘npayy UuDhn7 fio ner M : % 56 Hugh J. L. Beadnell—Flowing Wells, Kharga Oasis. The sandstones of this series form the highest water-bearing horizon in the oasis, and one quite distinct from the artesian-water sandstone, the two being separated by a thick impervious series of dense grey shales. In the district round headquarters the water is as a rule met with at a depth of from five to six metres below the ground surface, is not under pressure, and does not rise appreciably in boreholes, so that to become available for irrigation it has to be lifted by power. An ordinary borehole or small pit is, however, useless, as the inflow of water through the pores of the sandstone is too slow to yield a pumping supply; in a large pit a number of small fissures are usually struck, and it is through these that most of the water is obtained. Provided a sufficiently large collecting tank is excavated— say 5 X 4 metres and sunk to from one to one and a half metres below the standing water-level—a supply sufficient to yield a continual discharge of eight gallons a minute (or 11,500 gallons per day of twenty-four hours) can usually be obtained. In especially favourable localities a pit of the dimensions given above will yield 15 or even 20 gallons per minute, and the pumping capacity can as a rule be still further increased by deepening. ‘The extent to which this supply can be drawn on without appreciably lowering the water-level has not, of course, yet been determined, though in one pit alongside Bore No. 2, where a ‘ sakia’ has been working more or jess continuously for over a year, the water-level has not appreciably changed. Unfortunately the quality of this water, at any rate in the head- quarters area,’ is not uniform, in some places being quite sweet while in others, only a few hundred metres distant, it is highly ferruginous and more or less charged with salts. For instance, the water of a pit put down at a point 570 metres E.S.E. of headquarters was found on analysis to contain 638 grains of dissolved solids per gallon, the salts consisting of iron, potash, and soda, with traces of lime and magnesia, mostly in the form of sulphates and chlorides. The utilisation of this water for purposes of irrigation would, at the rate of three gallons a minute per acre, mean an annual deposition of over three tons of sulphate of potash and common salt on each acre of land, an amount which would of course spell ruin to its agricultural value in a very short time. In many parts of the oasis, however, perfectly sweet water is obtainable from the sandstones of this series, and that this source, as an auxiliary to the artesian supplies obtained from deep borings, was taken full advantage of by the ancients, is testified by the wonderful systems of underground aqueducts which penetrate the sandstones in many parts of the oasis, but more especially in the districts round Um el Dabadib, Ain Lebekha, and Qasr Gyb. They were especially applicable to districts where the bulk of the sandstones, as in the first two localities mentioned, form extensive hills above the general level of the neighbouring cultivable ground. The method was probably 1 The headquarters of the Corporation of Western Egypt, Ltd.; the area over which the boring operations referred to in this paper extend is shown on the accompanying map (Fig. 1, p. 51) by a dotted line. * For the analyses quoted in this paper I am indebted to Mr. William Garsed, formerly of the Oasis Headquarters Staff. Rev. S. S. Dornan—Geology of Basutoland. OV introduced into the oases from Persia, where underground aqueducts or ‘ kareez,’ for the transference of water from one locality to another, have from an early date been extensively employed. The immense amount of time and labour which must have been expended can hardly be realised without actually exploring the excavations themselves, but it may be remarked that at Um el Dabadib the two main carrying channels, with their subsidiary branches, measure several kilometres in length, and are cut almost throughout in hard sandstone rock, the tunnels being moreover connected at frequent intervals with the ground surface above by vertical air shafts, hkewise excavated in the selid rock; one of the latter which I descended measured 130 feet in depth. It is difficult to believe that the supplies of water obtained from these sandstones were commensurate with the time and labour involved in the construction of the necessary collecting tunnels, but that enough water was obtained to enable fairly large colonies to exist is evident from the traces of former villages and cultivated areas. After the withdrawal of the Romans these outlying districts were abandoned and the subterranean aqueducts gradually silted up. Some few years ago one of the main tunnels at Um el Dabadib was completely cleaned out, and when I visited the place in 1905 the discharge at the mouth of the aqueduct was about 30 or 35 gallons a minute.’ (Zo be concluded in the March Number.) IJ.—Nores on THE Grotocy or BasuroLanp. By the Rev. 8S. S. Dornan. F{\HE rocks composing Basutoland belong to the Stormberg Series of the Karroo System. They cover a much larger area than Basutoland, extending into the Orange River Colony on the west and north, on the south and east into Cape Colony and Natal, and, I am informed, across the Vaal into the Transvaal. The area is thus not less than 45,000 square miles. The whole of that part of the Orange River Colony known as ‘‘the Conquered Territory,” east of a line drawn from Thaba ’Nchu to Vrede, is occupied by the whole or portions of these rocks. The average thickness of the rocks is as follows :— Designation. Thickness of feet. Recent and superficial accumulations tae oh 506 20-40 (1) Volcanic Beds... ae so aoe ~.. 600-4000 Stormberg ) (2) Cave Sandstone ... ton Be an. ... 150-400 Series. (3) Red Beds... ae ye aa: Bee ... 800-500 (4) Molteno Beds (base not seen) ... usd ... 600 exposed. Ball visited the locality in 1898 before the tunnel described above had been cleaned out, and is responsible for the rather fantastic theory that it led to another inhabited oasis to the north of the escarpment (op. cit., pp. 31 and 76). The same writer further remarks (p. 82): ‘It is worthy of note that, with the exception of the Roman work near Ain Um Dabadib and a line of bricked manholes near Gennah, no traces of underground watercourses, such as occur so abundantly in Baharia Oasis, are to be seen in Kharga.”’ As a matter of fact, however, there is hardly a district in northern Kharga where extensive underground aqueducts do not occur, and they far exceed in magnitude anything found in the oasis of Baharia. 58 Rev. S. S. Dornan—Geology of Basutoland. The rocks are, as a rule, well exposed, owing to the great denudation the country has undergone. ‘The thickness is very uniform all over the country from north to south, as at Qalo, near Betha-Bothe : feet. Voleanic Beds as we ass ee Pree 2010) Cave Sandstone... ee e oe DO Red Beds ... an ae _. Pe, sum. we) Molteno Beds Bi ; lee eee 0 and at Sebapala in the extreme poaele Beste feet. Voleanic Beds nde ae oe ee x: 1000. Cave Sandstone... een Py: cae ee 210)0) Red Beds ... Bie we Bs Aes et OO Molteno Beds oe ak ) ... 150 exposed in places. As one advances farther into ie hits the Volcanic Beds become much more prominent rock features, as they compose the highest ranges of mountains, termed Maluti in Sesuto. In addition to these rocks there is a vast network of intrusive sheets and dykes traversing the various members of the Stormberg Series. (4) The Molteno Beds are composed of sandstones, shales, and mudstones, usually grey or greenish in colour, with occasional bands of conglomerate. When freshly fractured the sandstone presents a highly glittering appearance. Nodules of mud are of frequent occurrence, and most of the sandstone is of a loose texture. The rocks weather very fast. At Morija the shales contain numerous plant- remains referable to Zhinnfeldia and ena as. Fragmentary reptilian remains occur in the sandstones. The largest portion I have yet found is the upper part of the humerus of a Dinosaur ; the species to which it belongs has not been determined. The cast of a Cephalopodous shell was found by the writer in the Molteno Sandstones close to Morija, and I have heard of a similar discovery near Ficksburg. ‘The Molteno Beds contain thin seams of coal, varying in thickness from 1 inch up to 6 inches. Usually the seams only extend a short distance and then break up into pockets. ‘The coal is soft and of indifferent quality, but occasional seams of good quality are to be found, as for example at Mohale’s Hoek, where a seam 6 inches thick exists of most excellent quality. It is worked to some extent by the natives. The plants composing the coal seem to have grown, generally speaking, in marshy depressions, as the presence of occasional trunks of trees in the sandstones indicates an old land surface. I am aware that this is not the usual view held of the origin of the coal, but from observations at widely different places I have come to the conclusion that the drift origin of the coal-beds is not generally true. These seams of coal are widespread over the country, being found at places as far apart as 70 or 80 miles. The Basutos do not “usually dig this coal. ‘They try to conceal its whereabouts as much as possible, for fear of the white man seizing the country, and, with the example of other parts of South Africa before their eyes, one cannot wonder at their action. About 50 feet above the horizon upon which the coal is found there is a bed of deep red conglomerate, containing pebbles of quartzite, evidently derived from Cape or pre-Cape rocks, varying in size from Rev. 8S. S. Dornan—Geology of Basutoland. 59 a pea up to masses six or eight inches in diameter. The presence of these blocks must imply a considerable distance in transportation, as no rocks of this character occur nearer, I understand, than Pondoland, Griqualand West, or the Transvaal. As most of the ripple-marks in the sandstones indicate a current with an east to west direction, it is more likely they came from the first-mentioned place. This conglomerate is highly charged with ferruginous matter, so that its appearance is very characteristic. The thickness of the bed varies from three to five feet. his bed is usually taken as indicating coal beneath in Cape Colony, and I can confirm this from personal observa- tion in Basutoland. It seems to be the higher of the two horizons upon which coal is found in the Molteno Beds. The lower is not exposed in Basutoland. The conglomerate is remarkably uniform and persistent all over the country, just a little above the plain, and in every exposure I have found indications of the presence of coal beneath. Good exposures of the Molteno Beds are difficult to obtain in Basutoland owing to the amount of detritus, which covers the slopes of the hills where they lie. This does not apply to the Red Beds and Cave Sandstone, splendid exposures of which occur everywhere. Fossils,! except plants, are not plentiful, principally owing to the absence of good exposures, and also owing to the jealousy of the natives, which prevents any systematic search. Scattered bones occur, but I have seen no skulls or complete skeletons. The species to which these bones belong have not been determined. Large fossilised trunks of trees as much as 2 feet in diameter are not uncommon. These would indicate a land surface, at no great distance, or they may have been floated down by a river. (3) The Red Beds lie conformably upon the Molteno Beds without any distinct line of separation, so that it is difficult to say where the one ends and the other begins. The name is an unfortunate one, and as the rocks are so characteristic and so persistent all over the country, the name could be very well changed in favour of some other designation. They are composed of red sandstones, blue, green, and chocolate-coloured mudstones and shales, the mudstones as a rule predominating. It is noteworthy that most of the green mudstones weather red, which gives the red portions of the beds an apparent thickness much greater than they really have. Ripple-marks and false bedding are extremely common, and nearly always indicate a current from an easterly and north-easterly direction. No plants have been found so far. Fossil wood is rather plentiful, and, of late, reptilian bones have been found in the Orange River Colony and North Basutoland in considerable numbers, indicating large and small Dinosaurs. The largest thigh-bone I have seen measures 193 inches 1 Since this was written footprints of reptiles have been discovered in Molteno Beds near the Tsuaieng River about 1} hour’s ride from Morija. They are four- toed and about 6 inches square, and belonged to some heavy-footed animal similar to a Pareiasaurus, but certainly not this animal. They strongly resemble Labyrintho- dont tracks. I am also informed by Mr. H. C. Sloley, Resident Commissioner of Maseru, that a skeleton of a Dinosaur of large size was found in the bed of the Tebetebeng River, and curiously enough was lying alongside of a doleritic dyke. 60 Rev. S. S. Dornan—Geology of Basutoland. in circumference at the upper extremity of the shaft. Near the Caledon River outside of Ficksburg a large quantity of bones was recently found belonging to individuals of various sizes, and presumably of different species. The bones are broken and mixed up together as if they had been swept down into their present position by a flood. They are embedded in chocolate-coloured mudstone. So plentiful are they that a farmer has built the walls of his cattle kraal of blocks of stone containing fragments of bones.’ In this band of mudstone are curious circular bombs of clay, filled with fine glassy sand, with a central nucleus of limestone, so that they look like howitzer shells. The diameter of these concretions is usually about 10 or 12 inches, and the thickness of the clay layers about 8 inches. The local name for them is ‘‘ Basuto pots,’’ and the term is certainly not inapplicable, as on breaking in the top the whole of the contents can be emptied out. Nodules are of frequent occurrence all through the Red Beds, and are more or less common through the whole of the Molteno Red Beds and Cave Sandstone. Silicified wood is fairly plentiful in the Red Beds, but the remains are mostly fragmentary; the largest portion of a tree I have seen measures 4 feet in length and 1 ft. 10 in. in diameter. It occurs between Cana and Hlotse. The Red Beds in many places must have been deposited in shoal water, as ripple-marked sandstone is very common, so much so in fact that the Rev. D. F. Ellenberger, of Masitisi, has built one of his outhouses and flagged all his floors with slabs of the most beautifully ripple-marked sandstone belonging to the upper members of the Red Beds. Fossil fishes have been found in the bed of the Telle River said to belong to the genus Semionotus, but I am not able to vouch for the accuracy of this. I understand these fish eventually found their way to the British Museum. Spines of a small carnivorous Dinosaur, Massospondylus, have also been found in the neighbourhood of Masitisi. The Red Beds are remarkably uniform in thickness and appearance all over the country. They have been traced for nearly 100 miles in practically a straight line without any marked difference, the average thickness being about 300 feet. In some places in South Basutoland they are 400 feet thick. They he nearly horizontally on the Molteno Beds, partaking of their general easterly dip. (2) The Cave Sandstone is extremely difficult to separate from the underlying Red Beds, which pass up into it without any marked difference. Thus there is no definite line of demarcation; Red Beds occur in what I consider Lower Cave Sandstone, but the Cave Sandstone is distinguished, especially in its upper members, by its greater massiveness, and also by its prevailing grey colour. It forms precipices round the tops of the hills, in many cases overhanging. ‘The individual beds are very thick, and the rock does not readily split into lamine. The Cave Sandstone weathers into huge pillars, or breaks off in immense blocks hundreds of tons in weight. These 1 The Rev. H. Dieterlen, of Leribe, has a vertebra of a Dinosaur, 6 inches in length, which is said to have come from Red Beds, and also near his station there is a portion of an arm-bone, embedded in grey mudstone, just at the base of the Red Beds. Rev. S. S. Dornan—Geology of Basutoland. 61 strew the hillsides everywhere, so that one can always tell when one is in the neighbourhood of this rock by the character of the fallen blocks on a slope. A good example of the pillar formation is to be seen at the station of Thaba Bosin. A small hill named Qiloane, evidently at one time connected with Thaba Bosin mountain, but now separated by a valley a mile wide and over 600 feet deep, is crowned by a pillar of Cave Sandstone some 100 feet high. It is about 15 feet broad on top, and is composed of three immense steps gradually tapering to a point. The precipices of the Cave Sandstone are usually covered with a blackish glaze, the effects of sun and rain, which renders them very slippery. The rock is perforated with openings, especially near the crests of the hills, but though these openings have given the rock its present name they are not true caves, being usually due to the more rapid erosion of the bands of blue clay with which the rock is interstratified, especially in its lower members. They are merely shelters with overhanging ledges. Instances of true caves do occur, but they are uncommon. The Bushmen inhabited these caves in former times, and also cannibals—the remnants of tribes broken up by Chaka and Umsilikazi in their sanguinary raids and driven to cannibalism by fear and starvation.’ One very large cave near the station of Cana is still called the Cannibals’ Cave, and the people point out the ledge upon which the cannibals slaughtered their victims, appealing to the blood-stains on it in proof of their assertion. Needless to say, the ledge is nothing more than green mudstone, which has weathered red. The Bushmen have left traces of their occupation of the country in the paintings on the walls of these rock shelters. Many of these paintings are remarkable for their finish and accuracy of delineation. One of the largest series of paintings is to be found two hours from the station of Thaba Bosin. On the rock face are hundreds of paintings of elands, some of them 24 inches long and 9 inches high, hartebeest, ’gnu, storks, and jackals, all in the natural colours of the animals. The bodies of the elands are painted brown, while the neck, head, and belly are white. Mixed with these are scores of men in rows with bows and arrows, evidently fighting. At one place a Bushman is stealing up to a hartebeest grazing in rather long grass, with his arrow on the string. At another place we can see the hunter charged and knocked over by the infuriated animal he has just shot. On another part of the rock lions are depicted in their tawny colour, some leaping upon game, others on the qui vive. Then there are jackals and curious drawings representing snakes or perhaps mythological signs. Unfortunately most of the paintings have been spoiled by the fires made by the Basuto herd boys. The Basuto see no beauty in and put no value upon these paintings, and their wanton destruction is very often encouraged by the chiefs themselves, in order to prevent Europeans from visiting the country. Other beautiful sets of paintings oceur at Sehonghong on the Upper Orange River, the finest set in the country, at Hermon, Thabana, Morena, Masitisi, Kolo, Qeme, Teyateyaneng, Qalo, and many other places. Those at Masitisi are remarkably good, but the figures are small. They are 1 Voyage d’exploration, par M. Arbousset, 1836. * 62 Rev. 8. S. Dornan—Geology of Basutoland. comparatively recent, certainly within 70 years or so, as horses and riders are depicted upon them, and these animals were not brought into Basutoland till the early part of last century. Fossils are comparatively rare in the Cave Sandstone, but although the actual remains of the animals are seldom met with their footprints are fairly common. ‘The remains of the forearm and part of the shoulders of a Dinosaur, species undetermined, occur at Sebapala.' The footprints of Dinosaurs of large size occur at the following places, all in a band of green mud about 18 inches thick, viz., Tsikuane, Qalo, Morija, and Teyateyaneng. Those at Qalo are most distinct, showing the corrugations of the skin. The largest prints are 143 inches long by 10 wide. Other impressions are shown in relief on the roof near by. The animals walked from west to east up-stream, over the bed of a river, as indicated by the ripple-marks, similar to what one sees every day in the beds of all the large rivers. This green mudstone is interesting as it lies on a jagged surface of coarse sandstone, and points to some denudation having previously taken place. At Tsikuane, 25 miles further south-west, a magnificent series of dinosaurian footprints are to be seen in the same green mud, on the underside of an overhanging cliff. They are all in relief. The huge block which has broken off, with the impressions in their natural state, lies below. There are more than 50 of these prints all with the same general direction from west to east, but crossing and recrossing each other in the most extraordinary fashion. Large and small are mixed up together, but the great bulk of them are small prints. There are two sets of very large prints most conspicuous, evidently belonging to two large individuals. The length of these tracks is not less than 15 inches (middle toe). They-are all of the three-toed variety. A study of these footprints, which ramble about a great deal, shows that they were probably not all made at one time, as some have been imprinted on the others subsequently, when they had to some extent hardened, for if they had all been formed at the same time the first would have obliterated the second. One is irresistibly driven to the conclusion that these prints belong to a single family of Dinosaurs. This would imply that Dinosaurs were rather prolific, or that their families remained with them a long time. Another and more probable suggestion is that the animals were gregarious.” At Morija, 75 miles further south-west, there are two slabs con- taining dinosaurian tracks. The smaller contains one large and a few small impressions. The larger slab is many tons in weight, and in falling has split into two, showing the tracks in reverse. It contains three different sets of impressions large and small, belonging to individuals of different sizes and possibly of different species. Here the same crossing of prints occurs as at Tsikuane. ‘lhe middle toe of the largest track is 15 inches long, and the stride 3 ft. 3 ins. to 5 feet. Besides these impressions it contains well-preserved sun-cracks, showing 1 Part of a jaw was found near Morija; it probably belongs to Hortalotarsus. 2 Since writing this, further study of these footprints has convinced me that what I took to be footprints partially obliterated by others made long subsequently were only the partial obliteration made by the hind-feet of animals following the others immediately. R. G. Carruthers—A Revision of some Carboniferous Corals. 63 that the animals walked over the muddy flats of a lake or river before they were dry. ‘These tracks occur in the same band of green mud as at Tsikuane and Qalo, with ripple-marks and sun-cracks, just what one sees on the muddy bottoms of many of the large rivers to-day. (To be concluded in the March Number.) IIJ.—A RKeviston oF soME CarponrFerous Corats.} By R. G. Carrutuers, of the Geological Survey. (PLATES IV AND VY.) (Continued from the January Number, page 31.) ZAPHRENTIS DELANOUE!, M.-Kd. & H. (Plate V, Figs. 5-7.) 1851. Zaphrentis delanouei, M.-Edwards & Haime: Pol. Foss. d. Terr. Pal., p- 332, pl. v, figs. 2-2¢ (syn. exclusd). 1860. 58 Ais M.-Edwards: Hist. nat. d. Corall., t. ui, p- 339. 1861. a Bs de Fromentel: Int. a i’et. polyp. foss., p. 288. 1869. “ Ae Kunth: Zeit. d. deut. Geol. Gesell., vol. soe p- 665, pl. xviii, fig. 6. 1872. 55 is de Koninck: Nouv. Recher. sur. Anim. Foss. d. Terr. Carb. d. 1. Belg., p. 101, pl. x, figs. 6, 6w. 3 Cliffordana? ibid., p. 105, pl. x, figs. 9, 9a. 1905. “A aff. phillipsi (pars), Vaughan: Q.J.G.S., vol. Ixi, pl. xxii, figs. 2, 2a. EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. Corallum conical and, as a rule, gently curved, though often straight ;.a short broad outline is not uncommon.’ The epitheca has well-marked longitudinal ribbing, sometimes obscured by fine annular striations in the neighbourhood of the calyx; slight constrictions of growth may occur, but there is never an interruption in the continuity of the epitheca. Good figures are given both by Milne-Edwards & Haime and by de Koninck. Calyx deep, with a thin rim and steep sides. The major septa are strong, well separated, and very regularly arranged, with a characteristic curvature convex to the fossula. This curvature is not so apparent in adult calices (Pl. V, Fig. 5a); it is best seen in young specimens, where also the septa in the two cardinal quadrants are arranged as if overlapping those in the counter quadrants (see de Koninck’s figure of Z Clhffordana, Pl. x, fig. 9a, Nouv. Recher. ). The inner ends of the major septa are, as a rule, slightly thickened, 1 Communicated by permission of the Director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. 2 In a few rare cases the coral may become cylindrical in the final growth stages and the septa then become amplexoid, retreating from the upper surface of successive tabule. The commencement of such a stage is indicated in Pl. V, Fig. 6. A unique specimen from Tournai, now in the Survey collection (R.C. 330), shows this habit. It is 4-5cm. in length, and the cylindrical distal portion measures 2°5 by 1-3cm. No trace of marginal dissepiments appears, either in the longitudinal section or im the calyx. In other species amplexoid septa accompany the acquisition ot a cylindrical habit, and fuller reference to the matter will subsequently be given under Caninia cornucopie, Mich. 64 KR. G. Carruthers—A Revision of some Carboniferous Corals. § and are intimately fused together. They do not quite reach the centre of the calicinal floor, where there is consequently a small tabular area about 2mm. in diameter, forming the inner end of the fossula. This small tabula is, however, not often found preserved, and in that case the centre of the calyx presents a smooth-walled tubular space (see Pl. V, Figs. 5, 5a). The minor septa are entirely rudimentary. They are seen around the interior of the calyx as low ridges between the thickened bases of the major septa; those on either side ot the counter septum are sometimes longer than the others. The (cardinal) fossuda, unlike that of most rugose corals, lies on the concave side of the corallum;? it is always very distinct, extending to the centre of the calyx, and, especially in young specimens, often beyond. Thé outline is continuous and even, becoming sometimes slightly narrower midway in its length, and having a marked expansion at the inner end (Pl. V, Fig. 5a); although so smooth, the bounding walls are purely septal, and there does not seem to be any accessory thickening, as in Z konincki. Good figures of the calyx are given both by Milne-Edwards & Haime and by de Koninck, although in that of the latter the perspective is somewhat faulty. Both figure specimens in which the central tabular area is preserved, so that the fossula appears much narrower and shorter than it does in Pl. V, Fig. 5a (where the tabular area has been destroyed), or than it does in” transverse sections. Average dimensions. Height of an adult specimen, 2°5cm.; diameter of calicinal rim, 1:3cm.; number of major septa with above diameter of calyx, 27; depth of calyx, 1 em. IntERNAL CHARACTERS. (a) Zransverse Sections.— The mode of septal arrangement does not differ greatly from that seen in the calyx, though the curvature of the septa convex to the fossula is more clearly shown. In the lower part of the coral it is common to find the fossula relatively wider and larger in every way than in the upper sections, and expanding continuously from the wall to the centre of the coral (Pl. V, Figs. 6d and 7). The cardinal septum is long and thin, completely dividing the fossula till just below the calyx, where it rapidly dwindles in length. There is never any indication of a counter fossula, nor is the counter septum of itself in any way differentiated from its neighbours. The mnor septa are extremely rudimentary. They may be barely perceptible, even in calicinal sections of a mature individual, but occasionally those on each side of the counter septum are more prominent than the rest, affording useful evidence in the identification of that septum. (b) Vertical Sections —The simple tabule, arched in the centre, from 1 to 2mm. apart, and with a strong depression at the fossula, call for no special remark. A text-figure (Diagram C) is given to illustrate their nature. 1 It is, however, sometimes laterally disposed, and in one or two rare instances lies distinctly on the convex side of curvature. R. G. Carruthers—A Revision of some Carboniferous Corals. 65 Localities. Visean: Ashfell Beds (S). Thorlieshope and other quarries in the Cement Stone Series of Liddelsdale.? Tournaisian : Z, subzone and horizon 8; Avon Gorge, Walton Castle (Clevedon), Abbotsleigh, and Burrington (especially at Goat- church Cave). Remarks. The enlarged figures on Pl. x of de Koninck’s ‘‘ Nouvelles Recherches”’ of a coral doubtfully ascribed by the Belgian author to Z. Cliffordana, M.-Ed. & H., represents a young example of Z. delanouev. Such was apparent on an inspection of the figured specimen ; two similar ones are represented in the Piret Collection. These, on slicing, afforded sections identical with those cut near the tip of a typical example of the species. Diagram ©.—Zaphrentis delanouei, M.-Ed. & H. Cement Stones, Liddelsdale. M. 289 f. Geol. Surv. Scot. Vertical section in a plane at right angles to the cardinal fossula, showing the tabule ; the shaded parts represent intersections of septa in the plane of section. x 2. Z. delanouet is a well-marked species. Though often identical with Z. omaliust in size, shape, and epithecal characters, marked differences of septal arrangement are displayed in the calyx and in transverse sections. The curvature of the septa convex, instead of concave, to the cardinal fossula, the large size, the extent, and position relative to the curvature of the corallum, of the cardinal fossula, and the entire absence, at any period of growth, of a counter fossula, are all characters which at once distinguish Z delanouet from Z. omaliust. When any doubt occurs, a section in the lower part of the coral should dispose of the difficulty, since it is here that the septal grouping in these two species is most characteristically shown. The only other Tournaisian coral with which, so far as I am aware, the species could be confused, is perhaps Caninia cornucopie, Mich. M. de Koninck noticed that there is a resemblance in the calyx of these two corals. The differences (which are very apparent in transverse sections) will be dealt with in the description of the latter species. Certain Visean Zaphrentids show considerable resemblance to Z. delanouet, though, as will be noticed later, the species itself does not seem to occur in that division of the Carboniferous Limestone, or at any rate, only in the lower part. Of these, a mutation, as yet undescribed, though extremely abundant in the Carboniferous Limestone Series of Scotland, only differs in the constricted shape of the fossula, which 1 Ranging probably from the Upper Tournaisian to the Lower Visean. DECADE V.—VOL. V.—NO. II. 5 66 R&R. G. Carruthers—A Revision of some Carboniferous Corals. narrows rapidly from the outer to the inner end instead of expanding, and in the shortening of the cardinal septum very early in the growth of the coral. Intermediate forms also exist, where the sides of the fossula are parallel from end to end. These mutational forms will be dealt with in a future paper on the evolution of the species. Meanwhile, in my opinion, the name Z. delanouei should be restricted to those corals where the fossula, in a section cut just below the calyx, is clearly more expanded at its inner than its outer end, and where, of course, the other characters of the species are present. Another somewhat similar Visean Zaphrentid is Z. enniskilleni. This may be distinguished from Z. delanouet by its larger size, a more irregular outline of the fossula, and by an absence of the thickening and intimate fusion of the inner ends of the major septa, so well seen in the latter species, while the septa are more irregular in their disposition, and are often discontinuous. It has, unfortunately, not been possible to obtain serial sections of this beautiful species, suitable for reproduction, in an unbroken condition, at any rate so far as fully grown forms are concerned ; the large fossula and simple tabule make the coral peculiarly liable to fracture. The partially restored sections on Pl. V, however, represent the average of a considerable number of specimens, and it is hoped that they will serve as accurate delineations of the mature coral. Distribution. Dr. Vaughan has kindly contributed some notes on the distribution of Z. omaliusi and Z. delanouei in the South-Western Province. After referring to the separation of Z. aff. phillipsi into these two species, he says :— ‘‘ Being convinced of the justification for this separation, I have assiduously collected”? from the Zaphrentis-zone in the Bristol, N. Mendip and Weston areas, with the view of determining the distribution of these two species. The results of this revision are highly satisfactory in their definiteness, viz.:—Z. delanouet is practically confined to Z,, being only doubtfully recorded from Z, of Portishead. It is prolific at the base (Horizon £8), but rare in Upper Zp. Z. omaliust teems in Z, and at several levels in the lower part of C. It is practically unknown from Z,, being very doubtfully recorded from 8 of Burrington. In the Gower the resolution of Z. aff. phellipst into its component species has yet to be studied, but the results of such revision will, however, in no way affect the zonal sub-divisions established in the [Bristol] paper from the consideration of broad faunal assemblages, in terms of which the distribution of the components will have to be expressed. Since the distribution and structural characters of the Zuphrentes and Campophylla in County Dublin have an important bearing upon the correlation of the beds, and since the Densiphyllid Zaphrentes are practically unknown except as rare 1 As Dr. Vaughan informs me, the description of Z. aff. phillipsi in his original paper (Q.J.G.S., vol. lxi, p. 270) is only applicable in its entirety to Z. omaliusi. * «Tn this work I have received very valuable assistance from Mr. W. H. Wickes, Professor S. H. Reynolds, and Mr. H. F. Barke; Mr. Carruthers has uncom- plainingly checked the identification of almost every specimen.’’ R. G. Carruthers—A Revision of some Carboniferous Corals. 67 unstable sports in the South-Western Province, a discussion of the Irish material must be deferred, and will accompany Dr. Matley’s forthcoming account of the Rush to Skerries section.” ! The range of Z. delanouei seems more extensive in Scotland than in the South-Western Province. A large number of specimens have recently rewarded the diligent search of Mr. A. Macconochie; these were found at several horizons in the Cement Stones of Liddelsdale, up to the base of the Fells Sandstone. The great majority were dwarfed forms, in common with the associated fossils; conditions in these deposits seem to have been quite unfavourable to a free development of marine life. The species also seems to occur at a somewhat high level in the North of England. Some small corals in Professor Garwood’s collection from the Ashfell Beds, provisionally correlated by him with the lower Visean level S LS seem clearly referable to Z. delanouei; it is noteworthy that one or two associated forms are intermediate in type between Z. delanouet and the characteristic Visean coral Z. enniskillent. ZAPHRENTIS KONINCKI, M.-Kd. & H. (Plate V, Figs. 1-4.) 1851. Zaphrentis konincki, M.-Edwards & Haime: Pol. Foss. d. Terr. Pal., p- 331, pl. v, figs. 5, 5a. = 99 cornucopie, ibid., p. 331, pl. v, figs. 4, 4a. = 5 o5 Bronn u. F. Roemer: Lethea geogn., Th. ii, p. 192, pl. vi, fig. 17. 1852. fs 5 M.-Edwards & Haime: Brit. Foss. Cor. (Pal. Soc.), p- 167. 1860. a ae M.-Edwards: Hist. nat. d. Corall., t. iit, p. 338. 1861. " de Fromentel: Int. 4 l’et. polyp. foss. +) P. 287. — a honincki, ibid., p. 287. 1872. af 3 de ‘Koninck : Nouv. Recher. sur. Anim. Foss. d. Terr. Carb. d. Belg., p. ie pl. x, figs. 3, 3a. — 5 intermedia, ibid., p. 99, pl. x, figs. 4 — - le Honiana, ibid., Dp. 106, pl. x, ae Hor ‘10a. 1905. aff. cornucopie, Vaughan : Q.J. G. Slop vol. Ixi, p. 271, pl. xxii, figs. 3— 3d. EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. Corallum conical, slender, and gently curved. The epitheca is smooth without longitudinal ribbing, but usually with annular striations and constrictions of growth, while an interruption of the continuity of the epitheca through rejuvenescence is by no means uncommon (see outline of Fig. 2, Pl. V). Good figures of small specimens are given both by Milne-Edwards & Haime and by de Koninck. Calyx of moderate depth, bell-shaped in vertical section, with closely-packed septa. The major septa are usually thin, always thickened at their outer ends and usually also at their inner ends, which are fused together in the centre of the coral. This may give rise to more or less elevation in the centre of the calicinal floor ; but since the inner ends of the counter septum and its neighbours are often not so affected, this ' This refers to the recent discovery of 7. delanouwei and Densiphyllid Zaphrentids im conjunction at Malahide, co. Dublin. 68 Rk. G. Carruthers—A Revision of some Carboniferous Corals. elevation may disappear at that point of the calyx, while in many examples of this species it is not present at all. The feature is commonest in the calices of young specimens. The (cardinal) fossu/a, lying on the convex side of the corallum, is very deep and distinct, extending to, or beyond, the centre of the calicinal floor, and with a characteristically smooth, even outline, due to the presence of a distinct and continuous stereoplasmic lining ; as a rule the fossula is long and narrow, with an expansion at the inner end of varying degree (Pl. V, Fig. 4a); it may, however, be widely expanded internally, especially in young specimens. The minor septa are almost always well developed, although at first sight this would not seem to be the case, since they are fused with the major septa for the greater part of their length, and so give rise to a broad and more or less solid rim inside the top of the calyx, beyond which they project but slightly (Pl. V, Fig. 4a). They taper to a thin point in the interseptal chambers. Milne-Edwards & Haime and de Koninck both give good figures of the calyx, but the perspective does not express the peculiar bell- shaped cup very well. Average dimensions. Height of an adult specimen, 2'5cm.; diameter of calicinal rim, 1°3.cm.; depth of calyx, ‘8 cm. InTERNAL CHARACTERS. Transverse Sections.—The major septa show similar characters to those seen in the calyx. They are more or less straight, while the thickening at their outer and inner ends is well shown, being generally rather more apparent in the two cardinal quadrants (Pl. V, Fig. 3). As arule those septa at the counter end of the section show less thickening at their inner ends, and often become subparallel, especially in sections across the younger parts of a corallum. The (cardinal) fossula shows great variation in shape, but is always very prominent. As a rule in the young parts of a corallum it is more expanded than in the mature portions (Pl. V, Figs. la and 3a—3c) ; but the open portion may be very small if the stereoplasmic lining is greatly developed (Pl. V, Figs. la and 3c). The fusion of the inner ends of the major septa with this lining is very complete. The cardinal septum only extends down the middle of the fossula to the centre of the section in the very young stages of growth. It rapidly shortens higher up the corallum, so that in sections across the more adult portions it is similar in size and shape to the minor septa. These latter are usually well developed,' and being fused with the sides of the major septa to a great extent, give the appearance of a very thick wall to the coral (Pl. V, Fig. 1, etc.). The thin pointed ends are sometimes joined with a major septum. They appear very early in the life of the coral, and are seen even in the young stages of growth. 1 I would regard the minor septa seen in Pl. V, Fig. 1, as having the greatest. length attained in 7. honincki, as here defined. R. G. Carruthers—A Revision of some Carboniferous Corals. 69 Vertical Sections.—The tabule are numerous, decidedly irregular and vesicular in character, and are strongly arched in the centre of the coral, with a well-marked depression at the fossula (PI. V, Fig. 2). Vertical sections cut clear of the fossula show a similar arrangement of the tabule to that seen in fossular sections, although the strong upward bending in the middle of the coral is naturally not so apparent. There are no dissepiments. Localities. Visean (C,-S): Hazelback (Caninia bed) and Arnside, apparently rare at both localities. Tournaisian (Z, & Y): many localities in the Bristol district (see Dr. Vaughan’s paper, Q.J.G.S. 1905), but especially at Big Weston Wood Quarry, Portishead (Z,), Cromhall (Z, & Y), and Strawberry Hill, E. Clevedon (Z,). The material at hand was not sufficient to adequately examine the variation of this species, though the facts ascertained may not be without interest. As regards shape, a definite division into three main groups seems justifiable. These are sufficiently distinct to warrant separation, although they do not merit varietal rank, for the septal characters and arrangement in all three divisions are identical. They may conveniently be referred to as (1) forma typiea, (2) forma a, and (3) forma B (see Diagram D). I 2 3 Dracram D.—Outlines of Z. konincki, M.-EKd. & H. All half natural size. 1, forma typica ; 2, formaa; 3, forma B. The first group (forma typica) exemplified in those specimens on which the species were founded, is well represented in the Piret Collection, and seems the common form at Tournai (an example is given in Pl. V, Fig. 4), and may also be seen in specimens from the Upper Tournaisian of the Bristol district, and from the lower Visean at Arnside; the second group (forma a) is, as Dr. Vaughan has noticed, the dominant form in the Bristol district,’ while the third group (forma B) is found chiefly at Cromhall, near Bristol, and at Arnside also. These growth forms do not seem to be of evolutionary value, and may perhaps be due to environment. As regards internal structure, some curious features are displayed in a specimen from Tournai, in the Piret Collection (R. 11,677). Externally, this specimen is of large size, with abundant strongly marked constrictions of growth, giving a very corrugated aspect to the coral. When sliced in serial transverse sections, it was apparent that 1 Dr. Vaughan has figured an example in his Bristol paper (Q.J.G.S8., vol. Ixi, pl. xxii, fig. 3). 70) ~R. G. Carruthers—A Revision of some Carboniferous Oorals. in the upper portion of the coral the septa are impersistent, many of them only reaching the centre of the coral as lines on the surface of the tabule ; consequently there is a bare tabular area of considerable size in the centre of some of the upper sections, while in the calyx itself the bare tabular floor amounts to two-thirds the diameter of the coral. A few fragments of a similar form have been found by Dr. Vaughan at Cromhall, in association with more normal examples of the species, including some of large size, but the evidence at present forthcoming does not warrant the establishment of a distinct variety. A mutation of Z. konincki has been briefly described by Mr. Sibly.? The chief difference from the normal species appears to lie in the large size of the coral and the more elongated minor septa. Similar forms have been collected by Professor Garwood from Arnside (where the normal species seems rare) together with a further mutation, noticed by Dr. Vaughan, who has kindly supplied the following notes. on the form * :— ‘* Z. konineki, mut. C,.—This mutation exhibits a marked convergence with Cyathophyllum , the dominant coral of the C, beds. The form is continuously conical and cornute, and the dimensions are large compared with those of typical representatives of the species (the average length is nearly 9cm.). The septal plan is essentially that of Z. konincki, but differs in the conspicuous elongation and distinctness. of the secondary [minor] septa. All the septa are attached to the wall by short thickened bases, and the fossula has the elongated parallel-sided section of that in most forms of Z. konincki. The striking resemblance to Cyathophyllum is caused by: (1) the external zone radiated by primaries and secondaries ”’ [major and minor septa]; ‘‘(2) the apparent development of vesicles in the internal area (as seen in horizontal sections); (3) the type of fossula. The differences are: (1) the apparent absence of vesicles in the external area; (2) the attachment of the septa to the wall by markedly thickened bases.” Remarks. MM. Milne-Edwards & Haime, in establishing the above species, notice its similarity to the coral erroneously ascribed by them to Michelin’s Caninia cornucopia. In separating the two, they notice that Z. konincki has (1) a circular instead of an oval calyx; (2) thirty instead of thirty-two septa, which are (3) thicker at their outer ends and form a prominent lobe near the septal fossula; (4) a fossula more enlarged in the middle and not extending so far across the calyx, and finally (5) ‘ altogether rudimentary ’ minor septa. M. de Koninck’s description (Nouvelles Recherches, etc., p. 99) also agrees with theirs, but after showing that the French authors were mistaken in their diagnosis of Caninia cornucopia he gives a new name, Zaphrentis intermedia, to the coral they considered referable to. Michelin’s species. 1 F. Sibly, ‘‘ Carboniferous Limestone of the Mendip Area’’: Q.J.G.S., vol. lxii (1906), p. 366. ? In these notes it should be understood that Z. konincki is equivalent to Z. aff. cornucopie of Dr. Vaughan’s earlier papers. R. G. Carruthers—A. Revision of some Carboniferous Corals. 71 The differences between Z. honincki and Z. intermedia above noted, appear at first sight quite sufficient to justify the relegation of the two corals to different species. But a close examination of several well-preserved examples of these corals from Tournai, and especially of serial transverse sections from them, in my opinion show that the two are essentially identical. The differences are, in the main, a matter of preservation and form of growth. The first two points, i.e., the shape of the calyx and the number of septa, are not of value unless dimensions are given, since they depend on the age and growth of the coral. MM. Edwards & Haime do not give the dimensions of Z. konineki; according to M. de Koninck they are about the same as those of Z intermedia; a very slight difference in size would account for the septa being a little different in number. The last three points, concerning the character of the septa and the fossula, are, however, of greater importance. Serial transverse sections show them to depend to a great extent on the amount of stereoplasmic thickening present. If this is considerable, the lobing of the major septa at their inner and outer ends is emphasized, causing a close fusion of the outer ends with the inner septa; the latter consequently project very slightly into the interseptal chambers, and so have a rudimentary appearance in the calyx, but in the absence of thickening seem long and prominent. At the same time the fusion of the imner ends of the major septa with themselves and with the fossular lining becomes more intimate than usual; this, in the calyx (and it was on the aspect of the calyx that the species were founded) gives rise to more or less elevation in the centre of the calicinal floor, which is otherwise flat. The most striking difference, however, between the figured specimens of these two ‘ species,’ lies in the shape of the fossula. But this, in serial transverse sections of specimens similar to those figured by de Koninck, is seen to vary to a remarkable degree during the growth of the coral, and, further, like the septa, to be affected by the presence or absence of accessory thickening. This is very well exhibited in a typical example of one of these corals from Tournai, part of which is here figured (Pl. V, Figs. 83-8c). An examination of these transverse sections shows that in its young stages there is a widely expanded fossula, largely filled up by a stereoplasmic deposit (Pl. V, Figs. 8a-8¢). In successively higher sections this lessens, the fossula then becomes constricted (Pl. V, Fig. 3), while in the last section (not figured) it expands again internally, but finally in the calyx again assumes a constricted and elongated form. These sections show further that the thickening of the inner ends of the major septa is quite as variable at various points of the coral’s growth. These facts clearly show that if the calyx of this particular example could have been examined at various periods of growth, the coral would be referred at one time to Z. konincki, at another to Z. intermedia. Precisely similar appearances were afforded by similar serial sections of a large number of these corals collected by Dr. Vaughan in the Bristol district. It was found impossible to draw any valid distinction between Z. intermedia and Z. konincki; the latter name having considerable priority has therefore been retained. 72 R. G. Carruthers—A Revision of some Carboniferous Corals. No doubt examples can be found that have the characters of one of these so-called species throughout its growth. In particular, I have noticed a few small specimens (e.g., R. 11,676) which possess a short enlarged fossula throughout and short minor septa, corresponding to Z. konincki as originally defined. But the great majority of these corals which I have examined, are in accordance with the description and figures accompanying the present paper. It is not surprising that the French and Belgian authors employed two names for this coral. Such a course was indeed a pertectly natural one, since their observations were of necessity confined to the calyx; in such circumstances it was impossible for them to be certain that they were concerned with a single species. One other point in connection with the synonymy of this species remains to be considered. Zaph. le Honiana, de Kon., was a species founded on a single specimen ; according to the author, it differed from Z. konincki in the greater development of the septa, and in the less elongated shape of the fossula, and from Z. intermedia in the number and length of the septa. An inspection of the type-specimen showed that it was in reality an unusually large example of Z. konincki. This accounted for the number of the septa (40 instead of 32, the diameter of the calyx being 1:5 cm. instead of the 1 cm. of the ordinary Z. koninckt). The shape of the fossula and the development of the septa (ie., their prominence in the calyx) we have seen to be unreliable in these corals. Although the central portion of the calicinal floor is broken away in the type (the interior was destroyed during silicification and is now quite hollow), nevertheless the nature and arrangement of the septa around the calyx are clearly seen to be identical with those in Z. konincki, as here defined, and to the latter species, in my opinion, the coral must undoubtedly be referred. One small point concerning the figure of the calyx of Z. le Honiana (Nouv. Recher., Pl. x, fig. 10a) may be mentioned. ‘The epitheca in that figure seems unusually thick. In reality it is of medium thickness, and the appearance is due to a constriction of growth having taken place at the very top of the calyx. Distribution. Z. konincki appears to have a distinct zonal value, although it must be confessed that our knowledge of its distribution outside the South-Western Province is as yet very scanty, since the only district outside that region from which the species has been reported is that of Arnside in the North of England. Concerning the occurrence of the species in the South-Western Province, Dr. Vaughan has supplied the following notes, while he has also added a few words on the Arnside specimens :— ‘““As I have already pointed out in the Bristol paper, our form is conspicuously elongate when compared with the figure of Z. cornucopia given by Edwards & Haime (referred above to Z. konincki). The recent revision of the Z fauna has added nothing to our previous knowledge of the range of this species; its entrance may be conveniently taken as marking the base of Z,, its maximum GeoL. MaAa., 1908. PLATE IV. Bemyrose, Collo.. Derby. Figs. 1-4.—Zaphrentis omaliusi, Edw. & H.; and Figs. 5 to 8.—Varieties. CARBONIFEROUS LIMESTONE. R.-G. Carruthers—A. Revision of some Carboniferous Corals. 73 occurs immediately below y, and it diminishes in numbers in C,. In the Gower the typical species is not uncommon at Threecliff Bay (the base of C,), but in Upper C, it is replaced by the C, mutation (for description see notes on the species previously given). From Arnside (Lakesland) in beds which he correlates with C,-S, of the South- Western Province, Professor E. T. Garwood cites Z. cornucopia; the specimens belong to this mutation, and are apparently not uncommon.’ Professor Garwood has kindly allowed me to examine his material ; while most of the specimens clearly belong to the C, mutation above referred to by Dr. Vaughan, one specimen (Arnside) with minor septa of moderate length, I would refer to 74. konincki as here defined, as also a further specimen from the Caninia bed at Hazelback. The Arnside specimen, in outline, agreed with Z. hkoninchi, forma B, as opposed to the forma a commonly found in the Bristol district, but was otherwise similar to the specimens figured on Pl. V. The shape of the Hazelback example could not be ascertained as it was embedded in the limestone. The section agreed very closely with that on Pl. V, Fig. 1. Some further specimens collected from Arnside by Dr. Wheelton Hind and forwarded to me by Dr. Vaughan, also yielded a good example of Z. konincki, forma typica, but the remainder belonged to the C, mutation. Summarising the evidence, therefore, it seems that in the Bristol district Z. konincki characterises the uppermost Tournaisian beds, while in the Gower it occurs at a somewhat higher level, in the lower Visean, and in the North of England, at Arnside, probably on a still higher horizon, but at both of these last localities a mutational form becomes predominant. EXPLANATION OF PLATES. ‘Prats LY. The register numbers refer to specimens in the British Museum (Natural History) unless otherwise stated. ZAPHRENTIS OMALIUSI, M.-Ed. & H. Fres. 1-1a.—Transverse sections from a typical individual, that in Fig. 1 cut just below the calyx floor. Indications of a counter fossula are shown. x 8. Tournaisian (Zz subzone): Woodspring, near Bristol. Vaughan Collection. Fic. 2.—Profile of a young example. x 3. Tournai. R. 11,658. Fic. 3.—Another transverse section, cut just below the calyx floor, x 3. Waulsort. Mus. Roy. d’ Hist. Nat. Brussels. Fics. 4-4b.—Serial transverse sections of another example. x 3. The calyx agrees well with those figured by MM. Milne-Edwards & Haime and de Koninck. Tournai. R. 11,675. (Camera lucida drawings.) Var. AMBIGUA, Var. NOV. Fies. 5-5a.—Transyerse sections from a typical example. x 3. Upper(?) Visean : Horrocksford Quarry, near Clitheroe. Fic. 6.—Transverse section just below the calyx of an unusually large specimen, lower sections of which agree with those in Figs. 55a. x Ba Tournaisian (Z zone) : coast at Rush, co. Dublin. Matley Collection. 1 Grou. MaG., 1907, p. 73. 74 Dr. Arthur Rowe—Uintacrinus near Dover. Var. DENSA, Var. Nov. Fies. 7-7b.—Serial transverse sections (type-specimen). x 8. The septa in the highest section (Fig. 7) were partly silicified, and a camera lucida drawing was necessary to show their disposition clearly. Tournaisian: coast at Malahide (locality i), co. Dublin. Vaughan Collection. Fic. 8.—Transverse section of another example. x 3. The section is cut just above the floor of the calyx; the cardinal septum is therefore very short and some of the septa disconnected. Tournaisian (Zz sub- zone): Big Weston Wood Quarry, Portishead, near Bristol. Vaughan Collection. PLATE Y. The register numbers refer to specimens in the British Museum (Natural History). ZAPHRENTIS KONINCKI, M.-Ed. & H. Fic. 1.—Transverse section of a mature individual, cut just below the floor of the calyx. x 3. Tournaisian (Z, subzone): Strawberry Hill, East Clevedon, near Bristol. Vaughan Collection. Fic. 1a.—A further section cut 1:3 cm. below preceding. x 3. Fic. 2.—Vertical section cut down the cardinal fossula. Nat. size. The thick black line represents the wall, and the shaded parts the intersections of septa in the plane of section. The vesicular tabule, depressed in the fossula (to right-hand side of figure), are shown, and also the interruption in the epitheca through rejuvenescence. The calyx of this specimen was identical with that shown in Fig, 4a. Tournai. R. 11,678. Camera lucida drawing. Figs. 3-3c.—Serial transverse sections of a typical example. x 3. Parts of the wall have been destroyed by silicification, as also some of the tips of the minor septa. Tournai. R. 11,661. Camera lucida drawings. Fie. 4.—Profile (forma typica). x 3. Tournai. R. 11,660. Fic. 4a.—Calyx of preceding. ZAPHRENTIS DELANOUEI, M.-Ed. & H. Fic. 5.—Front view of a typical example. Half of the calicinal wall is broken away, displaying the septal arrangements within. The central tabular area is destroyed. x $. Tournai. R. 11,682. Fie. 5a.—The same, seen trom above. Fics. 6-6).—Serial transverse sections from a mature individual. Camera lucida drawings ; the parts without detail are restored. x 3. Tournaisian (horizon 8): Avon Gorge, Bristol. Vaughan Collection. Fic. 7.—Transverse section of a young individual. x 3. Tournaisian: coast at Malahide, co. Dublin (locality i). Vaughan Collection. (To be concluded in the next Number.) IV.— UrnraAcrinus IN THE Rinewoutp AREA, NEAR Dover. By Dr. Antuur W. Rowe, F.G.S. 7 HEN we were gathering material and data for that portion of the paper on Kent and Sussex ' dealing with the Dover section we made careful search for Uintacrinus both on the top of the cliff, north of St. Margaret’s Bay, and on the high ground immediately to the westward of the cliff. We failed to find it in either situation, and there were no quarries close to the coast. A thick tabular band of 1 ««The Zones of the White Chalk of the English Coast’?; Part 1, Kent and Sussex: Proc. Geol. Assoc., vol. xvi, part 6 (1900). PLATE V. 1908. GEoL. Maa., Derby. Benzrose . Collo., Figs. 5-7.—Z, delanouei, Edw, & H. Edw. & H.; Figs 1-4.—Zaphrentis konincki, CARBONIFEROUS LIMESTONE. Dr. Arthur Rowe—Uintacrinus near Dover. To flint is seen at the top of the cliff at the north side of St. Margaret’s. Bay, and this we believe to be the same table of flint which we have called in Thanet the ‘“‘ Whitaker 3-inch tabular band.” If our inference be correct, we are here within 21 feet of the ‘‘ Barrois sponge-bed,’”’ which forms the basement-bed of the Uintacrinus-band in Thanet. In the Autumn of 1902 we determined to examine all the pits - in this area which were situated on sufficiently high ground to afford a chance of finding this crinoid. In walking from Dover to Walmer we passed through Ringwould, which is 14 miles south of Walmer and the same distance west of the coast, and decided that, as it was on the highest ground in the district, on the 200 feet contour-line, and sufficiently far from the coast to bring up the bed in question, it was here that our quest should begin. We found Uintacrinus in the pit called The Hooketts, at Ringwould (Pit No. 8 of this paper), but had no time to follow up the search on that occasion. However, we took characteristic body-plates and brachials to General C. F. Cockburn, of Dover, and asked him to continue the examination of this limited area. This he did with such good success that he was able to add the pits at Appleton Farm, Court Lodge Farm, as well as those north-west of Longclose Wood and north of Ripple Cross, to the list. Standing on the high ground at Ringwould, it is clear that we are on a ridge, and that the ground falls away in all directions save that on the south-west, where the village of Martin is situated. Parallel with the Ringwould ridge, and between it and the sea, is another ridge, the northern extremity of which is called Wood Hill, and the centre of which is known as Free Down. A glance at the map (Ordnance Survey, 6 inch, Sheets 58 S.E. ana 584 S8.W.) will show that both these ridges are surrounded by the 200 feet contour-line. It is obvious, then, that our work lies along these two ridges. A large number of pits have been examined between Walmer and Dover by General Cockburn and ourselves, and the numbers given simply indicate the order in our notebooks in which the quarries were examined. The two pits in the valley separating the Ringwould and Free Down ridges are situated in the zone of Micraster cor- anguinum. We now give the pits in the Uintacrinus-chalk and the list of fossils obtained in them. No. 1. We have here three small roadside exposures: on the hill leading from Martin Mill Station to the village of Martin. The flints are in the form of rather small scattered nodules, mostly with thin cortices, but a few have thicker cortices. Between us we have examined these little exposures four times, and the only indication of Uintacrinus is a single body-plate found by General Cockburn. The other noteworthy occurrences are Actinocamax verus, Conulus conicus, and Rhynchonella plicatilis. The thick cortex of some of the flints is suggestive of the zone of Micraster cor-anguinum, and but for the plate of Uintacrinus we might possibly have felt inclined, on purely lithological grounds, to have placed the lowest of these little sections in the upper limit of that zone. Those who are familiar with the coast-section at Kingsgate in Thanet, however, will remember that 76 Dr. Arthur Rowe—Uintacrinus near Dover. Uintacrinus and Actinocamax verus! extend to within a few feet of the base of the Uintaerinus-band, and that there Rhynchonella plicatilis is limited to the base of the sub-zone in question. It is reasonable, therefore, to suppose that we have here the base of the Uintacrinus- band exposed, and not the top of the zone of Micraster cor-anguinum. We saw no evidence of the ‘‘ Barrois sponge-bed’’ which divides the two zonesin Thanet. The three fossils quoted above are of the twelve species collected here alone of zonal value. No. 2. A pit in a coppice about 300 yards west of the northern end of Longclose Wood. It is near a trigonometrical station on the 240 feet level. Of the thirteen species collected here Uintacrinus and Actinocamax verus are alone useful for zonal purposes, and the former was found in abundance. No. 3. This is a pit of fair size north of Appleton Farm, one-third of a mile north of the village of Martin. It is in a flintless area of Uintacrinus-chalk, and the name-fossil is abundant. We obtained a list of nineteen species here, but the only forms characteristic of the sub-zone are Actinocamax verus, the nipple-shaped head of Bourgueticrinus, the large form of Porosphera globularis, and Infulaster rostratus. A rostrum of the last-named rare echinid was found by General Cockburn. No. 4. There is no pit here, but only a few inches of broken-up chalk exposed on the eastern side of the road, which runs by the eastern side of the reservoir at Martin. Here we were fortunate enough to find Uintacrinus. No. 5. An old pit on the western side of Leeze Wood, Martin, is certainly in the same horizon, but it is now covered by grass and bushes. A few pieces of chalk were lying on the grass, and in these we found fragments of Zehinocorys, as well as Cidaris perornata, Terebratulina striata, and Ostrea vesicularis ; but Uintaerinus could not be seen. There can be no doubt, however, as to the age of this chalk. No. 6. A very small, badly exposed pit at Court Lodge Farm. This also yielded Uintacrinus in fair abundance, but we fouls no other zonal fossils. No. 7. Ina pine plantation, 300 yards north-east of Ripple Cross, there is a small pit in flintless chalk which gave us nine species. Of these Uintacrinus and Actinocamaz verus are alone worth quoting. No. 8. An old pit at a place called ‘‘ The Hooketts,” one-fourth of a mile south of Ringwould, with seven small square caves hewn in the surface. A few nodular flints are seen here. This exposure gave us our longest list (27 species); it is the place where we originally found Uintacrinus in this area. The crinoid is abundant and Actinocamax verus not uncommon. In addition we found two examples of the nipple-shaped head of Bourgueticrinus, and Mr. Sherborn obtained no less than three rostra of Jnfulaster rostratus in one day. Such a stroke of good fortune can hardly have occurred before to any other collector in this sub-zone in the South of England. The large form of Porosphera globularis was found; and an example of Zima decussata is from its comparative rarity sufficiently interesting to be worthy of notice. 1 Op. cit., pp. 296-300. Dr. Arthur Rowe— Uintacrinus near Dover. viii No. 9. This is a small and much obscured pit behind the Wheat Sheaf Inn at Martin. ‘The flints are in the form of large and smooth nodules, and they do not run in courses. We were quite content to find Uintacrinus and the large Porosphera globularis in a list of only SIX species. This completes the workable exposures surrounded by the 200 feet contour-line on the Ringwould ridge. It will be seen that every pit is in the Uintacrinus-chalk. We now cross the valley between the Ringwould and Free Down ridges, passing on the way two poor exposures in the Mcraster cor-anguinum-zone at Great Coombe. ‘The flints here are quite different, being in courses, more rugged in shape, and with thicker cortices. Moreover, the scanty fauna was that of the zone just mentioned. No. 22. Ascending the Free Down ridge, we make for the east side of Wood Hill to examine an old chalk-pit, and find that it is completely overgrown with vegetation. By good fortune a new estate is being laid out on the southern slope of this ridge, and in Victoria Road a pit has been opened for the purpose of road-making. ‘The flints are here in the form of large smooth nodules, like huge potatoes, and we found not a few plates and brachials of Uintacrinus on them, as well as in the chalk itself. Out of seventeen species obtained here only the name-fossil and Actinocamax verus were of zonal value. No. 18. The railway made by the contractors to the new Harbour Works, for the purpose of bringing ballast from Stonor, skirts the northern edge of Langdon Hole, which is a deep coombe situated midway between the east side of Dover and the South Foreland light- heuse. Above the north-eastern corner of Langdon Hole the line emerges through a short and shallow cutting which exhibits the usual broken-up surface chalk. Knowing that a considerable thickness of the Iicraster cor-anguinum zone is exposed in Langdon Stairs, and that the railway cutting through the top of the cliff called the Cobbler passes through the same chalk, it occurred to General Cockburn that this insignificant little exposure at the north-eastern corner of Langdon Hole was at a sufficient elevation to bring in the Uintacrinus-band. He examined it and found the crinoid in abundance. We visited this section with General Cockburn at a later date, with the result that our combined collecting furnished a list of 36 species, among which we record the nipple-shaped head and barrel-shaped columnar of Bourgueticrinus, the pyramidal shape-variation of Hehinocorys scutatus, Infulaster rostratus, Micraster cor-anguinum, Conulus conicus, Cyphosoma corollare, Terebratulina rowei, Kingena lima, Terebratulina striata, Ehynchonella plicatilis, Actinocamax verus, Pecten cretosus, Pecten quinque-costatus, Ostrea vesicularis, Ostrea wegmanniana, Spondylus latus, Inoceramus cuvieri, Lima hoperi, Lima decussata, Porosphera globularis, P. pileolus, P. patelliformis, P. arrecta, and Spinopora dizont. We give the more important fossils found here, as this list is characteristic of the fauna found in the other pits. No. 11. In 1906 General Cockburn and Mr. Sherborn examined a recently cut trench, 30 feet deep and 400 yards long, at the site of the Duke of York’s Schools, between Lone Tree on the Deal Road and Frith Farm on the Guston Road, Dover. No contour-line is given, 78 Dr. Arthur Rowe—Uintacrinus near Dover. as this spot is in the neighbourhood of a fortress. There is here a section in the Micraster cor-anguinum-zone, with a thin capping of the Uintacrinus-band. Three brachials of this crinoid, but no body- plates, were found, and out of a list of 15 species we mention Actinocamax verus, the large dome-shaped form of Hehinocorys scutatus, Conulus conicus, Micraster cor-anguinum, Rhynchonella plicatilis, Pecten eretosus, and Pinna decussata. ‘The last-named rare fossil came from the lower zone and is a new record for the district. We may mention incidentally that in visiting the estate called Higham, on the high ground to the east of Bridge, we found Uintaerinus abundantly in a little pit in the private grounds. It is clear, therefore, that the stretch of country lying between Ringwould and Higham would be worth searching for this crinoid wherever the ground stands sufficiently high to make the quest possible. Not only are the foregoing observations useful as a record of an occurrence of the Uintacrinus-band, hitherto unknown, but they afford some interesting information in relation with the lithological and zoological conditions in that sub-zone. In Thanet, with the exception of the ‘ Bedwell-line,’ which is ‘a scattered band of smooth nodular flints dividing the Uintacrinus-band from the Marsupites-band, flints are notably rare. In the Uintacrinus- chalk of the Ringwould area, however, flints are nearly always present, and often of considerable size. Though they are rather irregular in “shape, they are generally smooth nodules with practically no cortex, and no tendency to run in courses, thus affording a marked and useful contrast to the notably irregular flints of the zone below, where the flint courses succeed one another at regular intervals and the cortices are quite thick. This variation of the flints in the Uintaerinus-band is but another instance of lithological change in a relatively short distance, for Ringwould is only 10 miles from Pegwell Bay. We have pointed out these local variations in every county with which we have dealt, and are more than ever convinced of the unwisdom of relying on lithological data alone. Zoologically, the chief point of interest lies in the fact that the fauna of the two districts is identical. For, as in Thanet, we found Actinocamax verus, the nipple-shaped head of Bourguetierinus, the pyramidal shape-variation of Hehinocorys scutatus, Terebratulina rowet, and the large form of Porosphera globularis. The shape-variations in Conulus seem also to be the same as those in the Island. We found no fragment of Ammonites leptophyllus, but obtained four examples of Infuiaster rostratus, which is a notably rare fossil in Thanet. This echinid must be not uncommon in the Ringwould Chalk, for it is only on these grounds that we can explain the discovery of four minute rostra in sections so poor and obscured by rainwash. Not one of these sections presented a clean surface, and most of them were very small. In spite of these difficulties we were able to obtain a list of 60 species for the whole area. Dr. Arthur Rowe—Actinocamaz at Walmer, ete. 79 V.—ACTINOCAMAX VERUS IN THE Urrrr Part oF THE JWICRASTER COR-ANGUINUM. Zone av WALMER AND St. MarGarer at CLIFFE. By Dr. Arraur W. Rows, F.G.S. HE known occurrences of Fi 1 nits vee 1 BAS OF aber, (Lali. iast sc) Seach Rake n ees enehc dele as 4 Bi of Ae = Pyramidula rotundata (Miill.) .............ceeee ee 18 3 34 aP 10 Helicella virgata (Da C.) ........0ecscseencee coon 5 see 12 ¥ Bie EEL AC GUGA (MUM G) ststenamamweneve=s 5 cvs cucieeee setiece as ss ee ED OUP UGHD | MUNI) sae. we rceeute oes sce eseinteeeae ce fos 10 4 Hygromia granulata (Alder).............c0ccc0ee0e 4 Acanthinula aculeata (MUll.) ............c0e cece 1 0 Vallonia pulchella (Mull.) ...........sceeceeeeeres 4 8 JEUGA CS VERGO, MINNIE Sesccodsoreecoedtacobaeacpauaeooe Jil, CPAP DOME ERO SaTS, pogaohedodan eecnobunoac aoe o i a5 os PEL IRENLON GLAS MGA Adee Soa. eee tac sees Ree teen ak 32 12 92 18 81 H. nemoralis, spicula amoris. ..................+5 er, aes 3 oa se SEG ONCENSt as MVINIILA ye mee nee AAs ete eee Be 4 sae an 3 Cochlicopa lubrica (Mull.)..............0000 eceseee 13 Bae 4 2. ae Jaminia cylindracea (Da C.)..........0ce0e0nceseees ie bcc se ue Ace Tes: GRRBROPOUTO: (Qt) Gopcadesocbescoapraedaccnocectac 3 Sap 1 Vertigo pygme@a (Drap.) ............seceeeeneneeeee 1 Claustlia laminata (Mont.) ............0000.0se0 1 .C. bidentata (Strom) ..... Fasdetsfosseuiaceee nace ieee Ap 406 1 a+ vee Carychium minimum, MUll....... ....c.ce cece eee 2 ws 3 ves 2 Pomatias elegans (Mull) 0. ..2.2...0.scesessssee es phe a 138 tee Total. ath, 4H. Ae wae 25 | 107 21 199%. "anes 97 Purpura lapitius (Wann). ..2..c00-.-.00ceeesseeeece . bs LAR CLUBS cok ORCA CBA SOERASRELEE SEE Dane nobnnraceae a a Ag: oe she see JEGESOGL REPOG? (DESC) nade sceeebeceacod sokeonuediser ad ax “oe oat 1 Dittorina obtusata (Limn.).. ........cesecssee0. ones “ tee Gibbula umbilicata (Mont.) ?.............c ccc ec eens as a ae see 50 SHUTAN PMs MUTI, | ay padennrepeeebacsed-onecacose yy ade 3 > % Venus) Pernicosd, en. so....d.shcedeccem: eeck oe Be a0 a aioe TRIAS Hasseaauorai(Monts) ©. sesccc.csteseeasee-be ne eeene 558 she Fh O65), =| 1 Ostreatedt lis anny ett. tnc.s.. eee ate te ae Ae cae as S65 “s ANAT CLITA] GW no nono eppsaseragédeceadcoot:aonos bee *. i Glycimeris glycimeris (Lann.) 0.02... ...eceee eee eh ae * B. B. Woodward—Drift, etc., Newquay, Cornwall. 85 THE HILL-WASH-DUNES NEAR NEWQUAY. AGE DovuBTFUL. Ho.Locene. F-L Mytilus | ————————~ band at K. Below | Above upper | upper Mytilus | Mytiius layer. layer. 86 B. B. Woodward—Drift, ete., Newquay, Cornwall. not be. They contain no angular fragments of rock, all such large pebbles as they enclose being well rounded, while the few fossils that have been found genuinely embedded in them are marine.’ The coarse pebble beach at the base contains well-worn fragments of rock; the bulk, of vein quartz, is of local origin, but, according to Mr. Clement Reid, who has studied them, there is a considerable admixture of rocks not traceable in the immediate vicinity. Mr. Reid postulates ice for their transport, but has to invoke many hypotheses to buttress this contention, while he is obliged to admit that the fossils indicate a temperate period. He even refers to this raised beach a big greenstone boulder found on the beach at the southern end of Fistral Bay; had he searched the cliff above he would have found in the ‘head,’ a much more likely source, boulders to compare with it in size. To the writer a more simple explanation, demanding but a single ... hypothesis, is that these fragments were derived from contiguous rocks that have been removed in the formation of the present coastline. It is evident that a vast interval of time must have been consumed, | first in the excavation of the old bay and the wearing down of the killas to form the old platform (possibly with the assistance of the pebbles that afterwards went to form the beach immediately lying thereon), then in the production and piling up of the marine sands to a depth of 20 feet before the ‘head’ period. Under these circum- stances a greater age must be attributed to this set of deposits than has hitherto been granted, so that one would not be surprised if they ultimately were referred to the Pliocene. There is nothing in the few fossils they contain to disprove this. With regard to the molluscan fauna of the hill-wash-dunes, the accompanying table speaks for itself. Twenty-five species are here recorded, as against seventeen in Mr. Warren’s list. Mr. A. 8. Kennard has most kindly assisted in the case of critical specimens and undertook to search the material for slug remains: those given are all of his finding. To Mr. E. A. Smith, I.8.0., I am indebted for the determination of the smaller marine species. No particular attention was given to the marine forms and no register kept of their number where more than a chance specimen was present: their occurrences are consequently marked in most cases solely by an *. It is also impossible to attach a number for the calcareous grains that represent the shell in Ardon, since they stand for an uncertain quantity, hence in their case too an * is employed to mark their occurrence, The division of the species into ‘woodland’ and ‘sand dune’ is a matter of assemblage rather than an individual quality, and has not been attempted. If, however, the species recorded for the Helix nemoralis zone be scrutinized, it will be manifest at once that they as an assemblage differ from the group of forms from the upper beds and 1 The ox bones cited by De la Beche (Rep. Geol. Cornwall, etc., pp. 427-8) obviously came out of one of the pipes, as also must the portion of red-deer’s antler recorded and figured by Borlase, Nat. Hist. Cornwall, p. 281, pl. xxvii, fig. 5. Reviews—Dr. T. R. Holmes—Ancient Britain. 87 contain more of the sylvan and moisture loving species. As a matter of fact, the species taken as the type of the zone on account of its greater prominence is not confined to that period, but is still living on the spot, e.g. the grassy slope in the southern angle of Fistral Bay. Some examples of this species from the zone have the thickened shell so characteristic of those from Dog’s Bay, Ireland. The forms that so far appear restricted to the zone are Vitrea lucida, which has not hitherto been recorded fossil, Pyramidula rotundata, Acanthinula aculeata, Helix hortensis, Clausilia laminata, Carychium minimum, and Pomatias elegans. ‘Those found only in the upper beds are Ihlax Sowerbyi, Helicella itala, and Helix aspersa ; while peculiar to the beds of doubtful age are Vitrina pellucida and Jaminia cylindracea. The mode of oceurrence and recurrence of the layers of Mytilus shells calls for some further explanation than can at present be offered. They occur at such defined intervals, and, if synchronous in the several dunes, are spread over such a considerable area, that they appear to mark epochs of some sort. The thicker patches and, of course, the cooking sites indubitably speak of Man, but the persistent thin upper seams, and especially the top one in each section, even if those in the different dunes do not correspond in time, seem to suggest some other agency than Man needful to account for their being thus evenly spread out. Do they, perchance, indicate periods of dearth of other food during which crows and gulls were driven to subsist mainly on mussels and carried them up on the dunes to devour? Another point of interest is the wonderful state of preservation of the molluscan shells in the dunes, wherein they occur quite perfect from the base right up to the turf, whereas when the slates come to the top, save for a foot of soil, that soil never contains the trace of a shell, though snails are living on the spot and must have done so for ages. This is the case both on Towan Head itself and on East Pentire Headland. The explanation seems to be that where the drainage is uniform and perfect the percolation of rain-water has little, if any, effect on the shells, whereas when there is no such complete drainage the soil retains the moisture longer and the shells are macerated and dissolved, just as they are when the drainage is diverted and concentrated in channels and pipes. REVIT HWS. I.—Ancrent Brirarn anp THE Invasions oF Junius Cansar. By T. Rice Hotmes, Hon. Litt.D. (Dublin). 8vo; pp. xvi, 764, with 3 maps and 44 text-illustrations. Oxford: at the Clarendon Press, 1907. Price 21s. net. ‘ae object of the present work is ‘‘ to tell the story of man’s life in our island from the earliest times’’; and as the author has endeavoured ‘‘to treat it comprehensively from the beginning to the Roman invasion of a.p. 48,” it has a direct bearing on the later 88 Reviews—Dr. T. R. Holmes—Ancient Britain. chapters of geology. In his interesting introductory sketch of the progress of research, the author pays tribute to Sir Richard Colt Hoare and William Cunnington (sen.), with whose labours in Wiltshire ‘the era of scientific investigation may be said to have begun.” From the materials since accumulated, by Prestwich, Pengelly, Sir John Evans, Lord Avebury, Canon Greenwell, Pitt-Rivers, Professor Boyd Dawkins, E. B. Tylor, and many others, it is con- sidered that we know enough about sepulchres, skulls, coins, about implements, weapons, ornaments, urns, place-names, and folklore, ‘‘ to justify an attempt to create a synthetical work, the aim of which shall be to portray in each successive stage and to trace the evolution of the culture—nay, in some sort even to construct a history—of prehistoric Britain.” With this aim we are in full sympathy. A judicial summary of our knowledge is ever an advantage to progress, and we agree with the author that ‘‘Not only is the subject fascinating; it is an indispensable introduction to the history of England.” That much remains to be learnt is freely admitted by the author. Following the Introduction he deals with the Paleolithic age, and with ‘‘ those who, i in hard struggle with nature and with fierce beasts, were the unconscious founders of European civilization.” Here we are brought face to face with many controverted questions, with the relations of man to the Glacial epoch and with his origin. Paleolithic implements identical in form and character with British specimens, fabricated perhaps at widely separated periods, but many of them of great antiquity, have been found in various regions of the world ; but ‘‘ the original home of the race is unknown.” The author gives a good account of the main features of the Ice Age as interpreted by geologists ; a task by no means easy, considering the divergence of views on the extent of ice-sheets, on movements of upheaval and depression, and on interglacial periods. Here indeed, as elsewhere, we may compliment him on his impartial treatment, his laborious research, and the full references he gives to the views of others, whether or not he agrees with them. When man first entered Britain the whole country may have stood at least 600 feet above its present level, or it may have been no more than 70 feet. Thus at the start the author calls attention to con- tradictory views expressed in different volumes of the Victoria History of England. In the latter case it is supposed that man entered across a narrow strait formed during an early stage in the Glacial epoch, the channel having been cut by overflow from the north European drainage that was then barred from escaping northward by the North Sea ice-sheet.! A greater elevation than 70 feet, perhaps a subsequent elevation, seems needed to explain the deeply eroded channels filled with Glacial Drift that have been found in East Anglia. There is still diversity of opinion with regard to the relation of the Mammoth to the Glacial period. It has not, however, been definitely obtained in any Pliocene deposit; even in the Cromer Forest-bed, although some specimens, as Mr. E. T. Newton has remarked, ' Cf. C. Reid, ‘‘ Origin of the British Flora,” 1899, p. 39. Reviews—Dr. T. R. Holmes—Aneient Britain. 89 ‘Capproach the £. primegenius type of tooth, none are precisely like any undoubted example of the species.” * Glaciated remains of mammoth have, however, been found, and it is not to be questioned that this animal existed in Britain prior to the period of maximum glaciation. That man similarly existed there is no reason to doubt. Remains of mammoth and other Pleistocene mammals are abundant in the Dogger Bank and in the Thames Valley gravels; and when these remains were accumulated a large part of the North Sea, as the author remarks, could not have existed, and there was a ‘land-bridge’ at any rate in that part of the Paleolithic age. He does not attempt to connect this stage with that when the Straits of Dover began to be cut by overflow; and in a footnote referring to Mr. Clement Reid’s remarks on the re-extension of the old Rhine estuary, he confesses he does not understand how to reconcile them. There is, however, no necessary want of discord. That caves were occupied by man and by Pleistocene mammalia before the climax of the Ice Age is now admitted from evidence obtained not only in North Wales, but also, as regards mammalia, more recently by Mr. Tiddeman in the Gower promontory. With regard to Koliths the author speaks with reserve, remarking that ‘‘he who reflects that they have been met with not only in Tertiary beds but in those immeasurably later deposits which were contemporary with or but little older than Paleolithic man will leave them for the present without regret to the consideration of enthusiasts.” Nevertheless, among those noted to have accepted these rudely shaped stones as artificial are Canon Greenwell, Pitt-Rivers, and Prestwich. A great deal has yet to be learned about the successive types of Paleolithic implements, a subject brought before our readers by Mr. 8. Hazzledine Warren (Grot. Mae., 1902, p. 97); and we may add, much information is wanted also of the animal and other remains associated with them. Thus the Hoxne implements, regarded as of later date than the Chalky Boulder-clay, those of Caddington near Dunstable, and those found at various levels in the deposits of the Thames Valley, and elsewhere, have yet to be studied more particularly in reference to the sequence of Pleistocene events. oliths as well as palzoliths have been derived and re-deposited. As the author remarks, ‘the Paleolithic age was of such vast duration that before its close Britain may well have been invaded by new races”; but he admits that, despite some present difficulties, the French chronological classification of de Mortillet may ‘‘ contain a measure of truth.” Comment is naturally made on the scanty evidence of human remains in Pleistocene deposits. Of the famous Neanderthal man, the author observes that the skull was capacious enough to lodge a brain as large as that of many a living savage; and trained observers have pointed out that skulls of like contour have belonged in modern times to men of considerable mental power.” Quite recently Professor Sollas has remarked that ‘‘the Neandertal and Pithecanthropus skulls stand like the piers of a ruined bridge which once continuously 1 “Vertebrata of the Pliocene Deposits of Britain’’: Mem. Geol. Survey, 1891, p. 47. 90 Reviews—Dr. T. R. Holmes—Ancient Britain. connected the kingdom of man with the rest of the animal world”’ (Phil. Trans., 1907, B, p. 337). While there is much that is doubtful concerning the Paleolithic inhabitants of Britain, there are sufficient facts to enable the author to picture something of their mode of life and culture. He remarks that ‘‘ the close of the British Palseolithic age is veiled in obscurity.” Nevertheless, he is doubtful about any great break between that and Neolithic times ; doubtful also as to the physical conditions, whether Britain was so upraised as to be almost connected with the Continent, as suggested by the depth of alluvium in many river-valleys and by the evidence of submerged forests. After reviewing the evidence he concludes—‘‘ Therefore those of us who cling to the belief that the Neolithic immigrants who first ventured to launch their frail canoes on the narrow Channel and ran them aground on the Kentish coast may have found the new-born island inhabited by men of an older race have some reason to show for our pious faith.” We do not propose to follow the author in detail in his accounts of the Neolithic and later ages. Nevertheless, his chapters are by no means devoid of geological interest in connexion with the physical features, the inhabitants, the flint-mines of Brandon and Cissbury, and the pit-dwellings. In his account of the Bronze age he does not accept Sir Norman Lockyer’s views regarding Stonehenge, nor does he agree in any respect with Mr. Clement Reid’s views on the subject of Mictis, Ictis, and Vectis. Mr. Reid had assumed that they indicated but one island, the Isle of Wight; and that about 2,000 years ago the Isle of Wight, near Yarmouth, was connected with the mainland near Lymington by ledges of Bembridge limestone, which formed a natural stone-causeway, available at low-water for the transport of tin from Cornwall. Other observers on various grounds had _ previously suggested that Ictis, rather than St. Michael’s Mount, was the Isle of Wight. Alfred Tylor, in 1884 (Arche@ologia, xlviii, pp. 230-6), had urged the claims of Bembridge and Brading Harbour as the port of Ictis. Our present author strongly condemns these suggestions, and, discussing the whole subject in considerable detail, maintains that the evidence favours the old view that St. Michael’s Mount was the veritable Ictis. He agrees with Lyell, Pengelly, and Ussher, ‘that since the time when tin was shipped at Ictis, St. Michael’s Mount has undergone no sensible change.” Lyell had observed that. ‘It still affords a good port, daily frequented by vessels, where cargoes of tin are sometimes taken on board, after having been transported, as in the olden time, at low tide across the isthmus.” John Phillips, in a paper entitled ‘‘ Thoughts on Ancient Metallurgy and Mining in Brigantia and other parts of Britain” (Proc. Yorksh. Phil. Soc. for March, 1848), concluded that at first ‘‘ the only route for the tin of Cornwall to the Mediterranean was by sea to the western parts of Spain’; and that at a later period ‘‘the track by land through Gaul to Massilia was preferred.” If we accept this view we need not disagree with the remarks of Alfred Tylor that tin was sometimes carried by coasting vessels from Cornwall to the Isle of Wight. This alternative method of transport Reviews—Geology of Ontario. Ot from Cornwall to the Isle of Wight is indeed referred to by Mr. Reid, and it appears more reasonable than the idea of transport across country from Devonshire and Cornwall; moreover, there is no need to invoke a land-connection at that recent period between the Isle of Wight and the Hampshire coast, if we accept St. Michael’s Mount as the island to which tin was conveyed by the people of Belerium in wagons at low tide. Dene-holes are briefly dealt with, and the author agrees that they were used as granaries and places of refuge. Other excavations by shaft and tunnel were undoubtedly used simply to extract chalk, but they are not dene-holes. In some cases, however, it seems probable, as at Chislehurst, that excavations by tunnel for chalk were made in a tract previously utilized for dene-holes. The author discusses the configuration of the coast of Kent in the time of Cesar, the Goodwin Sands, and Romney Marsh. He gives reasons for deciding that Portus [tius, whence Ceesar sailed on both of his expeditions to Britain, was Boulogne; and he claims to have demonstrated ‘‘ that he did land both in 55 and in 54 8B.c, in East Kent—in the former year between Walmer Castle and Deal Castle, in the latter north of Deal Castle.” One further conclusion may be mentioned with regard to the site of the great Metropolis :— ‘“‘The very large number of Paleolithic implements which have been found in London and its environs prove that in the earliest times it was a centre of population; but it would hardly be safe to infer from the discoveries of bronze and iron tools and weapons and of British coins that the Romans found a town on the site. If there was such a town, it certainly had little political importance; for while numerous British coins issued from the mints of Verulamium and Camulodunum, not one has been discovered which bearsthe name of Londinium. Nevertheless, it may reasonably be affirmed that London existed before the Roman conquest: first, because the same advantages that attracted the traders of Rome would also have commended themselves to those of Britain; and secondly, I repeat, because it is improbable that a Celtic name would have been given to a town which the Romans had built upon a virgin site.”’ Il.—GroLtocy or OnrTaARIo. N a paper on the “‘ Grenville-Hastings Unconformity ” (16th Report of Bureau of Mines, Ontario, 1907), Messrs. Willet G. Miller & Cyril W. Knight claim to have proved that the Keewatin of South- Eastern Ontario is the oldest series in the region. ‘‘An ancient Keewatin lava has, in places, been subjected to little denudation before the deposition of the Grenville limestone, which fills the cracks and openings in the ropy surface of the lava. Unconformably above the Grenville limestones and Keewatin lavas or greenstones rest the conglomerates and other sedimentary rocks, including limestones, which the present writers class as Huronian. These conglomerates contain not only ordinary fragments of the Grenyille limestones but ‘eozoon’-like boulders as well, thus showing that the limestone is much older than the conglomerate.” ‘They have further found in the conglomerates pebbles of cherty and ferruginous rocks resembling those of the iron-ranges of Lake Superior, and derived from layers or 92 Reports and Proceedings—Geological Society of London. bands in the Grenville limestone. The Huronian in their classification stands for what heretofore has been called the Hastings Series. The Laurentian includes both the Keewatin and Grenville Series.! REPORTS AND PROCHEDINGS. I.—Gerotocicat Socrery or Lonpon. I.— December 18th, 1907.—Sir Archibald Geikie, K.C.B., D.C.L., Se.D., Sec. R.S., President, in the Chair. The following communications were read :— 1. ‘“‘Some Recent Discoveries of Paleolithic Implements.” By Sir John Evans, K.C.B., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., For. Sec. G.S. By the courtesy of Mr. Worthington Smith, the author is enabled to call attention to some recent discoveries of Paleolithic implements on the southern borders of Bedfordshire and in the north-western part of Hertfordshire. In addition to the discovery of a Paleolithic floor at Caddington brickfield, at between 550 and 590 feet above sea-level, implements have since been found on the surface of the ground at 600 and 760 feet respectively ; while a good ovate implement was found in thin, water-laid material, at 651 feet O.D. In Hertfordshire, Paleolithic implements have been found at Great Gaddesden, at a brickfield about 13 miles north-east of Hemel Hempstead, and at Bedmond, 2 to 2} miles south-east of the last locality. The drifts which cap the hills in North-West Hertfordshire seem to be of very variable origin; and a great part of the material is derived from clay deposits of Eocene age, but little remanié. It seems to the author that it is safest not to invoke river-action for the formation of the high-level deposits, which extend over a wide area and are in the main argillaceous and not gravelly or sandy in character, but to adopt Mr. Worthington Smith’s view that in early times lakes or marshes existed in these implementiferous spots, the borders of which were inhabited by Paleolithic Man. The evidence that he has brought forward as to the implements having, in some of the Caddington pits, been manufactured on the spot, most fully corroborates this view. 2. ‘On a Deep Channel of Drift at Hitchin (Hertfordshire).” By William Hill, F.G.S. Evidence is given, from nine borings running along a line slightly west of north from Langley through Hitchin, of the existence of a channel of considerable depth, now filled with Drift, oceupying the centre of an old valley in the Chalk escarpment, which may be called the Hitchin Valley. For the first 3 miles it appears to be contained within narrow limits, persistent ridges of Chalk occurring on each side, and it might almost be compared to a Chalk combe. At Hitchin, after passing between two Chalk knolls, its confines become less clear, and there seems to be some evidence of broadening as it emerges on to the Lower Chalk plain and leaves the higher ground of the main ' In connection with the above see report of paper by Professor F. D. Adams, Grou. Maa., Dec., 1907, pp. 574, 575. Reports and Proceedings—Geological Society of London. 93 Chalk escarpment. The greatest depth to which the channel has been proved is at a boring in Hitchin, where the Gault was reached beneath Drift at a depth of 68 feet below sea-level. That the channel flowed northwards and belonged to a ‘subsequent’ stream seems to be proved by the fact that at Bragbury End, the only place where a southerly stream could pass, the space between bare Chalk exposures is but 450 yards, and in about the middle of the space Chalk has been reached within 50 feet of the surface (that is, about 200 feet above sea-level) in a well dug a few years back. The channel must be older than the Chalky Boulder-clay, which still partly fills it as far south as Langley, and may have blocked it to the southward and given rise to the features now presented in the drainage on the northern slope of the escarpment. But the author is inclined to suggest that either glacier ice or bay ice must have played no unimportant part in damming up the old valley. The author suggests the existence of another channel, in this case draining southwards, buried under the broad area of Boulder-clay and gravel which lies immediately south of Stevenage and to the north as far as Letchworth and Wilbury Hill. But a narrow space of bare Chalk, at an elevation of 240 feet O.D. connecting large areas east and west of it, precludes the occurrence of a channel farther north than Letchworth. Il.—January 8th, 1908.—Sir Archibald Geikie, K.C.B., D.C.L., Se.D., Sec. R.S., President, in the Chair. The following communications were read :— 1. ‘‘Chronology of the Glacial Epoch in North America.” By Professor George Frederick Wright, F.G.S.A. (Communicated by Professor E. J. Garwood, M.A., Sec. G.S.) In the case of Plum Creek, Lorain County (Ohio), the study of the activity of the stream and of the amount of work which it has done since a certain stage of the Glacial epoch has yielded important results. This stream began the erosion of its trough when the temporary lake, held up in front of the ice, was maintained for a considerable period at the level of its Fort Wayne outlet; it has never had anything more resistant than Till to act upon. From a given section, 5,000 feet long, it has excavated 34 million cubic feet of Boulder-clay, removing it from exposed banks 1,600 feet long. Twelve years’ erosion of a 500 foot length of a part of the trough of the stream under observation, and from banks 1,000 feet long, gives a rate of 8,450 cubic feet per annum. Therefore, the removal of 34 million cubic feet from the 5,000 foot section would give a period of 2,505 years. Considerations tending to lengthen the estimate are the former afforestation of the area and the increased gradient in the arti- ficial cut-off. Those tending to shorten the estimate are the present. wider flood-plain, the time taken for forests to grow, and the probably greater former water-flow. The erosion of the Niagara Gorge began considerably later than that of Plum Creek, and probably dates from midway between the disappearance of the ice from Northern Ohio and from Quebec. If conditions have been uniform, the age of the Gorge would be 7,000 94 Reports and Proceedings—Geological Society of London. years. As the Niagara Limestone is thinner at the mouth of the Gorge, and the Clinton Limestone has dipped out of sight at the Whirlpool, there is nothing in the stratigraphy to indicate a slower recession in the past than in the present. Moreover, nearly one-third of the erosion has been accomplished by two pre-Glacial streams, one from the south and a smaller one from the north. Therefore the author concludes with considerable confidence that the Gorge is less than 10,000 years old, and that the ice of the Glacial epoch continued down to that time, to such an extent over the lower St. Lawrence Valley and Central New York that it obstructed the entire eastern drainage of the Great Lakes. There is nothing which would lead to a longer estimate of the time which has elapsed since the Kansan stage of the Glacial epoch than that approved by Professor Calvin, of lowa, and agreed to by Professor Winchell. These assume 8,000 years as the limit for post-Glacial time, and that a multiple of this by 20, amounting to 160,000, would carry us back to Kansan time. ‘his, however, would still leave as long a period still earlier, for the advance of the ice. The author’s impression is that the whole epoch may well have been compassed within 200,000 years. 2. ‘On the Application of Quantitative Methods to the Study of the Structure and History of Rocks.” By Henry Clifton Sorby, LL.D., HR.S:,, EL.8), £° G8: The knowledge of the final velocities of material subsiding in water is of fundamental importance; but the relation between size of particles and velocity is complex, and perhaps may be partly explained by a thin, adherent film of water. The angle of rest in the case of sand- grains of varying size and quality enables us to ascertain approximately the velocity of current necessary to keep such sand drifting, and that needed to move it when at rest. The comparison of this angle with that observed in sedimentary rocks made of similar materials may be used to determine the amount of vertical contraction of rocks since deposition, the average in cases studied in Tertiary and Secondary rocks being from 100 to 57. In studying the drifting of sand along the bottom by currents (on which the author experimented in a small stream many years ago), the results are found to vary, according to whether the water is depositing sand as well as drifting it, and according to whether ripples are or are not being formed on the bottom. The velocity of a current can be determined approximately in feet per second for different kinds of sand. The connection between the structure of ‘ripple-drift’ and time is discussed ; and an equation is given, from which the rate of deposit in inches per minute can be deduced. The connection between the structure of a deposit and depth of water is found to be difficult to study quantitatively. From the occurrence of ‘ drift-bedding’ the depth of water may probably be determined to within a few feet, and on this being applied to particular rocks some interesting results come out, including the separation of sandstones into several different groups. The deposition of fine deposits, like clay, is a most complex subject, varying according to the amount of mud present in the water, and according to whether the grains subside separately or cohere together. When no pressure Reports and Proceedings— Geological Society of London. 95 is applied, even when no further contraction takes place on standing for a year, the amount of water included in the deposited clay may be 80 per cent., and when dry the minute empty spaces may still amount to 82 per cent. This leads to the conclusion that many of the older rocks must now be only 20 per cent. of their original thickness. In many cases there is produced by a gentle current a minute laminar structure from which probably the rate of deposition may be learned approximately, a common rate in the older rocks being irom 9 to 18 inches per hour. But complex and difficult experiments are very desirable on this question. The rocks classed as clays differ very much in structure, and must have been formed under different conditions. Applying these conclusions to various rocks, the author shows that in the green slates of Langdale there is good evidence that the volcanic eruptions sometimes occurred within a few weeks of one another, and at other times at more distant intervals. Now and then there were bottom currents, probably due to volcanic disturbances, gradually rising to a rate of about 1 foot per second and gradually subsiding, the entire period being a few minutes, and deposition taking place in different cases at from -4; to 2 inches per minute. There is also good evidence that, when deposited, part of the rock was analogous to fine, loose sand, and part to semi-liquid mud. In the Coal-measure sand- stones deposition at the rate of 1 inch per minute was common, with intervals of little or no deposit. The volume of inyisible cavities in rocks varies from 49 per cent. in some recent rocks to nearly 0 in the ancient slates. ‘The packing of grains is discussed mathematically and experimentally, the latter with round and flattened shot ; and experiments with sand of various qualities, rapidly deposited and also when well shaken, show a good agreement with calculation. The methods of determining the volume of minute cavities in rocks are given, followed by a number of examples from recent and older deposits. It is found that in some limestones the cavities have been reduced by pressure-to close on the mathematical minimum, whereas in others, even of Silurian age, the cavities were filled with carbonate of lime, introduced from without, not long after deposition. Some oolites have had their cavities filled in a similar manner; in others most of the material of the original grain has been removed, and the present solidity is due to the filling up of the original cavities mainly by internal segregation. Among fine- grained rocks the Chalk probably was originally a sort of semi-liquid with fully 70 per cent. of its volume water, and in its present state is about 45 per cent. of its original thickness; the thickness of some clays must have diminished still more; while the amount of minute cavities in rocks with slaty cleavage is so small, that sometimes they are nearly solid. __ By the measurement of green spots in slates it can be deduced that the rock before cleavage was somewhat more consolidated than rocks of the Coal-measures now are, and was then greatly compressed and the minute cavities almost completely squeezed up. The development of ‘slip-surfaces’ in cleaved rocks is very great, and furnishes an additional proof that the cleavage is of mechanical origin. ‘ Pressure- solution’ is also dealt with. 96 Correspondence—C. W. Andrews—H. B. Woodward. In conclusion, the author discusses the volume of minute cavities in clay rocks and their analogues of various ages, and shows that there is a distinct relation between it and the probable pressure to which the rocks have been exposed. ‘Tables are given of the pressures so calcu- lated for rocks of various geological ages, the volume of empty spaces decreasing in older rocks from the 32 per cent. existing in recent clays. In the Moffat rocks, with very little or no slaty cleavage, the pressure is calculated at about 7 tons to the square inch, while the Welsh slates, with very perfect cleavage, indicate a pressure of about 120 tons to the square inch. CORRESPONDENCE. OPHTHALMOSAURUS: A CORRECTION. Srr,—In the paper on the osteology of Ophthalmosaurus published in this Magazine last year (Vol. IV, p. 202) one or two errors occurred which should be corrected. The first of these is that the figure of the fore-paddle (Fig. 3) is not, as stated, a ventral view of the right limb, but a dorsal view of the left. Similarly, the hind-limb figured (Fig. 5) is that of the right side, not the left, Fig. 5 A being the ventral view and Fig. 5 B the dorsal. In consequence of these changes some of the reference letters will also be incorrect. The reason for these mistakes is that all the specimens examined were completely freed from the matrix, so that their position in relation to the skeleton as a whole could not be determined. Recently Mr. Leeds has carefully observed and marked some paddles before their removal from the clay, and the above corrections result from an examination of these specimens. C. W. AnDREWs. RE SPELLING OF PLACE-NAMES. Srr,—In the January Number of the Grotocrcan Maceazine, p. 45, Mr. Linsdall Richardson calls attention to the spelling of the specific name crowcombera. In the Geological Survey Memoir on ‘The Geology of the Country between Wellington and Chard” the Rheetic fossil Pteromya crowcombeia Moore, was by an oversight spelt Pteromya (not Pleuromya) crocombeia. This error arose from the change in spelling of Beer Crowcombe, which has been altered to Beer Crocombe on the new series Ordnance Map. Changes of this kind ought not, in my opinion, to affect either paleontological or strati- graphical terms. Thus I would adhere to the spelling of the Pabba Shales and Scalpa Beds for subdivisions of the Lias in the Inner Hebrides, despite the fact that the names of the islands on the Ordnance Map have been changed to Pabay and Scalpay. Horace B. Woopwarp. HAMPSTEAD. January 20th, 1908. MISCHUILULANHOUVUS. —————— Erratum.—p. 46 (January Number), end of notice of Lord Kelvin: for 24th read 23rd December. ~ Decade V.—Vol. V.—No. III. Price 1s, 6d. net. GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE Monthly Sowrral ot Geology. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THeH GHOTLOGIST. EDITED BY HENRY WOODWARD, LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S., &c. ASSISTED BY WILFRID H. HUDLESTON, F.R.S., &c., Dk. GEORGE J. HINDE, F.R.S., &c., anp \ HORACE B. WOODWARD, F.R.S., &c. MARCH, 1908. CONTENTS. I. OntGInAL ARTICLES. Page | III. Revorrs anp Procerpines. Page A Giant Sub-fossil Rat from Mada- Geological Society of London— Se at OR SLTH January 22nd, 1908 ...ececccces oo. 134. fe ee Pe | 2 Meliuany Sil, 1908 135 Age of the Reptile Raia of Magnesian Mineralogical Society ............00.04 136 Conglomerate, etc. By Baron F. Hurne, of Tubingen........2....... 99 IV. CorrREsPONDENCE. ’ ne aie pes cys i Professor A. C. Seward, M.A.,F.R.S. 137 Hurne. (With three Text-figures.) 100 ue ve Lee ets pons 188 Flowing Wells and Sub - Surtace Prot 2 eg Tabi) WL By Baers ols Ley Water on Kharga Oasis. By Huon rofessor J. W. Gregory, F.R.S. ... 139 ape on BesvNeDe, Assoc. B.S. M., Rey. R. Ashington Bullen ............ 140 1D (Gays (GREE 3NiS see ataceaanas 102 Windings of Rivers. By T.S. Extis. Y. Oprruary. (With two Text-figures.) ............ 108 ape Ie erie Daa Notes on the Geology of Basutoland, Dees Ene ton, Ee) ie ‘ ie Robert lhawrelaGeSee.aceccceeeeteeens 142 South Africa. By the Rev. 8. 8. Mr AoBo Wynne. 2 cee 143 MUGEN estesesaceetecadietasteec scenes 112 Mr. Mark Stirrup, ELGeae ae 143. Il. Reviews, Mr. Theodore H. Hughes, F. G. Ss. Gay Geology of the Panama Canal ......... ‘118 | Professor Dr. R. Burckhardt ......... 144 Geological Survey of Western Australia. By A. Gibb Maitland, F.G.S.. 119 VI. MiscELLANEOUS. Geology of India: Work of the : Geological Survey .......:00.:cee00 121 | Professor R. W. Brock, Director of Barrande’ s Silurian Systemof Bohemia: Geological Survey of Canada......... 144 Dr. Perner on Gasteropoda ......... 126 Completion of Dr. Rowe’s ‘‘ Zones of Prof. W. H. Hobbs on Earthquakes 131 the White Chalk of English Coast’ 144 LONDON: DULAU & CO., 37, SOHO SQUARE. _ > The Volume for 1907 of the GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE is ready, price 20s. net. Cloth Cases for Binding may be had, price Is. 6d. net, The Ancestry of the Elephants. New slightly restored Models of Skulls of the Primitive Proboscideans, MGRITHERIUM and PALAOMASTODON £4 10S. £9 I0S. From the Eocene of the Fayum Province of Egypt (described by Dr. C. W. Anprews, F.R.S., in Phil. Trans. of Royal Soc., Series B, vol. 196, pp. 99-118). The original models have been made from specimens in the British Museum, and are now exhibited in the Geological Department at South Kensington (figured in the Guide to Fossil Mammals and Birds). \ The Models are natural size, their lengths being, Meritherium 40 cm., Pal@omastodon go cm. Address: ROBERT F. DAMON, WEYMOUTH, ENGLAND. THE GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. NEW SSRIS DECADE WY. ~VOEs Vv. No. III.— MARCH, 1908. ORIGINAL ARTICLIEHS. — > I.—A Grant Sus-Fosstt Rat From Mapacascar, I[vorycres RrAPETO,} gen. et sp. nov. By Dr. C. I. Forsytu Masor, F.Z.S. MONGST the vertebrate remains which I found in the marshes of Sirabé (Central Madagascar), a large Rodent is represented by two right ossa innominata, one of which (B.M. M 7085) is fairly complete, only the free portion of the pars dorsalis of the ischium being broken off. The very elongate, comparatively narrow ilium, divided pretty equally by the crista lateralis into a dorsal and a ventral portion, shows that we have to deal with a muriform member of the Rodentia; it comes very near in its general form to the same bone of the Malagasy genera of rats Wesomys, Gymnuromys, Kliurus, and Hypogeomys; in Brachyuromys the long axis of the ilium is more straightened. The single tubereulum iliopectineum (iliopubicum) for the insertion of the psoas minor is enormous, and the spina ventralis posterior (anterior inferior of man) is likewise very strong. The conformation of the os pubis, however, is markedly different from that of the genera above-mentioned; its pars anterior is very long and directed more decidedly backwards, and the symphysis is quite minute. This is the shape of a vole’s pubis, and in a general way of all fossorial Muridee and Rodents generally,” so that I do not hesitate in assigning the fossil to a highly fossorial Rodent. The length of the fossil innominatum is 184°5mm.; that of the bone in a Wesomys rufus=41mm.; the skull of the latter has a basal length of 39°5mm., the absolute maximum length—front of nasals to occiput —being 49mm. The approximate corresponding measurements of the cranium of the new genus may therefore be 1 rapeto is the Malagasy word for ‘ giant, uncanny.’ * Cf. in Tullberg,’‘‘ Uber das System der Nagethiere’’ (1899), the figure of the innominatum of Nesomys (pl. 32, figs. 11, 12), and those of the genera of fossorial Rodents, viz., Spalax (figs. 13, 14), Ellobiws (figs. 15, 16), Arvicola amphibius (figs. 17, 18), Hesperomys (figs. 19, 20), Geomys (figs. 27, 28), Georychus (pl. 31, fies. 1, 2), Ctenomys (figs. 19, 20), Haplodon (pl. 33, fig. 8), Perodipus (figs. 28, 24). DECADE V.—VOL. V.—wNO. III. ai 98 Dr. 0. I. Forsyth Major—A Giant Madagascar Rat. calculated at 129°5 and 160-7 mm. respectively. In the largest known recent Rat, the Phlwomys of the Philippines (B.M. No. 97.8.1.17), the skull has a basal length of 80 and maximum length of 90 mm. Fie. 1.—Right innominate bone of a giant sub-fossil Rat,’from Sirabé, Central Madagascar, Myoryctes vapeto, gen. et sp. noy. sp.a.i. spina anterior interior ilei; Zi.p. tuberculum iliopectineum. Fig. 2.—The same bone of drvicola amphibia. Both figures are natural size. Baron F. Huene—Age of Reptilia, Magnesian Conglomerate. 99 I].—Own rue Acr.or THE REPTILE FAUNAS CONTAINED IN THE MaGNEsIAN ConGLOMERATE AT BrisroL AND IN THE ExLern SAnDsrone. By Frieprich Baron Hvens, D.S8c., Tubingen, Germany. CCORDING to Etheridge (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xxvi, A 1870, pp. 174-192) the Magnesian Conglomerate at Bristol is of the same age as the German Muschelkalk, but Moore (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xxxvii, 1881, pp. 67-82) was of opinion that it was Rheetic. Since that time no special paper on the subject has been published, but now the present writer has been able to find some new evidence. The reptilian remains of the Magnesian Conglomerate comprise four species— Thecodontosaurus antiguas, Morris. T. cylindrodon, Riley & Stutchbury. Palgosaurus platyodon, Riley & Stutchbury. Rileya bristolensis, Huene. Thecodontosaurus antiquus and T. cylindrodon are very primitive theropodous dinosaurs (see Seeley, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. xv, 1895, pp. 102-132, and Huene, Zeitschr. d. deutsch. geol. Ges., 1895, p. 349). A full description will soon appear in Huene, ‘‘ Die Dinosaurier der europidischen Triasformation”’ (Pal. u. geol. Abh., suppl. Bd., G. Fischer, Jena). The tooth of Paleosaurus platyodon belongs probably to a Phytosaur. The name Paleosaurus is preoccupied by Geoffrey, 1831. The bones of Auleya bristolensis (Huene, Pal. u. geol. Abh., vol. vi (x), 1902, pp. 62-63) belong to a Phytosaur too. Now it seems to the writer not impossible that they came from the same animal, so that the tooth, if that be the case, should be named Rileya platyodon, R. & St., sp. The small tooth figured by Murchison & Strickland, 1837 (Trans. Geol. Soce., vol. v, pl. xxviii, fig. 7a), is Thecodontosaurus antiquus ; and the writer found a short time ago in the Warwick Museum that vertebrae figured by Huxley (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xxvi, 1870, pl. 111, fig. 9) and Owen (Trans. Geol. Soc., vol. vi, 1842, pl. xlv), and some other bones from the Lower Keuper Sandstone of Coton End Quarry, near Warwick, belong to the same species. Moreover, the tooth of Thecodontosaurus cylindrodon figured by Huxley (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soe., vol. xxvi, 1870, pl. iui, fig. 4), and another one figured by Owen (Trans. Geol. Soc., vol. vy, 1837 (1840), pl. xxiii, fig. 9), also from Coton End, really belong to that species. And as 7. antiquus and T. cylindrodon occur in the Magnesian Conglomerate and in the Lower Keuper Sandstone both strata must be of the same age. Concerning the Elgin Sandstone, the writer at first (Pal. u. geol. Abh., vol. vi (x), 1902, p. 74) divided it into the Permian Elginia- sandstone (Cuttie’s Hillock) and the Triassic Steganolepis-sandstone (Lossiemouth, Spymie, and Firdrassie), according to their respective faunas. ‘Two years later Boulenger adopted the same classification (Proc. Zool. Soc., 1904, vol. i, pt. 2, pp. 470-487) and applied the term Gordonia-sandstone to the Permian beds. The only reptile of the Steganolepis-sandstone occurring also elsewhere is —Hyperodapedon Gordont, Huxley. It is one of the characteristic fossils of the Lower 100 Baron F. Huene—Sections at Guy’s Cliff, Warwick. Keuper Sandstone, having been found at Warwick (Coton End), Bromsgrove, and Otter River, Devonshire. So the Steganolepis-sand- stone of Elgin is also of the same age as the Lower Keuper Sandstone. But now, what is the age of the Lower Keuper Sandstone? Two of its fossils are also found in the German Trias, namely, Mastodonsaurus giganteus, Jager, in the German Lettenkohle, and Lyuisetum arenaceum, Jager, in the German Lettenkohle and Schiefsandstein. The numerous other (autochthonous) Labyrinthodont species (seven) proves also the age of the Lower German Keuper. So we conclude that the _ fossiliferous parts of the Lower Keuper Sandstone (Upper [and Middle ?]), the Magnesian Conglomerate of Bristol, and_ the Steganolepis-sandstone are of Lettenkohle age. Therefore the Upper Keuper of England is of the same age and extent as the German Keuper above the Lettenkohle ; while the English Bunter and perhaps the lowest part of Lower Keuper Sandstone are deposits con- temporaneous with the German Buntsandstein + Muschelkalk. III.—Nore on Two Srcrions In tHe Lower Keurer SANDSTONE OF Guy’s Crirr, Warwick. By Frieprich Baron Huernez, D.Sc., Tiibingen, Germany. N October, 1907, the Rev. J. Magens Mello, F.G.S., kindly took me to the Lower Keuper section on the bank of the Avon at Guy’s Cliff, near Warwick. These sections are very instructive in a special sense. It has been asserted more than once that the English Trias is a desert formation, but I am of opinion that neither the Bunter nor the Keuper can be thus explained. How could the presence of Equisetum, of Sharks and Ganoids, and of the many Labyrinthodonts and Rhynchosaurians in the Lower and Upper Keuper, in this case Fic. 1.—Section in the Lower Keuper Sandstone on the rocky bank of the Avon below Guy’s Cliff House, Warwick. (The dotted spaces are sandstones, the breccia is strongly marked.) (Diagrams by the author.) Baron F. Huene—Sections at Guy’s Cliff, Warwick. 101 be explained? In considering the formation of the Keuper strata it should always be imagined that a great continent extended from England to America, but a brackish sea and swamp from England to Eastern Germany as far as the Scandinavian, East Prussian, and Bohemian borders, where another great northern continent began and extended eastwards. England was thus the western zone of gulfs and brackish swamps, but in the west was the great Atlantic continent, probably with great sand-masses from the weathered Armorican Alps. In one of the outcrops of the Keuper Sandstone at Guy’s Cliff, below the house of Lord Algernon Percy, on the bank of the Avon (Fig. 1), some horizontal laminated strata of sandstone have obviously been eroded and covered over by a conglomerated and brecciated mass, and after that this little valley was again filled up by cross-bedded sand. The other section higher up and opposite the house (Fig. 2) shows several strata of sandstone, between which are thin layers of marl and conglomerate. It is very interesting to observe how the upper- most of these thin marl-layers is crushed. It cannot possibly be the natural bedding, but the marl is squeezed by the heavy overlying sand-mass, which was probably a dune with a moving line of the greatest heaviness (the vertical line of the dune). Fic. 2.—Small section in the Lower Keuper Sandstone on the rocky cliff opposite Guy’s Cliff House, Warwick. (The dotted spaces are sand- stones, the hatched ones are marls, the breccia is strongly marked.) The same is still better visible in the largest quarry at Bromsgrove ! (Fig. 3). There are overhanging folds of shale pressed into the thick masses of sandstone. This cannot be produced otherwise than by pressure in one direction, and that again can only be the result of advancing dunes, because it is, of course, not a tectonic pressure. Dunes and strongly and quickly eroding waters are found together either in deserts or near the border of the sea. It cannot be the first in the case of the Lower Keuper Sandstone, because this sandstone con- tains Acrodus, Hybodus, Semionotus, and Dictyopyge. The sand-masses must therefore be dunes near the shore. In Coton End Quarry, near 1 Mr. L. J. Wills, M.A., kindly guided me to this interesting section. 102. Hugh J. L. Beadnell—Flowing Wells, Kharga Oasis. Warwick, a tooth of Ceratodus levissimus, Miall, has been found, so that fresh water, probably a river, must have been there. The dunes were, perhaps, not only sea- dunes but also sand-waves advancing Fic. 3.—Large section (much reduced) in the largest of the quarries near Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. (The dotted spaces are fossil sand dunes, the hatched spaces are shales in two different corners of the same great cliff.) eastwards from the great and perhaps partly desert-covered Atlantic continent to the border of the salt-swamps and brackish bays of the Anglo-German region. IV.—Frowme Wetts anp Sus-Surrack Water 1n Kuarea Oasis, By Hueu Joun LiewELtyn BrEApDNeEtt, Assoc. R.S.M., F.G.S. (PLATE VIL.) (Concluded from the February Number, page 57.) (Y\HE possibility of obtaining, under certain conditions, flowing wells from these sandstones! has been brought to my notice by the discovery that in the neighbourhood of El Der, on the east side of the depression, flowing water is obtainable from. comparatively shallow wells sunk on the crest of the anticlinal fold, which runs north and south through that district, through the red shales to the underlying surface-water sandstone (see section).* I am unable to speak positively of the original depth of the ancient wells in this district, but when one of those to the north of El Dér was taken in hand, cleaned out and cased, flowing water was met with at a depth of 65 metres, below which untouched ground was struck. The flow increased on drilling a few metres into the sandstone rock below, and the bore has now given a fairly steady discharge of about 40 gallons per minute for over twelve months. The water appears to. be derived from the surface-water sandstone, though here on a line of disturbance it would not be safe to disregard the possibility of the presence of fissures through which the water might rise directly from the artesian-water sandstones below. If, as appears to be the case from the depth of the bore and position of the 1 See ante, p. 56. 2 Ante, p. 55. ydisq Qiosoq uedqiy ‘siseQ esieyy ‘(6 “ON 910) [[9A\ SUIMO[Y JO MOIA TIA ‘Id ‘A ‘1OA SA 199 "2061 “DVI "10AD * * ‘ ' Aoeh Hugh J. L. Beadnelli—Flowing Wells, Kharga Oasis. 108 strata, the water is derived from the surface-water sandstones, the explanation may lie in the general east and west dip, resulting in a difference of level of the sandstones here and in adjacent districts— a difference which may be sufficient to furnish the necessary working ‘head, which, as has been suggested by Cridler & Johnson, may be the only essential requirement for an artesian flow.' Artesian-water Sandstones. The source of the great majority, if not of all, the flowing wells of the oasis is the group of sandstones underlying the ‘‘ impermeable grey shales.”’ Needless to say, the beds of the series are nowhere visible to the eye, but judging by the samples obtained from the bores put down under my supervision during the last two years they do not differ in general characters from the sandstones just described. Throughout the area over which our operations have extended, no well-defined or persistent argillaceous bands have been met with, though the deepest bores have been carried to a depth of 122 metres (400 feet) below the junction of the sandstones, with the confining shales above. The beds vary considerably in coarseness and porosity, in hardness, and in the amount of cementing material between the individual grains of the rock, all of which characters have a marked influence on their capacity as water-carriers. Thin seams of lignite, frequently associated with bands of iron pyrites, testify to the conditions under which these beds were originally laid down. The Artesian Wells. As no very reliable data concerning the few native wells which have been sunk in recent times are available, it will be more satisfactory, in describing the wells themselves, to confine our attention to those which have been drilled on the headquarters area during the last two years and of which accurate and reliable records have been preserved. The area around headquarters is one of the few large districts entirely devoid of old wells and traces of ancient cultivation. A combination of circumstances appears to have led the ancients to regard this area unfavourably : firstly, the general elevation is com- paratively high, meaning small flows from wells of ordinary depth ; secondly, the ‘soil’ is heavy, necessitating a considerable expenditure of time and labour to bring it into good growing condition; and thirdly, and probably most important of all, the presence of a copious supply of surface water, which would have greatly hampered, if not made impossible, the old system of well-sinking. It may be assumed, therefore, that owing to the entire absence of both ancient and modern wells the water-sandstones of this district were practically fully charged at the time the first bore was sunk. The junction of the artesian-water sandstone with the grey shales above is usually fairly abrupt, the first flowing water being obtained as soon as the bore strikes the top of the sandstone. Although ! A. F. Cridler & L. C. Johnson, ‘‘ Underground Water Resources of Mississippi’’ : Water Supply and Irrigation Paper No. 159, United States Geological Survey publications. 104 Hugh J. L. Beadneli—Flowing Wells, Kharga Oasis. different layers of the sandstone vary greatly in water-holding capacity, there is almost certainly an intimate connection between all parts of it, as no definite bands of shale or other impervious strata have been met with. Where alternating shales and sandstones occur at or near the junction the latter are usually charged with water under feeble pressure, yielding flows at the surface of from one to five gallons a minute. On drilling into the sandstone proper, increments in the flow are generally obtained at fairly frequent but very irregular intervals of depth. At times the flow is seen to increase slowly but steadily, while a particularly porous bed is being passed through; at others the rate of increase is so rapid as to suggest that a fissure filled with freely flowing water has been struck. Hard bands of sandstone, acting locally as confining beds, frequently overlie the best water- carrying layers ; while loose and uncemented sands, which continually ‘cave,’ that is, run in on all sides, and which form one of the greatest difficulties with which drillers have to contend, may be encountered at any time, though they do not seem, as might be expected, to coincide with marked increases of flow. Of twenty bores finished in this district none have failed to strike water, though three have yielded such small flows that they must be regarded as comparative failures; of the remaining seventeen the average flow on completion was approximately 100 gallons per minute, the maximum being 350 and the minimum 65 gallons per minute. By far the most important factor determining the volume of flow is the absolute ground-level at the mouth of the well. The floor of the oasis in the district under description lies between 53 and 61 metres above sea-level,’ the general slope being to the west in the opposite direction to the dip of the water-bearing sandstones. Although the actual difference of level is so little, amounting only to 7 or 8 metres, the difference of flows from wells of equal depth on either side of the area averages fully 100 per cent. This indicates that we are on this area very near the static head or limit to which water will rise from bores of this depth, and this is borne out by the observed pressures, which even in one of the best wells when first completed and flowing about 217 gallons per minute only amounted to just over 8 lbs. to the square inch. In the neighbouring oasis of Dakhla there are a number of wells whose temperatures are from 90° to 100° F.; some few even exceed the latter figure, the highest temperature recorded being 105° F. in Bir el Dinaria, a well sunk fifteen years ago and the deepest and most northerly bore in the oasis. The temperature of the Kharga wells average considerably less; of thirteen new bores measured in the headquarters district two have temperatures of 87° F., the remaining being one degree lower. One of the most noticeable features of the wells is the highly effervescent character of the water as it reaches the surface. In some cases it resembles the contents of a newly opened bottle of aerated water, in others the gas reaches the surface in a slow continual 1 The datum used being a point on the Western Oasis Railway, the value of which must be regarded as approximate only. Hugh J. L. Beadnell—Flowing Wells, Kharga Oasis. 105 succession of large bubbles. Analysis shows the gas to consist almost entirely of nitrogen, only small quantities of oxygen and C O, being present. Mr. Garsed’s results are as follows :— Headquarters District: Bore No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Carbon dioxide ate re 359. I ala) 1°6 3°61) 18 1:2 1-2 Oxygen Je wi is ono || OX. | saul 0°8 0°6 0°3 | nil Ethylene and unsaturated hydrocarbon | nil nil nil nil nil nil Canhoummonoxide) |) see eer messes) emilee mil mile enil mil |) nil Residual gas—Nitrogen ae sco || OUD | Osres |) HG | 97°6 | 98°5 | 98-8 _It was estimated by rough experiment that the volume of gas issuing from Bore No. 1 (diameter of bore 43’) amounted to half a pint a minute. The quality of the artesian water seems to be in all respects excellent, and when taken direct from the outlet of a cased well has for domestic purposes the advantage of being free from all danger of contamination. Analyses of the waters of four of our bores show the total dissolved solids to range from 43 to 47 parts per 100,000, equivalent tofrom 30 to 33 grains per gallon. The water is generally slightly ferruginous even in new bores, while in one or two of the ancient wells it is so highly charged with ferric oxide that thick deposits of ochre have been formed along the channels. ANALYSES oF TypicaL ARTESIAN WaTER OF KuARGA OAsIs. Headquarters District: Bore No. 1 2 5 6 Total solids, grains per gallon sige shes soo || Oe) a) | 88 32 Composition of dissolved salts, per cent. Silica... Se ies Sins seh es Sealed 4°) | 4:6 34 Ferric oxide ... sed Ses ne oe sent gla 0°8 1:2 13 Lime ... ik ted Bh ane ve s00 || | OD TO MR OSA: 5°6 Magnesia | 26 Bel! || Bed 3°8 Sulphuric anhydride... a Me a Pea coy as | 4-4 4:4 ee ee ee 1 Mr. Garsed informs me that the C O, figure of Bore No. 3, which appears com- paratively high, may be due to experimental error. 106 Hugh J. L. Beadnell—Flowing Wells, Kharga Oasis. General Considerations of the Water-supply as a whole. As I hope shortly to publish the results of experiments carried out to determine the mutual influence of wells, it need only be remarked here that the sensitiveness of any one well to its neighbours is far greater than has, I believe, been generally supposed. For instance, the shutting down of a flowing or the opening of a closed well will produce a most marked effect on a neighbouring well within the short space of sixty minutes, even when the intervening distance is over 500 metres. The degree of influence is especially dependent on the amount of difference between the depths, discharges, and surface-levels of the bores. When drilling was first commenced in the headquarters district the bores were placed at an average distance apart of 500 metres; the circumstances of drilling, however, led to there being a great variation in the depths of the bores, with the result that those of comparatively shallow depth and those situated on comparatively high ground were adversely affected by the deeper and more favourably placed ones; to lessen the effects of this extreme sensitiveness the average distance between the bores has since been considerably increased. All bores show a marked decline in discharge for some time after completion, when they settle down to a fairly steady flow, or at least to a flow which decreases at a constantly diminishing rate, except when affected by new bores subsequently sunk in the vicinity. The same point is brought out by observing the extent and rate to which the pressure and flow can be increased by the temporary closing of a bore. Experiments show that a flow may be augmented by as much as 75 per cent. as the result of closing a bore for five days, the increased discharge falling to its normal twelve hours after reopening. Data are as yet far too insufficient to warrant an attempt to calculate the supply which can safely be drawn from a given area without unduly reducing the pressure and lowering the water-level. In some parts of the oasis there are bores many hundreds of years old stall pouring forth their hundreds of gallons a minute; such wells are probably situated in particularly favourable positions or have been exceptionally fortunate in striking large fissures. There are at the same time hundreds of wells which have ceased running, either through local exhaustion of the sandstones or through failure to keep the channels open, or through a combination of both circumstances. In many instances new bores sunk in the immediate neighbourhood of old wells, some of which were completely extinct while others were yielding feeble flows only, have produced strong discharges of con- siderable volume. At the present day there are about 230 native owned flowing wells in the oasis of Kharga, yielding a total discharge of some 296 ‘ qirats.’ The output of wells is for purposes of taxation determined in a very rough and ready manner by measuring the depth of water passing over a weir of definite breadth fixed in the stream. The discharge is reckoned in qirats, a qirat being a water-section of 64 square centimetres. As the velocity of the stream is not taken into account the qirat has a very variable value, low for small and high for large flows, the result being that the smaller wells are being taxed as much Hugh J. L. Beadneli—Flowing Wells, Kharga Oasis. 107 as 50 per cent. higher than the large ones. In order to obtain the average value of the qirat for streams of different size I had thirteen of our new bores, with discharges varying from 23 to 283 gallons a minute, measured by the local native measurers by their own methods, I myself making direct measurements immediately afterwards. It was found that below 2 the qirat has a value of 22 gallons per minute, from 2 to 4 of 26 gallons per minute, from 4 to 5 of 33 gallons per minute, and from 5 to 6 of 38 gallons per minute. Applying these values as far as possible to the old wells and adding the known discharge of the score of new bores, we shall not be very far from the truth if we estimate the total discharge of the whole of the Kharga wells at 8,000 gallons a minute or 11} million gallons (53,000 cubic metres) a day. The numerous and often extensive remains of temples, forts, and villages in many parts of the oasis, the abundant traces of ancient cultivation, and the hundreds of old sanded-up wells have given rise to a widespread belief that the oasis was in olden times far more thickly populated and better watered than at the present day. That this was to some extent the case is not to be gainsaid, but it must not be forgotten that the remains in question belong to successive generations, and that there. is as yet no evidence to enable us to determine how much of this land or how many of these wells. were in use at one and the same time. When one considers the vast areas under which the water-bearing sandstones are known to extend, and the comparatively small extent of country over which the existing wells occur ; when it is remembered that as yet the deepest bores have only penetrated the water-bearing beds to a depth of 400 feet; that the existing total discharge is mostly made up of insignificant flows from a great number of very ancient and comparatively shallow wells, which for centuries have been subject to gradual decay ; that so far as observed, the flows obtainable increase in volume as deeper beds are struck; it does not seem unreasonable to assume that the total discharge could be very much increased, though to what extent this could profitably be done is another question and one with which it is not the province of this article to deal. Until such time as our knowledge of the region to the south of the oases enables us to do better than label the whole country ‘“* Nubian sandstone,” and until more information is available as regards the relative levels of the oases and different parts of the Nile Valley and Libyan desert as far south as the more elevated regions of Kordofan, Darfur, and Tibesti, any attempt to explain the origin of the artesian waters of the oases must be regarded as little better than speculation. Possible sources of origin lie in the rainy districts of the Sudan, in the great swamps of the upper Nile, in the Nile river itself, in past accumulations of water absorbed from the extensive lakes which covered parts of the oases and Nile Valley depressions in the pluvial period which preceded the existing desert conditions. The water may be entirely of meteoric origin, derived from one or other of these sources, or it may be partly of magmatic or plutonic origin, derived from the deeper-seated rocks underlying the country. 108 T. S. Eilis— Windings of Rivers. It is not possible in the limits of this paper to adequately discuss questions which, as we know in the case of the artesian waters of Central Australia, have given rise to such diverse opinions among well-known professional geologists who have made long and special studies of the subject. It will readily be admitted that the ordinary explanation of the origin and flow of artesian wells in regions of moderate or abundant rainfall, situated in well-defined basins where the exact position, extent, and absorbing capacity of the water-table outcrop can be carefully determined, may be entirely inadequate to account for the flowing wells of vast arid regions like those of Australia and Africa. It is moreover almost incredible that, where the outcrop of the water-bearing strata is so remote from the wells themselves and the dip over the intervening country so slight, the rise of the water could be due to direct pressure of water flowing downwards through the higher portions of the beds, unless on the supposition of the existence of large and continuous open fissures. Local pressure arising from variation in the level of the water-table in adjacent areas might, however, quite conceivably be adequate to account for the phenomenon, especially if assisted by the presence of large volumes of gas under compression. Much stress has been laid by Gregory and other writers on the pressure of the overlying strata,’ but if this were sufficient to squeeze water from the pores and crevices of a bed and force it up through hundreds of feet to the surface as soon as a free passage was provided, surely the same pressure would have long ago obliterated all such pores and prevented water from ever having obtained access to the bed in question. The points to which attention should be directed as likely to throw light on the origin of the oases artesian wells are: the area and position of the outcrops of the impermeable grey shales and the underlying sandstone, and their relations to possible sources of water, whether rain, river, or lake; the nature of the bed of the swamp region of the upper Nile; the amount and distribution of the rainfall of all surrounding regions; the amount of water lost in different reaches of the Nile over and above that which can be directly accounted for by evaporation and by water abstracted for purposes of urigation; the total thickness of the water-bearing sandstones, and the presence or absence within them of impervious strata; and lastly, the relation of the water-bearing beds to the underlying crystalline rocks. V.—Whunpines oF Rivers. By IT. S. Evris: f[\HE course of rivers cannot be properly understood if regarded as objects complete in themselves. In reality, a river is only a part of a system of channels serving to drain the whole of the area over which it extends, the breadth as well as the length. Of this system the tributaries are an essential part. So, too, valleys and combes 1 J. W. Gregory: ‘‘ The Dead Heart of Australia,’? London, 1906, pp. 288-289. T. S. Ellis—Windings of Rivers. 109 which still exist but no longer serve for streams, and others altogether effaced, have, in former times, been included in the system. I hold to my belief, recorded nearly twenty-six years ago, that only by taking into account the influence of tributary streams can river-windings be explained, and that the subject is important as ‘‘ bearing on the formation of warths and the maintenance of navigation channels.’’ ! The system of drainage as we see it, a principal channel with tributaries flowing in on either side, is the result of a long process of evolution. When the rainfall began its work of denudation, no turf, nor trees, nor verdure of any kind existed: the rain fell directly on to the surface. Now a very large proportion is either conducted gently down to and into the earth, or fails to reach it at all, passing off by evaporation. According to Reclus (‘‘The Karth ’’) ‘‘ Becquerel’s experiments prove that during heavy rain only 8; of that which falls reaches the ground.” At any rate, a much larger quantity of water would, with the same rainfall, have flowed off the surface than now does; and this, I think, fully explains dry valleys and combes, even those of the Chalk hills, such as are now seen. Whatever the size of the early channels they would certainly be numerous, and, having regard to the uneven surface of an uplifted area, be diverted in different directions. Thus they would meet in loops and form a network which might continue even after a well- defined valley has been formed. Such loops are often seen in the present day. Out of the network the principal line of stream (the river) is selected. Which one this will be must depend on a number of circumstances. A tributary stream coming from a lateral valley would require a channel on that side. Into this, necessarily kept open, streams near the middle line of the valley may flow, and these may attract others, so that, finally, one might be continued in a channel adapted to the needs of the principal stream and of the tributary. Certainly, either the principal stream must be inclined towards the tributary, or the tributary must be extended to the principal stream. In fact, the two often meet in the form of a capital letter Y, as I illustrated in the paper mentioned by the case of the Severn and Avon at Tewkesbury. A diverted route of the principal stream, more or less circuitous, would render those in a more direct line unnecessary, except only for the area close to them. Denudation, therefore, would not go on in the same degree, and some of the channels would be effaced, wholly orin part. The process of evolution is, in principle, the same, whether it be in’ a denudation area or in alluvial soil where the streams not only arrange their own channels but also build up their own banks. The process is well illustrated in the sketch-map taken from an old Baedeker’s Guide to the Rhine, Fig. 2, p. 112. he river Ill, which occupies the same valley, is not shown; it is now at the margin on the left side, by the Vosges Mountains. Probably it was once part of the Rhine system which is seen inclining to the right side, that of the * **On some Features in the Formation of the Severn Valley,” a paper read before the School of Science Philosophical Society, at Gloucester, on February 7th, 1883. Printed for the Society. 110 T. S. Ellis— Windings of Rivers. Black Forest. Here, having received a stream coming down from Staufen, it has, in one case, settled into a single channel. The partially effaced loops are seen on the opposite side as streams serving to drain the local area. The river here does not form a sharp curve, it inclines to its tributary, the two resembling the letter Y. The faint upper stroke is, however, on the wrong side; the figure should be held up to the light and viewed from the back; then the resemblance is manifest. If the Rhine valley had been less wide and the country on the margin less mountainous a single river might have sufficed. Then it would have swung from side to side, taking in tributaries on the convexities of great curves. The curved double lines in the figure indicate an artificially regulated channel. The present condition may be seen in the “‘ Karten des Deutschen Reiches,’’ pp. 630 and 643. I discussed the influence which a tributary stream would have in diverting the course of the larger one, supposing it to be straight, in the GronocicaL MaGazine for August, 1908, pp. 350-354. Fic. 1.—River-windings, a relic of an old figure-of-8 looping. That some relation exists between river-windings and tributary streams seems to be indicated by such facts as the following :—On the Thames, near London, are four well-marked windings near together. Of these, three receive tributaries on their convexities: at Brentford, the Brent; at Hammersmith, the stream now only represented for a short distance by the creek; at Wandsworth, the Wandle. The convexity between Mortlake and Barnes receives no stream now, but a very short channel cut in the alluvium would connect the river with the Beverley brook which, directed due northward along the Combe Valley, turns to the east and falls into the river opposite Fulham. Assuming an old arm of a loop to have been partially effaced, why did the river prefer to ‘‘go by the bow”’ and not ‘by the cord” ? Because the Hammersmith stream required a channel to be kept open T. S. Ellis— Windings of Rivers. Ill for its use. Here the case differs from that of the ‘Oxbows’ on the Mississippi. The short route has been abandoned; the circuitous one remains. Mortlake does not mean dead lake in the modern meaning of the word ‘lake,’ but dead stream. The Thames also supples striking instances, on a larger scale, of river-windings, relics of old loopings. At Bray there is a tongue- shaped area of low-lying land bounded, as it projects westward to Waltham, by the 100 feet contour-line, so forming a shallow combe. This, although now occupied by only a small stream, suggests an old arm of the river between Bray and Sonning. Here again the river goes, not ‘by the cord”—it has deserted that line—but ‘‘ by the bow ”’ round by Henley and Marlow, receiving the streams which flow down the slopes of the Chiltern Hills, representatives, it may be, of larger ones at an earlier period. In my view, the river adopted for itself the line of channel necessarily kept open by these streams, and so the circuitous rather than the direct route became the permanent course of the river. Only less manifest is the case of the Wey and Blackwater, separated at a point between Farnham and Aldershot by a slight ‘sill’ only. The former stream flows in a direction down the line of the Thames to Weybridge, and the latter in a direction up the line of it to join the Loddon in its course to the Thames near Shiplake. As I find, it is far easier to believe that the two streams, so curiously close to each other, were continuous when the river flowed at a higher level and occupied a wider valley, than it is to imagine that the approximation signifies a ‘working’ or ‘eating backwards,’ going on towards ‘ capture’ of one by the other, as similar features have been explained. Elbows in two neighbouring streams pointed towards each other also suggest a former union, and, generally, the level of the ground between them does not forbid the supposition. An instance is seen in the Wey and the Mole south of St. George’s Hill by Weybridge, and, again, in the Oak and the Childrey Brook by Abingdon. The Thames abounds, all along its course, in interesting features illustrating the Natural- history of rivers and, as I contend, showing the hopelessness of attempting to explain river-windings by theories of reciprocal curves or of relation between extent of curve and velocity or volume of stream. On the other hand, appearances suggestive of old loopings as the explanation of river-windings are very common. No one accustomed to observe English rivers would be surprised to hear that Fig. 1 represented a mile or so in one of them. It really represents more than 500 miles of the Nile, and is taken from Dr. Budge’s Guide to Egypt and the Soudan. It shows, at the upper part, the meeting of the Blue and White Nile by Khartoum. In imagination I filled in the lines so as to make a figure of 8, and then sought for evidence of an old arm of the river to complete the lower loop. ‘The little upward curve at the foot is by Korosko at one end of a valley, 60 miles long, extending southwards up to Bab el (gate of) Korosko. This, with other valleys, seems to afford sufficient evidence of an old looping with the river at the prominence shown (Abu island), 220 miles south from Korosko. 112 Rev. S. 8S. Dornan—Geology of Basutoland. In estuaries the influence of tributary streams can be seen in operation. ‘They divert the low-water channels and, therefore, the deep-water line. This is strikingly illustrated in the Exe, to be discussed in a future paper. (eo) SYAUF ET. Ss ° {e) RIMS?PNGEN. HEITEREN. W N 0) KILOMETRES Fic. 2.—Deviation of a river towards a tributary; on the opposite side, streams formerly continuous with the network above. VI.—Novres on tHe Grotocy or BasvronanD. By the Rey. 8. 8. Dornan. (Concluded from the February Number, page 63.) ( F all the animals of the Stormberg Beds the Theriodonts are the most interesting, as they bear strong resemblances to mammals. Dr. Broom, of Stellenbosch, says they have practically solved the problem of the origin of mammals. Of these Theriodonts only two are said to have come from Basutoland, both of small size, viz. Galesaurus and Zritylodon. They are only known from their skulls. I have not Rev. S. S. Dornan—Geology of Basutoland. 113 been able to discover whether they came from Molteno Red Beds or Cave Sandstone, but I imagine most likely from the first. Ziztylodon has a small and decidedly mammalian-like skull, and is said to have been found at Thaba Tsuen, a mountain 16 miles south-west of Morija. It was brought to England by Dr. Exton, Curator of the Bloemfontein Museum, and described by Sir Richard Owen at a meeting of the Geological Society in 1884.' Dr. Broom, who has recently discussed the affinities of the skull, inclines to the view that it is a mammal. (1) The volcanic beds are by far the most typical rock features of the country. They are confined to the high ranges of the Malutis, which form the backbone of the country. The Malutis consist of at least two and in most places three or four parallel ranges of mountains, The average height is 7,500 feet. The necks seem to lie in three or four lines, roughly corresponding to the ranges which now form the Malutis and Drakensberg. A study of the present river system of the country bears out this view, as the Orange River and the Caledon run in approximately parallel courses, and this specially applies to the tributaries on the right or northern bank of the Orange River. The first range of necks builds up the great mountains known as Bitsolebe, Machache, Thaba Phutsoa, and Matelile. The next range, 25 miles to the south-west, contains the great necks known as Dikolobeng, Mokhele, and Thaba di Noha. To the north and east of this there is another composed of still higher summits, amongst them not only the highest in Basutoland but in the whole of South Africa, namely, Mount Hamilton 11,500 feet, Leteba’s Nek 10,842 feet, Motar 10.400 feet, and Bukotabelo 10,000 feet. The last range composes the mighty wall known as the Drakensberg, and includes the Mont aux Sources 11,170 feet, Champagne Castle 10,357 feet, Giant’s Castle 9,657 feet, and many others. Besides these well-defined ranges, there are many other smaller ones scattered around and between them. It must be remembered that many of these heights are not absolutely reliable, as no proper surveys have been made. The volcanic beds consist of vast piles of lavas and ashes. Siliceous tuffs are not plentiful. I have seen two or three small examples. The thickness ranges from 500 to 4,000 feet. The lavas are amygdaloid and doleritic near the base of the group, often columnar near their junction with the Cave Sandstone. Higher up in the group truly vesicular and scoriaceous varieties occur, interbedded with thick deposits of ash purple in colour. The greater part of the lavas is amygdaloid, with the cavities filled with quartz or calcite. Weathered surfaces on the lavas indicated by bands of red clay are entirely absent. The thickness of the individual beds varies very much, from a few inches up to 20 feet or more. Many of the flows are full of pipe-like vesicles, usually from 4 to 6 inches in length and from 3 to 2 of an inch in diameter, filled with calcite. These vesicles are not quite perpendicular to the plane of the bed, but inclined towards the vent from which the flow took place. They are more or less spherical and often branch at the top. Occasionally the calcite is completely weathered out, leaving the pipes open, so that a bed of lava at its surface and along its fractured edges looks not unlike a honey- 1 See Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xl (1884), pp. 146-151, pl. vi. DECADE V.—VOL. V.—NO. III. 8 114 Rev. 8. 8. Dornan—Geology of Basutoland. comb. Most of the lavas are basalts, but andesites occur, not only. intermingled with the others, but composing entire hills themselves, as at the magistracy of Mayeni in South Basutoland. Agelomerate necks are of frequent occurrence, filling up the great vents, and also in small isolated necks. Most of the indications presented by the lavas of Basutoland point to their deposition in water. This, however, is difficult to reconcile with the fact that in two instances where the junction of the lavas and the Cave Sandstone is exposed, the former rest on the eroded surface of the latter. The upper members of the Cave Sandstone seem also to have been removed by denudation prior to the deposition of the volcanic beds. In the lower flows of the group thin intercalated beds of sandstone occur, pointing to an interruption of volcanic activity, the thickest being 3} feet. A short description of two of these volcanic peaks, Thaba ’Telle and Thaba di Noha, will ‘serve as examples of all the rest. Thaba ’Telle is a mountain about 7,800 feet high, rising abruptly from a platform of Cave Sandstone. Its lower slopes consist of doleritic lavas, alternating with vesicular varieties and beds of purple ash, and at the top of agglomerate; evidently the remains of the old Shoat, The lavas are just under 2,000 feet in thickness. The mountain is a kind of three-sided cone, with steep, often precipitous sides, and was once much more extensive than now. The summit is a plug of naked agglomerate standing up to a height of fully 100 feet, exceedingly steep and in some places overhanging. It can only be climbed at one point where there is a crack left by the weathering away of a doleritic dyke, and then only with considerable difficulty and risk. The top is convex and grass-grown about 30 square yards in area. The view from the summit is magnificent, as several prominent volcanic peaks can be seen in the distance. This plug is the resort of multitudes of vultures that make their homes in the cracks and fissures of the rock. The lavas of Thaba ’Telle are full of steam holes, more especially in the upper beds, and about the middle of the beds are two thick deposits of ash separated by a thin bed of amygdaloid lava. This alternation of beds can be made out at some distance, as the ash is light purple in colour, and the lava a deep shining black. The same phenomenon occurs elsewhere. Near the base of the mountain is a large intrusive sheet surrounding what was once a subsidiary cone, but what is now nothing more than a mere plug of doleritic lava and agglomerate. This sheet is of much later date than the surrounding lavas which it penetrates and overlies. From it spring two immense dykes that traverse the country for miles in practically straight lines. Thaba di Noha. This mountain is about 50 miles, as the crow flies, from Thaba ’Telle, and rises immediately behind the magistracy of Mohale’s Hoek. It is the extreme western point of the great Mokhele range. It is about 7,500 feet high. The bridle-path from Mohale’s Hoek to Moyeni leads over the plateau from which the mountain rises, between the plug and what is presumably the old crater wall. It isa typical volcanic vent, and one can trace the outflow of the lavas on the north side of the hill. At one point where a stream has cut through, they are steeply inclined, glassy, and weather into. coarse splintery Rev. S. S. Dornan—Geology of Basutoland. 115 fragments about 10 or 12 inches in length, not unlike spear-heads. At another place, a little higher up, they are ropy and scoriaceous. The whole crest of the mountain consists of doleritic amygdaloid lavas, interbedded with vesicular varieties and very thick beds of ash. The vesicles in the lavas are generally filled with calcite. An exposure of the junction of the lavas and the Cave Sandstone occurs in the bridle-path upon this mountain, and indicates that erosion of the Cave Sandstone had taken place before the deposition of the Volcanic Beds, but the evidence is not decisive. The erosion may be due to a subsequent and different cause. ‘This does not apply to an exposure near Sefikeng, which plainly indicates erosion. Many of the highest summits, such as Mount Hamilton, Mont aux Sources, Bitsolebe, etc., contain a yertical thickness of over 4,000 feet of lavas and ashes. These mountains, with the exception of the last, are situated in very difficult and broken country, tar from centres of population, and as I have not visited them personally I am unable to describe them in detail. . _ Connected with the lava beds are a great series of intrusive dykes and sheets. They cover a considerable extent of country, and traverse all the Stormberg Series. They are subsequent to the Volcanic Beds, and so far as I can make out are of the same age as the Karroo dolerites of the Cape Colony and of similar composition. Amongst the many scores of them that I have examined I cannot say that I have ever observed any decided characteristics of a lava-flow. Doleritic lava can be generally separated from doleritic intrusions, not only by its appearance but also by its mode of occurrence. “The Rhyolites of the County of Antrim’’: Sci. Trans. Roy. Dub. Soc., 1896, ser. 11, vol. vi. 6 « Beitrige zur Geologie der Seyschellen’’: Neues Jahr. fiir Min. Geol. und Paleontologie, 1898, p. 163. 7 «On the Constitution of Laterite’?: Gor. Mac., 1903, Vol. X, p. 59. 8 ‘