=A :
~~ q's res
See RRS
Re S48
IRE RRS
Ss 8
S : |
So 2 ai
| if Sp
= jem
8p
ice
Val di Bove.
By
De cENS
C8 tY)
Montagnuola
aes
= a
322
[June 23,
g. Rocca della Capre.
6, Cima; Punta Schiena dell’ Asino.
119
ABICH——ETNA.
1858. ]
‘ejOnUSRJUOT, “Y ‘OTIZA VTP VUIQ 2 ‘gso[suy eseQ *6
‘ejootuuety °C “OIBTOII0T *Y
‘O]QISIA spoq GT + BUIOISID 9
SRD ST ReTC MS 7
‘ose[sUT VsBQ “D
‘ouggy fo yoroys-ouymo—E “SLA
“OFOSOTL [OP P10],
120 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [June 23,
(fig. 3)is somewhat towards the valley ; but I believed it to be much
more so on the north-western top of the steep border of the Val di
Bove on the side of Schiena dell’Asino. I observe too that the dip
of the beds of the said Schiena was at 16° to 20° towards the N.N.E.,
and prevailed throughout the whole ridge as far as the Cirrita. I
saw the conformity of stratification away from the valley, with the
same dip of the beds of Schiena dell’Asino, in the Rocca della
Capre and Musarra (fig. 2); and all seemed to me, according to
my theoretical view, quite right, when I found on the side of
Zoccolaro, notwithstanding great irregularities, a mean inclination
of all the beds towards south and south-east. According to my
view I believe it impossible that the effect of a subsidence of so
enormous extent as that corresponding to the circuit of the actual
Val di Bove should have taken place without the greatest derange-
ment, especially in the original structure of the central masses of
the mountain (fig. 4 6, c,d), by a gliding towards the chasm in an
altered position between 6 and a, fig. 1.
The considerable anomaly in the dip of beds away from the valley
round or behind the Giannicola, I looked upon as a natural conse-
quence of the protrusion of that gigantic dyke, or rather system of
dykes, constituting the Solfizio and the Giannicola. When descending
from the border of the Piano del Lago (fig. 4 @), and studying step
by step the stratified masses, I was struck by the relation I saw
between the beds (originally horizontal) dipping away from the
valley and the protrusion of the immense dykes, the direction of
which, as far as my examination could reach, was that of N.N.W.—
S.8.E. This circumstance strengthened me in the opinion that this
anomalous position of the beds ought to be a consequence of the
protrusion of the dykes almost perpendicular to the chief direction
or great axis of the elliptical chasm of the Val di Bove. When
Fig. 5.— View of Montagnuola.
a. “Lava tavolata” of the same mineralogical composition as those beds be-
~ longing to uppermost lava-currents of the Piano del Lago, the same which make
their appearance in the interior of the Cisterella, where I observed 15 beds super-
posed one on the other.
6. Lava of the eruption of Montagnuola.
ce. Cone of eruption; ejected cinders and capilli.
[a is to c as Somma (cratére de soulévement) is to Vesuvius (volcan). |
studying the remarkable Montagnuola, on the southern extremity
of that part of the edge of the valley which stretches from N. to 8.,
1858.]) ABICH—ETNA. 121
I found the same beds of lava laid open to the sight in the interior
of the neighbouring Cisterella. These beds rise in the vicinity of
the Montagnuola, and suddenly appear lifted up in order to form
the crater-lke wall (fig. 5 a) which half surrounds the cone of the
Montagnuola, comparable (geologically) to Somma with regard to
Vesuvius, the central cone of eruption (c).
All those lava-currents which the subsidence of the Cisterella cut
through, following the same inclination as the Piano del Lago in its
beginning from the Torre del Filosofo to the Montagnuola, show a
peculiar resemblance to the modern currents of Etna, partaking
of the magnetic property in a very high degree. By this quality all
those superior lavas of the Piano del Lago, as well as the upper beds
of the Cima della Valle on the northern side, differ essentially from
the older beds, of more trachytic composition, which form the veri-
table central body of the mountain. I may remark that I made a
similar observation with regard to the very notable petrographical
difference between the older rocks of Ararat and the black doleritic
lavas covering the upper part of the burst mountain. I believe these
physical differences of the rocks belonging to one and the same
system to be in intimate dependence on a notable change in the
mode of formation governing the whole system.
Fig. 6.—Beds and Dykes on the slope between Giannicola and
Musarra.
Direction of Dykes N.N.E.—S.S.W. == ae
: : =. ae
; : a
is == S CP A LZ
‘ a See
SS = Lp —— = iar ce
& Z 7 (iD i at ie wer
yy ie e ; i) sia am
Ze OA a P Pety litte See
IP ag, 7 the © Valle 78 from
Fig. 6 gives an exact representation of what I saw higher up
than the great masses of the Giannicola or Musarra, illustrating the
almost horizontal position of the slightly curved beds, intersected by
dykes running in the above-mentioned direction of N.N.E.-S.S.W.
It must not be forgotten that this part of the slope corresponds to
the middle region of the interior body of the mountain (fig. 4 a, b,
and fig. 1 a), and that, in my opinion, both to the left and right of
those regions, the effect of original subsidence was still sensible
enough to prescribe the way that all the future currents of doleritic
lava, poured out from the modern excentric volcano, should take down
‘to the valley. Putting aside my belief of the probability of all those
122 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 23,
beds on the upper region of the western border of Val di Bove, and
dipping towards the latter, belonging to quite a different order of
things, in the history of the mountain, to those dipping away from
the valley, you will find it excusable that I had adopted in my
section of Etna (Pl. 9) the disposition of the stratified masses
according to fig. 6. To make my views clearer as to the dipping of
the tuff-agglomerate and lava away from the valley at the Rocca
Giannicola, where these rocks occur distinctly stratified, and inclined
at angles varying from 20° to 30° to the N. and N.W., I will add
a few words on an interesting phenomenon observed by me at the
Rocca della Capre. A copy of my sketch, made on the spot, is added
here (fig. 7). You have probably observed the same fact; and you
Fig. 7.—Dykes on the Rocca della Capre. Facing towards N.E.
or,
[25 (8RO)+ 75 R, O,|+110 8i0,.
A black mica, similar to that of Ballyellin, Co. Carlow, occurs in
the Poison Glen, leading to the Pass of Ballygihen, in the Co.
Donegal. It is uniaxal and soluble in muriatic acid. It occurs in
granite, in 4-inch plates, accumulated, at times, to 3-inch thickness.
The following is its analysis.
Black Mica of Ballygrhen.
Per centage. Atoms.
SINCE ies Sg) gees tag ae ee Bo 20 hs: 0-804
SUT ETIT 1 OS eee ore Ios oO. } 0-647
Peroxide of Iran’: ... ..,-- 27:19 .. | 0:340
LET Sit Bie edie lie RED Bi OO se O-OLS
ESI 2 ons nie Vlas. bY ae fa) S00". 0-250 |
SRBC IN, ose s tat A whose CAG." O:005
eae en Pee Len Sag ib tes 0
Protoxide of Iron ........ 0-64 .. 0-017
Protoxide of Manganese .. 1:50 .. 0-041
Loss by ignition .......... OO. a 0-433
99-69
If the result of this analysis be written as the former one, we obtain
for its formula
[21 (3RO)+79 R,0,|]+98 Si0,.
If uaa according to Dana’s method, this would be
[4 (BRO) +4R,0,]Si0,.
The black mica of Donegal is oesels Caen with the black
mica of Carlow and Leinster, and probably the same as the black
mica described as “lepidomelane” by Soltmann. In the Ballygihen
district, after passing the Gap, the mica of the granite becomes
white mica, biaxal, in large plates, with angles between the axes
ranging from 62° 10’ to 65° 10’. It is not associated with the
black mica, however, as is the case in the Leinster granites.
4. Onan Ovtuter of Liasin ABERDEENSHIRE. By T. F. Jamieson, Esq.
(In a Letter to Sir Roderick I. Murchison, V.P.G.S., &. *)
Ty a cutting of the Banff, Macduff, and Turriff Extension Railway,
about four miles to the north of the latter town, close beside the
turnpike-road at the Plaidy toll-bar, there has been exposed a mass
of a very tenacious clay, blue in colour, and of homogeneous texture,
which contains many Ammonites, Belemnites, and other fossils charac-
teristic of the Lias, such as Gryphea, Plagiostoma, and possibly others ;
* Dated Ellon, Aberdeenshire, March 17, 1858.
mo
132 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 23,
these I have got myself. I also saw in the possession of one of the
“navvies” a fragment of a shell resembling a Nerina, in remark-
ably fine preservation.
The altitude of the railway-cutting above the level of the sea, as
I learn from the engineer on the line, is 250 feet. At the time of
my visit the excavation had reached a depth of from 10 to 15 feet,
and the “ navvies”’ were busy at work in the “ gullet,” filling their
waggons with the clay, which is a mass of a fine greenish-blue colour,
very compact and tenacious, and unlike any other clay in this part
of the country. It consists of a fine impalpable mud, devoid of all
manner of stones or pebbles, save occasionally a hard greenish nodule,
enclosing the remains of a large Ammonite.
This clay is covered by a stratum of the Pleistocene Drift, of a
brownish-grey colour, very sandy in some places, and of a more
clayey nature in others. In this drift I found many striated
fragments of clay-slate, together with bits of other primary rocks.
The line of junction between the two beds is very undulating and
irregular; in some places the Lias-clay reaches nearly the surface
of the ground with a well-defined outline; while in others it is
covered by several feet of the drift, which, towards the southern
end of the cutting, appears to occupy almost the whole of the ex-
cavation, the Lias being wasted almost wholly away, and imparting
in some places to the overlying mass a dark-bluish hue, and a more
clayey nature, so that the line of junction becomes less defined. The
bottom of the Lias-clay had not been reached, so that I did not see
what it rests upon; but the old clay-slate comes to the surface within
a stone’s throw of the spot, and is found in the neighbourhood all
around; so that we have here but a small remnant—the merest
patch—left of this interesting deposit.
The most abundant fossil is the Ammonite, of all sizes, from indi-
viduals of a quarter of an inch in diameter to five inches. The nacreous
lustre of these shells—especially in the smaller and more delicate
specimens—is generally in beautiful preservation. These Ammonites
were most plentiful at the north end of the section, where the cutting
was commenced. In some places every spadeful contained dozens of
delicate thin-shelled Ammonites, much decayed, but still preserving
their rainbow-like lustre. Owing to the progress of the work, and
the sloping of the sides, they are now more difficult to be obtained.
Next to these, the most common organism is a large bivalve like a
Iima, measuring 4 inches in the longest direction, by 34 inches
across. Part of the brown-coloured shell remains in complete pre-
servation ; and both valves are in conjunction and shut, the interior
being filled with a greenish-coloured mass of the same appearance
as the surrounding clay, but of a more stony texture.
The clay in some places contained the decayed remains and im-
pressions of many smaller shells, from 1 inch to 14 inch in size, and
having the characters of Zima.
Broken pieces of Belemnites are also not very unfrequent ; also
specimens of a Gryphea, measuring 5 inches in diameter, resembling
G. incurva. Among some specimens, which I owe to the kindness
1858. ] BROWN AND SOWERBY—GROVE FERRY. 133
of my friend Mr. Alex. Murray, of Nethermill, there are other shells
of a smaller size, and of a form somewhat resembling a Mya.
A proof that this is no bed of Phocene clay, and that the fossils
have not been drifted, lies in the fact that these shells, especially the
smaller ones, occur in groups,—the little Ammonites being congre-
gated together, and the Zime huddled in clusters by themselves.
The occurrence of this relic of the Lias is of considerable interest,
as it throws light upon the source of the Liassic fossils, whole and
in fragments, which are met with in the Drift of the valley of the
Deveron and of other parts of Aberdeenshire, even towards its eastern
coast : it also points to an extension of the sea of the Lias period into
quarters not previously imagined ; and, connected with the Chalk-
flints and fragments of Greensand found in this county*, it strengthens
the supposition that these also are native to the district where we now
find them, and not transported from afar, as some have thought.
I informed Prof. Nicol of the results of my examination of this
spot a short time ago; and he, in reply, told me that one of his
pupils had brought him some of the fossils of this clay, and that he
had seen others in the possession of some individuals at Aberdeen.
I am not aware, however, whether any experienced geologist has
personally examined the locality.
I am not aware of the Lias or Oolite having been found in this
county previously, nor anywhere else so far east, or perhaps so far
inland, in Scotland.
5. On some OUTLINE-DRAWINGES and PHoTocRaPus of the SkuLL of the
Zygomaturus trilobus, Macleay (Nototherium, Owen ?).
By Professor Owen, F.R.S., F.G.S., &e.
[See further on, p. 168.]
6. On the Occurrence of some Tertiary Fosstts at Grove Ferry,
near CANTERBURY, Kent. By Joun Brown, Esq., F.G.S. With
Descriptions of some of the Sprctus ; by G. B. Sowzrsy, Esq., F.LS.
[Plate V.]
My friend Mr. Prestwich having kindly informed me of an interest-
ing fossiliferous deposit at Wear Farm, in the parish of Chislet, I
was endeavouring to find the spot in 1854, when accidentally I
heard of a little sand-pit in a garden near Grove Ferry, also in the
parish of Chislet (about a mile and a half from Wear Farm), on the
left-hand side of a lane leading from the railway-station to the little
village of Up Street, nearly a mile from the village of Chislet. Up
Street is on the high road from Canterbury to Ramsgate, and six
miles from the former. The pit was rather more than halfway up
the side of the hill, and within about thirty feet of its top. The
* See Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xiii. p. 83.
t See Mr. Prestwich’s paper on these gravels and sands, Quart. Journ. Geol.
Soe. vol. xi. p. 110.
134 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL socieTy. [June 23,
surface of the ground slopes down to the River Stour. Gravel caps
the hill; and the Lower Tertiary sands are seen 1n a section, at its foot,
near the railway-station, and also at a farm about half a mile to
the east.
Grove Fe
N.W. Up Street. Sandpit. Railway-station. S.E.
a. Gravel. 6. Thanet Sands.
The fossil shells which I found in the little sand-pit were mostly
very fragile, but in considerable abundance. ‘They occurred both in
sand and in dark red clay §; and some were nearly white, whilst others
were tinted rusty red. Those which belong to Crag species appeared
especially to be of a reddish colour.
The beds forming the central portion of this hill above Grove Ferry
would appear, according to Mr. Prestwich’s sections{] of the Lower
Tertiaries of that neighbourhood, to belong to the “‘Basement-bed of
the London Clay,” overlying “‘ Woolwich beds” and “ Thanet Sands ;”
but many of the fossils which I collected here in 1854, and at sub-
sequent visits, appear to have an Upper Tertiary character; indeed
some cannot be distinguished from Crag species. Others, on the
contrary, resemble forms belonging to the Middle and Lower Tertiary
deposits.
The following list of the species collected by me in 1854-57 has
been drawn up by Mr. George B. Sowerby.
Fossils from Up Street near Chaslet.
The New Species are marked thus*; the Crag species, t; the Lower Tertiary
species, |; and the Belgian Tertiary species, ||.
Cirripedia:—
+ 1. Pyrgoma anglica, Sow. Gen. of Shells.
* 2. Balanus Chisletianus, G. B.S. Pl. V. fig. 7.
Mollusca Acephala:—
3. Mactra; a fragment. (=M. ovalis, Sow. M. C. Pe 160?)
4. Corbula Regulbiensis, Morris, Q. J. G. 8.x. pl. 6. (Woolwich beds.)
5. Hencklinsiana, Nyst, Coq. Foss. Belg. p. 63, pl. 2. f. 3.
6. Nucula tenuis, Montagu; Wood, Monog. pl. 10. f.
7. nucleus, Linn. ; Wood, Monog. pl. 10. f. 6.
8. Pectunculus Plumsteadianus, Sow. M. C. pl. 27. f. 3. Loolyagy beds. )
9. Limopsis aurita, Wood, Monog. pl. 9. f. oe PLY. fig. 4
10. Lucina ? (fragmentary).
11
12
13
14
tt Hest
. Cyprina Morrisii, Sow. M.C. pl. 620. (Thanet Sands.)
. Astarte elevata, G. B.S: sel v fig. 6.
gracilis, Goldf., var. multilineata, Wood, Monog. pl. 17. f. 3.
Burtinii, Lajonk. ; Wood, Monog. pl. 17. £.5.
ae K++
§ I found three specimens of Limopsis aurita in the clay ; Purpura vulgaris
occurred in the sand.
{ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. viii. pl. 15.
1858. ] BROWN AND SOWERBY—GROVE FERRY. 135
t 15. Cyrena consobrina, Cazl/i.; Wood, Monog. pl. 11. f. 15.
{ 16. Cardium Laytoni, Morris, Q. J. G. 8. x. pl. 2. f. 1, 2. (Woolwich beds.)
Mollusca Gasteropoda:—
{ 17. Rostellaria Sowerbyi, Mantell; Sow. M. C. pl. 349. f.1. (London Clay.)
{ 18. Trophon subnodosum, Morris, Q.J.G.S. viii. pl. 16. f. 10. (Thanet Sands. )
19. Pleurotoma; imperfect (=P. acuminata?, Sow. M.C. pl. 146. f. 4).
* 20. Pyrula nodulifera, G. B. S. Pl. V. fig. 2.
+t 21. Purpura tetragona, Sow., var. vulgaris, Wood, Monog. pl. 4. f. 7.
+ 22. Clavatula brachyostoma ?, Wood, Monog. pl. 7. f. 8.
* 23. Buccinum concinnum, G. B. 8S. Pl. V. fig. 1.
ft 24. Chemnitzia elegantissima, Montagu ; Wood, Monog. pl. 10. f. 6.
25. Odostomia ; like O. plicata, Montagu ; Wood, Monog. pl. 9. f. 3, but with-
out teeth on the inside of the inner lip.
t 26. Nassa reticosa, Sow., var. costata, Wood, Monog. pl. 3. f. 10.
t 27. Natica Hantoniensis? Sow. [as figured by Nyst, Coq. Foss. Belg. pl. 39.
f. 2.] (Barton and London Clays.)
catenoides?, Wood, Monog. pl. 16. f. 10 a, 6. (= N. glaucinoides,
Sow. M. C. pl. 479. f. 4.)
— + 29. Bulla concinna?, Wood, Monog. pl. 21. f. 6.
utricula, Nyst, Coq. Foss. Belg. pl. 39. f. 9.
31. Dentalium; probably new. Pl. V. fig. 5. Resembling one figured in
Mr. Prestwich’s paper on the Thanet Sands, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.
vol. viii. p. 267. pl. 16. f. 12.
32. Helix; adhering to a broken Fusus.
33. Ringicula.
T 34. Valvata piscinalis, Miiller; Wood, Monog. pl. 12. f.3; in sand within a
Cardium Layton.
35. Limax; shell smoother than in the common English species. Pl. V. fig. 3.
Foraminifera :—
t 36. Cristellaria platypleura, Jones, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. viii. p. 267.
pl. 16. f. 12 (=C. Calear, Linn.).
Small Bones and Teeth of Fish, in abundance§.
Thus of 36 species, 14 are found also in the Crag of Suffolk; 8
have been described from the Lower Tertiaries of England; 2 have
been hitherto known only in the Tertiaries of Belgium; 4 are new;
and 8 are not determinable. I must here observe that my friend
Mr. Prestwich 4], who has so long and ardently studied the Tertiary
formations, especially of this district, and who has seen the fossils
here referred to, does not concur with me in thinking that they
belong to a bed of Upper Tertiary (Crag) age in situ. But whatever be
the exact relations of these sands and clays found in the little sand-
pit to be so full of the fossils above mentioned, I believe that this
brief notice will be of service by directing attention to this interest-
ing point, and lead others to clear up all doubts by a still closer
examination of the spot.
§ These have unfortunately been mislaid.
4| Mr. Prestwich, who has visited the pit, informs me that he considers that
the section is made ina bed of sand lying just under the London Clay, he having
found only a few shells, and those all of Lower Tertiary species—J. B. Jan.
1859.
136 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [June 23,
Description of some new Fosstz Species collected by Joun Brown,
Ksq., F.G.S., at Grove Ferry, Kent. By G. B. Sowszrsy, Ksq.,
EES.
Batanus Cutstetianvs, G. B. Sowerby. PI. V. fig. 7.
B. subcylindricus, levigatus, orificio dentato, mediocri; parietibus leviter fas-
ciatis ; radiis angustis ; scuto levigato crista articulari elongata validé reflexa;
‘tergo obtuso, calcari acuminato elongato.
The slope of the radu gives to the orifice a dentated character
which brings our species near to B. concavus; but the scutal valves
of the operculum are without longitudinal striz, and their articular
ridge is long. Also the spur of the terga is oblique, produced, and
pointed.
ASTARTE ELEVATA, G. B. Sowerby. PI. V. fig. 6.
A. testa trigona, alta, posticé truncata subangulata, ad marginem ventralem
levi, medio leviter liris undulata; apice elevato liris rotundis crebris rugato.
This shell differs from A. rugata of the ‘ Mineral Conchology,’ and
from A. Omalu, Lajonk. (Nyst), in being much more elevated and tri-
gonal. The ridges, which are strong and numerous at the apex or
in the young state, become faint towards the centre until they disap-
pear near the ventral margin.
PyrvLa NopuLirera, G. B. Sowerby. PI. V. fig. 2.
P. testa oblonga, spiraliter striata, ad angulum anfractuum nodulis obtusis coro-
nata, supra medium nodulis inconspicuis cincta ; spira brevi.
A shell so simple in form as a Pyrula can be safely described even
from the fragmentary specimen figured, although the only characters
are that it is spirally striated and has one row of obtuse nodules on
the angle of the last whorl, and another row of very indistinct ones
above the centre of the same whorl.
Buccinum concrinnum, G. B. Sowerby. PI. V. fig. 1.
B. testa acuminata, spiraliter liris rotundis cincta; anfractibus rotundis; aper-
tura subquadrata; columella umbilicata; labio externo anticé paululum pro-
ducto.
A neatly-formed, acuminated shell with rounded, spiral ridges
upon rounded whorls. The aperture is rather square, with a narrow
umbilical opening behind the columella, and (judging from the lines
of growth) a slight forward curve in the outer lip.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE V.
Fig. 1. Buccinum concinnum, G.B. 8. a, 6, two aspects.
Fig. 2. Pyrula nodulifera, G. B. 8.
Fig. 3. Limax, sp. a, 0, two aspects; c, nat. size.
Fig. 4. Limopsis aurita, Wood. a, in its matrix of clay; 0, back view of a de-
tached specimen.
Fig. 5. Dentalium.
Fig. 6. Astarte elevata, G B. S. a, nat. size; 6, ¢, two views, magnified.
Fig. 7. Balanus Chisletianus, G. B.S. a, body of the shell; 6, scutal valves of
the operculum, nat. size; c, d, the same enlarged, and seen in two
aspects.
GB Sowerby Lith
Quart. Journ. Ceol. Sec Va. XV F!
W West
FOSSILS FROM CHISLET, KENT.
v:
wup.
1858. | BATE—-PROSOPONISCUS. 13%,
7. On the Fosstz Crustacean found im the Maenzstan Limustone of
Dvurnam by Mr. J. Kirxsy, and on a New Species of Ampurpop.
By C. Spence Barz, Esq., F.L.S., &c. (Communicated by Dr. H.
Fatconer, F.R.S., F.G.S.)
[Read June 23, 1858.]}
[Plate VI.]
In January, 1857, a paper by Mr. Kirkby was read before the
Geological Society*, on “some Permian Fossils from Durham,”
in which a few fragments were described as the remains of an
extinct Crustacean. Some drawings of these were kindly submitted
to me previously to their publication. One series I regardedt as
being probably from the anterior portion of an Isopod; and the
remainder I considered as not belonging to the same animal, but as
parts of an Amphipod.
I have recently (since the reading of this paper) been allowed,
through the kindness of Mr. Kirkby (to whom I applied in accordance
with a suggestion from the Council of the Geological Society), the
advantage of examining the original specimens of Prosoponiscus pro-
blematicus, together with others that have been discovered since the
publication of his paper.
_ Having thus a favourable opportunity of reconsidering an opinion
which was given from an examination of drawings only, I have
been enabled to make out some points not portrayed in the
drawings, which enable me to arrive at a more satisfactory con-
clusion. The specimens are the anterior and middle parts of an
Amphipod; and none belong to an Isopod, as I at first informed Mr.
Kirkby t.
To show with any amount of certainty the correctness of this
hypothesis, it is necessary that I should demonstrate, in recent
Crustacea, an approximation of structure to that of the fossil.
Assuming that, if certain known parts of an unknown animal agree
in character with those homologically the same in an animal that we do
know, we have @ priori a right to infer the undiscovered portion of
the one bears a corresponding relation to the remainder of the other.
Commencing with the anterior fragments, there are specimens of
the cephalon with from two to four segments attached. The ce-
phalon is large, deep, laterally compressed, and slightly carinated
upon the dorsal surface, which carina is produced anteriorly into a
small point. The eyes are round and prominently elevated. The
posterior margin is slightly elevated. The inferior margin is stout
and strong; and to this is attached part of an appendage, probably
that of a mandible (fig. 5, d). This little fact was overlooked in
the original drawings, probably from the close resemblance between
the colour of the fossil and that of the rock of which it is a part.
But this is more distinctly visible in the specimen from which fig. 6
is taken (d). It therefore must follow that the eyes are not (as
* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xiii. p. 213.
t Inthe communication read June 25, 1858; this paper having been somewhat
modified since then by permission of the Council.
{ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xiii. p. 214.
138 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL socleTy. [June 23,
appeared in Mr. Kirkby’s drawings*) situated at the extreme limits
of the anterior inferior margin of the cephalon.
In Jsopoda (except in Dana’s tribe of Anzsopoda) the eyes are
external to both pairs of antenne, whereas in the Amphipoda they
are situated between the upper and lower antenne.
The mandibles in the Zsopoda articulate within the lateral margins
of the cephalon; but in Amphipoda they articulate upon the lateral
margins, posterior to the second pair of antenne.
Posterior to the cephalon in the specimen (fig. 6) are at most four
narrow segments, which are not as deep as the cephalon ; they are
laterally compressed and marked by a slight dorsal keel.
The other specimens consist of four or five narrow segments, and
two large ones (one very large and the second nearly as large),
situated posteriorly. The narrow segments are not more than half
as deep as the larger segments, to each of which, in one or two of
the more recently-found specimens, there is attached a small plate:
these plates are the coxee of the legs (the “epimera” of Edwards).
These cox bear a resemblance to those of the recent Amphipod
(Phedra antigua) in the annexed plate (Pl. VI. fig. 8). In the
fossil the second segment of the pleon has the posterior margin
ornate in the more perfect specimens, being toothed at the infero-
posterior angle, and lobed near the middle, thus possessing a waved
and graceful appearance (figs. 3 and 4).
Another specimen exhibits the commencement of a segment pos-
terior to those already given; and slight indications of this may be
seen in fig. 3.
The fragments that have been found belonging to this portion of
the animal are laterally compressed, and, in all the specimens
except one, are surmounted by a slight dorsal ridge.
That all the specimens are parts of the same Crustacean species,
I think may be shown from the corresponding size and the relative
depth of the segments of the pereion. The circumstance that one
specimen is not carinated will scarcely interfere with this opinion,
since it is evidently an exception to the rule, depending upon some
peculiarity in the growth of the individual.
In the development of those Amphipoda that have a dorsal carina,
the larva appears first without that distinguishing feature, which is
afterwards gradually added. We can easily understand how a slight
arrest in the growth of the animal may interfere with this pecu-
liarity. Therefore, when an animal in its normal condition possesses
a carina so very indistinctly marked as in the fossil, it 1s not unwise
to assume that the absence of that character is but a slight diver-
gence from the typical condition, therefore one of variety or sex.
We therefore come to the conclusion that the specimens belong
to one species of animal, and that the animal is an Amphipod
Crustacean, from the recent type of which it differs in the prominent
eye and the greater depth of the anterior, as compared with the
second, segment of the pleon. |
* Ibid., pl. vii. figs. 1-8.
1858. | BATE——PROSOPONISCUS. 139
The prominent eye so characteristic in the fossil is a feature
frequent among Jsopoda. It was this, as much perhaps as anything
else, that induced me at first to think that the fossil belonged to
that order of Crustacea. Although more common among Jsopoda,
the prominent eye is not inconsistent with the structure of an Am-
phipod. It so exists in the genus Phlias of Guérin, and to a less
extent in Acanthonotus of Owen.
Amphipods are generally laterally compressed ; they have the seg-
ments narrower and shorter than those of the pleon. The squami-
form coxe are absent in many of the fossil specimens, particularly
the anterior portion,—a circumstance that may be accounted for by
the known habits of the animal, since it splits off the legs when it
frees itself from the integument in moulting.
If the fossil be examined closely, each segment of the pereion will
be found to be elevated posteriorly and depressed anteriorly ; and it
will be seen that a deep notch exists immediately behind the poste-
rior margin of the first segment of the pleon. This imbricated
appearance is evidently the result of the upper dorsal portion of the
segments being on the stretch, while the lower or lateral margins of
the same overlap each other. This shows that the remains were
rolled upon themselves,—a condition which Crustacea very generally
assume.
A feature, as before remarked, that is prominently peculiar in
this fossil specimen is the remarkable difference between the size of
the segments of the pleon and those of the pereion, the former beg
very long, the latter very short.
In Amphipoda generally, the segments of the pereion, as a rule,
are shorter than those of the pleon, but not to any very great ex-
tent in the normal Gammaride. In the sub-family of the Phowxides
we find it more conspicuous, but not so decidedly as in the fossil
species.
Some two years since, I received from a kind and valued corre-
spondent (the Rev. George Gordon), among many other specimens
from the Moray Firth, an injured individual of an undescribed spe-
cies of Amphipod, which I delayed to publish, from a desire of
procuring specimens more perfect ; but in this as yet I have been
unsuccessful.
Those parts in the recent specimens, which I presume represent
the fossil remains under notice, bear a generic resemblance to them.
The segments of the pereion, like those in the fossil, are short,
while the segments of the anterior portion of the pleon are long.
I am thus led to believe that the following description of the recent
animal will be found to bear a close generic resemblance to the
fossil species.
The head or cephalon is pointed above, and projects over the an-
tennee, the superior of which is short, somewhat pyriform, the basal
articulation of the peduncle being much stouter than, and nearly as
long as, the other two. Filamentary appendage short (?) and fur-
nished with a complementary appendage, consisting of but a single
joint. The inferior antenna, which is placed posteriorly to the
140 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 23.
upper, has the peduncle as long as the upper antenna. The coxe
of the legs are small and unimportant. Unfortunately the gnatho-
poda and anterior pereiopoda are missing; the three posterior are
equal. The three anterior segments of the pleon are large; each
being equal to the three or four of the pereion. The posterior pair of
pleopoda terminate in two lanceolate rami. The telson is simple,
squamiform, and lanceolate. In this particular species the third
segment of the pleon is ornate—that is, fringed or ornamented
along the posterior margin by a series of teeth,—and the posterior
pleopoda have the rami equal.
It appears therefore that, with the exception of the carina on the
dorsal line of the fossil specimen, and the ornate margin of the third
segment of the pleon, the description might serve for both specimens,
as far as known; and it is upon this close correspondence of the
two, that I have constructed the figures in the accompanying plate
(Plate VI. figs. 1 and 2) of Amphipoda, from the fossil specimens
found by Mr. Kirkby, without the slightest straining of anatomical
details. It is upon this approximation of the recent to the fossil,
that I am induced to believe that the specimens are parts of an
Amphipod, which, if correct, is, I believe, the first Crustacean of
that Order yet recorded.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE VI.
Fig, 1. Prosoponiscus problematicus, restored.
Hig2) ee aolled up:
Fig. 3. Four posterior segments of the pereion, and two anterior segments of the
pleon, fossil. 3’ ligature between the segments, seen on the stretch.
3” Posterior margin of the second segment of the pleon in the fossil.
3’” Posterior margin of the third segment of the pleon in the recent
amphipod (Ampelisca Belliana).
Fig. 4. Two posterior segments of the pereion, and two anterior of the pleon.
Fig. 5. Cephalon and two anterior segments of the pereion ; d part of mandible?
Fig. 6. Cone and four anterior segments of the pereion; d@ part of man-
dible 7
Fig. 7. Cephalon ; viewed anteriorly, partly imbedded in the matrix.
Fig. 8. Phedra antiqua (the unshaded parts are restorations) ; 2. Telson,
8. On some New Species of Kuryprervs ; with Notes on the Distribu-
tion of the Species. By J. W. Satter, Esq., F.G.S., of the Geolo-
gical Survey of Great Britain.
‘Deferred. ]
9. Description of a New Fossil Crustacean from the Lower GREEN-
SAND of ATHERFIELD. By Cuarzes Goutp, Esq. (Communicated
by Professor Huxtey, F.G.S.)
[ Deferred. ]
rt. Journ. Geol. Soc Vol XY.PI VI.
W.West 1mp..
Spence Bate del.ad nat.M.1B.lith.
RECENT & FOSSIL AMPHIPODA.
141
DONATIONS
TO THE
LIBRARY OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
From July \st, 1858, to October 31st, 1858.
I. TRANSACTIONS AND JOURNALS.
Presented by the respective Societies and Editors.
AMERICAN Journal of Science and Arts. 2nd Series, vol. xxvi. No. 77,
July 1858. From Prof. J. Silliman, For. Mem. G.S.
H,. How.—Analysis of Faroelite and other Zeolites, 30.
L. H. Gulick.—Ponape or Ascension Island, in the Carolines, 34.
G. J. Brush and H. Wurtz.—Muineralogical Notices, 64, 81.
R. P. Stevens.—Coal-measures of Ohio and Illinois, 72.
J. W. Mallet.—Schrotherite from Alabama, 79.
Rammelsberg.—Hornblende and Augite, 105.
Roussin.—Double Nitrosulphide of Iron, 106.
T. S. Hunt.—Reactions of the Salts of Lime and Magnesia, 109.
Q. Sella.—Boron, 110.
L. Lesquereux.—Coal-measures of Kentucky and Illinois, &c., 110.
——. Fossil Plants of the Coal-measures, 112, 154.
G. C. Swallow.—Coal-measures of Missouri, 113.
——. Permian in Kansas, 115.
F. V. Hayden and J. Leidy.—Fossils from Nebraska, 116.
J. Hall.—Graptolithus, 117.
F. L. M‘Clintock and S. Haughton.—Arctic Regions, 119.
B. F. Shumard.—Fossils from Oregon and Vancouver’s Island, 122.
W. P. Blake and others.—California, 122.
R. S. Williamson, H. L. Abbott, and J. S. Newberry.—California and
Oregon, 123.
J. G. Parke and T. S. Antisell.—California, 126.
B. F. Shumard.—New Blastoidea, and Pentremites, 127.
E. J. Chapman.—Asaphus Canadiensis and A. Hellii, 127,
W. P. Blake.—Appalachian and Californian Auriferous deposits, 128.
J. M. Safford.—Tennessee, 128.
J. G. Norwood.—Permian in Illinois, 129.
O. M. Lieber.—South Carolina, 131.
L. Harper.—Mississippi, 131.
L. Nodot.—New Fossil Edentate Genus (Schistopleurum), 132.
142 DONATIONS.
American Journal of Science and Arts (continued).
A. Delesse.—Metamorphism of Rocks, 133.
C. J. Meneghini.—Paleontology of Sardinia, 133.
W. J. Taylor.—Mineralogical Notes, 134.
—. No. 77. September 1858.
W. P. Trowbridge.—Deep Sea Soundings, 157.
C. E. West.—EHarthquake in Western New York, 177.
G. C. Swallow.—The Rocks of Kansas, 182.
D. F. Wemland.—Hayti, 210.
Sir C. Lyell.—Stony Lava on Steep Slopes; and Mount Etna, 214.
J. D. Dana.—Currents of the Ocean, 231.
T. S. Hunt.—Ophiolites, 234.
W. P. Blake.—Lanthanite and Allanite, 245.
Dumas.—Equivalents of Elements, 259.
Deville and Caron.—Artificial Minerals, 259.
Shumard and d’Archiac.—Permian Fossils of N. America, 260.
Marignac.—Fluosilicates and Fluostannates, 271.
W. J. Taylor.—Lecontite, 273.
C. Maclaren.—Conducting Power of Rocks; and Altitude of Moun-
tains not invariable, 274.
F. V. Hayden.—Geology of Nebraska, 276.
Unger.—Tertiary Corals, 279.
W. P. Blake.—Gold in Georgia, 278.
J. A. Veatch.—Mud-voleanos of the Colorado Desert, 288.
J. B. Trask.—Earthquakes in California during 1857, 296.
The Connecticut Earthquake, 298.
F. Leydolt.—Meteoric Stone of Borkut, 219.
Geological Survey of Canada, 299.
Antiquaries of London, List of the Society of, 1858.
Assurance Magazine and Journal of the Institute of Actuaries. Vol.
vii. part 6. No. 32. July 1858.
Vol. vii. part 1. No. 33. October 1858.
List of Members 1858.
Atheneum Journal for June—September 1858.
Notices of Scientific Meetings, &c.
Sir W. Jardine’s Memoirs of Hugh E. Strickland [noticed], 746.
Visit to Vesuvius, 787 ; Pottery in Alluvium, 794.
Palmieri on Vesuvius, 819.
Tyndall.—The Mer-de-Glace, 49.
J. P. Lacaita—The late Earthquakes mm South Italy, 205.
A. Geikie’s Story of a Boulder [noticed], 236.
British Association Meeting, 393.
——. October 1858.
British Association, 422, 456, 488, 521, 553.
Atlantis. No.2. July 1858.
H. Hennessy.—The Distribution of Heat over Islands, Part I. 396.
Basel. Verhandlungen der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Basel.
II. Theil. Erste Heft 1858.
C. F. Schcenbein.—Chemische Notizen, 3.
DONATIONS. 143
Bengal Asiatic Society, Journal. New Series. No. 89. 1857, No. 5.
No. 92. 1858, No. 2.
Bent’s Monthly Literary Advertiser. Nos. 651-653.
Berlin. Abhandlungen der Koniglichen Akademie der Wissen-
schaften zu Berlin, 1857. Berlin, 1858.
Beyrich ueber die Crinoiden des Muschelkalks, 1. (Two plates).
Monatsbericht der Konigl.-Preuss. Akad. d. Wissensch. zu
Berlin. Januar—Juni 1858.
Beyrich ueber die Abgrenzung der oligocanen Tertiarzeit, 51.
Ehrenberg,—Ueber organischen Quarzsand, 118.
Rammelsberg.—Ueber die Krystallographischen und Chemischen Be-
ziehungen zwischen Augit und Hornblende und verwandten Mine-
ralien, 1353.
Miiller.—Ueber emige Echimodermen Rheinischen Grauwacke und
des Eifeler Kalkes, 185.
H. Rose.—Ueber die Zusammensetzung der in der Naturvorkommen-
den Tantalsdure-haltigen Mineralien, 257.
Ebrenberg.—Ueber fortschreitende Erkenntniss massenhafter Micro-
scopischer Lebensformen in den untersten Silurischen Thonschich-
ten bei Petersburg, 295, 324 (plate).
H. Rose.—Ueber das Niob, 338.
G. Rose.—Ueber die heteromorphen Zustande der Kohlensauren
Kalkerde, 341.
Preisfragen der Phys.-Math. Klasse der K.-Preuss. Akad.
Wissensch. fiir das Jahr 1851.
. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Geologischen Gesellschaft. Vol. ix.
part 4. Aug.—Oct. 1857.
P. Keibel.—Analysen eimiger Griinsteme des Harzgebirges, 569.
F. Roemer.— Die Jurassische Weserkette, 581 (map and plate).
J. Burkart.—Ueber einen neuer Feuerausbruch in dem Gebirge von
Real del Monte in Mexico, 729.
Wedsky.—Ueber die Krystallform des Tarnowitzits, 737 (plate).
——. Vol. x. part 1. Nov. 1857—Jan. 1858.
Guiscardi.—Ueber den Guarinit, ee neue Mineralspecies vom Monte
Somma, 14.
C. Rammelsberg.— Ueber die Silikate als Gemengtheile Krystallini-
scher Gesteine, msbesondere tber Augit und Hornblende als
Glieder einer grossen Mineralgruppe, 17.
G. Jensch.—Die Verbreitung des Melaphyrs und Sanidin-Quartz-Por-
phyrs in dem Steinkohlenbassin von Zwickau, 31 (map and plate).
ave Strombeck.—Ueber das Vorkommen von Myophoria pes-anseris,
0.
Bordeaux, Actes de la Société Linnéenne de. (Vol. xxi.) 3 Sér.
Vol. i. 1858.
eae Nogués.—Sur les Roches Paléozoiques de Légure et de Durban,
42.
V. Raulin.—Projet d’une classification Minéralogique, 91.
A. Leymerie.—Sur )’Hemiédrie, 468.
144 DONATIONS.
Breslau et Bonn. Nova Acta Acad. Cees. Leop.-Carol. Nat. Curios.
Vol. xxvi. part 1, 1857.
E. F. Glocker.—Ueber den Sulphatischen Eisensinter von Obergrund
bei Zucmantel, 189 (3 plates).
K. G. Stenzel.—_-Ueber Farn-Wurzeln aus dem Roth-Liegenden, 221
(3 plates). .
H. Fiedler.—Die Fossilen Friichte der Steinkohlen-Formation, 239
(8 plates).
British Association for the Advancement of Science. Twenty-seventh
Meeting, held at Dublin, 1857. 1858.
H. Lloyd.—President’s Address ; Geological progress, 1x.
R. W. Fox.—Temperature of Deep Mines in Cornwall, 96.
J. S. Bowerbank.—On the Vitality of the Spongiade, 121.
G. C. Hyndman.—Report of Belfast Dredging Committee, 221.
Sections :—
H. Hennessy.—Solidification of Fluids by Pressure, 25.
James Thomson.—Plasticity of Ice, 39.
R. L. Johnson.—I]luminating Peat-gas, 51.
J. J. J. Kyle.—Chemical Composition of an ancient Iron-Slag found
in Argyleshire, 52.
Voelcker.—Composition of Norwegian Apatite, 59.
R. Godwin-Austin.—Boulder of Granite in the White Chalk of the
South-east of England, 62.
W. H. Baily.—Carboniferous Limestone Fossils from Limerick, 62.
——. New Fossil Fern from Coal-measures, county of Limerick, 63.
J. Birmingham.—Drift of West Galway and East Mayo, 64.
Clarke.—Alterations of Level on coast of Waterford, 65.
F. J. Foot.—Geology of Tralee, 65.
Sir R. Griffith.—The Relations of the Rocks at or below the base of
the Carboniferous Series of Ireland, 66.
G. F. Habershon.—The Barbary Coast, 67.
R. Harkness.—Geology of Caldbeck Fells, 67.
Jointing and Dolomitization of Lower Carboniferous Lime-
stone at Cork, 68.
On the Records of a Triassic Shore, 68.
S. Haughton.—On a Model illustrative of Slaty Cleavage, 69.
——. Fossil Stems allied to Stigmaria, from Hook Point, 69.
H. Hennessy.—Existence of Forces capable of changing Sea-level
during Geological Epochs, 69. j
W. Hopkins.—Conductivity of various substances for Heat, 70.
J. B. Jukes.—Geological Structure of Dingle Promontory, 70.
——. Old Red Sandstone of South Wales, 73.
G. H. Kinahan.—Valentia Trap-district, 75.
J. R. Kinahan.—Zoological relations of the Cambrian Rocks of Bray
Head and Howth, 75.
L. de Koninck and Ed. Wood.—On the Genus Woodocrinus, 76.
C. G. Meneghini.—Advance of Palzontological Discovery in Tuscany,
79.
Sir R. I. Murchison.—Altered Rocks of North-west Highlands of
Scotland, 82.
J. W. Salter.—Fossils from Durness, 83.
G. V. Du Noyer.—Junction of Mica-slate and Granite, Killiney Hill,
84,
T. Oldham.—Districts visited by the Geological Survey of India, 85.
DONATIONS. 145
British Association for the Advancement of Science (continued).
J. W. Salter.—Fossils of the Dingle District, 89.
H. and R. Schlagintweit.—Erosion of Rivers in India, 90.
H. C. Sorby.—Slaty Cleavage, 92.
W. S. Symonds.—Fossil Deer from Severn Drift, 93.
—. New species of Eurypterus, 93.
A. B. Wynne.—Geology of Galty Mountains, 93.
——. Tertiary Clay and Lignite of Ballymacadam, 94.
D. Moore.—On the Plants forming the Irish Turf-Bogs, 97.
J. Brakenridge.—Working and Ventilation of Coal-mines, 180.
British Pomological Society, Rules, 1858.
Transactions. Nos. 1-3, 1855-57.
Canadian Journal of Industry, Science and Art. New Series, No. 4.
July 1856.
T. Reynolds.—Indian relics of Copper near Brockville, 329.
H. Croft.—Copper Implements found near Brockville, 334.
D. Wilson.—Southern shores of Lake Superior, 334.
Prof. T. Hall’s “ Paleontology of New York ” [noticed]}, 386.
T. C. Gregory.—Cervus Canadiensis, 387.
G. H. Cook.—Subsidence of New Jersey Coast, 387.
KE. T. Chapman.—Graptolites, 388.
H. Croft.—Mineralogical Notices, 393.
Sir W. Logan, Congratulatory Address to,..by the Canadian Insti-
tute, 404.
—. No.16. July 1858.
Geological Survey of Canada [noticed], 320.
Sir E. W. Head’s “Temple of-Serapis at Pozzuoli” [noticed], 336.
J. W. Keating.—Mastodon remains, Morpheth, Canada West, 356.
B. F. Shumard.—Permian Strata in North America, 357.
— Murray.—Large Boulders in Canada, 357.
Hematite Pseudomorphs, 357. |
J. noah “Traité de Paléontologie” [the second volume noticed],
Cape and Natal News. No. 1.
Catania. Atti dell’ Accademia Gioenia di Scienze Naturali di Catania,
Serie Seconda. Vol. i. 1844.
P. I. e Sirugo.—Osservazioni geognostico-geologische sul poggio di
S. Filippo e suoi dintorni in Militello, 35.
—. Vol. n. 1845.
C. Gemmellaro.—Sulla costa Marittima Meridionale del Golfo di
Catania, 65.
Sul Basalto decomposto dell’ Isola de’ Ciclopi, 309.
Fr. Ferrara.—Vulcanologia Geologica della Sicilia e delle Isole che le
sono intorno, 229.
——. Vol.im. 1846.
C. Gemmellaro.—Sui Crateri di Sollevamento e di Eruzione, 109
[plate ].
—. Diunnuovo genere di Polipago Fossile [and Hippurites, &c.],
211 (4 plates). ;
VOL. XV.—PART I. L
146 DONATIONS.
Catania. Atti dell’ Accademia Gioenia (continued).
C. Gemmellaro.—Saggio sulla Costituzione Fisica dell’ Etna, 347.
A. Aradas.-—Descrizione di varie specie nuove di Conchiglie viventi e
fossili della Sicilia, &e., 157, 235, 411 (3 plates).
——. Vol.iv. 1847.
C. Gemmellaro.—Sulla formazione dello scisto di Alé, 25 (plate).
A. Aradas.—Descrizione delle Conchighe fossile di Grevitelli presso
Messina, 57.
sD Vol. Vv. 1848.
C. Gemmellaro.—Sopra una varieta della Hippurites Fortisit, 33.
—. Saggio distoria fisica di Catania, 91.
a. Velev isso.
A. Aradas.—Monografia degli Echidini yiventi e fossili di Sicilia, 53.
C. Gemmellaro.—Sopra un pezzo di Calcedonia lavorato apparte-
nente ad antice statua.
A. Aradas.—Monografia degli Echinidi, &c., 189.
—. Vol.vu. 1850.
C. Gemmellaro.—Sulla formazione dell’ Argilla blu di Sicilia, 105.
—. Sul preteso Vulcano di Montegrande presso Pietraperzia, 141.
C. Maravigna.—Monografia del Solfato di Calce che trovazi nelle
Minere di Zolfo di Sicilia, unitamente allo Zolfo ed alla Celestina,
&e., 185.
A. Aradas.—Monografia degli Echinidi, &c., 229.
——, Vol. vii. 1853.
A. Aradas.—Monografia degli Echinidi, &ce., 149, 371.
pe PVOls ix am ead:
C. Gemmellaro.—Illustrazione di due Tavole che facilitano la intelli-
genza delle pit: difficili Teorie Geologiche, 37 (2 plates).
——. Dj taluni fenomeni della vita Minerale, 73.
——. Breve ragguaglio dell’ Eruzione dell’ Etna del 21 Agosto 1852
(3 plates).
Giuseppe Gemmellaro.—Sunto del Giornale della Eruzione dell’ Etna
del 1852, 113 (plate).
tees, VOleox sik 854:
Gaetano Giorgio Gemmellaro.—Descrizione d’alcune specie Minerali
dei Vulcani estinti di Palagonia, 37.
Carlo Gemmellaro.— Una corsa intorno all’ Etna in Ottobre 1853, 51.
—. Nuovi schiarimenti sulla teoria della Zolfo, 73.
A. Aradas.—Echinidi viventi e fossili della Sicilia, 215.
SSE Wh sie he eae
C. Gemmellaro.—Sulla struttura del Cono de’ Monti Rossi. e de’ suoi
materiali, 57.
A. Aradas.—Prospetto di una nuova Fauna dei Molluschi, &c., viventi
e fossili della Sicilia, 77.
—. Vol. xi. 1856.
C. S. Patti.—Relazione geognostice delle Colline delle Terreforti che
si estendono ad occidente di Catania, 115.
G. G. Gemmellaro.—Descrizione di alcune specie minerali dei Vul-
cani estinti di Palagonia, 143.
DONATIONS. 147
Catania. Attidell? Accademia Gioenia di Scienze Naturali di Catania.
Serie Seconda. Vol. xii. 1857.
C. Gemmellaro.—Sull Terreno Erratico del Nord di Europa, 33.
——. Sul Diluvio prove Geologiche, 253.
G. G. Gemmellaro.—Richerche sui Pesce Fossili della Sicilia, 279
(6 plates).
Chemical Society, Quarterly Journal of. Vol. xi. part 2. July 1858.
J. Napier.—Metallic deposit in Chimnies of Reverberatory Furnaces,
168.
Colliery Guardian. Vol. ii. Nos. 27-37, 39-44.
W. W. Smyth.—Varieties of Minerals, 4; Iron-ores of Exmoor, 6;
Composition of Minerals, 20, 36; Silica, 52; Anhydrous Silicates, 66;
Hydrous Silicates, 100; Zeolites, 132; Anhydrous Silicates of Alu-
mina, 148; Mica and Felspar, 164; Metallic Minerals, 196; Bismuth,
Tellurium, and Arsenic, 212; Ores of Antimony, 228; Ores of Lead,
261; Ores of Iron, 276.
A. C. Ramsay.—Stratification, 4; Carboniferous Strata and Coal, 20,
36; the Secondary Strata, 84; Oolitic Series, 101.
J. Tennant.—Composition of Rocks, Building-stones, &e., 5; Clays,
37; Mineral Ores, 84; Mineralogy, 244.
H. T. Plew.—Coalfield of New South Wales, 6.
A. Melville.—Geology, 21.
Menabree.—Subalpine Tunnel, 22.
Pp: 2. Sheafe.—Coals of the Schuylkil Anthracite-basin, Pennsylvania,
H. D. Rogers.—Bituminous Coal-region of Pennsylvania, 38.
J. J. W. Watson.—Ironstone of Forest of Dean, 53, 69.
H. Mackworth.—Coal, 53.
J. C. Bailey.—Coal-mines in Westleigh, 54.
Chapman.—Coals assayed with the Blow-pipe, 69.
Ventilation of Coal-mines, 85.
J. Yates.—Mining-operations of the Romans in Britain, 132.
D. R. Brower.—Drainage, Ventilation, and Lighting of Mines, 149.
British Association Meeting, 213.
Tron-trade of Great Britain, 1857, 279.
Copenhagen. Oversigt over det Kongelige danske Videnskabernes
Selskabs Forhandlinger og dets Medlemmers Arbeider i Aaret.1857,
1858.
- Forchhammer.—Undersogelser over Okeniten og andre lignende Mi-
neralier fra den Gronlandske Trapformation, 141.
——. Quezstiones, que in anno 1858 proponuntur a Societate Regia
Danica Scientiarum cum premii promissu.
Critic, The. Nos. 417—434.
Notices of Societies, &c.
Darmstadt. Notizblatt des Vereims fir Erdkunde und verwandte
Wissenschaften zu Darmstadt, und des mittelrheinischen geolo-
gischen Vereins. I. Jahrgang. Nos. 2-20. Juni 1857—Mai 1858.
R. Ludwig.—Zechstein im Odenwalde, 11. _ |
L2
148 DONATIONS.
Darmstadt. Notizblatt des Vereins fiir Erdkunde (continued).
R. Ludwig.—Korniger Kalk bei Grossumstadt, 11.
——.Bohrlécher im Rheinthale bei Mainz, 12.
Seibert.—Korniger Kalk im Odenwalde, 13.
H. v. Dechen.—Granit in dem Gebiete des flotzleeren Sandsteines
zwischen Marburg und Gladenbach, 14.
R. Ludwig.—Der Braunstein in Nassau und Oberhessen, 19, 25.
Verstemerungen in der Grauwacke bei Biedenkopf, &c., 30.
Seibert.—Basaltgange in den Sectionen Erbach und Worms, 30.
R. Ludwig.—Die Hisenfabrikation des Grossherzogthums Luxem-
burg, 33.
Schreiber.—Die neve Fassung und das Verhalten des Soolsprudels
Nr. 7 in Nanheim, 41.
R. ma das Devonische Gestein von Wiltz in den Arden-
nen, 40.
Seibert.—Einfache Mineralien in der Section Erbach, 47. -
G. Leonhard.—Neue Fundorte von Mineralien bei Wiesloch, 52.
Tasche.—Torflager in der Wetterau, 52.
Seibert.—Die Zechsteinformation in der Section Erbach, 53.
Herbst.— Das Rothliegendes bei Eisenach, und der Muschelkalk bei
Weimar, 60; die Manganerzgange des Thiiringer Waldes, 61.
Seibert.—Basalt zu Mittlechtern und im Odenwald, 61; fossile
Knochen bei Bensheim, 62.
C. Koch.—Dachschiefer in Culm, 67.
R. Ludwig.—Die Zechsteinformation von Frankenberg, 67 ; die Zech-
steinformation von Thalitter-Corbach, 68.
J. Gross.—Dolomit der Devonischen Formation bei Oberrosbach, 75.
C. Koch.—Die Griinsteine in Nassau und dem Hinterlande, te
R. Ludwig.—Septarienthon bei Alsfeld, 77.
Herbst.—Erderschtitterung in Sachsen und Thiiringen, 78.
R. Ludwig.—Die untere Steinkohlenformation im der Nahe von Gla-
denbach, 85.
Herbst.—Ueber einen Erdfall bei Weimar, 85.
Tasche.—Ein Versuchsschacht in Oberhessen, 87.
G. Keim.—Ueber Goldgewinnung und Uremwohner in der Provinz
Victoria in Australien, 89, 98.
Se a Susswasserkalk von Dannerod im Vogelsberge, 100
late).
Te ee ane von Ulfa, 102.
J. Reuss.—Ueber den Zechstein bei Selters, 102.
Anon.—Vitis Ludwigu, 102.
Chr. v. Bechtold.—Der artesische Brunnen in St. Louis, 106, 114.
Seibert.—Die Syenite des Odenwaldes, 116.
R. Ludwig.—Die Eisensteinlager in den Palaozoischen Formationen
Oberhessen und des Dillenburgischen, 129.
Herbst.—Der Chara-Kalk bei Weimar, 131; die Kohlenformation des
Thiirmger Waldes, 132; Tutenkalk im Thiringenschen Keuper,;
132.
Anon.—Fossile Pflanzen aus der jiingsten Wetterauer Braunkohle,
132; Saugethierreste bei Frankfurt a M., 134.
Seibert.—Die Mineralquellen der Bergstrasse und des Odenwaldes,
142.
R. Ludwig.—Braunkohlenlager im Cyrenenmergel bei Ingelheim in
Rheinhessen, 143.
DONATIONS. 149
Dublin Geological Society, Journal. Vol. vil. part 1. 1858.
R. Griffiths —On the Stratigraphical Relations of the Sedimentary
Rocks of the South of Ireland, 2 (plate).
S. Hanghton.—Cleavage and Joint-planes of the Old Red Sandstone
Conglomerate of Waterford, 16 (2 plates).
J. B. Jukes.—Igneous Rocks of Arklow Head, 17.
J. Birmingham.—Junction of the Limestone, Sandstone, and Granite
at Oughterard, Galway, 26.
—. Drift of Galway and Mayo, 28.
A. Gages.—Pseudomorphie Tremolite incrusted with Carbonate of
Lime and Magnesia, 39. :
Lord Talbot.—Presidential Address, 54.
A. foe Elephant’s Tooth from the Doab Canal of Upper
ndia, 66.
Kinahan.—Fossils of the Cambrian Rocks of Bray and Howth, 68
(2 plates).
A. Gages.—Mineral forming the cement of a boulder of Conglome-
rate found in Limerick, 73.
R. Griffith.—Posidonia Becheri and P. lateralis, 75 (4 plates).
S. Haughton.—Alteration in form of Posidonia by Cleavage, 81.
1s ma faults in Anticlinal Folds with oblique axes, 84
late).
Ae be. Kinahan.—Fossils from the Marine Drift of Bohernabreene, 87.
W. H. Baily.—On the Annuloid Crustacea of the Coal-measures, 89.
C. P. Molony.— Origin of Magnesian Limestone, 91.
R. H. Scott.—Analysis of Anorthite from the Ural, 94.
Dublin. Royal Society. Nos. ix. & x. Apriland July. 1858.
P. Buchan.—lIron-ores of Connaught Coal-field, 1.
W. Brabazon.—On Gulf Stream, 50.
Edinburgh. Royal Society. Proceedings. Vol. iv. No. 48.
T. Bloxam.—Composition of certain Building-stones, 41.
— Trail.—Geology of South Andalusia, 78.
C. Maclaren.—Cavities produced by Marine Animals in Sandstone, 80.
J. Ruskin.—Geology of Chamouni, 82.
— Allman.—Remains of a Seal in Pleistocene beds of Fifeshire, 99.
Geologist. Vol.i. Nos. 7, 8, 9.
J.J. W. Watson.—Ironstone of the Forest of Dean, continued, 265.
J. ik Catalogue of British Fossils, continued, 279,
S. J. Mackie—Common Fossils, continued, 286.
P. B. Brodie.—Geology of Gloucestershire, continued, 289, 369.
W. S. Symonds.—Notes of a Geologist in Ireland, 292, 330, 377.
T. L. Phipson.—Foreign Geological Notices, 297, 346, 393.
J. W. Salter.—Some Points of interest in British Geology, 301.
J. Jones.—Rhynchonella acuta and its affinities, 313.
G. D. Gibb.— Oyster-conglomerate at Bromley, 324.
G. E. Roberts.—Rambles rouud Ludlow, 336.
T. E. Curley.—Application of Geology to Railway-engineering, 340.
Hauer and Hoernes.—Monument to L. Von Buch, 342.
Catalogue of the Sheets of the Government Geological Survey Map
and Sections, 344, 389.
G. P. Scrope.—Structure of Ribboned Rocks, 362,
J. J. W. Watson.—Mercury in Alluvial deposits, 386.
150 ‘DONATIONS.
Geologist. Vol. i. Nos. 7, 8, 9 (continued).
Reports of Societies, 304, 358, 402.
Notes and Queries, 309, 352, 401.
Reviews, 311, 402.
Grahamstown Eastern Province Magazine. Vol.i. Nos. 1 and 11.
From A. G. Bain, Esq., and Dr. Atherstone.
A. G. Bain.—Reminiscences and Anecdotes connected with the History
of Geology im South Africa, 7.
W. G. Atherstone.—Geology of Uitenhage, 580.
—. Vol.iu. No.3. From Dr. Rubidge.
R. N. Rubidge.—Section of the Zuurberg, 187.
Hanau. Jahresbericht der Wetterauer Gesellschaft fir die ge-
sammte Naturkunde zu Hanau, fir 1855-57. 1858.
Naturhistorische Abhandlungen aus dem Gebiete der Wet-
terau. Eine Festgabe der Wetterauer Gesellschaft fur die ge-
sammte Naturkunde zu Hanau bei ihrer 50-jahrigen Jubelfeier
am 11 August 1858. 1858.
Rud. Ludwig.—Geognosie und Geogenie der Wetterau, v, 1.
Harlem. Extrait du Programme de la Société Hollandaise des
Sciences 4 Harlem pour l’année 1858.
Jahrbicher der k. k. Central-Anstalt fiir Meteorologie und Erdmag-
netismus. Vol. v. for 1853. 1858.
Lausanne. Bulletin de la Société Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles.
Vol. v. Bulletin. No. 42. 1858.
L. Gonin.—Resistance des Grés de la Moliére, 404.
Ph. Delaharpe.—Sur les Chéloniens de la Molasse Vaudoise, 405.
Liége. Mémoires de la Société Royale des Sciences. Vol. xi. 1858.
——. Vol. xm. 1858.
Jhr. van Binkhorst.—Sur le Terrain Crétacé des environs de Jauche
et de Ciply, 327.
Linnean Society, Journal of the Proceedings. Vol. ni. No.9. Au-
gust, 1858. |
. C. Darwin.—Tendency of Species to form Varieties, 45.
List of Fellows, 1858.
Literary Gazette, New Series. Nos. 1-18. July to October 1858.
Notices of Scientific Meetings, &c.
British Association Meeting, 402, 435, 468, 498.
Liverpool Literary and Phil. Soc. Proceedings. No. 12. 1858.
W. Clay.—Puddled Steel, 122.
H. Duckworth.—Fossils ae Perim, 142.
G. H. Morton.—Flore and Faun of Geological Systems, 183.
DONATIONS. 15]
London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine. 4th Series,
vol. xv. No. 103. Supplement. July 1858. From R. Taylor,
Esq., F.G.S.
W. H. Miller.—Crystallographic notices, 512.
R. H. Scott.—Analysis of the Anorthite and Hornblende of a Diorite
from the Ural, 518.
J. Phillips.— Wealden Fossil Fruit, 551.
C. J. F. Bunbury.—Fossil Plants of Madeira, 551.
T. Brown.—Section of the Fifeshire Coast, 552.
T. S. Hunt.—Euphotide and Saussurite, 553.
F. Senece.—Analysis of the Perowskite of Schelingen, 554.
—. . No. 104. July 1858.
J. Dawson.— Lower Coal-measures of British America, 72.
E. W. Binney.—Stigmaria ficoides, 73.
J. Morris.—New fossil Fern from Worcestershire, 74.
A. C. Ramsay.—Glacial phenomena of Canada, 74.
G. P. Scrope.—Lamination and Cleavage, 75.
S. Hunt.—Felspars, and Chemical Lithology, 78.
—. No. 105. August 1858.
A. Sedgwick.—Dislocations of the Cambrian and Silurian Rocks be-
tween Leven Sands and Duddon Sands, 155.
——. No. 106. September 1858.
E i Henry.—Separation of Nickel and Cobalt from Manganese,
137.
A. Matthiessen.—Electric-conducting power of Metals, 219.
S. Haughton.—Joimts and Cleavage in the Old Red Sandstone of
Waterford, 224.
L. Horner.—Alluvial Land of Egypt, 225.
J. Prestwich.—Pleistocene Sea-bed of Sussex, 233.
J. J. Bigsby.—Paleozoic Fossils of New York, 234.
R. Harkness.—Jointings and Dolomite near Cork, 235.
W. Hawkes.—Melting and Cooling of Rowley Rag, 236.
W. W. Smyth.—Iron-ores of Exmoor, 236.
W. Vivian.—Native Copper of Llandudno, 237.
J. Nicol.—Slate-rocks and Trap-veins of Easdale and Oban, 238.
—. No. 107. October 1858.
H. Hennessy.—Distribution of Heat over Islands, 241.
C. Ste.-Claire Deville and F. Le Blanc.—Gaseous emanations accom-
panying Boracic Acid in the Lagoons of Tuscany, 284.
W. H. Miller.—Some Crystallized Furnace-products, 292.
W. Thomson.—Interior Melting of Ice, 303.
—. No. 108. November 1858.
J. Tyndall—Some Physical properties of Ice, 333.
T. S. Hunt.—Probable Origin of some Magnesian Rocks, 376.
H. Abich.— Formation of Etna, 395.
H. Godwm-Austen.—Lacustrine deposits of Kashmir, 395.
S. Haughton.—Black Mica of Donegal, 396.
T. F. Jamieson.—Lias in Banffshire, 397.
R. Owen.—Nototherian remains from Australia, 397.
S. Bate.—Fossil Crustacean from Durham, 397.
J. W. Salter.—Eurypterus and its species, 397.
C. Gould.—Crustacean from the Greensand, 398.
152 DONATIONS.
Longman’s Monthly List, October 1858.
Milan. Atti dell’? I. R. Istituto Lombardo di Scienze, Lettere, ed
Arti. Vol. i. Fase, i. 1858.
Giornale dell’ I. R. Istituto Lombardo di Scienze, Lettere,
ed Arti e Biblioteca Italiana. Nuova serie. Fascicoli xlvii. xlviii.
1856.
——. Vol. ix. Fascic. xlix.-liv. 1857.
G. Belli.—Sulla consistenza e sulla densita della crosta solida ter-
restre: Parte III. Applicazioni diverse delle conclusion precedenti :
Articolo III. Applicazioni alle eruzioni voleaniche, 3.
G. Curioni.—Come la Geologia possa concorrere piu. direttamente ai
progressi dell’ industrie, 176.
Memorie dell’ I. R. Istituto Lombardo di Scienze, Lettere,
ed Arti. Vol. vi. 1856.
Vol. vii. Fase. i. ii. 1m. 1858.
G. Belli.—Sulla consistenza e sulla densita della crosta solida ter-
restre, e sopra aleuni fenomeni che vi hanno relazione, 3.
C. Giulio.—Appendice alla memoria sulla successione normale de’
diversi membri dell terreno triasico in Lombardia, 121.
Paris. Archives du Muséum d’ Histoire Naturelle. Tomex. Liv. 1,
2... GaSe
Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France. Deux Sér.
vol. xiv. feuil. 46-57, et Index.
G. Dewalque.—Sur Vage des grés liasiques du Luxembourg, 721.
ee la formation crétacée du département de la Charente,
27.
KE. Hebert.—Rapports de la craie glauconieuse a Ammonites varians et
rothomagensis, etc., de Rouen et des grés verts du Maine, 731.
Triger.—Sur le terrain crétacé inférieur dans la Charente, 741.
Coquand.—Sur la craie blanche de la Charente, 743.
Coquand et d’Archiac.—Sur la position des Ostrea columba et O. bi-
auriculata dans le groupe de la craie inférieure, 745, 766.
‘Bouvy.—Sur la géologie des tiles Baléares, 770.
Zienkowicz.—Sur le souterrain de Blaizy, prés de Dijon, 773.
Ch. d’Orbigny et Ch. Léger.—Coupe figurative de la structure de
P’écorce terrestre, d’aprés la méthode de M. Cordier, 782.
A.-F. Nogués.—Terrain houiller des Corbiéres, 785.
Ph. Lambotte.—Sur l’origine des dépéts récents de manganése hydraté
de la province de Namur, 791.
Th. Ebray.—Coupe géologique du mont Apin, prés Nevers, 801.
——. [Examen de I’étage albien des environs de Sancerre, 804.
Sur la valeur géologique des silex des formations jurassiques
et crétacées du département de la Niévre, 810. |
——. Sur le diluvium du département de la Niévre, 813.
K. Schlumberger.—Sur les Ammonites margaritatus, Montfort, et
A. spinatus, Brug, 817.
Réunion extraordinaire 4 Angouléme, 841.
—-. . .Molasxy.temleee= 14,
Daubrée.—Sur le métamorphisme, 97.
Virlet d’Aoust.—Sur le métamorphisme normal, 119.
DONATIONS. 153
Paris. Bulletin de la Socicté Géologique (continued).
Virlet d’Aoust.—Sur un terrain d’origine météorique au Mexique ?—
Notes sur le reboisement des montagnes, 129.
Ebray.—Description de la faille du Chateau Mal-Vétu, 139.
Sur le Dysaster ellipticus, 142.
Se. Gras.—Comparaison chronologique des terrains quaternaires de
VAlsace avec ceux de la vallée du Rhone dans le Dauphiné,
148 (Pl. II.).
Virlet d’Aoust.—De la formation des oolithes et des masses nodulaires
en général, 187.
Triger.—Sur la craie de Maestricht, 205.
Bayle.—Sur les Rudistes découverts dans la craie de Maestricht,
210 (V1. 11T.).
Vol. xv. fem. 15-23.
Abich.—Sur la carte géologique de Europe par Dumont, 225.
Th. Ebray.—Sur l’existence du genre Cotialdia dans Vétage batho-
nien, 229.
Marcel de Serres.—Sur la caverne de Pontil, prés Saint-Pons (Hé-
rault), 231.
. Sur de nouvelles bréches osseuses découvertes sur la montagne
de Pédémar (Gard), 233.
J. Fournet.—Sur les allures et sur la configuration de certains filons,
239.
Daubrée.—Sur le striage des roches, etc., 250.
Th. Ebray.—Sur l’existence de plaques complémentaires dans le genre
Collyrites, 268, 502.
J. B. Noulet.— Du terrain éocéne supérieur considéré comme |’un des
étages constitutifs des Pyrénées, 277.
J. Fournet et Delesse.—Sur les mélaphyres, 284, 295.
K. Schlumberger.—Sur les fossiles tertiaires et diluviens du Haut-
Rhin, 295.
J. Delbos.—Sur les ossements des cavernes de Sentheim et de Lauw
(Haut-Rhin), 300.
Th. Ebray.—Sur Vexistence de Ammonites macrocephalus dans la
grande oolithe, 305.
Vicomte d’Archiac.—Sur le terrain nummulitique de la Catalogne,
308.
Ch. S.-C. Deville et Félix Leblane.—Sur la composition chimique des
_ gaz rejetés par les Events volcaniques de l’Italie méridionale, 340.
Emile Benoit.—Esquisse de la carte géologique et agronomique de
la Bresse et de la Dombes (Pl. IV.), 345.
Ch. S.-C. Deville.—Sur la nature des éruptions actuelles du volcan de
Stromboli, 345.
A. 8. Lavini.—Sur la presqu’ile de Sorrento, 362.
Sir R. I. Murchison.—Sur une nouvelle classification des terrains de
Ecosse, 367.
——,
——. Comptes Rendus hebd. des Séances de l’Acad. des Sciences.
1858. Prem. semestre. vol. xlvi. Nos. 1-12, 17-26; Deux
Tom. vol. xlvi. Nos. 1-10; Index, vol. xliv.; Index, vol. xlv.
Vol. xliv.
E, de Beaumont.—Sur les procédés par lesquels on cherche 4 donner
154 DONATIONS.
Paris. Comptes Rendus, vol. xliv. (continued).
aux phosphates naturels les propriétés qui en permettent l’emploi en
agriculture, 506.
Bornemann.—Sur les phénoménes volcaniques de la Sardaigne, 831.
Ad. Brongniart.—Rapport sur le concours pour le grand prix de
sciences physiques, question concernant la répartition des corps
organisés fossiles dans les assises superposées des terrains sédi-
mentaires, 209.
A. Damour.—Sur les minéraux de la famille des zéolites, et sur leurs
propriétes hygroscopiques, 975.
Daubrée.—Sur la pénétration naturelle des galets calcaires ou quartz-
eux dans les poudingues de divers terrains, 823.
Sur le striage des roches di au phénoméne erratique, et sur les
décompositions chimiques produites dans les actions mécaniques,
997. ;
Daussy.—Sur le volcan sous-marin, 561.
A. Delesse.—Sur la Minette, 766.
Descloizeaux.—Emploi des propriétés optiques biréfringentes pour la ~
distinction et la classification des minéraux cristallisées, 322.
Ch. Ste.-Cl. Deville-—Sur les émanations volcaniques, 58.
et F. Leblanc.—Sur la composition chimique des gaz rejetés par
les évents volcaniques de I’Italie méridionale, 769.
Documents relatifs a l’existence d’un volcan sous-marin dans
le voisinage de l’équateur, entre le 20° et le 22° degré de longitude
ouest, 560.
Dufrénoy.—Rapport sur plusieurs mémoires de M. Delesse, ayant pour
objet des recherches minéralogiques et chimiques sur les roches
cristallines, et en particulier sur le granite, 548.
A. Dugléré.—Sur les phosphates fossiles et leur application a la pré-
paration des engrais, 239.
J. Durocher.—Sur les roches ignées, sur les phénoménes de leur
émission et sur leur classification, 315, 459, 605, 776, 859.
J. Fournet.—Sur les oolites de Chalusset (Puy-de-Déme); sur les
oolites de la Bahne (Isére), 124, 1054.
Apercus relatifs aux filons de la Sierra de Carthagéne, 1233,
12977
A. Gaudin.—Production artificielle de cristaux, 16; de minéraux, 719.
Guyon.—Sur les eaux thermales de la Régence de Tunis, 1019.
E. Hebert.—Sur les mammiféres pachydermes du genre Coryphodon,
235.
A. Humboldt.—Sur l’époque ot le nom de Trachyte a apparu dans la
terminologie géologique, et sur l’extension abusive donnée au mot
albite, 1067.
T. S. Hunt.—Sur les roches métamorphiques, 996.
Lartet.—Sur un humérus fossile d’oiseau attribué a un trés-grand
palmipéde de la section des Longipennes, 736.
L. Mandl.—Sur la solubilité du phosphate de chaux dans certains
liquides organiques, 1108.
Ch. Méne.—Recherche du phosphate de chaux dans les coquilles fos-
siles de quelques calcaires du département de Sadne-et-Loire, 685.
Meugy.—Sur les couches traversées dans le forage du puits artésien
de Passy, 876.
Moride.—Des phosphates minéraux et des phosphates des os au point
de vue des engrais, 239.
DONATIONS. ! 155
Comptes Rendus. Vol. xliv. (continued).
Muston.—Sur une secousse de tremblement de terre ressentie le 14
Février 1857, dans les environs de Montbéhard. Liste des tremble-
ments de terre ressentis 4 Montbéliard durant le XVII. siécle.
(Extrait d’un article de M. Contejean.) 874.
J. Nicklés.—Présence du fluor dans les eaux minérales de Plombiéres,
Vichy, et Contrexeville, 783.
Ouchakoff.—Sur le systéme naturel en oryctologie, 681.
Paris.—Sur les soulévements terrestres, 65.
A. Passy.—Sur la carte géologique du departement de !’Eure, 873.
T. L. Phipson.—Nouvelle roche de formation récente sur le littoral
de la Flandre occidentale, 623.
Schroeder.—Sur les soulévements terrestres, 65.
M. de Senarmont.— Analyse des documents recueillis sur les tremble-
ments de terre ressentis en Algérie du 21 Aodt au 15 Octobre 1856,
586.
M. de Serres.—Bréches osseuses de la Montagne de Pédémar, 1272.
——. Sur une collection d’ossements fossiles recueillis par M. Sé-
guin dans l’Amérique du Sud, 954.
P. Tchihatchef.—Sur les dépéts houillers du littoral méridional de la
Mer Noire, 478.
E. de Verneuil et Colomb.—Resultats d’un voyage géologique fait
en 1855 dans l’ancien royaume de Murcie et sur les frontiéres de
lP Andalousie, 1299.
Vezian.—Sur une ligne stratigraphique observée dans les départe-
‘ments du Gard et de l’ Hérault, 139.
Walferdin.—Sur la possibilité de rencontrer plusieurs nappes d’eau
jaillissante sous la craie, a différentes profondeurs, dans le bassm de
Paris, 909.
Wohler.—Sur un novel oxyde de Silicium, 834.
—— et Buff.—Nouvelles combinaisons du Silicium, 1344.
Vol. xlv.
Virlet d’Aoust.—(iufs d’insectes donnant lieu a la formation d’oo-
lithes dans des calcaires lacustres au Mexique, 865.
A. d’Archiae et Murchison.—Sur des crustacés fossiles provenant des
couches siluriennes supérieures de Lesmahago (Ecosse), 791.
Babinet.—Sur quelques recherches relatives a la figure de la terre,
, communication verbale, &c., 678, 732.
Elie de Beaumont.—Sur la constitution géologique de quelques par-
ties de la Savoie, et particuliérement sur le gisement des plantes
fossiles de Taninge; observations extraites par M. Elie de Beau-
mont de lettres de M. Sismonda et confirmées par celles quwil a
faites lui-méme, 612.
Sur un gite fossilifére aprés ses propres observations, 947.
Blanchard, E.—Détermination de quelques oiseaux fossiles ; caractéres
ostéologiques des gallinacés, 128.
Bornemann.—Sur les sources minérales de la Sardaigne, 180
Daubrée.—Deécouverte de traces de pattes de quadrupédes dans le
as bigarré du Saint-Valbert, pres Luxeuil (Haute-Sadne), 646,
——. Sur le métamorphisme des roches, et recherches expérimen-
tales sur quelques-uns des agents qui ont pu le-produire, 792.
156
DONATIONS.
Comptes Rendus. Vol. xlv. (continued).
Deherain.—Sur la solubilité des phosphates de chaux fossiles dans les
acides naturels du sol, 13.
A. Delesse.—Carte géologique souterraine de la ville de Paris; coupes
du sol et des collines environnantes, 163, 208.
——. Sur le métamorphisme des combustibles, 958; des roches, 1084.
E. Deslongchamps.—Os de carnivores amphibies roulés en forme de
galets et couvrant une plage au détroit de Magellan, 237.
Ch. Ste.-Cl. Deville et F. Leblanc.—Composition des gaz rejetés par
les évents des voleans de I’Italie méridionale, et sur les émanations
gazeuses des soffioni et lagoni de la Toscane, 398, 750.
et H. Caron.—Sur le silicium et les silicieuses métalliques, 163.
Dupuit.—Sur le mouvement de l’eau 4 travers les terrains perméables,
J. Durocher.—Sur les gites stanniféres de la Bretagne, 522.
L. Foucault.—Nouveau polarisateur au spath d’Islande, 288.
M. A. Gaudin.—Sur le groupement des atomes dans les molécules et
sur les causes les plus intimes des formes cristallines, 920.
Génération de cristaux et des divers types cristallins par les
polyédres moléculaires, 1087.
P. Gervais.—Sur les empreintes de pas d’animaux dans le terrain tria-
sique des environs de Lodéve, 763.
C. M. Guillemin.—Sur le phénoméne de la fluorescence, 773.
Azel Herdmann.—Carte géologique des environs d’Upsal, 438.
Ferrand Héricard.—Sur un tremblement de terre ressenti en Janvier
1776, dans les mines de Littry (Calvados), 242.
C. T. Jackson.—Sur un gisement de houille dans le Nouveau-Bruns-
wick (Amérique du Nord), 313.
F. Kuhlmann.—Troisiéme mémoire sur les chaux hydrauliques et la
formation des roches par la voie humide, 738, 787.
H. rae aaa les secousses ressenties 4 Clermont-Ferrand le 16 Juin
1857, 34.
F. P. Leroux.—Influence de la structure sur les propriétés magnétiques
du fer, 477.
Ch. Lory.—Esquisse d’une carte géologique du Dauphiné, 570.
Marbach.—Nouvelles relations entre les formes cristallines et les
propriétés thermo-électriques découvertes par (Communication de
M. Biot), 705.
C. Marignac.—Sur les relations entre certains groupes de formes
cristallines appartenant 4 des systémes différents, 650.
Ch. Méne.—Nouvelle maniére de doser l’argent dans les galénes argen-
tiféres, 484.
J. Nicklés.—Sur l’acide sulfurique fluorifére, 250.
. Sur la diffusion du fluor, 331.
Noulet.—Sur le terrain éocéne supérieur considéré comme un des
étages constitutifs des Pyrénées, 1007.
Palmieri.—Sur l’éruption actuelle du Vésuve, 546.
Pentland et P. Smyth.—Sur le Pic de Ténériffe et le cratére de sou-
lévement qui l’entoure, 761.
A. Perrey.—Eruption de 1l’Aivoe dans le Grand-Seigir le 2 et le 17
Mars 1856, 659.
T. L. Phipson.—Sur les Teredo fossiles, 30.
F. Pisani.—Sur quelques réactions des sels de chrome, de nickel, et de
cobalt, 349,
DONATIONS. 157
Comptes Rendus. Vol. xlvi. (continued).
Pissis.—Sur quelques points de la géologie du Chili, 971.
Prost.—Vibrations du sol observées a Nice du milieu d’Octobre 1856 ©
au milieu de Septembre 1857, 446.
-Riviére.—Sur la direction générale des filons de galéne et de blende,
969.
P. de Rouville.—Sur le Trias des environs de Saint-Affrique (Aveyron)
et de Lodéve (Hérault), 696.
Roy.—Sur les marbres onyx de la province d’Oran, 28.
Sur la possibilité éventuelle de trouver de la houille dans la
province d’Oran, 112.
M. de Serres.—De l’ancienne existence des mollusques perforants,
notamment des conchiféres tubicolés de Lamarck, 254.
Sur la caverne de Pontil, prés Samt-Pons (Hérault), 649,
1053.
Sur les bréches osseuses de la montagne de Pédémar, prés
Sainte-Hippolyte (Gard), 31.
A. Sismonda.—Sur les gisements de fossiles végétaux et animaux du
Col des Encombres en Savoie, 942.
et Elie de Beaumont.—Sur le gite fossilifére du Col des En-
combres en Savoie, 942, 947.
Séguier.—Un fragment d’un aérolithe tombé le 1° Octobre 1857,
dans une commune du département de |’ Yonne, 687.
Tampier.—Sur les Eaux de Condillac (Tarn), 23.
A. Terreil.—Sur le dosage du manganése, du nickel, du cobalt et du
zine, 662.
Texier.—Bois pétrifié, provenant de la forét sous-marine qui s’étend
mae des cétes d’une partie de la Bretagne et de la Normandie,
560. :
Thévenin.—Sur le systéme glaciaire, 1057.
Vicat.—Sur les céments hydrauliques, 45, 198.
Wohler et Deville. Sur le bore et ses affinités, 888.
Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, Proceedings, 1858,
pp. 89-128; and Biological Department of the Acad. Nat. Sc.
Philad. pp. 1-8.
J. Leidy.—Fossil Camel from Niobrara, 89.
I. Lea.—On the age of the Red Sandstones of Pennsylvania, &c., 90.
Photographic Society, Journal of. Nos. 69-71.
Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science ; including the Transac-
tions of the Microscopical Society of London. No. 24. July 1858.
No. 25. Oct. 1858.
T. H. Huxley.—Development of the tail in Teleostean Fishes, 33.
Review. No. 29. Vol. i.
Royal College of Physicians, London. Catalogue of the Fellows,
Licentiates, and Extra-licentiates. 1858.
Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society. Twenty-fifth AnnualReport.
1857.
at, i mm of Miners in the district of St. Just in Pen-
with, 1.
158 DONATIONS.
Royal Geographical Society, Proceedings. Vol. 11. Nos. 3-5 ,
W. H. Holmes and W. H. Campbell.—Gold-fields of Caratal, South
America, 154.
R. Moffat.—Orange River [Tufa and Bones], 158.
A. R. Wallace.—Aru Islands, 163.
C. C. Graham.—Desert east of Hauran [Basalt], 173.
H. Rink.—Ice in Greenland, 195.
W. Lockhart.—Changes of the bed of the Yellow Ae 201.
J. S. Wilson.— North-west Australia, 210.
R. I. Murchison.—Anniversary Address, 222.
Royal Society, Proceedings. Vol. ix. No. 31,32. 1858.
— Pullen.—Temperature of deep sea, 189.
T. Hopkins.—Influence of Heated Terrestrial Surfaces on Atmo-
sphere, 227.
Sir P. Egerton.—On Chondrosteus, 233.
J. Tyndall.—Observations on the Mer de Glace, Part 1, O45.
Sir 6. Lyell.—On Continuous Tabular Masses of Stony, Lava, and on
Craters of Elevation, 248.
R. Owen.—Fossil Lizard (Megalania prisca) from Australia, 273. |
Hennessy.—Influence of Gulf-stream on British Islands, 324.
W. B. Carpenter.—Foraminifera, 334.
Society of Arts Journal. Vol. v. No. 242.
Sir C. Barry.—Galvanized Iron and Building-stone, 416.
Vol. vi. Nos. 292, 294-309.
Tunnel through the Alps, 597.
R. Godwin-Austen.—Probability of Coal underlying the South-east
of England, 635.
Peat-gas used in Treland, 652.
R. D. Thomson.—Analysis of Metropolitan Water, 673.
Porel.— White brass,—alloy of zine, copper, and cast-iron, 673.
F. Kuhlmann.—Manufacture of Salts of Baryta, 683.
Statistical Society, Journal of. Vol. xxi. Part 3. Sept. 1858.
List of Fellows, 1858.
St. Petersburgh. Compte Rendu de l’Acad. Imp. des Sc. de St; Pé-
tersbourg, 1856. 1857.
Stuttgart. Wurttembergische eee Jahreshefte.
Vierzehnten Jahrgang. Zweites und drittes Heft. 1858.
A. Oppel.—Die Juraformation Englands, Frankreichs und des siid-
westlichen Deutschlands (Schluss), 129.
F. von Alberti.—Ueber die Entstehung der Stylolithen, 292.
Quenstedt.— Ueber Pterodactylus liasicus, 299 (plate).
Fraas.— Ueber basaltiform Pentacriniten, 315 (plate).
Der Bonebedsandstein auf dem Stromberg, 332.
Turin. Memorie della Reale Accademia delle Scienze de Torino.
Serie seconda. Tomo xvii. Torino 1858.
Sobrero e Menabrea.—De la fabrication des rails en général et plus
spécialement par les usines 4 fer du Piémont avec emploi de nos
lignites, Ixvu.
A. e E. Sismonda.—Sulle forme cristalline dell’ argento rosso, Lxix.
Sella.—Su aleuni cristalli di Savite, exvii.
DONATIONS, 159
Turim. Memorie della Reale Accademia delle Scienze de Torino.
Serie seconda. Tomo xvii. (continued.)
Canti.—Sulla natura delle acque Mimerali di Recoaro, cly.
A. Sismonda.—Sulla costituzione geologica delle Alpi della Savoia,
elxui.
Visani ed Massalongo.—Flora de’ terreni terzierii di Novale nel Vicen-
tino, 199 (13 plates).
Q. Sella.—Sulla Mineralogia sarda, 289 (8 plates).
Sulle forme cristalline di alcuni sali di platino e del boro
adamantino, 337 (2 plates).
Sulle forme cristalline del boro adamantino, 493 (2 plates).
Tyneside Naturalists’ Field-club, Transactions. Vol. iii. Part 4.
1858.
R. Howse.—The Permian system’ of Northumberland and Durham
235 (plate).
J. W. Kirkby.—On some Permian Fossils from Durham, 286 (plate).
Vienna. Almanach der K. Akad. d. Wissensch. Achter Jahrgang.
1858.
A. von Baumgarten.—Vortrag des Prasidenten: Die edlen Metalle.
A. Schrotter.—Bericht des General-Secretars.
——. Denkschriften der Kais. Akad. der Wissensch. Band 14.
1858.
Fr. Unger.—Ueber fossile Pflanzen des Siisswasser-Kalkes und
Quarzes, 1 (3 plates).
——. Beitrage zur nahern Kenntniss des Leithakalkes, 13 (2 plates).
——. Festrede bei der feierlichen Uebernahme des ehemaligen
Universitatsgebaude, durch die Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissen-
schaften, gehalten am xxix. October MDCCCLVII. vom Vice-
Prasidenten derselben Dr. Theodor Georg von Karajan.
-——. Jahrbuch der K. K. geologischen Reichsanstalt. Nos. 2-4.
April—Dec. 1857.
M. V. Lipold.—Ueber die geologischen Aufnahmen in Ober-Krain
im Jahre 1856, 205.
H. Wolf.—Hypsometrische Arbeiten, vom Juni 1856 bis Mai 1857,
234.
F. Rolle——Geologische Untersuchungen in der Gegend zwischen
Ehrenhausen, Schwanberg, Windisch-Feistritz und Windisch-Gratz
in Steiermark, 266. ;
E. Ried|.—Geognostische Skizze des Pristova-Thales bei Cilli, 288.
A. eae ane abgeanderte Construction temporarer Magnete,
292.
H. Emmrich.—Geognostische Notizen aus der Gegend von Trient, 295.
K. Peters.—Geologische Studien aus Ungarn, 308.
R. Ludwig.—Die Stemkohlen-Formation von Offenburg im Gross-
herzogthume Baden, 334.
H. B. Geinitz.— Ueber die Pflanzenreste der Baden’schen Steinkohlen-
Formation, 350.
K. A. Neumann.—Ueber die Auffindung fossilen Eisens bei Chotzen
im Bohmen, 351.
J. G. Neumann.—Ueber das Eisen von Chotzen, 354.
A. Kenngott.—Beschreibung des Vorhauserit, 358.
Toe DONATIONS.
Vienna. Jahrbuch der K. K. geologischen Reichsanstalt. Nos.
2-4, April-Dec. 1857 (continued).
K. vy. Hauer.—Arbeiten in dem chemischen Laboratorium der k. k.
geologischen Reichsanstalt, 361.
Sitzungen der k. k. geologischen Reichsanstalt, 368. ;
Verzeichniss der loco Wien, Prag, Triest und Pesth bestandenen
Bergwerks-Producten-Verschleisspreise, 399, 644, 827.
F. Rolle——Geologische Untersuchungen in der Gegend zwischen
Weitenstein, Windisch-Gratz, Cilli und Oberburg in Unter-Steier-
mark, 403.
J. Jokély.—Die tertiaren Siisswasser-Gebilde des Egerlandes und der
Falkenauer Gegend in Bohmen, 466.
Die geologische Beschaffenheit des Erzgebirges im Saazer
Kreises in Bohmen, 516.
V. von Zepharovich.—Ein Besuch auf Schaumburg. Sendschreiben
an Wilhelm Haidinger, 607.
K. v. Hauer.—Arbeiten in dem chemischen Laboratorium der k. k.
geologischen Reichsanstalt, 612.
Verzeichniss der mit Ende September 1857 loco Wien, Prag, Triest
und Pesth bestandenen Bergwerks-Producten-Verschleisspreise,
644.
H. Tasche.—Ueber den Magnetismus einfacher Gesteine und Fels-
arten nebst eigenen Beobachtungen, 649 (plate).
E. Porth.—Ueber seine diessjahrigen geologischen Aufnahmen im
nordostlichen Bohmen, 701.
J. Grimm.—Zur Kenntniss der geognostischen und bergbaulichen
Verhaltnisse des Bergwerkes Nagyag in Siebenbiirgen, 709.
O. v. Hingenau.—Ueber Nagyag, 721.
H. R. Goeppert.—Ueber den verstemten Wald von Radowenz bei
Adersbach in Bohmen und wtber den Versteinungsprocess tiber-
haupt, 725.
C. v. Ettingshausen.—Die fossile Flora von Koflach in Steiermark,
738 (3 plates).
K. v. Hauer.—Arbeiten in dem chemischen Laboratorium der k. k.
geologischen Reichsanstalt, 757.
Sitzungen der k. k. geologischen Reichsanstalt, 765.
Verzeichniss der mit Ende December 1857 loco Wien, Prag, Triest
und Pesth bestandenen Bergwerks-Producten-Verschleisspreise,
827.
——. K.K. geographische Gesellschaft. Sitzung vom 5 Mai 1858.
Sitzungsberichte der Kais. Akad. d. Wiss. Math. Nat. Cl.
Vol. xxiv. Part 3. Mai 1857.
Simony.—Ueber die Alluvialgebilde des Etschthales, 455.
C. v. Ettmghausen.—Die Blattskelete der Apetalen, eme Vorarbeit
zur interpretation der fossilen Pflanzenreste, 509.
W. Haidinger.—Dechen’s geologische Karte, 513.
—. Die Durchstechung des Isthmus von Suez, 514.
F. v. Hauer.—Ein Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Fauna der Raibler
Schichten, 537 (6 plates).
Vol. xxv. Parts 1,2. June, July, 1857.
K. v. Hauer.—Ueber das chemische Aiquivalent der Metalle Cad-
mium und Mangan, 111.
——. Ueber die Zusammensetzung des schwefelsauren Cadmium-
oxydes, 135.
DONATIONS. 161
Vienna. Sitzungsberichte der Kais. Akad. d. Wiss. Math. Nat. Cl.
Vol. xxv. Parts 1, 2 (continued).
K. v. Hauer.—Ueber die Zusammensetzung des Kalium-Tellur-
bromids und das Aiquivalent des Tellurs, 139.
M. v. Buchner.—Ueber den Kohlenstoff- und Silicium-gehalt des
Roheisens, 231.
F, v. Hauer.—Ein geologischer Durchschnitt der Alpen von Passau
bis Duino, 253 (4 plates).
C. v. Ettinghausen und Debey.—Die urweltlichen Thallophyten des
Kreidegebirges von Aachen und Maestricht, 507.
Ludwig v. Farkas- Vukotinovié.— Das Lika- und Kroava-Thal in Mil-
tar-Croatien, 522 (map).
A. Reuss.—Mineralogische Notizen aus Bohmen, 541 (plate).
Ueber silurische Schalsteme und das Eisenerzlager von Anval
bei Prag, 563.
Vol. xxvi. Oct. 1857.
A. Oppel.—Weitere Nachweise der Kossener Schichten in Schwaben
und in Luxemburg, 7.
F. Rolle-—Ueber einige an der Grenze von Keuper und Lias in
Schwaben auftretende Verstemerungen, 13 (plate).
J. R. Lorenz.—Vergleichende orographisch-hydrographische Unter-
suchung der Versumpfungen in dem oberen Flussthalern der Sal-
zach, der Enns und der Mur, oder im Pimzgau, Pongau und Lun-
gau, 91 (3 maps).
Wal. xxvu. Part 1.0 Nov. 1857.
Jos. Grailich und Victor v. Lang.—Untersuchungen iiber die phy-
sicalischen Verhaltnisse krystallisirter Korper, 3 (7 plates).
A. Reuss.—Zur Kenntniss fossiler Krabben, 161.
C. v. Ettinghausen und Debey.—Die urweltlichen Acrobryen des
Kreidegebirges von Aachen und Maestricht. 167.
V. v. Lang, Handl, und Murmann.—Krystallographische Untersuch-
ungen, 171 (2 plates).
Vol. xxviii. Nos. 1-6. January, February, 1858.
Camile Heller.—Ueber neue fossile Stelleriden, 155 (5 plates).
A. Schrotter.—Bericht tiber den gegenwartigen Standpunkt der Er-
zeugung und Verarbeitung des Aluminiums in Frankreich, 171.
M. F. X. M. Zippe.—Die Kupfererz-Lagerstatten im Rothliegenden
Bohmens, 192.
J. Grailich.—-Der Romerit, ein neues Mineral aus dem Rammels-
berge, nebst Bemerkungen iiber die Bleiglatte, 272 (plate).
A. Boué,—Ueber die Erdbeben im December 1857, dann in Janner
und Februar, 1858, 321.
C. v. Ettinghausen.—Beitrage zur Kenntniss der fossilen Flora von
Sotzka in Unter-Steiermark, 471 (6 plates).
Vol. xxix. Nos. 7-12. March, April, 1858.
A. E. Reuss.—Ueber die geognostischen Verhialtnisse des Rakonitzer
Beckens in Bohmen, 121.
oe Schmidt.—Erhebung itiber das Erdbeben vom 15 Janner 1858,
237.
W. Haidinger.—Der Datolith von Baveno, 239.
J. Schabus.—Krystallologische Untersuchungen, 441.
M. P. P. Weselsky und Alexander Bauer.—Analyse der Mineral-
quelle des Konig Ferdinand Eisenbades im Weidritzthale bei Pres-
burg, 585.
VOL. XV.—PART I. M
a
162 DONATIONS.
Vienna. Sitzungsberichte der Kais. Akad. d. Wiss. Math. Nat. Cl.
Vol. xxx. Nos. 13-15. May, June, 1858.
F. Rolle.— Ueber die geologische Stellung der Sotzka-Schichten in
Steiermark, 3 (2 plates).
Gottlieb.—Analyse des Marienbrunnens von Gabernegg, in Sud-
Steiermark, 191.
F. Sandberger und W. Gumbel.—Das Alter der Tertiargebilde in
der obern Donau-Hochebene am Nordrande der Ostalpen, 212.
Zoological Society of London, Proceedings, Nos. 350-362.
List of the Fellows, &c. 1858.
II. GEOLOGICAL CONTENTS OF PERIODICALS
PURCHASED FOR THE LIBRARY.
Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 3rd Series, vol.1i. No. 7.
July 1858.
E. J. Chapman.—New Canadian Trilobites, 9 (figures).
C. W. Peach.—Markings of Plants on and in Rocks, 50.
G. A. Mantell_— Wonders of Geology [noticed], 54.
R. Owen.—Zygomaturus trilobus, 73.
W. B. Carpenter.—Rhizopoda, 74.
—-—. No.8. August 1858.
— —. No.9. September 1858.
No. 10. Oct. 1858.
J. Lycett.—Upper Lias of Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, 255.
R. Owen.—Saurian nature of Placodus, 288.
Fossil gigantic Lizard of Australia, 288.
W. B. Carpenter.—Foraminifera, 290.
Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal. New Series, No. i5. Vol. viii.
No. 1. July 1858.
R. Russell Kilwhiss.—On Gulf Stream, 70.
G. P. Scrope.—Geology and Extinct Volcanos of Central France
[noticed], 111.
Sir W. Jardine.—Memoirs of Hugh Strickland [noticed], 130.
J. Ruskin.—Geology of Chamouni, 142.
Allman.—Remains of Seal in Pleistocene deposit in Fifeshire, 147.
G. Lawson.— Lutraria elliptica, 153.
W. R. Holmes.—Exploration of Gold-fields of Caratal, 154.
G. Forrest.—Granite in Mid-Lothian, 155.
Gregory.—Action of Soil on Vegetation, 166.
A. C. Ramsay.—Geological causes connected with the Scenery of
Canada, 167.
J. F. Royle.—Obituary notice of, 175.
— ——. No. 16. Vol. vm: No. 2. Oct. 1858.
J.J. J. Kyle.—Ancient Iron-furnace at Lochgoilhead; and analysis
of the furnace-slag, 203.
H. How.—Analysis of Fardelite and other zeolites in Nova Scotia,
207. .
H. de Hallwyl.—Structure of Mont Blane, 218.
T. Oldham.—Cretaceous Rocks of India, 292.
DONATIONS. 163
Leonhard und Bronn’s Neues Jahrbuch fir Min., Geogn., Geol. und
Petref. Jahrgang 1858. Dritter Heft.
F. Roemer.—Verstemerungen der silurischen Diluvial-Geschiebe von
Groningen in Holland, 257.
R. Pumpelly.—Gletscher-Ueberreste der Insel Corsica, 273 (map).
Giimbel.—Vorkommen von Torf-Pechkohle (Dopplerit) im Dachel-
moos bei Berchtesgaden, 278.
J. R. Blum.—Mimeralogische Mittheilungen, 287.
L. Becker.— Das allmahliche Aufsteigen der Siid-Kiiste Neuhollands,
294.
Letters: Notices of Books, Mineralogy, Geology, and Fossils.
Jahrg. 1858. Viertes Heft.
A. Delesse.—Ueber den durch Trapp-Gesteine bedingten Metamor-
phismus, 385.
G. H. O. Volger —Epidot und Granat, 393.
J. Kimball.—Pflanzen aus der Kohlen-Formation von Pennsylvanien
und Ohio, 400.
J. G. Egger.—Die Ostrakoden der Miocan-Schichten bei Ortenburg
in Nieder-Bayern, 403 (6 plates).
Letters: Notices of Minerals, Geology, and Fossils.
Ill. GEOLOGICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS.
Names of Donors in Italics.
Abich, H. Beitrage zur Palaontologie des Asiatischen Ruslands.
1858.
—. Vergleichende geologische Grundzige der Kaukasischen,
Armenischen und Nordpersischen Gebirge. Prodromus einer
Geologie der Kaukasischen Lander. 1858.
Annales hydrographiques, recueil d’avis, instructions, documents et
mémoires relatifs 4 ?hydrographie et a la navigation. Vol. xii
Année 1857. 8vo. Paris, 1857. From the Dépét de la Marine.
Binkhorst, Jhr. B. van den. Notice géologiqne sur le terrain Cré-
tacé des environs de Gauche et de Ciply, avec une coupe générale
des couches crétacées du Duché de Limbourg. 1858.
Bronn, H. G. Untersuchungen tiber die Entwickelungs-Gesetze
der organischen Welt wahrend der Bildungs-Zeit unserer Erd-
Oberflache. 1858.
Catalogo dei libri della Societa tipografica de’ Classici Italiani.
12mo. Milan, 1844.
Pit recenti edizioni della Societa tipographica de’ Classici
Italiani. 12mo. Milan. 1856.
Alcune Opere in numero vendibili dalla Societa tipographica
de’ Classici Italiani in Milano. 12mo. Milan. 1854.
——. Aleune edizioni. 12mo. Milan, 1857.
M 2
164 DONATIONS.
Catullo, T. A. Brano di lettera inedita indiritta al professore Nau-
mann di Lipsia dal prof. T. A. Catullo intorno le Nereide fossili
di Monte Bolea. 1858.
Chazallon, A. M. R. Annuaire des Marées des Cotes de France
pour Pan 1858. Par A. M. R. Chazallon. 1857. From the
Dépét de la Marine.
Darondeau. Notice sur les erreurs des compas dues aux attractions
locales 4 bord des navires en bois et en fer. Par M. Darondeau.
1858. From the Dépét de la Marine.
Delesse, 4. Etudes sur le Metamorphisme des Roches. 1858.
Deshayes, G. P. Description des Animaux sans Vertébres décou-
verts dans le bassin de Paris. Livr. 11-16. 1858.
Deslongchamps, J. A. Essai sur les Plicatules fossiles des Terrains
du Calvados et sur quelques autres genres voisins ou démembrés
de ces coquilles. 1858.
Dewalque, G. Observations critiques sur Page de Grés Liasiques du
Luxembourg, avec une carte des environs d’Arlon.
Dumoulin, C. A. V., et C. P. de Kerhallet. Manuel de la naviga-
tion dans le Détroit de Gibraltar. Par C. A. V. Dumoulin et
C. P. de Kerhallet. 1857. From the Dépét de la Marine.
Ebray, Th. Etudes géologiques sur le Département de la Niévre.
1 fascicule. 1858.
Erdmann, A. Beskrifning ofver Dalkarlsbergs Jernmalmsfalt uti
Nora Socken och Orebro Lan. 1858.
Foulke, W. P. Notice of some remarks by the late Mr. Hugh
Miller. 1857.
Geinitz, H. B. Die Leitpflanzen des Rothliegenden und des Zech-
stemgebirges, oder der permischen Formation in Sachsen. 1858.
Gemmellaro, G. G. Ricerche sui Pesci Fossili della Sicilia. 1858.
Gibb, G. D. On Oyster Conglomerate Bed at Bromley, Kent. 1858.
Goeppert, H. R. Die tertiare Flora von Schossnitz in Schlesien.
1855. |
Gras, le. Phares, Supplément au Livre des Phares, corrigé en No-
vembre 1857. Par M. Le Gras. 1857. From the Dépét de la
Marine.
Hauer, F. v. Ein Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Fauna der Raibler
Schichten. 1857.
Ein geologischer Durchschnitt der Alpen von Passau bis
Duino. 1857.
, und F. Feetterle. Geologische Uebersicht der Bergbaue der
Osterreichischen Monarchie; mit emem Vorworte von Wilhelm
Haidinger. 1855. From the Imperial Geological Institute of
Vienna.
DONATIONS. 165
Hauer, F. v., und Moriz Hérnes. Das Buch-Denkmal. 185s.
Hausmann, J. F. L. Ueber das Vorkommen von Quellengebilden
in Begleitung des Basaltes der Werra- und Fulda-Gegenden. 1858.
Ueber den Einfluss der Beschaffenheiten der Gesteine auf
die Architektur. 1858.
Hébert, Edm. Note sur la craie glauconieuse 4 Ammonites varians,
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168
PROCEEDINGS
OF
THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
POSTPONED PAPERS.
On some OUTLINE-DRAWINGS and PHotogRrapus of the Sxuuu of the
Zygomaturus trilobus, Macleay (Nototherium, Owen ?).
By Professor Owsn, F.R.S., F.G.S., de.
[Read March 10th*, 1858. ]
[Platest VII. and VIIT.]
Str R. I. Murcuison placed in my hands a few days ago seven pho-
tographs, three of which are stereoscopic, of, perhaps, the most
extraordinary mammalian fossil yet discovered in Australia.
These photographs, with a brief printed notice of their subject by
Wm. Sharpe Macleay, Esq., F.R.S., and some MS. notes by J. D.
Macdonald, M.D., R.N., had been transmitted to Sir Roderick by his
Excellency the Governor Sir W. Denison, from Sydney, New South
Wales; and it is by the desire of Sir Roderick Murchison that I now
bring the subject under the notice of the Geological Society of Lon-
don, to whom Sir Roderick desires to present the Photographs, on the
part of His Excellency, Sir Wm. Denison.
I had, some weeks previously, received from my friend and cor-
respondent, George Bennett, Esq., F.L.S., of Sydney, New South
Wales, the accompanying outlines of the same fossil skull, made by
him on the reception of the specimen by the authorities of the
Australian Museum at Sydney, and I had penned notes of my com-
parisons of these sketches before receiving the photographs and
descriptions of the fossil skull from Sir Roderick I. Murchison.
Mr. Macleay’s description appears in a Report on “ Donations to
the Australian Museum during August, 1857,” published-in a Sydney
newspaper of about the same date. It is as follows :—
“ Fossil Skull of a new marsupial animal, which bears a nearer approach to
* For the other Communications read at this Evening-meeting, see Quart.
Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xiv. p. 533 et seq.
t In Plate VII. the skull under description is figured, on a reduced scale,
from casts received at the British Museum since the reading of this paper. See
further on p. 176.
OWEN—-NOTOTHERIUM. 169
Diprotodon than to any other known genus. The size was apparently that of a
large ox ; and the skull agrees with that of the Megatheriwm, and others of the
American tardigrade Hdentata (living and extinct), in having a long apophysis
descending from the zygomatic arch, as well as in other particulars. However,
this process of the zygoma exists in the Diprotodon, and may be detected even in
the Kangaroo. Another characteristic of this new quadruped, which may be
called Zygomaturus, is the great distance of the zygomatic arch from the tem-
poral bone. The breadth of the skull at the widest part—namely, about the
centre of the zygoma—is fifteen inches ; the extreme length of the skull is about
eighteen inches. In the Déprotodon the skull is, on the other hand, about three
feet long by one foot eight inches broad ; so that, while the Diprotodon must have
had a facies somewhat like that of a Kangaroo, the facies of the Zygomaturus
must have been about as broad and short in proportion as that of a Wombat. The
lower jaw of the specimen in the Museum is wanting ; but the formula of denti-
tion in the upper jaw is as follows :—6 incisors, 0 canines, 10 molars. The two
front incisors are very long and strong, as in the Kangaroo and Diprotodon.
The above dental formula agrees with that of Diprotodon, except that the latter
animal had only eight molars in the upper jaw. The Zygomaturus had many
points of structure approaching those of the Rhinoceros and Tapir family. For
instance, the molars resembled in form those of the Tapirs, while the nasal
septum may remind us of the Rhinoceros tichorhinus, a fossil species that
formerly inhabited England and other parts of Europe. The strong and very
prominent trefoil-shaped arch formed by the extremity of the nasal bones, shows
that, if the Zygomaturus did not possess a snout like that of a Tapir, it must, at
least, like a Rhinoceros, have had a horn (perhaps a double one) on the nose.
Without doubt this horn was used for grubbing up the roots of aquatic plants,
since, like the pachyderms, to which it bears so close an affinity, in all probability
the Zygomaturus passed its life in marshy places. The extraordinary width of
the temporal fossee denotes that the animal possessed enormous powers of biting
and mastication.
“This skull belonged to an adult animal, as the molars are considerably
ground down.
« Also, the upper jaw of a young Zygomaturus, as appears by the tips of the
molars being perfect.
“ Another portion of an upper jaw, and a humerus, probably of a Zygoma-
turus; base of left ramus of the lower jaw of Diprotodon; and front incisors of
ditto.
« All the above fossil remains are from King’s Creek, Darling Downs, being
the same locality whence the entire skull of the Diprotodon was obtained some
years ago. Frederick Neville Isaacs, Esq., Gowrie, Darling Downs.”
The notes of Dr. J. D. Macdonald, R.N. (Assist.-Surg. H.M.
Herald), are without date, but appear to have been made from actual
inspection of the fossil itself, probably on the occasion of the Doctor’s
visit to Sydney, in 1857; they are as follows :—
“ Zygomaturus trilobus (Macleay).
“The photographic figures of the skull of this remarkable animal, executed
by Mr. Wilson, require a few words of explanation, in order that some at least
of the many queries which will naturally arise in the mind of an anatomist
inspecting them, without the means of consulting the original, may be as it were
anticipated and answered.
“ First, then, the granular appearance of the surface is due to the adhesion of
particles of grit and alluvial matter, which had not been removed in consequence
of the extreme brittleness of the bone beneath.
“The tables of the skull are of great thickness, and thrown apart by large
cellular cavities, lined with a compact osseous tissue. The frontal sinuses espe-
cially are of enormous size, divided by a thin vertical septum, and giving rise to
the angular fulness of the antero-lateral part of the forehead. A small piece of
the outer table having been broken away on the right side of the occiput, an
170 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
opening remains, communicating with the cellular structure within, which bears
the strongest analogy to that occurring in many pachyderms. Moreover, the
several cranial bones exhibit a corresponding tendency to unite by anchylosis. .
“ The brain-cavity is exceedingly small, as might be expected from the above
details ; and its long axis very nearly corresponds with that of the cranium, which
may be said to meet the general plane of the palate at an angle of 60°.
“The whole head may be divided longitudinally into three portions of nearly
equal breadth ; the brain-case, with its cellular parietes, &., occupying the cen-
tral, and the zygomatic arches the lateral, parts,—the forehead, nose, and palate,
including the molar teeth, being equal in transverse measurement. The palatal
arch is single and smoothly rounded off, so that the posterior nasal spine is
absent. The lateral, thickened, and rounded nasal lobes are processes of the
premaxillary bone, which unite with the maxillaries in a curved vertical suture
with its concavity directed forwards.
“The tail-like process projecting downwards and backwards from the anterior
and inferior part of the zygomatic arch has its homologue in the skull of many
animals, even in that of man himself. It is, therefore, jointly composed of the
malar process of the superior maxillary bone and the maxillary process of the
malar bone, united by a vertical suture. This projection must have given at-
tachment to the zygomatic muscles, and perhaps to a few of the anterior fibres
of the masseter, although extending below the level of the upper molars. That
of the left side has been slightly injured.
“The zygomatic process of the temporal rests upon that of the malar bone,
with an oblique line of union running through the upper horizontal portion of
the arch.
“The anterior convex border of the zygoma being nearly on a plane with the
external angular process of the os frontis, and the remarkable manner in which
the cranium is elevated on the facial bones, indicate very clearly that the eyes of
this animal were directed forwards, admitting of convergent vision. The low
position of the optic foramen also shows that the eyes must have been situated
close to the orbital border (if it may be so called) of the superior maxilla.”
Notes on the Outline-drawings.—One of the peculiar features of
the skull of the phytophagous Marsupials, whether of the browsing
Kangaroos and Potoroos, or of the leaf-and fruit-eating Koalas,
Petaurists and Phalangers, or of the burrowing and root-gnawing
Wombats, is the great strength, size, and span of the zygomatic
arches, as compared with the answerable vegetable-eaters in the
Placental series of Mammalia*.
This character is least marked in the true Kangaroos; but it is
sufficiently distinctive of these as compared with the browsing or
grazing Pecora of similar size: and there is a modification of the
zygomatic arch in Macropus for extending the base of origin of the
masseter masticatory muscle, which is present in no gyrencephaloust
Herbivore, although it exist in the lssencephalous+ Sloths and
their great extinct herbivorous congeners the Megatherioids—I
allude to the descending process from the fore part of the zygomatic
arch (Plate VII. fig. 2, z).
In all those herbivorous mammals in which the grinding teeth
present two transverse ridges, the zygomatic arches are well de-
veloped, the bony bar or plate being of great vertical extent: the
Tapir, the Manatee (Plate VIII. fig. 1, z, fig. 3, z), and the Megathere
* See ‘On the Osteology of the Marsupialia,’ Zool. Trans. ii. p. 387, pls. 69
and 71.
+ For the meaning of these terms see my ‘ Classification of the Mammalia,’ in
the ‘ Proceedings of the Linnean Society,’ Feb. 17 and April 21st, 1857.
OWEN——NOTOTHERIUM. pei |
show this relation, as well as the Kangaroo, Wombat, and Koala
(fig. 2, z) ; and the temporal fossa is of considerable capacity, as it also
is In the great Dinothere, which has the same type of molar teeth.
The working of opposed double-ridged molars evidently requires
a greater amount of muscular action than that of the more complex
but flatter molars of the Ruminants, Horse, Rhinoceros, and Elephant.
The maximum development of the zygomatic arches, in connection
with grinding teeth of the type of those of the Kangaroo and Tapir,
is manifested by a most extraordinary Marsupial Herbivore, of the
size of an ox, the cranium of which has recently been discovered in
Pleistocene deposits at King’s Creek, Darling Downs, Australia, and
is now in the Museum at Sydney, N. 8. Wales.
I am indebted to my friend Mr. George Bennett, F.L.S., for four
carefully-made, and apparently most accurate, outlne-drawings of
this unique fossil, in which so much of the anatomical characters are
given as have enabled me to make the requisite comparisons for
a conclusion as to the nature and affinities of the, most probably,
extinct Australian quadruped. The dentition of the upper jaw
consists of three incisors and five molars on each side, of which the
first appears to be a premolar and the rest true molars: 7. ¢., 2. 3=3,
c. °—, p. 1—|, m. 4=* ; agreeing, in this formula, with Macropus and
Diprotodon.
The reduced size of the drawings does not permit one to infer
more than a close general resemblance of the transversely-ridged
molars of the fossil with those of Diprotodon and Macropus.
The modifications of this dentition resemble those of the Diproto-
don* in the retention of the premolar after the last true molar has
come into place, and in the superior size of the first as compared
with the second and third incisors. From so much of the sockets of
the first incisiors as is indicated in a front view of the cranium, it
may be inferred that they were scalpriform teeth, implanted by a
long, simple, shghtly-curved base, of equal diameter with the crown.
Each lateral series of grinders 1 is slightly curved with the convexity
outward ; the two series converge a little forward.
All the grinding teeth are worn; the anterior most, and the
rest by degrees less, to the hindmost, ‘which is least abraded: this
indicates the course of their succession, and throws clear light on
the ordinal affinities of the fossil.
In the Tapir, as in other placental terrestrial Herbivora, the
number of true molars being = = = and the first of these, m 1 (Plate
VIII. fig.4) coming into place and use before the last premolar p4 (7b),
the first molar presents a more worn grinding-surface than the tooth
which precedes it, 4: in the Kangaroo and other Marsupial Her-
bwora, the number of true molars is = and, as they succeed each
other from before backwards, the first of the four is always more
worn down than the second, thus presenting conditions of the grind-
ing-surface the reverse of those which would be presented by the
* See “Report on the Extinct Mammals of Australia,” in ‘Report of the
British Association,’ 1844.
172 : PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Tapir, Stag, and placental Herbivora. If it were objected that the
first and second of the five grinders in Zygomaturus or Nototherium
may be deciduous teeth, destined to be succeeded by vertical succes-
sors or premolars, it may be replied, that no instance of the retention
of deciduous molars with a last molar in place, and so worn as is the
fifth grinder of Zygomaturus, has been observed.
A view of the upper molar series of a Tapir, soon after the last
molar has come into place, is given in Plate VIII. fig. 4, to illustrate
this difference from the state of the molar series in the Australian
fossil (Plate VIII. fig. 5), in which the tooth, marked da, the fourth
from the back end of the series, is much more worn than m1, the
third from the same end. ‘This state of the dentition determines
the marsupiality of this huge and most strange extinct quadruped as
decisively as would the marsupial bones, had the entire pelvis been
found.
. All the cranial characters elucidating marsupial affinity concur
with the dental ones in establishing it.
The brain was very small ; its proper case makes no swelling from
the inner wall of the temporal fossa (Plate VIT. fig. 3, ¢) as it does in
the Ox, Horse, Tapir, or other placental Herbivores of like size with
the fossil. Equally indicative of the low condition of cerebral de-
velopment is the inclination of the plane of the occiput from the
condyles upward and forward, as shown in fig. 2, Plate VIL;
and in fig. 3, taken looking directly upon the upper surface of
the skull, in which the whole sloping occiput comes into view,
divided from the upper surface by a super-occipital ridge which
describes an open angle with the apex forwards. The constricted
part of the cranium in advance of this ridge, and opposite the
middle of the temporal fosse*, marks the anterior boundary of the
cranial cavity: the part f in advance, which gradually expands,
answers to that part in the Kangaroo and Wombat which is occupied
by the extensive cellular diploé, in communication with the nasal
cavityt ; such expansion of the pneumatic frontal bone is also found
in the Phascolomys latifrons. The zygomatic arches, from their
depth, thickness, outward span, and descending process (2b. fig. 2,
z) present one of the most marked and peculiar features of the fossil
skull from Darling Downs; the extent of the fossee which they cir-
cumscribe, and their proportions to the rest of the skull, recall the
features of that of the Elephantine Seal (Cystophora proboscidia) ;
but the form and direction of the descending process, z, show this arch
to be essentially an exaggeration of that of the Koala (Plate VIII.
fig. 2) and Kangaroo. The descending process is, however, re-
latively larger and longer: in this respect it resembles the same
part in the skull of the Diprotodon.
The power of the muscles of the mandible both for biting and
chewing must have been enormous, and indicates some peculiar
quality of resistance in the alimentary substances to be ground down.
The grip of the strong and long anterior incisors, brought by the
* See ‘ Osteology of the Marsupialia,’ loc. cit., pp. 380, 386.
+ Ib. Part II. Trans. Zool. Soc., vol. iii. part iv. p. 303, plate 37. figs. 4 and 5.
OWEN——NOTOTHERIUM. 173
shortness of the jaws within the power of the temporal muscles in a
degree proportionately to the proximity of the inserted moving force,
must have been like that of a vice. )
The next peculiar feature of the present fossil is the small pro-
portion of the facial to the cranial division of the skull. In Man
and Apes the cranial division is coextensive with that part which
forms the cavity for the brain; in lower quadrupeds it is bounded
anteriorly by the orbit and fore part of the zygomatic arches, and
usually includes the nasal and frontal smuses, occupying a greater or
less extent of the cranium anterior to the cerebral cavity. Defining
the facial part of the skull of the present fossil, as the part in
advance of the orbit (Plate VII. fig. 2), it forms, as it were, a short
pedunculate appendage to the rest of the skull, increasing in both
vertical and lateral extent as it approaches its anterior termination,
or the muzzle. The lateral enlargement is due to an unusual rugous
protuberant swelling of the sides of the nasal bones, or of the parts
of the premaxillary articulating therewith: in the side view (fig. 2)
may be discerned a suture, which indicates the swelling to belong to
the premaxillary ; but the upper view (fig. 3) does not show such
suture. Only an inspection of the fossil itself can determine this
point. ‘The analogy of the Wombat and Kangaroo favours the con-
clusion that the premaxillaries united with the nasals.
In the Koala (Phascolarctus fuscus) and Phascolomys latifrons
the fore part of the muzzle is expanded laterally by an outward
swelling of the front border of the premaxillaries, just where they join
the nasals (P1.VII. fig.5.) ; and both the Wombat and Koala resemble
the fossil in question in the small proportion of the facial part of the
the skull, as above defined. But in the fossil from Darling Downs, the
lateral rough protuberances are continued along the anterior margins
of the nasal bones, forming a thick and strong double arch, one over
each nostril (Plate VII. fig. 4); the septum narium appears to have
been continued forwards to near the above thickened terminations
of the nasal bones. The upper surface of these bones seems not to
have been roughened as in the Rhinoceros.
The length of the skull, as noted by Mr. George Bennett, on the
sketches which have afforded subjects for the preceding remarks, is
1 foot 6 inches ; its breadth 1 foot 3 inches.
By the dentition of the upper jaw, this fossil agrees in that essen-
tial character with the genus Diprotodon ; but the dentition of the
lower jaw might exhibit small incisors, superadded to the single
large pair which is characteristic of Diprotodon, as of all known
phytophagous marsupials. Supposing, as is most probable, that the
lower jaw of the fossil in question had but two incisors, the next
question would be, whether the peculiarity in the form and propor-
tion of the skull, and especially in the position and aspect of the
orbits, would justify a generic separation from Diprotodon, the
dental formula being the same.
Another question also suggests itself,—whether, namely, the
present skull may not belong to the same genus as that which I
founded, under the name Nototherium, upon a mutilated lower jaw,
174 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
with double cross-ridged molars, similar in number to those in Di-
protodon, and presenting the same inferiority of size as the upper
molars of the present fossil from Darling Downs show. Mr. George
Bennett has inscribed the name “‘ Zygomaturus” beneath the sketches
he has transmitted, and informs me by letter, that such is the name
which Mr. Macleay has provisionally given to the fossil in the
Catalogue of the Sydney Museum.
The bony palate appears to have been entire, or without any un-—
usually large palatal vacuity, in this respect resembling the same
part in Macropus major and Diprotodon.
Whether this fossil prove to be a second species of Diprotodon, or
a distinct genus; and in the latter case, whether distinct from Wo-
totherium, or identical with it,—it forms the most extraordinary
addition to the evidences of those extinct phytophagous quadrupeds
of Australia which exhibited the marsupial type on a scale rivalling
the Rhinoceroses and large Buffalos of the warmer parts of the
Asiatic and African continents. Let us hope that good plaster casts
of the unique specimen may be made and transmitted to Europe, to
enable a further insight into its nature and affinities.
Notes on the Photographs.—Since the foregoing notes were penned
I have had the opportunity, through the kindness of Sir R. I.
Murchison, to inspect the photographs and photographic stereoscopes
of the skull to which the name Zygomaturus trilobus has been given
by Mr. Macleay.
The photograph, No. 4, shows most satisfactorily the close simi-
larity of the two-ridged crowns of the upper teeth to those of the
Diprotodon australis, figured in pl. 2 of my “ Report on the
Extinct Mammals of Australia”*, and removes whatever doubt -
might have been left after inspecting the pen-and-ink sketches by
Mr. Geo. Bennett, as to the order of succession of the last four
grinders, as indicated by the degrees of attrition of their crowns.
The same important evidence of the marsupiality of the species is
yielded by the teeth in the two portions of upper jaw figured in the
stereoscopic views beneath the principal fossils. There is a low
transverse basal ridge before and behind the two chief ridges; these
are slightly bent, with the concavity looking backwards: they have
not the connecting processes extending from the fore part, as in
Macropus, and herein lies the generic distinction from the Kangaroos ;
but the close conformity between Macropodide, Zygomaturus, and
Diprotodon in all the minor modifications of the crowns of the
grinding teeth, as well as in their number, relative size, and order
of succession, bespeaks in an equal degree their family relationship.
The extent of each molar series in Zygomaturus is about 7
inches ; in Diprotodon it exceeds 8 inches: the attachment of the
front pier of the zygomatic arch in Zygomaturus is opposite to and
almost coextensive with the three middle grinders (Plate IX.+
* «Report of the British Association,’ 1844.
t See the next Memoir.
OWEN—NOTOTHERIUM. L75
fig. 5); in Diprotodon it is nearly opposite the interspace between
the penultimate and last grinders, being of much less extent
(2b. fig. 6).
A close inspection, with the lens, of the photograph of the upper
surface of the expanded end of the muzzle, confirms me in the con-
clusion that it does not present that character which indicates the
attachment of the horn in the Rhinoceros: the irregularity of
surface is not so much upon the upper part as upon the sides of the
nasal aperture, which sides are at their upper part peculiarly tumid :
but these irregular bossy terminations of the bony muzzle are
formed, as we are assured by Dr. Macdonald, by the premaxillaries,
not by the nasal bones ; and this is an additional ground for reject-
ing the idea that the present large extinct marsupial had a nasal
horn lke the rhinoceros.
The cavity of the nose “is divided by a complete bony septum to
within one-fourth of the anterior aperture’’* in the Kangaroo and
common Wombat: since that remark was printed I have described
the skull of a rarer species of Wombat, showing some features of
resemblance to the Zygomaturus, not given by the previously-known
kinds, and in which the bony nasal septum advances very close to
the anterior outlet of the cavity. By this analogy, therefore, rather
than by that of the extinct Tichorhine Rhinoceros cited by Mr.
Macleay, I should be inclined to illustrate the significancy of the
naso-septal feature in the cranial structure of the large Australian
fossil.
I suspect that the swollen, tuberose, antero-lateral borders of
the bony nostril (Pl. VII. fig. 4), so well shown in the photograph,
have relation to some most unusual developments of the naked
‘integument of the muzzle of the Zygomaturus or Notothervum,
superadding an extraordinary feature to its low-set forward-looking
eyes, and very broad low cranium. Future evidences of the forms
and proportions of the limbs of this animal will be received with
much interest.
Wholly concurring in Mr. Macleay’s conclusions as to the marsupial
nature of the fossil in question, I have to state that the British
Museum has now received ample evidence that the generic distinction
which Mr. M. believes to exist between that fossil and Diprotodon is
not present. In the cranium of the Diprotodon in the Sydney
Museum, of which photographs have been transmitted to me by Mr.
George Bennett, the number of molar teeth in the upper jaw is
reduced to eight, four on each side: but it is by the loss of the first
small molar: and from the appearance of that molar in Zygomaturus
I conjecture that it would, also, be shed in an older individual.
But there are specimens in both the British Museum and the
Hunterian Museum which demonstrate that the Diprotodon has five
molar teeth developed on each side of both upper and lower
jaws, as stated in my “ Report on the Extinct Mammals of Australia’ +.
* “ Osteology of the Marsupialia,” Joc. cit. p. 391.
t Op. cit. ‘Report of the British Association,’ 1844.
176 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
DESCRIPTION OF PLATES VII. AND VIII.
Pruate VII.
Fig. 1. Under view of the Cranium of Nototherium Mitchelli, Owen ( Zygo-
maturus trilobus, Macleay): one-sixth natural size.
Fig. 2. Side view of the same: one-sixth natural size.
Fig. 3. Upper view of the same: one-sixth natural size. '
Fig. 4. Terminal view of the nasal region of the cranium : one-sixth natural size.
Fig. 5. Similar view of the cranium of the Koala (Phascolarctus); one-half
natural size. ,
[These figures, excepting fig. 5, are taken from the casts of the skull presented
to the Trustees of the British Museum, and received since the reading of the
foregoing paper. The original specimen is in the Museum of Sydney, N.S. Wales. |
Puate VIII.
[The figures are reduced from specimens in the British Museum. |
Fig, 1. Cranium of Manatus Americanus.
Fig. 2. Skull of Phascolarctus fuscus.
Fig. 3. Cranium of Tapirus Americanus.
Fig. 4. Series of upper molar teeth of Tapirus, showing the greater attrition of
the antepenultimate molar, m1, in comparison with the tooth in ad-
vance, / 4.
Fig. 5. Series of upper molar teeth of Nototheriwm, showing the less attrition of
the antepenultimate tooth in comparison with the tooth in advance.
On a Cotrection of AusrratiaNn Fosstts im the Musrum of the
Naturat History Society at Worcrster; with Drscrierrons
of the Lowrr Jaw and Treru of the NororHeRIuM INERME and
Norornertum MircHexy1, Owen ; demonstrating the identity of the
latier species with the ZyecomaturRus of Macleay.
By Professor Own, F.R.S., F.G.8., &e.
(Read June 23rd, 1858.)
[Plate IX.]
Stvce the communication of the remarks on the photographs of the
fossil cranium referred by Mr. W. 8S. Macleay to a new genus of
Marsupialia, which he has called Zygomaturus, I have received, for
examination, through the liberality of the Council of the Natural
History Society of Worcester, a series of specimens of mammalian
fossils from the Condamine River and Darling Downs, Australia ;
there have also arrived at the British Museum casts of the cranium,
and of the upper jaw and teeth of the Zygomaturus, liberally pre- |
sented by the Trustees of the Museum at Sydney, N. S. Wales, by
which I am able to demonstrate that this cranium belongs, as I su-
spected it might, to the genus Nototherium, and to that species which,
-in my “ Report on the Extinct Mammals of Australia,” I dedicated
to the then Surveyor-General of Australia, Col. Sir Thomas L.
Mitchell*.
The Worcester collection of fossils, contributed chiefly by Mr.
* Nototherium Mitchelli: see p. 13 of Owen, ‘On the Extinct Mammals of
Australia,’ 8vo. 1845, p.p. 21, Plate i—vi, 4to.; also, ‘Catalogue of Fossil
Mammalia, Mus. Coll. of Surgeons,’ p. 314, Plates iii. and iv. 4to. 1845.
OWEN——NOTOTHERIUM. TTF
Hughes, from freshwater (pleistocene ?) deposits of Darling Downs,
contains the right ramus of the mandible of the WNototherium
merme (Pl. IX. fig. 3*), very closely corresponding with that figured
in pl. 3 of my “ Report’ and “Catalogue.” It fortunately mcludes
sufficient of the symphysis to show the bottom of a socket of a
small procumbent incisor. One of the differences between the
cranium of the great Diprotodon and that of the smaller animal
with double-ridged molars subsequently acquired is the relatively
smaller size of the incisors in the so-called Zygomaturus. From
the analogy of the Diprotodon and of its existing representatives,
Macropus and Phascolarctos, the six upper incisors of Zygo-
maturus would be opposed by a single pair at the fore part of the
lower jaw.
But this pair would be so much smaller in Notothertwm than in
Diprotodon as to leave no trace of their sockets in that part of
the jaw—viz. beneath the two anterior molars—where the corre-
sponding socket is widely excavated in Diprotodon: the difference in
the size and position of the incisor-socket was, in fact, such as led
me to infer that Mototheriwm did not possess a tooth developed to the
degree which is indicated by the term “ tusk’; ; and the fossil jaw
transmitted by Mr. Hughes proves such to be the case, and that the
- inferior incisor presented the same small proportional size, com-
pared with Diprotodon, which the upper incisors of the so-called
Zygomaturus present. Precisely the same characters which dis-
tinguish generically the lower molar teeth of Nototheriwm from
those of Diprotodon distinguish the upper molars of Zygomaturus
from those of Diprotodon. This concordance is carried out even to
the minute markings of the enamel.
With respect to that character in the lower molars of Nototheriwm
Mitchelli, I have remarked, “‘ The dentine of the crown is encased in
a sheath of enamel of nearly one line in thickness, with a smooth
and polished surface, impressed at the outer part and near the base
of the tooth, where the enamel is principally preserved, with fine
parallel and nearly horizontal transverse linest.” Precisely the
same character is presented by the enamel of the upper molars
of Zygomaturus. I then proceeded to state, “The smooth and
polished exterior of the enamel covering the anterior part of the
posterior eminence presents a striking contrast with the reticulo-
punctate character of the enamel at the corresponding part of the
molar in the Diprotodon§.” The upper molars of Zygomaturus differ
in the same way from those of Diprotodon.
Besides the well-executed casts of the cranium, and of part
* Drawn on the plate without reversal.
t “The anterior end of the symphysis (fig. 4) is broken away ; but there is no
trace there of the socket of any tooth ; and it is too contracted to have supported
any tusk or defensive incisor.” (Extinct Mammals of Australia, 8vo, p. 12,
1845.) . I erred, however, in supposing that incisors were absolutely wanting in
the lower jaw of the smaller species, thence called Nototherium inerme: the
analogy of the Rhinoceroses, however, supported the supposition that this species
might differ from the larger Nototherium Mitchelli in the absence of those teeth.
t Ibid. p. 13. § Lhid.
VOL. XV.—PART I. N
178 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
of the upper jaw with upper molars, of the so-called Zygomaturus,
the British Museum possesses a portion of the right side of the
upper jaw with three molars of the Notothervwm (P1.1X.figs.4 and 5),
identical, at least in size, general configuration, and in the character
of the enamelled surface, with the teeth in the lower jaw of that
genus: the same collection also possesses an almost entire lower jaw
of the Notothervwm Mitchelli (Plate IX. fig. 1) from the forma-
tions cut through by the Condamine River, in the plains west of
Moreton Bay.
I propose first to describe the ramus of the lower jaw of the
Notothervum imerme (Plate IX. fig. 3), afterwards the almost entire
mandible of the Notothertwm Mitchell (2b. figs. 1 and 2), and finally
to point out the resemblances between the dentition of these jaws
and that of the fragment of the upper jaw, and the casts of the fossil
bilophodont skull, previously described.
The specimen of Nototheriwm inerme (fig. 3) transmitted by Mr.
Hughes to the Museum of Natural History at Worcester, from the
tertiary deposits forming the bed of the Condamine, consists of the
right ramus*, and back part of the symphysis of the mandible, but
with the condyloid, coronoid, and angular processes, and the fore
part of the symphysis broken away.
The ramus is short, very thick in proportion to its length and
especially its depth, convex on the outer side of the dentigerous
part, slightly convex vertically on the inner side, and with the
lower border describing a convex curve from the condyle to the sym-
physis, which seems to have been interrupted but slightly, if at all,
by any projecting angle; for although the angle has been broken off,
it has plainly been bent inward.
The fractured base of the condyloid process presents a triangular
form, two inches in its longest diameter: the outer and most obtuse
angle forms the hind part of the ridges bounding inferiorly the ex-
ternal coronoid fossa; the upper and most produced angle forms the
back part of the base of the coronoid process; the inner and lower
angle forms the same part of the angular process.
The outer part of the ascending ramus is divided into two facettes
by the first-named thick ridge or rising of the bone, which extends
from the outer side of the condyle obliquely downwards and forwards
with a curve concave towards the external coronoid fossa.
The base of the coronoid process begins anteriorly one inch ex-
ternal to the socket of the last molar tooth, the hinder half of which
tooth would be concealed by the process in a side-viewt. The frac-
tured base of the process extends to the condyle, with a slight curve
concave outwards; it is about half an inch thick at the beginning, —
but soon diminishes to 3 lines and then to 2 lines in thickness, the
plate of bone being thinned off, as it were, by the depressions for
muscular insertion on both its outer and inner sides: it is 33 inches
in extent to where it joins the fractured base of the condyloid pro-
* Drawn on the plate without being reversed.
‘+ This is one of the specific characters of Nototherium inerme, given in the
“ Report,” p. 12, and illustrated in pl. 3. figs. 1, 4.
OWEN——NOTOTHERIUM. 179
cess. The base of the inflected angle is continued for 2 inches
forward and inward from the same fractured base, and there is a
well-marked depression on the inner side and above the base of this
marsupially inflected angle: a little mm advance of it the lower
border of the ramus has been produced and slightly bent inwards,
for the extent of 4 inches, as far forward as the penultimate
molar: owing to its degree of production, which, however, was pro-
bably not great*, this inflected ridge or border has been broken
away.
* The posterior inlet of the dental canal commences at the back
part of the thick convex rising which is continued forward on the
inner side of the ascending ramus to the inner side of the last al-
veolus, and which rising divides the inner coronoid surface above
from the surangular depression below: the foramen is situated 2
inches behind the last molar tooth, and on a rather higher level than
the border of its alveolus: internal to it are a groove and a ridge:
it is elliptical in shape, and 5 lines long in diameter: a smooth
tract, concave lengthwise, of more than an inch, divides the ridge
and the process from the inner and hinder part of the last alveolus,
which process has been broken away, together with the border of
the alveolus and the crown of the last molar.
The fore and aft extent of the last four molar teeth is 6 inches.
Each of these teeth is implanted by two fangs. The fractured sur-
face of the jaw in front of the first of these two-fanged teeth (Plate
IX. fig. 3) shows the back part of the smooth vertical socket of a
small anterior molar, of which no trace is perceptible in the some-
what more mutilated ramus, specimen No. 1505, on which (in the
Museum of the College of Surgeons) the species Motothervwm inerme
was founded}. The fractured anterior surface of the mandibular
ramus under description shows also the back part of the socket of a
procumbent incisor, which alveolar surface, or bottom of a socket,
is In advance of that of the first small molar.
The character of the Nototheriwm inerme, as originally given in my
‘ Catalogue of Fossil Mammalia’ and ‘ Report,’ &c., must be rectified
by the addition of a fifth molar—the small anterior one; and of an
incisor, shorter and relatively smaller than that of Diprotodon, in
each ramus of the lower jaw.
The fore part of the dental canal is exposed immediately external
to the back wall of the incisor socket, where it is reduced to the
diameter of 3 lines.
The depth of the ramus of the jaw behind the symphysis is 3
inches ; and it is the same behind the penultimate molar. The
thickness of the ramus behind the symphysis is 1 inch 8 lines;
but it increases by the convex outswelling of the outer surface to
2 inches 3 lines behind the penultimate molar.
The crown of the last molar (fig. 3, m3) has been broken away ;
its base measures, in length 1 inch 10 lines, in breadth 1 inch
* According to the analogy of Nototherium Mitchelli, specimen No. 1506
Mus. Coll. Chir., where this ridge is entire.
T ‘ Catalogue of Fossil Mammalia,’ Mus. Coll. Chir. 4to. 1845, p. 314.
n 2
180 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
34 lines; this is the anterior lobe; the posterior one is narrower.
Each fang is longitudinally excavated at the surfaces next each
other; and the outer part of the root, so defined, is thicker than the
inner part.
The crown of the penultimate molar is in length 1 inch 9 lines,
in breadth 1 inch 3 lines, m height 8 lines: the dentine is exposed
at the summit of each ridge.
The two ridges or bilophodont type of the molars of Nototheriwm
were indicated rather than demonstrated in the specimens Nos.
1505, 1506, and 1507*, on which the genus was founded. ‘The first
complete lower molar which I have yet seen is the penultimate one
of the jaw under descriptiony. The crown is girt at the base by a
cingulum, developed behind into a low talon, and interrupted at the
outer and inner end of the main ridges, and for a greater extent at
the inner than at the outer sides.
The horizontal contour of the crown is rather rhomboid than qua-
drate ; for the hind lobe is more internal in position than the front
one: and the ridges run, not in a line directly across the alveolar
border, but from without inwardly and a little backwardly. The
fore part of the outer end of each ridge is a little produced, most so
in the hinder one, in which the produced part, inclining inwards,
terminates, or abuts below, upon the middle of the base of the front
ridge: the anterior part of the imner end of each ridge is a little
produced forward, in an angular form; the general result is, that
the summit of each ridge is slightly concave forward, convex back-
ward.
The enamel is, for the most part, smooth and polished: the deli-
cate striz of growth are well marked, when viewed by a pocket
lens, on the outer side of the tooth, and the same power brings into
view a few punctations on the hinder slope of each ridge: the
enamel is rather thicker on this slope than on the front one, and
seems more so from being more obliquely abraded, from before
downward and backward: so exposed, the coronal. snrface of the
enamel is a line in thickness: the tract of dentine abraded in the
present tooth is 2 lines across. The hinder talon, or part of the
cingulum, is most developed: the front one seems as if destroyed by
pressure of that of the preceding molar.
The antepenultimate tooth, or third counting backwards, measures
1 inch 6 lines in long diameter, and 1 inch 2 lmes across the
hinder lobe: the talon at the back of this lobe is as well developed
relatively as in the penultimate molar: there is the same ridge or
production from the outer and front angle of the back lobe obliquely
towards the middle of the front lobe: much of this lobe has been
broken away. The two fangs of the second molar show a fore and
aft extent of at least 1 inch 2 lines for the crown of that tooth,
with an extreme breadth of 8 lines. That a still smaller tooth
preceded it is indicated, as before remarked, by a part of its socket.
* Mus. Coll. Chir. .
+ It shows the accuracy of the conjecturally dotted outline of the grinding
surface of the entire molars, given in plates 3 and 4 of the ‘ Report.’
OWEN—NOTOTHERIUM. 181
From the evidence of the ramus of the jaw in question, it thus
appears that the genus Nototheriwm, as represented by the smaller
species, Wot. inerme, was characterized by at least five molars in each
mandibular ramus, and by a procumbent incisor, of less relative
size than in Diprotodon; its socket not extending back beneath the
anterior molar.
From the Diprotodon the Nototherium differs, in both Not. merme
and Not. Mitchell, in the polished surface of the enamel, as con-
trasted with the reticulo-punctate surface of enamel in the corre-
sponding teeth of Diprotodon. Nototherium also differs in the oblique
production, or ridge, from the outer and fore part of each lobe of the
molar; by which it approaches nearer to Macropus, where such
ridges are more developed.
The second species of Nototheriwm (NV. Mitchellc) was founded on
the posterior half of the left ramus of the lower jaw, now in the
Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons (No. 1506, Catal. of
Foss. Mam. 4to, p. 316, 1845), containing the last two molar teeth,
which differed in their more advanced position, in reference to the
coronoid process, from the Not. inerme. In a collection of Aus-
tralian fossil remains, lately acquired by the British Museum*, there
is an almost entire lower jaw (Plate IX. figs..1 and 2), the hinder
half of the left ramus of which precisely corresponds »in size and
shape with that of the Nototheriwm Mitchelli, and the fore part of
which also shows the first small single-rooted molar ; and in advance
of its socket, the base of that of a procumbent incisor, having the
same small relative size as compared with Diprotodon, which the
lower jaw of the Nototheriwm merme exhibits. The condyloid,
coronoid, and angular processes, together with the fore part of the
symphysis, are broken away in this specimen.
The back part of the ascending ramus below the condyle is
bent or produced inwards, so as to form a deep concavity on the inner
side of the base of that process. The inward production subsides,
however, before it reaches the ordinary position of the angle of the
jaw, from which it is separated by a smooth tract, where the outer
surface is continued into the inner surface, without any production.
Below this, the thick posterior and inferior border of the ascending
ramus is again bent inwards, but in a rather less degree than the
part above. The depression on the outer side of the coronoid process
much resembles that in Nototherium inerme; but the fore part of
that process commences at a greater distance external to the alveolar
tract, as well as being opposite to the back instead of the middle part
of the last molar tooth. A low ridge is continued from the middle
of the back part of the socket of that tooth backwards to the process
marked 6 in figs. 2 and 3, plate 4, of my original memoir on the
genus Nototherium, and which is described there as “a broad platform
of bone on the inner side of the base of the coronoid process.” The
entry of the dental canal is situated behind this platform, close to
_ ™* At an auction at Messrs. Stevens’s, King Street, Covent Garden ; and stated
to have belonged to a Mr. Boyd.
182 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
the coronoid process, and distant from the last alveolus 2 inches 9
lines. The coronoid process has the same extensive fore and aft
origin, and the slight transverse diameter as in Nototheriwm inerme,
but is rather more concave externally.
The outer side of the horizontal ramus of the lower jaw of Not.
Mitchelli is as convex as in Not. inerme ; but it has a greater relative
depth compared with the size of the molar teeth: this depth taken
at the mid part of the last molar in Not. Mitchell is 3 inches 9 lines:
in Not. inerme it is only 2 inches 10 lines.
The long (fore and aft) diameter of the last molar in Not.
Mitchelli is 1 mch 10 lines: the breadth of its front lobe is
1 inch 5 lines. The hind lobe is narrower. The cingulum is
interrupted on the inner end, but not on the outer end of this
lobe, behind which it swells into a talon of two lines breadth. The
cingulum is interrupted at both the outer and inner ends of the
front lobe, and is reduced in breadth where it is overlapped, at the
outer half of the fore part of the tooth, by the talon of the next
molar. The two ridges show the same degree of anterior concavity,
and oblique production, of their outer and front angles as in WV.
inerme.
The penultimate molar is 1 inch 9 lines in long diameter, 1 inch
4 lines in breadth ; it closely corresponds with that tooth in Not.merme,
but has been more abraded in the present specimen. The antepenul-
timate or third tooth (Plate IX. figs. 1 and 2) is 1 inch 6 lines in
long diameter, 1 inch 2 lines across the hind lobe, which is rather
the largest.
The socket of the second tooth (ib. d4) indicates it to have had a
long diameter of 1 inch 34 lines. The first tooth (7b. 3) was,
apparently, but 5 lines in long diameter, and was implanted by a
single fang.
The extent of the five sockets is 7 inches 3 lines; that of the last
three sockets is 5 inches 2 lines; the same extent is 5 inches
in Nototherium inerme.
The back part of the symphysis in Notothervum Mitchell is oppo-
site the interspace between the third and fourth molar; in Wot.
merme it is opposite the middle of the third molar. A longitudinal
extent of 5 inches 3 lines of the symphysis, 7. e. for 13 inch im ad-
vance of the first molar, is preserved on the left side of the lower
jaw here described; and beneath this part the alveolus of the
procumbent incisor penetrates to a depth of 1 inch 9 lines: and
that socket indicates a somewhat relatively larger incisor than in
Nototherium inerme ; yet one much less, both absolutely and relatively,
than in Diprotodon. What the entire length of the symphysial part
of the jaw has been in advance of the molar series cannot be deter-
mined, owing to the unfortunate fracture of that part in the present
specimen.
The total length of the left ramus (mutilated at both ends) is 1
foot 2 inches. The breadth of the mandible across the first molar
alveolus is 2 inches 6 lines; but the jaw swells out as it descends. .
In front of this alveolus the jaw contracts suddenly at its upper
OWEN—NOTOTHERIUM. 183
border to a breadth of 1 inch 6 lines, and then begins to expand as
it advances ; this is a very significant evidence of the relationship of
Nototherium Mitchelli with the cranium of Zygomaturus. The sides
of the upper symphysial channel, in advance of the first molar, ter-
minate above in a ridge, which is concave outwards, through the
lateral contraction in front of the molar series. The anterior outlet
of the dental canal is situated 1 inch 3 lines below this ridge, opposite
the fore part of the socket of the first molar.
The right and left molar series converge a little anteriorly, with
a slight concavity towards each other. From the outside of the socket
of the right to that of the left last molar is 5 inches 6 lines; the
extreme breadth of the lower jaw at the same part is 7 inches 9
lines, which is due to the great outswelling of the rami at that part.
At the under and back part of the symphysis there is a semicircular
depression, 1 inch 8 lines, across, bounded anteriorly by a sharp
wall, concave backwards.
Such are the chief additional facts relative to the structure of the
lower jaw and teeth of the Notothervwm Mitchelli, which are derivable
from the more perfect specimen in the British Museum, as compared
with the original, in the College of Surgeons, on which the species
was founded. There remains to be determined the degree of corre-
spondence between this lower jaw with its dentition, and the cranium
and teeth of the bilophodont marsupial to which the name Zygoma-
turus has been applied.
The photographic figures, and the subsequently received cast of
that cranium, showed a well-marked difference from Diprotodon in
the much greater extent of the anterior origin or base of attachment
of the zygomatic arch in the smaller bilophodont marsupial: and
this character has served to determine the nature of a portion of the
right side of the upper jaw, with three molar teeth, and an almost
edextensive anterior base of the zygomatic arch (Plate IX. fig. 5) of
a similar-sized bilophodont forming part of the collection of Austra-
lian fossils in the British Museum. The difference between this and
Diprotodon is most conveniently exemplified by an almost similar
fragment of the right upper jaw, with the anterior base of zygomatic
arch (z) and a single molar (m2), with part of the sockets of the
preceding and succeeding tooth (7d. fig. 6), in the collection of fossils
sent by the Natural History Society at Worcester. The difference
above: pointed out in the surface of the enamel of the lower molar
teeth of Nototheriwm and Diprotodon, is here as strikingly exempli-
fied in the enamel of the upper molars. The ridges, instead of being
directly transverse as in Diprotodon, show the same slight degree of
obliquity as in the lower molars of Nototheriwm. The summits of
the ridges show a slight concavity directed backwards, due in part to
the production of the inner and back part of each ridge,—a modifi-
cation which, from the analogy of Macropus, might have been
anticipated in the upper molars of Nototherium.
The fore and aft extent of the three molars in the present frag-
ment of upper.jaw corresponds with that of the three middle molars
of the lower jaw of Wot. Mitchelli ; their transverse breadth is greater
184 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
in the degree usually noticed in comparing upper and lower molars of
the same herbivorous animal. ‘The last of the three upper molars
shows the surface produced by the pressure of the tooth beyond it ;
and its hinder ridge shows the same proportion of minor breadth as
in the penultimate molar in the cast of the cranium of Zygomaturus.
The cingulum forms ‘a ridge along the back part of this molar, of
about a line in breadth: the anterior basal ridge is broader, and of
greater transverse extent. ‘The enamel on the worn ridges shows
the same thickness as in the lower molars of Nototherium. The long
diameter of the crown is 1 inch 10 lines, the cross diameter is 1 inch
8 lines. The posterior fang, which is exposed, continues of the
same breadth for 2 inches within the socket, without dividing. A
linear indentation divides the fang from the back part of the ena-
melled crown.
The middle (antepenultimate or third) molar (m1) is 1 inch 6
lines in long diameter, and nearly the same in cross diameter ; its
anterior talon is also thicker than the posterior one.
The anterior molar (d4), answering to the second in the lower
jaw of Notothercwm, has the two ridges obliterated and worn down to
a common field of dentine, with the enamel-wall thickened and en-
croaching angularly at the middle of the inner side, where the
mid valley ended in the younger state of the tooth. This greater
degree of attrition of the permanent tooth in advance of the ante-
penultimate grinder, is a surer proof of the marsupiality of the great
Herbivore than would be the marsupial bones themselves*.
The molar teeth in the cast of the skull of the Zygomaturus
present, as already remarked, the same configuration as the teeth
in the fragment of skull above described: the fore and aft extent
of the three corresponding teeth in the cast, viz. the second,
third, and fourth, is 4 inches 3 lines: their crowns are less abraded.
The portion of bony palate preserved in the fragment of the skull
shows the same entireness as in the cast of the entire skull. The
three molars exhibit the same slight degree of convex outer, and con-
cave inner, contour as do the corresponding molars in the entire series.
The three molar teeth in the fragment of upper jaw unequivocally
belong to the same genus, and almost as clearly to the same species, as
do the lower jaw and teeth of Wotothervwm Mitchell. When the molar
teeth in that lower jaw are applied to the molars in the cast of the
upper jaw of Zygomaturus, it is difficult to imagine that they have
not belonged to the same individual animal,—the correspondence is
so close. The indication, slight as it is, of an expansion of the
symphysial part of that mandible in advance of the constriction at
its beginning in front of the first molar, is most satisfactory, as show-
ing the same peculiar feature which distinguishes the short premaxil-
lary part of the cranium.
I conclude, therefore, that the cranium, of which we now possess
the cast (Plate VII. figs. 1-4), the fragment of the upper jaw with
the molars (Plate IX. figs. 4 and 5), the almost entire under jaw
* The Monotremes have marsupial bones, although no marsupial pouch: the
Thylacine has the marsupial pouch, but no marsupial bones.
OWEN—NOTOTHERIUM, 185
(ib. figs. 1 and 2), and the right ramus of the under jaw (Plate IX.
fig. 3) (in the Natural History Museum at Worcester), which
form the chief subjects of the present communication, belong to one
and the same genus, for which, according to the pe of priority, the
name of Nototherium must be retained.
The entire cranium, the portion of the upper jaw, and the almost
entire lower jaw belong to the larger species, or form, of Notothervum
which I have called Not. Mitchelli. The right ramus of the under
jaw (Plate IX. fig.3), and the upper jaw, with the molar series on
each side, of which a cast has also reached the British Museum, belong
to the smaller species, or form, called Notothertwm inerme. It remains
to be seen whether this may not be the female, and the larger form
the male, of the same species of Notothervum. The difference of size
between the two sexes of the Kangaroos renders the above conjec-
ture extremely probable.
T subjoin the determinations of forty-eight specimens of Australian Fossils,
transmitted, at the suggestion of the President of the Geological Society, for my
examination, from the Museum of the Natural History Society of Worcester, by
the liberality of the Council of that Society. These specimens were collected by
Mr. Hughes, in Darling Downs, and exemplify the richness of the fossil evi-
dences of Mammalia, and the association of particular genera in one limited
locality.
List of Mammalian Fossils from Australia in the Museum of the Natural
History Society of Worcester.
. Upper j jaw of Macropus Titan, mas.
. Lower jaw of Macropus Titan, foem., left ramus.
. Lower jaw of Macropus Titan, right ramus.
. Lower jaw, Macropus Atlas, fem.
. Right humerus, Macropus Atlas.
. Lower jaw, Macropus Ajax.
First
. Second | patangs of the middle toe of fore foot of Macropus Titan ?
‘Third
10. Right acetabulum and part of pelvis of Macropus Titan?
11. Right acetabulum and part of pelvis of Macropus Atlas?
12. Right acetabulum of Macropus Anak.
13. Lower jaw, Macropus Anak.
14. Left humerus, Macropus.
15. Shaft of part of right tibia, Macropus Titan?
16. Upper part of shaft of right femur, Macropus Titan?
17. Metatarsus of largest toe, hind foot, Macropus Titan ?
18. Proximal phalanx of ditto, Macropus Titan?
19. Proximal end of right tibia, Macropus Atlas.
20. Part of shaft of right tibia, Macropus Atlas. _
21. Distal end of right tibia of Macropus Titan.
22. Distal end of right tibia of Macropus Titan, mas.
23. Distal end of left tibia of Macropus Atlas?
24, Caudal vertebra, Macropus Titan?
25. Caudal vertebra, Macropus Titan?
26. Part of leftramus of lower jaw of Diprotodon australis.
27. Part of upper jaw of Diprotodon australis. .
28. Part of right ramus, lower jaw, Nototherium inerme.
29. Part of right ramus, lower jaw, Diprotodon.
30. Part of right ramns, lower jaw, Diprotodon.
31. Portion of acetabulum, Diprotodon ?
32. Part of a molar tooth, Diprotodon.
VOM kV. PART To) oO
COMO Den ooo
186 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
33, 34. Fragments of ribs (Macropus Titan ?).
35. Metacarpal, large Macropus.
36, 37, 38, 40, 42. Fragments of ribs, Nototheriwm or Diprotodon.
39. Shaft of radius, large Macropus.
41. Shaft of femur, large Macropus.
43. Proximal end of right ulna, Nototherium or Dipreod ot.
44. Fragment of ischium.
45, Caudal vertebra of Diprotodon,
46. Right caleaneum, Macropus Titan ?
. 47. Proximal half of large metatarsal of Macropus Titan.
48. Large metatarsal of Macropus.
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE IX. .
[The originals of figs. 1, 2, 4, and 5 are in the British Museum; those of
figs. 3 and 6 are in the Museum of Natural History, Worcester. |
Fig. 1. Upper view of a mutilated lower jaw of Nototherium Mitchelli; one-
fourth natural size.
Fig. 2. Side-view of the same jaw. 2, socket of incisor; 3, first molar, answer-
ing to the third premolar of the Diphyodont type; @4, second molar
(socket of ), answering to the last deciduous molar ; m1, m2, and m3,
Nototherium, answering to the first, second, and third true molars
of the same type: one-fourth natural size.
Fig. 3. Upper view of mutilated right ramus of the jaw of Nototherium inerme ;
one-fourth natural size.
Fig. 4. Side view of three teeth, upper jaw, of Nototheriwm Mitchell ; half natural
size.
Fig. 5. Under view of the same portion of upper jaw, showing the broad base
of the front root of the zygoma; one-third natural size.
Fig. 6. Portion of the upper jaw, with a grinding tooth, showing the narrow
base of the front-root of the zygoma, Diprotodon australis; one-third
natural size.
THE
QUARTERLY JOURNAL
OF
THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.
PROCEEDINGS
OF
THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
NovemBER 3, 1858.
The Rev. A. 8S. Farrar, M.A., Fellow of Queen’s College, Oxford,
was elected a Fellow.
The following communications were read :—
1. On some Natura Pits on the Huatus of DorsretsHire.
By the Rev. O. Fisuer, M.A., F.G.S.
[ Abstract. |
Own Affpuddle Heath and Piddletown Heath, near Dorchester, at an
elevation of rather less than 500 feet above the sea, the surface is
pitted with circular or oval hollows, like inverted cones, having oc-
casionally a double apex. Their number is very great ; and only the
largest are marked in the Map of the Ordnance Survey.
They usually vary from about 60 to 80 yards in circumference ;
but one measures 130 yards, and another, called ‘“Culpepper’s
Dish,” is 290 yards round: in the former the sloping sides are 23
yards high; in the latter 47 yards. After observing that these pits
could not have been formed by the washing away of the underlying
sand-beds, the author proceeded to show that their formation seemed
to be due to the subsidence of the material into “ sand-pipes” in
VOL, XV.— PART I. P
188 PROCEEDINGS OF §HE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Nov. 3,
the subjacent chalk, owing to the percolation of rain-water con-
taining carbonic acid, which dissolved the chalk; and Mr. Fisher
referred to the explanation of this process given by Mr. Prestwich
in a paper formerly read before the Society*. |
It is evident, that wherever a sand-pipe has been formed there a
pit must have appeared on the surface, though the bottom of the
pit may have been many feet above the chalk-surface; as we see a
conical depression formed in the surface of the sand in the upper bulb
of an hour-glass as soon as it begins torun. The Heaths in ques-
tion would, therefore, illustrate the normal condition of every sur-
face covering sand-pipes; and, if no pits occur, the surface must
have subsequently been levelled by some agency or another. As
this process could have gone on only during a subaérial condition of
the surface, and must have occupied a very long time, the author
remarks, that the larger pits on the Heath referred to must have
been formed by the sinking of the Eocene beds into enormous
“‘sand-pipes”’ during an extended geological period, and that the
area they occupy was dry land during all that time, and has been so
ever since, or the pits would have been obliterated ; and must there-
fore have formed islands or headlands in the sea, which last filled
the adjacent valleys and gave them their present configuration. The
denuded chalk-valley separating the two Heaths is in most parts
destitute of gravel, and contains numerous pipes full of Eocene ma-
terials, proving that there was a period during which large pipes
were formed anteriorly to the denudation ; while the nearness of
the pipes to each other shows that the great number of the pits is no
argument against the cause assigned to them.
As the formation of these pits was subsequent to the outspread of
the superficial gravel of these Heaths, and previous to the last de-
pression and elevation of the land, their date would be perhaps near
that of the great mammalian fauna. The author also explained his
views of the method by which the subsidence of the materials gave
rise to the peculiar shape of the pits (for, however deep the original
depression, and of whatever shape, the sides would always eventually
assume the angle at which the materials would stand); and he ob-
served that somewhat similar depressions have been noticed in the
neighbourhood in process of formation at the present day.
2. Notice of the Occurrence of an Eartuavaxe along the NortHERN
Ever of the Granite of the Dartmoor Disrricr on the 28th of
SepremBer, 1858. By G. Wareine Ormerop, Hsq., M.A., F.G.S..
On the evening of Tuesday, the 28th Sept. last, a slight shock of an
earthquake was felt in the district adjoining the northerly edge of
Dartmoor ; and it appears to have been almost entirely confined to
* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. x. p. 24t.° +)
1858. | ORMEROD—-EARTHQUAKE NEAR DARTMOOR... 189
the vicinity of the junction of the granite and the Carbonaceous
rocks. Crediton is the most north-easterly point at which, as far as
I can gain information, the occurrence was noticed. No vibration
of the ground was there felt, but a rumbling noise was heard,
attributed at the time to a supposed explosion of the Gunpowder
Mills on Dartmoor. No such explosion, however, had taken place.
Crediton is on the spur of New Red Sandstone that extends thence
in a westerly direction, by Bow and North Tawton, to Exbourne ;
this last place is situated about four miles to the north of Oke-
hampton. No vibration or sound was noticed at either of the three
last-named places, or to the south of Crediton, at Exminster, Kenton,
Star Cross, or Teignmouth, all on the same geological formation.
The Carbonaceous rocks lie to the west, between the New Red
Sandstone and the granite of Dartmoor, which they adjoin on the
east, north, and west sides. At Chudleigh and Hennock, both on
the Carbonaceous rocks, no sound nor vibration was perceived on the
28th ; but at Trusham, to the north of Chudleigh, on the same
formation, on the evening of Thursday the 30th, a noise was heard,
which a person who had resided in a country subject to earthquakes
immediately recognized as arising from that cause. At Bovey Tracey,
partly on the same formation and close to the edge of the granite,
no sound nor vibration was perceived.
At Druids, on the Devonian beds, and near the edge of the gra-
nite, about a mile to the north-west of Ashburton, a rumbling noise,
like that caused by a carriage passing over gravel, was heard on the
28th about 7 p.m. The flexure marked in the Map of the Geological
Survey as passing between Ashburton and Druids does not run to
the south of the last-mentioned place, which is shown, by the
numerous fossils there existing, to be on the Devonian beds. This
is one of the flexures mentioned by Sir Henry De la Beche in the
‘Memoirs of the Geological Survey*,’ as giving to the Carbonaceous
rocks or Culm-measures of Central Devon the appearance of dipping
beneath the argillaceous slates, limestones, and trappean rocks of
Ashburton and Buckfastleigh. At Ashburton neither sound nor
motion was noticed.
The earthquake was not, I believe, noticed at any place on the
Carbonaceous rocks along the eastern edge of the granite south of
Drewsteignton. At Lustleigh, Manaton, the Vitifer Mines, and
North Bovey, all on the granite, neither sound nor motion of the
earth was perceived. At Moreton Hampstead (on the granite), about
a mile and a half to the north-east of North Bovey, no motion was
felt, but a sound resembling the roar of a furnace was heard. Ata
farm, on the granite, about half-way between Moreton Hampstead
and Chagford, the farmer heard a sound, and mistook it for the
noise of a cart that was expected; he rose from supper, lighted his
lantern, and went out to meet it.
At Chagford, on the granite, both sound and motion were noticed.
* Vol. i. p. 85.
eZ
190 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCTETY. [Nov. 3,
Here, shortly after eight o’clock, my attention was withdrawn from
the writing upon which I was engaged by a low rumbling sound,
which lasted for a few seconds; and, like many others, I thought
that an explosion had taken place at the Powder Mills. I did not
feel any motion; but at the next house but one the vibration was
so great as to make the china rattle and cause alarm. At other
houses chairs were moved and the candles were observed to oscillate ;
and china, windows, and doors were shaken. A person who was at
the time attending service at the Wesleyan Chapel informed me that
he heard a noise that was not like thunder, and he did not know
what it was like,—that it was first at his back, then seemed going
by the side of the chapel, and then it came in at the windows at
the end: this gives the direction of the shock as from E.S.E. to
W.NEW: :
At Teigncombe, a hamlet about two miles to the west of Chagford,
and close to the open moor, a sound and vibration were noticed, and
cups and plates on a dresser rattled. Between Chagford and Drews-
teignton, at Sandy Park and Dogamarsh Bridge, on the granite close
to the edge of the Carbonaceous rocks, the same sound was heard.
A person described it as coming from Drewsteignton, and then
passing on towards Kestor Kock,—that is, nearly from N.N.E. to
S.8.W., and then turning to the west. At Cheriton Bishop, on the
Carbonaceous rocks, between Drewsteignton and Crediton, about
three miles from the former and five from the latter, no sound nor
motion was heard on the 28th; a motion of the earth and sound
were, however, noticed there and at Fingle Bridge over the Teign,
contemporaneously, about the commencement of September.
At Drewsteignton, on the Carbonaceous rocks and near to the
edge of the granite, a loud rumbling noise was heard on the 28th
Sept., and some houses were so much shaken that the inhabitants
ran out in alarm. At the nearly adjoining villages of Ramsleigh,
South Zeal, and Sticklepath, about five miles to the west of Drews-
teignton, on the Carbonaceous rocks, there much intersected by trap-
dykes, and closely adjoining to the granite, the shock seems to have
been felt more severely than anywhere else. The time of its
occurrence is stated as 7.45 p.m. Chairs shook; china, windows,
and doors rattled; and a dull rumbling sound was heard, which
alarmed the inhabitants, as ‘‘it was not like thunder.”? The shock
is there estimated to have lasted 15 seconds. At the neighbouring
village of South Tawton the sound was heard; but I haye not been
informed whether any vibration was felt. At Spreyton, also on the
Carbonaceous beds, three miles to the N.W. of South Tawton, neither
sound nor vibration was perceived. At Okehampton, on the Carbo-
naceous rocks, the occurrence is described as a kind of rushing sound,
or an undulation of sound and motion, considered by the majority
of persons as going from east to west; and windows, doors, and
chairs were shaken.
On the western side of Dartmoor, at a farm distant about two
miles, and “The Fox and Hounds ” distant about seven miles, from
13858. ORMEROD—GRANITE-VEINS. 191
Okehampton, on the Tavistock road, on the Carbonaceous rocks
near the edge of the granite, similar sensations were noticed. At
“The Dartmoor Inn,” on the same road, about a mile to the south
of “The Fox and Hounds,” no motion of the ground was perceived,
and the inhabitants attributed a noise heard on the evening of the
28th to distant firing at Plymouth.
Beyond Okehampton and “ The Fox and eaanda? ’ T have not been
able to trace this earthquake to the west. At Exbourne, four miles
to the north of Okehampton, as before mentioned, the earthquake
was not felt.
The sound mentioned as being noticed at Druids at seven o’clock
on the evening of the 28th may probably be attributed to a distinct
shock at an earlier hour on the same evening, as no sound nor motion
was noticed in the country intervening between that place and
Moreton Hampstead.
With this exception, the shock seems to have been confined to a
very narrow district, that may be estimated as not exceeding eight
miles in width, and running, as a general direction, at the northerly
edge of Dartmoor, along the line of junction of the granite and the
altered Carbonaceous rocks. Considering Crediton the most easterly,
and “‘ The Fox and Hounds” the most westerly point, the length of
the area affected by the earthquake is about twenty-one miles from
east to west. The shock seems to have taken a direction from east
to west, to have taken place about eight o’clock in the evening, and
to have lasted, where most severe, about fifteen seconds.
3. On some Vutns of Granite in the Carponaceous Rocks on the
Norrn and Kast of Dartmoor.
By G. Warzine Ormerop, Esq., M.A., F.G.S.
[ Abstract. |
Tue author referred, in the first place, to the ‘ Report on the Geo-
logy of Cornwall, Devon, and West Somerset,’ where Sir H. De la
Beche writes (p. 184), “On the north of Dartmoor we find two
elvans in the Carbonaceous series, one on the west of Arscot near
South Zeal, and the other running through Lidbridge and Lidleigh
Ball, on the south-west of Hatherleigh. Dykes of this kind have
not hitherto been detected to the east of Dartmoor.”? He then men-
tioned the following localities on the north and east of Dartmoor,
where the Carbonaceous rocks are intersected by granite- or elvan-
dykes. Near Meldon (marked in the Ordnance Map as “ Elmdon”’),
to the south-west of Okehampton, granite-veins penetrate the Carbo-
naceous rocks near the spot where the white granite was worked.
On Cocktree Moor, to the south of North Tawton, he was informed
that a granite-vein had been found. The Carbonaceous rocks on
both sides of the narrow gorge through which the river Teign
passes, after leaving the granite near Chagford, are intersected in
many places by these veins.
192 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Nov. 3,
On the northerly or left bank, on the hill-side above the Logan-
stone, a short distance below Hunt’s Tor, there is a bed of fragments
of Carbonaceous rocks that have fallen from above, and granite-
veins occasionally occur amongst these portions, showing that a
vein probably exists in that locality. A little lower down the
stream turns to the south, and shortly turns again eastwardly. The
hill-side from near this last turn to some bold cliffs, known as
Sharpy Tor, about a quarter of a mile lower down the valley, is
seamed with veinsof granite. On account of the depth of soil, and
the vegetation, they can rarely be traced for more than a few yards,—
they do not appear, except in one case, in the cutting for the walk
at the top of the hill,—and they have not been noticed on the north
side of the hill or at the Drewsteignton Quarries. The veins throw
off branches into the adjoiming rock, and vary in thickness from a
thin filament to a breadth of about 18 feet. In the small veins the
granite is very hard and close-grained ; in the 18-feet vein it is of a
larger grain, and the felspar is often of considerable size: the veins
contain portions from the adjoming Carbonaceous beds, sometimes so
slightly removed from the original position that it can be traced; in
the large veins some of these masses are rounded, as if they had
undergone attrition, but some (about a cubic foot in size) still preserve
their angularity. This wide vein is very conspicuous, and can be
traced for a considerable distance up the hill-side. The strata ad-
joining the veins are not contorted or thrown violently out of posi-
tion by the intrusion of the granite ; the displacement would probably
not be noticed by a general observer, and presents an appearance
such as would be caused by a continuous strong pressure.
Below Sharpy Tor, granite-veins have not been noticed on the left
bank of the river. On the night bank at the most northerly part
of Whyddon Park near the gate leading into the Moreton Woods,
at the turn in the river below the Logan-stone before mentioned,
many scattered blocks of Carbonaceous rocks traversed by granite-
veins occur; the rocks are not well exposed, and one granite-vein
only has been found zm situ. The depth of the soil and the vegeta-
tion prevent the examination of the strata on this bank of the
Teign.
To the south of the Teign, two narrow veins of granite, having a
direction from N. by E. to 8. by W., cross the road from Cranbrook
Castle to Fingle Bridge; and a vein of granite, about 19 inches in
width, having a direction from N.E. to 8.W., in the same vicinity,
crosses the road when descending the hill to the west of Cranbrook
Farm. The open country to the north of Willistone (about half a
mile to the east of Cranbrook Farm) is strewed with blocks of
granite and Carbonaceous rocks, the latter for the most part much
altered and siliceous, and in these scattered rocks veins of granite
occasionally occur ; the rocks here are rarely exposed in situ, and the
places from whence these veins are derived have not been discovered ;
but there seems to be every probability that they are in the imme-
diate neighbourhood. Mr. Ormerod has not examined the junction
1858. | STOW-——RHENOSTERBERG. 193
of the Carbonaceous beds and the granite further to the south than
this point.
4, On the Structure of some of the Striceous Noputzs of the Cuatx.
By N. T. Weruerent, Esq., M.R.C.S.
[Communicated by the President.]
[ Abstract. |
Tue author described several specimens of the peculiar banded
flints* found in the chalk and in gravel, and of which he had
made a large collection during several years. They usually exhibit
a central longitudinal axis or narrow stem, crossed on its middle third
by numerous short parallel stripes of alternately light and dark flint,
and frequently terminated at each extremity by an irregular mass of
flint, often clouded or grey. The axis occurs sometimes isolated,
sometimes covered with a thin coating of grey flint only, and some-
times associated with only a few cross stripes of the banded structure.
In some instances the banded flint has for its axis a sponge, or frag-
ments of sponge.
The author had not found in the banded flint any spongy tissue
peculiar to it; im some instances, however, a silicified sponge ap-
pears to have been traversed by alternate lines of the light and dark
colour analogous to those of the banded flints. In some instances a
concentric arrangement of light and dark layers of flint occurs around
- the two ends of an axis, or around isolated nuclei.
Mr. Wetherell regarded this banded appearance in the flint as not
being due to an organic structure, but to have originated in a peculiar
arrangement of the siliceous matter around organic bodies, frequently
long and stem-like, such as those of the Graphularia, which supplied
so many axial nuclei to the concretions in the London Clay‘.
Novemser 17, 1858.
Augustus Smith, Esq., M.P., 1 Eaton Square, was elected a
Fellow.
The following communications were read :—
1. On some Fossits from Soutn Arrica. By C. W. Srow, Esq.
[In a Letter to the Assistant-Secretary. |
[ Abstract. }
At the close of 1850 Mr. Stow and his party fell back into the
interior to avoid the Kaffirs; in making the journey he collected
largely the fossils on his route, and succeeded, with much trouble,
in preserving them on his return.
_ * Mr. Parkinson figures and describes a worn specimen of one of these flints
in his ‘ Organic Remains,’ vol. iii. p. 241. pl. 16. fig. 18.
t+ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xiv. p. 30.
194 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Nov. 17,
In a plain at the foot of the Rhenosterberg, a branch of the
Sneewbergen Range (of which latter the Spitzkop is the culminating
point), the author met with patches of ground strewed with nodular
concretions and fossil wood (specimens 2 to 63) over an extent of
about two miles in length and one in width. These fossils were on
the surface, and had been probably derived from the neighbouring
mountains. |
The plain was of a lozenge-shape, about twelve miles broad and
twenty long; and was one of several of a similar kind that he had
travelled through. It was bounded by the Rhenosterberg Moun-
tains on the N.E., on the 8.W. by a nearly parallel range, and on
the S.E. was contracted to a narrow valley between low rocky hills.
Two low volcanic dykes crossed the plain, one on the north-western,
and the other on the south-eastern side.
The strata forming the mountains are horizontal. There are
about eight strata of sandstone forming the lower part of the
Rhenosterberg. Immediately above there is a limestone full of
rounded fragments of other calcareous and non-calcareous rocks,
and sometimes containing bones (specimens 64, 65, 66). Of this
pebbly limestone, or calcareous grit, there are four layers, separated
one from another by several yards of strata, and varying in thick-
ness from a few inches to about a foot.
The mountains on the opposite side of the plain are apparently
composed of the same strata as the Rhenosterberg; for, taking a
commanding position on one of the dykes, one can distinctly count —
the strata in the mountains on either side ; and so uniform are they
in colour and thickness, so alike in height, and equally horizontal in
position, that the idea at once forces itself upon the mind that they
must at one time have been continuous.
At one spot on the side of the Rhenosterberg is a Kloof where
the author found some fossils imbedded in the rock; and he often
regretted when visiting the spot that the Kaffirs had left him nothing
but a hammer and old chisel that were thrown into the waggon at
starting, as with better tools he might have obtained many more
specimens. Here he found the specimens 68, 69, which appear to
be casts of stems of plants in sandstone.
The first bones he here discovered were those of the skeleton, spe-
cimen No. 83 (a small Dicynodon). They were directly in the water-
course, and only a small piece of one part was at. first visible. . By
dint of hammering and chiseling each succeeding portion revealed
itself to view. Unfortunately the skull was wanting. Underneath
a large part of it there was a whitish scaly appearance on the rock,
which might have been the remains of the covering that the animal
had when alive.
Many portions of the strata here were matted together with ‘ip
stem-like fossils, such as specimens 70-75. Specimens 76 to 82
(nodular concretions) appear to have been washed from the same strata.
The specimen No. 125 oe bone) was found in the rock a short
distance off.
1858. | RUBIDGE—SOUTH AFRICA. 195
About 20 yards from where the skeleton was imbedded, the speci-
mens 84-87 (‘‘ cone-in-cone” clay-stone) occurred. About 30 yards
from this spot, and in the same bed, specimens 88 and 89 (bones)
were found, where the water ran, and hence the portion at the surface
was so softened as to fall to pieces. These pieces appear to show that
the ribs and vertebre are associated with the remains of the animal’s
outer bony covering or carapace.
Detached from a stratum above the one where Nos. 84-87
occurred, were the two fossil skulls, Nos. 90 and 91 (a small Dicy-
nodon, and a smaller undescribed reptile), and the septaria, Nos. 92
and 938. At a spot a little to the N.W. of the Kloof, and in a bed
higher up than the last-mentioned, the nodules and septaria Nos.
94-107 were found.
Between the Kloofs the parting ridges were covered with detached
portions of the upper strata, mixed with numerous nodular concre-
tions, such as Nos. 108-114. Some of these contained a fine powder
when broken (especially No. 112).
Of the volcanic dykes a few specimens are sent. No, 115 is an
exfoliating nodule; and similar concretions are very numerous on
both of the dykes, especially on the south-eastern dyke, where they
were at some places piled one on another. They varied greatly in
size, some being about an ounce in weight, and others too heavy for
two or three men to move. This difference of size might be
accounted for by the smaller ones having been subjected to ex-
foliation for a longer period of time. Along the other ridge masses
of felspathic trap, such as No. 116, protruded. Many of the pieces
were musical when struck—so much so, that some of the people
with the waggons, on the first day they arrived, asked what bell it
was that was tolling, and which proved afterwards to be some
children amusing themselves by striking a large piece of this rock
with a stone.
These cross-ridges or dykes attain their greatest altitude towards
their centre,—decreasing as they approach the mountains, and then
again appearing as exposed precipices or “‘ Krantzes” along their crests.
2. On some Points in the Grotocy of Sourn AFRica.
By Dr. R. N. Rosie.
[Communicated by the President. ]
[Abstract.]
Te author had observed in Namaqualand the occurrence of hori-
zontal siliceous beds, covering other siliceous inclined beds, the
silicification of the latter being apparently due to the infiltration of
silica from the upper quartzose beds into the inclined beds below.
In this communication Dr. Rubidge details the evidences that he
observed of such a process having taken place, and points out how
the observations on some of the Namaqualand rocks by Mr. Bain,
Mr. Bell, and Dr. Atherstone, respectively, tend to support his views
196 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Nov. 17,
on this point. The inclined beds of this district are gneissic, and,
in the instances referred to, very quartzose.
The horizontal sandstones of this district he correlates with the
Table Mountain sandstones*; he has found in them a few obscure
traces of fucoidal or other plants 7.
The author then passes on to the Cape district ; and, first offering
his testimony to the industry and general exactitude of Mr. Bain as
a geologist, he proceeds to compare Mr. Bain’s section of Mitchell’s
Pass{ with a section which he lately made for himself on two hasty
journeys.
Mr. Bain figures the indurated sandstone or quartzite of Mit-
chell’s Pass as being at first horizontal, and then suddenly dipping
at a strong angle northward, so as to underlie the Devonian schists
of the Bokkeveld, at Ceres, and to divide them from the slates of
the Cape district. Dr. Rubidge points out the apparent difficulty of
explaining such an inclination of the quartzite, the slates under-
lying both the inclined and horizontal portions not presenting any
evidence of a difference in dip; and he suggests that the inclined
beds of quartzite have nothing to do with the horizontal quartzite,
except that, being immediately beneath the horizontal siliceous beds,
they have by some means been silicified from above, and thus ren-
dered in appearance identical.
‘‘ On referring,” says the author, “to Mr. Bain’s section No.1,pl.21,
we see that the Table Mountain Sandstone rests in a horizontal
position on the granite and inclined slates. Tracing the section
westward, we find several alterations of dip in the slate, but no evi-
dence that the more ancient rocks have undergone more than one
series of displacements, viz. that which raised the slates of Table
Mountain and the Lion’s Head to their present position, so that they
appear to have remained undisturbed since the deposit of the hori-
zontal rocks. At Bain’s Kloof, and at the eastern end of Mitchell’s
Pass, we find the superjacent quartzite-beds or sandstone still hori-
zontal,—the whole mass being so at its upper part, while its lower
beds are highly inclined at an angle conformable with the slates on the
one side and the fossiliferous schists of Ceres on the other. (See fig.)
a pike at the Village of Ceres.
2.. Quartzite or ho le. Devonian sik of the Bokkeveld.
1 4. Quartzose or silicified portion of the schists. 1a. Devonian schists or slates.
* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xii. p. 238; and 27d. vol. xiii. p. 235.
t Loe. cit. p. 239.
} Geol. Trans. 2 ser. vol. vii. pl. 21. fig. 1.
1858. | RUBIDGE—SOUTH AFRICA. 197
Now, bearing in mind what I have above referred to as having seen
in Namaqualand, I at once regarded these inclined quartzites as being
the silicified beds of the a Fett series, agreeing, like the silieified
gneissic beds of Namaqualand, with the ancient rocks in position, and
with the superjacent quartz-rocks in lithological character. I was
convinced, even in my hasty and imperfect examination, that beds of
quartzite, precisely similar to those of Bain’s Kloof, &c., rested on,
and converted into themselves. a portion of the inclined Devonian
beds; and that the horizontal beds which Mr. Bain describes as
resting on the Devonian rocks of the Bokkeveld, and in characterizing
which he uses almost the same terms as in describing the sand-
stone of Table Mountain, are in reality the same strata, the upper-
most of which preserve their horizontal character,—the lowermost
having assimilated (by silicification) the subjacent beds to them-
selves.”
Taking this view, Dr. Rubidge considers that the inclined quartz-
ite at Mitchell’s Pass is a conformable successional portion of the
schists and slates, the horizontal sandstones being of younger age
than any of the schistose beds, and extending over them from Table
Mountain to Orange River on the west, and to George on the east.
On the north the schists are known to be of Devonian age by the
fossils of the Bokkeveld; and the recent discovery of a few Trilo-
bites and Spirifers at some spots in the slates of the southern dis-
tricts of the Cape (near Cape St. Francis, at Klem Winterhoek, and
near Jeffery’s Bay) is considered by the author as corroborative of
his view, that the slates of the Cape are not divisible from the schists
of the Bokkeveld, but are to be linked to them by the intercalated
quartzites described in this portion of his paper; the schistose rocks
of Ceres, Cape Town, and Malmesbury (Silurian and Carboniferous ?
of Bain) having generally a similar strike and dip.
In the eastern province of the Cape Colony, Dr. Rubidge thinks
that a similar condition of silicification exists in the Zuurberg range*,
although no overlying horizontal sandstones are there seen. He
describes in detail a section made by himself and Mr. R. Pincher,
along the road from Port Elizabeth to Somerset, which shows the
inclined schistose beds intercalated with a band of dark felspathic
rock (the claystone-porphyry of Bain) lying conformably on and
passing into the quartzite of the Zuurberg on the south, and, after
some great flexures of the quartzites, a similar series of conformable
schistose rocks (and a felspathic band) dips from the other side of
the Zuurberg in an opposite direction. Similar beds continue with
a diminishing dip as far as Van der Merwve’s River, whence they
rise again to the north to beyond Bushman’s River (at Gower’s), a
little beyond which the felspathic band appears intercalated with
them. The section then becomes obscured until the Karoo beds are
met with near Brak River, having a slight southerly dip, and pro-
bably abutting unconfor mably against the schists near Callaghan’s
* See also ‘The Eastern Province etc) atest (Graham’s at vol. il.
no. 17 (December 1857), p. 187, &.
198 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. { Nov. 17,
Inn. This section differs in some important features from that pub-
lished by Mr. Bain of the same district.
Dr. Rubidge considers that the slaty beds flanking Zuurberg on
either side, and forming the synclinal trough at the Van der Merwve’s
River, are of the same age as the quartzites of the Zuurberg, which
are in his opinion silicified by metamorphic influences: the inter-
bedded felspathic rock may also in his opinion be possibly of meta-
morphic origin. |
The author follows up his argument by reference to other parallel
sections, and regards the plant-beds of Ecca, as well as those of the
Great Fish River and the Van der Merwye’s River, as being of De-
vonian age, and not belonging to the lower Karoo beds, regarded
by Mr. Bain as having a more southerly extension. | Dr. Rubidge
notices that some members of the two formations resemble each
other so strongly, that sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between
them.
The plant-beds above referred to contain innumerable obscure
vegetable fragments, like those of stems, reeds, dsc. ; and in the rocks
at Gower’s on Bushman’s River, Dr. Rubidge has seen, besides frag-
mentary vegetable remains, some fine jointed stems.
A large series of specimens from the Zuurberg and Van der
Merwve’s River accompanied this communication ; and Dr. Rubidge
also sent a series of fossil plants from the Dicynodon- or Karoo-beds
of Bloemkop, with which Mr. C. J. Powell, of Graaf Reinett, had sup-
plied him. The plant-beds of the Karoo series, at Bloemkop, con-
tain two or more kinds of Glossopteris, very similar to those of the
plant-beds of Central India and Bengal.
Amongst the fossils sent by Dr. Rubidge are several fossils from
the Zwartzkop and from the mouth of Sunday River; amongst the
latter are some Belemnites and Hamutes, probably of Cretaceous age.
3. On some MInERAL Sprines near TEHRAN, Prrsia.
By the Hon. C. A. Murray, C.B., H.B.M. Envoy Extraordinary and
Min. Plen. in Persia.
[In a Letter* to Sir Charles Lyell, F.G.S.]
[ Abstract. |
In August the author made an excursion into the wild and rocky
valleys of Laridjan, on the northern side of the Elburz chain, to
examine some mineral springs near the village of Aske. This village
is placed on asteep declivity above the impetuous torrent of the Laur,
and is about 40 or 45 miles E.N.E. from Tehran, and near where
latitude 36° N. intersects longitude 52° EK. It is only a few miles
from the lofty and slumbering volcano Demavend7y. Round Aske the
country is chiefly limestone, with dark-coloured pudding-stone, and
* Dated August 25, 1858.
t For a late account of Demavend, see the paper by Thomson = Kerr in
' the Roy. Geograph. Soc. Proceed. vol. iii. no. 1.
1858. | MURRAY-——MINERAL SPRINGS. 199
in several places large tracts of sandy grit, in many precipitous
heights of which numerous caves and hermitages have been exca-
vated in olden times.
The most celebrated spring in the neighbourhood is the Ab-i-garm
(hot-water),—a warm sulphur-spring that rises on one of the spurs
of the Demavend, about six miles to the eastward of Aske, on the
left bank of the Laur, and probably about 2000 feet above the bed
of that river.
The principal mineral ingredients of this spring are sulphur and
naphtha, with some iron and lime. On the 15th of August, the
temperature of the atmosphere in the shade, at two p.m., being 75° F.,
the temperature of the spring at its source was 150° F. From hence
it flows down the side of the mountain to a large basin about 15 feet
long, 10 broad, and 4 deep, over and around which a large stone
bath has been raised. The temperature in the basin is about 118° F.
Here in summer thousands congregate from every part of Northern
Persia.
The bath seems to be beneficial in rheumatism, neuralgia, and
some diseases of the skin.
Formerly there issued from the rock,.a few feet from the Ab-i-
garm, a cold spring of pure water, which disappeared after an earth-
quake about forty years ago.
The tepid baths of Aske are about half a mile from the village on
the right bank of the Laur, and about 250 or 300 feet above that
river. These are used both for bathing and drinking. Lime and
carbonic acid gas are abundant in this water. There are several
springs of different dimensions, the bathing-basins of which are
apart from each other at distances varying from ten to fifteen yards.
_ At half-past five p.m., the temperature of the air in the shade being
71°F., the water in the centre of the largest basin (where the bubbles
are thrown up, by the gas to an elevation of 6 or 8 inches above
the surrounding surface) was at 82°—the average of the temperature
of the other springs near by.
On the left bank of the Laur a small bubbling spring of water,
similar to those last mentioned, had a temperature of 85° F. These
tepid mineral springs lying to the eastward of Aske, do not appear
to be affected by the intervention of the deep and rocky bed of the
Laur. To the westward of Aske, at the distance of about 14 mile,
on the left bank of the river, and not more than 150 feet above its
bed, is a fine cold chalybeate spring: besides iron, this probably con-
tains carbonic acid gas and a small portion of sulphur. Its tempe-
rature was found to be 50° F., that of the atmosphere being 73° F.
It is not disagreeable to the taste, and in some complaints is found
very strengthening and efficacious.
In conclusion, the author referred to the undeveloped riches of the
Elburz—its coal, iron, copper, silver, sulphur, marble, and. other
mineral treasures.
200
PROCEEDINGS
OF
THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
POSTPONED PAPERS.
1. On some of the GuactaL Pomnomena of Canapa and the Nortu- —
EASTERN Provinces of the Unirep States during the Drirr-
Prriop. By Professor Anprew C. Ramsay, F.R.S., F.G.S., and
Local Director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. |
[Read May 12, 1858.]
ConTENTS.
Glacialized condition of the Laurentine Mountains; and the drift-deposits
of Montreal.
Glacial drift of the plains; strie; and roches moutonnées.
Drift and striz in the Valley of ‘the Hudson, including the Canaan Hills
and the Catskill Mountains.
Probable equivalency of the upper clay drift of the Hudson Valley with
that of Lake Champlain and of Montreal.
Probable date of the Niagara Falls.
Drift and other late Tertiary deposits at Niagara.
Glacialized condition of the Laurentine Mountains ; and the Drift-
deposits of Montreal.—In the Straits of Bellisle, the barren coast of
Labrador consists partly of low patches of red sandstones, de. lying
almost horizontally on the Laurentian series—that most ancientsystem
of gneiss and granite which forms the eastern extremity of the great
Laurentine chain. These gneissic rocks are rounded and largely mam-
millated, as if by the action of ice ; and all the distant hills, quite bare
of trees, possess the same sweeping contours. The gnarled strata of the
lofty Bellisle itself, to the very summit, show unequivocal signs of the
same abrasion, their well-worn outcrops presenting none of those
jagged outlines that all highly-disturbed beds are apt to assume when
exclusively weathered by air, rain, and open frost. Similar forms pre-
vail far up the St. Lawrence, on its north shore, easily distinguishable
in spite of the forests which, before we reach the Saguenay, rise to
the tops of the mountains, leaving here and there unwooded rocky
patches. Further up the river, by the Isle aux Coudres (about 50
miles below Quebec), I became more and more impressed by similar
appearances. Nota peak is to be seen; and to the top every hill
seemed moutonnée. Like much of Wales, Ireland, and the Highlands
of Scotland, the country appeared moulded by 2ce.
. RAMSAY—DRIFT-PERIOD OF CANADA. 901
On the south side of the river the country is low, being formed of
Silurian strata chiefly covered with drift from the Laurentine chain ;
and the vast quantity of boulders and smaller stones that cover the
land help to impress on it a poor agricultural character.
Approaching Montreal, the gneissic mountains recede to the north-
west; and both banks of the river are low, except where an
occasional boss of greenstone pierces the Silurian strata. Montreal
Mountain, about a mile behind the city, is one of these, rising
boldly out of the terraced drift of the plain.
This drift consists of clay, with Laurentian boulders and boulders
of greenstone from the mountain, both mixed with subangular
gravels of Utica slate and Trenton limestone, which formations rise
on its flanks. Many of the boulders and smaller stones are grooved,
or more finely scratched, in a manner undistinguishable from the
scratched stones of the British and Alpine drift or of Alpine glaciers.
We are indebted to Dr. Dawson of Montreal for three important
subdivisions of the superficial deposits,—namely, 1st, at the base,
lower boulder-clay and gravel; 2ndly, an unctuous clay, with many
marine shells, called by him the ‘ Leda-clay” (Leda Portlandica),
on which lie, 3rdly, beds of gravel and sand, with shells, one of the
most common of which is Saxicava rugosa. These subformations
occasionally pass into each other where they jom. The Saxicava-
sand he considers to have been a shallow and sublittoral deposit; the
Leda-clay to have been accumulated at depths of from 100 to 300
feet or more; and the true boulder-clay to have been formed at an
earlier period of subsidence, during which an ocean spread over the
greater part of North America. I shall have occasion to show that
at one time this sea was, in places, probably over 3000 feet in depth.
The section (fig. 1)* across the drift, which I drew at Montreal,
nearly agrees with Dr. Dawson’s, with the exception that I show five
terraces in the drift, while he gives two. Their number may vary
in different localities ; but they have certainly been formed during
the last emergence of the country, each terrace indicating a pause in
elevation; and in a great degree the shells of the upper strata le
in a debris of remodelled drift. The two upper terraces, to the left
of Dorchester Street, correspond to Dr. Dawson’s Leda-clay and
Saxicava-sand.
Between the lowest terrace and the river there is a broad marsh,
including patches of recent freshwater shells. It is part of the old
course of the St. Lawrence; and on its surface (the lighter drift
having been removed) the boulders that once studded the clay
have been concentrated. Similar terraces occur on the banks of the
Ottawa. The country is strewn with boulders of gneiss and meta-
morphic limestone, from the neighbouring Laurentine chain, mixed
with more local debris ; and here also it seemed, in several cases, as if,
by zemoval of the lighter material, the boulders were more concen-
* For the Silurian geology of this diagram, I am indebted to the descriptions
of Sir Wm. Logan.
202 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
trated on the lower than on the higher
terraces. Many of the blocks are
rounded; in this respect differing
markedly from the majority of those
on glaciers, in moraines, and probably
from those transported by icebergs,
which, derived from glaciers that
reach the sea-level, obtain their debris
by the fall of rocks and stones on their
surfaces from inland cliffs. In the
American hills which I saw, there are
no signs of true glaciers like those of
the Alps having existed; and the
boulders have been transported by
floating ice from old sea-shores, where
they had been long exposed to the
washing of the waves.
At Hawksbury Mills I crossed the
Ottawa with Sir William Logan, and
penetrated part of the Laurentine hills
lying several miles from the north
bank of the river. Waterworn gravel
here and there rises nearly to their
summits, now rarely more than 500
or 600 feet above the river.
In the range about eight miles
north of the Ottawa, there are well-
rounded and occasionally grooved sur-
faces of gneiss, greenstone, and quartz-
rock,—the striations, where I saw
them, running 10° and 20° W. of 8.
In many places, among the hills,
numerous half-rounded boulders (of
the same substances as those that
strew the plains of the Ottawa and
the St. Lawrence) cover the ground,
and appear as if they had been
waiting their turn for glacial trans-
portation, ere the country was raised
above the sea. These general signs
existing in this chain, in latitude 453°
N., gave me more perfect confidence
in the universal glacial abrasion of
the hills on the coast of Labrador in
a latitude nearly 150 miles further
north. :
Glacial Drift of the Plains ; Strie;
and Roches moutonnées.—I need not
indulge in repeated descriptions of the
ee nconenmas:
River
St, Lawrence.
3. Utica Slate.
ay and boulders, cut into terraces.
Mr. Moffat’s
Garden. —
Dorchester St. ----~q
2. Drift-beds of cl
‘Fig. 1.—Diagram-section of the Drift-deposits at Montreal.
5. Greenstone.
Montreal Mountain.
1. Marshy ground with concentrated boulders.
4. Trenton Limestone.
RAMSAY—DRIFT-PERIOD OF CANADA. 203
drift that covers the plains of Canada and the northern States. It
is enough to say that the descriptions given by previous writers are
strictly correct. The whole country is literally covered with drift,—
to such an extent, indeed, that, except in denuded water-courses and
deep gorges, like those of the Genesee and Niagara, it is only in rare
cases that the rock is exposed. Even railway-cuttings rarely pene-
trate to the rocks below. It may be compared, in Europe, to the
northern plains of Germany. In horizontal extension it is the most
widely spread of all deposits; and even in thickness it rises to the
dignity of a great formation, having by Logan and Hall been esti-
mated in places at 500 and 800 feet in thickness}. In all cases the
Laurentian boulders, which have often travelled hundreds of miles, are .
mixed with fragments of the rocks that crop out northward towards
the Laurentine hills, and with stones from the strata of the im-
mediate neighbourhood,—the number of the component materials of
the drift thus generally increasing to the south+, marking the fact
that the lowlands as well as the mountains have been subject to the
denuding and transporting agency of ice. Ata distance from the
mountains, the boulders become comparatively few ; and it is this
admixture of calcareous and other material, often lightened with
sand, that fertilizes the soil in the great plains that surround the
lakes.
The city of Ottawa stands on Trenton limestone; and the surrounding country
is strewn with boulders of Laurentian gneiss and Trenton limestone itself, and
of Potsdam sandstone, &c.
Between Ottawa, and Prescott on the St. Lawrence, the basement-rock is rarely
seen. The country is chiefly covered with gravel containing boulders of gneiss
from the hills, and of Silurian rocks from the plains. Here and there are
patches of sand containing pebbles and small boulders, generally rounded. In
some places it has the appearance of blown sand,—an effect that may have been
produced as the land emerged from the sea.
The shores of Lake Ontario, in general, consist of low and shelving slopes of
drift ; but at Scarborough bold cliffs of sand, gravel, and clay partly white, with
boulders, rise 320 feet above the lake. The terraces of Toronto have been de-
scribed by Sir Charles Lyell. They are like those of the St. Lawrence and the
Ottawa. The lower part of the city stands on a very stiff boulder-clay, containing
large and small boulders, many of them scratched. Somewhat higher there are
beds of beautifully laminated brick-clays, similar to the clay of the Hudson
Valley, afterwards to be described, and probably its equivalent. In 1857, great
railway-cuttings were in progress in the lower clay. The terrace marked * in
fig. 2 consists of sand, with Laurentian and other boulders resting on white
brick-clay, which is beautifully laminated, and in which similar boulders are
more sparingly scattered.
The removal of the sand by denudation, to form the terrace, has produced a
great concentration of gneissic and other boulders on the surface between the
terrace and the lake.
In the great plains between Lakes Ontario, Erie, and Huron, the drift of gravel,
sand, and clay, with many large and small striated boulders, is frequently of great
Tt I had an opportunity of examining the drift in many places between
Quebec and London (which lies between Lake Huron and Lake Erie), about
500 miles from N.E. to S.W. in a direct line, and from north to south between
Montreal and Ottawa, to Blossburg and New York.
t See Murray’s Report, Geological Survey of Canada, 1856.
VOl kVr—_ PART 1. Q
204
Fig, 2.—Section of the Drift-terraces at Toronto. Lake Ontario
Sand.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY,
y denudation.
containing some boulders.
at Beuldens left after the removal of the sand b
4. White laminated clay,
a
o
ay aS}
‘, =]
a, fo)
NN ae
®
y c=
: hE
ey ine}
Ol! as
Q RM
aa
© °O.2.920 °
and unknown thickness. White clay occurs round Lon-
don; from this the bricks are made of which the town is
built. The geologist may here travel twenty or thirty miles
without seeing rocks in place. In the gravels near Hamilton,
elephantine remains were found, supposed by Dr. Dawson
to have been washed from the table-land of the Niagara
escarpment when the lower plain was still covered by sea.
Between Rochester and Scottsville, the undulating sur-
face consists entirely of drift, containing numerous boul-
ders of Potsdam sandstone, labradorite, gneiss, hyper-
sthene-rock, &c., from the Laurentine Chain about 100 miles
off. Many of them are large, smooth, and well striated.
My. Hall observed that the drift is here often 120 feet thick,
and that the mounds are steepest to the north.
The River Genesee runs through a deep rocky ravine,
which near Portage is 350 feet high. The rock on the top
is smoothed and scratched, and along the whole course of
the river, on either side above the gorge, the rocks are
generally obscured by drift. On this river Dr. Bigsby ob-
served fragments from Montreal Mountain, which lies 270
miles to the north-east ; and Laurentine boulders are com-
mon. I observed at Mountmorris, on the river, that m
the lower part of the drift the stones are often angular and
scratched, while the upper beds are of sand.
Near Portage, on the Genesee, the drift is said by Mr.
Hall to be about 500 feet thick, filling up a valley in
the rocks, through which an older river ran previous to
the drift-period. When the country emerged from the
sea, and a new drainage was formed, the river was turned
aside by this accumulation, finding it easier to form a
new channel in the present gorge, 350 feet deep.
At Onondaga the drift is 640 feet thick.
Drift is equally characteristic of Connecticut and Mas-
sachusetts. In the New Red Sandstone Valley of Con-
necticut, the drift seemed mixed, but mostly local.
It is also well known that large far-transported boul-
ders occur on the south bank of the Ohio,—a circum-
stance less remarkable than at first sight appears, when
we consider that it is stated that icebergs have been seen
as far south as the Azores.
Wherever the drift is freshly removed, the
rocks are found to be smoothed, striated, and
often rounded. On the Isle Perrot, near Mon-
treal, Mr. Billings observed strie running 8.W. ;
and near Ottawa, by the river, in several places
they run south-easterly. These instances are
both at low levels ; and during a late period it is
easy to understand how, during a former exten-
sion of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, icebergs drift-
ing up the Gulf, as they do now, would produce
scratches running S.W. in the strait between the
Laurentine hills and the Mountains of Adirondack,
while in the open sea south of Ottawa (now a
great plain) the drift passed in an opposite direc-
tion. About halfway between Ottawa and Pres-
cott, on the St. Lawrence, near Kempville, the striz
RAMSAY—DRIFT-PERIOD OF CANADA. 205
run 8. from 5° to 10° E. on a smoothed surface of Calciferous Sand-
rock ; and at Niagara, on the limestone, 8. 30° W., with minor stri-
ations crossing each other at various angles. Near Avon, at Conesus
Outlet, in the Genesee Valley, on the Corniferous Limestone, the chief
striz run S. 10° W., crossed by many minor scratches, having a general
southern course. These crossings might be expected, if the strie
were produced by floating ice subject to minor variations of the
currents, and to the influence of winds. The rock is overlaid by
clay containing scratched subangular stones. At Genesee, under
6 feet of drift-clay full of scratched stones, the striz run 8. 5° W. ;
and near Portage, on the top of the gorge, 350 feet deep, the striz
run a little west of south.
The rocks of the St. Lawrence, where it flows from Lake Ontario,
deserve more special notice. Above its junction with the Ottawa,
the banks of the St. Lawrence are low and shelving, and the rocks are
in general obscured by drift ; but between Brockville and Lake On-
tario, where the river widens and winds amid the intricacies of the
Thousand Isles, while the larger islands are partially covered with drift,
and well wooded, the lower islets are often only scantily clothed with
grass and a few stunted trees and shrubs. Some of them are formed
of Laurentian gneiss, and others of Potsdam sandstone. The Pots-
dam sandstone above the river-bank at Brockville has been ground
smooth, and in waving lines passes under the river. The islands
formed of Laurentian gneiss or Potsdam sandstone present the
same largely mammillated surfaces, rising from the midst of the
river, which between Brockville and the lake gradually increases to
9 or 10 miles in width. All of them are moutonnées, somewhat like
the islands of Loch Lomond ; and the surfaces of the little islets often
slip under the water quite smooth and unbroken.
This is one of those cases in which it might be contended that the
glaciation of these rocks may be due to the floating ice of the river
when it breaks up in spring. But though it may produce slight
effects, there are several conclusive reasons why the greater features
should not be referred to this cause. The old glaciation has passed
up the country quite beyond the reach of the present river, while the
tops of most of the islands rise far above the extreme height of the
water; and again, some of the islands with well-rounded glaciated
surfaces present vertical cliffs to the river, sometimes 20 feet in
height, where the rocks have split away at the joints; and on these
cliffs I observed no sign of that glaciation which we should expect
to find if the river-ice exercised any important influence. Further,
it was observed by Sir Wm. Logan, that if the smoothing were pro-
duced by river-ice, many of the trees of the islets would be shaved
off by the yearly ice,—whereas, when untouched by man, they grow
to the water’s edge. At the only place I landed (a wooding-
station), the rock had been too long exposed to the weather to
retain its striations; but as we passed the islands, I could see
indications of strie; and it is to be wished that some one would
settle the point by determining their exact bearings, the chief direc-
a2
206 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
tions of which, without presumption, I venture to predict will be
across the river, and approximately from north to south.
Drift and Stric in the Valley of the Hudson, including the Canaan
Hills.—On the banks of the Hudson, south of Albany, the rocks
frequently show the familiar mammillated surfaces,—the striations,
where I observed them, running nearly north and south. The
Highlands of the Hudson also, on a smaller scale, recall the well-
rounded outlines of the Laurentine Chain ; and at the mouth of the
river numerous moutonnées surfaces strike the eye, while boulders
strew its sides and the surface of Staten Island in the harbour of
New York,—all attesting, thus far south, the undiminished energy
of glacial action.
Near Boston, gneissic rocks show the same signs; and at Rox-
burgh, on the outskirts of the city, large surfaces of perfectly mou-
tonnée Red Sandstone conglomerate were pointed out to me by Dr.
Gould, who informed me that, when he first took Agassiz to the
same spot, he at once recognized their ice-smoothed character. The
water-worn pebbles of quartz have been ground quite flat on their
upper surfaces, and stand slightly out from the rock, the softer sandy
matrix of which has yielded to the influence of the weather.
The same kinds of indications are strong in all those parts of
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont through which I
passed. There, as in the other places previously mentioned, the
country is much covered with clay, sand, gravel, and boulders,
partly rounded and apparently chiefly derived from neighbouring
formations. Far-transported boulders may be more scarce among
these mountains, their height having partly.barred the transport of
floating material from the Laurentine Chain, whereas the broad
plains south of the lakes were more open to the ice drifting from the
north. In the above-named States, instances of fresh and of decay-
ing ice-worn and striated rocks are of constant occurrence in the low
ground ; and it is truly marvellous to see the same rounded contours
rising in the mountains to the very top,—again reminding the
traveller of the ice-moulded surfaces of the south-west of Ireland, of
the Highlands of Scotland, and of parts of Wales. In none of these
American localities are there, however, any signs of pre-existing
glaciers, such as are frequent in the mountainous parts of the
British Isles.
I am unable to throw any new light on the perplexing ques-
tion of the glacial phenomena of the Canaan Hills. These have
been described by Dr. Hitchcock and Sir Charles Lyell. The range
lies on the east side of the Hudson, about twenty miles south-east
of Albany, and forms part of the Green Mountains, which are
an intermediate part of the long chain that, commencing on the
south with the Alleghany Mountains, trends north-easterly to the
Mountains of Notre Dame and Gaspé, on the south shore of the Gulf
of St. Lawrence. In the district of Canaan and Richmond, their
average strike is nearly north and south, the rocks consisting of that
part of the Silurian series which ranges between the Birdseye and
RAMSAY—DRIFT-PERIOD OF CANADA. 207
Trenton limestones and the Oneida conglomerate,—highly disturbed,
cleaved, and partly metamorphosed and foliated. The contours of
the hills indicate the moulding effects of ice. The rounded surfaces,
wherever they have not been too long exposed to the weather, are
grooved and scratched ; and these well-defined indications are found
alike on the sides and the summits of the hills. In company with
Mr. Hall and Sir Wm. Logan, I ascended the Canaan Hills from the
N.W., descended into the opposite valley, crossed the Richmond
Hills above the Shakers’ Village, and, descending into the Richmond
Valley, walked to Pittsfield. It is a remarkable circumstance, re-
corded by Dr. Hitchcock, and partly confirmed by Sir Charles Lyell,
and which I also saw, that on both slopes the observed striations run,
more or less, across the trend of the hills, which at this point strike
about N.N.W. The directions of the striz are between E. 10°S.
and §.E.; a larger proportion approaching the first than the second
direction. Why they should run across the hills and valleys at all
has not yet been explained ; for, while quite admitting the value of
Mr. Darwin’s explanation*, it yet does not appear to me to meet a
case where the hills are so steep and the valleys so very deep. The
difficulty is increased by the fact that the average strike of moun-
tain and valley is from N. to 8., which is also the general direction
of glacial striations over most of North America; and it is difficult
to understand why, if floating ice produced these marks, an excep-
tion should have been made in this case, where we might expect the
N. and S. run of the submerged valleys would have acted as guides
to the icebergs, which would then have floated from north to south
as they did in the adjacent valley of the Hudson. The drift is often
40 feet thick and upwards, and is mostly local, many of the boulders
being of the Birdseye limestone, which crops out in the valleys.
Smaller drift, with these boulders, creeps up the flanks of the hills
almost to their summits,—this effect, as stated by Sir Charles
Lyell}, having probably been produced in the manner indicated by
Mr. Darwin, who, in a similar instance, considers boulders to have ~
been floated up on the ice of successive winters, by little and little
during a slow submergence of the country ¢.
The Catskill Mountains —On the west side of the Hudson, the
Catskill Mountains rise, in their highest peaks, about 3600 feet above
* Phil. Mag. August 1855.
Tt Proceedings of the Royal Institution, vol. ii. p: 95.
{ If before the submergence of the country the cold were sufficiently intense,
it is possible that each minor range forming the sides of valleys may have been
so completely covered with thick snow and ice, that, always pressing downwards
from the snow shed, the striations were formed HE. and W., or transverse to
the trend of the ranges; but in that case both in the valleys and on the sides and
summits of the hills, when fairly submerged, we might expect north and south
striations formed by the grating of bergs during the deposition of the northern
drift. In the case of isolated hills the strie ought also to radiate from their sum-
mits. I observed none of these appearances, but had not sufficient time to
search for them in detail. It is clear that the E. and W. striations across the
range were not made by a general terrestrial glaciation during, or after, the re-
elevation of the country, for then the boulders, &c. transported from low to high
levels would all have been swept down again into the hollows.
208 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
the sea, and nearly that height above the river, which is tidal far
above Albany. The strike, both of the Silurian and Devonian rocks
of the lower hills, is nearly north and south; and, after traversing a
broken country for ten or twelve miles, the Catskill Range itself rises
in a long north and south escarpment, nearly 3000 feet above the
hilly ground that lies between it and the river. At the town of
Catskill, striations on the smoothed surfaces run nearly north and
south, following the trend of the Hudson Valley between the Catskill
and Green Mountains; and at other points between the river and the
mountains they run about N.N.E. I was anxious to discover if on
the Catskill Mountains themselves there were any signs of true
glacier-action, this range being much higher than any other eleva-
tions which I had an opportunity of ascending. The low country is
as much or even more glaciated than Anglesea ; and the mountains
are as high as Snowdon ; and—though in latitude 42° N., whereas
North Wales is in latitude 52° to 53°—other conditions seemed very
much the same. Observations also in this region were of more
importance, since I am not aware that evidences of any kind of
glaciation on these heights had previously been definitely recorded.
The accompanying sketch-map (fig. 3), constructed on the spot, will
give an idea of the topography of that part of the range which I
examined.
I ascended from the mouth of the valley misnamed “ Sleepy
Hollow,” up the steep and winding road to Mountain House. The
mountain is almost everywhere covered by dense wood, so that,
except on the roadside, it is comparatively rare to find the rocks
uncovered. In “Sleepy Hollow” the road runs nearly east and west.
Occasionally local drift lies on its steep northern side; and on the
smoothed surfaces of rock I observed a few striations from N. to 8.,
and others from E. to W. The former ran up and down the hill
towards the brook; and the latter were on the vertical faces of the
little cliffs, up and down the valley.
Passing the bend where the road crosses the brook, striations
became frequent; and I was surprised to find that all of them
ran nearly N. and S. along the flanks of the escarpment, and not
from W. to E. down the slope of the hill. For a time I thought
that as I ascended higher they would cease altogether; but, so far
from this being the case, I was alike pleased and astonished to
find that they continued equally strong and frequent up to the
plateau on which the Hotel stands, 2850 feet above the sea; and
all, but a few of the last, ran not across, but along the face of the
escarpment.
By twenty compass-observations made on clearly defined stria-
tions, the chief grooves run between S. 22° E. and 8S. 55° W.
Among these, one runs 8. 22° E., two S. 10° E., two N. and S., one
S. 10° W., six S. 22° W., one S. 30° W., two S. 55° W., and one
W.10°N. The variations seem somewhat connected with bends and
other irregularities in the face of the great escarpment. One of the
observations (8. 55° W.) was made on the well-scratched plateau
on which the Hotel stands, about 120 feet above the lower part of
RAMSAY—DRIFT-PERIOD OF CANADA. 209
a gorge which here crosses the watershed towards the lakes, in
which the stream rises that, further down, forms the Falls of Catskill.
The other is at the bend of the road N.E. of the hotel, near the
head of the stream. In the lowest part of the gorge, on the summit
Fig. 3.—Sketch-map of a portion of the Catskill Mountains, showing
the Directions of the Strie near Mountain House.
dl We
SS ——— V4 \\
——— Ter Nyy
of the watershed, many square yards of smoothed rock are exposed
a little off the road; and in this plateau numerous main grooves are
seen, passing across the hill, and nearly at right angles to most of
those observed during the ascent, seemingly pointing to the fact that
the icebergs, which striated the eastern flanks of the mountains in
a N. and S. direction, when the whole was nearly submerged here
found a passage or strait, through which they sometimes floated and
grated the bottom in a direction quite across that which they were
210 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
forced to follow when passing along the great escarpment that now
faces the Hudson.
Though the principal. grooves run in the directions stated, many
minor striations, such as might be expected from floating ice, cross
them at various angles.
From this point I made two excursions into the higher parts of the
range, in the hope of finding similar markings: but so dense is the
forest, that it took two hours to walk a mile; and though in several
places the rocks were exposed, they were too much weather-worn
to afford all the usual indications. Nevertheless the rounded contours
of all the mountain-tops always impressed me with the idea of glacial
abrasion; and if, as I believe, they were contoured and striated
by floating ice, then the drift-sea of the Hudson Valley was at least
3000 feet deep,—and probably more, if, as is likely, the higher
peaks were also submerged. Judging by the general uniformity
that seems to have prevailed over North America in changes of level,
it would probably be safe to infer that this submergence also
extended to the Laurentine and other mountain-chains in the eastern
part of North America.
Allowing that the striations on the eastern flank of the great
range were made by floating ice, it still does not follow that im the
interior there should be no traces of glaciers in the narrow valleys
on the opposite watershed,—such glaciers, if they ever existed, being —
hike some of those in North Wales, of later date than the emergence
of the country from the drift sea. I had an opportunity of testing
this. In the gorge close to the south shore of the little lakes, the
striations still run W. 10° N.; and below that point the valley,
descending westward from 5° to 10°, is covered with boulders of
Catskill sandstone (see fig. 3). About a mile and a half down, at
the Falls of Catskill, the valley suddenly deepens; and about two
miles further it curves round to the 8.E. and 8.; and finally the
stream escapes from the Catskill Range, and flows towards the Hud-
son. On either side the valley is bounded by high steep slopes and
Fig. 4.—Section of the Valley below the Falls of Catskill,
showing boulder-drift covering ats sides.
River.
1. Drift. 2. Red Sandstone and Conglomerate.
abrupt cliffs; and the height and form of the ground is such that,
under favourable circumstances, it seemed as well adapted for the
formation of a glacier as many of the valleys of North Wales, had
- RAMSAY——-DRIFT-PERIOD OF CANADA. - 211
the conditions for such a result been alike propitious. But the
evidence is opposed to any such conclusions. I saw no well-marked
roches moutonnées, no traces of moraines; and the forest-clad slopes
are mostly covered with deep local gravel and boulder-drift, many of
the stones in which are scratched. Had a glacier existed there since
the drift-period, the drift would have been ploughed out of the
valley by the glacier, in the manner that it was removed by the gla-
ciers of the Passes of Llanberis and Nant Francon in North Wales ;
whereas nothing has been removed, except a portion of the drift by
the torrent that now flows in the bottom* (see fig. 4). —
Probable equivalency of the Drift of the Hudson Valley with that
of Lake Champlain and of Montreal.—l have now a few remarks to
offer on a part of the drift itself. South of Albany the Hudson
flows through a broad valley full of minor undulations, between the
Catskill and the Green Mountains. On the banks of the river are
extensive beds of sandy clay, from which the bricks are made of
which Albany is built. The city stands on this clay, which extends
far down the river towards New York, and northward into the Valley
of the Mohawk, and as I shall show, probably also into the valley of
Lake Champlain. Beyond the river-bank it stretches E. and W. on
the undulating ground towards the mountains, rising, six miles in the
direction of the Helderberg, far above the level of the river. At its
edge, Mr. Hall pointed out to me that the sands, gravels, and boulder-
clay of the ordinary drift pass under it. The superficial deposits of
the valley of the Hudson, therefore, consist of two subdivisions:
first, the older boulder-beds ; and, second, the laminated clay, which
at Albany is a thick formation, finely and evenly bedded in layers of
1 or 2 inches thick, the argillo-arenaceous lamine of which graduate
into each other in shades of bluish-grey, brown, and brownish-
yellow, producing a beautifully ribanded aspect, and giving the im-
pression of a succession of repeated alternations of tranquil deposi-
tions in still water. Boulders occur in it rarely; and the top is
covered with sand, which may possibly represent the uppermost
sandy beds of the St. Lawrence and Ottawa districts. I searched
in vain for fossils, both in the paper-like lamine of clay, and in the
abundant concretions, resembling those of the valley of the Ottawa
which contain the fossil fish Mallotus villosus.
The Hudson runs nearly straight north and south ; and forty miles
above Albany, at Sandy Hill, the Champlain Canal joins the river to
Lake Champlain, which also trends north and south, and, separated
by a low watershed, lies in what must be considered a continuation
of the valley of the Hudson. The lake is 90 feet above the level of
the sea; and.on the Vermont shore, 150 feet above the sea, there is
a section of six feet and a half of regularly stratified clay and sand,
overlying an older blue clay (the older drift), in which were found,
by ae ee Zadoc Thompson, Sanguinolaria fusca, Mya arenaria,
* I was informed by Professor Agassiz, that in the White Mountains, which
rise more than 6000 feet above the sea, there are in the higher regions distinct
indications of ancient glaciers; and if this be the case, the same oe may
be looked for in the mountains of Gaspé.
212 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Saxicava rugosa, and Mytilus edulis, and at the bottom the bones of
a Cetacean associated with S. rugosa and a Nucula or, more probably,
Leda. The Leda-clay of Dr. Dawson, at Montreal, is also about 120
feet above the river, or 140 feet above the level of the sea. If the
so-called “ Nucula” of Lake Champlain be Leda Portlandica, the
Montreal beds contain the same assemblage of fossils (except San-
guinolaria fusca). In the Montreal beds Sir Wm. Logan also found
a number of the caudal vertebre of a Cetacean. The beds at Green’s
Creek, Ottawa, containing the same assemblage of shells, Mallotus
villosus, and remains of Seals, are 118 feet above Lake St. Peter,
and 140-150 feet above the sea. Marine shells (Saaicava rugosa,
Mya, Mytilus edulis, and Tellina Grenlandica) occur at Kingston,
at the entrance to Lake Ontario. Dr. Dawson shows good reason
why the above-named fossiliferous deposits on the St. Lawrence
and Ottawa should be considered equivalents. In addition, I am
of opinion that this conclusion may be extended to the Kingston
beds, and that the beds of Lake Champlain leading down to those
of the Hudson are of the same date; and if so, then I cannot doubt
that the laminated clay that overlies the older boulder-drift of
the Hudson Valley is a larger development of the same formation,
the whole having been deposited at the close of the drift-period. In
that case, a long marine strait filled the valley of the Hudson, and
communicated with the sea that, according to Dr. Dawson, then occu-
pied the whole of Lower Canada south of the Laurentine Chain, and,
stretching westward, covered the area of Lake Ontario, and washed
the great Niagara escarpment which formed its southern coast.
Probable date of the origin of Niagara Falls.—It has been shown
by Mr. Hall and Sir Charles Lyell, that when the Niagara escarpment
rose above the water, the Falls of Niagara began by the drainage
of the upper lake-area falling into the sea over the edge of the
escarpment above Queenstown and Lewistown. It is not impro-
bable that Lake Erie extended at that period much further towards
the present Falls; and, agreeing in the general conclusions of these
observers and of Dawson, it follows that, if the sea of the Leda-clay
washed the base of the escarpment, the Falls of Niagara commenced
during the deposition of that clay, or a little before the close of the
drift-period*. If, with accumulated data, the rate of the past re-
cession of the Falls be actually determinable, we shall then be in a
condition approximately to show the actual number of years that
have elapsed since the close of the North American drift. It may
perhaps appear that the approximate period of 35,000 years, given
by Sir Charles Lyell for the erosion of the gorge, is below the reality.
Drift and other Late Tertiary deposits at Niagara.—I have little
* It is well known that the Niagara escarpment is of older date than the drift.
Lake Hrie is 329 feet above Lake Ontario ; and the older boulder-drift lies indif-
ferently on the lower plain and on the table-land. No one has yet attempted to
show at what period this old coast-cliff, about 400 miles in length, was formed.
The upper platform, on a grand scale, bears the same physical relation to the
rocks of Lake Ontario that the Oolitic escarpment and table-land in England
does to the Lias and plains of New Red Mar! below.
RAMSAY——DRIFT-PERIOD OF CANADA. 213
to add to the account of the Later Tertiaries of Niagara given by Sir
Charles Lyell and Professor Hall.
- Above the falls a terrace of drift with boulders forms the left or
Canadian bank of the river. Just before reaching the Horse-shoe
Fall, the terraced bank recedes ; and a plateau of Niagara limestone
lies between it and the edge of the gorge. A road, with a deep
cutting in the drift, ascends the slope on the left between Table Rock
and Clifton House, at right angles to the river. First there is a gentle
slope of 35 feet, then a rapid scarped rise of 85 feet, and behind the
railway a second low terrace. The first and second slopes, 120 feet
high in all, consist of sandy loam (Nos. 3 and 2 in fig. 5), with
scratched stones and small boulders; and the upper terrace (No. 1) is
formed of 15 feet of red clay, thinly stratified, also containing an-
gular boulders and scratched stones of Laurentian gneiss, and of
Niagara limestones and other Silurian rocks. The top of the upper
Fig. 5.—Section of the Later Tertiary beds near Niagara Falls.
1. Red clay, with striated boulders, 15 feet
thick.
2. Sandy loam with scratched stones and
small boulders, 85 feet.
3. Sandy loam, 35 feet.
4
5
. Niagara Limestone.
. Niagara Shale. 6. Talus.
escarpment of drift forms the highest part of the whole plateau.
Being 135 feet above the edge of the fall, its top is 60 feet above
Lake Erie, which is only 70 feet above that edge. The edge of the
great escarpment above Lewiston is said by Mr. Hall to be 70 feet
above the top of the fall; and therefore the escarpment No.1 of the
accompanying diagram (fig. 5) is also 65 feet, and No. 2, 50 feet
higher than the top of the escarpment above Lewiston, and 45 feet
above Lake Erie. If this drift once extended across the space now
occupied by the gorge, as shown by the dotted lines, Lake Erie may
originally have extended thus far, and after a time the river gra-
dually cut out a channel in the drift and formed both terraces; or
else an original terraced channel existed, formed during the emergence
of the country, the terraces being formed by marine denudation*.
The lower terrace has, in part at least, been excavated by the
river, which, before the formation of the gorge, here spread into a
* It deserves to be stated, that half-way up the cutting, on the surface, I
found a Cyclas; and another was found by Sir Wm. Logan, with whom I mea-
sured the section, on the same terrace, behind Clifton House. Some bits of plate
of the ‘“ willow-pattern,” however, lay near my shell; and that found by Sir Wm.
Logan was on ground that had been stirred with the spade; and we came to the
conclusion that the evidence they afforded was of very doubtful value.
214 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
broad reach, like that above the Falls. It is on a continuation of
this platform, about a quarter of a mile below Clifton House, be-.
tween the drift-terrace and the edge of the gorge, that the strata
containing existing river-shells occur (fig. 6).
Fig. 6.—Section showing the position of the Freshwater beds above
the Gorge of the Niagara.
River.
>; 1. Freshwater beds.
eee 2. Drift, with boulders.
DY Gyo Ree ' 3. Niagara Limestone.
ar 4, Niagara Shale.
5. Talus.
This drift-terrace Sir Charles Lyell has shown to be as old as the
Mastodon-period. The freshwater beds lie in a shallow hollow on
the limestone. They consist of remodelled drift, and some of the
stones are scratched ; but whether the scratches made in the older
drift-period have not been worn away, or whether the stones were
scratched by river-ice is uncertain. The floor of Niagara limestone
is here deeply furrowed, the striations and minor scratches crossing
each other at various angles ; but the majority run:S.30° W. They
follow the general direction of the other striations of the country,
that underlie the drift.
On Goat Island, Sir Wm. Logan and I observed that the fluviatile
strata lie on drift,—a circumstance, I believe, not previously noticed.
It consists, at the base, of sand; and above, of clay horizontally and
evenly bedded, containing scratched stones and boulders. As shown
in Sir Charles Lyell’s diagram*, at the eastern end of the island the
Niagara limestone rises a few feet above the river, in the still re-
cesses of which are numerous living shell-fish. Between this point
and the summit of the island overlooking the Falls, there is a gradual
fall of 15 feet, showing the slope of the river-bed when Goat Island
was covered with water. The drift at this point is 29 feet thick,
and the freshwater beds above 10 feet, giving 39 feet for the height
of the island above the water at the edge of the Falls. Allowing a
dip of 25 feet in a mile for the general dip of the limestone, Goat
Island was covered with water when the Falls were probably about
one mile and a half further down than at present. With regard to
‘the retrocession of the fall, as might be expected, its rate is fastest
when the body of fallmg water is greatest, this cause of waste
being far more powerful than the winter’s frost. Towards the base
of the edges of the Horse-shoe Fall, and at the American Fall,
blocks of limestone are accumulated in great heaps, while in the
middle of the Horse-shoe Fall the turmoil is so great that it scoops
* Travels in North America, vol. 1. p. 37.
PRESTWICH—-BRIGHTON BEACH. ~ 915
out the shale beneath so deeply that the great fallen blocks are lost
in the abyss. Where the body of water is small in the American
Fall, the edge has only receded a few yards (where most eroded),
during the time that the Canadian Fall has receded from the north
corner of Goat Island to the innermost curve of the Horse-shoe Fall.
On the Westwarp Extension of the Orp Ratsep Bracu of Brieuton;
and on the Extent of the Sra-Bep of the same Period.
By JosepH Prestwicu, Esq., F.R.S., F.G.S.
[Read May 26, 1858.]
Tuts raised beach, with its curious old sea-cliff brought to light again
in the modern cliffs at Kemp Town, was first made known by the
late Dr. Mantell*. Mr. Dixony afterwards showed that beds of the
same age extended to Shoreham and Broadwater, near Worthing ;
whilst Mr. Godwin-Austent has more recently described, on the
coast between Bognor and Bracklesham, two thin marine beds of
Newer Tertiary age, the uppermost of which he considers synchronous
with the raised beach of Brighton§. The exact range westward and
inland of this old beach, or of the sea-deposits of the same age, has
not, however, yet been determined. With a view to assist this in-
quiry, I beg to lay before the Society the facts having reference to
it which I have collected during the last few years, whilst exami-
ning the Older Tertiary strata and the drift-beds of this district,—the
result, however, more particularly of two excursions made with the
special view of tracing, if possible, the line of old cliff along the
southern base of the South Downs between Brighton and Ports-
mouth. On the present occasion I do not propose to touch upon the
question of the drift||, beyond describing such portions of it as are
exhibited in conjunction with the older sea-bed. I may merely
observe that the drift which has passed over this district has so
swamped and hidden even its later geological features, that in a
distance of thirty-seven miles I could not find a single place where
an old line of cliff, such as that at Kemp Town, could be recognized
by any irregularity of surface, although I have, in several instances,
traced the sea-bed and shingle of that period to within a few hundred
feet of the chalk-hills. There is, in fact, nothing in the present fea-
tures of the country to indicate the exact place of the old coast-line.
At Brighton the line of old chalk-cliff ranges probably nearly
parallel to, and not far distant from, the present shore, receding
rather further at Hove, but nowhere, between Brighton and Shore-
ham, extending above half a mile from the present coast. Between
Hove and Shoreham a bed of sand and shingle with recent shells,
* The Fossils of the South Downs, &c., p. 277.
t+ Dixon’s Geology and Fossils of Sussex, p. 40.
t Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xiii. p. 62.
§ See also the observations of Sir R. Murchison on this beach and on the
overlying drift, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. vii. p. 364-372.
|| See the papers by Sir R. Murchison and Mr. Godwin-Austen on this subject.
216 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
underlying chalk-rubble and gravel, has been traced near the present
shore by Mr. Dixon ; but further inland the drift hides the substrata,
until the chalk-hills rise bare from beneath it. The same features
prevail yet further westward, but with a greater width of the old
sea-ground. Mr. Dixon gives sections at Lancing, Sompting, and
Broadwater, proving the existence at these points of the same sand
and shingle, with sea-shells, under subangular drift, at a distance of
1 to 13 mile inland, and near to the base of the chalk-hills.
Between Broadwater and Arundel, I was unable to find any clear
section of this deposit, although there are, I consider, traces of it
to be seen in the presence of rounded shingle at slight elevations
to the E. and 8.E. of Arundel, and at a distance of three to four
miles from the sea. In proceeding westward from Arundel this
sea-bed becomes, owing to the greater height and more broken
nature of the ground, much more distinct, and can be followed, with
little difficulty and with but slight breaks, to beyond Chichester.
The first place where I found it exposed was in a pit in the wood on
the north side of the high-road from Arundel, and exactly two miles
due west from Arundel Castle. It there puts on the form of a bed
of sand about 6 to 8 feet thick, and is overlaid by subangular
flint-gravel. This sand contains no fossils, and is so much like some
Tertiary sands that it might almost pass for them. It contains,
however, thin patches of worn shingle, and a few rolled beach-formed
pebbles, which afforded some slight grounds for separating them from
the Eocene mottled clays on which they repose. The ground con-
tinues to rise gently, and on the brow of the hill looking down into
Fig. 1.—Section of the Sand-pit north of Avisford Bridge.
SSSSSSSSS
a. Brick-earth, forming the core of gravel-furrow or pipe...... 10 by
a'. Dark ferruginous sandy clay, full of large angular flints ... 5 to 6
c. Worn and partly-rounded flint-shingle in dark clay ......... 3 to 4
c'. Fine sand, with a few thin seams of shingle, and some
rough flint-pebbles .............cececceesnescscecneeerereneeeees 16
the pleasant wooded dell which runs at right angles to the road at
PRESTWICH—BRIGHTON BEACH. 217
Avisford and trends away northward to the Chalk Downs, we find
the subangular flint-gravel overlying the same bed of sand, with
the mottled clays cropping out from beneath. Following the dell
northward for a distance of five furlongs from the high-road, I found,
on its west slope, a sand-pit (fig. 1) which afforded a far better section
than I had hitherto met with.
The base of the sand is not seen in this pit; but the chalk crops
out at a short distance, and ata level not many feet lower. The
sand is light-coloured, siliceous, and roughly bedded, and contains a
few thin seams of fine, worn shingle and a few dispersed rolled and
worn flints—also traces of carbonaceous matter, but without a trace
of any shells that I could discover. On the top of this sand is a bed, ¢,
3 to 4 feet thick, consisting of closely-compacted flint-pebbles chiefly
of one size—about that of an egg. Although well worn, they are,
unlike the smooth and regular Tertiary pebbles, only roughly rounded
——just such as we should now find on an exposed shore. The inter-
stices between the flints are filled by clay lke that of the drift
above, and seemingly without any fossils. Irregularly spread on
the old shingle is a dark ferruginous clay-drift, a, full of large
and small, sharply angular, and unworn flints, with, here and
there, a worn pebble caught up from the shingle beneath. But the
important feature of this section is the height to which this old sea-
bed here rises above the present sea-level, and the fact of its inter-
section by one of the existing system of valleys. By observation with
an aneroid barometer, I should estimate its height above the sea
to be about 80 to 100 feet. The dell, near the brow of which it is
situated, commences on the higher part of the Downs, where it is
known as the Fair Mile Bottom, passes by Dale Park and Avisford,
and joins, at Binsted, the great flat plain of the coast. The gravel
and sand are found on both sides of the dell for a distance of about
three-quarters of a mile above Avisford, ending at a short distance
from the above sand-pit. (See fig. 2.)
Fig. 2.—General Section across Avisford Dell.
Ww.
Slindon Common. _ Sandpit. Wooded Dell. Arundel Woods.
a. Angular flint-drift, passing into subangular gravel.
e. Sand and worn shingle——Old sea-bed.
d. Lower Tertiary Mottled Clays.
e. Chalk.
Slindon Common, immediately west of this sandpit, is every-
where covered by the same gravel, which is, I am informed, under-
laid by sands. The latter are not, however, at present exposed in
any section; but in a pit on the west side of Slindon Bottom, which
runs parallel to, and 13 mile west of, Avisford Dell, the subangular
218 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCTETY.
gravel and underlying light yellow siliceous sands are again exhi-
bited. The shingle-bed is here wanting ; and the sand-bed *, which
1s on a rather lower level than at the first pit, is still without
traces of shells. I also found small sandpits in a wood at the corner
of two roads between Hungerdown and Eartham, and again near
Boxgrove Common, and thence traces of the same sarids are apparent
at intervals as far as Goodwood. At the entrance to the Park there
is a large sandpit in a small copse by the road-side. My attention
was first directed to this very interesting section by Mr. H. W. Bris-
tow. The sands are here so fine and so regularly stratified as to
look more like some Older Tertiary sands rather than any of our
hitherto known Post-pliocene beds. This pit is 64 miles distant
in a straight line from the nearest part of the present coast. The
following sketch represents its chief features.
Fig. 3.— Waterbeach Sandpit at the S.E. corner of Goodwood Park.
—S - = = —
a. Bright ferruginous clay, full of large and small angular
flints; furrowed and worn into the underlying bed ...... 2 to 6 feet.
6. Whitish chalk-rubble with irregular seams and layers of
small angular fragments of flint and small gravel ......... 8 to 10 feet.
ce. Very fine light-coloured and slightly micaceous sand, with
patches of shell-sand, and a few subordinate layers of thin,
very hard, rough, tabular sandstone, and a few rare chalk-
boulders. Some shells, in a very friable condition, are
irregularly dispersed through the sand «..............00006 14 feet.
The upper drift “a” is like that at the Avisford pit, but the bed
of shore-shingle is wanting here. We find, on the contrary, under
the ferruginous clay-drift, and deeply indented by it, a roughly-
stratified white drift of chalk and flint-rubble, 6, like that imme-
* I am informed by Mr. Martin, of Pulborough, that similar sands have
formerly been worked at Ball’s Hutt, on the high-road near this place.
PRESTWICH—BRIGHTON BEACH, 219
diately overlying the old beach at Brighton. I did not, however,
find here any organic remains in either of the drift-beds. Beneath
them is a deposit, the upper 2 or 3 feet of which consist of a slightly
argillaceous and laminated sand, and the lower part of a pure fine
sand, with a few patches of rather coarse shell-sand, and here and
there a well-worn flint-pebble (like a beach-pebble). Some thin
seams of the sand are concreted, forming very hard, thin, tabular
sandstones, sometimes curiously covered with innumerable, small,
blunt, projecting points. These concretions are more numerous and
thicker in the lower part of the pit; and they form so hard a floor,
that a man, whom I employed to dig down to the chalk, was not able
to do so during my stay there. At first sight these sands appear
unfossiliferous, but a short search shows the presence of a number of
minute and very friable shells from to 3 inch long, and which proved
to be the young, apparently, of the common Mussel. I also found
a few full-grown specimens of this shell and of the common edible
Cockle; but they all fell to pieces when touched. On a second visit
I was, however, fortunate enough to discover a few other shells pre-
served undecayed in a singular way. In looking over the pieces of
tabular sandstones thrown on one side, I found one, and then another,
angular block of hard white chalk (like the hard chalk of Yorkshire),
that evidently had come out of the sand, some of the latter yet
remaining in hollows in the blocks, and some portion being concreted
on them in lumps.
These blocks, which are respectively 13 and 1 foot long, are covered
on three sides with holes made by boring molluscs, probably the
Pholas dactylus, and by small Annelid-borings*. In some of the
larger of these holes I found a few uninjured specimens of the Purpura
lapillus, whilst some others were attached, as when living, to the
outer surface of the blocks, together with numerous small Balani,
probably the B. porcatus. On looking further in the sand-bed itself,
I observed at “‘y” another and larger block of hard chalk, the pro-
jecting portion of which measured six feet in circumference ; but it
was much more worn and rounded than the other two, and I could
see no shells attached on the exposed portion.
Owing to the extremely friable condition of the greater portion of
the fossils, I have at present not been able to determine, with
Mr. Morris’s assistance, more than the few following species :—
Mytilus edulis, Purpura lapillus,
Cardium edule, Balanus porcatus,
Pholas dactylus ?, Echinocyamus pusillus; _
whilst in a small quantity of the sand which Mr. Rupert Jones and
Mr. W. Parker kindly examined for me, they discovered the follow-
ing species of Foraminifera, which, like the shells, are all of common
recent forms :—
Nonionina asterigerina, Rosalina Beccarii, Truncatula lobatula.
Of the little Green-pea Urchin (Echinocyamus pusillus) I found only
* Just such masses as may be picked up at the foot of our present chalk-cliffs.
VOL. XVI.—PART I. R
220 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY,
one specimen. Of the other fossils I obtained several specimens,—
the bivalve shells beg common, but extremely difficult to preserve
entire*. The Purpura and Balanus I found only on the blocks
of chalk ; and I should be disposed to infer, from the condition of the
Bivalve Molluses, Foraminifera, and Echinodermata, that they lived
on the spot—probably a sandy-bottomed, sheltered bay of some
moderate depth of water,—and that the chalk-boulders with their
attached fossils were transported from some adjacent line of chalk-
escarped coast, and quietly dropped at a short distance from the
shore. Asalmost all the above species have a considerable range
in time, it will require a larger collection of organic remains to
determine the exact age of this deposit: that it is comparatively
very recent, probably Post-pliocene, there can, however, be little
doubt ; nor is there, I think, much doubt of its synchronism with the
old Brighton beach, or rather that these sand-beds are the seaward
prolongation of the old beach. The cliffs, if cliffs there were, are
swamped and hidden by the overlying drift, as the old cliff is at
Kemp Town +. |
Westward from Goodwood the sands may be traced a short
distance towards Lavant; but, beyond that place, at East Ashling,
Funtingdon, and Racton, I could not obtain any satisfactory proof of
their presence. Taking, however, the road from Aldsworth west-
ward over Bourne Common, there is, on the top of the low hill
overlooking the reservoir, a gravel-pit opened in a bed of flint-
shingle, closely resembling, though not so large as, that of the old
beach at Avisford Dell; but there is no drift above it, and no sands
were exposed under it. Thence to Leigh and Havant, three miles
further westward, I met with no other sufficient sections. Still
further westward and southward, beds, apparently of this age, have
been described by Mr. Godwin-Austen in a series of excellent papers
published in the Journal of this Society. I would more par-
ticularly refer to the raised shingle which he mentions near Ports-
mouth, to the great shingle-cliff at Bembridge in the Isle of Wight,
* Mr. Hills, of the Chichester Museum, showed me some perfect specimens of
the Mytilus edulis, Cardium edule, and Tellina Balthica, which he had found
in a bed of sand by the side of the railway at Oving, three miles east of
Chichester. He has also found in the lower part of the gravel at Port Field,
near Chichester, some irregular thin seams of chalky marl containing land and
freshwater shells of the following species:—
Helix hispida. Pupa marginata.
nemoralis. Planorbis spirorbis.
Succinea putris. Bulimus obscurus. a
_ t Remains of shells have been found in the raised beach at Brighton, but
they are very scarce. Dr. Mantell also obtained from it a bone of the Whale
(Balena mysticetus). Mr. Dixon mentions Littorina rudis and L. neritoides,
Purpura lapillus, and Mytilus edulis from the Post-pliocene sand and shingle
of Shoreham and Broadwater. He also gives a long list of shells (op. c2?.
p- 17) occurring in an old sea-bed at Bracklesham Bay and Selsea, which he
seems to consider more recent than the Brighton bed ; but he does not assign his
reasons for that opinion. Sir R. Murchison likewise found shells beneath the
“angular flint-drift” at Hove (op. cit.).
GODWIN-AUSTEN—KASHMERE. ot
and to a shingle which he describes under the gravel at Cowes. I
cannot, however, do better than refer the reader to the several
papers themselves, as they abound in information connected with
this and many collateral subjects*.
On the LacustRiIne or Karfwau Deposits of KasHMere.
By H. Haversnam Gopwiv-Avusten, Capt. H.M. 24th Regt.,
Kashmere Survey.
[In Letters, dated May—October, 1857, and February, 1858, to R. A. Gopwin-
Austen, Esq., F.G.S8.]
(Read June 23, 1858.)
THERE is a point of geological interest at a place called Kuttai (on
the River Jhelum, going up to Baramula), where the surface is co-
vered with enormous granite-boulders. At a march and a half (22
miles) further on, they occur again, at a place called Oorie, and
extend up the valley, past a place called Gingle, about 12 miles.
Vigne notices this place (Oorie) in his ‘Travels’. The hills at
Kuttai are of limestone, and at Gingle of a basaltic rock. Mr. Vigne
says,—* I know of no granite in Kashmere except in Hara-mook,
but not im situ. Hara-mook rises opposite the entrance to the
Baramula Pass +; and the same medium must have floated or forced
the granite of Deotsuh to either place from the northward.” This
passage in Mr. Vigne’s work has given rise to the notion that glaciers
from Hara-mook once extended across the valley of Kashmere. If
this had been the case, it seems to me that some few blocks or.
boulders would be found scattered across the valley, and left at
various heights on the slopes above the river (Jhelum). Such, how-
_ ever, is not the case: the granite-blocks on the surface at Kuttai,
Oorie, and Gingle are never higher than the level of the “ alluvial ”
plain ; and these are found through the whole thickness of the allu-
vium from top to bottom ; as may be seen in the sections, when the
nullahs cut through it.
The following plans and sketches (figs. 1, 2, and 3), taken along
the Jhelum, will show the character of the deposit, and its position
at the places named, beginning with Kuttai.
The river at Kuttai is very rapid. The dotted part in fig. 1 is
that covered with granite-boulders, and has a breadth of 23 miles.
It is limited by the Jhelum on the south, which has cut through its
entire thickness, and by a torrent, which discharges into the Jhelum
from the north (a). The cliffs at 6 are nearly 200 feet high. The
torrent from the north has the alluvial beds on the left, and the base
* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. vi. p.69; vol. vii. pp. 118 & 278; vol. xi. p. 282;
and vol. xiii. p.
t Vol. i. p. 278-279.
¢ Mr. Vigne (p. 283-4) supposes that the Baramula Pass was produced by a
She rent, at which time it was choked by the mass of alluvium now found
1ere.
R2
yj PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
of lofty limestone hills on the right. Fig. 2 is a section across the
alluvial beds from the Fort of Kuttai to the torrent, which, as well
as another on the other side of the fort, comes down from the north
(see fig. 1). What is to be seen here and at the other places seems
to me to upset Mr. Vigne’s hypothesis; and all that I now want to
find out is the composition of the Snowy Range to the North. The
sketch, fig. 3, represents the valley from Gingle to Oorie.
Fig. 1.—Sketch-plan of the Alluviwm im the Jhelum Valley near
Kuttar.
a Limestone.
; Limestone.
¥ c \ eX
WN eS
NS
Lo
De l
apt \\
~ ey )
ed ae SAS i}
ager ils
t NW -% ; re
HAVA POPPiny as SS
Dy
——_4 River Jhelum.
About twelve miles north of @ is the Great Snowy Range. The cliffs at 6 are
about 200 feethigh. c. Kuttai Fort. From 0 to c, about 2} miles. The dotted
portion is covered with granite-boulders.
At Oorie, where occurs the next accumulation of granite-boulders,
the valley or gorge of the Jhelum widens out at the junction of a
valley from Poonch on the south. The Fort stands on the alluvial
Fig. 2.—Section of the Alluviwm cut through by the Torrent
North-west of Kuttat.
Limestone. Great Snowy Range. Limestone.
Alluvium with granite- Limestone,
boulders.
* ~* Bed of the Jhelum.. —<—
plain, as shown in fig.3, and the Jhelum flows in a deep channel
which it has cut through the alluvium. If the granite-boulders had
been conveyed from beyond Hara-mook as far down as Kuttai, they
GODWIN-AUSTEN—-KASHMERE. 223
should be met with in the interval between that place and Oorie, but
such is not the case. .
Cliffs of the “ alluvial ” gravel form the north bank of the Jhelum
from Oorie to Gingle, there being a narrow level band of this accu-
mulation running the whole way between these two places, along
' the base of the lofty limestone range on the north; on the south the
peaks rise from 1000 to 3000 feet above the river, and are covered
with Deodars (fig. 3).
Fig. 3.—Sketch-plan of the Alluviwm on the Jhelum between Gingle
LP) about 5000 feet
, high above the
river.
and Oorve.
ee ZF ge
: =F
5¥ GFE
wre HEE
PS L2G
es Zs EZ 5 eg »
2 ELLE
ae PS Basaltic cliffs,
The Jhelum and the torrents which discharge themselves into it
have cut down their channels so as to have one bank composed of
the alluvium, and the other of the fundamental rock. With the
exception of the granite at Kuttai, Ooorie, and Gingle, the fragments
of rock in the alluvium are such as are to be found on the sides of the
valley, namely, limestone or trappean rock, with great quantities of
fine earthy matter. For this reason I cannot agree with Mr. Vigne,
that the “alluvium” of the gorge of the Jhelum was carried and
deposited there at the time when (as he supposes) the break of the
strata at the Baramula gorge took place.
The fort at Gingle is situated in the alluvial plain or platform.
Here, as at Kuttai, a torrent comes down from the north ; the valley
expands, and is occupied with the alluvial deposit. An old line of
cliff may be here observed in the alluvium, separated by a second
level from the present bed of the Jhelum.
The upper surface of the alluvium is a perfect level, as if the Bara-
mula gorge had been filled with water, forming small lakes at Gingle,
Oorie, and Kuttai; and it seems to me that the whole of the allu-
_vium was accumulated before the river began to cut down its way to
the level at which it now escapes.
224 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
In descending a slope of the Karéwah Hills, near Manganwar, I
came upon what seemed to me to be both curious and interesting in
many ways, more particularly as showing the manner and extent to
which the surface of this formation (the lacustrine deposit forming
the Karéwahs) has been lowered and reduced. The sketch, fig. 4,
Fig. 4.—Perched Block, on a pillar of clay, on the side of the
Karéwah Hills, near Manganwar.
which will describe it better than words, represents an enormous
block of stone (of the kind of igneous rock to be met with in the
higher range) resting on a column of hard clay, about 8 feet in
height. The clay, with pieces of rock, mostly angular, is the same
with that which forms the mass of these Karéwah Hills, and all
the materials of which hills have been washed down from the higher
ranges above them.
The lowering of the surface, except when it was protected by
a block of stone, must have been owing to heavy vertical rain-falls ;
nothing else could have left rocks so perched and isolated. This
process is not going on now. The surface of the soil is protected by
a covering of vegetation (Deodars); and the particular block here
represented must have been in its present position for an enormous
length of time, as a tall Deodar has grown up alongside, so that
the block seems to rest against it*.
“ Karéwah” is the Kashmere name for these low alluvial hills,
some of them 200 feet in height, and very steep, with small streams
(not so large as ours at Chilworth) bubbling along the valleys, which
here and there open out to 300 yards or so in width; at these spots
* Mr. Vigne notices what I fancy must be the same thing (see his work, p. 285,
vol. i.) :—“ The valley of the Gurys contains a great mass of alluvium at its north
end, and in that of Iskard there is a vast ici of muddy deposits worn into
banks, hollows, and pinnacles.”
GODWIN-AUSTEN——KASHMERE. 225
are small villages buried in walnut, apple, pear, and cherry trees ;
the first of these becomes a magnificent tree here.
West Watershed of Kashmere, at the Kikur-gulli.—Another day
my work lay along a high ridge of the “ alluvium ” rising from 200 to
300 feet above the river. The alluvial accumulation rests on the
limestone, and the river (Kahmil) has cut through the whole thick-
ness of the alluvium, and as much as from 30 to 40 feet into the
limestone beneath.
The «alluvium ” here consists of rocks of all descriptions, derived
from the higher range, and amongst them are a few blocks of gra-
nite ; all are water-worn, more or less. The same formation occurs
lower down (about 14 mile), where the river, after passing through
a very narrow gorge, debouches into the plain; thence the bank
of alluvium runs perfectly straight for 3 miles, rising from the
plain as much as 100 feet. At the edge, near the top, there is a
regular roadway, about 30 yards in breadth; then another rise of
about 20 feet, with a perfectly level plain at the top,—the bed of the
lake which, there is no doubt, at one time occupied the whole valley
of Kashmere.
Fig. 5.—Plan of the Terraces in the Valley of the Kahmil.
Fig. 5 is a bird’s-eye view of these terraces, as seen looking down
the river towards Shaloorah. The Hod River joins the Kahmil in a
like depression. I have not exaggerated the straightness of the
edge of the bank in the least. The roadway (or upper terrace) was
not broken down for the whole distance. The valley has evidently
been “lowered at several successive stages, and at each level the
breadth of the water has been less.
On the Kukur, I found a snail (Helix) such as I had never seen,
and the only one in fact which I have ever met with on these hills.
I have preserved it for transmission home with the plants. These
animals must be rare in the higher ranges, or I must have observed
them. I may also mention, that in all my wanderings amongst the
226 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Karéwah Hills, I never was able to find the slightest trace of a land
or freshwater shell in any of the many sections I have examined.
Figs. 6-9.—Plan and Seetions of the Kahmil Valley.
eolly pany
che Aso f vt
os olor. “Nucl pe “Sun
=
—>
{ Rea
=
ti
SS
&
\ i
\
o ha}
ry
ge
©
f\
\; forte
S\N ores N39 = =
= es
— i‘.
1. Shaloorah. 2.Roodi. 3.Makam. 4. Kachdab. a. Alluvium. 38. Limestone.
Snowy Range; North Pingal. Kaj Nag, 14,407 feet.—From some
cause or other (local attraction) the compass would not act at this end
of the ridge. On leaving the “ station,” however, and getting on the
granite beyond, it was all right again.
Fig. 10.—Section of the Valley of the Kahmil near Roodi.
River Kahmil.
a. Alluvium. 5, 6. Limestone.
The ravines that run from this range to the south-west open out
into: the Jhelum River at Gingle, Oorie, and Kuttai; and the dis-
covery that the crest or axes of this part of the North Pingal
Range was of granite, accounted at once for the presence of enor-
mous boulders of that rock which are to be seen at those three
places, without the supposition that they had been “ floated” by ice
or “‘ forced” by glaciers from the mountain of Hara-mook far to
the East (see above, p. 221). Hara-mook is not granitic; nor does
granite occur i situ for a considerable distance to the north-east.
The ravines from the North Pingal to the south-west are strewed
with granite-boulders along their whole courses. The gorge of Ba-
ramula, along which the Jhelum escapes from the Kashmere valley, is,
I see, considered to be due to some convulsion which broke through
GODWIN-AUSTEN—KASHMERE. P27
the Pingal Range ; the correspondence between the opposite sides is
supposed to show this. It is perfectly clear, however, that the great
accumulation of boulders, angular rocks, and detritus to be found
there has been brought down from the slopes and ravines on either
side.
Sir-nugger, Sept. 3.—I went from Sir-nugger by boat to Dola-
mabad. Nothing much worth noticing on the way; the river flow-
ing between high banks of alluvium, which shut out everything.
The next day, 18th (the day of the Eclipse), I visited the ruins at
Avantipur—a most curious place—the site of the old capital of
Kashmere. In the old time the city was on the edge of a lake
which must have occupied a large space in the valley, as below the
city, where the river has now cut the ground away and exposed sec-
tions, may be seen thick layers of sand with broken pottery and
bones, &c. This must have been near the place where, at that time,
the women brought down their gharohs (water-pots), morning and
evening, to fill, and when, as is the case now, great numbers are
broken. The great thickness and numbers of these beds show that
the lake must have changed its level by degrees, in periods of some
duration.
Another curious feature of this place is—that, close by, a large
temple (often noticed) has been literally buried in the alluvium,
the top of the central portion being alone visible above the surface
of the ground. Other portions were brought into view, about five
years ago, by Major Cunningham. A few weeks’ labour would clear
the whole, which would then be one of the finest and most inter-
esting ruins in the East ; for Martund, to which I afterwards went,
though of the same form and size, has been so destroyed by the
bigoted Mussulmans, that hardly any of the beautiful stone-cutting
now remains, but bits here and there, to show what once was.
On going up towards the Meerbal Pass into Kishtwar I found the
first fossil shell* I have yet met with in all my wanderings here ; it
occurred in the limestone-rock at an elevation of 9000 feet. It is
a Brachiopod, as you will see by the sketch.
Oct. 25.—All my letters of late have begun in some out-of-the-
way spot, like the one I am now at (Pipran Station) up among the
Snows.
The ground I am now on is a high ridge, 12,000 to 13,000 feet
in places, descending to 11,000 feet, running from the Pir Pingal
Range, near the Mudul Pass, towards Kishtwar city. The axis is of
granite and gneiss, forming the ridge ; the lower slopes being of slate.
These crystalline rocks encircle the greater part of the valley of
Kashmere, running from this on the north-east towards the Didsut
* This specimen having been received, and submitted to Mr. Davidson for
examination, he has kindly supplied the following note :—
‘“‘ Having compared this specimen of Productus with all the figures of the
genus known to me, I have not been able to identify the species with any degree
of certainty, and consider it perhaps new. The external sculpture has a some-
what pee and peculiar quincunxial aspect not common to the Productide.”
228 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
country. I find it noticed in the south-west Pingal, aud now ob-
serve it in the north Pingal.
Concluding Observations.—There are one or two curious matters I
would notice : most so are the water-worn beds of blocks and shingle
which occur along both the Jhelum and the Chandra Bagha; and always
at the junctions of large streams. These beds are often 200 and 300
feet in thickness. The question is, how were these formed ? whether
by glaciers having come down, or by masses of materials from the
hills on either side having dammed the rivers. This last hypothesis
is open to many objections. Glaciers would do it; but then one has
to suppose a different climate to the present, namely, much colder,
with a lower snow-line.
In an early condition of this region, and when upheaved by those
convulsions which have produced it, the drainage-lines were evi-
dently less perfect and connected than they now are; so that it pre-
sented numerous lakes, into which the torrents carried down their
shingle and detritus. At. the melting of the snows, in spring, the
overflow from these lakes would be very great, and thus would work
out courses for their waters. These rivers, even now, are wearing
away their beds, as is evident wherever these lacustrine deposits are
cut through (sometimes upwards of 200 feet thick), and seen resting
on the fundamental rock.
In nearly every instance the beds of these rivers have been lowered
into the rock which supports the alluvial accumulation, until by
degrees the courses of the present rivers have been worked out.
As the drainage becomes more perfect, the stream and rivers would
become narrower until they assumed the present size. The great Kash-
mere valley only differed from the others in extent—forming a small
inland sea, into which the torrents from the Pingals carried down
their shingle and boulders ; whilst, at the melting of the snows, enor-
mous quantities of angular blocks and of earthy detritus would slip
down from the higher slopes, as happens now. ‘This was the origin
of the clay-deposits all over the valley (the Karéwah formation).
The lacustrine or alluvial deposits of the central parts of the valley
are of fine sediment ; against the sides they contain a large admix-
ture of angular rocks; and these always correspond with those of
the high ranges above. The great Kashmere lake was drained by the
sinking or erosion of the river-bed at Baramula ; so that now the small
lake near the city, and the larger Wuller, alone remain, the poor re-
presentatives of what once was. Anything which might obstruct the
course of the Jhelum from Baramula at any of the narrow gorges,
such as the falling in of masses of rock from above, would check the
drainage at Baramula, and so raise the level of the water within
the valley. This theory of mine to account for the appearances at
Avantipur gets rid of the necessity of calling in recent depressions
and elevations, which some writers have supposed necessary ; but my
theory, no doubt, has its objections; I should like to know them,
that I may look more into this question.
In the geological sketch-map which I send, you will see, indicated
by colours, granite, gneiss, two kinds of slate-rock, the limestone
SALTER—-EURYPTERUS. 229
which contains the fossil mentioned above (p. 227), and sandstone.
I have also marked the alluvial deposits at the junction of all the
larger streams with the Chandra-Bagha, which I have before alluded
to, taking as my theory, that the original structure of the country
produced a series of small lakes at different levels, until in process
of time the valleys were eroded down into a continuous line or slope
of drainage.
The alluvial deposit of the plain of Kishtwar rests on limestone,
into which the river has cut down. The alluvium does not stretch the
whole way across the valley, but has been cut through on one side,
and the plain slopes gradually up to the hills on the west of the town.
Fig. 11.—Outlhine-sketch of the hills above Kishtwar ; and Section of
the Alluvium on the bank of the Chandra-Bagha.
1. Menzil. 3. Phuzaushurur. 5. Brahmah. 7. Rondu.
2. Phuharum. 4. Sarwal. 6. Surputtu. 8. Kishtwar.
At a place called Serai, where I have marked in a bit of alluvium,
it consisted of a mass of debris of all sorts, and I fancy must be the
rubbish of an old glacier which descended from Pipran. Great
streams of water must at some time have come down the valleys of
this region ; for all that run from Pipran and Dach to this junction
with the Kasher Kohl are strewed with granite-boulders.
Tron is found in abundance at Dedreen and Seich, and made into
cannon-knees. It is smelted in small furnaces, with bellows of goat-
skin, worked by hand.
On some New Spuctus of Evryprervs ; with Notes on the Disrrrev-
TION of the Spxcius. By J. W. Sarrer, Esq., F.G.S., of the Geolo-
gical Survey of Great Britain.
[Read June 23, 1858.]
[PuatEe X.]
Tax genus Eurypterus of De Kay, though long known in America*
and on the Continent, has attracted but little notice in this country
since the time that Dr. Hibbert published his outline-sketches of
* Annals Lyc. Nat. Hist. New York, vol. i. pls. 14, 29, 1826.
230 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
this strange crustacean, in the ‘ Transactions of the Royal Society
of Edinburgh’ for 1836 (vol. xii. pl. 12). His species, by far
the largest in the genus, and probably not less than 3 feet long,
had been previously noticed, under the name of Idotea, by Dr.
Scouler, in the ‘Edinburgh Journal of Natural Sciences’ for 1831.
Dr. Harlan too, in his ‘ Medical Researches,’ had given similar, but
rather more perfect figures of two species from Williamsville, Buf-
falo, in the State of New York. All these representations showed
that the Hurypterus possessed at least three pairs of appendages, of
which the hinder pair were dilated for swimming. More lately Dr.
Ferd. Roemer gave a beautiful lithograph of the principal species in
Meyer’s ‘ Paleontographica’ (vol. i. pl. 27); and Kichwald has
since published in the ‘ Bulletin of the Imp. Soc. Nat. Moscow ’ for
1854 a complete series of illustrations of the Baltic species, E. tetra-
gonophthalmus, Fischer, but under the name of £. remupes. The
number and character of the appendages are the same in this as in
the species previously published by Dr. Harlan.
Now that the structure of Pterygotus* is fully understood, and the
position of the eyes found to be lateral, and not on the surface of the
carapace, it is easy to distinguish that genus from Hwrypterus by
superficial characters. There is, however, a further and very im-
portant difference in the small size of the antenne in the latter
genus: these are much shorter and slenderer than the swimming-
feet, and not larger than the palpi. These palpi are five- or six-
jointed, and furnished with only a minute smooth chela at the tip ;
while in Pterygotus the chele are very large and armed with long
cutting teeth.
A new and very remarkable form of Hurypterus has been lately
discovered in the middle beds of the Old Red Sandstone of Brecknock-
shire. Only the carapace has been yet found ; but it is so strongly
marked and characteristic that there can be no difficulty in identi-
fying it. I propose to call it Hurypterus Symondsi, after the accom-
plished geologist who brought it under notice, and who has kindly
presented casts to the Museum of the Geological Survey. The ori-
ginal is, I believe, in the choice collection of the Malvern Natural
History Club, Malvern.
EURYPTERUS SYMONDSII, spec. nov. Plate X. fig. 1.
The specimeny, of which we have only the exterior cast of the head,
perfectly representing the surface, however, is impressed on a slab
of brownish-grey micaceous grit, from the Upper Cornstones of Rowl-
* Himantopterus (Salter, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xiii. p. 27) proves to
be the same genus as Péerygotus, though probably a good subgeneric form; but,
as the name has been preoccupied for a genus of insects, Hrettopterus is proposed
in its place. ‘The eyes are lateral in both subgenera; but they are long-oval on a
rounded carapace in Hrettopterus, and circular on a subquadrate carapace in
Pterygotus proper. There are some other differences too, of subgeneric value, in
the form of the epistoma and labrum; these will be more particularly described
in Monograph I., Memoirs of the Geological Survey.
+ See a notice of this specimen by ie ce W. Sous in the Rain. New
Phil. Journ. new series, vol. vi. pp. 257, 3
SALTER—-EURYPTERUS. 231
stone, Brecknockshire, and was obtained by the Rev. Mr. Wenman.
Itis 2,4, inches long, and 2,5, inches broad at the wide anterior part,
the greatest breadth being at the anterior third; the hinder edge
is only 2 inches wide. The front margin is arched, somewhat trun-
cate in front, and gibbous at the sides; and from about halfway up
the head it is double, or has an inner raised ridge 2 lines distant
from the edge. This ridge is continuous all round with the somewhat
elevated border of the sides, in such a way that the carapace appears
complete without the addition of the anterior border.
Exclusive of this border, which is concave and somewhat bent
downwards, the surface of the head is but very gently convex, and
is covered, except along the posterior margin, by elevations and
furrows which give it a very rugged and lobed aspect. A deep Y-
shaped vertical furrow, forked upwards at an angle of 30°, divides
the space between the eyes, and occupies the middle third of the
head* ; the space between the branches is very convex.
A shallower depression takes its origin above the eyes, and
radiates outward to the front margin ; a pair of shorter furrows run
obliquely outward behind those organs; another deep oblique de-
pression occurs further back, at half an inch from the hinder border,
and outside it a strong triangular lobe is marked out, partly by this
furrow, and partly by a submarginal one which occupies about one-
third the length of the head. Between these strong lateral lobes,
and on the same level, a central tubercle, flanked by two depressions,
occurs immediately behind the deep Y-shaped furrow first noticed.
Lastly, there is a short and shallow pair of furrows in the central
front portion of the head.
The posterior border is quite plain for a breadth of half an
inch, and free from ridges or furrows of any kind. The posterior
angles are acute, but not at all produced; and the hinder edge is
sinuous, and without the raised border which runs round all the
rest of the margin. The eyes are large, rounded, and circumscribed
by a sunken space; they are placed more than halfway up the
head, and as wide apart as they are distant from the outer margin.
As they are abraded in this unique specimen, their shape and con-
vexity are not to be ascertained ; they appear to have been large and
rounded.
The great size of this species distinguishes it from any previously
described, except the H. Scoulert before noticed, the head of which
is 8 inches wide. Neither of the American species, nor the Russian
one above noticed, has a lobed carapace.
Several other forms, which I shall here briefly describe, have
from time to time been brought under notice, chiefly by my excellent
friends Messrs. Lightbody, Cocking, and Marston, of Ludlow. They
are from the uppermost Ludlow beds and the overlying basement-
beds of the Old Red Sandstone of that locality.
- There is also at least one more from the Upper beds of the Old
* In E. Scouleri there is a ridge, forked downwards, between the eyes.
232 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Red Sandstone from Kiltorkan, Co. Kilkenny. The most perfect
specimens of this are in the collection of Trinity College, Dublin,
and are here figured. It may possibly be referable to the EZ. Scouleri,
from its great size; and I do not feel justified, in the absence of
good specimens, in giving it a separate name.
EK. Scovrerr? Plate X. figs. 2, 3.
Fig. 2 represents a portion of one of the body-rings, and fig. 3
probably the hinder edge of the carapace (as indicated by fig. 11,
in which a similar ornament occurs).
The substance of the crust in these Irish specimens is thin, and
has cracked in longitudinal lines (fig. 3 a), 2. e. perpendicular to the
margin of the segments. The under surface is curiously reticulato-
squamose, except at the hinder margin, where the crust is raised into
strong subcircular plice and elongated tubercles (fig. 3 6).
These remarkable elongated tubercles occur on the margin of the
carapace of EL. Scoulert, and are visible in a photograph (kindly sent
to me by H. Mackeson, Esq., of Hythe) of the specimen in the
Andersonian Museum, Glasgow. They also occur on the hinder
margin of the body-segments. It is much to be desired that this
ereat fossil should be again figured, and with scientific detail.
Locality.—Kiltorkan Hill, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland. In the upper
Old Red Sandstone.
EK. premamvs, Salter. Plate X. figs. 4-8.
(Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xii. p. 99, plate 2. fig. 4.)
In the communication here referred to, the small half-oval cara-
pace, with somewhat remote eyes, was figured, as well as a few
front body-segments. I am now enabled to present the entire
body and the caudal joint (figs. 5 and 6), with the sculpture of
the head and body-rings (figs. 7 and 8), and to indicate the shape of
the small broad swimming-foot, from a specimen in Mr, R. Banks’s
cabinet.
The body tapers rapidly backwards; it is not four times the length
of the head, and is broadest at about the fourth segment. The first
segment is very narrow, not above half the width of the second ; and
the rest are all transversely broad until the eighth, when they begin
to lengthen out,the penultimate (eleventh) being square. The twelfth
(telson) is regularly long-triangular, the length being scarcely more
than twice the breadth. It is slightly keeled above; the sides are
straight ; the apex is not produced.
The elongation of the last body-joints before the tail helps to dis-
tinguish this small species from a closely-allied form in the shales of
Lesmahago, Lanarkshire. This has the tail of the same shape, but a
shorter head; and the penultimate body-joints are nearly one- -and-
a-half times as wide as long. In other respects it is very similar.
It is described below as EF. chartarwus.
Of the swimming-foot we have the two expanded terminal joints ;
SALTER—-EURYPTERUS. Doe
taken together, they are as long as the head, and form an oblong
oval, the deep notch in the penultimate joint being filled exactly by
the oval terminal palette. The lobes on either side of this notch
are very unequal, the posterior being much the larger and longer.
Locality.— Downton Sandstone (Uppermost Ludlow Rock) of King-
ton, Mr. R. Banks’s Collection, fig. 7. Upper Ludlow Shales, Lud-
ford Lane, Ludlow, figs. 7 & 8. Beds of passage at the base of the Old
Red Sandstone, in the Railway-cutting, Ludlow (Messrs. Lightbody
and Marston’s cabinets), figs.5 & 6.
E. MEGALOPS, Spec. nov. Plate X. figs. 9-14.
Seven or eight inches long; the body-joints attenuated, and the
tail acuminated ; head semicircular, rough ; eyes enormous, remote.
The head, in the largest specimens known, is 17 inch wide (and
this would give fully the length here assigned to the body); it is
wider than long, semicircular, granuloso-plicate, and with the hinder
margin tuberculate.
The great reniform eyes are nearly one-third as long as the head,
and (including the swollen base on which they are set, and the large
circular eye-lobe which covers them) fully one-third, measured from
within the eye-lobes ; they are about their own diameter apart, and
placed much more than halfway, but not quite two-thirds, up the
head. The anterior margin of the head (carapace) is rounded, or
very slightly angular, and margined all round the front.
This being a large and plentiful species in the Ludlow passage-
beds, we are justified in associating with it the large and equally
abundant body-rings which occur there,—the smaller ones being
referable to the EZ. pygmaeus. One specimen (fig. 13) shows the last
six joints, and traces of others, with the terminal joint, m.
The seventh and eighth segments, g, h, are transversely broad, the
eighth being nearly twice as wide as long; the ninth is three-quarters
as long as wide; the penultimate is a little longer than wide, but
nearly square. All have their posterior angles quadrate, except the
seventh, in which they are a little produced. |
The tail-joint, m, is narrowly ovate at the base, its broadest part
being distant from the base of insertion by more than half the
breadth, and thence gradually attenuated. The length is three-
and-a-half-times the breadth. A strong median keel runs all down,
and the edge is crenato-serrate ; that of the body-segments appears
to be quite smooth.
Locality — Base of Old Red Sandstone, Ludlow Railway.
E. AcUMINATUS, spec. nov. Plate X. fig. 17, and probably fig. 19.
We have the tail-joints only. They are much broader at the
base than in the last-described species ; but possibly they belong to
the opposite sex, as the individuals are nearly of the same size, and
occur in the same strata, namely the passage-shales between the
Upper Ludlow Rock and the Old Red Sandstone, in the Ludlow rail-
way-cutting.
234 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Telson expanded and cordate at base, the broadest portion being
less distant from the insertion than one-third the entire breadth.
From thence the tail-joint is regularly acuminated, the length being
only two and a half times the breadth. The edge is crenato-serrate
like the last. We have only the flat under surface.
Locality.—With E. megalops at Ludlow.
EK. LINEARIS, spec. nov. Plate X. figs. 15, 16.
As this occurs generally in a lower stratum (Upper Ludlow Rock)
than the last, it is little likely to have any relation to that species,
though the differences are such as might be due to sex. If, how-
ever, L. megalops and H. acwminatus be one species, E. linearis must
rank as distinct. The telson, the only part preserved, is greatly more
elongated than in the other forms.
Telson lnear, lanceolate, nearly five times as long as wide; the
base very little expanded ; broadest near the point of insertion, or
rather parallel-sided for a short distance, and then attenuated. A
strong median carina runs the whole length, elevated into a steep
ridge near the origin of the joint ; and the edge is so faintly crenate
as to appear smooth to the naked eye.
Fig. 15 shows a broader telson, from the same bed, and it most
probably bears the same relation to #. linearis that the last-de-
scribed species does to H. megalops. From analogy we must suppose
the broader tail-joint to belong to the female, and the narrower one
to the male.
Locality—The Upper Ludlow Rock of Ludlow, and the Downton
Sandstone of Kington, Herefordshire.
EK. ABBREVIATUS, Spec. noy. Plate X. fig. 18.
A thoroughly distinct species, yet with very similar characters to
those of EH. acuminatus, as if the telson of that species had been
greatly abbreviated.
Telson broadly trigonal at base,—forming a nearly equilateral tri-
angle, of which the smooth thickened base forms one angle; the
sides expand with a curved outline for about half the length of the
joint, then suddenly contract and form a narrow, acuminate, serrated
oint.
We have only the under surface ; the upper was probably keeled ;
the lower shows a faint longitudinal elevation proceeding from the
thick base to the point. ne serre on the edge are very prominent.
Length =5, inch, width 55, inch.
Locality. —Downton Sandstone of Kington, Herefordshire.
EK. CHARTARIUS*, spec. nov.
I subjoin a diagnosis of this small form, mentioned above, and
which will hereafter be figured in one of the Decades of the Geolo-
gical Survey. -
* Aquila chartacea, a Roman boy’s kite, which the fossil much resembles.
SALTER—-EURYPTERUS. 235
E. chartarius, lanceolatus, postice attenuatus, 14 unciam longus, capite obtuso
hemisphzrico, quam corpore latiore; thoracis articulis latis brevibus, abdo-
minis (etiam penultimo) transversis ; cauda brevi triangulata, acuta atque non
acuminata.
The eyes are small; the swimming-foot also small ; its two dilated
terminal joints, taken together, form an oblong palette, scarcely so
long as the head.
Locality.—Lesmahago, Lanarkshire; in Upper Ludlow Rock (Mus.
Pract. Geol.).
Evryrrervs? ; pincers (antenne). Pl. X. fig. 20.
It is thought worth while to figure here the chelate extremity of
either Pterygotus or Hurypterus ; most probably the latter, smce all
the species of Pterygotus of which we know the antennz have longer
chele, well supplied with teeth; these are, however, short and un-
armed ; and the fixed branch curves inwards, while the free joint is
a little recurved to follow it, after the manner of the pincers in
many recent Crustacea. ‘The base is broad, short, and rhomboidal.
If it belong to Hurypterus (the antenne of which are known to have
short small chelz), it would probably be referable to the common
E. pygmeus, which occurs in the same beds. A very similar, but
much larger form is found in the Lower Ludlow Rock of Leint-
wardine.
Lncality.—Bone-bed (Upper Ludlow), of Ludford. Mr. Light-
body’s cabinet.
The distribution of the species of Euryprervs, so far as yet known,
is as follows :—
. Eurypterus? sp. Lower Ludlow Rock, Leintwardine. This is doubtful.
. E. Cephalaspis, Salter. Appendix, Brit. Palzoz. Foss. Woodwardian Mu-
seum, Cambridge. Pl. I E. fig. 21. Upper Ludlow Rock, Westmoreland.
. E. pygmeeus, Salter. Upper Ludlow, Downton Sandstone, and Base of Old
Red Sandstone. Ludlow, and Kington, Herefordshire.
linearis, Salter. Upper Ludlow and Downton Sandstone, Ludlow.
acuminatus, Salter. Passage-beds, base of Old Red. Ludlow.
. megalops, Salter. Passage-beds, Ludlow. —
abbreviatus, Salter. Downton Rock, Kington, Herefordshire.
. chartarius, Salter. Uppermost Ludlow, Lesmahago, Lanarkshire.
. tetragonophthalmus, F%scher. Uppermost Silurian beds. Island of
Cisel, Baltic; also in Podolia.
. H.remipes, De Kay. Uppermost Silurian beds. Williamsville, Erie, Buffalo,
WES:
COMM Doe 9 bor
eofcofeofcohopcs|
es
— ©
. H. lacustris, Harlan. (Physical Researches, p. 297, plate not numbered,
fig. 2.) Same locality as that of H. remipes? A distinct species from the
last.
12. BE. Symondsii, Salter. Old Red Sandstone, Brecon.
13. E. Scouleri?, Hibbert. Upper Old Red Sandstone, Kiltorkan, Kilkenny
Co. (If this should prove to be a new species, it might be named L.
Forbestt ; for Prof. E. Forbes first recorded its fragments from the fresh-
water beds of Kilkenny, where it is associated with Sphenopteris, Lepido-
dendron, Anodon, Coccosteus, and Dendrodus.)
14. E. Scouleri, Hibbert. Lower Carboniferous. Fifeshire.
The range of the genus, therefore, so far as yet known, certainly
is confined between the Ludlow Rocks and the base of the Carbonife-
VOL. XV.—PART I. s
236 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
rous system. Apparently, it did not commence to exist so soon as its
gigantic ally, the Pterygotus ; but it continued to live on longer, and
attained its maximum of size in beds higher than those in which
Pterygotus is known to have been found.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE X.
Fig. 1. Eurypterus Symondsii, Salter. Head. Upper beds of the Cornstones,
?
Old Red Sandstone, Rowlestone, Brecknockshire.
2 Epo ee oe as: beds of Old Red Sandstone,
ment of a body-ring. : :
34,30. Edge of the carapace. Kiltorkan, Kilkenny.
4. Bi. pygmeeus, Salter. Head, body-joints, and swimming-foot. Downton
Sandstone, Kington. Mr. R. Banks’s collection.
H. Head, body-joints, and | Basement-beds of the Old
tail. Red Sandstone, Ludlow
6. Tail. Railway. =
ihe Part of the head, magni- 8 4
fied, showing ornament. i be
8 Patt eb Gat tod y-joint, Upper Ludlow Rock, Ludford. gS
magnified. 8 S
o B, megalops ae Base of the Old Red Sandstone, “—
10. Head, natural size. Ludlow Railway. )
11. —— The eye and a portion of the margin of the head. Base of the
Old Red Sandstone, Ludlow Railway. Mus. Pract. Geology. .
12. Part of the head, mag-
nified, showing the granular haa of oe me Sandstone
ies: om ailway. Mr. R. Lightbody’s
13. Body-joints and tail. een
14. Tail. Base of the Old Red Sandstone, Ludlow Railway. Mus. Pract.
Geolo
ey.
15. E. linearis, Salter. Tail-joint. Upper Ludlow-rock, Ludford ; Kington.
Mus. Pract. Geology.
16 a, 16 6.—Tail. Downton Sandstone, Kington. Mr. R. Banks’s col-
lection.
17. EH. acuminatus, Salter. Tail. Passage-beds at the base of the Old
Red Sandstone, Ludlow Railway. Mr. Lightbody’s collection.
18. E. abbreviatus, Salzer. Tail. Downton Sandstone, Kington. Mr. R.
Banks’s collection.
19. E. acuminatus? Body-joints and tail.
20. Eurypterus? Chelate termination of antenna? Bone-bed, Ludlow.
Mr. Lightbody’s collection.
Quart. Journ. Ceol, Soc. Vol XV PLX.
W-.West imp.
G.West ith ad nat,
GOULD——MITHRACITES VECTENSIS. 937
Description of a Nuw Fossiz Crustacean from the LowER GREENSAND.
By Cuartus Govxp, Esq., B.A., of the Geological Survey of Great
Britain.
{Communicated by Prof. Huxley, F.R.S., F.G.S.]
(Read June 23, 1858.)
I regarp the Crustacean which I am about to describe with peculiar
interest, on account of its belonging to that group of the Brachyura
which comprehends the highest forms of the class, and of which
hitherto but one species (MNithracia libinoides, Bell*) has been de-
scribed as occurring in the fossil state in Great Britain.
At present I am only aware of the existence of two specimens of
the species which I shall here describe,—one in the collection at the
British Museum, the other in that of the Geological Survey of Great
Britain; both are from the Lower Greensand of Atherfield in the
Isle of Wight, and in each the carapace only is preserved. It is
from an examination of these specimens that I have taken the fol-
lowing characters.
Figs. 1, 2, 3.— Mithracites Vectensis, natural size.
Fig. 1.
iM,
Mt Ey
l,
Front view of the Carapace. Side view of the Carapace, in outline.
Miruracites VECTENSIS, nov. gen. et spec.
Carapace; arched in front, somewhat depressed behind, rotun-
date; length slightly exceeding the breadth, which is greatest at the
* Monograph Fossil Malacostr. Crust. Great Britain, Part I. Crustacea of the
London Clay. (Palzontograph. Soc.) 1858, p. 9, pl. 5. figs. 10-12.
s 2
238 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
level of the anterior cardiac region. Front produced into a lamellar
rostrum, of equal length and breadth, grooved in the middle, and
terminating anteriorly in a point without any bifurcation. In both
the specimens examined the remainder of the fronto-orbital portion
of the carapace is imperfect, and partially concealed in the matrix ;
but the ocular peduncle was apparently inserted just beneath the
rostrum, and the eyes folded back into a slightly concave orbit, the
upper edge of which is less advanced than the former.
Cephalic and meso-branchial grooves deep and distinct; gastro-
hepatic less so; meta-branchial furrow indistinguishable.
In the smaller specimen the meta-gastric and uro-gastric regions
are separated from each other by a transverse furrow, and a sepa-
ration of the lobes in each of these regions is indicated by a longi-
tudinal median furrow. In the larger specimen these parts are im-
perfect; but the grooves, as far as they can be seen, appear to be less
distinct. In both specimens the anterior cardiac region is distinguish-
able. The meso-gastric region is triangular in form, with the apex
extending forwards between the lobes of the epi- and proto-gastric
regions. The hepatic region is small, and has an obtuse spine at
its point of contact with the orbits. The upper surface of the
carapace is covered with two species of tubercles, the smaller of
which are irregularly scattered over it, and the latter more definitely
arranged. ‘Two, of a fusiform shape, are situated at the base of the
rostrum, one on either side of the median groove, and are followed
by five others disposed nearly in a straight line across the carapace.
The central one of these is situated in the apex of the triangular
meso-gastric region, and is succeeded at a short interval by another
and somewhat larger tubercle. The branchial regions on either side
also carry five or six tubercles.
Affinities.—Although the general characters of the carapace (such
as its peculiar form, comparative dimensions, the production of its
front into an elongated rostrum, &c.) sufficiently indicate the position
which this species occupies among the Brachyura, still its affinities
with existing genera are not sufficiently close to allow of its being
placed among the members of either of them, and I therefore pro-
pose to give it the generic title of Mithracites. Fully recognizing
the difficulty of obtaining complete generic characters from imperfect
specimens of a single species, I have only ventured to give the few
following from the scanty material at my command, leaving them
to be added to, or modified, if necessary, after the examination of
any more perfect examples which may be subsequently obtained.
Genus MiTHRaActtEs.
Carapace slightly longer than broad, and having most of the
regions well defined; front produced into a rostrum, not bilobed ;
orbits shallow, with the under edge anterior to the upper.
239
DONATIONS
TO THE
LIBRARY OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
From November ist, 1858, to December 31st, 1858.
I. TRANSACTIONS AND JOURNALS.
Presented by the respective Societies and Editors.
American Journal of Science and Art. 2nd Series, Vol. xxvi. No. 78.
November 1858. rom Prof. Silliman, For.Mem.G.S.
J. Marcou’s ‘Geology of North America,’ noticed, 323.
J. D. Dana.—Sixth Supplement to Dana’s ‘Mineralogy,’ 345.
W. P. Trowbridge.—Deep-sea Explorations, 386.
Bunsen.—Separation of Arsenic from Antimony and Zinc, 400.
Chancel.—Separation of Alumina from Iron, 400.
L. Bodart and Gobin.—Preparation of Calcium, 401.
Debray.—Fusion of Molybdenum, 402.
J. Forbes.—Some properties of Ice, 402.
F. V. Hayden.—Tertiary Basin of White and Niobrara Rivers, 404.
G. G, Moreno.—Votcano of Pichincha, 408.
Deville.—Metamorphism, 411.
R. Owen.—Address to British Association, 421.
G. W. Harl.—Submarine plateau of the Kast Indies, 443.
Macgowan.—Alum in China, 444,
P. Cleveland, Obituary Notice of, 448.
Art-Union of London, 22nd Annual Report. 1858.
Athenzum Journal for November and December 1858.
Notices of Scientific Meetings, &c.
W. Buckland’s ‘ Geology and Mineralogy,’ noticed, 577.
A. von Humboldt’s ‘Cosmos,’ noticed, 589.
Mineral Statistics, 726.
J. Nicol’s Geological Map of Scotland, noticed, 762.
Bent’s Monthly Literary Advertiser. Nos. 654-656.
Berlin. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Geologischen Gesellschaft. Vol. x.
part 2. Feb—April 1858.
Streng.—Ueber den Melaphyr des stidlichen Harzrandes, 99 (map).
G. Rose.—Ueber die heteromorphen Zustande der kohlensauren
Kalkerde, 191,
G. v. Rath.—Ueber das Berninagebirge in Graubiindten, 199.
E. Beyrich.—Ueber Ammoniten des unteren Muschelkalks, 208
late).
v. se mR ee der Gebilde des Schwemmlandes,
215 (plate).
240 DONATIONS.
Cambridge Philosophical Society, Transactions. Vol. x. part 1. 1858.
Canadian Journal of Industry, Science, and Art. New Series. No. 17.
September 1858.
J. H. Dumble.—The Ice on Rice Lake, 414.
Canadian Naturalist and Geologist, and Proceedings of the Nat. Hist.
Soc. of Montreal. Vol. ui. Nos. 3-5. June—Oct. 1858.
James Hall.—The genus Graptolithus, 161. °
Geology of the Western States, 182; of Canada, 186.
J. W. Dawson.—Lower Coal-measures of British America, 190.
G. D. Gibb.—Cave in the Trenton limestone, Isle of Montreal, 192.
T. S. Hunt.—Theory of igneous rocks and volcanos, 194.
L. Agassiz’s ‘ Contributions to the Natural History of the United
States,’ noticed, 201, 241.
Alleged discovery of Coal in Canada, 212, 276, 400.
E. Head.—Temple of Serapis, 260.
A. C. Ramsay.—Geology and Scenery of Canada, 263.
C. Lyell.—Tabular stony Lava on steep slopes, 265.
S. Haughton.—Geology of Arctic America, 271.
L. Agassiz.—Zoological relations of some ancient Corals, 275.
A. Gordon.—Scientific Meeting in Germany, 1857, 277.
Geological Survey in Great Britain, 293.
Canadian Organic Remains, Decade UL. noticed, 298; Report of
Geol. Survey of Canada, 1853-56, noticed, 315.
S. Dutton.—Analysis of Magnetic Iron-ore from Bulgaria, 319.
A week in Gaspé, 321.
British Association, September 1858, Prof. Owen’s Address, 372.
Cape and Natal News. No. 2.
Chemical Society, Quarterly Journal. Vol.xi. No. 43. October 1858.
H. Miiller.—Meteoric Iron from Zacatecas, Mexico, 2386 (plate) ;
Pseudomorph of Cinnabar from Asturia, 240; Libethenite from
Congo, 242; Columbite from Greenland, 243.
Colliery Guardian. Vol.u. Nos. 45, 47, 48, 49.
Manchester Geol. Soc. Proc. 298.
Tron-mountain of Missouri, 298.
Rock-salt in Prussia, 298.
Chapman.—Assaying Coals by the blow-pipe, 324.
Tron-ore in Missouri, 339.
R. Htheridge.—Geology, 340, 355.
W. P. Shaefer.—Coal-fields of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, 341.
Critic. Vol. xvi. Nos. 485-442.
Notices of Scientific Societies, &c.
France, Bulletin de la Société Géologique de. Deux. Sér. Vol. xv.
feuil. 24-31. 1858.
De Verneuil.—Sur la derniére éruption du Vésuve, 369.
Van den Hecke.—Sur les marnes du Vatican, 372.
Antoine Passy.—Sur la carte géologique du Département de I’Eure,
375.
Scacchi.—Sur la derniére éruption du Vésuve, 376.
Th. Ebray.—Sur quelques fossiles de l’étage albien des environs
de Sancerre, 379.
DONATIONS. 241
©
France, Bulletin de la Société Géologique de (continued).
B. Gravina.—Sur les terrains tertiaires et quarternaires des environs
de Catane (Sicile), 391.
Engelhardt.—Tableau comparé des divers étages du lias, 422.
Ami Boué.—Sur les Nullipores du Leitha-kalk ou du terrain néocéne,
423.
Se. Gras.—Sur l'association des coquilles du lias aux végétaux
houillers dans les Alpes, 426.
A. Vézian.—Kssai d’une classification des terrains compris entre la
craie et le systéme miocéne exclusivement, 433.
A. Meugy.—Sur la carte géologique du Département du Nord, 458.
Martha-Beker.—Théorie des tremblements de terre et des volcans,
463.
Th. Ebray.—Sur un nouveau genre d’Echinoderme, 482.
Marcel de Serres.—De la découverte du Noteus laticaudus dans les
terrains d’eau douce anenthalassiques d’Armissan (Aude), 492.
Frankfurt. Abhandlungen, herausgegeben von den Senckenbergischen
Gesellschaft. Vol. ii. part 2. 1858.
F, Hessenberg.—Mineralogische Notizen, 158, 243 (6 plates).
Geologist. Nos. 10-12. Oct.—Dec. 1858.
T. Davidson.—Carboniferous Brachiopoda, 409, 457 (plate).
Salmon.—Composition and characteristics of Rocks, 416.
T. W. Norwood.—Geology of Hotham, Yorkshire, 420, 472.
W. Hopkins.—On Geology, noticed, 425.
T. L. Phipson.—Foreign Correspondence, 432, 485.
T. R. Jones.—Making moulds and casts of Fossils, 436.
M. W. Norman.—Upper Greensand of the Isle of Wight, 480.
J. P. Bevan.—Marine shells of the South Wales Coal-basin, 505.
M. W. Norman.—Upper Greensand of the Isle of Wight, 509.
W. Hopkins’s Essay on Geology, noticed, 513.
Proceedings of Societies, 437, 491, 527.
Notes and Queries, 439, 493, 533.
British Association Meeting, 450, 494, 537.
Reviews, 452, 539.
Great Britain, Geological Survey of, Memoirs. Geology of parts of
Wiltshire and Gloucestershire (Sheet 34), by A. C. Ramsay, W. T.
Aveline, E. Hull, and R. Etheridge. 1858.
: . Mineral Statistics of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland for the year 1857, by Robert Hunt, 1858.
Journal of the Indian Archipelago and EKastern Asia. New Ser. vol. ii.
No. 4. From J. R. Logan, Esq., F.GS.
Lancashire and Cheshire Historic Society, Transactions. Vol. x. 1858.
W. Thornber.—Geology of the Fylde District, 187.
J. T. Towson.—Icebergs in the Southern Ocean, 239 (map).
T. J. Moore.—Mammalian remains from the excavations at Wallasey,
265 (2 plates).
Linnean Society, Journal of the Proceedings. Vol. iii. No. 10.
November 1, 1858.
249 DONATIONS.
*
Literary Gazette, New Series. November and December 1858.
Notices of Scientific Meetings, &c.
W. Buckland’s ‘Geology and Mineralogy,’ noticed, 650.
P. J. Gloag’s ‘ Primzeval World,’ noticed, 790.
London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine, 4th Series.
No. 109. vol. xvi. December 1858.
F, A. Genth.—Contributions to Metallurgy, 421.
G. Gore.—Hlectro-deposited Antimony, 441.
Pullen.—Deep-sea soundings, 458.
W. Thomson.—Stratification of vesicular ice by pressure, 464.
O. Fisher.—Natural pits on the Heaths of Dorsetshire, 473.
G. W. Ormerod.—EHarthquake at Dartmoor, 473.
——. Granite-veins of Dartmoor, 474.
N. T. Wetherell.—Siliceous nodules, 474.
C. W. Stow.—Fossils from South Africa, 474.
R. N. Rubidge.—Geology of South Africa, 475.
C. A. Murray.—Mineral Spring's near Tehran, 477.
A. Kekulé.—Mr. Couper’s new chemical theory, 478.
F. Leydolt.—Meteoric stone of Borkut, 479.
Malvern Naturalists’ Field-club. Part I. 1855.
W. 8. Symonds.—Anniversary Address, 1.
E. Lees.—Plants growing on the Silurian Limestones, 15.
J. Phillips.—Geology of the Malvern Hills, 29.
——. Part IL. 1858.
W. S. Symonds.—Address: Hollybush Sandstone; Malvern Black
Schists ; May Hill beds (plate), &c.
J. W. Salter.—Bone-bed at Brockhill, 9 (plate).
Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, Memoirs. 2nd Series,
vol. xv. part 1. 1858.
W. Fairbairn.—Properties of some Mixtures of Cast Iron and Nickel,
104.
F. C. Calvert and R. Johnson.—Hardness of Metals and Alloys, 115.
-——. Proceedings. No.1. Oct. 1857—April 1858.
Spence.—“ Coprolites” of the Crag, 3.
W. Fairbairn.—Strength of some alloys of Nickel and Iron, 35.
F. C. Calvert and R. Johnson.—Hardness of Metals and Alloys, 41.
Moscow. Bulletin de la Soc. Imp. des Nat. de Moscou. Vol. xxx.
Nos. 2-4. 1857.
R. Hermann.—Ueber Tantal, 305.
—. Ueber das Wachsen der Steine, so wie uber kunstliche Bildung
einiger Mineralien, 545.
. Ueber Neftedegil, Baikerit, und Asphalth, 470.
J. Fonberg.—L’analyse des eaux de Kiel, 536.
W. von Qualen.—Ueber die Metamorphose eines jungern Gypses aus
Gebirgsarten des Westuralschen Kupfersandsteins, 196.
EK. Eichwald.—Zur geographischen Verbreitung der fossilen Thiere
Russlands, 305. .
H. Trantschold.—Ueber Ammonites cordatus und A. Lamberti, 568
(plate). |
é ii Vesuy’ von I. Roth (noticed), 591.
DONATIONS. 243°
Moscow. Bulletin de la Soc. Imp. des Nat. de Moscou. Vol. xxxi.
No. 1. 1858.
R. Hermann.—Ueber einige neue Mineralien, 86.
——. Ueber Phosphorochalcit und Ehlit, 95.
Th. Lwoff.—Sur un minerai de cuivre, 251.
Paris. Comptes Rendus hebdomadaires des Séances de l’Acad. des
Se. Vol. xlvu. Nos. 11-18. Sept.—Nov. 1858.
Aulagnier.—Sur la glairine ou barégine des eaux minérales, 684,
Baroulier.—Sur la production artificielle de la houille, 376.
Beaumont, EK. de.—Sur les changements dans le plateau du Vésuve,118.
Beker, Martha-.—Sur les tremblements de terre, 336, 531, et 635.
Boué, A.—Sur des tremblements de terre ressentis en Illyrie et en
Carinthie vers le fin de Décembre 1857, 150.
Bouis.—Recherches sur les produits de la décomposition des roches
sous Vinfluence des eaux thermales sulfureuses, 226.
Castelnau, de.—Sur la constitution géologique de quelques cantons
voisins du Cap de Bonne-Espérance, 56.
Sur les secousses de tremblement de terre ressenties au Cap
de Bonne-Espérance, 247.
Cauvy.—Analyse des eaux de Sylvanes (Aveyron), 1167.
Cloéz, S.—Nouveau mode de traitement du speiss et du kupfer-
nickel, 41.
Daubrée.—Sur les dépéts minéraux formés par les sources thermales
de Plombiéres avant et pendant la période actuelle, 1086, 1201.
Se le cristallization du soufre dans le sulfure de carbone,
576.
Sur le molybdéne, 1098.
Degousée et Laurent.—Forage artésien exécuté a Naples, 980.
Delesse, A.—Sur le métamorphisme des roches, 638.
Denis.—Sur un fragment de lignite trouvé dans le grés bigarré, 473.
Despaquis et Didlon.—Sur une pierre lithographique provenant de
Lerrain (Vosges), 474.
Deville, H. Sainte-Claire, et Caron.—Sur un nouveau mode de pro-
duction a l’état cristallin d’un certain nombre d’espéces chimiques
et minéralogiques, 764.
Fontan.—Sur des dents humaines et des ustensiles trés-anciens
trouvés dans les cavernes & ossements de Massat (Arriége), 900.
Fournet.—Sur les lignites collants de Manosque (Basses-Alpes), 194.
Francq, F. de.—De la formation et de la répartition des reliefs ter-
restres (Systéme de montagnes de l’Europe occidentale), 523.
Grasset.—Sur les eaux minérales de Bondonneau (Drome), 182.
Hugard.—Sur la dolomie de la vallée de Binn, 1261.
Jackson, C. T.—Sur un gisement de plomb argentifére dans la Caro-
line du Nord; et sur l’exploitation de ditiérentes mines des Etats-
Unis d’ Amérique, 254.
——. Surun moule du Paradoxides Harlan, 254.
Junghuhn.—Description du Keloét, volcan de Vile de Java, 456.
Jutier.—Sur le spath-fluor qui existe en filons dans le granite de
Plombiéres, 1205.
Kuhlmann.—Sur les chaux et ciments hydrauliques, et la formation
des roches par la voie humide, 920.
Lartet, E.—Sur les migrations anciennes des mammiferes de ]’époque
actuelle, 409.
Leymerie.—Sur le calcaire a Dicérates des Pyrénées, 848.
. Sur le terrain de transition de la vallée de la Pique (Pyré-
nées), 636.
244
DONATIONS.
Paris. Comptes Rendus (continued).
Leymerie.—Sur quelques points de la géologie des régions pyréné-
ennes, 140.
Marignac.—Sur l’isomorphisme des fluosilicates et des fluostannates,
et sur le poids atomique du silicium, 854.
Mauget.—Sur le débit du puits creusé a Naples, 1098.
Sur l’éruption du Vésuve du 24 Mai 1858, 1098.
Meissonier.—Fossiles -caractéristiques d’une formation géologique
étudiée en Calabre, 892.
Gisement de lignite dans le territoire de Conidoni (Calabre),
1090.
Meyer, H. von.—Sur l Archegosaurus, 664 et 812. ;
Molon, de.—Expériences agronomiques relatives 4 l’emploi des phos-
phates de chaux fossiles, 233. :
Nicklés.—Sur la découverte dans le bassin de Plombiéres d’un filon
de spath-fluor, 1149.
Palmieri.—Sur l’éruption du Vésuve, 1219.
Paravey.—Sur les digues de la Hollande, 332.
Pariset.—Sur les soulévements terrestres, 1066.
Pelouze.—Rapport sur, un Mémoire de M. de Commines de Marsilly,
ayant pour titre, “Etude des principales variétés de houille con-
sommées sur le marché de Paris et de la France; études sur la
tourbe,” 882.
Phipson, T. L.—Sur le soufre natif des terrains ammonées de la
Sicile, 812.
Pissis.—Description topographique et géologique de la province
d’Aconcagua, 1034.
—. Sur les systémes de soulévement de Amérique du Sud,
239.
Preville.—Sur les inondations de la mer océane opérées sur les cétes
de la basse Normandie et de la Bretagne, 986. :
Regnauld.—Sur le rdle électrochemique du magnésium, 852.
Roucher.—Sur la constitution des marnes, et en particulier de quel-
ques marnes de l’Algérie, 1209.
Rouville et Marcel de Serres.—Présence du mercure dans le sous-
sol de Montpellier, 52, 53, 252.
Scacchi.—Sur le production de cotunnite par la lave du Vésuve, 496.
Senarmont, de.—Rapport sur un Mémoire de M. Lewy, concernant
la formation et la composition de l’émeraude, 561.
Serres, Marcel de.—Découverte du Noteus laticaudatus dans les envi-
rons de Narbonne, 751.
Des houilles séches des terrains jurassiques, et particuliére-
ment des stipites de Larzac (Aveyron), 999.
Sur les cavernes 4 ossements du Pontil et de Massat, 1243.
Shumard.—Sur l’existence de la faune permienne dans l’Amérique
du Nord, 897.
Simonin, L.—Sur les lignites de Monte Bamboli, 642.
Socquet.—Sur les eaux minérales alcalines gazeuses de Condillac, 584.
Sorby, H. C.—Sur le mode de consolidation du granite et de plu-
sieurs autres roches, 146.
Titfereau.—Production artificielle de Vor par ’oxydation des sul-
fures, 896. :
Vaillant et Guyon.—Sur les tremblements de terre ressentis en Al-
gérie, 515,
Verneuil, E. de.—Sur l'état actuel du Vésuve, et sur les change-
ments qui se sont opérés depuis 1854 dans le plateau supérieur du
volean, 117. :
DONATIONS. 945
Paris. Comptes Rendus (continued).
Vicat.—Sur les effets comparés de la mer libre et des dissolutions
étendues de sulfate de magnésie en tant qu’agents destructeurs
des composés hydrauliques, 190.
Sur une secousse de tremblement de terre ressentie 4 Grenoble
dans la nuit du 11 au 12 Avril 1858, 764.
Villeneuve, de.—Sur les rapports de la géologie et de ’hydrographie,
618.
Wencelides.—Sur les bancs des sables de l’océan Pacifique, et sur la
recherche qu’on y pourrait faire de gisements de minerais exploi-
tables, 474.
Photographic Society Journal. Nos. 72-75.
Royal Geographical Society, Proceedings. Vol. 11. No. 6.
Royal Institution of Great Britain. List of the Members, &c. for
1857. 1858.
——. Additions to the Library, 1858.
——. Notices of the Proceedings. Part 8. November 1857-July
1858.
R. Godwin-Austen.—Probability of Coal existing beneath the South-
eastern parts of England, 511.
W. B. Carpenter.—Rhizopoda, 497.
H. James.—Geodetic operations of the Ordnance Survey, 516.
J. P. Lacaita.—Harthquakes in Southern Italy, 528.
E. Lankester.—Drinking-waters of the Metropolis, 466.
A. C. Ramsay.—Geology and Scenery of Canada, 522.
J. Tyndall.—Some Physical Properties of Ice, 454.
——. The Mer-de-Glace, 544.
Royal Society, Philosophical Transactions. Vol. cxlvi. part 3. 1858.
C. G. Williams.—Products of the Destructive Distillation of Bog-
head Coal, 787.
W. Hopkins.—The Conductive Powers of various substances, 805.
—, . Vol. exlvii. part 1. 1858.
L. Horner.—Geological History of the Alluvial Land of Egypt, 53
(4 plates).
R. Owen.—Saurian nature of Placodus, 169 (8 plates).
G. Gore.—Properties of Electro-deposited Antimony, 185.
J. Tyndall._Some Physical Properties of Ice, 211.
R. Owen.— Megatherium Americanum, 261 (5 plates).
St. Petersburg. Bulletin de la Classe Phys.-Math. de l’Acad. Imp.
des Sciences de St. Pétersbourg. Vol. xvi.
Fritzsche.—Ueber Ozokerit, Neft-gil, und Kir, 241.
Abich.—Ueber die Erschemung brennenden Gases im Krater des
Vesuv, 258.
Ueber Manganerze in Transkaukasien, 305.
——. Tremblement de terre observé 4 Tebriz en Septembre 1856,
337 (plate).
—. Uber die neue geologische Karte von Europa von André
Dumont, 235.
246 DONATIONS,
St. Petersburg. Bulletin (continued).
Helmersen.—Ueber die Bohrarbeiten auf Steinkohle bei Moskau und
Sserpuchow, 46.
Engelhardt.—Ueber die Metalloxyde, 104.
Baer.—Ueber den Neft-deghil, 111.
Ouchakoff.—Analyse des Pelicanits, 129.
. Surwun nouveau gisement du Mellite, 301.
Kokscharof.—Ueber das Vorkommen des Euklases in Russland, 284.
Compte Rendu de l’Acad. Imp. des Sciences de St. Péters-
bourg, 1857. 1858.
Minéralogie et Géologie, 45.
Society of Arts, Journal. Vol. vi. Nos. 310-319.
M. C. Cooke.—The Gold Coast, 710.
Rock-salt near Stettin, Prussia, 718.
F. C. Calvert and R. Johnson.—Hardness of Metals and Alloys, 21.
H. Clarke.—Copper-smelting, 27.
Tron-trade of France, 89.
Statistical Society, Journal. Vol. xxi. part 4. December 1858.
Stockholm. Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps-Akademiens Handlingar.
New Series. Vol. 1. part 2. 1856.
A. Erdmann.—Beskrifning ofver Dalkarlsbergs jernmalmsfalt uti
Nora Socken och Orebro Lan, 441 (14 plates).
Ofversigt af Kongl. Vetenskaps-Akademiens Férhandlingar.
Fjortonde Argangen. 1857. 1858. 7
Blomstrand.—Egendomliga Molybdenforeningar, 393.
Erdmann.—Vattenstandet i Malaren och Saltsjon, 1856, 65.
Lindstrom.—Till Gottlands Geologi, 33.
Svanberg.—Om Brandoljesyra, 237. |
C. P. Carlsson.—Pepolith en pseudomorphos af Cordierit, 241.
University College, London, Calendar, 1858-9.
University of London. Report of the Committee appointed to con-
sider the propriety of establishing a Degree or Degrees in Science.
1859. .
Wiesbaden. Jahrbicher des Vereins fur Naturkunde in Herzog-
thum Nassau. Zwolftes Heft. 1857.
G. Sandberger.—Mineralogische Notizen, 396.
Geognostisch-palaontologische Notizen, 402.
F. Seelheim.—Untersuchung eines bei Mainz gefundenen Meteor-
steins, 405.
F. Vollpracht.—Chemische Analyse der heissen Quelle des Bade-
hauses der Vier Jahreszeiten in Wiesbaden, 411.
Zoological Society. Proceedings. Nos. 363-369.
——. Transactions. Vol. iv. part 5. 1858.
R. Owen.—Bones of Leg and Foot of Dinornis elephantopus, 149.
——. Skeleton of Dinornis elephantopus, 159 (2 plates).
DONATIONS. 247
II. PERIODICALS PURCHASED FOR THE LIBRARY.
Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist. 3rd Series, vol. 11. No. 11. Nov. 1858.
J. Kirkby.—Permian Entomostraca from Durham, 317 (plate).
H. Seeley.—Two new Chalk Starfishes, 335 (figures).
L. Barrett.—Axis and Atlas of the Plesiosaurus, 361 (plate).
= | No. 12: December. 1855,
J. W. Kirkby.—Permian Entomostraca from Durham, 482 (plate).
A. Hancock.—-Vermiform fossils of the Mountain-limestone, 443
(6 plates).
Dunker und v. Meyer’s Paleontographica. Vol. v. part 5. 1858.
H. v. Meyer.—Paleomscus obtusus, ein Isopode aus der Braunkohle
von Sieblos, 111 (plate).
C. von Heydon.—Fossile Insekten aus der Braunkohle von Sieblos,
115 (plate).
H. A. Hagen.—Zwei Libellen aus der Braunkohle von Sieblos, 121
late).
ee ee proavus aus der Rheinischen Braunkohle, 125
fioure).
J. o Ubaghs.—Neue Bryozoen-Arten aus der Tuff-Kreide von
Maestricht, 127 (plate).
R. Ludwig.—Fossile Pflanzen aus der mittleren Etage der Wetterau-
Rheinischen Tertiar-Formation, 132 (7 plates).
Leonhard u. Bronn’s Neues Jahrbuch f. Min., Geog., Geol., &e.
Jahrgang 1858. Finftes Heft.
Fr. Rolle.—Einige an der Grenze der Eocin- und der Neogen-For-
mation auftretende Tertiar-Schichten, 5153.
Krauss.—Schadel-Bau von Halitherium, 519 (plate).
J. J. Kaup.—Hahtherium hbesitzt einen rudimentaren Femur, 532
late).
L. eae der lebenden Thier- und Pflanzen-Welt in Au-
stralien, 535.
G. Jenzsch.—Lithologie, die Basis der rationellen Geologie, 539.
Letters : Notices of Mineralogy, Geology, and Fossils.
——. Sechstes Heft.
Andler.—Die Angulaten-Schichten der Wiirttembergischen Jura-
Formation, 641.
H. v. Meyer.—Psephoderma Alpmum aus dem Dachstein-Kalke der
Alpen, 646.
Jenzsch.—Ueber den Sanidin-Quarzporphyr von Zwickau in Sachsen,
651.
J. C. Deicke.—Ueber die Diluvial-Kohle bei Mérschwy] in St. Gallen,
659.
Letters: Notices of Mineralogy, Geology, and Fossils.
948 DONATIONS.
Ill. GEOLOGICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS.
Names of Donors in Italies.
Anon. A Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Army, particu-
larly during the late war with Russia. By a Non-Commissioner.
1858.
Anon. Catalogue of J. Tennant’s Collection of British Fossils; and
List of Geological Books, Maps, and Models. 1858. From Prof.
Tennant, F.GS.
Anon. Double-refracting or Iceland Spar. 1858. From Prof. Ten-
nant, F.GS.
Anon. Tennant’s Bibliographic list. 1858. From Prof. Tennant,
EF.GS
Anon. Kongliga Svenska Fregatten EKugenies Resa omkring Jorden,
under Befal af C. A. Virgin, aren 1851-1853. Fysik. Forst
Afdelningen: Hydrografi och Meteorologi. 1858,
——. ——. Zoologi, I. IU. 1857-8.
Botanik, I. 1857. From the Royal Academy of
Sevekholie.
Anon. Voyage autour du Monde sur la Frégate Suédoise l’Eugénie
exécuté pendant les années 1851-1853 ; sous. le commandement
de C. A. Virgin. Physique. Premiere partie: Hydrographie et
Météorologie. 1858. From the Royal Academy of Stockholm.
Arndsten, A. Physikalaske Meddelelser. 1858. From the Royal
University of Christiania.
Babbage, C. The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise. 2nd Edit. 1838.
Boeck, Ch. Bemerkningen angaaende Graptolitherne. 1851. From
the Royal Unwersity of Christiania.
Bronn, H. G. Die Entwickelung der organischen Schopfung. 1858.
Bunge, A. Plantas Abichianas in Itineribus per Caucasum re-
gionesque Transcaucasicas collectas enumeravit A.Bunge. 1858.
From Dr. Abich, For.M.G.S.
Dana, J. D. Notes on the Currents of the Ocean. 1858.
. Review of Marcou’s Geology of North America. 1858.
Sixth Supplement to Dana’s ‘ Mineralogy.’ 1858.
Daubrée. Mémoire sur la relation des sources thermales de Plom-
bieres avec les filons métalliferes, et sur la formation contempo-
raine des Zéolithes. 1858. 4
Davidson, T. Paleontological Notes on the Brachiopoda. 1858.
Delesse, A. Etudes sur le Métamorphisme. Suite III. Roches Gra-
nitiques. 1858.
DONATIONS. 249
Duff, P. Sketch of the Geology of Moray. 1842. From John Miller,
Esq.
Ebray, Th. Etudes paléontologiques sur le Département de la
Niévre. 1™° Livraison. 1858.
Francfort, E. Minere cani ed annesso Stabilimento Metallurgico in
Vallanzasca. 1859.
Gaudin, C. Th., et C. Strozzt. Mémoire sur quelques gisements de
feuilles fossiles de la Toscane. 1858.
Gemmellaro, G'. G'.. Richerche sur Pesche fossili della Sicilia. Parte 1°.
1858.
Haughton, S. Notes on Mineralogy. No. VII. On some Rocks
and Minerals from Central India. 1859.
Heer, 0. Les charbons feuilletés de Durnten et d’Utznach. Tra-
duit par Ch. Th. Gaudin. 1858. From M. C. T. Gaudin.
Hennessey, H. Notes on the Laws which regulate the Distribution
of the Isothermal Lines. 1859.
Terrestrial Climate as influenced by the Distribution of Land
and Water at different Geological Periods. 1859.
Horbye, I. C. Fortsatte Jagstagelser over de erratiske Pheenomener.
From the Royal Unwersity of Christiana.
Horner, L. An Account of some recent researches near Cairo,
undertaken with the view of throwing light upon the Geological
History of the Alluvial Land of Egypt. 1858.
King, W. Historical Account of the Invertebrata occurring in the
Permian Rocks of the North of England. 1859.
Kjerulf, Th. Das Christiania-Silurbecken. 1855. rom the Royal
Unwersity of Christiana.
Lartet, E. Observations 4 propos des débris fossiles de divers Elé-
phants dont la découverte a été signalée par M. Ponzi, aux envi-
rons de Rome. 1858.
Mallet, R., § J. W. Mallet. The Karthquake-catalogue of the Bri-
tish Association, with the Discussion, Curves, and Maps, &c. 1858.
Marcou, J. American Geology: Letter on some points of the Geo-
- logy of Texas, &e. 1850.
Notes pour servir a une Description géologique des Mon-
tagnes Rocheuses. 1858.
Moro, A. L. Biographical Notice—G. L. Podrecca. 1858. From
Sign. G. L. Podrecea.
Murchison, Sir R. I. Siluria. The History of the Older Fossili-
ferous Rocks and their Foundations; with a brief sketch of the
Distribution of Gold over the Earth. 3rd [2nd] edit. 1859.
250 DONATIONS.
Owen, Rk. Deseription of the Skull and Teeth of Placodus laticeps,
Owen, with indications of other new species of Placodus, and eyvi-
dence of the Saurian nature of the genus. 1858.
——, Address to the British Association. 1858.
Phillips, W. An Klementary Introduction to Mineralogy. 4th edit.
By Robert Allan. 1837. From Prof. Tennant, F.GS.
Ponzi, G. Per il rinvenimento di uno Scheletro di Elefante fossile
fatto presso Rignano. 1858.
. Sui Lavori della Strada Ferrata di Civita-Vecchia da Roma
alla Maglana. 1858.
——. Sulla Origine dell’ Alluminite e Caolino della Tolfa. 1858.
Prestwich, J. On the Age of some Sands and Ironstones on the
North Downs; with a Note on the Fossils by 8. V. Wood.
1858.
Reeve, L. Conchologia Iconica. Monographs of the genera Modiola,
Lattorina, Mytilus, Inthodomus, Vulsella, Lanthina, Calyptrea, Mel-
lius, Umbrella, Perna, Pedum, and Crenatula. 1857-58.
Roper, R.S. Messrs. Claridge and Roper’s Patent for an improved -
mode of Manufacturing Coke: On the Desulphurization of Coke.
1858.
Sandberger, G. Kurze Betrachtungen tiber Sipho und Siphonadulte,
sowle tiber Eizelle und andere dussere und innere Merkmale der
Schale des Gemeinen Schiffsbootes (Nautilus pompzlius, Linn.),
nebst eigen Vergleichungen mit analogen Stiicken der Gattunays
Clymenia, Goniatites, und Ammonites. 1858.
Smyth, R. B. Third Meteorological Report, with Diagram of Baro-
metric Pressure, &c. Yictoria, 1858.
Sorby, H.C. On the Microscopical Structure of Crystals, indicating
the origin of Minerals and Rocks. 1858.
Tate, G. R. The Land and Freshwater Mollusca of Alnwick. 1858.
Tate, G. The Geology and Archeology of Breadnell, Northumber-
land, with descriptions of Fossil Annelids. 1858.
Tchihatchef, P. de. Discours prononcé & Montpellier le 16 Juin 1857
& la Séance de cléture de la Session extraordinaire de la Société
' Botanique de France.
——. Etudes sur la Végétation des Hautes Montagnes de l’Asie
Mineure et de ’Arménie. 1858.
Tyndall, J. On some Physical Properties of Ice. 1858.
Wyley, A. Report upon the Mineral and Geological Structure of
South Namaqualand and the adjoining Mineral Districts. 1857.
251
POSTPONED PAPERS.
On the Patmozorc Basrn of the Starz of New Yorx.
Part III. An Inquiry into the Sedimentary and other External
Relations of the Paleozoic Fossils of the State of New York*.
By J. J. Bressy, M.D., V.P.G.S., formerly British Secretary to the
Canadian Boundary Commission.
[Read May 26, 1858.]
_ CONTENTS.
Introduction.
§ 1. Conditions and characters of Sediments.
§ 2. Paleozoic Sediments; their nature.
§ 3. On the Distribution and immediate relations of Paleozoic Animal Life
in Wales and the State of New York.
a. Calcareous Strata. 6. Argillaceous Strata. c. Arenaceous Strata. d. Fos-
sils in Calcareous and Non-calcareous Strata. ¢. Divergence. jf. Recur-
rence. g. Recurrence of Orders and Genera. 4. Recurrents of the De-
vonian System of New York.
§ 4. On the grouping of Fossils, and their Order of Precedence.
1. Potsdam Sandstone. 2. Calciferous Sandstone. 3. Chazy or Black-
river Limestone. 4. Birdseye Limestone. 5. Trenton Limestone. 6. Utica
Slate. 7. Hudson-river Rocks. 8. Medina Sandstone. 9. Clinton Rocks.
. Increment and Decrement.
. Duration of Invertebrate Life.
. Epochal and Geographical Diffusion of Species.
. Recurrence.
. Comparison of the Paleozoic Basins of Wales and New York.
CMC
CO OO ST SD On
Introduction.—The objects proposed in this inquiry are—to give
more precision to facts as yet imperfectly ascertained, and to discover,
if possible, new materials for the history of these early times, and
new points of connexion between the paleozoic basins of the State
of New York and of Wales—countries which are therefore the sub-
ject of frequent comparison in these pages.
This communication is divided into four parts. The first part,
after a few preliminary observations on the agencies by which the
sediments or sea-bottoms were laid down, will treat of their mineral
character. The second will be devoted to the distribution and
immediate relations of animal life to the strata which the fossil
remains occupy. The third will deal with the “recurrence” or
vertical range of these fossil species,—their order of precedence,
duration, increment, and decrement throughout the older paleozoic
epochs. The fourth, and concluding, part will consist of general
statements and inferences.
* For Parts I. and II. see Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xiv. p. ee and p. 427.
VOL. XVY.—PART I.
252 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
By the expression “ external relations” is meant such as do not
directly lead us to the consideration of structural or physiological
distinctions; the latter belong to a separate and very important
field of investigation.
§ 1. Conditions and characters of Sedvments.—It being a gene-
rally received fact that paleozoic fossils usually passed their lives
in and about the sedimentary strata in which they are found, some
very brief remarks on the origin and nature of the latter may be
excused. The agents concerned in the formation of strata may be
divided into two great classes:—Ist. The constant and superficial,
often called “ Neptunian.” 2ndly. The modifying, or occasional
and subterranean, often called “Plutonic.”
The first, 07 constant, causes are mechanical and chemical, both
being in universal and ceaseless action. The mechanical agencies
operate, on land, by comminution and degradation, and in the
ocean, by removing and redepositing suspended matters by the
means of currents, pelagic, estuarine, and fluviatile—all lable to
variations, stoppage, and reversion. Their greatest activity is
experienced, as is well known, near the land, where broken up and
removable substances are most plentiful. The nature of the sea-
bottom is therefore usually determined by the geological constitution
of the neighbouring land and its coasts, the very outline of the
latter having a powerful influence, as they are high or low, straight
or curved. Of the details of these currents in the paleeozoic times,
their force, direction, d&c., we know but little as yet; for they were
not those of the present day—the position, form, and quantity of
the dry land being different. Many appearances exist, however,
tending to prove that during the deposition of the middle stage of
the Silurian system of New York a broad current set in from the
region now sunk under the Atlantic, in a W.N.W. direction, and
overspread that State and the countries still more westerly with
various forms of detritus, which at first (on the eastern edge of
middle North America) was a conglomerate, and then a grit, and ~
successively a deposit arenaceous, argillaceous, and calcareous, as it
progressed into the deep western seas of the epoch. Precisely
similar phenomena occur in Bohemia, except that the currents and
their contents come from opposite quarters, N.E. and 8.W., at dif-
ferent stages of the Silurian era*.
The chemical causes are everywhere in action, dissolving and con-
verting, simultaneously with the mechanical. In the high seas they
are often alone. There is reason to believe that the mineral ingre-
dients of sea-water are always undergoing minute changes of com-
position, which result in precipitations,—by far the most part of this
being effected by the animals inhabiting it, and principally by the
Rhizopods, assisted by the minute Diatomaceous vegetables.
The second class of causes, the occasional and modifying, employed
in the deposition or the derangement of strata, consist of insensible
oscillations of level, crust-ruptures, or elevations. The slow de-
pressions and upheavals of the earth’s surface, which have been
* Barrande, ‘Systeme Silurienne Bohéme,’ p. 62.
BIGSBY—PALMOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK. 253
called secular oscillations, have produced, we must remember, vast
changes in the nature of the sediments by withdrawing the sea-
bottoms from certain influences and exposing them to others. They
are often repeated on the same spot, and create new features in
land and sea,—new islands, continents, straits, and broad oceans.
Shutting up old communications, they may open new ones, and
introduce currents laden with other faunse and flore. Hence, it is
evident, arise a multitude of zoological complications: migration
begins in one place, is stopped at another; a community of living
beings perishes, to be replaced by a new group. Similar observa-
tions may be made on sudden uplifts, sometimes endowed with
tremendous and far-extending energy; leaving behind them, at the
same time, more or less of metamorphism.
The characteristics of pelagic, estuarine, and fluviatile deposits,
so important in paleozoic investigations, have been well explained
by Edward Forbes and Constant Prévost, and must be familiar to
my readers. We need not dwell on the effects which oceanic waters,
their vegetation, and suspended matters exert upon the production
and perfection of animal life. These effects result from the
character of the mineral contents of the sea, its depth, distance
from land, and its temperature. The saline ingredients of the sea
must have always been nearly the same as at present, as well as
the degree of dilution. The presence of iron, of free acids, and of
many other foreign substances is commonly fatal to animal life.
When the first of these abounds in fossiliferous strata, it has usually
been introduced after the death of the resident animals. Depth of
sea and distance from land are important considerations as regards
_ life, as has been admirably shown in the zoological zones and par-
allels established by Edward Forbes.
In reference to temperature, we find that differences in latitude
had not the same effect in paleozoic times that they have had since.
Everything points to the prevalence of a uniform and rather high
temperature during these primal times and long afterwards. Their
palzeozoic species are widely disseminated. An Australian or an
Arctic species may be found in a Chinese, British, or American rock ;
and this not as an exceptional fact. Every small section of the
thermometric scale, embracing perhaps only a few degrees of heat,
has its own assemblage of life as regards the present seas. M.
Deshayes points out that the number of species increases at the
present day as we approach the equator,—there being only 10 or 12
in latitude 80°, and, by progressive increase, more than 900 in the
seas of Guinea ; such is the life-multiplying power of heat. We
must always remember that marine life requires for its well-being
a resting-place, security, food, and a proper medium for the per-
formance of physiological acts.
§ 2. Paleozoic Sediments ; their nature.—The complete development
of the Silurian system in Wales and the border-counties*, its voleanic.
* In the frequent references throughout these pages to the palzozoic area of
Wales and the adjacent English counties, the single word “ Wales” only will be
employed.
TZ
954. PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
disturbances and intercalations, and the ample elucidation it has
received from geological observers of the highest class, have rendered
it a most convenient and trustworthy standard of comparison with
similar basins. In the early paleeozoic times, we may here remark,
and especially at the period of the Lingula-flags (or Potsdam Sand-
stone, their New York representative), a waste of shallow waters
almost wholly overspread the earth. Here and there were lands,
probably low, composed of the older metamorphic rocks, and forming
the widely separated and devious coast-lines of immense sea-basins,
wherein were deposited mineral sediments, chiefly through the me-
dium of vital processes, but greatly also by currents,—the coarse
near to, and the fine remote from, the dry land,—such action com-
mencing from the moment any given region was immersed beneath
the waters. These deposits constitute the sedimentary strata, the
subject of the observations now about to be made. Those of New
York may be usefully arranged under the following seventeen heads,
namely :—
Siliceous Conglomerate. Calcareous Grit.
Siliceous Grit. | Calcareous Sandstone.
Siliceous Sandstone. Argillo-calcareous Shale.
Argillaceous Sandstone. | Calcareo-argillaceous Shale.
Micaceo-argillaceous Sandstone. Micaceo-argillaceous Shale.
Ferruginous Sandstone. Siliceous Limestone.
Tron-ore. Magnesio-argillaceous Limestone.
Calcareous Conglomerate. Argillaceous Limestone.
Pure Limestone.
These seventeen materials, varying in the proportions of their ingre-
dients, constitute the whole sedimentary basin of New York. They
are good types,—some one or more occupying each of the group-
sections into which this basin has been divided. Magnesia enters
largely into the composition of some of the sandstones and lime-
stones of the western continuations of this basin (Wisconsin, dc.) ;
but not, as far as I am aware, within the limits of New York,
excepting in the Onondaga-Salt Rocks. The Clinton iron-ore of
New York is of workable value; it is an oolitic lenticular clay-
iron-ore (Vanuxem, p. 83).
The manner in which this distribution has taken place is seen at
a glance in the Table of mineral characters of the paleeozoic strata of
this State (No.I.). This Table exhibits, first, in separate columns,
the variations in composition undergone by each section, giving the
predominant character of each in the last column.
The following inferences may be drawn from this Table: they
seem to be of some importance. 1. The three great mineral forms,
siliceous sand, clay, and lime, are nearly equal in quantity. The
other minerals are rare and uninfluential, except iron and magnesia,
which, however, are in less quantity than those first mentioned. 2.
The great classes of rock, arenaceous, calcareous, and siliceous, are
usually massed together; but not often in a state of purity. 3.
The lithological grounds on which the State-geologists of New York
have based their stratigraphical arrangements are well defined. 4.
TaBte I— Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xv. Zo face page 254.
|
Calciferous Sands
—The Paleozoic Sediments of Wales and the adjacent
| Counties*.
New Yor
Sediments. Localities.
| erate, quartzose ...............| May Hill.
| erate, calcareous............... | (Frequent.)
| iG: QUATIZOBSE J Acccccsacedeos: | Park Lane
| ACE OUST ts nay) ie oeciaa tages! Soho | Lechclawdd.
ee ere er Narey MIGACEOUB.2/005:2464. 640 | Horeb Chapel.
| Catskill Group PCIe etee ne sce cha s stitch _ Lechelawdd.
Chemung Rocks yyellow, micaceous............ Storm Hill.
Portage Rocks &; grey, MICACCOUS-....0 020-0 Lechelawdd.
Genesee Slate... &, fine, micaceous ............ Maudinam.
Tully Limestone®: CUSTER ae a hs ReneS pol May Hill.
Hamilton Rocks el eralelolaiala\utelalaie]a/stulslatelefslelalofeleis/eiu/svernie
Marcellus Shale |SAN0y -.....-....ccsceceesseecees Bala, Wenloch Sh.
| Corniferous Lim€alcareous phe de taaniie sees
Onondaga Limes©0arse CUT Ve ne a os Golden Grove.
Schoharie Grit |@TCCM ..-...........seereeeeeeee | Dinas Brau.
Cauda-Galli Gritolive, arenaceous ............ _Keeper’s Lodge, Llandovery.
Oriskany SP TRPeR Lah et. as on shor noeenen: | Builth, &e.
| Upper Pentamen ZC Ga ee Seated ere, Rea | aan ddw.
| Delthyris Shaly F Hono Ao OF ASU OOO EN On dtes HOOMOGOAE uaLOW.
Tee Pontawienro RTS Mey tue aris ss 2 Pensarn.
Waterlime Limes’; eielotetatodniaiel elntafateValeealcleletaictelevslaratel sinter \ Caradoc.
Onondaga-Salt Re AS SONAtRS Aon GanD SSINAGHOAoao as he
Coralline Limestc? Pasteceeseee steceesenesssseseecees Bala.
Niagara Rocks eenish. (Lingula-flags)...... Penmorfa.
Guten Rocks ROCK (OMVO eof ccs. ste aoe ae Mortimer’s Cross.
Midis Sandee on Oc PECER Cian naaeon acess ok Park Lane.
Oneida Conglom | pure ae Aymestry.
Hudson-River Ree 4 pure and argillaceous...| Dudley.
Wiea Sate. ap etllyeceOuUs i... 0k acs cee: Woolhope.
| Trenton Limeston | arenaceous Ashe eeetscon Bala. |
JB 8 EeSh GOEL ELS 219 SSE ES CS a7 Oe
Chazy Juimestone * From Murchison and M‘Coy.
Potsdam Sandsto
|
. Minerals; Trenton Trenton Nia
SG gara
Lime- Ras Lime- | Hudson- peas q Lime-
tone; La! ate stone ; River Dai stone; Isles!
| Cloche, Lake ae Montmo-| Rocks ; Bd Tale North of |
| Lake © em renci Falls, Quebec. MOPS S| Drum-
hes Gashonntn GPa Huron : Quebec. Cason. mond Isle.
Carbonate of Ma
| Carbonate of Ma: ; |
| Alumina and Sesq, 29°5 } a os 42 34:10
Phosphoric acid... 18 aS as 6:25 1
Insoluble ........, 10 1 10 15°5 7 oe
Organic matter... --- a Ke 8-4 14-80
Dhiaeerie etary | 2:30 1-06
is Eo) as eae =: 1 5
} cae us| 6°5 ee
: = 96 100 100 100 99:95 99
Lower SILURIAN.
iB LV.—Analyses of some Rocks from Canada.
Niagara
Upper SILURIAN.
|
Taste 1.—Showing the Sedimentary Constituents of the Groups of Strata in the New York Basi
vé 1Vew ori asin.
Quart, Journ. Geol, Soe. vol. xy.
} ;
~ |
2 To face page 254.
x 8
2| | Is 3 |
e| ile] (Bl le alg Taste IL—The Paleeozoie Sedi
New York Sections. a] [ale 8 Sls $ 8 = Os Ae of Wales and. the adjacent
S| lz EI 3 Blas slsiels =I é Prevailing Mineral. Magee
| AS a Als i 2
: é & 3 2/2 Sis a E a E 4 4 Sediments, Localiti
5 alalalelelelelelsisigialglel Conglomerate FE a
& 8/8/8520 /2] 5] s/s /2 (3/2 isis Conglomerate ilearoneg 0" May Hill
3 LS 3 BE iB Bs iS|8\s Bigs Soe, g Grits, white, Gite Frequent.)
A Baas iSiSISiS als Als 4 E Grits, micaceous —” oe Baal nae
Le : - = sea eat uarzite, won -..| Lechclawdd.
pe@ata all IN Group memnresceseee settee 2000} x | J+] | % J...| 3 Saw ot, ORE Sa Quatre | Horeb Chapel
Chemung Rocks.. ..-+{/1900}] |...) *} 4]... ...| Clay and Silex, Tilestone velo P ecopeeccace | Lechclawad.
Portage Rocks tlxl. ...| Clay and Silex. underony a Micaceous ... Storm Hill,
| Genesee Slate ..... |. ...| Clay and Silex. Sandstone, fine. »micaceous ... Lechelawdd.
Tully Limestone abel ...| Clay. Sandetont fing Micaceous ... 4| Wewatinern,
Hamilton Rocks.. del ...| Limestone. Plasstones Tne eeceesctrcoote .| May Hill. ;
| Marcellus Shale .......... Welh ...| Caleareous Shale. © Rand oe ‘
| Corniferous Limestone . ae .| Black bituminous Slate. Ficvens ; -| ; Bala, Wenloch Sh.
, Onondaga Limestone Ved -| Limestone. coarse (grit) :
Schoharie Grit .......... ve Ne Schists { green ) ; Golden Crore
a AG phn rales a Su chee, een -| Dinas Brau.
| Gaiam: = S ° tes Caleseooue cul eee Sandstone. pe eee «.-.| Keeper's Lodge, Llandovery,
| Upper Pentamerus ‘Limestone ....../ al —— ACER EONS PEON ONE: \ black ae one es
| Delthyris Shaly Limestone ......... bea mica Heuaatestionee Mudstone ........ oe Indlo ue
Lower Pentamerus Limestone ...... Wee aioe" TSHR: Carbonaceous shale ; pate: ‘
lavvatariiriemnmestone i wed. Tamesone Shale, olive,..... ig Be
| Onondaga-Salt Rocks Pet | %)..- Tene Shale, black i | Caradoc.
| Coralline Limestone of Schoharie. ..| . a we Ke ais anaes eae Se fine ..... : oe \ Bala.
| Niagara Rocks .........0.00...5..-..- Bi aleeatees Het oeal aed [eel || Taemeetomal ae greenish, (Tingula-fag, |pereweers:
| Clinton Rocks ) I] * |] |e] xe | Pali pealnee ; udlow Rock, olive ....| Mortimer’s Cr
: ile * | %]...)...1 %1...| Silex. Ludlow Rock. or O88;
Medina Sandstone} ............ }1200))...} * | % | * Pcl eriinecoustSandetone eK, green .. ....| Park Lane.
Oneida Conglomerate ) | |] | | 5 ef. i@uect : JONNY): Sacre pass een Aymestry.
Hudson-River Rocks.................. BO} * || «| |. ; (jnontia era d Gla Limestone 4 Pure and argillaceous... Dudley.
isis SIRS ze Wes ee seed Aeallesoe Shoe argillaceous,.............. Woolhope.
| Trenton Limestone Argillaceous Limestone. CUO NETESON soatee Soe Bala.
| Para o enetone cs Siliceous Pure Limestone.
zy Limestone ........ Limestone. Y chi ;
Galafucous Sandstone BEE oe ie ee * From Murchison and M‘Coy.
| Potsdam Sandstone boa Doe lial lal al oe oe) oo * Siliceous Sandstone.
+ Micaceous Shale.
Taste I11.—Analyses of some Huropean Paleozoic Strata.
Upper Mi srs Anil y r
{ase acl | Twoneheen ee Taste LY.—Analyses of some Rocks from Canada.
| = wa aie Lower Smurian. Urrer Sinurran.
eins an i
Minerals. eZ - | Bala Bala Llandeilo | Cambrian | ,. masses of Trenton Trenton Nisgara | Niagara
ae me X Blount | Limestone. | Limestone.| Rock. _| Limestone. Tamnestones white Time- Prenton Lime- | Hudson- rae Time-
lefavhall) lvenate DinoverPk.| Church | q..: muir, | Limestone. . stone; Ta} stone: |. Stones River Drum. stone; Isles
| Dudley. | gection Ee Y | Rhiwlas. near Stretton, | ~"2'S™"™ | Kragerod, Minerals. Cloche, |r ake Sim-| Montmo-| Rocks; || ond Tsle,| North of
| maa ve Llandeilo. | Longmynd. Haren Norway. Take coe, _renci Balls, Quebec. Lake | Drom-
| = Huron. 5 Quebec. Haan mond Isle.
; parvonate of sine Spee ioe 60:8 39:54 19:51 79:97 63:10 7334 89:24 E
| Carbonate of Magnesia...... 26 28°3 1:85 1-04 D2, 8 28 aug - ’ 3:
_ Carbonate of Meeearieas ee cee 14 ae a ee re Bee 19 dime ee ANGEL 508 | 99 90 ile {i 3410
Alumina and Sesq. ox. iron} 230 | AL. 3 4-68 82 82 851 1-16 07 eubonic Bad) ea 625 | 1
Phosphoric acid ilise 30 (GS ene 16 56 56 BD 44 21 ae aac eats 10 “I 10 155 7 a
Insoluble ....... | 5:13 4 52-27 73:13 1785 26:98 24-03 8:29 amen 84 | 1480
Organic matter . a g | “6-7 73 350) 5G 83 2] 77 Magnesia ...... a eee of ee Sei TOR
| Water ........... el OO elie 6 5B 7 4 S 4 op) EOD ee lee * fe = 1 5
Wei BOD a OD | were fee meee eS ede
a Sees eee oe fs pe im Coal & Bitumen te oa oe 6:5 Bo bo9
| 100-000 100:000 100:000 100-000 100:000 100-000, 100-000 100:000 96 100 100 100 99:95 3)
* Protocarbonate of Iron.
Mae WEE Nea EES ee (ot ee eS Se
2
Ce
=
x
5
eee ae
mi
a Sanaa
4 b
|
‘ Ls) rs
nee
‘
BIGSBY—PALOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK. 255
Conglomerates and grits form the basement of the greater divisions,
and mark the transitions (see Potsdam Sandstone, Oneida Conglo-
merate, Oriskany Sandstone, and Catskill Group). 5. The great
similarity between Hudson-River Rocks and Oneida Conglomerate
is thus well brought out, though in supposed different stages. Lo-
cally they are sometimes undistinguishable. 6. The middle or trans-
itional Silurian stage, as well as the section immediately below,
exhibits numerous and great mineral changes and complications,
such as are indicative of frequent movement. The Hudson-River
Rocks contain eight varieties of sediments; the Medina Sandstone
contains five; Clinton Rocks, ten ; besides the minuter alterations,
which it would be profitless to describe. 7. Excepting in the
Middle Silurian stage, lithological differences on the same horizon
are moderate in extent, although many and sometimes occupying
large spaces. 8. The arenaceous and argillaceous strata (usually
near old coast-lines) are more changeable than the calcareous, the
latter being formed under quieter conditions.
Our Synoptical View * pointed out, as a determinate law, that,
with rare exceptions, these sediments graduate into each other, just
as we see in Wales, in parts of America, Scandinavia, and Russia.
Although this change takes place slowly and tranquilly, the majority
of the organic beings belonging to the terminated section perish.
We are thus taught that destruction of hfe can take place without
the accompaniment of a marked disturbing force.
The sedimentary deposits of Wales and the adjacent English
counties only agree to a certain extent with those of New York.
When beyond the metamorphic action of the Appalachian crust-
movement, the latter are little affected in their mineral condition
by influences acting from below. The shales are soft and shivery,
the sandstones of moderate hardness, and the limestones are dark-
coloured, fine-granular, or crystalline (fossiliferous), and in abruptly
separated beds. It is often remarked that fossiliferous beds of cry-
stalline limestone are intercalated with others of opake granular
structure, the separating planes being perfectly abrupt. The cry-
stalliine form cannot here have been derived from metamorphism,
because, if so, it would have affected the strata beneath. The sup-
position of great purity in the crystalline rock will not help us, be-
cause it is well known that chemical precipitation throws down pure
carbonate of lime in the opake amorphous form (Carpenter). The
points of difference between the two kinds of beds are these: the
amorphous beds are very dark-coloured, often fetid, and have few or
no fossils; whereas the crystalline are pale-grey, are made up of
crushed fossils, and present rhomboidal facets. The cleavages are
often rare and obscure. This is not the condition of the sediment-
ary rocks of Wales. Metamorphic action has been in frequent play
among its mountain-masses. We find here (as, under similar cir-
cumstances, in Bohemia, according to Barrande) an abundance of
quartzites, micaceous sandstone, flagstones, roofing-slates, distorted
shells, and much powdery chlorite. Thirty forms of sedimentary
* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xiv. p. 335.
256 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
rocks may be distinguished in Wales, most of them having exerted
great influence over ancient life. Thus, there are five varieties of
micaceous sandstone or grit, whilst there appears to be only one in
New York: twelve forms of schist or shale are met with; but lime-
Stone undergoes only the mutations common in New York.
In constructing the Table of sedimentary positions of the Silurian
fauna and flora of Wales (Table VI.), I have not arranged them
under these thirty heads. By limiting them to eleven, it is hoped that
every practical advantage is secured, and some disadvantages avoided.
These Welsh strata differ from those of New York in the prevalence
of micaceo-siliceous sandstone, in the absence of rich beds of iron-
ore, and in the presence of the green colouring-matter of the mud-
stones. The sedimentary strata of the Welsh area have been analysed
in a few instances only, by Messrs. Trenham Reeks, David Forbes, and
Prof. Forchhammer. These analyses are annexed, one being added
from Scotland and another from Norway. Those of New York have
not been examined; but the late Dr. Troost, Professor of Geology at
Nashville College, Tennessee, kindly submitted to chemical analysis,
at my request, some Canadian rocks, a continuation of the basin of
New York.
It is seen from Table IV., imperfect as it is, that the consti-
tuents of the Canadian strata are few and simple, and that they are
in different proportions in the same stratum at different places. In
the Table of Welsh Rocks (No. III.) much less silex is noticed in the
Lower Silurian, while in the Wenlock limestone of Dudley there is
often little alumina, so plentiful in the Niagara Limestone of central
New York. It is possible that phosphoric acid, detected in the
Welsh rocks by David Forbes, has not been met with in the earlier
paleozoic strata of this State because it has not been looked for—
and perhaps for want of the detective reagent we have of late years
become possessed of. The phosphates are common among American
coal-measures, and in extraordinary abundance in the older meta-
morphic rocks. The want of a greater number of exact analyses
becomes of less importance on account of the frequent changes in
mineral proportions observed in almost all North American sedi-
mentary rocks. The Hudson-River and Clinton sections vary
through almost all the possible mutations of sand, clay, lime, and
iron. The Niagara Limestone at the west end of Lake Ontario is
pure, siliceous, or argillaceous; while it is invariably magnesian
about the west end of Lake Huron, 500 miles W.N.W., probably
on account of the proximity of hypogene rocks. Calciferous sand-
stone, reported by Emmons to be free from magnesia in Jefferson
County, New York, is, according to Foster, rich in that mineral on
the south shore of Lake Superior.
As regards the Devonian system of New York, the changes in the
calcareous rocks of its lower stage and in the shales of the middle
stage are commonly far too numerous and too gradual to admit of
useful quantitative analysis. These observations apply also to
Wales*.
* The subject of mineral deposition is most ably treated in the writings of
BIGSBY—-PALHOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK. 257
_ §3. On the distribution and immediate relations of Paleozoic
Animal Life in Wales and the State of New York.—It must be pre-
mised that the following statements are almost wholly based upon
the Tables of Paleozoic Life which accompany this memoir. In
Great Britain and in Europe generally, we have laid under tribute the
accumulated labours of Murchison, Portlock, Phillips, De Verneuil,
Salter, M‘Coy, Sharpe, and others,—correcting the British portion
in accordance with the admirable catalogue of Professor Morris, a
work without which, in fact, these studies would have been impos-
sible. But I am in an especial manner bound to acknowledge
the invaluable assistance of Mr. J. W. Salter, Palzontologist to the
Museum of Practical Geology. He has been so good as to revise
most carefully my Table of the mineral habitats of the Silurian
fauna of Wales and the adjacent English counties. So many have
been his corrections and additions that this Table has become more
truly his than mine. The Tables of the New York fossils are made
up principally from the writings of James Hall, of Albany, appro-
priately denominated by Professor Sedgwick * “the great American
Palezontologist.’’ Numerous details have also been derived from the
Reports of Conrad, Vanuxem, and Emmons, as well as from a recent
publication of James Hall, on the Brachiopoda of certain parts of
the United States.
My Tables of N. American Fossils are not completely on a level
with the classification of the present day, and particularly in the
Brachiopoda, Lamellibranchiata, and Crustacea; but I am happy in
thinking that their defects do not affect results. De Verneuil and
Agassiz have both personally compared the rich fossil collections of
James Hall with his descriptions and nomenclature, and have amply
testified to their general correctness. The Table which distributes
the New York fossils into their respective sediments may be con-
sulted, as containing a vast preponderance of reliable facts; but
after all,in the sure expectation of future discoveries (not great,
perhaps), and in the present scarcity of chemical analyses, this
Table is only and simply approximate. In those rather numerous
cases where the American geologists have given the general mineral
character only, I have been guided by crystalline or other structure,
by the presence of animals of well-known habitats, and by other
collateral considerations. Ten or twelve years ago our highly
esteemed fellow-member the late Daniel Sharpe thought it too early
to obtain sound deductions from the fossils with which we were then
acquainted ; but since that time, the labours of Edward Forbes, Hall,
Barrande, Morris, and Davidson, with many others, have put a new
face on paleontological science ; and after all, the question is not
whether these tables are perfect, but whether they furnish useful
truths. My persuasion is that they do: everything that care can
accomplish has been bestowed upon them.
De la Beche, John Phillips, Elie de Beaumont, De Luc, Prony, and Constant
Prévost; to these the reader is referred on points purposely avoided in the
foregoing pages.
* Classif. Brit. Paleeoz. Rocks, p. xcvii.
258 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Probably there are undiscovered fossils in the sedimentary rocks
of New York; but since an eager, enlightened, and extensive search
has been going on for many years in districts both wild and under
cultivation, and abounding in large and lofty sections, very great
accessions cannot now be expected. James Hall will, however, soon
favour us with many more Devonian Zoophyta and Bryozoa.
The relations between the sedimentary strata and their fossils are
close. They at once tend to demonstrate the gradual burial, at all
ages of growth, of the beings who lived on the spot, and to confirm
in detail the great law announced some years ago by Constant
Prévost, and very recently enforced by Agassiz*, that the Creator
has always placed organic forms among physical conditions suited to
their natures. The lower existences were intended to serve the
higher. The habitation was prepared for the living sentient
creature—not the creature for the habitation. To the sedentary
animal was given the solid support of a rock; to the burrowing
invertebrate, a loose sand; and soon. Fine examples of this abound
in all paleozoic areas: those of New York and elsewhere will be
mentioned in the sequel. Murchisont says that in certain arenaceous
tracts of Russia, as also in the Scottish Old Red Sandstone, the
organic remains are exclusively those of fish—locomotive, of course,
and mostly carnivorous; but in calcareous districts of the same age
similar fish are associated with molluscs, d&c., the latter being only
there able to exist. In like manner the sandstone of Marwood, in
North Devon, contains a peculiar bed of the arenicolous Cucullea
and Cypricardia, because it was only on such beds that they could
exercise their instincts ; and in the slaty and gritty layers of Pilton
and Brushford lie some remarkable Trilobites, together with the
Spuifer calcaratus, not seen, or rarely, in the neighbourhood (John
Phillips). A curious negative influence is exerted by serpentine in
the cliffs of the islands about the Lizard Point, and in the Aigean Sea.
In those local waters there is an almost total absence of Testacea,
while the adjacent bays, with sides of marble, abound in animal life.
Lake Superior, in like manner, possesses but few molluses—chiefly
on account of the very little limestone existing in the country the
drainage of which it receives. But this want is supplied on the
north side of the Lake by the great northern drift of Upper Silurian
limestone, which is scattered far and wide, and has furnished mate-
rials for the calcareo-argillaceous silt which, with the debris of
shells, now forms the bottom of Lake Superior. In parts where
this drift is deficient, some of the freshwater molluscs, being lithodo-
mous, are coated with a mosaic of very small bits of quartz and
felspar. The influence of the mineral character of the sediment is
conspicuously seen in the nature of the vegetable food and the
shelter it provides—both acting in a marked manner on the number
and kind of the animals, carnivorous and herbivorous, who dwell
there.
We now present two Tables of great interest (Tables V. and VI.),
* Contributions to the Natural History of the United States.
t Geol. of Russia, &c., vol. i. p. 581.
BIGSBY——PALOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK. 259
being, in fact, “‘ Dredging-Tables” of the Silurian seas of Wales with
the adjacent English counties, and of the State of New York ; in other
words, they exhibit the mineral habitats of the old faune and flor
of those regions, as far as is at present ascertained. They gradually
conduct the reader from the shores of the great sea of the time into
the deeps of its remote centre, revealing its various populations as he
passes through a succession of strata—first conglomeratic, then gritty,
sandy, and argillaceous, until limestone more or less pure is reached ;
just as we find to obtain in seas at the present day. I only know of
Taste. V.—Evhibiting numerically, the Sedimentary Habitats of the
Silurian Fauna and Flora of the State of New York.
| Non-calcareous
Sedimnenta: Calcareous Sediments. |
b 3 r stalin lee
= Sia a le 8
3= -|a2ig o =| rs
re | IS 2s] | 8] a
Homilies = [818i] | Ws] ela le| 2 :
bat ella $| 8 |e (S| 8 | =
Orders. ae 5 I 2 S| S beled S
2 |rc |aa | 29! eb = 2 \2)4 5 |
& |e] a\4| 2 bl | 3 |El "a ay
‘6 /@/S)al5! . elalailsia £
||2}\e | elo1912/2)/8 ©
gisiaisicis| 2/2 /sisiais]. je
SAGSIIES ISIS |4el4 SIS |e
Wier ee ovale Sh SITSt tos |. eS) ait miki Shoo ty oll lll 4
Lye es I aR PH) Qs t 3 | eae | a re 10)| 13
ho a7 a 5 A 2! 5] 2) 5/17] 2] 44 9} 79)\ 84
rinpidea! ..o- 2.2.0... 49| ere cee Sake -c Op gL tl) al
etalon sy seb. ge 2. SIRS ss Be tae ls ole el ao pein tiers
Crustacea ....c....pse00. 61|!...| 2} Q)...) 3) 7] 2) 9) 10)... 24 12) 57/| 64
Nelnee etn La caoe Goi 1) aya 5l| 4) 15] 27] 11 15 7] «69! 74
Brachiopoda ............ 254|| 6} 7]...| 7| 4| 241) 3) 19) 40)...1152 23/237||261
Monomyaria ............ 44) 1) 4)...1... 1} 6]... 11] 4J...| 14) 11] 40] 46
Dimyaria ............... 49|| 3/10)...| 1]... 14]] 4) 9] 10)... 14) 6} 44/| 58
Gasteropoda ............ 94]| 4! Q)...1...]... 612; 8} 6/2] 33 32) 93)| 99
Heteropoda ............ 3 Sh oe 1...) 2]) 2) 4)...)1]) 13; 4) 24) 26
i ge ML se Ry | | ll 2S ||
Cephalopoda............ ch (a Pb 8] 3) 7 72 ae 20) 95)'103
otal. Lie. 871/21 55] 2 |12/10]103}36 102/156 8 387 133823 926
\
fossiliferous conglomerates and grits (Silurian) in Wales; but they
may exist in New York. It is to be remembered that in these cases,
according to Mr. Salter, the molluscs (creatures of later date) sought
the conglomerates.
Although considerable similarity of aspect is presented by the
eastern and western Silurian areas, as exhibited in Tables V.-VIII.,
and especially as regards the numbers and distribution of animal
life, still we notice differences quite as considerable. This may
be accounted for by the as yet much less perfect examination
260 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
of the New York area, and by the very warrantable supposition
that the creative force has been exercised in a different manner in
the two districts. We observe that the calcareous or deep-sea sedi-
ments are much more fossiliferous than the arenaceous or shallow
bottoms,—although not in the same proportion in our two districts,
Taste VI.—Evhibiting numerically the Sedimentary Habitats of the
Silurian Fauna and Flora of Wales and the adjacent English
Counties.
| Non-calcareous | Cal aaarwene
Sediments. alcareous Sediments.
Classes, 8 || 9 é é Sials : a
Families, | 5 x 3 iB al & 5 a a 8 g z
and st 2 a\diz |4lea|é =
Orders. E E {2/8 = E z Eh S 8 E =
q | Mis} Ss | m 2] & |g a baal zi; ¢
4 (8le| 2 | a B| a ||? 4di/ela St ||
#iOlO12/ 5/5 /8/4|/23si/elal/5 isi 4] 3
nin| 2»! O!| ag} om 3 oOo} @ {a an
€/sis\slelsleleiesi2isis isle iz
B LS 18| 3 || S 2] S a) 8 || Bie] S lg
pets) eet hts fo i ee) ioc} S om (2) bal
, A\Ae\ela\S Slals |S /4\4 hla] 5
Plante ......... 12) 1) 18) CAhongd) 2 a aes ake | 14
Annelida ...... 25|| 2} 3} 6] 4 4 19 5} 13} 7 3) 2) 30) 49
Amorphozoa...| 3)]...]...]... Dis Dee etl tee ere 2 2) 3
Peli es gil 5) 4) 4! 17/2, 2] 84/25 tel 19, 54! 7] 121| 155
Crinoidea ...... 69} 1) 1} 4 5) 12 23), 14, 4) 2) 39 59 82;
Crustacea ...... 154) 5) 6) 21) 48) 41'338)154)| 47) 32) 34° 49) 7| 169) 323
Bryozoa ...... 41\|...) 1] 1] 8] 11] 9} 30) 11) 3| 7 23) 1) 45l| 75)
Brachiopoda...|167||17/22} 38} 80) 32)18/207|| 80) 65) 70, 79/15} 309)| 516
Monomyaria | 22...) 1} 11} 4) 4...) 20) 9 9) 3 27|| 47
Dimyaria ...... 64/...| 4) 17) 33) 13, 2) 69) 24) 24) 5 3) 1) 57|| 126
Gasteropoda...| 57|| 6] 9| 14; 18) 10)...| 57|} 23) 15) 10, 23) 4) '75)| 182
Heteropoda ...| 12)|...| 2; 7} 8) 5) 2) 24 8 6 3) 2 19]| 43
Pteropoda...... Dal ie She Ole Alea) Ad 3 8) 2) 4. a
Cephalopoda | 50...) 1; 6} 17) 20, 3) 47|| 15) 22) 11) 19)...) 67|| 114
IPISCES\ yo. (aces TUN Sea) al ad ae I oe 12 aly Ped wisn ltaeedtcae 6], 18
Total. ce. 779 |42/61)142/250)160 69 724 267|220/173 306|37 1003; 120
being as eight to one in New York, and two to one in Wales. The
animal life of this period is most abundant in moderate depths, as
indicated -by limestone containing a good deal of alumina. Annelida,
Crustacea, Brachiopoda, Lamellibranchiata, Gasteropoda, Hetero-
poda, and Cephalopoda—a vast series of existences—occupy almost
every form of sediment; the same species occur, as we shall see,
in very many. The Plante, both in New York and Wales, require
further study. The majority of the North American forms, so de-
nominated at present, will probably be resolved into the casts of
the intestinal canals of great Annelida (Salter),—their contents,
in fact, at the time of death more or less changed in mineral cha-
racter. If so, we shall be justified, with Mr. Salter, in considering
BIGSBY——PALHOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK. 261
the Silurian system the especial Annelid- or Worm-period ; for the
size and numbers of these creatures appear to have then been
larger by far than at any subsequent time. Judging from the sedi-
mentary habitats of the Crustacea, Brachiopoda, Dimyaria, Clastero-
poda, Heteropoda, and Cephalopoda of Table VI., the zones of marine
life established for the present epoch by the lamented Professor Ed-
ward Forbes cannot be applied with rigour to the Silurian seas. We
see that the Monomyaria and Gasteropoda are more deep-sea than lit-
toral; and that Heteropoda abound in shallows and moderate depths,
becoming almost extinct elsewhere. We see that the remains of
fish are eminently littoral. Other interesting facts may be gathered
by consulting the Tables.
We shall now enter into a few details on the organic relations of
the great sedimentary elements—calcareous, argillaceous, and arena-
ceous, successively.
a. Calcareous strata.—A stratum highly charged with lime (but
having little magnesia) usually abounds with Testacea; and they
vary in number and perfection according to the greater or less ad-
mixture with other matters. When these strata contain alumina,
we have the maximum of early paleozoic life. But if they become
wholly carbonate of lime, comparative barrenness follows in Wales ;
for fossils only occur 37 times in pure limestone, that is, about ;1,th
as often as in argillaceous limestone, and forming th part of Silurian
life in Wales. In the New York Table of Habitats, a similar dis-
position prevails, the ratio in the former case being as one to three.
With a more accurate Table, the deficiency of evidence of Silurian
life in pure limestone will probably be yet more striking.
The Pentamerus Knight of Aymestry is a fine example of the
quick feeling of a mollusc (J. Phillips). If the rock lose its lime,
and become altogether argillaceous, the animal disappears; but if,
as at Sedgeley, the lime returns, with it also returns the mollusc.
Or growth may be affected. Thus, among the Brachiopoda, Tere-
bratula princeps, found near Mnienian (Bohemia), is, hke Phacops
fecundus, double the usual size. So it is with the gasteropod Matica
in that locality, and also with others*.
Barrande + finds that scarcely any two beds of limestone are
equally capable of preserving organic remains; each layer and each
spot sheds its own influence over the fossil. The envelopes of some
Testacea are totally dissolved in certain calcareous masses; but not
so in others. A red oxide of iron or a thin film of clay is a great
preservative of the Trilobite: mere fineness of texture, as in the
Bohemian schists, is not sufficient. Animal existence becomes sud-
denly multitudinous in the aluminous limestones of the New York
group B (Trenton); and at about the same epoch in Wales a nearly
equal abundance and variety of life burst upon our view, increasing.
in both hemispheres, on the whole, as the long succession of fos-
siliferous strata overlie each other. The Annelida of New York
are calcaricolous, with three exceptions. In Wales also they are
mostly in calcareous strata, but only two in pure limestone. Of
* Barrande, Syst. Sil. p. 297. T Op. cit. p. 294.
262 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
sixty-eight Bryozoa of our western area, all but five are in calcareous
beds here—principally in shales. The five alluded to are three spe-
cies of G'raptolites in argillaceous sandstone, Retepora Clintoni in sili-
ceous sandstone, and Fenestella tenuis in the Clinton beds of iron-ore.
The 41 Welsh Bryozoa present only ten species strictly arenico-
lous, eleven inhabiting pure clay, and nine carbonaceous shale; the
rest are in highly calcareous beds. Of the 82 species of Zoophyta
of known matrix m the New York area, only five are met with in a
non-caleareous rock. They are Dictyolites Becku, Discophyllum
peltatum, and D. sp. indet., in argillaceous sandstone, and Catenipora
escharoides and Phenopora constellata in the Clinton iron-ore.
The 81 Welsh Zoophyta are more freely distributed ; but they are
four times more numerous in calcareous strata than out of them.
The Crinoidea and Cystidea of New York wholly affect strata
containing lime, especially when shaly. In Wales, this does not
hold true; but nevertheless three-fourths of these fossil appearances
are in calcareous strata.
The Cystidea abound in the Lower Silurian limestones of the Ottawa
River, about Victoria; but none have been hitherto found in the
Silurian beds of New York. Out of 323 appearances of Trilobites
in Wales, nearly one-half are in strata destitute of ime. It is in
argillaceous sandstone and in argillaceous limestone that they are
very frequent (48 and 49 occurrences respectively). The proportion
of arenicolous Trilobites in New York is as one to nine, the other
and far larger portion being in argillaceous limestone and argilla-
ceous shale, with twelve more in pure carbonate of hme—an unusual
circumstance. The four Crustacea in purely argillaceous and arena-
ceous beds are Homalonotus delphinocephalus and Olenus asaphoides
(both in argillaceous sandstone), Agnostus pisiformias (in the same
stratum, but micaceous), and Beyrichia lata (in Clinton iron-ore).
Of 254 species of Brachiopoda in New York, of known matrix,
only twenty-four are found in non-calcareous sediments; whilst in
Wales the distribution is much more general, there being 207 ap-
pearances in the beds just spoken of, against 309 in the limestone-
rocks. The reason of this may be that in Wales lime in small
quantities pervades many sets of layers which are not classed as
calcareous. In New York the appearances are most numerous in
argillaceous limestone; in Wales, in Bala Limestone and argil-
laceous sandstone. Most of the genera of Brachiopoda furnish ex-
amples of arenicolous and argillicolous species. They are easily found
on reference to the Tables.
In the New York area all the 44 Monomyaria, excepting six, are
in highly calcareous sediments, eleven being in pure limestone. Four
of the six above excepted are in argillaceous sandstone. In Wales,
the Monomyaria appear 27 times in calcareous strata (never in pure
limestone), and 20 times in arenaceous beds. We know the matrices
of 49 Dimyaria in New York. These appear 44 times in lime-rocks
(most numerously in the argillaceous), and 14 times in sandstone-
rocks—chiefly in those of the Hudson-River group which contain
alumina.
BIGSBY——PALHOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK. 263
The Welsh Dimyaria (64 species) show themselves 57 times in
calcareous deposits, mostly in the arenaceous limestone of Bala;
while we find them 69 times in arenaceous muds with and without
mica, and commonly of the Upper Ludlow period. We only see
the deep-sea or limestone beds thus fail comparatively in three
other cases in Wales—for instance, in the family Plante and the
order Heteropoda and class Pisces. The Cleidophorus planulatus both
of Wales and New York is in the same kind of argillo-arenaceous
matrix. The nine appearances of Pteropoda in New York are prin-
cipally in calcareous shales or argillaceous limestone, once in pure
limestone; the eleven of Wales are pretty equally distributed over
deep and shallow sea-bottoms. The New York Gasteropoda reside
almost altogether in calcareous strata. Of the 94 species the
mineral positions of which are known, six only are found elsewhere.
It is different in Wales,—every sediment, except carbonaceous shale,
possessing one or more of these fossils. Out of 132 appearances, 75
are in lime-rocks, and principally in arenaceous (Bala) and argil-
laceous limestone. Considering that the Gasteropoda are usually
littoral, it is remarkable that the arenaceous deposits of New York
should contain so few, because in that area the Silurian strata in
which a siliceous or argillaceous sand is the governing ingredient are
3000 feet thick, neither the argillaceous shales (800 feet thick)
nor limestones in their several varieties (1100 feet thick) attaining
much more than one-third of that thickness. The explanation is to
be found in the sandstones there being at the base of great or con-
siderable epochs. In New York, 95 out of 103 appearances of
the order Cephalopoda have calcareous habitats,—eight only, or
zisth of the whole, being*met with in sandstone. In Wales, they are
more equally distributed: one-third of all the appearances (114 in
number) are in other than lime-rocks, seventeen of these being in
argillaceous sandstone, and eighteen in mudstone. The arenicolous
Orthocerata of New York are Mid-silurian, while in Wales two-
thirds are Upper Silurian. In both countries they are found in beds
containing mica disseminated in small scales.
b. Argillaceous strata.—There may be in New York fossiliferous
strata of the Silurian age which are pure clay or mudstone; but I
know of none. In Wales, 160 Yestacea are found in mudstone,
and more especially the Brachiopoda, Dimyaria, and Cephalopoda,
also the Crustacea.
In abundance of fossils, argillaceous strata stand next to the cal-
eareous ; and when lime and alumina meet together in certain pro-
portions, the Invertebrate population is extraordinarily great.
The Graptoltes of New York (16 in number) adhere closely to
strata abounding in clay, almost all of them being in the Hudson-
River group. Four are in argillaceous sandstone, and one in argil-
laceous limestone (Trenton group, Hall). The Graptolites of Wales
are most of them in mudstone and carbonaceous shale. Of the
51 appearances of Echinodermata in New York, thirty-five are in
shale, usually very aluminous; but in Wales there are but six out
of 82 appearances so placed,—a discrepancy not difficult of explana-
264 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
tion. Of the 84 Zoophytal appearances, of known matrix, in New
York, only twenty-two are in calcareo-argillaceous or argillo-cal-
careous shale, this order of creatures frequenting especially the
deep seas. Of 155 appearances of Zoophytes in Wales, thirty-five
only are in the above-mentioned shales, and thirty-four in non-
calcareous habitats. Five out of seven of the New York Tentaculites
are in argillaceous shale, in which also the Annelida of Wales are
prevalent. One-fourth of the Brachiopoda of New York are in
calcareo-argillaceous or argillo-calcareous shales, .and about one-
half of those of Wales,—the proportion of those in the former coun-
try, with the sedimentary relations of which we are acquainted, to
those of the latter, being nearly as three to two—a fact due to their
Taste VII.—Species-Life, numerically, as appearing exclusively in
Calcareous or Non-calcareous habitats in New York and Wales.
(Reduced from Tables V. and VI.)
New York. WALES.
Families and Orders Appearances. Appearances.
of the Fossils. Seer wn) |
In In Non- In In Non-
Calcareous| calcareous|Calcareous| calcareous
Beds. Beds. Beds. Beds.
ee
Plantes «ia te. hale. 1] 23 ig 14
Anmelidans. 4.65.25 .23 10 3 30 19
Amorphozoa ............ sae ee 2 1
ZOGRN YER Ge hens er cia 79 on Be 121 34
Crinoidea and Cystidea} 51 bee 59 23
Crustacea ............4. 57 7 169 154
Bryans (ep Hansen 69 5 45 30
Brachiopoda ............ 27 24 309 207
Monomyaria ............ 40 6 27 20
Dinayarial eves + tec 44 13 57 69
Gasteropoda ............ 93 6 75 57
Heteropoda ......... Pe 24 2 19 24
Pteropoda ............-+- 9 Me 17 13
Cephalopoda. ............ 95 8 67 47
PISCESiz srecnedeee- ns eac oes oe oe 6 12
Potal ate caeh we 823 102 1003 724.
very different extent. The Lamellibranchiata of New York and
Wales are a tolerant race, and inhabit freely the argillaceous shales.
The New York Cephalopoda are not so fond of argillaceous strata
as are those of Wales. In this last district they are very generally
diffused.
c. Arenaceous strata.—The strata which consist principally of sili-
ceous sand are poor in fossils; but they become richer on the ad-
dition of clay or lime. Several marine plants (?) occupy the Middle
Silurian sandstones of New York, and in prodigious quantities. Few
Bryozoa, Zoophyta, Brachiopoda, &c., and no Crinoids, are seen here
in New York. They are more plentiful in the arenaceous strata of
BIGSBY—PALOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK. 265
Wales, especially the Brachiopoda—partly, as has already been said,
from a small but general infiltration of lime among the sediments of
the latter region.
d. Fossils in Calcareous and in Non-calcareous strata.—The sum-
maries contained in Tables VII. and VIII. will give much additional
information. They have been carefully prepared from the general
Tables of matrices in the New York and Welsh basins.
Table VII. shows the number of fossils which have exclusively
either calcareous or non-calcareous habitats. The areas of New York
and Wales being so different in size and so remote from each other
(the flora likewise not being the same), we do not expect to find in
them the same number of fossils ; but we are interested in observing
a general similarity of matrix and of numerical proportions in all
the orders of animal life until we come to the Lamellibranchiata,
Gasteropoda, and Cephalopoda. Among these we find the fossils in
non-calcareous beds greatly multiplied in Wales,—so much so as to
be in Dimyaria in the ratio of sixty-nine to fifty-seven caleari-
colous, and in Heteropoda as twenty-four to nineteen. Table VIII.
exhibits the proportions of species-life as found in the sedimentary
Taste VIII.—Species-Life, numerically, as appearing in the
Sedimentary Habitats in New York and Wales.
(Reduced from Tables V. and VI.)
Fossils, by Species.
Silurian Sediments. eee)
NEW YORK.| WALES.
a ( Siliceous Conglomerate ...... ihe 42
5 | Siliceous Grit .................. i 61
z Siliceous Sandstone ......... 25 142
< Argillaceous Sandstone ...... 67 250
Sr encore M0 09} 6 Wael ys 10 sae
Be ieMudstone ll), gc. cd0 5, vst See 160
4 \Carbonaceous Shale ........ a 69
— 102 |— 724
Calcareous Sandstone......... 36 267
2 | Calcareo-argillaceous Shale | 102 220
© } Argillo-calcareous Shale ...| 156 173
@ | Siliceous Limestone ......... 8 ice
“s | Argillaceous Limestone...... 387 306
Pe CONG a ears sc sotntees: 133
— 822 | — 1003
Potaly;.0.52.) 924. 1727
beds of the two countries. It tells us that their fossils, though
harmonizing in important respects, differ greatly in their numbers
as occupants of the same sediment. Thus New York at present
is supposed to have no Silurian fossils in siliceous conglomerate
or grit; while Wales possesses many, and indifferently in all the
stages of the system. In no case is this diversity more striking
than in those of calcareous sandstone and of pure limestone, because
the ages and conditions of deposit were different in the two coun-
266 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
tries. In New York this kind of sandstone occurs at the very dawn
of life, or after considerable disturbances, or it is impregnated with
magnesia or salt. We remark also that only two fossils occur in
micaceo-siliceous sandstone here; while sixty at least (principally
Dimyaria and Glasteropoda) occur in that rock in Wales, where we
meet with micaceous and hardened strata in far greater abundance
than in New York. The frequent occurrence of volcanic overflows
in Wales might prepare us for this, such events possibly producing
the mica by metamorphosis; at all events it is supposed that mica
was formed more or less after deposition. The arenaceous limestone,
poor in middle North America, abounds in evidences of life in the
Bala group of Wales, which corresponds with the Trenton group of
New York. Table VIII. shows also the remarkable and unexpected
fact, as elicited by the careful investigations of Mr.Salter, that simple
limestone contains little more than 2 per cent. of all the fossil ap-
pearances in Wales,—New York, after diligent search, yielding 14
per cent. This is contrary to the supposed favourable properties of
the carbonate of lime; but it in reality depends on the comparative
powerlessness of any single substance to maintain life.
We see in the same Table, that Welsh mudstone or pure clay con-
tains 11 per cent. or nearly, by which it would seem that there is
the occasional presence of lime. With further examination, most
probably the 14 per cent. of life-evidence in pure limestone, as re-
gards New York, will be sensibly lessened.
Tables V. and VI., which distribute the Silurian fossils of our
two areas into their several sediments, are not without consi-
derable interest. They are in fact paleozoic “ dredging-tables.”
We see the fossils of both usually affecting the same sediments, and
in tolerably proportionate numbers—if few in New York, then few
in Wales; and contrarywise, while some species are seen only by
ones and twos in certain strata, others (Crustacea, &c.) fill up nearly
every group. The depths (shallow, middle, or great) assumed in the
one basin are observed in the other, with occasional deviations on
account of local causes. The Plante are inserted provisionally.
The Zoophyta, Crinoidea, and Cystidea are seldom or never in
shallows; for most of them require still water.
e. Divergence.—We have now to consider briefly a subject which,
perhaps, has not been sufficiently attended to, although curious in
itself and not without several important bearings—upon geographic
distribution, for example, and on the recurrence or vertical range of
animal life. It is this: a very large proportion of the Silurian fauna
is not constant to one form of sediment, but deviates into others,
and these not necessarily on the same -horizon. It is noticed by
Alcide D’Orbigny* in the following words :—“ The same fossil fauna
is found in the same geological. horizons in beds of entirely different
mineral character.” This group of organic remains may be called
“< divergents,”—not using the better term “ aberrants,” because it
has been already appropriated.
By the New York Table of Fossil Habitats (Table V.), we find that
-* Elém. Paléont. vol. i. p. xxxiv.
BIGSBY——-PALZOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK, 267
the proportion of “ divergents” there to the whole of the Inverte-
brata of which the sedimentary position is known is only about
one-ninth,—eighty being in two beds, ten in-three, and one in four
beds: the Dimyaria, Gasteropoda, and Crustacea are the most
divergent; Crinordea and Zoophyta the least so. But this, I feel per-
suaded, is an inadequate estimate of the true “divergence” of this
American area, although the best attainable at present ; for the more
complete examination of the same or equivalent system in the Welsh
area shows a far larger number of divergents,—779 species changing
their habitats 382 times—a condition of things, we may note, which
bespeaks great vital force.
Taste [X.—Evhibiting the Number of Beds into which the Silurian
Fossils of Wales diverge from their first or original habitat.
Number of Beds into which Divergence takes
ae is
oo 6s
Fossils. S = DAG 2 =
BE : ae
? 8 )x| ax (waar vil vi |v) rv jam bl x [Pot =
as | | Diverg.
Brachiopoda ...|167/1| 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 [15| 17 | 19 29) 31] 113 | 2
Crustacea ...... WyAae. heels Lely heal nS) eSler4€e() 15. (16): 2115, 70 =
Dimyaria ...... Cae eee) eae pe Nee pl a OTL 2 moo lente
SarerOpOls we! ON |.) cs lecsel -g- 4 8 (eg) Lp} 20°] -5) Lol S42) |
Zoophyta ...... fe ea ad ld edi ei Lo) cs as al OG Wl lhe
Gephalopodas:.| (S055. o.20/.oe [eb PQs (49, 6) 9) 025 >
Bryozoa ......... Aliltssloett ere El 1} 1} 2}5) 8 18 | 4
Monomyaria ...| 22]...| ... iA eee es 4;1) 7 Il 4
Heteropoda ...| 12]...| ... a2) | TER ae SS a AG fnics| l3
Echinodermata} 69}...) ... Sel nisin ie et Be Pile Polo oO ae
Annelida ...... 24) he leery ae aa | eat ee oa lea ara Iie ee io a ae
Pteropoda ...... 1 Re a headed bes Mate mN th peclial sad Dh eid 98 2
BIRGER Ea. = apni Uebel ze dae Mab sober dts ees hells Gey ope
Plante ......... TDA ee) ag At ae Ms 1...) 1 | oe
Table IX., which is here introduced, will show the extraordinary
number of beds occupied by the same species,—a circumstance
which becomes of great import when we remember that these beds
represent certain depths of water, and that therefore the batho-
metrical zones of life were not so strictly adhered to in Silurian
times as at present, although their limits are even now loosely and
variously defined. A rather high and equably diffused temperature
then permitted the animals to wander into different depths, and to
rest at any spot which supplied their several needs. One half,
at least, of the Invertebrates were predacious, and therefore in some
measure independent of the flora, which must have changed w th
the sediment ; and, on inquiry, we discover that the freest and most
numerous divergents are carnivorous, namely the Cephalopoda,
Heteropoda, Crustacea, and certain Zoophyta and Brachiopoda.
This Table follows the animal life of the period into its greater
VOL. XV.—PART I. U
268 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
divisions, and points out the large proportion which, in almost all
cases, divergency maintains to constancy. It shows also that the
weaker the vitality the less the divergency, as might. have been
expected. Plants probably never diverge ; the one (Lycopodiaceous
spores) said to do so is supposed to be a land-plant, and anyhow only
occurs in finer or coarser forms of the same sediment. This Table
further shows that the species enjoying the widest scsi
range are the most divergent.
For the purpose of more closely observing the mineral relations e
the fossils, the sediments (habitats) may be classed under two heads
—the “similar” and the “ dissimilar,” each suiting particular fossils.
In the “similar” the characteristic ingredient remains predominant,
varying proportions of other minerals being introduced, as when
pure carbonate of lime becomes arenaceous or argillaceous. In the
‘
Fossils. § = & Fossils. § 2 6
He | a | EY | RS | BS
Plante ......... 12} 1 | 3 || Monomyaria....15 | 7] 4
Amorphozoa £3) On) @ Dimyaria ...... 53 | 13] 4
Zoophyta ...... 56 | 28 | 4 eames 40; 14] 4
Bryozoa ...... 10 | 4 Heteropoda... 8| 5] 3
Crinoidea ...... 76} 1] A; || Pteropoda 7| 312
Annelida ...... 23 | 5 | 4 || Cephalopoda | 37/15) 2
Crustacea ...... 131 | 32 | 4 BISCes)' 2.008. co 2 | 2
Brachiopoda | 107 | 59 | 4 | |
'
as are found in other epochs, particularly in the two contiguous,
below and above. The Brachiopoda furnish the most numerous
links of connexion, because this order generally has great viability.
Further research will undoubtedly discover many more recurrent
fossils in the Lower Helderberg series.
- Table XIII. sets forth the ratio of recurrent fossils to typical in
BIGSBY—PALZOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK. i273
‘Wales, as grouped in orders. ‘This little Table tells us that Plante,
Annelida, Crinoidea, and Pisces are the. most tenacious of their
original sea-bed, and that Brachiopoda, Heteropoda, Zoophyta, and
Monomyaria are the most discursive. We furthermore infer from
this Table that the typical fossils of Wales are three times the number
of the recurrent (as 604 to 195), and that the typical of each order
are always in excess. Among the Crinoids there is only one recur-
rent—the Periechocrinus moniliformis*.
The next Table (XIV.) gives the proportions of typical to recur-
rent species as they exist in the different stages of the Silurian rocks
of New York and Wales. We see from this Table, that the fossils
of the lower and middle Silurian stages of New York display nearly
the same amount of vertical range, but the upper stage sensibly
less,—and this partly from the proximity of a new and dissimilar
condition of beds in what is called the Devonian system. In Wales,
the vertical range is greater than in New York, and is most remark-
able in the middle stage.
g. Recurrence of Orders and Genera.—Although but few species
enjoy repeated recurrence—only 67 in Wales, and 28 in New York
(see Table XI.),—most of the orders and genera (the Zoophyta and
Bryozoa, for instance) occupy very many successive groups of strata.
By an inspection. of the general Tables of the fossils of New York
and Wales, the student may so easily verify these facts for himself,
that we shall not put the results here in a tabular form. We also
notice many instances in which the orders and genera of these two
distant countries are similar in the number, great or small, of the
epochs they occupy: and many more examples of this perfect or
proximate agreement would be found, were their respective fossils
Taste XTV.—Silurian Species in Wales and New York.
| New York. WALES and SizuriA.
|ea2|s | 2g2/%
- wm O RQ 4 TR 1 mM _-:
; 2 |.Ho8 sas = = GSS das
Silurim | @ | 2(/H58|822) 8 | & |ReE | SEs
wee eee oe | Sete | 6 ore 1a) ae
Stages. § gp ce 6 2c ets ol = 6 Bre ate
eck AG- iae aH he a
Upper ....... 277 | 45 20 166 316 | 118 40 29
Middle ...... 127 | 25 28 21 a) Oy fe 55 257
Bower? ).t.05 386 | 71 65 ‘24 243°] 63 63 “32
more in common ; but New York abounds in special or regional forms.
‘Table XV. exhibits in a striking manner the great similarity
* The student can easily draw up a similar Table for the Silurian Fossils of
New York, from Table I., Quart. Journ. Geol. Soe. vol. xiv. p. 399.
274 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
which exists in the recurrent power of orders and genera common
to New York and Wales. The group-arrangement employed is that
in use previous to the publication of the second edition of Sir
R. Murchison’s ¢ Siluria.’
A very interesting set of recurrents are those which escape from
the lower Silurian of New York into the upper, by passing through or
beneath the disturbances which, to a certain extent, occurred during
the middle stage; but this subject has been sufficiently treated of
in Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xiv. p. 450, &e. I shall not prolong
my remarks on the recurrent fossils of the Silurian basins of New
York and Wales, but shall pass on to a brief consideration of
vertical range in the Devonian system of the former.
h. Recurrents of the Devonian System of New York*.—In treating
of this portion of our subject, we meet with several discouragements.
The paleontology of this system in New York has not yet been fully
opened to us. - Sufficiently acquainted with its mineral characters,
Taste XV.—Evhibiting the great similarity im Recurrent Power of
Fossils common to New York and Wales.
New York. WALES.
la z
a 8,
3
e :
Orders and Genera. Orders and Genera. ©
3 °
ro) °
A Zi
Holopea, Littorina ...... Holopza, Tittorina, 22.40%. .062.
Raphistoma, Lyrodesma {|1!| Raphistoma, Cyrtoceras ...... 1
Phragmoceras, Turbo ... Cy pricardiaiciitisn cases. creas:
Nucula, Cleidophorus ... Phragmoceras, Capulus .......
Lituites, Cyrtoceras ...... Ambonychia, Sanguinolites...
Ambonychia, Capulus ... 3 Conularta, iF). 15. oe altos aoe tere 4
Conularia, Cyptbardiat i} Modiolopsis, Echinodermata ....| 5
Pterinea, Orthonota ...... Pterinea, Orthonota............ |
2
3
Huomphalus’ :......0.:.2.--+0: 4) Lingula, Spirifer ...............
Pentanaerus (022.02) 0A, 5 | Nucula, Murchisonia ......... 6
Annelida, Modiolopsis ... 6 MPurbo,, Turtwnbes se. sis.se eee
Bellerophon, Cornulites. AICI a oh ale ae aie cae 7
Bryozoa, Echinodermata ...|’7 | Atrypa, Cleidophorus .........
Lingula, Murchisonia ...... 8 | Pentamerus, Bellerophon, Eu- | 8
Orthis, Orthoceras............ 9 OuTpMAlasy snes se sce oe ee
Lepteena, Spirifer ......... 10 Annelida,,Orthoceras ............ 9
Avicula, Trilobites ...... | Zoophyta, Bryozoa ............ 10
ZOOPWYtB 26 etcenincinaenoen cer ME) Te yatee ia oisarcn bactatile derunssauaee See |
AMY ai) Hacten oss de sepmme eee DSS] Ont Sec sk ce Sone sanse eae eenen 11
MP HUObILES 72 ske cinco seas ceieonaeeee 12
we have much to learn as to its fossils; but still of these we are in
possession of the useful number of 418. Further, there are but
* For Table of Devonian Recurrents, see Q. J. G. 8. vol. xiv. p. 424.
BIGSBY——-PALAMOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK. PALS
few Devonian strata m Wales. Although beautifully developed in
the south-west of England, the system has not been minutely and
systematically described, notwithstanding the labours of Phillips,
Murchison, Austen, Sharpe, and others; we must therefore, when
necessary, compare the Devonian life of New York with that of the
Rhine as catalogued and commented upon by De Verneuil and
D’Archiac (Geol. Trans. 2 ser. vol. vi.). In many phases and
habitudes the paleontology of the Devonian system is only that of
the Silurian continued, but marked by new forms and an ever-
increasing abundance of specific life. In New York, sixty-two
Devonian species are recurrent out of the whole 418, or nearly one-
seventh ; and therefore double the proportion observed in the Silurian
system of that basin. Thirty-eight species recur but once, twelve
but twice; and the rest are scattered and few. This is as we found
it in the Silurian of New York, and indicates that the vertical
range is short. ‘Twenty-three of these recurrents are of Silurian
origin,—namely four from Lower Silurian, seven from Middle Silurian,
and ten from Upper Silurian, as is seen in Table VIII., Quart.
Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xiv. p. 424. This establishes a most important
fact—the existence of a continuous chain of organic life from
one system to another in the western hemisphere. Thirty of the
recurrent Devonian fossils are Brachiopoda ; seven are Avicula, five
are Zoophyta; and the rest are principally Gasteropoda. In one
remarkable particular, the mode of recurring differs from that in the
Silurian strata—namely in the animal only reappearing in the nearest
stratum of a similar mineral character to that in which it is first
seen. ‘The Corniferous Limestone and the Hamilton and Chemung
groups are often thus associated; and so are Marcellus Shale and
Genesee Slate. Recurrence was more plentiful in the Devonian
system of Europe than in that of New York. As research in the
latter region adds to the general number of species, the probability
at present seems to be, that the proportion of recurrents will in
future diminish, because the principal discoveries will lie among
animals either sedentary or of low vitality. I do not attempt
to trace the fossils of the New York Devonian into the Carboniferous
system of Pennsylvania, close at hand, for want of materials. An
examination of the valuable Catalogue of the Rhenish Devonian
Fossils, above referred to, presents to us some grand exhibitions of
the vital processes of the palzozoic period, of comparative repose
for unnumbered ages, and of extraordinary longevity of species.
Making all allowance for occasional errors, I give my confidence to
the great Table of De Verneuil and D’Archiac; for it is mainly com-
piled from the labours of Phillips, Murchison, Minster, Von Meyer,
Goldfuss, and other highly esteemed observers. This Table proves
the connexion between the Carboniferous, Devonian, and Silurian
systems to have been well-marked, and that such changes of sedi-
ment as were required for the sustenance of the new inhabitants did
not always forbid the survival of the old life. M. De Verneuil’s
Table proves that the Carboniferous system of Europe is connected
with the Lower Silurian by 4 forms, with Upper Silurian by 13,
276 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL. SOCIETY.
with Lower Devonian by 53, with Upper Devonian by 6,—being in
all 76, a number which future research will augment.
By a Table which I have constructed, it is shown that 204 species
out of 1123 occupy, each in different countries, distinct stages and
even systems. If these fossils have been correctly designated, as I
believe, we are then in the presence of a purpose of unimaginable
duration and extent, embracing nearly three-fourths of the sedi-
mentary rocks of the earth. By entering and pervading the success-
ive horizons from the Lingula-flags to the Carboniferous limestone,
these recurrent fossils teach us how intimate, amid endless litho-
logical mutation, are the mutual affinities of the paleozoic periods,
and that the organic life of those times was intended to manifest the
same benevolent infinity of resource which now lavishes a beauteous
and boundless variety upon our earth.
In studying the European Devonian Recurrents at long intervals,
or from system to system, we find that the nearest stages are the
most closely allied by their faune. Tracing now the life-relations
of the different stages, we perceive that the Upper Silurian stage is
connected with the Lower Devonian by 72 fossils exclusively their
own, while the Lower Silurian is only united to the Lower De-
vonian stage by 19 fossils, only found in those stages. Nine fossils
form a somewhat feeble bond of union between Upper Silurian and
Upper Devonian; but Lower Devonian sends 49 fossils into Carbonife-
rous strata. The most remote stages are the least connected. The
Lower Silurian and Upper Devonian have only one common form,
the Favosites fibrosa, an inhabitant also of the Onondaga Limestone
(Devonian) of New York. These facts remind us of the gradual
weedings observed in the fossils of the Tertiary rocks as we proceed
from below upwards.
With respect to individual orders and genera. The recurrent Zoo-
phyta of Europe are very numerous, being 35 out of 62, contrary to
expectation from their habits in New York, from the simplicity of
their essential parts, and from their being sedentary. Syringopora
ramulosais Silurian at Limbourg, and Carboniferous at Visé, Moscow,
and Valdai; Gorgonia ripisterra is found in each of the systems—
Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous. Only 8 Devonian Bryozoa
are recurrent; but the range of these is extensive. Fenestella an-
tiqua occupies three stages. So restricted in New York is the range
of the Silurian Crinoids, that we may be surprised to find 12 here
out of 60 in various horizons. One species of the genus Rhodocri-
nites is met with in all the three systems, but not in Permian. Of
the 61 Brachiopoda recurrent and Devonian in M. De Verneuil’s Table,
the species of only 3 genera are in any considerable number,—namely,
11 Orthides recurrent out of 48, 18 Spirifert out of 57, and 21
Terebratule out of 54. Only one European Orthis (an early genus)
reaches the Carboniferous period; but the other two genera do so
plentifully from very early times. The Leptena membranacea—of
New York, South Africa (Sharpe), and Europe—frequents the three
middle systems in Europe, together with Chonetes sarcinulata. Only
one Bellerophon (B. elegans, Lower Devonian) attains to the Coal-
BIGSBY——-PALZOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK. 277
‘measures.. Of the 98 European Gonzatites, only 4 reappear in newer
strata, 3 of these passing from Lower Devonian into Carboniferous.
Barrande is inclined to believe that he has met with this fossil in
the Upper Silurian of Bohemia. Orthocerata are mostly typical,
only 12 out of 56 being recurrent; but 6 enter the Carboniferous
system. Nine out of 39 species of European Trilobites (7 genera),
chiefly of Devonian origin, have vertical range ; two reach the Car-
boniferous rocks, where the family entirely dies out. The following
is a List of the species of the Silurian and Devonian fauna which
pass into the Carboniferous system :—
The species occurring in the Lower Silurian Stage in Europe, and
found in Carboniferous strata, are—
Chonetes sarcinulata.
Pleurotomaria Defrancii.
Pleurotomaria undulata.
Orthoceras cinctum.—(4.)
Those of the Upper Silurian Stage are—
Gorgonia ripisteria.
Rhodocrinites verus.
Leptzena membranacea.
Sanguinolaria angustata.
sulcata.
Turbo bicarinatus.
analoga. -Trochus Avanil.
Spirifer crispus. Orthoceras Ibex.
octoplicatus. —— bullatum.
Tnoceramus vetustus.
From the Lower Devonian—
Cyathophyllum flexuosum. Terebratula reniformis.
quadrigeminum. rhomboidea.
Cerlopora verrucosa ? Pterinea elegans.
Syringopora ramulosa. Pecten linteatus.
reticulata. plicatus.
Actinocrinites leevis. transversus.
—— triacontadactylus. Cardium aliforme.
Melocrinites leevis. hybernicum.
hieroglyphicus. Euomphalus Labadyu.
Platycrinites depressus. Schnurii.
pentangularis. serpula.
tuberculatus. Buccinum acutum.
Pentremites ovalis. imbricatum.
Atrypa cuboides. Loxonema rugifera.
Orthis umbraculum. Murchisonia angulata.
Productus scabriculus. spinosa.
Spirifer cuspidatus. teeniata.
distans. Pleurotomaria delphinuloides.
—— glaber. limbata.
oblatus. monilifera.
resupinatus. Bellerophon elegans.
rotundatus. Cyrtoceratites armatus.
subconicus. _ Goniatites expansus.
Terebratula acuminata. serpentinus.
— elongata. spheericus.
—— hastata. cylindraceus.
—— Mantie. —— giganteus.—(55. )
—— pugnus.
Calymene concinna.—(14.)
278 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
From Upper Devonian (besides recurrents from below and already
enumerated )—
Fenestella laxa. Epler lineatus.
Leptzena analoga. erebratula pleurodon.
Productus laxispinus. Loxonema tumida.—(6.)
The following points are worth recording:—The proportion of
Devonian recurrents in Europe generally, according to the Table
of De Verneuil and D’Archiac, is ;2-ths of the whole, which is con-
siderably greater than the ;4,ths which we found to rule in New
York. Thirty-four out of 207 European recurrents (Devonian) are
met with in New York (and 4 more in Ohio and Tennessee), with, in
many cases, considerable vertical range. One-sixth of these Devonian
recurrents being thus common to both continents indicates a strong
affinity between their respective palzozoic basins; and the fact ob-
tains additional force when we remember how very dissimilar
palzeozoic provinees, far nearer geographically, are in Europe. In
both hemispheres all the orders and most of the genera have their
representative recurrents; and they are principally Brachiopoda,
Gasteropoda, Lamellibranchiata, and Zoophyta.
§ 4. On the Grouping of Fossils,and ther Order of Precedence.—The
Invertebrate species of the paleozoic strata of New York, and of all
other examined regions, were purposely grouped by the Creator in
societies on their respective horizons, and were adapted to live
among a complicated balance of agencies, favourable and unfavour-
able. There was a predetermined harmony in the mutual relations
of the new beings, and a predetermined amount and kind of sus-
tenance provided, such sustenance being derived ultimately from the
sediments and the water in which they existed. Different assem-
blages of forms prevailed in each sediment, according to its mineral
constitution ; so that certain New York group-sections, far removed
from each other vertically, are yet peopled by the same genera at
least, and often by the same species. This is exemplified in a
striking manner by the argillo-calcareous strata of the Trenton and
Niagara sections, although not even in the same stages of the system.
Generically, both these sets of beds are tenanted conspicuously alike
by Annelida, Echinodermata, Zoophyta, &e. The Devonian strata,
Hamilton and Chemung, principally argillo-arenaceous, give similar
testimony. The races here are the same to a singular extent, and
even specifically, although separated by three horizons. The more
purely arenaceous sections of this Silurian basin, however, do not
agree so closely in their population, both from the ever-changing
nature of their lithological characters, and from the very various
periods of geological time, and other circumstances under which
they were laid down. We see all this in the Calciferous Sandstone,
Medina Sandstone, and Onondaga-Salt group of New York. We
perceive, then, that the successive introduction of animal life was
not regulated by simplicity or by complexity of structure; for both
have been contemporaneous from the beginning. Mutual suitabi-
lity, and, in a great degree, the dependence of the higher on the
BIGSBY——PAL.EOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK. 279
lower organisms (the former consuming the latter as food), was a
governing and universal law. The earliest animals are the Bra-
chiopoda, Annelida, and Trilobites, in distant localities, usually of
the same genus, seldom of the same species. They exercised their
instincts on rocky or on muddy bottoms, and amid tangled masses of
sea-weed. In this last position we may find infinite numbers of
minute Trilobites (Forchhammer), an order of high rank in the great
series of Invertebrate development. The existence of a compound
eye in the Trilobites of the Potsdam Sandstone (Upper Mississipi, D.
D. Owen) is a striking circumstance.
Of the exact nature of all these operations, we shall probably
never obtain more than a general idea, although framed on the
principles ruling at the present day, because elements, vital and
physical, existed, of the kind and amount of which we are entirely
ignorant. Thus, not to speak of coast-lines and other oceanic con-
ditions, the T’unicata might have been numerous and influential, as
well as the Rhizopodous tribe lately discovered in great abundance
by Ehrenberg in the very earliest Silurian strata near St. Peters-
burg. Some parts of the animal kingdom may have been lost for
want of a speedy removal within the embrace of a preserving ma-
terial, from the many destructive agencies which labour unremit-
tingly in all parts of the ocean, the simplest structures disappear-
ing soonest. A glance at the General Table of the Silurian Fos-
sils of New York, will at once convey more information as to the
animals composing these usually internecine societies than could be
spread over many pages. I shall now select a few leading parti-
culars regarding the successive appearance of the Silurian fossils of
New York, reviewing generally the newly placed fossils as they
originate in the series of strata.
We may here remark that nearly all the genera of New York
Siluria were introduced in its middle and lower stages, a diminu-
tion of creative energy having prevailed in the upper stage. The
Devonian of New York is marked by a plentiful and interesting de-
velopment of new forms.
1. Potsdam Sandstone.—Plants or plant-like fossils make their ap-
pearance first. In Wales but few have been collected and described.
In New York, however, they are apparently much more numerous,
and occupy nearly every arenaceous group upwards into the Clinton
Sandy beds, where they culmmate. Up to the present day, the
fucoid markings have not been sufficiently studied, although full
of important information. ‘They are all marine, and occur chiefly
in the sandstones which fringed the ancient coasts. The very in-
teresting Brachiopod, the Lingula, appears in Potsdam sandstone; and
in certain spots individuals are multitudinous. Abounding most,
like many others of their order, in Trenton Limestone, they are found
in Utica Slate and the Hudson-River rocks, and are then absent
upwards through many epochal centres, to reappear in Devonian
strata. This seems to be a law; for the same takes place in Wales
and other countries. Co-tenants with the Lingule are two genera of
Trilobites—one lately discovered in the north part of the State of
280 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
New York by an American professor, and another species by Pro-
fessor Desor of Neuchatel. The other genus, found and described
by Dale Owen, is from the Upper Mississipi and its tributary the
River Lacroix. Some genera, as Phacops and Calymene are con-
tinued through the Silurian and Devonian systems, and without
change of form in some. More than half of the Trilobites of New
York and Wales are of Lower Silurian origin; and twelve genera
never leave it. A quarter of the whole meet in Trenton Limestone,
where they attain their maximum, as in upper Bala, its Welsh re-
presentative ; and then they gradually decrease in numbers upwards
and downwards, not one appearing in the Calciferous sandstone.
The genera Olenus and Beyrichia, which in Europe are among the
very first animals visible, in New York delay their appearance
until the Mid-silurian stage is partly deposited. The singular
Crustacean, Hurypterus renupes, appears in both countries nearly
at the same epoch. In Wales the Crustacea occupy every sedi-
mentary group, and by 210 appearances (Salter); in New York
they show themselves in 10 sections, by 68 appearances. In this
last area, only 9 species appear posterior to the deposition of the
Niagara strata (including the Devonian), which is a decrement as
rapid as that observed by Murchison in Russia*. The ease is
much the same in Wales. In the ‘ Kastern Region” of Phillips,
however (embracing Usk, Tortworth, Mayhill, Woolhope, d&c.), the
Upper Silurian Trilobites are 19, to 8 Lower Silurian,—a con-
dition of things very different from that seen in other parts of
Wales. The two basins of which we always speak possess 18 genera
in common; but New York has 5, and Wales 21, which are distinct,
and possibly peculiar. In both hemispheres, Acidaspis, Agnostus,
Bronteus, Ogygia, and Proetus are non-recurrent,—a remarkable
coincidence. In the number of species neither basin, as yet, ap-
proaches that of Bohemia (230 species of Trilobites), and Scandinavia
(350 species). The Irish Trilobites assimilate to those of New York
in their common genera, Jsotelus and Asaphus. Few genera originate
in Upper Silurian,—some of the successive appearances there being
recurrent forms. The Welsh basin is twice as prolific as the Ameri-
can; but the animals appear in both at the same period—Llandeilo
or Trenton (which last includes the Chazy and Birdseye limestones).
Precedence does not seem to depend on physiological grounds. The
genera rich in species in the one country are so in the other, and
vice versa, but with exceptions.
2. Caleferous Sandstone.—In this set of strata no members of the
Potsdam fauna exist. Six Gasteropoda, with the beautiful Ophileta,
three Orthoceratites, a Bellerophon, and a Huomphalus are substituted.
Individuals are plentiful, but species are rather few. This applies
to the genus Huomphalus, which is first met with in this rock, which
is equably spread over Welsh Siluria, where its species commence
their existence almost on the same horizon with their American con-
geners. The species of Orthoceratites alluded to live and die here ;
but the genus survives through 9 sections in New York, as carnivo-
* Geol. of Russia, vol. ii. p. xxii.
BIGSBY—PALHOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK. 281
rous animals of high organization and possessed of great strength
and activity. Species are most in number in Trenton Limestone, but
are elsewhere common, and present themselves in three groups of
Middle Devonian. In Wales they are met with on the same hori-
zons, but culminate in far newer strata—those of the Lower Ludlow.
The total number in Wales is 35, inhabiting 9 groups. In New
York their number is 40, met with in 9 groups also—another curious
coincidence. In Wales they never attain the vast size of those in
the Black-River and Niagara sections. In the latter I have seen
them 6 feet long.
3. Chazy or Black-Rwer Iamestone—An abundant and varied
fauna enlivens this section. Here we have the first Zoophytes. This
order pervades 11 Silurian and 6 Devonian sections in New York.
Numerous in Trenton and Onondaga Limestones and in the Hamilton
series, they are in still greater force in the Niagara rocks, just as
the Welsh Zoophyta are in the Wenlock rocks on the same horizon.
Three species of Crinoidea are seen in the Chazy group; and in all
probability more will be detected. None are met with in the Birds-
eye Limestone; but there are 11 in the Trenton. In the Niagara
rocks 31 species appear, and of great beauty. From this last epoch
they diminish in numbers rapidly. James Hall, however, expects
soon to add largely to both these orders from the Upper Silurian and
Devonian of this basin. They are very numerous in the English and
Rhenish horizons of the same date. The three great genera of
Brachiopoda, namely Leptena, Orthis, and Atrypa, with the lesser
one, Orbicula, make their first appearance in Chazy Limestone, the
species not being numerous. Several of the 17 genera of Silurian
Brachiopoda of New York (Megalomus, Meganteris, Merista, Lepto-
celia, and Waldheimia) run very short courses; but the others ex-
hibit great tenacity of life. In Wales 6 out of 19 genera are short-
lived.
The genus Leptena of New York has its greatest number of
species in Trenton Limestone, and diminishes slowly from that point
in the paleozoic series both upwards and downwards. All this is
true also of the Welsh Leptena. This genus is numerous and
varied in the Middle Devonian of New York. They inhabit 7 sections,
—9 species being in the Hamilton rocks, and 10 in the Chemung.
The 50 Orthides of New York Siluria culminate in the Trenton ;
there is only one in the Chazy Limestone. In the course of 9 sec-
tions this genus mounts up into Upper Pentamerus Limestone, the
newest stratum of this system. As to the Devonian system, it is
most abundant in the Hamilton rocks, the species being six there.
The 73 Atrype of New York occupy 13 sedimentary groups; but
they are most plentiful in the Trenton, Clinton, and Niagara and
the central groups generally. The succeeding species are either new
creations or derivatives from earlier life-provinces. They enter the
Carboniferous system. The Chazy Limestone has only one Lamelli-
branchiate genus, the Ambonychia. Five of its 7 Gasteropodous
genera have short lives. The genus Murchisonia originates here,
and, taking the whole of the Silurian system in New York, gives us
282 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
23 species—16 being Lower Silurian, and 9 in the Trenton Lime-
stone alone. Wales has 11 species, and of similar position and rela-
tions. This genus arises in the Caradoc or Bala rocks in Wales, and
is of equal force in all the three stages.
4. Birdseye Limestone.—Life exhibits very few forms here. The
most interesting is the American genus Bucania, a Gasteropod allied
to Bellerophon. It is present in all the three Silurian stages, in 12
species; but it is far most numerous in the lowest. The same may
be said of the genus Modiolopsis, in 24 species (Dimyarian). The
bivalve Crustacean, Cytherina(?) as formerly called, is first seen
here. It has 5 species, each in a separate group, 3 being Upper
Silurian.
5. Trenton Inmestone.—The Annelida of New York commence their
existence here, excepting one, Scolithus linearis. They will before
long be proved to be more abundant than has been hitherto
suspected. Although few in this epoch, the species are known in 8
group-sections, which sections are in contact only in three instances.
This order prevails more largely in Wales, where we find it in all
the rock-groups which range from the Lower Bala to the Ludlow
inclusive. The genus Sprrifer first shows itself in the Trenton sec-
tion by two malformed species, just as in Wales (Upper Bala). It
is spread thinly over the Silurian system generally, and has two
places of greatest development, the Niagara and Delthyris Shaly
limestones. In the Devonian strata it multiplies suddenly into 53
species,—11 being in Corniferous Limestone, 19 in Hamilton, and 14
inChemung rocks. The species of Spirzfer found principallyin Devon-
shire are, according to Phillips, 27 in number (‘ Manual,’ p. 146).
Avicula,a Monomyarian genus, arises in the Trenton Limestone, and
spreads.over 10 sections, in 22 species, principally in Upper Silurian.
There are 31 species in Middle Devonian of New York, with 14 in
the Hamilton Rocks. Life is powerful in this genus; for from the
Trenton Limestone it runs up to Chemung at the base of Old Red
Sandstone. In this section also we meet with Tellinomya, a genus
of short duration in Silurian strata. Nine Dimyaria and Gastero-
»oda come into view here; but they do not call for any observation.
The first Pteropod, Conularia, 1s seen in the Trenton Limestone. The
Canadian, and perhaps the New York, Conularia is in form and de-
coration more perfect than any English specimen which I have met
with. This genus only appears in the Silurian strata of New York
twice, and once in the Hamilton group of Mid-devonian. It has
only one form (C. Sowerbyz) in the Silurian of Wales.
6. Utica Slate.—Although this section is of great thickness and
extends over very large surfaces, it originates few fossils. There
seems to be here an arrest of life, which is the more remarkable
from its being chiefly composed of the same argillaceous shale which
is so plentiful in the highly fossiliferous rock preceding it.
7. Hudson-River Rocks.—In these strata fossil life multiplies con-
siderably, especially as to the Dimyaria (18) and Graptolites (7,
new). This might be expected from the nature of the matrix which
this section affords.
BIGSBY—-PALHOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK. 283
8. Medina Sandstone.—This set of strata gives us only one new
genus (Arthrophycus), and but 18 species of any kind of life. There
is, however, here and in the Clinton a sudden influx of marine plants
in vast masses, as if, at the commencement of a new phase of organic
life in the Middle Silurian stage, it was intended to provide a rich
supply of new aliment.
9. ClintonRocks.—lt is here that the characteristic Brachiopods
Pentamerus, Chonetes, and Strophodonta, first occur, together with a
single species of the genus Posidoma, the Gasteropods Cyclonema and
Platyostoma, and one or two Cephalopods ; but, beyond noticing the
great importance of the Pentameri in paleozoic chronology, no further
remark needs to be made on the fossils of these rocks. As very few
new forms are developed, as far as yet known, in the Niagara and
succeeding sections, this part of our subject may now be closed, by
observing that the statements just made have exhibited a deter-
minate plan in the order of precedence in ancient life,—determinate,
because we see, from concurrent evidence, that the same method and
order has been pursued in Ireland, Wales, and on the continent of
Europe, as in the State of New York.
§ 5. Increment and Decrement.—Paleozoic genera and species
undergo “‘ increment” and “ decrement” (numerical increase and de-
crease) in passing through the two systems, Silurian and Devonian ;
or it may be that their numbers remain stationary throughout the
whole range of epochs. This law becomes very interesting, by pointing
out a remarkable agreement, in this respect, which obtains in the two
distant, and not altogether similar regions, of New York and Wales.
Out of 24 orders and genera, thus comprising nearly the total faunze
of both countries, there are only five instances of disagreement,
chiefly in the order of Gasteropods, namely in the genera Murchisonia,
Pleurotomaria, Bellerophon, and Orthoceras; and I am not aware
that the omission of any of the poorer genera at all disturbs this law
of conformity, which, we must now add, extends to Russia in its Tri-
lobites and Orthides, in its Halysites catenulatus, and probably in more
forms still, judging from many resemblances in other points.
In both New York and Wales, increment upwards and increment
downwards take place in the same 8 important groups of fossils
(16 altogether), while in 3 others the number of species remains
about the same throughout the series of Silurian rocks. Or the
same genera in the two countries now under comparison may de-
crease upwards and downwards from the same culminating point.
These facts admit of an important application, and show, as De
Verneuil has inferred on a kindred subject, that the law which pre-
sided over the numbers of animals is universal, and not dependent
on local occurences of any kind. Most of these facts are well exhi-
bited in Table XVI.
§ 6. Duration of Invertebrate Infe.—The fauna of this or of any
other period was intended and adapted to endure for an appointed
time, as consisting of finite beings. As one of the methods of fulfil-
ling this intention, great mortality has prevailed at the end of each
epoch, preceded by a gradual diminution in the quantity a variety
VOL, XV.—PART I.
284 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
of life towards its close,—multiplying nevertheless, upon the whole,
in the long ascent of successive deposits. Since a great part of the
palzozoic creation was carnivorous, Trilobites even devouring one
another, in primordial ages, for want of other sustenance (Barrande),
and since all were liable to sudden external changes, violent death was
the ordinary or common lot, but, of course, together with the slower
extinction by disease, &c. The disappearance of feeding-grounds,
occurring more or less at the end of an epoch, although fatal, was not
always abruptly so; for we frequently find, in the earlier strata of a
TasLtE X V1.—ZJncrement and Decrement.
Increment Decrement Stationary,
Orders Upwards. Upwards. or nearly so.
and me
Genera
New Wales New
and York. | (22°. York.
, Siluria.
* *
Plantz
Bryozoa .........
Zoophyta ......
Echinodermata
Zein ein Te ae ae
KKK KKK KOK
HH HK KKK:
Euomphalus ... dex aa shee sit
Ambonychia...| ... ait oe au * x
Cleidophorus...| —... one s/s st * *
Trilobites ...... op
Pentamerus ..
Modiolopsis .
Orthonota ......
Nueula se an
Gasteropoda ... x
Murchisonia ... ?
Pleurotomaria . x ?
Bellerophon ...
Orthoceras...... ot
eo)
bert
E
iz
Sof Ok HK KOK KOK HX
KH eHKK KKH HX KK KX
new series, several (or many) of the species belonging to the period
just past, the individuals having as it were struggled for existence.
Vital power, or viability, differs greatly as we look upon it im
individuals, species, or genera. Of the length of life enjoyed by the
first of these in paleozoic times we know nothing, and not much
respecting those of the present day; but possibly that of the latter
may be learnt more or less exactly from the earlier or later maturity
of the animal, as suggested to me by Mr. T. Davidson. The com-
parative duration of a species is not so difficult to ascertain ; for in
the majority of cases it is confined to a single phase or era. Where
BIGSBY—PALMHOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK, 285
not thus restricted, but recurrent, the same species may be found in
the Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous systems; and this in-
volves a duration inconceivably protracted. The shortness of specific
life is more apparent than real, because all the epochal subdivisions
occupied long intervals of time; and thickness, therefore, all other
things remaining the same, becomes a measure of longevity in
species. Where the thickness was great, and where the chemical
and mineral nature of the sediment and the sea was favourable (the
latter having a suitable depth and temperature), there was great
length of species-life, and, as a consequence, great geographic dif-
fusion. We see this very distinctly in the Upper Silurian of New
York, Wales, and Bohemia. Paleozoic genera were not often long-
lived. Of the 192 found in the Silurian rocks of New York, 124 are
never seen out of their original rock-group; 23 enter only into one
newer group; 14 into two; 7 into three; a Trilobite (Calymene)
into 5 newer; an Atrypa (A. reticularis) into 9 groups; with a few
other genera scattered. These remarks apply to the fossil organisms
of Wales. Out of 228 genera occurring there, 149 never leave
their first position; 44 appear twice, 24 three times, 9 four times,
and 2 in five epochs, according to the General Table in the second
edition of Sir R. Murchison’s ‘ Siluria.’ It is not possible to com-
pare the viability of the faunze of these two basins very closely, be-
cause they are not exactly the same; but where they are so, we are
pleased to see the poor and the prolific genera to be the same in
both,—indicating a degree of mutual organic representation in these
two widely separated basins.
§ 7. Epochal and Geographical Diffusion of Species.—The following
reflections present themselves on a survey of processes so ancient and
prolonged as those which laid down the paleozoic strata of New York.
Itis only on vast continents such as America, that the complete un-
broken whole of a grand geological conception like the central paleo-
zoic basin of the United States can be seen and grasped. In smaller
spaces, as in islands, the idea becomes fragmentary, its beautiful rela-
tions are submerged, and much of the lesson is lost. These conceptions
are not like those of man, cogitated, modified, laboured at for an hour,
a year, or a life-time. The omnipotent Creator requires no period
of hesitation and contrivance; all is execution through inconcei-
vable extensions of time. His operations are ubiquitous, with all
their parts coordinated. A great formula is being worked out by a
predetermined series of processes, both simple and complicated, in
all parts of the globe. New existences have peopled the successive
groups of strata, partly by direct creation, and partly by migrations,
the latter occasioned and facilitated by never-ceasing agencies, plu-
tonian and neptunian. Fossils may be contemporaneous in geological
age without being contemporaneous in point of time as time is com-
monly understood. Geological age is in great measure determined
by the evidence of fossils. Now the presence of certain races (sub-
sequently fossil) depends on inconstant conditions, mineral, meteoro-
logical, and oceanic, on the accidents of plutonic action, and on
the varying thicknesses of deposits (so small in Scandinavia, and so
286 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
great in Britain, &.). All this produces a set of changes which
are local and limited, so that the universal scheme is not every-
where worked up to the same point at the same instant. Here
preparations were being made by vertical oscillations for Silurian
deposits, there for Devonian, the older beds having been already
laid down. Suppose for a moment, that the crust of our planet pos-
sesses 50 groups of sedimentary strata, 50 epochal horizons in fact ;
none of these in their several localities were necessarily formed at the
same time; so that absolute isochronism in groups cannot be com-
mon. Sir Henry De la Beche* hints at this. Barrande f in like
manner admits, not an absolute synchronism of faune, but only
relative contemporaneousness in the flux of time—a proximity of
existence. All faunz and flore were individually perfect from the
very earliest epochs, and many were highly organized +. We see this
in the complex eye of the Trilobite found in the Potsdam Sandstone
of the Upper Mississipi, in the Hymenocaris of the Welsh Lingula-
flags, and in other less striking cases. |
During the paleeozoic and other geological periods, there were two
kinds of provinces, circles, or centres of life:—the “ geographic,”
which occupied the same horizon in scattered centres, each having
its own population more or less peculiar; and the “epochal” or
‘‘ geological,” which, with the advance of science, are every day be-
coming more numerous in many parts of the world. They exist on
their own distinct horizons, and are confined each to a single condi-
tion of things, denominated an epoch or a formation. The same
epochal province may contain many geographic circles, or possibly
only one. Both the geographic and epochal circles will soon become
of high importance, as the means of reconstructing or restoring to
the mind’s eye, though imperfectly, the earth’s surface, its configu-
ration and contours, at the different epochs. The members of these
fauns, aided by sun-cracks, ripple-marks, animal-tracks, and such-
like, will be used as guides from land to land, in the same way as
Plants were used by the late Edward Forbes, and the Molluscs of
the present day by M‘Andrew, connecting and disconnecting large
and interesting portions of the earth in historic geology. As re-
gards the geographic province, I am not sufficiently instructed in
Agassiz’s hypothesis of the simultaneous (or nearly simultaneous)
planting of many such over the surface of the earth during any
given epoch, to give any opinion about it. At present, I am content
to say that, the great laws of animal distribution being the same
then as now, zoological provinces were everywhere formed, but
each with a far wider diffusion than at this day; for, from their
great size, from the rarity of coast-lines, change of place was made
easy to their inhabitants in search of food and shelter. Near to the
means of subsistence they would naturally crowd. Examples of
geographic provinces in the paleozoic series abound, and are very
striking. Thus, in Russia, De Verneuil found 205 species exclu-
* Mem. Geol. Surv. vol. i. p. 103.
t Syst. Sil. Bohéme, p. 72 c.
t Murchison, De Verneuil, and Keyserling, Russia, vol. il. p. xxx.
BIGSBY—PALOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK. 287
sively Russian out of 392, or 48 per cent.* ; James Hall finds 369
new species out of a total of 900, or about 40 per cent.; while, of
Sir C. Lyell’s small collection of American fossils, five-sixths are new
to Europe, according to the late Daniel Sharpe. In the same way
General Portlock, in his Summary of the Tyrone and Fermanagh
Fossils, finds 105 forms (principally Crustacea, Cephalopoda, and Di-
myaria), out of 188, peculiar to Ireland, or 54 per cent.~. Each of
these countries therefore presents a geographic province. Professor
J. Phillips calculates that, out of 480 of the fossils of the adjacent
districts of Woolhope and Abberley, only 96 are common to them
both, giving the remarkably large per-centage of 76 to the re-
stricted fossilst. Lockport, im the State of New York, and Drum-
mond Island in Lake Huron, both on the same geologic horizon,
differ widely in their extinct faune; and it is a most remarkable
fact, that the Scandinavian and Bohemian basins, about 800 miles
apart, have but 1 per cent. of their very numerous Trilobites in com- *
mon, and only 5 per cent. on their whole faune. We must remem-
ber that there are a multitude of causes which make the species of
the same epoch vary in its different localities,—such as depth or
dilution of sea-water, the contents and rates of currents, and other
agencies already alluded to. In the Lake of Stennis in the Orkney
Islands, however, we have a beautiful instance of the facility with
which certain marine genera (Cardiacew and Mytil) have continued
to live on amid their new associates, the Limnec and Neritine of
fresh waters, while the others perished. This lake has been gra-
dually converted from a salt-water loch into a freshwater or marshy
tract §.
The second kind of life-centre, the epochal, occurs in vertical
and almost independent succession. Hach of the paleozoic sections
of New York and Wales has its own typical or epochal fossils,
besides those which are recurrent. The genera often survive, species
more rarely. A new epoch is usually produced by a change in
depth, the result of insensible oscillations—a movement of depres-
sion or elevation, which is almost always going on||, and which ne-
cessarily occasions new currents, new sediments, and new animal
occupants. It is very interesting to notice the frequent commixture
of fossils about the outer or terminal layers of two adjacent sections
or epochs, and to witness their gradual replacement in the deeper
situations by a new assemblage of life. Geologists now agree
that this proves that new epochal centres of life were introduced
quietly and with little disturbance. D’Orbigny has a strong opinion
to the contrary **; but facts are clearly against him. These pro-
vinces, universal and indisputable, are particularly well defined in
New York. They owe their origin to an agency very different from
that which gives rise to geographic centres; and so occult is that
* Geol. of Russia, vol. ii. p. 396. t Portlock, Geol. Londonderry, p. 476.
t Pal. Foss. Dev. p. 178. § Murchison, Geol. of Russia, vol. 1. p. 302.
fi Dana, Address Amer. Assoc. 1855, p. 315.
“| Barrande, Syst. Sil. Bohéme, p. 72d; Hall, &e.
** Cours Paléont. vol. i. p. 93, and vol. ii. p. 252.
VOL. XV.—PART I. Y
288 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
agency, that Agassiz and Barrande are constrained to attribute the
presence of whole communities of new living beings in sedimentary
rocks to direct creation. In the actual state of our knowledge,
there seems no other method of accounting for the existence of
peculiar, well-adjusted, and variously-peopled life-provinces through
a series of distinct horizons, but to ascribe the fact to creation by
divine power as a regular, not a casual, transaction, and as a de-
terminate part of a suite of combined phenomena. It took place,
in all probability, by epochs or periods; and it is not likely, jud-
ging from our own times, that it occurred at different parts of the
same period. This creative power (solely an attribute of Deity, and
incommunicable), now generally admitted, may have been exerted
through secondary means; but the really efficient of these, being
peculiar and profound, working too in some inappreciable nascent
form, will for ever elude the most eager questionings of man. It
should not be forgotten that animal conservation (the sustaining of
life) is but a contenuata creatio, or, to use the words of Charnock,
“conservation is but one continued act with creation, following
on from instant to duration, or as a line from its mathematical
point.” The growth of organized forms is just as wonderful, and to
me as inexplicable, as creation itself. Considerations like these
may incline us the more readily to admit of successive direct cre-
ations, in carrying out a process immeasurably lengthened in dura-
tion, and co-existent with the earth. That migration existed in
paleozoic times is almost certain, and the means are obvious ; but it
did not occur to the extent which might have been expected. Had
it been very great, centres of diffusion (or geographic provinces)
would have been greatly obscured, if not obliterated; this, however,
was not the case, even in contiguous parts of the same basin.
§ 8. Recurrence.—The recurrence, or reappearance in new epochs,
of any given organic form, must be either by creative power, migra-
tion, or translation—the last being a passive act,—and either as
germs or eggs, or in the dead state. Sir C. Lyell denies the repeti-
tion of species by the first-named of these methods, in the following
words* :—“ There are no facts leading to the opinion that species
which have once died out have ever been reproduced.” He further
observest, ‘‘ That an intermixture and blending of organic remains
of different ages have taken place in former times is unquestionable,
though the occurrence appears to be very local and exceptional. It
is, however, a class of accidents more likely than almost any other to
lead to serious anachronisms in geological chronology.” James Hall
declares ¢ that ‘‘ the Creator never repeats the same form in success-
ive creations: the various animals have performed their part in the
economy of nature, lived their time, and perished.” I cannot, how-
ever, readily attribute to migration or translation the hundreds of
acts of recurrence we meet with in all the examined portions of the
world, amid the innumerable obstacles to such a transition, which
sometimes overleaps many and great epochs. And it is not to be
* Principles, p. 191. t Principles, p. 775.
.t Paleont. vol. 1. p. xxii.
BIGSBY—PALHOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK. 289
forgotten, that in the comparatively easy wanderings on the same
epochal horizon migration was probably neither frequent nor ex-
tensive. So at least we are taught by Troost as to the State of
Tennessee, by our President, Professor Phillips, in England, and by
Barrande in Bohemia. <“ For,” says Barrande*, ‘‘ we should expect
that on a surface so limited as that of Bohemia (60 by 15 miles
in its greatest dimensions) the fauna would be distributed uniformly ;
but it is not so. This basin presents, on a small scale, the same
absences or inequalities of distribution which we remark on a large,
over the whole globe, whether at the present day or in paleontolo-
gical times. The Trilobites, in particular, here have their principal
residences, occasionally only a few square-yards in extent ; and thus
they seem few until these centres of diffusion are discovered.” But
migration is a true agency. The escape of a single individual into an
upper bed may people with its descendants many epochs and districts.
Angelin, Pictet, D’Orbigny, and Agassiz coincide in opinion with
the great authorities just named, and affirm that species did not
reside in more than one paleozoic epoch or platform, or as mere
exceptions which, according to Agassiz, become more and more
rare with the progress of paleontological knowledge. Angelin
absolutely meets with no specific form which passes from one to
another of his seven local stages or regions. In the first volume of his
‘Contributions to the Natural History of the United States,’ p. 104,
Agassiz broadly announces the axiom, “ that facts exhibit the simul-
taneous creation and simultaneous destruction of entire faune” in
the paleozoic ages,—and this, in minor periods or subdivisions (p.
96), accompanied by a coincidence between these changes in the
organic world and the great physical changes of the earth. But it
appears to other observers, fully as competent as the honoured men
just-named, that recurrency or vertical range is a fact which occurs
in a large number of fossils in almost every horizon, the very number
(scrupulously ascertained) being far too great to allow of the plea of
constantly mistaken identity. The voluminous and highly esteemed
writings of James Hall are full of instances of recurrence, established
by himself, and for the moment by him forgotten. We see from Table
XII., that they are 280 in number. Daniel Sharpe, one of our most
acute paleontologists, witnesses to the same effect. Prof. H. D.
Rogers, of Glasgow, gives similar testimony for Pennsylvania; and
M. De Verneuil states authoritatively that the same fossil species are
scattered through the paleozoic systems of America at different
levels. This is in the résumé of his Parallel between North America
and Europet. His remarks on the paleontology of Russia are
completely in the same senset. Vertical range in fossil species
prevails to so great an amount in Wales and the adjacent counties
(Murchison and Morris), that it unites into one epoch strata lately
considered separate; and it is even more remarkable in the eastern
districts so well described by our present President. The experience
of General Portlock in Ireland tends in the same direction. In Bar-
* Syst. Sil. Bohéme, p. 290. t Bull. Soc. Géol. France, 2 sér. vol. iv.
{ Geol. Trans. n. s. vol. vi. p. 334.
¥2
290 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
rande’s able brochure entitled ‘ Paralléle entre les Dépéts Siluriens
de Boheme et de Scandinavie,’ 1856, it is stated that he finds few
or no common species among the six stages of Bohemia; but if we
refer to his great work on the Trilobites of that country, we shall
find the following facts contradictory of this statement (see p. 76 for
particulars). While the relations of his stages E and F (Upper
Silurian) are in no degree intimate, they still have the large number
of 14 Brachiopods and 8 Trilobites in common. Considering the
general scantiness of life in stage G (Upper Silurian), a near con~-
nexion exists between stages F and G, because 22 fossils have found
a common home in them both, 16 being Trilobites. Here, then, are
44 recurrents, of an unmistakeable character, in only three stages.
Barrande* notices that 18 species of Trilobites inhabit two stages
indifferently ; and this takes place in both Upper and Lower Silu-
rian ; the same species, however, are confined to their own divisions.
Cheirurus Sternbergu and Phacops fecwndus are found in even four
stages (about equivalent to groups, as usually constituted), and
Phacops Bronni in three stages. The law of total extinction of life,
therefore, at the end of each subordinate period, as propounded by
M. Agassiz (none of whose words, however, should fall on careless
ears), 1s not in harmony with what we observe in any of the sedi-
mentary strata of the earth, except in Sweden, perhaps, according
to Angelin. It is not confirmed, but negatived, by such careful
examination as the great Silurian areas of New York and Wales
have received. It is directly opposed to numerous facts gathered
from the whole series of sedimentary rocks, paleeozoic, mesozoic, and
tertiary. A regulated and slow extinction of vegetation has been
detected by Geinitz i in the coal-measures of Saxony, with their five
zones of vegetable life. They contain 156 species of plants. The
first zone has only 1 species out of 23 common to it and the second
and third; but between the second and third there are 33 species in
common, with somewhat similar numbers common respectively to
the other zonesf. According to D’Orbigny +, all and each of the
mesozoic and tertiary strata of France, excepting the New Red
Sandstones, contain recurrent species,—the number, however, being
usually small. But in Kelloway Rock there are 25 “ recurrents” in
255 species; in Kimmeridge Clay, 16 in 183; in Miocene, 28 in
2726; and in Older Pliocene, 83 in 523. At p. 254 of the same
work, D’Orbigny states that Loma proboscidea lives in three stages—
the Inferior Oolite, Great Oolite, and Kelloway Rock,—and that cer-
tain 6 species inhabit the Kelloway Rock, Oxford Clay, and Coralline
Rag of the Jurassic period. In examining the ten great stages of
the English Oolite group, included between the Inferior Oolite and
the Upper Calcareous Grit, Dr. Wright finds 21 species of Echino-
dermata which recur 31 times,—6 species making 3 appearances,
and 2 appearing 4 times§. Prof. J. Morris informs me that several
* Syst. Sil. Bohéme, pp. 282, 283.
+ Pattison, ‘The Earth and the Word,’ p- 45.
+ Cours Elém. Paléont. vol. 11. passim.
§ Rep. British Assoc., 1856, p. 400.
BIGSBY—PALHOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK. 291
species of Lamellibranchiata, and of Rhynchonella and Terebratula
among the Brachiopoda, range through the subdivisions of the
Oolitic series. He also mentioned to me the circumstance, that the
Iguanodon and Lonchopteris of the Wealden are found in the Lower
Greensand. The assumed law of Agassiz is still further disproved
by the graduated disappearance of Tertiary animal life, upon which
Sir C. Lyell has based his beautiful classifications; and the same
occurs in the vegetation of the Tertiaries, according to M. de la
Harpe, as quoted in our President’s Address for 1857. Mr. David-
son tells us that 3 species of tertiary Brachiopoda (Terebratula caput-
serpentis, Argyope cstellula, and Rhynchonella psittacea) live at this
day in the neighbouring coasts* ; and this is in accordance with the
opinion of General Portlock, who sees in the records of Tertiary
organic life only the evidence of an earlier epoch in the history of
the animal world amongst which we live.
It must, however, be conceded, that at the end of every epoch or
section the devastation among its imhabitants was very great,
although seldom total. To speak now of the Silurian fossils of New
York. Only one escapes upwards out of the Potsdam and Calci-
ferous Sandstones,—both being strata of vast extent, in frequent
contact or contiguity with others, and often themselves crowded
with individuals. ‘The same total destruction occurred in the cor-
responding stages of Bohemia. Of the 256 species m Trenton
Limestone, 42 survive for a brief space, and then nearly all disap-
pear for every. Of the 22 species in the Medina Sandstone, only
two pass upwards; and out of 180 species of every order in the
Niagara Section, all die but eleven at the close of the epoch. In
Wales the fatality on the occurrence of similar changes of hori-
zon, though very considerable, is not so great as in New York:
in the Caradoc and Bala beds, as united in ‘ Siluria,’ 2nd edition,
78 escape into newer strata, from an assemblage of 328 species;
in Wenlock, 88 out of 177; but in Ludlow, out of 232, only ten
reach some upper stratum, as the Passage Beds, or the Old Red
Sandstone. These examples are all taken from sources of the high-
est authority, from the most recent writings of American geologists,
as well as from those of Murchison, Portlock, M‘Coy, Morris, Sharpe,
and. others. |
While on the kindred subject of recurrency, a few words on the
“«‘ colonies ” of Barrande may not be amiss. In the centre of the mi-
caceous schists (D 4) of the great stage D, in the Lower Silurian
Division of Bohemia, lies a very slender and conformable band or
wedge of Graptolite-schist, intercalated with trap. It is separated
from the next stage upwards, EK (Upper Silurian), by 4000 feet of
schists and quartzites ; but it contains precisely the same organic
remains, and is of the same colour and mineral character. Barrande
supposes that the materials of this thin band, with its 61 Upper
Silurian fossils, were brought from the N.E. , like those of the Upper
Silurian rocks of Bohemia; the sediments “of the Lower Division,
* Bullet. Soc. Géol. France, n.s. vol. xi. p. 177.
t See ‘‘ Synoptical View,” Table II, Q. J. G.S. vol. xiv. p. 420.
292 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
and their contents, coming from the S.W. He calls it therefore a
“colony,” adventitious and owing its existence to the argillaceous
nature of a few deposits and the presence of a little lime. We have
to remark that it is a colony without an ascertained source, without
a mother-country, so far. No such phenomenon is known else-
where. M. Barrande acknowledges that he knows of none. There
is no instance in New York or Wales, as far as I am aware, of a
single thin fossiliferous band, being developed after a long interval
of time into a great stage. Species and genera, individually, may
and do recur, but organic groups never—they are seen but once.
There are mineral intrusions, or intercalations, such as Tully Lime-
stone in the Hamilton Rocks of New York; but its fauna is not all
peculiar, and it does not recur.
§ 9. Comparison of the Paleozoic Basins of Wales and New York.
—Leaving these subjects, we may be allowed to state that the pro-
priety of having studied the order in which fossils were introduced
into their respective beds, their increment and decrement, and other
topics which have engaged our attention, will be well seen in com-
paring the basin of New York with that of Wales. But, as I shall
perhaps be able to lay before the Society such a comparison in a more
detailed form, I here only present a summary of the more character-
istic pots. I premise these statements by the observation that
both these geological areas appear to have been constructed on the
same great comprehensive principles, and nearly of the same mate-
rials,—two most important considerations. One very great distinc-
tion between them, however, is, that they have received different
dynamic treatment, in the frequency of plutonic disturbance in Wales
and its comparative absence in New York,—such dynamic treatment
involving, it must be kept in mind, both gradual and sudden changes
of population. While the strata of these areas are formed of much
the same mineral substances, the conditions of these, their order and
quantities, are very varied. For certain leading particulars, the
former portion of this Part III. may be consulted.
The points of Zoological Similarity may be summed up under the
following heads or laws :—1. The organic remains of both basins
belong to the same orders and genera, unmixed with those of other
sedimentary systems, as Permian, Jurassic, &. 2. Vertebrate
animals were introduced at nearly the same date. 3. The organic
remains approximate closely in general facies. 4. They affect strata
of the same mineral character in both,—the majority preferring the
calcareous, the others the arenaceous form of deposit. 5. The
great majority exhibit the same order in their introduction and dis-
tribution. This is seen in Orthis, Pentamerus, Spirvfer, and other
Brachiopoda; and in -Endoceras, Graptolites, Trilobites, dc., the
more highly organized being often prominent in the early stages.
6. The law of divergency into several matrices is the same, or
nearly so, in the two basins, the number of instances being fewer
in New York. 7. The great majority of animals typical or recur-
rent in one basin are so in the other. 8. The great majority of
the recurrent fossils in both occupy the same number of epochs,
BIGSBY—-PALHOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK. 293
many or few. 9. The great majority observe the same process or
law of increment and decrement. This takes place in nineteen out
of twenty-four orders and genera. 10. The two basins have 108
organic forms in common, including most of the genera. 11. The
same orders and genera are rich and poor in species. 12. There
is the same limited admission of Silurian forms into the Devonian
system in New York and in Europe. 13. The plants of both are
typical, with one or two exceptions.
Such are some of the great points of similarity. Now as to dissi-
milarity. Those which arise out of the mineral character are
partly owing to physical disturbances and to a certain amount of
metamorphism undergone by the Welsh strata. The paleonto-
logical differences are many, but small, often merely individual; and
they seldom affect principles. They are due to the varying sea-
depths and other well-known conditions.
The facts just recorded certainly indicate a close connexion, in
nature and mode of formation, between the basins of New York and
Wales. They seem to be quasi-equivalents—“ the same, but other,”
to use a short and convenient phrase in common use.
This near approximation is the more surprising, when we consider
under what very different circumstances the two sets of deposits
were thrown down, and, further, that the nearest neighbours to the
Welsh basin on the south-east and north-east are so different from
it, as we see in France, on the Rhine, in Saxony and Spain—
countries, which, among other differences, have often no Upper
Silurian.
We seem therefore led, by analogies in other branches of natural
history, to the reasonable and very interesting suggestion, that pro-
bably in early paleozoic times the eastern and western hemispheres
communicated between the latitudes 42° and 52°, either by dry land
or a shallow sea. This space would include western Europe, from
Sweden (full of Welsh fossils) to the south of France, and of course
Great Britain and Ireland, on the one side, and the State of New
York, with Canada, on the other. We should then be able to
account for the intimate relations existing between these two palo-
zoic areas, according to the laws of animal and vegetable progression
from land to land.
I feel constrained to yield a waiting belief in a former continuity
of land between New York and Great Britain, for the following
reasons :—
That such continuity did exist at this epoch, the State Geologists
of New York have inferred from the distribution of its conglomerates,
grits, sandstones, clays, and limestones—those of the Middle and
Upper Silurian periods especially. This distribution, together with
the vestiges of certain currents impressed on rock-surfaces, appears to
them to indicate the removal of large spaces of land from the site
of the present Atlantic Ocean into the eastern and middle portions
of North America. We draw the same conclusion from the quasi-
equivalency of our two areas, as above shown.
Sir R. Murchison states, that there is at Durness, in Sutherland,
294 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
a strong band of Lower Silurian limestone*, in which Mr. Peach has
found well-defined animal forms belonging else only to the Lower
Silurian stage of Canada. They consist of an Oncoceras, an Orthoceras,
the Maclurea Peachi, and Ophileta compacta,—the last two genera
being most remarkable in themselves and in their being thus found
twice grouped together. We have here, therefore, an argument
of some force in favour of our supposition, but which would have
been very strong had these fossils of the Kast and the West been
specifically the same, which they are not. To these facts we may
add the long-ascertained relationship between the Irish and New
York fossils, according to Portlock.
The greater part of the Carboniferous plants of Pennsylvania and
Nova Scotia are identical with European forms; and most of the
remainder are closely allied to the latter. Mr. Bunbury says that
this points to a greater similarity of climate than at present obtains,
and to the possible connexion of the coal-formation areas of Kurope
and America by groups of islands.
In all times and epochs (whether palzozoic, mesozoic, or tertiary),
continuity of land, of sea, and sea-depth produced continuity or ex-
tension of life. Wherever, we proceed to say, there is discontinuity
or separation of land or of sea, the opposite sides of the barriers are
inhabited by different races, except im special cases.
We have hitherto spoken about community of faunz and flora ;
but now, in order to bring further into view the great importance of
contours (that is, of depressions and elevations), we wish to draw
attention to the extreme differences between the Silurian basins of
Bohemia and Scandinavia, in their mineral and paleontological
characters, as alluded to in p. 287. They all arise, in the opinions of
the best-informed geologists, from the former existence of intervening
coast-lines, or of great sea-depths, forbidding progression or migration.
These are subjects of the deepest interest, hitherto little looked
into. I earnestly recommend them to the best attention of the
young geologist. They promise-splendid results—nothing less than
opening the great volume of historic geology, with its successive
territories and dynasties, each for a time a scene of activity and
happiness, and each full of wisdom, beauty, and grandeur. We at
length begin to see that we shall see.
* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xiv. p. 502.
SPOS OO ARES ER TT BIOUOTIAOC
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Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., Vol. XV., to fuce page 294. _
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SS Sea ei
3
ee eed
2
|| ese || ||| sss | <2
=
| es | | Se | | | || | S| | |e ee
:
|
1
1
| ete ln
=
2
cae | cae cme ||| see ||]
1
Pie
ee ee coe fs
eee
SaaS
+ Maryland (2/a//).
SS me
ee
=
mes | | ese | os | esses}
ee cee |e ||| |
Se SS SS a
SS Se
ee oe ele
cea | ee es | || ||| 1
Se
cea |ces| en | > ||| meso)
ee
| nese || || es} |
ee es
SSSSSeq =
ces cc ||| |e see ees!
ess sss |e ||| | een)! |
ae
SSeS SSeS
SSS SSS SSS See
SS SSS Se SSS SSS r5
SS aS SSS SSS SS ir
SSS SS] SS. SS SSeS ees
5 a a =
SSS SSS SSS aS SSeS
Sess Se. 25S 522]. e 3S
SE SSS SSS eS)
ee
oceras
Clymenia ?
Tnoceramus
Lima..
Cucullea
Grammysia
Microdon
Cardium
Tellina?
Phri
a
ad
9
- |
,
"*
_~
- od
See, oe See beet Se! ——)
v pI Ap. ,
psn shoalre eweied bed
BIGSBY——PALOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK. 295
Taste XVIII.—The Silurian Fossils of the State of New York in theur
different Sedimentary Habitats.
p= Potsdam Sandstone. cl=Clinton Rocks.
cs=Calciferous Sandstone. n=Niagara Rocks.
c=Chazy Limestone. ct=Coralline Limestone of Schoharie.
B= Bird’s-eye Limestone. os= Onondaga Salt Group.
t= Trenton Limestone. w= Waterlime Group.
u= Utica Slate. pL= Lower Pentamerus Limestone.
HR= Hudson River Rocks. ps=Delthyris Shaly Limestone.
m= Medina Sandstone. up=Upper Pentamerus Limestone.
*,* The Authorities followed in the determination of the sediments are chiefly Hall,
Vanuxem, Emmons, and De Verneuil.
oleorines 5S | OO LOWE Aa Ts
o co) ) ©
3 Bio] 8 8
=) : (oan .
© Sia|so|%x ; S| 2
S 2a aslo Sn ie) SP anions
. Sl lelele le leh | sia) es
Fossils. wo\ sl tis ian| sia mi) se] Sia
5 BEE Oa] » Min n |Q | n
ie S 5 ese!
SO Peer eee ies eae Et te g
Dm o ars! >) ® wm ®o
2 ie ie leo 2 ores) So.) sel ohio
Calle als Ea Or ies ate ss Orisa e, Mow esas
c) o oy] ole oS = o — S Oe o
OF OA See Se | sep le Sele (Neale Soule eels
Sul See) ote a |a/e sis =
NDIin)O|wm = oa = Oln 4 =
PLANT.
Mseolitinus linearis .....3..2.).00255-[ -5- eelieeee
VetICalas SAA ES cad. asegan lege cd we BD | See i
Paleophycus tubercularis .........| ... Sheil Reee di neal wee CS)
v2 1(2)2( 70 hal a a ee ol AL race fe ele: 29 (ROO
PUT OBUG ES coats sehr achilg hire bleh mer to5 Se hls Koreas AR) ae pte Pore eee
Coes e etree encase seseeseatest soe
SUP? 11S) (ene Oe me ee) Oe Tean een eae Aol
LONMOSUS ie vale s stele susiekg ou ar weal mo Eaeale seats | aM
BYU 2h bande: cawih. cos geekeds st eas Ht ea ieee te ta 8
Si0s, 100 bo a ee cee ee REN CS Aiello
Anthrophycus Harlani ............]... ea
Spee. oes. cee Bn gchages| ins PNG) aaa
Buthrotrephis antiquata............] ... eal See Persil OS
LEO 2h ee ee | pe allt ee seh
eee arson sesserseesseseersae| ese
Cer oscesesasssese-eeeese! cee
RA CUES ieat SENS SL LHA does dagtiacl ee Se ea he at rc
WADE A ETHSSO i io ichcss oceereeutteas Ri Be ae Uo |
palmate: esses aise rasins< gener aee| nes Seah GLACE
Daim en PES psscindscinied notice to de Sen Wek an aso bre!
PATILOSALS 5 ne Sete siatranalows Gaeahiaeiel eign cal ees | Meat IO
Sphenothallus angustifolius ......| ... OS ib atealinn tealue cen Cewe al ecu pe a
J 2) 010) DI CORRES aS eA Bae letsnlee st EER
Phytopsis tubulatus ................] ... LAN iscketh Menalpeaaletteyly Real emead te Rom teehe HSS
BEMGMOSUS cai ih ocx beans es dedeal nds eee leermaieses Westie igen cel tt. | aey ye B
VOL. XV.——PART I, Z
296 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Table XVIII. (continued).
2
oo
_
(0.9)
—
i=)
—_
pe
=
iw)
—
Ss)
’ Fossils.
Siliceous Sandst.
Argill. Sandstone. «x
Calcar. Sandstone.
Ferrug. Sandstone. ~1
Argillaceous Shale.
CAA DIDOSAN, acum temins sy saclay «cee lve
COLVACORMNS 5. souctaa nto cucbelnecknsh ae:
LTV (G)s Wome ok Af MRE a Klas a oh
PUVULTLPOUE 2 oh veal bnasnnaeas wall sie
IMAGTOWORE trate su scent ooene noe ets
MEMCMIALR ON nut: ose kecgee eee teal tem
Columnaria alveolata,..............].--
Une QUANIST 2. o-bewsctape ne -cmtaelh cee
suleatat(G yc) tebas.petere ees os
Conophyllum Niagarense .........| ...
Cryptolithus tessellatus ............] ...
Cyathophyllum vermiculare......
Cyclolites rotuloides ...............] ..- sclulneealigaealieee
Dietyolites! Beelat. i o....2....05-.2 le too lite Alesee | BE
Dictyonema gracilis ..............-[.+- Ban SABA EC ad erst
PCG ORTOIS tes oc Hieyme tice ce Hos oksteh «se
Diplophyllum czspitosum.........| ...
_coralliferum,..-.......--.--.+3--|:--
; | Siliceous Grit.
N cl
cl |.
za
=
2258454
CL
4
cl
cL
cl?|.
‘stellata Mee Peel eras Pee ne a ao. bin allison
Favosites alveolaris (N) ............
HAMOSD:3. he eRe Ree EE cher e6 > Salers
Grothlamdice 20) recto: - hank safes
VCOWOGILES: Vat Pewee enna: Macc se alas
Wi a@areneisy sees eke en soaliait am
Gorsonia 7 aspera. 152-2) a.- 5 ssseele-s eae
UGLee Ta 1 1) Es Sane BREE geet: -| eae
Heliolites elegans ..................] ..-
PIGEEBLINCED! oo-b:n 0. chin ccab sss tealt eee
DATACRO BOW LUS | i mew cisco bent slate
PEREOIMMIG oes iclatcqme eins oofanss
APOUMMNOLEN 1 te eed Rpcem epee | IC
Asterias matutina .....,.........:..] ..- ea 5 ES | rs Nd ee (A a a
Bie MB a pave oe oe .p teat eal ote ee | eee eeu eile eared aeoalh cee aman ly.
Caryocrinus ornatus ...............| ... EA eee Wate ced) sel sem totic Ween gcmenl wera OLN
Closterocrinus elongatus .........|.... Jeilltecer [nok [ects] oor asach coe MAR Pe eee tl
Cyathocrinus pyriformis ..........]...
PMDEECUI AGUS) 7), a58-20cce. sone tec|h2 Heo eg R-Fr LA |
Dendrocrinus longidactylus ......} ... Zee Task a Vos te darbeab odd lysees | pega tan
Echinocrinites anatiformis ......| ... Set era eae ence een chs) tice | ELE | 9
SDS DLS yA a ane AE Ree bea SSE RSA RALING (A St] i a eS Un
EKucalyptocrinus decorus ....... LA a es 2 8 tw el Nc a
2-4
300 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY..
Table XVIII. (contenued).
—
(se)
Er2 bare fo] 6) 7 | 8) 9 | 10) thie
a a ou ee 5
e/B)/S|Sl|e|2 |S | Slee
Ste lO sreiais 2i/a2| | ¢
Fossils. © le he ue fe tee Plaldl|sie
ni} @ 5 2) BD B 2 2 2 5 @ 4 S
Sle lf elalaelidolslei/siale
o o S o |e oS > Oe a oS olr oO
S12)2 b2 | ele] e| s | bie |S | ae
Saicie/s a | o @ |: =
ala\Sialaloleisidiolal4is
Eucalyptocrinus czelatus .........] ... N
SL PULOSUS 2 Pr sae nite tosea weeds le: Selon
Glyptocrinus decadactylus ......} ... HR?
POUUIOSUS: 2h cane ter seidsemn.te bes hc . afeek
SPAM eo 5 ae aria othe sonra aec|isae,. waa GGL
Glyptaster brachiatus...............| ... Moet 3s:
Heterocrinites heterodactylus ...| ... HR
CRACUAS) 02 tent Ase ste tosenas eo HR?
SUP SR raat. stot tabctitic oi pat T
Heterocystites armatus ..°.........] ... Boa ee N
Homocrinus cylindricus .........| ... N
PAENDIS | asd tise basset cect end: otust: N
Ichthyocrinus Clintoni ............| ... is. uel
VERVE cL scactssdetaaisoncnern anvil te + N
Lecanocrinus caliculus ...........-| ... N
MACTOPCLAUB Ss) oder woates-wee deaf ce. N
OVMBEUS: fda wank onde mace deans deat in: N
SUMTER 5 Lb ee isa. petectoc vance -ebies ie N
Lyriocrinus dactylus ...............] ... N
Macrostylocrinus ornatus .........] ... ap N
Melocrinites sculptus...............] ... ee sk N
Myelodactylus convolutus.........} ... ae N
DOPAC EAGUB CD setts ood e comce sab in N
Nucleoerimus:Halltt 0.55 .2.2.s0cde=|, «5. F
Poteriocrinus alternatus............] ... T
PONE) eles e tea tag awds.d compe ne|vee ug T
Saccocrinus speCiOsus............+0-] 2 N ee
Schizocrinus nodosus...............| ... N
RUTTGMSh «Voces oti Acc hein teas a lees T
VOSTOK A MA RN A A eae Be fe Baie:
Scyphocrinus heterocostalis ......| ... 2A 7
Stephanocrinus angulatus.........] ... N
PeVMMAMOMUMA SF tet ancee ft DR RD) a | O\i+
; BleiOla|sis|ys o|@| S18
Fossils. O/O|el|ajals al. B/2|4|8\¢
e12/8/8j2/4) |£18/3i1e|41s
Preisieqals|eicis|2|8iale
eee s seep beset Set fee |S. 1S too | 2
Pea fe | (sah eC tral ra s}|o]} 2 S jm “rm
BlaloOlaldlolei4laidieiala
BRACHIOPODA.
Pimewisiantiqua ...-...2. 020. .0ce-2efee- P
SIRTAUMENDED 5 coi son Sowa crcksuasde sep icies cs
acutirostra (Cl) ..................
SOT TELS Np Wie: bre AM RA Ros ee uy
attenuata .......... Rape eee yee) Febe Rael uy
GPARSA......--..--- eS = We Pee in 188 eA ES at: T
PETES Po eet I C8 Se Seriya ee M
Eat NEE Ee SERS ee ee Seem oe SP 7
SADE 7, | URES Be 0 ed Ser ees fer) A Re T
HESTON EME, 5. SEE docs h wa cceecavctwaiices ys N
oblonga ...... eeteed aad basa-emctvehe cl
SESS 2 a Oe ees Seni a Re cl
TALS TL | Se RS Geos ite) AP EE T
See See eee ee
gE a oe eo See ee a2 Ee cl
UTE LOLS See ee eee eco P
CUE) en ee a ee Bead HR ge:
SCT Sr i ee Seen Ane T
Orbiewla:? crassa. ..)...--. ck vcestsdpoe e HR
CORTOGOID (60 ace crease enecenosdtess HR
eelata ......... Ei See ees Yael I 2 HR
TENDS U0 ee de eee BG
TELST'T oo ORAOES ae Waele Oe Seer eat Ac OR 8 T
LOL ge Co ee A ee ore es es be te T
Song hc i a ee HR
ROERTOLNAIS. 2. sks 2 .t. ceee Reb N N
fenttlametlata . 2.02.02 scbecest «=f sb ee.
terminalis ......... i ee Belted 8 be saa ee ge
Lepteena alternata ..................[ -+- HR HR T
CUTS INSEP TABBY oh ok w ok vend octet T
SEC MTRIAE ar. to dsc otcb ow deb ohana bapiobs DS
bipartita. ............ pene NB AVRE | GE
PECKING RGSS hc ees 20 ee DS
camerata ......... SE rs Seal NO T
CRC RY Ae Be aoe bccch wap a8 sah ee a8 DS
COMPUP ALR: 22.22) ie wod ce scbswoueaayick 9 cl cl
1 SE Cor te a ee ii Cosy geet Ri 7.
ELSIF aT (6 (2 i ee ee a ee A PB Be Ra ek we {ead
depressa....... ES Te SO Rode St I oO ees ee cl
PASETALA. Bo dcciue tk BEAD GS a TS 1 Bs beh) -G
LTS) 6 Rao BO es Ree 3 Sr, T
Headleyana .......... eanmcpeetea ces 53 DS
PED PERS toc in By Seems Ba 9 a T
incrassata c
Seer esr eet sce eseseeseeee| eee
302 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Table XVIII. (continued).
1) 2:3) 3). 4751617) 8] 9 | OTE ees
= | ee Tele cP |
-— ee
_ Fossils. Sib |e 3 Sei 8 212 - aie
2 | @ 5 nD es) B 7 2 3 eS nD i Ss
SlS(21eslalalsiolei2isials
SS HS SSS te ee alt! § | 8 fare
sla |e/4|P ls 5/S|Plals| ele
BAlalOlelalSialSslalolieiaig
Leptzena laticosta (c)
Leavensworthana...............| -+- 7 ete (sg ia : DS
(S| OTOL Tet AaB aan ao Same hme eral We 8 A Alsat (CO! Wile ape Maes AUC
(Oe OT (0 We 12 21: eR EI os bs 1G et A Se GL |
PLEA cesar. ereda coches sche Hees chet ies cl |
Plietiorae cs arae. oatmcee sce ecel here c
PLAMUMUIOMAT Ise ete ww ce be hi a zip Te
AOROLUMG A hiss Phe ket cant bape? cl
planoconvexa \....2.2.....- ea ete .
TOCHAM Ie eee oa eee eee cere lheee sae T
10110) 9) 11.07, a aS A Sets | er N
BULDLEN EA i aac ohana el aeee ene) Te
BCEICER yee ace eek toe ees cl). .«i eae
r=\ a2) 6 apg, ea Mt IR te | N
fenuilineaton ...0% be c.ck ees aie T
tenpeshitatan ) tk cts tects tee Set (op
iranSverealis .. 0350. cosas be scene N
Woolworthana .................. DS
2TH Se aia aes eee arse an ASH Os
Orthis zquivalvis .................. T
Della nigOsey eaten p sac ene ee T
isubeata: ores. a t e lneme Lad ed Ren
Centrilamentain. 0052s. cc hota HR
Gremishiia) (CL) 82.5808 .2 ee.
COSbalIStt eset a, sean coe cae 36 Prem nC
Guchotoma hee hese sheet de cpus T
OF Fs) Of Fell tS ak Wee a er as re * ss Vict salate T
Slesanbwlar hon. bec se wen ens siete he . {el Nn
CEUALICA te Seen h tac acice tog nis HR
TASCAM CLAS eT en nt Mee N
MISSTC OSEAN (CEN tate we ccna ae ae T
fabellulum: Wee. aces suc se a ris aN
ny oriGha eee eee ean due etek ae N
mOSCHl tA eter ey seca b cee ions T
ANIGELSurtate ye acswel eee sta CL
[Bi rab ies nelle hayes SME RS Geek, Sean «ae
opercularis, var. semiovalis ... T
occidentalis tee ek ak T
orbiculanis: bebe Se ..2 | CL
pectinellay cca hee eye a T
War, SEMIOVANS «52.20... -0-0 ww T
polueatellata 3. c 2 uen-t se sescieest alia a io
POISUTTT si, ee a net Rina chose eh fei N
“CELT. ig Ub degae somes Sh ese as olen BE T
MEIC LOS EEA GA. fe ons s5 sh 00s goto cl ome dsr Peele teen Neca Gauls cal ae N
PVEAMMO AS oe. a seep ca ghee Ae N
TO SUPOMMALA sco s kA cn kine bapianidersl oe DS
BIGSBY—-PALEOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK. 303
Table XVIII. (continued).
ho
is)
ean
—
=>)
iy
—
—
iw)
—
(J)
Fossils.
| Siliceous Conglom. —
| Siliceous Grit.
| Caleareous Grit.
Siliceous Sandst.
Argill. Sandstone. o
Calcar. Sandstone. o
Ferrug. Sandstone. ~1
Tron-Ore.
Argillaceous Shale. «o
Calcareous Shale.
Siliceous Limest.
Argill. Limestone.
Limestone.
ELMAN SUA! 7.0.05 canes --eedee-| 2
ST, 20 1 |e ee ee ee
SUC Lo A eee Fee
pubquadrata: ...........002..0.0-.f o9 SU ae sul See ples eset. wae
(SLT ST eyes ae ee ee pene Raped ie cra We oe ee Saeed re) gl a
ltt bet |
trinucleus URES Shcaie obate nt 80 bom lip Sa ‘ie ay a 4% en oe cl
VIPS TE Tr a ee ee
eee he gms) sce des SP sal (ge Se Skt beer pee be ee
LS OE See Coe ee OE ECs rsd hse ated Feeney Meneame
PEC OBBAPAIS: 2 wren sent aceewce-saedenah-e- Reuse Saou Racal saicaltye pts an ele ce, CEMA NS
PCONCHITEHS | 028s gcsensnceno
SANG OSE ee Netea dean iene wackontten = cl
glabella (T) .......-... Seti ks
medialis ...... PEO Vente Oe wea Bh as ; d { me
| cl
POU OSHA. be eh bder oe ei abe nck ae Pe We 2 U | see
MOP SChai sacs) ketee ee a ace dik wdewel => eu tere cl
WIA VULORIIS Ts poe eb ee aot scte alcce 5 me cl
nitida....4. Seta La es 8 aan ee es : N
Varvoblatarcockesn aoc cbse: : : N
MOUOSHPIAGA wn Oe PAR oes ewclae es N
MALICLOCOL ALS etcus coe eed. wowed bates a P| Sb [on Be [ato meen Me WOK Wee oe Ca
PORT PRE on douse cans emoeeecell ase Sen VSee, Harem USED alo ieaich | cc-oi cate |e PS
“TLE LEO Fo poe eee Bee ee al acd. Nineoal kok Panantl aces anc erin) Raa RS
ADEU Pacer oot cose atawn ened oe Beal pelos] serch PBbsstely
Limestone.
| Siliceous Conglom. —
Tron-Ore.
| Siliceous Grit.
| Calcareous Grit.
| Siliceous Sandst.
Modiolopsis undulostriatus ......] ...
=) 0, 10 eee BPP Rr se
BP opUTUCh? MARS Cac acaisat ea hace
Modvolaobtusa: 22 lok. spec deenete Al Sop
Orthonota contracta ...............| +.
CUBA eet si. Citensseaaseer onan desc eee ach tee
MMASUUD be tsjantisciclincinndamemceeiae teas lite
parallelas htm. oie sah eee lane
Jon) EGET Ie (enue mi APR, Fl a
Cleidophorus planulatus .........| ...
Nuculites inflata:...........c..0-20-] dae
LEN OP Ire ca. 2h a ane Se eens Ate
INurcalavalte co.dcctotvoss godesdonas dead
GOnmACHORMNS) 4.5.4 eced pence sali de>
| TOE) Me ae eee Mean Peoiaies Reta Ae | O
POststitaba {ccd dived seece vali tes
Lyrodesma plana ...............605| «+
qoulehre bl aingt 8 2 ens Agee foals
Cardiomorpha vetusta ............|...
Edmondia ventricosa...............] ..
BUNEMCAtA) 28. i. ao. co dace aceon] soe
silbampalaba 3. ts cewdencecese| See
Pyrenomeus cuneatus ............] ..-
Cypricardia angustifrons .........| ...
MMOGIONATIS! oe -bveeadeecodocen deze! doe
TDG 221052 ae rare are SL
SIMA eet shin Sees ee Poel Ae,
HR
cl
HR
HR
HR
HR
HR
HR
RHE Ss
cl cl
HR
HR
HR
GASTEROPODA.
Kuomphalus uniangulatus ......| ... cs
sulcatus (Devon. ?) (w).........
Hoxonemal Boydii }...4...24.0-.4-+0) a:
Ophileta devata:c.h.s.8cea0hes eee] dee
COMPA Chair de vanset- eed sniiemie Sdlhaee
complamatay wes. 2 tse ecpe oa] vaee
Maclurea, labiata..t)..p-nc0de.n. +a oe
NAO hci ak As ce clean oklBA vate
matutina (@phi)) fob... sete. tesa =
sordida (Oph) ii antares oaueee
Raphistoma striata ..............0...[ +.
plaisir, s2cshaiatcnnatesee taal ae
VEL ALVA Es chrome cee heel ee
slamines tks. deep tdesc daha ee
striata (Maclurea) ...............| ..-
Scalites angulatus ..................] ...
Cyclonema obsoleta ...............|...
cs
CS
cs
Cs
cs
CS
ee cs
cl
+ Silico-magnesian limestones.
BIGSBY——PALOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK.
Table XVIII. (continued).
309
12a) 84 44> 1617) 819 110111 12118
= : Oo i>) 2 2 era
Ns | el TiS |B] es OMla}|es\/+
ste |O|sigicis o|o|8| 2
Fossils. S|SO|2ijHa)\sisise!] -|3/el4l] sla
a lalelelelel@\s\ elle lal s
Si eea ene is | wlois|/21s).12
SIS SI SIS Sle aAlSlS/ Sis]
Sle lalS leis 8/5 | \s (4) Plz
: Blalojal4a|dlelel4lo|e/4/4
Cyclonema cancellata...............) ... cl
suleata, .......-- SPE ee Aer | a $i oe os
ventricosa ......... ee diate Ge cl
LEIS 72 Om 2 den B
Capulus auriformis ......2.......2] ... ae c
Worko dalucuila :2.....- 2.058... SP Aivaoi eodicee st acres
DCE ce SR a aie em A APs fe Serb Ge Bh eB Ce
| Platyostoma, sp.ind. .......... sbbigalb he era. (pel
BE GISPIETICA)) a5 gs e mace t coi -'- SAP |e Sap OS Seat A eh N
LOOT 01S ah ee ee et N
Holopea obliqua ........... saee aia gy | T
paludineformis ...............| ... oe |e
symmetrica ..........-. Serre T
SEC a(G oor ie Seo oe Ad eee (oe oé i
Acroculia Niagarensis ............]... seal bee N
ampullate, ......--....- Ace comet al oR hh (ENE N
Titterina antiqua, .......<....+--5<|->- SP Ian ee Ww
Pleurotomaria ambigua............ “ T
antiquata ......... eles oot He a ual €
EST) 2 ee ee ie c
? Tee’ Ge a SE ee See LE
EDEL Ts SE ee See eee ee eae os
capillaris ..........-. Cs eae ee
SVT ELF, = 8 See ee Os eee Bera Gs i 7
MCTIREC MEARE Coiba too cine» sien tind p= Rae BG ie rm
CUTS ey) Ae Ie Se eee es Pe eee
LTCC TLS ne ee es Oe B
nucleolata ...........-...: Gckaitas A; B
obsoleta .......... eas a ee BoAbema hak ee |B
OS G2 TE 1 a Se aa nee ee T
hats 1), GUN an eee See eye 2 Sashes hod hae os
DSEN EUR DA Soe oloncesmcanenseosa asf) cle foie, Mace)
Quadricarinata ..:..6.-.---.-<9-] «-- SGN REN NE SG ee eR ee | lea ed ais WB
PerMlONes, Jeceie. acsst acemeeni eb a T
SIE gt Te CN eee ame Se renee ee Vea hs teas wth aide e108
SLE SOC, CWS eee A Se 9 i ; T T
RIT O RLS) ta) Oe eee Soe ee Ue . a T
subdepressa ............. Seiten s Michie ices Nok ANE ahaa Aion en SEN QR CL
sulcomarginata...... Sine ene 8, 2 Dest HE Ae See ea! Kame oe ae | CL
TAPIA) (Joon nkin.< op ets. ea HEE dog ee eS bh oh POS
Sp. ands...) Bed set ee Bee Fee re ze c
CAME 8 sp 8 See SREP EARS feel) See Be Bae) sen i > SPN GS x . os
SPP chs scenpnes tengo benseheapl eke Feed, foil Jac (ETRE, .
See TEcTe & RR ee Ses Pe es ( : HR
Trochonema umbilicata......... ve P able m, | 7
Murchisonia abbreviata............| .. = bah c
AMGUSEAA |... 0 occ cence ncinnee : Jelboce heey
310 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Table XVIII. (continued).
12) 2¢) 32) 455) 6.1 7 | 8 | 9 10) Maat
i S/S} ¢e aig | wes
8] jalelZlel8) |Sl4iel/el
PIE(S/E(B/Sle| (Slalsle
Fossils. SiS/elslelsle] -|2lelsls|s
2/9/S/e|al@/V/sigislelals
Ba] eel Sal eel 4} 2/0 (8 |e) eoee
SSE Sie/8lelale\2l8 lee
Slaie lS /Pis|e18| Piel | Pie
A2lZ\Si/H1<4\S|el/S/4|d|a/4/8
Murchisonia bellacincta............ : T |
Raitvatabns che esha ia toh ae : 2a OS
[DUCTIVE Ip 8 a WR Name A ae v
ASO VALI Ate este ne dak Ah aoc ale ton Dee os
Couoided WA Aras eA cuore mck ty ioe M
(Cote aa rege ee i HR HR |i 2.2]
ORATY co. aaceciascou aetna em oalery os
HOMES PU ts eR Ged dia Nee gee bna ook ve os
uniangulata, var. abbreviata...| ... HR
peranpulatan. 6A aissieeies-veclieke B
Velie Med eet cetera. aa CpEEO T
SUbLUSILOTMIS) ieee decree cde anlar T
EeLG SNA 45525 hee BS ead cleh wack ne £
LEE PRAMS wi iedcdee tek saucers CL | CL
WEMISLC ONE fice Sac cei atawteb eke NaS
METTACOSE sanitnahecaeeeaicin etmcties Has B
PWMLGAUES | VaR SAN Sa cbe ached oaemalk a ae T
uniangulata ...1......40.-.- ete ea
subulatace.:. Skies: edits cl |... aoe
turritiformis ........... See oobe 3 ... | OS
mMacrospira |......... seieceunce sais os
ODbusaRP He cesses goes tio oe cL
Subulites elongata ..................] 4. ee
VeEIMTTC OSA, Sede Trace sade alla 0s
Metoptoma?.- dubia. ss: 2a. ccces 2's c
HU SOSBE Go Sis lesecapene aereanctes ...|HR
Carinaropsis carinatus ............|... walt. dl
Patelitformate yea est: aay. tenet ees 1. 8 AGA Seana
Orbiculatus) jecGos, cos eas leek alt ae HR
HETEROPODA.
Bellerophon auriculatus............] .-. Sa CL
bilo battis Sas mazaca secant vite telco HR: .5:)]/ evan
VALS ACUUUSi a iiat sc cates sive) Sal’ ses oe T
Var. COYTURATUS. ...6..2.50..056] 60 cs sat T
cancellatus......... Aidseibates tat BA HR
proftundus 4).7.).c0s2. sels 2h.k cake .
punctifrons ...... i SPP came arr Le ae ‘nit T
Buleatiius: Pei ek wien totes oll dec cs
Bucania angustata ................4- Hae oe os
bellapunctata « \...2c.caeeeeess calor: cl
bidotsaia fe. hin Bee x
CmANSS cL NLS ha Ask clue ape T
GE NU Deen Beh aviv bstevaialoniewaticaleaar T
WOUMMAALAY Heiiesiveidoas seks eos Cc
T
BIGSBY—-PALZOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK. ek
Table XVIII. (continued).
eee eo Gkego 8 19} LOY Obs
4 s oO o 2 rs .
ols] H/o lsei] Re] @ Mia|esi+
A =| a Oo =I a ne) ee n | OQ A S i
Fossils S|6/a/4/2/2/3| |2]2Slal
2/2/38 (2/2 i2 (Ciel sie sials
Sa ea Scat tomes) | Jet) ee Si) fen iS | | ae
O1O;/s/O/Gl sl rirIJals!]/o/5) 6
AlalOl~lial(6lelsalialdolieiai8
‘Bucania suleatina: i2.2......5..204.- Form | (es esa ages i ae Uc ek ll ahah Lae Cc
jist a) oF 1 i ee PA es (| Fa BE FBS Heo ied Mi el ee ote bE
stigmosa ....... sede a besa ubes SP I a Ot
S/F TEE AS SRS Sena CL
Cyrtolites compressus ............ T
4..2)) chee staan. afca> <1 celeeclsel ase) seine Meme ocala eR
juniperinus :
labrosus ...
*X¥XX*H*X XX
* * * * *
316 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Table XIX. (continued).
bo
iss)
Or
Genera and Species.
| Siliceous Conglom. —
| Siliceous Grit.
| Siliceous Sandst.
Calcar. Sandstone
| (Earthy Limest.). >
| Argill. Sandstone.
| Limestone.
Ceenites linearis
strigats it. i.05 ce
Cyathaxonia Siluriensis
Cyathophyllum angustum ... ...0 ... 0 wf...
ATC HMA UUM WEY ogi -20.4> aces peat ee hee eater
4
* OK OK KS
*
seocleces
eoolsesi|eee
eeclecoieoe
seclecelece
322 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Table XIX. (continued).
bo
(su)
aN
-~J
(0)
—
—
Genera and Species.
Calcareo-argill. Sh. o
Mudstone.
Argill. Limestone. &
| Siliceous Conglom. —
| Siliceous Grit.
| Siliceous Sandst.
Calcar. Sandstone
(Harthy Limest.).
| Argill. Sandstone. ox
Carbon. Shale.
Argillo-calcar. Sh.
Limestone.
Opymia meni cd gen bods) oon coed erd|neeleadlinace Geeaene x |x| |x
WornGensisyy woo. geet tee b Veenh (eke oGclfvad baal as al nee ace eee nee *
Portlockii BUR Dice see ae hark aks hotell hal aCe aes tee *
SIGUIENTE SCY oly oe Ae Ae OURAN Me Ege mn Ae, Pee Pat eae 22112
SClymyMML st jont | ond. (wel ls natn see |. awa gdatdlacat ate <0 AOR NOES
Olerusalaugs. oe vlog sh geal mte tes) etal CSR, ffl eral ae *
| OVS (UIC 7 0 ara en Oe ee res A pa ASS one PEO THRONE *
LO UsObN Cera © Ae, Gann a sige CME POPE A) Ee liar |S *
PAUTCHMIMUUSI FPS ane) acan titre Bitplic Mileiet ova ae matin ta thse «|x
Sthiidest a) Sor Poh ke sal aed, x
Paradoxides Forchhammeri mate! daraie Lacs eee eect ceo seats, Ol Peep oe eee x
Phacepsralmrons) 20050 Te eke nets veoalba Na salad ioe
AMA MOLE J.) ene) gecer | SaeY aaae vane!) inelleclaicalee al sige BIG eee ae er
APC MAUS) Lec canah lneci he dace Adena heat eatleae *| * [| %
Brongniartii *
caudatus .. WEN Nlvgeie Wid teat eerel 2h a Melee A oe ve
comophthalmaus: |... oane | eels eee snaleccaectees|, 3) [36 1 20am *
ELT TCT Vela Me amos ola Pte ernest ee | | TOR
Downe Pst. uch Lgee. bu sae’) d5 | meslltetlass(enal. ae SRG ISG I aaIaee *|%
SATE SII at Dish (aseok aaa Byaes > chee: | eagle meaty eee al aH
crash nl A aa ee ae rane Tee ede OG Be be
longicaudatus .. *
mucronatus Up a Rag A aaa) Roe.) care rere ete *
obtusicaudatus es ies DEA MM mee sl Bon, NS met Meer | Sh
Stokesii x
subleevis t See eS Ak ete Meare ire ine 2
imuneatocaudatus! 5.) Bie bosses ee debe Atos ane le liae
PVVleseTn pike wah! (ia geet SE to enor SUSIE liege
Proetus latifroms: ..: 0 sis ces) eae cue. ceedescfoasfeee| 3. | St) Xe] een
Stokesli ... .. sing}, sie) nied.) eel ato a oallibeell acces nee ie lee ee
Protichnites Scoticust... ... 0.0.0... vf... *
Pterygotus acuminatus... cafes she era uot area ele raeltagsiets ht
PATI SIS CU, Tee) okee Wade. f)\naty ol ciaen Patel x |*] ... [%
RCM ALIESE Cee Msidcd i dce'h be'sse. aie Sy) abel cotaliseel aN Lies Slalom *
ANCES He’ 1) al US Bn ee Mea ers) et ORI 2
problematicus ... EN Bee Oem Bee ea uit ol ain %| % [x1 x
DUTICEANIS emp Nihon.) | ae fiver eos) lateleee|astatese| Meee itoed| one *
SGVAGPS Reece Gack ac ha eee chia ainaly soy ate
Ludensis... ... BoM Soe) Saves ae AGO an Neetu eae
(Subgenus Hrettopterus, )
Banksii_ ... pS IEE MER Pree Ge Hol emaletadl itomeael Ae
pil Obs crge «aes OL ee ee oe ese) sale) cate eh wate elle al ee *
PEVORTIAUIS EI oy Yanck Uthat fee eM eae lca ace tee tea *
var. plicatissimus SE AG AS (eras 7) ameter baa nae ad ae *
Parka decipiens . RAGS Ores a ee rei ns Morag 7
Remopleurides Colbyi ... sie Open e ake ster. coe tee thes ee a ae
dorso-spinifer t shea Agia ald eae kegel eka eee ea ie
mK:
K
*
*
*
K
kK
*
BIGSBY—PALMOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK.
Table XIX. (continued).
Genera and Species.
Remopleurides latero-spinifert ...
longicostatus Tt Ree ee a a
obtusus 8
platycepst ....
radians nH
Sphzrexochus mirus
sp. wh
Staurocephalus globiceps seen pons
Murchisoni ...
Stygina latifrons ... ...
MEE HISOML. +6. os sae) see eon
Tiresias insculptus t
Trinucleus concentricus
fimbriatus
Gibbsii_...
Lloydii
Murchisoni
radiatus fe
seticornis.... .... ...
Thersites T
Bryozoa.
Cellepora favosa
Ceriopora affinis: ...00 20:5 -...-«s.
granulosa... ... debs ereas
Diastopora heterogyra ... sont Hts
irregularist ... debs ttives
Dichograpsus Sedgwickii
Dictyonema (Graptopora) sociale
Didymograpsus caduceus... ...
geminus ...
Murchisoni
sextans ... :
Diplograpsus bullatus ...
PORACEMS 28. ais, v2. borteoeed
POMMTEIN Ny HORS hd es Sched Deas
mucronatus t
MNOCOSIES A alc whic ete au aey on ae
pennatust ....
pristis ...
ramosustf...
rectangularis
teretiusculus
Discopora antiqua
i)
is)
| Siliceous Conglom. —
| Siliceous Grit.
| Siliceous Sandst.
Pele eeteoelese
st ea eeleosiece
Pte eelecelene
ba Ce
et wecloecioce
eocl|soclese
*leecleasl|ees
* st eerlecei|eee
eoeleec|eos
Pleoeleeri|see
seeleecleeel|ece
Pe eeeleeei|oee
fe sacleselese
Pl eecleeclece
eee iceelecsieos
fee seeleasien
eee secleoelee
|| Young state.
Calcar. Sandstone
(Earthy Limest.). ™
KS
Argill. Sandstone.
a]
o)
Calcareo-argill. Sh. o
Mudstone.
KOK OK OK
*
*
>
a
*K
*K
*
Ce ee ee eC ie
serleoelecal tt eleae
eestoee
cor] tetleee
eerleoelecel(*o*leoe
ecelece
*
2K
*
*
*
eeelecelece
esclese
323
11
Argill. Limestone. S
Limestone.
*K *«
2k
>
324 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Table XIX. (continued).
Discopora favosa ... ...
squamata .. hans
Escharina? angularis ...
Fenestella assimilis
capillaris T
Lonsdalei EP Aon ee &
CLUE a eas ge as ee 8
abil: eer) ol eke eae
Temas ts) b.s) cee tecce
MOTUCUIARE cn Mien) | en Gy aet
rigidula se
subantiqua ... ... .
undulata fT
Glauconome disticha
Graptolithus Conybeart
HiemUNP Ea) 4-2. y ae
Griestonensis t
latus... ...
lobiferus T
Nicoli t
Nilssoni ...
priodon See ee eh
sagittarius f ... ... 0...
Sedgwickiit psa Mae
tenuis T 3
Heteropora? crassa
| Intricaria obscura T
Nidulites favus
Polypora crassa...
Protovirgularia dichotoma i
Ptilodictya acuta . ae Wa
costellata ..
dichotoma
explanata...
fucoides
lanceolata x shes
ster ul cYetdlip.rie) ak Oe lise 6
Rastrites Barrandii Tt
peregrinus t
Retepora Hisingeri
infundibulum ...
Retiolites Geinitzianus T
venosus :
Aulopora consimilis
Genera and Species.
bo
Go
Siliceous Conglom. —
Siliceous Grit.
Siliceous Sandst.
oN
Calcareous Sandst.
(Harthy Limest.).
Argill. Sandstone. ox
k
~J
Calcareo-argill. Sh. o
Mudstone.
eeoelecc|eee
weocleestees
eeclecetees
eeeleceteees
HH].
ie9)
Carbon. Shale.
| Argillo-calcar. Sh. co
x « * %* | Argill. Limestone. 5
=
>
_—_
—
| Limestone.
BIGSBY—PALZOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK.
Genera and Species.
Table XIX. (continued).
BRACHIOPODA.
oo Circe... m
? obovata... ...
dumnmiday ..2)") 2
G Crassa 4...) a.
hemispherica ...
marginalis...
orbicularis
reticularis be
Chenetes lata
Crania craniolaris...
divaricata i
Sedgwickii....
Discina crassa...
Horbestt 0...
implicata... ...
leevigata
Rorrisit 20)...
oblongata... .
perrugata... ...
punctata... ...
FOPAIH © 00) 2.55
Se ss ss
subrotunda ....
Verneuilii
Lepteena Fletcheri
levigata ... ...
leevissima... ...
mimma 22.5...
quinquecostata
scissa hie
BERICesy at y-
subleevis ...
tenuicincta
transversalis ...
uneela, os) e.
Lingula attenuata...
brews t vl.) |.)
Corea, .)21..:
crumena .... ...
Davisa C1 3.
granulata...
lata ... dn
Heise et oe
Lewisii ... ...
longissima_...
iceous Conglom. =
Siliceous Sandst.
Si
seclece
pe
Calcareous Sandst.
*
(Harthy Limest.).
oe
OK OK Kt
oe
325
5|6|7/8|9 Holl
eis é}ls
“3 VE ae/s|s
Slelalalaldis
M/2/8) 5/3418
S/e\a\SiSid/e
BRE EE ES
4\S\e\5 |e /<'5
Boal nS KS lieolecepy re
%/X | * Te ey
*
KIMI LHL KX
* 1x
* 1%) % K(X
MUTED locate [taal vere *
74 ee oa *
*1*
Soallanelioac *% 1%
* 1% |* * |
*
anole *
*
*
* |x
*
%*
-| %
* 1%
*
ADO ia * *
a i oes eee % | %
Camis lope ioe *
*
ete * | *
cca (al lage! oon *|*
% 1%) 29 |) ua
*
% 1%
ster ieiete *
* «| *
326
PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Genera and Species.
Lingula obtusa... ...
ovata Soc, Menge
parallela ...
plumbea ...
Ramsayi ... ...
striata
tenuigranulata
Obolus Davidsoni...
transversus
Orthis Actonize 4S
sequivalvis
alata... Ee
alternata... ...
biforata
biloba...
Bouchardii
calligramma
confinisft... ...
costata 66...
crispa Es
Davidsoni
elegantula
var. orbicularis
fallaxt ...
flabellulum
Hirnantensis ...
WDKIGA: yu) «s.
insularis ... }
intercostataT ...
interplicatat ...
lata tas wits Poe;
Lewisii
lunata
porcata ...-...
productoides fT...
radians
remota ...
reversa
rustica ...
sagittifera
semicircularis ...
simples i ootieet.
spiriferoides
striatula ...
testudinaria
triangularis
tricenaria Tt
Table XIX. (continued).
bo
co
| Siliceous Conglom. —
| Siliceous Grit.
| Siliceous Sandst.
|
|
eecleseleoce
eleosclece|ous
eleeoleeeloee
eeleceleoe
eleecl|cecleoee
eecleee
eecleos|eoe
eleewleec|oes
eoeleost[eaeri[oes
eeeleeel[ees|eae
erleecl[eoce|eee
eoleselecei|ees
weclecclesei{ee~
eocleee
: Calcareous Sandst.
: | (Harthy Limest.). *
~J
ie)
| Calcareo-argill. Sh. o
| Mudstone.
| Argill. Limestone.
| Argill. Sandstone. ox
| Carbon. Shale.
* %* %* | Argillo-calcar. Sh. co
| Limestone.
*
x!
K
eecleee
eocfecsl|eee
2k OK OK OK
serleaslene
secfeeelees
eocleee
eerleoeleesieove
*K kK OK
eeelewalooe|***leee
eeeleae
weeleaeloe
Cieeee ee eC
eesleceltees
7k
=
=>
—
tt
BIGSBY—PALZOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK. 327
Table XIX. (continued).
iw)
te)
~J
(@.0)
pm
—
Genera and Species.
(Earthy Limest.). ™
| Siliceous Conglom. =
Calcareous Sandst.
* | Argill. Sandstone. o
| Siliceous Grit.
| Argill. Limestone. 5
| Argillo-calear. Sh. co
| Limestone.
| Siliceous Sandst.
| Mudstone.
| Carbon. Shale.
CLIC De
TUMORAL, | cl skp irecete: bee” cater wa
PEACE OLY Orit a. bce Phiees kN cides“ ccerae spade | as
(Grilisina aScenGens 2... cic en sees cmd ns ef acer SO eo elec SRR
SBT GH Ot Tim TGR ae Ban 2 gee (oe eel ae lec sl ien MI Re Se Oe
Pentamerus galeabus 2.0 61. ee, sen! coef efor Sia] once afe en a | OR Tees St
LCOS TER SS Rem Bie 20 ee to ne | bcd
leevis Ree ethan. eae ey ay ee RoR Te
PESO t ea sk Ss. Uilede eke! ccc LAER Dh SE. fe ee
BE TEICE UR et Mc ety ey otis = ately Plies Ee poe lees [poe oes ee
Eger TS) “0S gs SAS Rn a | me %
REIGNING PE WE Se a) ea acim | jeer «ised 9 Le |
wundatis .:. ... Peper: oe aaleaeles > Sei «4 ae
Porambonites catercedenat Eee aerahe SME | poses hee
ALCL ATEAROEE ¢ 000.605) cade @Ueeu Sec ed a dbewtl eae Be leans eeneeee
ECM MRE eM ss etoile oer ieee atetaltatings| nual aiewdeua| es qpeeetae 1S
[EVEOIGICE TOC ERS Me RRS BM igre ipicner Guage oO eRe)N| bees FM La Pama an BE
MTORR a Meth xc. ica el Peasy Lhe. age ones SEN Bee | SR [dee Setar *
Salteri ... ga etd Pana » Sap pat nist eects ee laecaicee el arcs | Sep eee eae he
Rhynchonella angustifrons .. Bi aneaish tan conte evalemaly ore Le
RACES eS Mle oc kak PRE cas aaa” | ast enela cals cally Abus aec | SR *
PC HAMOSEMSIIN ah oh alate oct. weve Wbalereleeissels cao dowel SR ates *
compressa Baie neers e nee, 7 ees AR gil ra eS ccc eatige Rees
(ELS OREO CIS DSR ES ey al i Pee PSR Ue Fm ee mn Si poe
CEI TA TUMOR te tet eterna Sides (iy adel aselev al baby exe [ane |anfeealeeat oe
enact wale ek eel, ls
eariiplicdias (ho8) ces kes. Sitew leas” on) A
PlcHexan ee BEM 5.2), i Roaloie ee eae Me
ES OyESD Rey ee ee aR ee Ie leek AA hai Weed eG BEA 2a =
LET SHILD tage OR Re RE og eRe neemsR a) en es oe eam aR dra
SFTEN CT), = Ae Re Sn es i ee Ran Pa |e"! Sg LE
PIER coat ee Ly nites ceed) eases cee Mal been W {anthems (ase * | %
TIT ESTE SRE TIC aor ray UR As te Smear |, id a ee ae eS
ARCuuelnnrnes Wee a. 2, sia. daee) ca rene Meatetleweleaalir sks, | 3¢ lee *
REIS GA RCTS YaMy has sc uakie Bose cbs » wee edalaeaiee Berd a Nolet isl ean
Piped CUA Roe Sere Asa eel vane > Sealalatewelltae * |#| *[%# |...) %
ICPRP RLM Ne Toh acos ugh satus ctecelle aiea's. (low Noubeee dee *
AAT Ppa oe Aas Soe 2, base.) soeleec ewes Bo oy ome (anna Bee al fe |
MUNCUN RO eee en fais Poe owls a hose roe sl OR A MSR Ti Se VORA AE Pe eoT ae |e Ie
Obmusiplentar toss foo Ms BA ay Lek
oe pe eae ATM oS 5 habeas OURS. sain a cetnearll eae CRUSE IN
PPE D Use aces Meee Ae RE RO a we (OE ca *
SRO UIYE Cp age Se Airs Ste re Reet NII se Hoe Beall 2] ab nea ae
ENED et Tsk Cate Dak ce OTe ee eee ea leke Se oA ae
sexcostata Wee PE emMer oe eet
* | Calcareo-argill. Sh. o
* 3K OK
2k
b
*
kK
K
x *
%
* % OK * % KK KK %* XK XK X
*K *K *
VOL. XV.—PART I, 2B
~
328
Table XIX. (continued).
Genera and Species.
Rhynchonella spherica
spheeroidalis
Stricklandi uf
subundata _...
tripartitas.. 9,9... --s :
MM SULOM Gis eet = wns
Wilsoni ... ..
Siphonotreta Anglica
MMC es. Wee
Spirifer crispus
elevatus ... ...
2 PISMM so.) Ales = :
plicatellus ...
trapezoidalis ... aa
Strophomena alternata _ ...
bipartita ... ...
antiquata Hine 58
applanata se
ARENRCCA os! 8. Hees
complanata ......
CoMpressa /4.iee6 ve
concentrica ...
corrugatat ...
deltoidea... ...
depressa ... ....
euglypha... ...
expansa ... .... bee iad?
filosa .
funiculata _....
prandis) i... \.s- i
AMDT CREA ere Sa es Label be ls
Ouralensis:y 2s se aw fe
WOCLCNy as ea mie tne Say etx
simulans... ...
tenuistriata ...
undata.tesc...5 SOR,
Terebratula? iesvinsenin. Rea a at
Trematis punctata ... ...
MonomyariA.
Ambonychia acuticosta
Carinata (is 4 ee eas Bie Ge
gryphus t oes ieee be ais
transversal. luce. eck
PEISONG TE ce) ves ies
bo
aN)
| Siliceous Conglom. —
| Calcareous Sandst.
| (Harthy Limest.).
| Siliceous Grit.
eeelecsteecl|s
eeelecelesslen
eerlevecion
eeclecrles
sesleacles
eecleacle
eeslecelee
| Siliceous Sandst.
wesleccleeslas
eecleesiee
eeslecelee
eeslecsios
eee
weclescieone
*
KS
.
HK KX:
>
*- |
de |) ay
* x
*
* % :
Kk KH OK
| Argill. Sandstone. ox
* * eK KK KK KS
OK
es
5:
Kt
2k
7% OK OK
PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
~J
Sh.
KK
*K
*
>
*
mK OK
7
*
5S
DIMyARIA.
Anodontopsis angustifrons ... ... 0... w..lae-feee %
bulla cic OA nee thas era a ee peas
leevis LEE Rule Tae WE Sue ee E REA Ee ee *
[EGIREATELLS) cad pile omer aioe rata re mere Oe Fame mie ia
quadratus SIRE ose oe wha ok ah A neler aA La ‘nen
RPC UN ODRNIS Ma eo Hearne te lst +) iach aaa, *
PAIS Pie) O17 1 0: ae a ae ea aL *
Gasdioanibrosa eyo 82s ts ee Re
AALCREIEP LAP eae = cate aareee ee ki oh fsan te sepe
BoMMeuicit Pook. het gee sy) al calselese eee Gee Fe
(Ambonychia) striata “oes ui sete eit eg Pcl ae FE ee Pe heal Bees eal
Clerdophorus Ovalis:” ser nets elk AG tlds cfeaa|ees *
TU TETEELE TSS) Oh Ta he aaa re Eg ai eeee pe) bes oy I
Ctenodontaambipua. .224i.i%: ess Boe eae ea Bae
wawarhicn! (Ovals) p22. sa ia leoe ue alae eae *
delfoident ttre ica." Beye ete hater ym car amon eae %
dissimilist has Ga Se ee lates naicaue
BpeiaGeres..! Pam * decateencd sige lea Dee ¥|*| x
x
*K *K
kK
*K OK OK OK OK OK
*
*
Sd
330 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Table XIX. (continued).
bo
iss)
J
ee)
~—
S
—
—
Genera and Species.
(Earthy Limest.). ™
Argill. Sandstone. cx
Calcareo-argill. Sh.
Mudstone.
Argill. Limestone.
Argillo-calcar. Sh. so
Limestone.
Siliceous Conglom. —
Siliceous Grit.
Calcareous Sandst.
Siliceous Sandst.
Carbon. Shale.
Ctenodonta Edmondiformis ... ... ...|...|...J-.-| * |%
levis SP det Ror Giant Myete ow ese 1 fein te Selkclbate liters! Nema tera ene *
| MLAYC DER in AM lc peed AY Se RS eAGT ye Maeene clei as ay
Obi GQuae task ton) See ect se hese hash malemtera| meme, (Noes
DOSDSUETAL A | Use coe oy Recon Nees Blewett Soe eaten: AGE
Guarana yy. Laue sc eee ie ai ioe fer eer ees Rn
RACH Bhae Myck) ent eA Ee avelese ites, S Siatnele Ral ie ow! (Le
CRETE Ei) ie a ge AU Ra [8 ABN ice | ee a
rhomboidea Hage ee ees gece mance nee ese
Beta hice ok. key Weed hese. ee edt iaastodieems Henetaa *
semitruncata t Sapa ehr ese e cee) - [esd 36 Sei emtie
complanata :
expansa T.. side tas 1 Avast ake eaal eevee tere
BTAMADA ei oid BS. Peed! Gees cia: dda lc adtealeeel teen) lee nei
inflata... Bes ede Sbetemell ees eer (iiersiey J eral
sp. (odin, Mio.) Pie hig isa eye Galan dl eee teen
Nereit Be ees Moe feel toe ea veer
ODMGORY eee th ed. yireke bac aa say coins Woes eel eal ge
orbicularigny 2.64 a5. Wii saor sedan erck Slt asl ae tonne
perOvalish 2 17cleie esha ae Ci. eeelae aes jell eee? al Se ea *
platyply Wal Ave peas iota nce scat eete salle *
postlinesta (e.g Baa eee tae cue w alate cedllale ca (fp seelset eros %|%
- pristist . plore tae oan Ware ulesc ag eesti omelet es lets atte
GASTEROPODA.
Metocwliaenomphaloides: 5 <2. 61s. sec{oos|ewn|sien| cee, Jooe|ene ecto ee Pa
PRIETO LIB erm MNT eh cates Ula ce no chcla laa coed ORR, LDR Rdeteell ate *
prototypa Peet Me RU Suny asi) ong arches acal tes teael aust ade enatee tee
Chroma anise.) ki. Pye sec eee” ovs|eeelecelens} ac, [eentese|ooa|eal ®
Nets tiaMse aac Male ash ake) (esd, ceaclesoloce|erah ens. [etsleceheodlboalee
Cyclonema corallii Bok Tc Pete geen ane | orc! are are Iie
GING TOTES ES A Sapa cli ae elles OS eae een |e *¥| %
CUA VIDN AMP ete ei tae ke Seated Neall cates steal
quadtintriataha.. (via Lasse ocak hk. lassie eleoalee
POUVE MIS eee EN if whee Rat Aditon Gauls) | oAalelanleedlnun|( v2. fe se|ociabaceleeeten|te 1
BUCITOP A RAM rat aA edad © dec foleclfbveallsae Rial ah eee ewe | SN ec taa earl Ee
NILE RCRA hy oa Medica) an mest Hts cis, (xechas Sfoaalanidlyaotas
ventricosa Peat ald Chote aa Rema eal ae
Huornplalusalatus 6c.) dese, den, owes aeateeleestoon|oace [ee
CAT ANAPSE vs Mots. a Sbadiin echo duce. oye ceatnisalicetenalicees . fesse] jae pecpaleealeaal ae
Geni TP TSI oe: ze lop elke) Was C. -ae,, Weais| woolen see ream) maafed otaadyarael| EMER
@ormdensis: 34. grtow tata deo Chace > ceadeck *
CISCO Mee ak be ok tis Es Se hi cee loans ac UWE sadlteaovcd tec ees Been eee HE
ELTA GLI WMS SER Eins cele os A) Pectin Oso ti dA Sis ectatitoe labs RET OR MESEROGRTACAIE (3F
PAVED TRS Seas hy asic, cathe oaep le rete raves ise few adsl toes etree: | Od RRR
| PETS UA TD ios AMR Sele Oe ed Maree ies Men [Scrat Seal ia ee
PUG ORUSH GL yh eal pose) asdcas 2 ome o serge ee aah Rem aoa altbacdl te]. wail, 6 |. 3
RCH OEMS tO 0b ck .1, saad ha gua ae kes fC ae atc OM ENE eet asl cafes os acl %
*
x >
*K OK
x * xX
*
x
«
*
*
*
332 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Table XIX. (continued).
1X2)
(su)
=a!
ret
-J
(0.0)
Genera and Species.
Calcareo-argill. Sh. o> |
Mudstone.
Argill, Limestone. 5
Argillo-calear. Sh. wales %|X} #./*
mnbermiedia: 2 2.0 Sih venenatis |e saath:
mronsle Ms. Pa eee ands irc besien ies
Obsoletar ts. Pree Be kee rncrtes ay: csie ae
[OL 0 al Pra ee Sau eo aia
femuiciacta hee dear een deh dtd. cssheaelseeliocy
Hoxonema €legans 7+..4:6) ..do+ se) ase) vatteca|eun|ens
sinuosa ....... Hanae eae oe a
Macrocheilus clongatus + Po dat mae
fustformis Pos aM tankinetee Gre ot
Murchisonia angulata sales we sie Rites cet uc
angustata fh...) -.ccee ee eee eae ws
articulata cist Pings SRR OE MISERY) GEER Son
balteata ..... naentvach< Geeo Vakaleuslesrlebe
bicincta, M'Coy + . Sukds PRL OEN Sales win al etal
cancellatula! “rice shite eke ian elite etal en
CLIN Ula aay eee PAE SCP nes ide cco lige
Coralliis oxtry ita skies Saat) Galen! wnahe
pyrosonta: Fi. Pg ees
antlaital pe ieee, Sear? eas eta ae
EMG Wester era as sree ele rmse ht etat, ea dbeea| ee ale
OWSema Pes hen Pak ee hte soo ay ee ON aataslied ay
PIVICOrE a eae tee 2” Sanh Age sce a cee bien
pallelarey (Pe Aas teehee gem! iy geld ie$ Pe ee nd
Simplex? WEre CE. Bide eel as dag aaadlnws veel Hs leesle
subrotundata > - SiMe) ws es ge ~. bea feticlares weel teen [ok
SEU CE EG ek ar We ah eT gS stale Milan §
LOG UAb Af His 2 2. as cout kese Ge ast sat fene *
[7b | in ee aoe ce ae
Nattcanpanrvay ssi eh esse eet ese Vea eatheoalaws
Ophileta compacta... <52. ase ides eabese *
macromplialayis esis +. stes0 weer ise: daabeodeds ied
Patella Saturmi «-:..--0°.6: 0 is. ese) Lie:
Platyschisma helicites... 0... ws,
Williamsi... ni Cite ieee) h gubsieslitas
Pleurotomaria crenulata- ... 00.0... ws des c[ee. x
fissicarina sina, Maa
trochiformisf ...
undata ...
sp. (trochiformis, Mt Coy) t.
Raphistoma zqualis F
* %
2k
eecrlees
>
kK
oK OK
2K
eos eos @ee
factece
BIGSBY—PALHOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK. 333
Table XIX. (continued).
bo
J)
a
=
—
Genera and Species.
Argillo-calcar. Sh. «©
Limestone.
Carbon. Shale.
| Argill. Sandstone. ox
Argill. Limestone. 5
Siliceous Conglom. —
| Siliceous Grit.
Calcareous Sandst.
(Harthy Limest.).
| Calcareo-argill. Sh.
| Siliceous Sandst.
* | Mudstone.
Raphistoma elliptica t se (ct I ba
Pormaremintign tt eee yee. Soon sacl Tags *
Ribeiria complanata
Trochonema latifasciata T
lyrata...
tricincta T
triporcata
trochleatat ....
Trochus? czlatulus
Mooreit... ..
multitorquatus +
Turbo? cirrhosus
tritorquatus f ...
*«
* KK
set leseleoe
HETEROPODA.
Bellerophon acutus
TSOP) < oh RNG SIM SOS A SRE SB MEARE Ar cel oo
“TYLSTAEE EUS) ACR RT AMIS ae ii GE Ore es (i *
_ carinatus...
dilatatus ... SMe este
ESECIOT USI 5 ES ep ea ae aR ae Pee *
AUCTSE TSC"): AEE SR a Se eam es ee *
NMOMOSUS: '... .b<<-
DEPSER EA es) CE Rees ea a a mei arame) |aNES Ngee Se
PETE NAUMISY Pack oe nae i yaew sven ose [nee *|..
subdecussatus ...
sulcatinus ae
Wenlockensis ...
De
Sr
&
kK 3K
> *K OK OK OK OK OK
* 2K OK OK
*K OK OK
* :
*
ee es es
PTEROPODA.
\Conularia elongata t
Sowerbyi... ... Eo To oe eaves ee Ned Oa
subtilisf... . SKM oy er eeee eine lnee *
Eeculiomphalus B Bucklandi..
levis asd
Scoticus ...
Maclurea Logani...
magna ? +
este ae Be sick seats Jacaetben at pace tose sakenele
Pterotheca corrugata . Giga desc aise ¥ seedeee fuck
REATISVEMSH GE Bt on =. « wactePoad ls eeiee Roe opal te salcee
SANS, oe epemmaner one ta? Ay Reap sere aCe: Wie, Hab? *
Theca anceps ...
Forbesii ...
*K 3K OR OK
334 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Table XIX. (continued).
)
iw)
(J)
J
GO
‘an
—
Genera and Species.
(Earthy Limest.). a
| Argill. Sandstone. cx
Argill. Limestone. 5
Argillo-calear. Sh. co
Limestone.
| Siliceous Conglom. —
* | Siliceous Grit.
Calcareous Sandst.
Mudstone.
Carbon. Shale.
* * « > | Calcareo-argil. Sh. a
| Siliceous Sandst.
NECA TOV EHSA a etice aur ios Mes ui ao ih wigs era p aN:
simplex... Eicakt Mate Sctam ty = joie sy cieizpas ota ts Sree
PRIM OWA BIR, Masini v a sis eteuyt aa.” ¢ cee eae raliees wields 540 8
WASIMULAe sh Mes 2 duige sn vseeth die ge gd bey loam eae eee
CEPHALOPODA.
Ascoceras) Barrandin’ fk 4k odie” cach “a daleechede lesa gen ila ck| Ree
Cyrtoceras approximatum ... ...0 ... .s.J...}a..|%
AVIGE MISE OUI fy Mics e kecchicgeavg es dase \awslenelecclew eee mek
murltienmierabium 2465) usa ay sass s aaahtantwee load sen cele vos a] ee
Pataites anpusfommis .. 04.0 unt hse’ evaleoslene|scs|ecae 1232 | ease Se
arbhionlatis) Ps + okt ® ynak arisen dene Seales Os re J scuile JA *
Bical lng 42) fleece pelcck qos) Sed Ateeaias Shand eal gee alike Oates *
COPMURATIEH BS. i500 ide Plact Been Ganon seorperel soa tees oe anl eae alte eee * |
PAPOMIGOUSE egy ua) age. lod abso Pyeeee neal te aleeel ase se scr fead eee Rees * |x
Hirberntens Ff tins... 20) beats Sees cast Geafagasteindl cel coce: NEC eet SeSiee | ae ean
plamorpiformas’ ) .'. 4. occ. fiestas Aney Pawel von leeel to jnek .
“AGOSTMOSIES 4.0 Wisc des 320 Gabe de views Sovae’ | peat act ocel eodllvccaurs OL etCEa Sees od hoe
UAC SMIS WHA Aa vale Gaia ocien ey eek) samelieaelok
Orthoceras angulatumi: 0.00 1.0 seee ose aeafeceleostecst- ok - [oe oe] Moe) aeiae
anmullataimy © iis ¥ 00% | cas.) aees wen. cantina foos|ace} oo) 50) Mineo Coen
arcuoliratum fT wigeWe Maik whee, (aes awe hee llassa list alate ea let | OS Oe resent *
ECCMID REN He ied) Adin alot“ anelacliogalecalioee Golan allel a aloee eerie
PAV GLUT Pitre ts eae Mie ey hea a Aik) Sorin Aa al eaatorseal Mela eddie aloes *
baculatonimery. rics ike hae iee Cueted sla aleets heme *
Barrandii OS SEE CanrtN alee to Pa art Rote isa I *
Dilineabunin frag. dies | a pat Potato teats, net ae oa teal age eee
PROMMCOMICWI Ty er Rao Weyaeiceae, vas one [eA ems Acta ere ER
Brongniartii t seh Pah Lota sie aaklaaaliealeoel ack
Rou latina eae ee aie eet 2 eau tv ae, | Geert eat ae co ee seer LE. 3
canalienlahumin. 2s eg iy as. Ree aicheaset < Sete 6) eed feces Pee ee
centrale fT ee eats A Th SNL ace ed es
coralliformesrbhes gins ccscdi chest cues Gaxleaalacelinal, emer
COUDGAIG EE Aric) (oo aie: RR Hy Peo a Seay Ramee ete et se aera ILC A be
GISHATIS Piatra on) eels gan | ots) dare Venaliannc [eee pmenIlice #1505) [eee lege Pee
ENCKINALOH Paes ts! 1 cect uted ee wee Sepals Mets ee see tea steels
clonpatocinebum ay. inc) 20 aks. conc eealacs sine oace hae dee) Rae
OXCOMMACUI esis chs | |i dade hbee oe hG UeR et es Hckae foe ates MIS Al gees alos es Pa ke
1 CoS) 09 Met 0 SU EU ete 7 ae NPR I a cl a ag ae A ah
dinabriatuans) seeps. bud dissse eee. eecee scoala dscaealens «esis ote eae mea
PRCTARUTA | eens) caibal (bee eee eaeaky. cee |e daalee|> aoentaa a esl alee veel %
AIDONE hoi det aie sy «age case emcees Lea BRL e ee eas enema flee *
mer CAUULTIN | se Me ey a aL el Wate ase TNE
IGUCSCRUA Pic, a bs AUNT Rn Coeey, ae clon oceans Hoe
DA CNSO i feds ain hot ails ic bites | ace em weloneloceleeeliatane *
BIGSBY——-PALMOZOIC ROCKS OF NEW YORK. 335
Genera and Species.
Orthoceras Maclareni fT
Marloense
Mocktreense
nummularium
perannulatum f
perelegans
politum tT
Pomeroense
primevum
subgregariumt
subundulatum
tenuiannulatum
tenuicinctum
tenuistriatum
textile...
torquatum t
tracheale ..
vagans ...
vaginatum ft
ventricosum
Oncoceras? sp.
Phragmoceras arcuatum
compressum
intermedium
nautileum
pyriforme
ventricosum
Poterioceras approximatum
Tretoceras bisiphonatum
semipartitum...
Auchenaspis Salteri
? ornatus
Cephalaspis Murchisoni
Onchus Murchisoni
tenuistriatus
Sloe Ceres
Plectrodus mirabilis
pustuliferus
Pteraspis Banksii ...
truncatus...
Ludensis ...
Sphagodus
VOL. XV.——PART I,
Table XIX. (continued).
a
iw)
a)
oN i
ie.)
co
—
—
lom.
Siliceous Sandst.
Calcareous Sandst.
(Earthy Limest.) ™
Argill. Sandstone. ox
Calcareo-argill. Sh. o
Mudstone.
Carbon. Shale.
Argillo-calcar. Sh.
Argill. Limestone. 5
Limestone.
Siliceous Cong
Siliceous Grit.
eesleee
seeleae
KOK OK KS
336 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
1. On the Relations of the different parts of the Oty Rep SanpsTonE
in which Oreantc Rematns have recently been discovered, m the
Countizs of Moray, Naren, Banrr, and Inverness. By J. G.
Matcoumson, M.D., F.G.S.
[Read June 5th, 1839. ]
(Plate XI.)
[This communication was received June 4, 1839; read June 5, 1839; re-
ferred November 6, 1839; and reported upon favourably May 27, 1840; but
the determination to print the paper was deferred by the Council until Prof.
Agassiz should have supplied the description of the fossil fishes which are men-
tioned in it, and which had been sent to the Continent for examination. The
Memoir, prepared to a great extent for press, with its illustrative sections ar-
ranged for engraving, thus remained unpublished. In May 1844, the death of
Dr. Malcolmson was announced; and in June and November 1844, inquiry
was made respecting the Memoir, which, apparently, still waited for the deserip-
tion of the specimens. About this time the ‘Monographie des Poissons Fos-
siles du Vieux Grés Rouge’ was published, containing an account of the fossil
fishes referred to in the Memoir; but those who had been interested in the de-
termination of Dr. Malcolmson’s specimens, and who had apparently under-
taken to finish the preparation of portions of the Memoir, had long before left
England,—Sir Roderick Murchison for Russia and the Ural, in 1840,—Dr.
Falconer for India. On Dr. Falconer’s return he made inquiries for the paper,
but not in the right direction; and both Sir Roderick Murchison and Dr. Fal-
coner came to the conclusion that it was lost. When Sir R. Murchison was oc-
cupied, in the winter of 1858, with his description of the Elgin Sandstones, and
after he had received a communication from the Rev. G. Gordon respecting Dr.
Malcolmson’s MSS., supposed by him to be lost, his attention was drawn, at the
apartments of the Geological Society, to Dr. Malcolmson’s MS. sections; and,
on inquiry, he ascertained, to his surprise, that Dr. Malcolmson’s MS. Memoir
was not missing, but in its place in the Society’s archives.
The Rey. G. Gordon had informed Sir R. Murchison that a paper by him, on
the geology of the northern part of Moray, would appear in the Edinburgh -
New Philosophical Journal for January 1859, and that this paper would com-
- prise a large portion of the original Memoir by Malcolmson (of which Mr.
Gordon possesses a copy), together with some observations on the non-publica-_
tion of the Memoir referred to. Sir Roderick had just time, after learning that the —
paper and its sections were in good preservation, to communicate to Mr. Gordon
the explanatory note which appears at pages 59* and 60* of the Journal above
referred to; and he immediately drew the attention of the Council of the Geolo-
gical Society to the delay that had occurred in the publication of Dr. Malcolm-
son’s Memoir and Sections.
On January 19 and Feb. 23, 1859, the Council took into consideration the
publication of Dr. Malcolmson’s Memoir, and came to the resolution, “‘ That all
the details of that paper which are not given in Mr. Lonsdale’s abstract (Pro- ©
ceed. Geol. Soc. vol. ii1. p. 141) or in the recent paper of Mr. Gordon, referred
to above, be printed in full, together with a lithograph plate of sections in illus-
tration of the same.”
Plate XI. contains all the sections that accompanied the MS. Memoir. One
coloured drawing of a fish, too obscure for determination, a pencil-sketch of a
vegetable fragment resembling those figured by Mr. Salter in Quart. Journ’
Geol. Soe. vol. xiv. pl. 5, figs. 3-5, and a topographical map are the remaining
illustrations. oi
Since the date of this Memoir, considerable modifications have been made in
the nomenclature of the several members of the Old Red Sandstone, giving rise
to a systematic arrangement different from that here advanced by Dr. Malcolm-
ee eS a ee a
a.
"Quart. Joarn. Geol. Soc. Vol. XV. PLXT.
South.
Hills of Spey, _
ee aN
ow \ >
KER S SESS
EA SKQQQH
CEMA S VAAN
ws SX RRS
a MQ SON NOS .
SSSA RRA SER
Gress.
AL0YC qusmug
aa : 2 Simicnenaie s,
Od fied Sandstone.
(Holoptychus & Cephalaspis Gordonz J
tps phank ofthe Spey,
Lower Old Red Sandstone
Tireczon of Ghe Siveamm.
lorrerale. v. letercor Conglomerale. 7. Mart kh Shale willy
SECTIONS OF THE OLD RED SANDSTONE OF MORAYSHIRE, &c.
By D* Malcolmson, FG. 8. (1839)
Réel Jumction of Granite & Gneiss, aoe. Re 2
N, of Coulmony,
Granile. Gnews. Granite.
(542) (Sif Fike hgh) (212)
Tig. 5. Junction of the Sandstone with the Gneiss at Shy
on the River Findhorn
Sands inte the conrad di tthe Oi
oe es ETE ston oF the Vid Fad 5.
Tig.6 Section gettin the Fish-beds, Burn of Tynat.
down The Stream}
Se
5 Coarse conglomerale, Fone pape Say ire rocks Fagher
Lower diviston of the :
in the AT 6 lee bad el ie Pad Suter. Maes gi of te
Fis.9. Section cups the Fish-beds Burn of Tynat.. (Bstepy chase & Cephalasoe Gordans)
har ug The Stream.)
Fig.6 Section of the Fish—beds at Dipple, on the northbank of He Spey,
emote, eal Pee : near Fochabers, Morayshire,
Goripact conglomerate (a, oe
a Shale with nodules. b. Thin-bedded sandstones,
Wig Tl Section mthe Bum of Aberdoun
WS BME Fig.7. Section of the Fish-beds, Burn of Tynat, Bantfshire.
LGravel. 2 Kad Sendstones of theBndge ol Srey, 3Coarse conglomerala 4, Beis Sandstone and Conglomerate 5 Thales with lehthyotiles
—Fig 10. omction of Suntitana eee i
=\a and Geiss, Bum of
—_Buclae Banttiline, ny n~ 2) , os ° »~ me 5
Zu RSLELSS LEASSSS LS LPI Ses Mei es he Pe eSSSLABTERLE 2s
Ae ,rPHSse 8 CSHH Ss HSRSERSHE Ae Sa Baw gs op ess 3.28 ee 3
CFS ou pO cow Se oessO @fete oe Bagyprsges ga ks a gw ec
gWoanaes'’s ao ae ae Og, geHpts wys5 ons gS pad 23a 5 oO elt ec eae eae :
e.gas S. ZS iS . = nos ~weCUSogpms SF SL San oC rea a = ne (EE
ey te) bE gS E BL ey o ee oO a 3Y> Oo c= POG Ho Gy tH SOD oWMWFS OH gs ~- oO ie
ease aoae eS ees SOR Saw es ses Boa Ss Pec Oe -o I Gateso sas
o o aN ONO. Seas oP a eS ot na > Coa dsde SBrgmrorhSe Gun Gone
Oe te Bi cs ES VS [ee sl ac fey Rie) Ee ae SO .m @ © "ep ofS he aac of ~ 2 seme :d
ag@#eaqeo O88 HSER A aq RD eS 2 Oe a ere ep es joe Gy Oot eee Src ae FAS Oo qa oa ao
mr oOgsd SoS a Sra oe poaoscpnaea Seo SCGoh™s BS td ed CO MSaEH Sa 8B aide.
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PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Dec. 1,
ce”, Durness limestones,
cl, Quartz-rock, with Annelides.
(N.B. Near to the right extremity of the Section igneous eruptive rocks penetrate c? on the sea-shore.)
-veins (*). 6. Cambrian conglomerate and sandstone.
with Lower Silurian fossils.
a. Fundamental gneiss, with granite
- which on the west rise from the cove of Clash-
carnach to the summit of Skrishven (1213 feet °
above the sea), on the eastern flank of which
they are unconformably overlapped by the
lowest beds of the quartz-rock (c’), which dip
away to the E.S.E. and form the base of the
Lower Silurian rocks of Durness, as shown in
the Section, fig. 3.
In the interior of the tract called the“ Parph,”’
or the mountainous district lying between
Durness on the N.E. and Loch Laxford on the
S.W., these Old purple sandstones are largely
developed, also capping the fundamental grey
gneiss. They are indeed well exhibited near
the summit-level of the high road to Scourie,
or at the Gwalin Inn, whence they are seen
to pass under the great quartzose Silurian
series on the east. They extend, however,
very little further to the east, since the gneiss
rising in the western flanks of Foinaven and
Ben Stack is at once covered by the lower
quartz-rock. The Cambrian sandstone is again
magnificently displayed in the western cliffs
of the Island of Handa, where it constitutes
cliffs upwards of 500 feet high, much fre-
quented by sea-fowl, and where the strata,
slightly deviating from horizontality, are also
laid open by fine vertical fissures; the dip
inclining, on the whole, a few degrees to
the 8.E. Again, in the promontory of Rhu
Storr, or the Point of Assynt, and all along
the shores of Lochs Inver and Enard, the
fundamental gneiss is unconformably super-
posed at a little distance inland by masses
of the Cambrian Red Sandstone, which, to
the south of the Kyles of Strome, rise into
the lofty peaks forming the chief beauty of
the tract of Assynt and constituting from
north to south the detached mountains of
Queenaig, Suilven, and Canisp, each separated
by lower tracts of fundamental gneiss, as in
the preceding woodcut, fig. 2, and thence ex-
tending into similar ranges in Ross-shire. On
this occasion I explored carefully (the weather
favouring) the eastern flanks of Suilven, where
the nearly horizontal strata of that noble
mountain are seen in their greatest extent to
repose upon the fundamental gneiss. It is
about halfway along the side of the mountain
that the whole mass has been affected by a
great E. and W. fault, to which my attention
was first called by Colonel James.
1858. | MURCHISON—-NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC. 365
The upland longitudinal depression separating Suilven from Canisp
is in its lowest part occupied by Loch Ganiveh, the old gneiss hills
on the sides of which offer many fine examples of the polishing,
scratching, and rounding action of a glacier which must have passed
along the gorge. In proof that the movement was towards the sea,
we found at Loch Inver many blocks of that large crystallized fel-
spathic porphyry which my active and zealous companion, Mr. Peach,
had in the previous year traced around the flank of Canisp. As seen
from the shepherd’s hut called Clacharie, the chocolate-coloured
bands of the lofty Suilven are partially fretted by pendent stalactites
like icicles, whilst a few green grassy slopes occur at intervals, to
give greater effect to the marked horizontality of the whole, which
is strikingly contrasted with the highly inclined gneiss on which it
rests. Here the base of the sandstone is a coarse brecciated conglome-
‘rate. The fault traversing this mountain, and which at a rough esti-
mate seemed to me to be an upcast to the south of from 800 to 1000
feet, is, as far as I could judge, parallel to a great fault in the adjacent
mountain of Canisp, observed by Mr. Peach.
Whilst the unconformability of the Old Gneiss to the Cambrian
Sandstone is everywhere manifest, an equally clear discordance is
exhibited between the latter and the overlying quartz-rocks ; and
of this feature many examples will be presently given.
In the depression between Canisp and Suilven, Mr. Peach detected
the existence of the strong band of red porphyry, with large crystals
of felspar, which is interposed between the gneiss and the great
conglomerate*. Thus, one of the earliest coarse sedimentary accu-
mulations in the crust of the globe seems to have been ushered
in by the eruption and spreading out of porphyry associated with
red conglomerate,—a phenomenon which has been repeated at in-
tervals through the Silurian and Devonian periods to the conclusion
of the great Paleozoic era, and strikingly during the accumulation of
the Permian deposits. The pebble-beds of the North-western High-
lands, though traceable for a considerable distance along a given
north and south zone (evidently an ancient line of shore), diminish
rapidly if followed on their dip, and are thus seen to be accumula-
tions, which, though of great thickness in some spots, thin out and
disappear in the course of a few miles. In no country is this feature
better seen than in following these Cambrian conglomerates of the
N.W. Highlands to the E.S.E., when we distinctly see, as has just
been said, the fundamental or old gneiss at once covered by the
quartz-rock series, to the entire exclusion of any remnant of the
old shore pebbles with their coarse grits and sands, which, at a few
miles only to the west, clearly underlie all the quartz-rock series.
The range of these conglomerates southwards along the western
shores of Ross-shire has already been well detailed by Prof. Nicol ;
and his sections are so clear that I have simply to refer the reader
to themy.
* Prof. Nicol has also noticed the presence of porphyry associated with the
same rocks in Loch Broom. See Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xiii. pp. 20,21, 35.
t See Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xiii. p. 23.
366 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. | Dees a,
Lower Silurian Rocks (c*, ¢, ¢°), in the form of Quartz-Rocks with
emtercalated Crystalline Limestone, followed by Chloritic and Micaceous
Schists, and Younger Gneiss.—These consist (in ascending order, as
exhibited in the general section at p. 360) of—1. quartz-rock (c’) ;
2. limestone (c’); 3. quartz-rock (c*?); (d) micaceous and chloritie
schists passing into a sort of gneiss, with repetitions of quartzose and
micaceous flaggy rocks, &e.
Such is the succession observed in proceeding from the districts
of Ullapool, Assynt, and Durness on the west, to the south-eastern
border of Sutherland, where that county is bounded by Ross. With
some local deviations and rolls which reverse the inclination, the
prevailing dip of all these regularly stratified masses is eastwards,
and for the most part to the E.S.E. or 8.E. Let us first consider
the inferior members of this group, as exhibited on the shores of
Loch Broom and at Ullapool in the north-western extremity of
Ross-shire, and as ranging thence to the N.N.E. through the wide
parochial tracts of Assynt and Edderachillis, into Durness, throughout
which they can be more or less continuously followed for a distance
of not less than fifty miles, and always exhibiting the same order of
a central mass of limestone with underlying and overlying quartz-
rock strata, succeeded upwards by mica-schists and a younger
gneiss.
Lower Quartz-rock.—The lowest beds, as seen in the west of
Sutherland, rest, as before said, on the Cambrian conglomerate and
sandstone (6), or, if that formation be absent, on the old gneiss (a).
Their lithological characters have recently been so well described
by Nicol under the name of quartzite*, that I have little to add.
Fine-grained, void of mica, and usually of a light-buff or greyish
colour, but often weathering to a pure white, this siliceous band
much resembles the Stiper Stones of Shropshire, and gives the
clearest evidence that it is simply an altered sandstone, being’ not
only regularly bedded and jointed, but also exhibiting here and there
argillaceous way-boards, which have usually passed into schists.
This band further resembles the Stiper Stones or the typical base of
the Silurian rocks of Shropshire in containing Annelides (Pl. XITT.
figs. 28-31) and Fucoids, which last also occur in the uppermost
layers of the lower band and immediately beneath the limestone.
The minute cylindrical bodies which Macculloch supposed to be
Orthoceratites have completely satisfied Mr. Salter that they velong
to the class of sea-worms. I have therefore named them, in the new
edition of ‘ Siluria’ (1859, p. 222), Serpulites Maccullochiz, in honour
of the first discoverer of the oldest perceptible organic remains of the
Highland rocks. (See Pl. XIII. fig.31.) At the Bridge of Skiag, near
Loch Assynt, an argillaceous course occurs upon the lower quartz-
rock, containing casts of tortuous cylindrical bodies which are eyi-
* T prefer adhering to the old name of Quartz-rock, by which these rocks have
been known from the early days of Scottish geology, and which I long ago
applied to the Lower Silurian Stiper Stones, showing that they were altered
sandstones (Sil. Syst. p. 268 e¢ seg.). The term “ quartzite”? has been adopted from
the French.
1858. ] MURCHISON—NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC. 367
Z
Z
al
Queenaig (2673 feet).
(Looking South. Distance about 6 miles.)
Fig. 4.—Transverse Section across the Assynt Country.
Assynt.
E.S.E.
VOL, XV.—PART I.
cl, Whitish quartz-rock (Lower
(Cambrian);
mestone, containing chambered shells (Lower
glomerate
c?, Dark-coloured li
6. Chocolate-coloured sandstone and con
ge Annelide-tubes.
gneiss, with granite-veins.
* Position of the lar
Silurian). 3, Quartz-rock, capping the limestone.
Silurian), with Annelides.
a. Fundamental
dently referable to marine plants or
fucoids * ; but nowhere has anyone—
not even the keen-eyed Peach—col-
lected a form which can be referred to
terrestrial vegetation. The exact po-
sition of the Serpulites Maccullochit
and the Fucoids, as thus given, is to be
traced over a considerable area, both in
the environs of Assynt and in those of
Loch Eribol.
It is to be observed that the siliceous
courses in which annelides occur, are
not to be considered a porous granular
quartz, as stated by Macculloch, but
as a hard compact rock which simply
becomes porous upon weathering, when
the fossils are best exposed.
Instructive sections in ascending
order may be made, either from the
Kyles of Strome or from Loch Inver,
in Sutherland. The former, however,
is by far the most satisfactory, because, ”
by slight deviations only from the road,
the passing traveller may satisfy him-
self of the truth of all the data of su-
perposition. Quitting the rugged bosses
of gneiss at the Ferry, and ascending
to the summit-level of the road, he
soon meets with layers of the chocolate-
coloured Cambrian sandstone, which,
sweeping down to the road from the
lofty precipices of Queenaig, dip to the
W.N.W. at the slight angle of 5° or 6°;
so nearly do the beds of that very an-
cient rock approach to horizontality.
Here there is no ambiguity ; for the
chocolate-coloured Cambrian rock is
clearly superposed by sheets of the
compact quartz-rock, which dip from
20° to 25° to the S.E. In short, no
unconformity can be more striking;
and the quartz-rock, at the summit-
level of the road, rests on the shoulders
* The fucoid-bed and its associates were
traced by Mr. Peach from Ledbeg near Loch
Awe, by Stronchrubie, Inchnadampf, Assynt,
Bridge of Skiag, and thence towards Kyle
Scow, and at two of these places Prof. Nicol
and myself had previously detected it. Mr.
Peach observed them in precisely the same
position on the eastern shores of Loch Eribol.
25
368 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIPTY. [ Dees
of the hill, then rises high upon the truncated edges of the Cam-
brian rock, and even caps one of the summits of the noble Queenaig.
The lower beds of the quartz-rock, which rest upon the Cambrian
sandstone, are here very striking, from exhibiting on their surface
large round knobs on the tops of cylindrical bodies which pass
through several layers and are unquestionably the infillings of ex-
cavations made by Annelides. (See Pl. XIII. figs. 29,30.) The
quantities of these pipe-shaped bodies are astonishing; and as they
also occur in the same stratum (?. ¢. near the base of the lower
quartz-rock) and on the west shore of the Kyle of Durness, we may
infer that they are the oldest vestiges of life which can be detected
in the Lower Silurian rocks of the North Highlands.
- In illustration of the manner in which these tubular bodies tra-
verse the layers of quartz-rock or crystallized sandstone on the north-
eastern flank of Queenaig, I may here repeat a woodcut from p. 41 of
‘Siluria ’ (new edit.), representing Annelide-burrows in the quartz-
rock of the Stiper Stones, a well-known Lower Silurian rock of
Shropshire. The trumpet-shaped openings, sometimes 2 or 3 inches
in diameter, the tubular cavities, and the cylindrical casts (identical
with forms found thirty years ago on the west shore of the Kyle of
Durness by Sedgwick and myself), leave no room for doubt that they
also represent the Annelides of the English Stiper Stones and of the
Potsdam Sandstone or Lowest Silurian rock of North America (Sco-
hithus linearis of Hall).
Fig. 5.—Fossil Annelide-tubes (Scolithus linearis) from the Stiper
Stones, resembling those from Assynt. (From ‘Siluria,’ new edit.
p. 41.)
~ Descending into the Vale and Loch of Assynt, upon the surface of
the lower quartz-rock, its upper layers are clearly seen to become
more schistose and shaly, and also to exhibit fucoidal and other
impressions. Then the succeeding limestone expands in terrace over
terrace, and is best exposed in mounting from the edge of the loch,
or from the west by north, to the hill called Cnoc-an-drein, on the
east by south. In this walk you pass over a succession of parallel
ridges for the space of about three-quarters of a mile, each cal-
careous band dipping easterly at about 25°. Some of the limestone
is of deep-grey or dull-blue colour; other parts are light-grey,
1858. | MURCHISON—-NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC, 369
whitish, and mottled : portions of it have been formerly opened out
for marble-quarries. As Mr. Peach detected an Orthoceratite, there
is little doubt that future researches in this rock will bring other
fossils to light. In approaching its summit, the limestone becomes
more impure, its uppermost band bearing a peculiar aspect, and
intermingled with schist and shale,—some courses resembling vol-
canic ash or grit.
These beds are at once, as at Eribol, overlaid by beds of whitish
and pinkish fine-grained quartz-rock ; and thus in one and the same
escarpment, and only a mile from the Inn of Inchnadampff, the
limestone is seen to be fairly intercalated in the quartzose series ;
the last mounts up by Brebeg into the lofty mountains of Coniveall,
which passing to the 8.8.W. constitute a range of mountains that
extends into Ross-shire.
On this last occasion we did not follow the Lower Silurian limestone
further to the S.8.W. than Elphin, where, although it is partially
changed into a white, hard, compact marble in the vicinity of
certain eruptive rocks (syenite, porphyry, &c.), it still occupies pre-
cisely the same place in the series,—the lower quartz-rock being
seen to sweep down in broad sheets from the Cambrian sandstone
mountains of Suilven, Coulmore, and Coul Beg, and to be surmounted,
at the base of the limestone hill of Knockin, by the mottled fucoidal
shale-bands. 3
Durness and Assynt Limestone-—The lower quartz-rock, with its
cap of fucoid- and serpulite-beds, is everywhere surmounted, in
Durness as in Assynt, by a strong band of limestone, which, under
the scrutiny of Mr. Peach, has afforded those organic remains which
have enabled us to pronounce unhesitatingly that these rocks are of
Lower Silurian age. Hard, marbled, veined, and occasionally divided
by joints, this grey limestone is often highly siliceous. Not only
does it assume in parts a cherty character, but in Durness it 1s filled
with a profusion of geodes of chert or quartz, which assume fantastic
shapes, and weather to a darker exterior than the body of the rock.
There, in a less well-preserved condition, some of the fossils,
which were at first found at one or two spots only, have recently
been detected by Mr. Peach in other localities of that extensive
parish. The manner in which many of the fossils have been filled
with siliceous matter and the manner in which the organic remains
weather under such conditions, offer a striking analogy to the aspect
presented by North American spécimens derived from strata of the
same age in Canada, and transmitted by Sir W. Logan.
In the environs of Inchnadampf, and particularly to the east of
that place, the limestone forms noble terraces resting upon the lower
quartz-rock, and is clearly overlaid by other quartz-rocks, which rise
into Ben More of Assynt and other lofty mountains. The same
order is seen at the Bridge of Skiag and other places, the fucoidal and
shale beds always occurring in the upper portion of the lower quartz-
rock ; whilst on the road to Durness the whole ascending order is
exposed, from the old gneiss upwards, when the spectator looks te
2E2
370 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Dec. 1,
the E.S.E. from the marine bay called the Kyles of Strome, over the
mountains ranging into the interior*.
In Durness, beds of pure and very impure, highly cherty, and
cavernous limestone alternate with altered schists and finely granu-
lated and laminated hard siliceous sandstone of divers colours, both
red and grey, as exposed in ledges upon the shore near Balnakiel.
These hard and tough rocks are interlaced with geodes marking the
lines of stratification, as well as by thin courses of flinty chert. The
concretionary structure is well exhibited at Craig Sarsgrun, about
three miles south of the Durin Inn+, where the concretions vary in
size from an inch to several feet in length. ‘The concretions are
often white, sometimes pink, and therefore present a striking contrast
to the dark-grey escarpment. Many of these beds are almost quartz-
rock ; but as they contain some calcareous matter, the natives usually
call them all “ limestones.”
The geologist can easily detect the calcareous portions by the
weathering of the escarpment, which presents partially eroded lines
along the course of the small concretions. These rocks are all more
or less affected by a slaty cleavage, which, being highly inclined,
disposes the rock to jut out in sharp protruding bosses through the
green sward by which the calcareous band is characterized. ;
Although the ascending order of the quartz-rocks and limestones
is everywhere the same as in Assynt, i.c. a strong band of limestone
interposed between masses of regularly stratified quartz-rock, the
subjacent Cambrian conglomerate disappears in Durness, and the
lower quartz-rock rests at once upon the old and fundamental gneiss.
This is seen on the west shore of the Kyle of Durness, and also near
Rispond upon the coast, in the escarpments of Ben Spionno in
Durness, and at other places in the interior to the S.8.W., 7. ¢. Ben
Stack, &. The western face of Ben Spionno is indeed entirely
composed of the lower quartz, which, sloping down to the east by
south to Loch Eribol, is there seen to dip under the limestone of the
Chorrie Island and to form fine calcareous terraces along the eastern
side of the loch. These limestone-bands are in their turn overlaid
by other quartz-rocks. (See fig. 3, p. 364.)
During my last visit to the North-west in company with Mr.
Peach, I confirmed what is stated in the previous sentences. Thus,
proceeding from the district of the Parph, or from Cape Wrath on
the W.N.W. to Durness on the E.S.E., the succession exposed in the
accompanying section is admirably seen. The older gneiss and Cam-
brian sandstone (a and 6) have been already spoken of; and o& the
* Previous to my last visit, Colonel James had re-assured me that the lime-
stone extending from Assynt to the N.N.W., by Glendhu, Mealhorn, Loch Dionart,
and Camvel, to the eastern shore of Loch Eribol, occupies everywhere the same
_ position I had assigned to it as subordinate to the white quartzose beds. The .
best section which he examined, in reference to this part of the succession, was
along the course of the Lone River, which falls into Loch Stack; and there an
overlying as well as an underlying quartz-rock is clearly exposed.
+ The Inn of Durin, kept by Mrs. Ross, is strongly recommended to explorers,
as also the Inns at Loch Inver, Inchnadampf, and Scourie.
1858. | MURCHISON—NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC. — 871
eroded edges of the latter is seen to repose the lower quartz-rock (c’)
in thin flat-bedded strata usually weathering white, but here and
there of a pinkish colour. It was in the higher part of this band
that Professor Sedgwick and myself (1827), and Macculloch before
us, observed certain cylindrical bodies, now known (as before ob-
served) to be due to Annekkdes. Dipping to the E.S.E., these rocks
are carried under the great mass of the limestone of Durness (c’),
which occupies several ridges over a maximum width of about three
miles.
Examining its ridges both longitudinally and transversely, Mr.
Peach pointed out to me, and particularly in the hard, cherty, and
cavernous portions of the rock, many Macluree and asgreat abun-
dance of Murchisonie, with some Orthocerata. These fossils inva-
riably occur in dark-coloured cherty and very fetid limestone, which
occasionally presents a rugged outline as it peers through the rich
grass of this sheep-feeding-ground. Some of the exposed points or
knobs, which weather black, are surrounded or partially wrapped
over by a tufa-like siliceous sinter, sometimes resembling a breccia,
which conveys the idea of a boiling over of such matters when the
rock underwent the metamorphism to which it has evidently been
subjected. Even in this peculiarly hard matrix, my companion
detected traces of fossils. The most marked of the external cha-
racters of the limestone is its coarse rugosity—the result probably
of weathering upon its peculiar composition, and which gives the
scarps of the rock the appearance of an elaborately wrought rustic
basement of a Florentine palace. The best limestone is in the state
of a cream-coloured compact marble; but no fossils have been dis-
covered in that variety of the rock. Even in its siliceous condition,
the limestone occasionally retains an oolitic structure.
Owing to breaks, undulations, and twists, it is difficult to form even
a tolerably accurate estimate of the united thickness of all these beds
of limestone ; but in Durness, where they occupy successive terraces
with little intervening grassy valleys, they cannot well be less than
500 or 600 feet thick. Ifthe section be extended to the Old Bishop’s
Castle on the east (fig. 6), the observer finds that, after passing over
Fig. 6.—Section of the Upper Quartz-rock to the east of Durness.
Ww. Old Bishop’s Castle. — E,
ce”, Durness fossiliferous limestone.
c?. Quartzose and micaceous flagstones.
a low ground covered by blown sand (the usual position of the
upper quartz-rock in other places), he reaches a headland composed
of overlying thin-bedded grey micaceous flagstone (c’), which occa-
sionally weathers white, like the promontory of the Whiten Head on
the opposite side of the bay.
372 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Dee. 1,
No one who has advanced from the west to the east, and left.
behind him the old gneiss, can for a moment fail in recognizing the
distinction between this overlying crystalline flagstone and the old
gneiss, though it also contains felspar as well as quartz and mica:
it is not hornblendic and massive, and is void of granitic vems. In
other localities, to be considered presently, it will be seen how the
limestone is directly superposed by a band of pure white quartz-
rock. One of the best detailed sections, showing the succession of
the limestone, is seen to the north of the House of Balnakeil, and
in some of the northernmost headlands, places in which Mr. Peach
colleeted many of his fossils. Previous to my last visit, I had
supposed (and Professor Nicol had published a section to show it*)
that the Durness limestone was abruptly cut off by the old gneiss
upon the east, between Durness and Loch Eribol. But such is not
the case; for Mr. Peach had observed, and I confirmed his observa-
tion, that between the interior ridge of old gneiss which extends
from the western foot of Ben Keannabin and the limestone of Dur-
ness, the dip is reversed, and the underlying quartz-rock is again
brought up, lying between the gneiss and the limestone, as repre-
sented in the section, fig. 3, p. 364.
The reversal by which the Durness limestone is thus placed in a
trough of quartz-rock and overlying limestone has been manifestly
occasioned by a great upheaval of the old gneiss when acted upon by
eruptive forces, of which clear signs are manifested in the adjacent
Bay of Sangoe. There huge bosses of black hornblendic and hyper-
sthenic rock stand out with serpentinous coatings,—the courses of
the limestone in their vicinity being singularly altered, mottled and
dolomitic.
Again, as we ascertained that Farred or Far-out Head consisted
of the old gneiss, there is now no doubt that the limestone and under-
lying quartz-rock of Durness occupy a trough. The clearest proof of
the trough-shaped arrangement of the strata is a little to the west,
or inland, from the well-known limestone promontory in which the
large caves of Smo occur. This limestone, which dips very slightly
seawards or N.N.E., is highly altered, siliceous, and prismatized by
a number of vertical lines of rude cleavage, which cause the rock to
split into innumerable brittle fragments. On leaving the head-
land, and on mounting to the low-peaked hill of the quartz-rock
called Sangoe Beg, certain white cherty and siliceous beds are re-
markable as graduating into the lower quartz-rock, which is seen to
rise gradually from under the limestone until the beds attain the
high angle of 65°, the dip to the N.N.E. being traversed by the same
rude vertical cleavage. A deep gully here alone separates the quartz-
rock from the older gneiss.
Quitting the basin of Durness, including the large limestone island
of Hoan, and passing across the noble longitudinal marine loch of
Eribol, the geologist who proceeds to the E.S.E., or towards Ben
Hope or Loch Tongue, has thenceforward a clear and unmistake-
* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xiii. p. 23. fig. 4.
1858. | MURCHISON—-NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC. 373
able ascending section from the fundamental gneiss, which ranges
from Ben Spionnach to Loch Soan on the west side of Loch Enibol.
For he there sees the lower quartz-rock dipping to the E.8.K. from
off the shoulders of the older gneiss hills, and even from the summit
of Ben Spionnach, 2204 feet above the’ sea, and then plunging under
the limestones of Island Chorrie and Eribol, as described on a
former occasion.
As it had been doubted by Professor Nicol whether the quartz-
rock which I had described as regularly overlymg in some places
the limestone of Durness, Eribol, and Assynt was not cut off from
the latter by dislocations, I especially explored, in my last visit, the
coast-ridge on the west side of Loch Eribol from the Ferry to
the north. In that direction, or in the northerly strike of the beds,
the limestone, which at first occupies several low hills resting upon
the lower quartz which flanks the sea, thins out gradually to a very
small band which under Cnoe Craggin and to the north of Heilam
is seen to be fairly interpolated between the lower and a band of
upper quartz-rock,—the latter being pure white, and all the strata
dipping to the E.S.E. at about 18°.
In the hills extending towards the Whiten Head, where all the
strata are exposed on the sea-cliffs, we pass over, in ascending, first
the upper beds of the lower quartz-rock, charged with the Anne-
lide-tubes and the Serpulites Maccullochii, and graduating up into
the limestone by impure calcareous strata, and then the limestone
itself with Fucoid-shale. Now all these beds of quartz-rock and in-
cluded limestone are, I maintain, covered, as a whole, by the mica-
ceous flagstones, schists, and younger gneiss of the higher hills, and
these clearly extend to the Kyle of Tongue and the flanks of Ben
Hope. The last-mentioned lofty mountain is indeed almost en-
tirely composed of such micaceous flagstones (d of the sections), all
of which have hitherto been mapped under the name of gneiss. The
strata on the west shore of the Kyle of Tongue are literally almost
sandstones.
In this way I not only satisfied myself that the section of 1827,
showing a younger micaceous and gneissose flagstone series over the
limestone of Durness and Eribol, was correct, but also that the
latter, like many other Silurian limestones, was an accidental de-
posit, subordinate to a great siliceous or quartzose series. In fact,
the limestone, so expanded at Durness as to occupy a wide basin, as
well as on the large island of Hoan, thins out and disappears in a
quartzose series as we proceed from Eribol towards the Whiten
Head or the N.N.E.
Tn its longitudinal range from Loch Eribol to the South of Assynt,
or for a distance of about forty miles from N.N.E. to 8.8.W., the
limestone performs precisely the same part, showing itself occasion-
ally in thin courses only, either pinched out or scarcely traceable,
but always fairly intercalated in the quartzose and crystalline
rocks.
Thus, when not covered by moss and heather, the limestone crops
out at several spots to the 8.S.W., as at the head of Loch Eribol
374 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Dec. 1,
and in the Bealloch or depression between the grand mountains of
Fionavin and Meal Horn,—the former composed of the lower quartz
resting on old gneiss, the latter of the overlying flaggy and micaceous
series. The limestone occupies a similar geological position to the
east of Arkle and Ben Stack. There, though only visible at intervals
through the thick covering of peat and heather of a deer-forest, the
beds of limestone are to be observed dipping steadily to E.S8.K. and
quite conformably to the underlying quartz-rock, which slopes down
in brown masses from the shoulders of Arkle and Ben Stack; the
former exhibiting noble white precipitous faces on the 8.8.W. ‘The
banks of Loch Stack and Loch More, extending from N.W. to 8.E.,
naturally expose transverse sections of this regular succession from
_ the fundamental gneiss through this overlying Lower Silurian series,
—the Cambrian rocks having again thinned out and disappeared, as
in Durness.
’ Ascending the mountain of Ben Stack, 2363 feet high, we found
that the old gneiss, of which the mass is composed, was covered by a
pebbly band, which formed the base of the quartz-rock, and passed
eastwards into overlying sheets of the same; and these, on both the
north and south shores of Loch More, are covered by thin bands of
limestone, which in their turn, and particularly on the south side,
are followed by siliceous flagstones, occasionally used for building,
while to the north some of these rocks are used as hone-stones.
Nowhere, in short, in all this range, is the limestone placed in a
trough by a reversed dip, as in Durness, all the strata being inva-
riably inclined to the E.S.E., whilst the masses lying to the east,
though occasionally gneissic, are on the whole very different from
the old or fundamental gneiss.
The limestone reappears in its course to the 8.8.W. at the head of
the Lochs of Glendhu and Glencoul, and thence passes into Assynt,
where it again expands, as in Durness, into a mass of considerable
thickness, and is there more clearly exposed between masses of
quartz than in most parts of its northern range.
Fossils of the Durness Limestone.—Mr. Satrer has supplied me
with the following description of the Organic Remains from the
Durness Limestone. |
CEPHALOPODA.
ORTHOCERAS MENDAX, spec.nov. Pl. XIII. fig. 24.
This form comes nearer to Hall’s figures of Orthoceras multicame-
ratum (Pal. New York, vol. i. pl. 11) than to any other species we
are acquainted with ; and as the smooth Orthoceratites are so difficult
to identify, it would have been more satisfactory to me to have left
it with that species, than propose a new specific name. But in the
adult portion of our shell there is an appearance of annulation, which
cannot be altogether due to the state of the fossil, for it is too
regular ; the younger portion, in an equal state of preservation, ap-
pears quite smooth. The contradictory appearances have suggested
the name.
1858. ] MURCHISON——NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC. 375
General form very gradually tapering, with shallow close annula-
tions (4th of an inch apart in a diameter of 2 of an inch) in the
older portion, in the young nearly smooth. Section circular. Septa
numerous, close-set, one to each annulation in the older part; at a
diameter of 4 lines there are 15 to an inch. They are only slightly
- concave, and bent down somewhat angularly* towards the siphuncle,
which is excentric, thick, smooth-edged (not at all beaded), and
compressed in a direction from front to back. It also has a shallow
groove along the side nearest to the centre of the shell, so as to give
in section a somewhat bilobed form (fig. 24 6).
Specimens from Canada, of what I believe to be O. multicameratum,
resemble this shell so strongly in the young part, and have so similar
a siphuncle, that it is difficult to regard them as different species ;
they, however, taper more suddenly.
ORTHOCERAS ARCUOLIRATUM, Hall.
(Palzont. New York, vol. i. pl. 42. fig. 7.)
Fragments of this species resemble those from Canada and N.
America, with oblique and sinuous rings’; and, though imperfect,
differ decidedly from other forms accompanying them which have
direct annulations, and which I refer to the species next described.
. ORTHOCERAS VERTEBRALE, Hall? Pl. XIII. figs. 22, 23.
(Hall, Paleeont. New York, vol. i. pl. 43. fig. 5.)
The specimens are much smaller than those figured by Hall, and
have a circular section and central siphuncle when young; the an-
- nulations, however, are narrower and more prominent.
One specimen (fig. 22), with very slightly oblique rings, is com-
pressed ; it has blunter and broader rings than the other. None of
Hall’s figures strictly agree with it; but it might be the young state
of O. bilineatum of that author.
ORTHOCERAS UNDULOsTRIATUM, Hall. Pl. XIII. figs. 25, 26.
(Paleeont. New York, vol. i. pl. 43. fig. 7.)
Although the side-view of Prof. Hall’s figure 7 ¢ has not the rings
quite so oblique as in this specimen, I do not think it a distinct
species, for the dorsal view quite agrees, and the rings have about
the same degree of convexity, with a slight keel along their middle,
more conspicuous in the weathered specimens.
The septa appear to have a sinus on the dorsal surface like that of
the rings—a character quite unusual in Orthoceras. But the Cepha-
lopoda of this very old Silurian zone present many abnormal cha-
raeters, such as the extraordinary size of the siphuncular tube, and
its being filled up with solid or cellular tabule. One of the most
singular of all these shells is the species next described, and for
which I am obliged to institute a new genus.
* Very much in the way that Hall represents them in his figure of O. multi-
cameratum, op. cit. pl. 11. fig. 1 d.
376: PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Dee. 1,
PILOcERAS *, gen. nov.
3
A broad, conical, and slightly curved shell, subcylindrical (or
compressed). Siphuncle and septa combined as a series of conical
concave septa, which fit into each other sheathwise.
PILOCERAS INVAGINATUM, spec. nov.
Pl. XIII. figs. 17-21; and Woodcut, fig. 7, ¢.
P. 5 uncias longum, conicum, subcurvum, ore ovali, (long. oris ad lat. ut 11-8).
This singular shell, which seems to offer the simplest of all Ce-
phalopodous forms (and to combine in its septal plates both septum
and siphuncle), is not unfrequent in the Durness limestone, in a
silicified state. None of the several specimens collected by Mr.
Peach are perfect.
The mouth is oval, with the longer diameter about 2 inches, and
the breadth 14 inch, in specimens which would measure above 4
inches long. The general form is gently curved, ending in a some-
what obtuse point (fig. 19), near which the tube is annulated rather
strongly, while in the older portions itis more faintly so.
The septa, at a diameter of 14 inch, are rather more than one +th
of an inch apart, and viewed in section (fig. 21) show only three con-
centric sheaths. There is clear evidence only of four septa in the
longitudinal section (fig. 20), the remaining lines being due to the
erystallized linings of the chambers. These septa end in a sharp
point downwards, the walls meeting at an angle of about 35°, or less.
Comparison is naturally sought for this remarkable genus among
the numerous Cephalopods of the same zone. In America the Or-
thocerata with large lateral siphuncles (woodcut, fig. 7,a) abound,
Fig. 7.—Dragram of some forms of Lower Silurian Orthoceratide.
a. Cameroceras. 6. Endoceras. c. Piloceras.
and in some of these the diameter of the siphuncle is so great in
proportion to the size of the shell, as almost to realize the form now
under consideration. Endoceras proteiforme, Hall, Pal. New York,
vol.i. pl. 48, &c., and still more #. magniwentrum, pl. 53, show not
only a great siphuncular space, but also a pointed termination of the
siphuncle itself (fig. 7,6), which thus appears as an elongated lobe or
process of the hinder part of the body, like one of the many lobes of
* From ztXos, a cap, and the usual termination Képas.
1858. | _ -MURCHISON—-NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC. 377
the Goniatite or Ammonite, but specialized for a certain end. I had
occasion to point out this in a paper on a peculiar Cephalopod,
Tretoceras*, which has, in addition to the ordinary siphuncle, a long
posterior lobe extending through seven or more of the septa. In
some of Hall’s figures of Endoceras (op. cit. pl. 44, for instance, if
not in pl. 19), there are indications of a forked or triple termination
to the long siphuncular lobe, the cavity behind being filled up by
solid deposits. Hence there is an appearance as of one or more Or-
‘ thocerata being contained in the large siphuncle. The fossils called
Hypolites, in the Silurian rocks of Sweden, are believed to be similar
internal casts of siphuncles.
In Piloceras the continuity of the hinder part of the body with
the siphuncular lobe is complete, and only ordinary septa (not solid
masses) are secreted from its surface. There is no appearance of any
external shell to which these conical septa might have appertained
as a broad siphuncle.
We have then, in this fossil, what I believe to be the simplest
form of Cephalopodous shell; and it is very suggestive that it
should occur at the base of the Silurian deposits (the lowest in
which Cephalopoda are known) both in Britain and Canadat, and
be accompanied in these beds by genera, like Endoceras and Came-
roceras, which connect it with the ordinary forms of Orthoceratite.
PILocERAS ?
There are not specimens enough to characterize a small species
which occurs of this genus, an inch or two long, and of a cylindrical
tapering form. The septa are of the same shape as those above
described.
Oncoceras? Pl. XIII. fig. 27.
The specimens are so imperfect that we cannot tell if the mouth
be really much contracted or not, or of what form the apex is. The.
latter is but slightly curved, and the shell increases gradually and
regularly towards the terminal chamber, which is somewhat longer
than broad, and appears to be inflated. The septa are concave and
oblique, rising highest against the dorsal (shorter) side, and so close
together that seven lie in the space of a quarter of an inch. The
siphuncle is rather large and external.
The American species, O. constrictum, 1s more curved and more
contracted at the mouth, and it has more distant and straighter
septa. Our fossil is referred very doubtfully to Oncoceras.
GASTEROPODA.
Macturea Pract, spec. nov. Pl. XIII. figs, 1-5.
M. triuncialis, valde depressa, umbilico latissimo; anfractibus 5-6, infra planatis,
supra rotundatis subangulatis; operculo longo spirali.
This fine shell is distinguished immediately from the other known
Macluree by its very flat shape, the ate whorls scarcely over-
* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xiv. p. 1
T In the Calciferous Sandrock, Biles fe letter), 1859.
378 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Dee. 1,
lapping each other at all, and exposing nearly the whole of the great
umbilicus* (fig. 2). The whorls on this, the upper, side are convex,
subangular a little beyond the middle, and abrupt on the margin of the
umbilicus ; the width of the last whorl in comparison with the pre-
ceding is as 7 to 4. On the lower side (fig. 1a) about five are visible ;
the inner ones are more equal in size, the second being scarcely
twice the width of the third. A raised sutural ridge runs round
the inner margin, and (unless this be due to pressure) the centre of
the whorl is somewhat angular also.
The operculum (figs. 4, 5) is widely different from that of M.
Logan}, having the nucleus produced in the most extraordinary
way, and spirally rolled. The appearance is that of a gasteropod
shell (Capulus or Pileopsis) unrolled; but by comparison with fig. 6,
which represents the operculum of M. Logani, the corresponding
ares: may easily be traced. The lower edge (a) is nearly straight, to
correspond with the flattened base of the mouth, and the ridges
which correspond with the inner angle (¢) and base (d) of the mouth
are only very much stronger than in the Canadian species. Coarse
rough lines of growth cover the surface, and antiquate the whole of
the operculum. The umbo (6) is much more produced in some
specimens, and incurved in a remarkable degree. All the specimens
have the inner process broken away. ‘The chief figure (1a) has the
operculum added to it in outline (16), to show what position it ap-
pears to have occupied in the full-grown shell. Fig. 3 is a restored
outline-view, seen edgewise.
The resemblance of Maclurea to the genus Caprotina or to Capri-
nella will at once be evident; and it was to this group, the Rudista,
that Mr. Woodward was first inclined to refer the genus. He has,
however, included it in the Heteropoda as a solid form, probably
sedentary, and allied to Bellerophon. .
OpHiteTa compacta. Pl. XIII. fig. 12.
(0. compacta, Salter, Decades of the Geol. Survey of Canada, Dee. I. pl. 3.)
As this interesting and very peculiarly-formed shell has been
fully described in the work above quoted, the details need not be
repeated here. In the Durness limestone it occurs generally of a
smaller size than in Canada, though we have one imperfect specimen
(not figured) an inch broad. The under side (a) is perfectly flat, the
upper (c) deeply cup-shaped, and the cast of this surface (6) is of a
dome-like form, with deep notches at the sutures of the whorls.
On a careful comparison I can find no essential difference between
the British shell and the Canadian one, except the less rapid growth
of the whorls. In a specimen from Beauharnais, near Montreal,
1} inch wide, the proportion of the last whorl to the preceding
is as 3°75 to 2, In one from Durness an inch broad, the propor-
* Not the real umbilicus, as in other shells, but rather the sunk spire (Wood-
ward). The shell is not a reversed one,—the flat side is the under side.
t ‘Decades, Canadian Survey,’ vol. i. pl. 1. In these figures, as also in our
own, the shells are represented in an inverted position—the characters being
more easily shown in that way.
1858. | MURCHISON—-NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC. 379
tion is 3°25 to 2. This difference is probably in exact accordance
with a less favourable nature of the locality, which did not permit
of rapid growth or the attainment of full size.
Ophileta levata, Vanuxem, besides being a small species, has more
numerous whorls, and appears to have a narrower umbilicus.
EvompnHatus (Mactvurea) maturinvs, Hall?
(Palzont. New York, vol. i. pl. 3. fig. 3.)
Several small specimens in the Durness limestone appear to cor-
respond with the species which accompanies O. compacta in Canada ;
but no stress should be laid on the identification of so obscure a
fossil; it may be a representative form only. Another and some-
what larger species is found with it. There is, besides, a large
Raphistoma, like R. labiata, Emmons, and scarcely distinguishable
from it.
PLEUVROTOMARIA THULE, spec. nov. Pl. XIII. fig. 13. :
P. vix unciam lata, pyramidata (ad apicem 45°), suturis inconspicuis ; carina
prominula, angusta, subplana; anfractibus 5-6, striis supra obscuris, infra
profundis exaratis; basi subplana, ore rhomboideo.
About five lines high, and the same breadth at base, of a pyra-
midal shape, the five or six whorls regularly conical, and scarcely
distinct at the sutures except by the prominent narrow band. The
whorls are nearly smooth above the band, or crossed only by very
oblique curved lines of growth ; but below the band they are very
rough and prominent over the nearly plane base. The band itself
is rather prominent, angular above and below, but with no depres-
sions or keels upon its surface ; it is crossed by strong arched lines
of growth. The mouth appears to be regularly rhomboidal.
Many palozoic species resemble, yet are not identical with, this
shell. It is only necessary to compare it with one allied species, to
which at first sight it is likely to be referred, the P. subconica of
Hall’s ‘ Paleontology,’ vol. i. pl. 37. fig. 13. That species, however,
as figured, has a much more prominent and rather ventricose base,
and is moreover transversely and closely striated, the strie on the
keel being collected into two distinct ridges, which margin the keel
and make it almost a double one. There is nothing of this in our
- species, which has also more numerous whorls. If Hall’s figures
8d, 8, be of the same species, the resemblance is closer ; but these
are only internal casts; and his fig. 8a is evidently the type
specimen.
Four specimens, of which two are figured, occur near Balnakill
in Durness.
Morcutson1a (HormoTomaA*) eRactiis, Hall; var. @RACILLIMA.
Pile XU, fies.7,°S.
(Paleont. New York, vol. i. pl. 39. fig.4. M. angustata, op. cit. pl. 10. fig. 2.)
It is not certain that this form is identical with those given by
* Proposed in ‘ DecadeI., Geol. Survey Canada’ for the elongate beaded forms
of Murchisonia. _
* 380 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Dec. 1,
Prof. Hall in his volume; but believing, as I do, that both the
figures above quoted belong to one species, I do not see enough in
the more elongated form of our fossil to induce me to describe it
as more than a variety.
In the ventricose and slightly angular whorls there is the closest
resemblance; but, if their greater number and the consequent more
tapering form of shell be considered as specific, it may retain the
name M, gracillima, and will stand as a representative species.
The length of our largest specimen is 1 inch 4 lines, and in that
length there are 14 volutions; in a Canadian one of the same length
not above 10 or 11. As we have not the exterior, it is safest to
leave it as a variety.
MovxrcHIsonIa ANGULOCINCTA, spec. nov. Pl. XIII. figs. 9, 10.
M. vix uncialis angustissima, anfractibus numerosis brevibus transversis peran-
gulatis, angulo submediano ; ore rotundato.
* This is decidedly a different species from the last, and, though
imperfect, possesses sufficient external character to allow us to
distinguish it by a name.
It is far more elongate than MM. gracilis, and of more numerous
whorls than any species yet described, having, in a length of 2 inch,
13 whorls, all of which are angulated, the upper ones strongly so.
The angle is rather below the middle of the whorl, and the upper
portion is somewhat concave, while the base is convex beneath it.
Mouth rounded. The specimens are much worn.
Movrcuisonra BELLICINeTA, Hall? Pl. XIII. fig. 11.
(Paleont. New York, vol. i. pl. 39. fig. 1.)
The specimens are too imperfect positively to identify this shell ;
but the size and proportions are very much like those of Hall’s
species, especially his figs. 1a to 1d: fig. le seems much more
elongated.
BRACHIOPODA.
ORTHIS stRIATULA, Emmons. Pl. XIII. figs. 14-16.
(O. testudinaria, Memoirs Geol. Surv. vol. ii. pt. 1. pl. 27. fig. 8.)
Three specimens only have occurred of this characteristic Llan-
deilo-flag species. They are of the same size as those in Allumette
Island, Canada, and more convex than usual in the species.
ANNELIDA. PI. XIII. figs. 28-31.
In the quartz-rock of Durness, beneath the limestone, the abun-
dant annelide-tracks have been already referred to (p. 366 & 368).
It is only necessary to explain the figured specimens. Fig. 281s one
of the ordinary vermicular impressions so generally referred to worm-
tracks or.-burrows. In the present instance this is rendered more
likely by the occurrence of some of the matter of the tube itself as
a thin glossy film.
Fig. 29 represents a pair of those double burrows which are
characteristic of shallow-water deposits through all the Paleozoic
13858. ] MURCHISON—-NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC. 381
series (see fig. 5. p. 368). They are known under the name of Are-
meolites. Fig, 30 is a side-view of the contents of the burrow, and
is trumpet-shaped above and striated on the sides.
Fig. 31. Serpulites Maccullochit, new species. (See ‘ Siluria,’ new
edit. p. 222.) Short, subconical, and curved tubes, of thick sub-
stance, and with but a slender central perforation. They were pro-
bably quite free, living in sand as does the recent Ditrupa, to which
they are not unlike, except in the great thickness of the shell.
ZOOPHYTA.
There are fragments of two Corals—one of the Millepore group,
and one probably a cup-coral, but too imperfect to identify; and
many of the shells seem to be invested with a Sponge resembling the
Stromatocerium rugosum of the Canadian rocks.
Note on the Fossils——It will be observable, on glancing over the
previous list, that the identifications with American fossils are not
in many cases complete—certainly not so much so as a more cursory
examination at first induced me to believe. And it may perhaps be
that some of those here positively identified with species of the lower
limestone of America may prove to be representative forms only when
more perfect specimens can be compared. For example, Orthoceras
mendax merely resembles O. multicameratum, Hall. 0. vertebrale is
but a doubtful identification, from imperfect specimens. Oncoceras,
though of a different species, is an American genus. Huomphalus
matutinus and Raphistoma labiata, if not identical, are at all events
representative forms. Maclurea Peachu, Murchisonia angulo-cincta,
and Pleurotomaria Thule, though new species, are closely allied to
American forms.
On the other hand, there appear to be some, of the identification
of which there cannot be much doubt: such as Orthoceras arcuoli-
ratum, Hall. O.undulostriatum of our lists differs very little from the
species so called. Orthis striatula is truly identical. Ophileta com-
pacta and Murchisoma gracilis, with M. bellicincta, are others which
I cannot separate from American species.
There are, then, five identical, three doubtful, four which may
fairly be called representative forms (the Maclurea, the Orthoceras,
Murchisonia angulo-cincta, and Pleurotomaria); and Piloceras is a
new genus, found in Canada* and in Scotland.
That this truly North American assemblage should be found in
the extreme north of Scotland, on the same parallel as the Canadian,
—that species of Maclurea and Raphistoma, resembling those of the
St. Lawrence basin, and Orthocerata bearing large siphuncles like
those of N. America, Scandinavia, and Russia, should occur in Scot-
land, and yet be scarcely known further south, is at least suggestive
of a geographical distribution—perhaps even of climatal conditions
—not very unlike that of more modern times+.—J.W.S.
* The Canadian species is distinct.
t See the generalizations on this head, ‘ Siluria,’ new edit. pp. 182, 507, ez seq. ;
and Appendix, p. 553.
382 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. | Dece
Overlying Micaceous Flagstones and Younger Gneiss.—In the masses
which overlie the quartz-rocks and limestone, we no longer find the
same uniformity of lithological composition as in the lower strata.
In the earlier deposit, mica is absent; but in the higher masses, that
mineral begins to prevail. Here and there, as we leave Assynt and
Durness, and proceed to the E.S.E., it occurs in otherwise pure
light-grey and whitish quartz-rock, and at others in dark-grey mica-
ceous schists. Independently of dislocations and partial axes of eleva-
tion (one of which has been described as seen between Durin and
Rispond, whilst another is met with at the south-eastern end of Loch
Eribol, where granite protrudes), the micaceous part of the quartz-
ose series is observed to be superposed, as a whole, to the group in
which the limestones and their fossils occur. From Loch Eribol
the strata have a persistent dip to the east by south. (See Sec-
tion, fig. 8.)
From the western coast-cliffs of Cape Wrath to the bay called the
Kyles of Tongue, there can, indeed, be no sort of doubt that the
whole series of quartzose and calcareous rocks which overlie the
older gneiss and the Cambrian conglomerates, are, in their turn,
covered by the younger micaceous flagstones of Inverhope and the
Moin, and constitute one great series, the age of which is deter-
mined both by the order of superposition and by the fossils contained
in one of its lower members.
It is still, however, necessary to call special attention to the upper
portion of this group, which, though here and there a quartzose flag-
stone, also contains chloritic and micaceous schists, and occasionally
exhibits so complete a mineral transition into a gneiss, that Maccul-
loch in his map of Scotland, and after him Cunningham, grouped
under one name the whole of these superior masses, as well as the
great masses now shown to lie below the Cambrian and Lower Silurian
rocks. In examining this country in the year 1827, my companion
(Sedgwick) and myself distinctly noted both chloritic schist and flat
thin-bedded gneiss as occupying several parts of the country, which
we walked over in two directions, in the interior of this part of Suther-
land ; and we had no doubt that such rocks lay far above tlie lime-
stones of Assynt. That careful and laborious observer, Cunningham,
who examined the same tract after a long interval, took the same
view. ‘These same overlying rocks are continued, with some undula-
tions, from the parallel of Tongue, on the coast, and Ben Clibrig,
Lord Reay’s Table, and Alt na Harrow, in the interior, to the frontiers
of Caithness and Ross-shire on the E. and 8.E.*
Usually thin-bedded and micaceous, they are formed, in certain
places, of alternations of greenish- and greyish-coloured micaceous
or quartzose gneiss, which present the external aspect of the Italian
‘“< Cipollino” or “‘ onion-coated.” Such rocks are seen at the escarp-
ment of Ben Hope, in the heart of Sutherland, where they still dip
* The mountainous fringe extending from near Strathy on the north to Tomen-
toul on the south has not yet been examined by me; and I must abstain from
including it in the same category ; for it is by no means impossible that the older
gneiss or fundamental rock of the N.W. may there be brought out again.
383
MURCHISON——-NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC.
1858.]
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OPA. EAT T.
384 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Dec. 1,
to the E.S.E., and contain garnets, whilst the lower part of the very
same mountain is a true quartz-rock.
To the east of Tongue there is indeed a great sameness of such
crystalline strata, which are inclined at low angles of not more
than 10° or 12°; but at Naver the micaceous quartzose flags with
garnets dip 60°, and at Farr as much as 70°. Thenceforward, in
travelling eastward, intruding bosses of a granite similar to that
noticed by Nicol and myself at the head of Loch Eribol again
prevail ; and some of these (as formerly described by Sedgwick and
myself) not only penetrate the crystalline strata, but also throw off
the overlapping Old Red Sandstone and Caithness Flags.
In Caithness the explorer enters into a region of essentially dif-
ferent structure, and consequently of an entirely different outline. In
the very first quarries of the overlying sandstones and flagstones
which he reaches, the traveller finds no longer a S.E. or E.S.E.
dip, but one to the N. or N.W., or athwart the older rocky series on
which he has been wandering. When the quartzo-gneissose series
is followed southwards, by Ben na Ghream along the western flank
of the flat and monotonous county of Caithness, we come to that
remarkable group of mountains called the Scarabins, which are ob-
viously a portion of the upper member of the same crystalline series.
Here crystalline quartz-rock prevails, weathering pure white, and
of a different character from the quartz-rocks of the west, being
probably the result of the intrusion of the great masses of granite
which there abound.
The manner in which the base of the Old Red Sandstone overlaps
these quartz-rocks was long ago described by Sedgwick and myself *.
_All around the Scarabins, and particularly to the east of Berridale,
the most striking discordance is seen in the relative strike and dip of
these two groups,—the quartz-rock, or associated gneissose strata,
being inclined sharply to the W.S.W., or to the south by east, whilst
the Old Red conglomerate and sandstone dip away east and north,
and also to the west, at 10° and 12° only.
In like manner, when we proceed on the true dip of the older rocks
from Loch Assynt on the W.N.W., and follow the course of the
Oikel River from Sutherland into Ross, we meet with a great rupture
and a complete unconformity of stratification at the junction with
the Old Red Sandstone.. Hence, setting aside partial disturbances
at various horizons, as resulting from the eruption of igneous rocks,
we see that all the crystalline and subcrystalline strata from the
west up to this great and general break, and which are intercalated
between the Cambrian Conglomerates beneath and the true Old Red
Sandstone above, must belong to one and the same great natural
division ; for they are, on the whole, conformable to each other in
their strike, undulations, and inclination. Even if no fossils had been
found in them, it was probable that, being placed between a con-
glomerate of very high antiquity, on the lower or western side, and
the base of the Old Red Sandstone on the other, these quartzose
* See Trans. Geol. Soc. 2nd ser. vol. iii. p. 128.
1858. | MURCHISON—-NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC. 385
rocks, limestones, mica-schists, &c., would probably prove to be of
Silurian age. Fortunately the discoveries of Mr. C. Peach have
conclusively settled that question as respects one of their lower
members.
A few observations are, however, called for in reference to a diffi-
culty which has presented itself to the mind of Professor Nicol.
Admitting, as he now does, that the quartzite group (which, from
mineral qualities, he had suggested might be of Carboniferous age),
is, as I supposed, Lower Silurian, he still doubts whether that group
really passes under the micaceous flaggy rock or eastern gneiss. His
doubts have been increased by finding, that along the line of junc-
tion there occur (particularly in the west of Ross-shire, at the head
of Loch Maree) outbursts of igneous rock which he thinks are con-
nected with a general dislocation along the strike.
But my observations do not support this view. See fig. 8 and its
appended Note.
Such protrusions of igneous rock occur very irregularly in the
North-western Highlands and at various horizons. Thus we have
seen that in Canisp porphyry is associated with the lowest part of the
Cambrian rocks; that hypersthenic rocks penetrate the limestones of
Durness and the quartz-rocks and limestones of Assynt ; that syenite
and felspar-rocks again reappear above the Silurian limestones at
Ledmore and on the banks of Loch Borrolan; whilst the powerful
eruptive syenitic mass of Ben Laoghal penetrates the younger gneiss
in the heart of Sutherland. Such eruptions do not, therefore, in any
way specially cut off the fossiliferous Lower Silurian zone, but burst
through overlying strata of different ages.
Compared, indeed, with the wide range of the stratified crystalline
rocks, these eruptive or igneous masses are mere pustules, which in
no wise derange the general succession, though they occasion partial
rolls and folds of the beds near the points of local intrusion. Thus,
in advancing to the 8.E. from Assynt, we have no sooner passed the
boss of syenite near Loch Borrolan and the inn of Alt-na-Gallagach,
towards the E.S.E., than we are presented with the very same flaggy
micaceous succession which is so clearly exposed between Lochs
Eribol and Tongue. The eruptive matter is indeed very likely to
peer out here and there along the lines of least resistance, or where
one set of beds is overlaid by another.
On the high road leading from the west to Lairg and the Dornoch
Firth, a limestone which I consider to be superior to any of the
Assynt rocks is exposed at Cnoc Craigie*. Though affording no
fossils under our hasty inspection, this rock, which is yellow and
apparently dolomitic, clearly overlies all the light-coloured quartzite
series, and is at once surmounted by dark-grey micaceous flagstones
quite unlike any stratum beneath them. At the Bridge of Alt Ellag,
* I was informed, by a very intelligent man who had accompanied the Sur-
veyor who made the map of Sutherland, that the limestone of Cnoc Craigie
reappears to the N.N.H. at Kinloch Ailsh and Fianloch More, at the west end of
Loch Shin ; and that freestone reoccurs in this flag-like series at Ben Skillachor,
north of Loch Griam.
282
386 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Dees
at Loch Craigie, and again at Lub-croy, these flagey micaceous rocks
are well exposed, at the last-mentioned place assuming a gneissose
aspect. They are all perfectly conformable, all dipping steadily to
the 8.E. or E.S.E., and are completely distinct, even in mineral
characters, from any of the underlying rocks, whether old gneiss,
Cambrian, or the quartzose and calcareous Lower Silurian group.
They are, in short, dark micaceous flagstones, which to the N.N.E.
range across the upper end of Loch Shin, and thence in the same
direction extend to Ben Hope until they occupy the expanse of
country between Lochs Eribol and Tongue. See fig. 8, p. 383.
If the banks of the Oikel be descended until that river falls into
its marine estuary at Bonar Bridge, the succession of overlying and
conformable micaceous and other flagstones is equally clear until we
reach the edge of the true Old Red Sandstone of the east coast, the
conglomerate base of which is formed out of the debris of all the
rocks hitherto adverted to.
If, however, the line of section be deflected from the Oikel a little
to the N.E. towards Lairg and the south-eastern end of Loch Shin,
then, the overlying flagstone and micaceous series being intruded
upon by vast masses of granite of posterior date, the depository beds
are so altered, veined, and fractured as to be made to resemble in
some respects the old gneiss of the west coast. But these are local
_ exceptions; for the observer has only to remove to a little distance
from the edge of the eruptive granite, to the 8.E., and he again finds
himself in the same flaggy micaceous series as before,—all the beds
dipping to the S.E. and E.8S.E. The amount of metamorphism pro-
duced upon these micaceous and quartzose flagstones, when they have
been most affected, is nowhere better exemplified than where they
wrap round the granitic and felspathic rocks of the Ord of Caithness
and the adjacent tracts, and where many beds constitute a sort of
gneiss, and others form, as before said, the completely metamorphosed
and crystalline quartz-rock of the Scarabin Hills (p. 384). .
Unwilling to generalize too far upon this point (for I have alread
said that there may be many tracts where the oldest gneiss rises to
the surface), I] may, however, express my present belief that these
micaceous flagstones (often used indeed as roofing-slates, though none
of them are affected by a true slaty cleavage), which constitute the
edge of the so-called primary rocks of Ross-shire, and thence range
into Inverness, Nairn, Moray, and Banff, are parts of a series
younger than the fossiliferous Lower Silurian rocks of the west of
Sutherland.
If it be objected that the great thickness of these masses offer
difficulties in the way of recognizing them to be equivalents of Silu-
rian rocks, I would reply that we have by no means proved that all
such beds are to be considered as successive, since the micaceous flags
may have been deposits in the same sea, but at some distance from
the bottom rocks; and though apparently overlying them, may have
been of almost. contemporaneous formation, their subsequent eleva-
tion and crystallization giving to them the appearance of a distinct
superposition.
1858. ] MURCHISON—NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC. 387
Then, again, there may be many curvatures, breaks, and repetitions
which I was unable to observe. .One considerable fold I did indeed
notice in the heart of Ross-shire, in the mountain of Aigean on Loch
Faunich, where thinly laminated beds of hard grey quartzose gneiss
have a reversed dip to the W.N.W., whilst the country to the east
around Loch Luichart is much faulted and broken up.
But, whilst I adhere to the belief that the great mass of the
micaceous flag-like and younger gneissose rocks, which succeed on
the east, are of more recent age than the quartz-rocks and fossili-
ferous limestones of the north-west of Sutherland, I repeat that the
genuine old gneiss may be brought to the surface in many places in
the interior, and even on the east coast, in parts of Banff and Aberdeen.
Such points may be left for future labourers to determine. In the
mean time I believe that the so-called gneiss of the Sutors of Cro-
marty, and the rocks extending southwards to Flowerburn, Kincordy,
and Rosemarkie near Fortrose, on the east coast of Ross, are simply
members of a flagstone series which has been much altered by the
intrusion of huge granitic and felspathic vemstones. Fine examples
of the conversion of these rocks, in various states of change from an
earthy flagstone and shale into a crystalline gneiss, are seen in the
cuttings of the new high road which descends from the Old Red
Sandstone of the Black Isle down to Rosemarkie, whilst the eruptive
rock of compact felspar protrudes in deep-red bosses on the shore at
Kincordy and rises into the altered and gneissose hill of Larny to the
south of Ethie. The same eruptive felspathic rock, similar to one
at Helmsdale, which passes into the granite of the Ord of Caithness,
occupies a wooded coast-ridge between Fortrose and Avoch, and
throws off the Old Red Sandstone, at a high angle, towards the
interior of the Black Isle.
Itis obvious, therefore, that the former mineralogical classification
of rocks, whereby all these strata, of such very different ages, were
merged with the same family as the Old Gneiss which lies beneath vast
thicknesses of rocks now known to be of Cambrian and Silurian age,
has been highly detrimental to the progress of sound geological science.
The Crystalline Stratified Rocks of other parts of the Highlands
compared with those of Sutherland.—It is not in my power to de-
scribe in detail the relations of all the stratified crystalline rocks of
the Highlands, though I have traversed their chief masses on many
parallels. I presume, however, that the same order of succession as
in Sutherland may be applied to the stratified crystalline rocks in
the west of Ross-shire and Inverness-shire, which occupy the same
place in the general series. Thus, when we extend our examina-
tion southwards from Sutherland and Ross on the west coast, we
find, on entering into any of the numerous bays or marine lochs
which indent the coast from Loch Broom to Loch Duich, which is
on the edge of Inverness-shire, that quartzose, micaceous, and chlo-
ritic rocks, with limestones in their lower members, are successively
exhibited,—the whole having a dominant strike from N.N.W. to
K.S.E., and all having a prevalent inclination to the E.S.E.
Professor Nicol has already shown how, in many places, such rocks
388 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Dee. 1,
overlie the older conglomerates and sandstones, which I consider to
be of Cambrian age. The only marked distinctive change in the
mineral character of these stratified rocks as they range southwards
is, that the quartzose or purely siliceous character is not so dominant
as in Sutherland and the north-western parts of Ross-shire, the arid,
bare, whitened surface of the weathered quartz-rock being no longer
dominant. ‘Thus, in the headlands between Loch Kishorn and Loch
Carron, the range of bedded limestone is seen, just as in Assynt and
Durness, to possess the same joints and oblique rude cleavage, whilst
the conformably overlying series consists of a variety of quartzose
and chloritic beds, some of pinkish, others of grey colours, and some
containing mica and asbestos,—the whole being clearly overlaid by a
clay-slate, which ranges down to the shore of Loch Carron.
If we make our observations in a more southern parallel, and pass
across Ross-shire from Lochalsh and Kintail on the west to the Old
Red Sandstone frontier on the east, the general succession is the same,
though there are considerable changes of lithological character when
the same rocks are followed southwards or 8.8.W. upon their strike.
On the south side of Loch Duich, which affords an excellent trans-
verse section, some of the calcareous bands of highly crystalline
limestone are white, whilst others are chloritic and greenish and
much resemble the Connemara marble of Ireland,—such bands being
finely intercalated either in micaceous flagstones in parts calcareous,
or in finely laminated slaty flagstones which pass into a rock which
must be called gneiss, as it has layers of quartz, felspar, and some
mica. Points of syenite protrude here and there, and diversify the
projecting rocky bosses. Now, although the prevalent dip of all the
strata near Totig is to the E.S.E., we see, in ascending to Inverinat,
great flexures, by which the strata, curved at high angles, give their
exquisitely beautiful and conical outlines to the mountains in which
Loch Duich is embosomed.
At the head of Loch Duich, however, near Inverinat, the dip to the
E.S.E. is resumed, at an angle of about 25°, which angle increases to
50°, 60°, and 70° as you proceed eastward through the lofty and
rugged defile called the Bealloch of Kintail. There the peaks which
form the steep watershed of the north-west of Scotland (in a part of
which the splendid Falls of Glomach occur, where the water cascades
over a lofty precipice, and not distant more than three or four
miles from the salt-water bays) are composed of the same flag-like
pinkish quartzose gneiss, the beds of which are seen to be finally
thrown off to the E.S.E., thus clearly overlying the limestone and
other masses which occupy the shores of Loch Duich.
In pursuing the mountain-track through the Bealloch of Kintail
to the head of Loch Affric, I found that, in descending on the long
sloping moorlands by which the waters glide away to the east, the
stratified masses become more horizontal, with occasional undula-
tions,—so that very much the same class of quartzose rocks is con-
tinued very far eastwards, their bare stony summits constituting the
favourite resort of ptarmigan, their slopes the haunt of deer, and
their valleys the breeding-grounds of grouse. The undulations of
1858.] MURCHISON—-NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC. 389
such rocks are well exposed where the principal feede of Loch Affric
escapes from the higher moorlands into that fine sheet of fresh water
from the highlands of Kintail, and at a pass and ford called “ Aa
na Mullich *.”
I further believe that the regularly-bedded limestones, which are
intercalated in the chloritic and quartzose rocks of Dumbartonshire,
and are seen on both banks of Loch Fyne, and also in terraces to the
north and west of Inverary, may be classed with some of the oldest
of those stratified masses which, like the limestones of Sutherland,
are unquestionably of Lower Silurian age. For these calcareous
bands also pass under vast masses of mica-schist and quartzose-
gneissic rocks. Moreover, as one who has explored the wilds of the
Breadalbane deer-forests, I think that the vast expanses of quartzi-
ferous flagstones, mica-schists, &c., are simply the prolongations of
those rocks of the North-western Highlands, which have here been
treated of. Undulating at slight angles of inclination through Glen
Orchy, and clasping round the granite of Ben Cruachan on the one
hand, or pierced by the porphyries of Glencoe on the other, these
flag-like strata, occasionally passing upwards into clay-slate, extend
to the 8.E. in broad curves, over the region of the Moor of Rannoch,
and around the Black Mount; whilst along the banks of Loch Tay
they contain regularly-bedded limestones, which in their turn dip to
the S.E. under other schistose rocks. ;
In following them to their south-eastern frontier in Dumbarton-
shire, where these rocks, terminating upwards in clay-slates, are sur-
mounted by the Old Red conglomerate and sandstone, we may indeed
speculate upon the unfolding in such tracts of the equivalents of
younger and higher strata than any which are observed in the
northern counties. Thus, the chloritic schists of Ben Lomond, con-
taining pebble-beds which underlie the clay-slates, may prove to be
the equivalents of some of the Silurian conglomerates of the 8.W.
coast of Scotland. Let us hope that the day may come when fossils
will be discovered in some of those regularly-stratified masses of such
varied lithological composition, and thus enable us to speak of their
age with the same decision which has been applied to the crystalline
strata of the west of Sutherland.
Looking at the Highlands as a whole, it is essential to observe
that, in proceeding from north to south, the geologist meets with
vastly larger masses of intrusive rock than in the typical tract of
Sutherland. Thus, the edges of the huge granitic Grampians, alone,
* IT hope that my Highland pride may be pardoned if I attach great interest
to this gorge, seeing that my ancestor Colonel Donald Murchison (whose brother,
my great grandfather, was killed at the battle of Sheriff Muir) selected it as the
spot where, in the year 1716, he so placed the native Highlanders under his
command, all of them Jacobites, as well as their chief, the exiled William Earl
of Seaforth, whose lands he was defending, that he successfully resisted and beai
back the troops of George I., who in vain endeavoured to take possession of
Kintail; and hence these mountains were held for their noble owner, who was
eventually pardoned. I live in the hope that my eminent friend Sir Edwin
Landseer will soon fulfil his promise, and gratify me by producing a painting of
this scene, the history of which is well known to all old Ross-shire Highlanders.
390 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Dee. 1,
call for a separate historian, who shall describe the nature, and, if
possible, fix the age, of all the successive coats of the older crystalline
rocks which are folded around that vast igneous nucleus, just as
Colonel Imrie did in reference to one transverse gorge, which he laid
open so admirably forty years ago. We have yet to ascertain the
exact relations of the uppermost clay-slate of Forfarshire to the
overlying Arbroath flagstone, which must be considered the base of
the Old Red Sandstone of that tract. With the expansion of the
older stratified crystalline rocks as they fold over to the 8.E., it must
be borne in mind that there.are numerous centres of eruption, such
as that, for example, of Ben Cruachan, in Argyllshire, and other
mountains to the south and east of it, which penetrate and throw off
the stratified masses into various undulations. Other anticlinals
and synelinals occur without any such apparent motive cause, as in
the clear and unambiguous section of Loch Eck, in Argyllshire, to
which I formerly called attention*, and where a vast mass of gneissose
mica-schist is seen to rise from beneath the chloritic schists and lime-
stones of Loch Fyne. When the geological surveyors shall be pro-
vided with accurate maps, I trust that all these stratified masses of
the crystalline rocks of the Highlands will have their true relative »
places assigned them. In the mean time much may be done, not
only in the endeavour to rival Mr. Peach in detecting fossils, but
also in the effort to coordinate the fractures which these stratified
masses have undergone, and to read off the periods when numerous.
fissures were made,—the one set longitudinally, or along the strike
of the beds as seen in Loch Ness and the line of lakes of the Cale-
donian Canal—the other transverse, or across the strata, of which
the North-western Highlands offer many striking examples, to some
of which allusion has already been made.
I cannot attempt to describe all the lithological variations in the
rocks which I believe to be the geological equivalents of the cry-
stalline rocks of the N.W. Highlands, in the counties of Aberdeen,
Banff, &c. From what I saw, however, in former years, of the thin
micaceous flag-stones and clay-slates, &c. of those tracts, I have
little doubt that they belong to the same series as that now under
consideration. The granitic mountain of Ben na Chie, which I then
examined, seemed to me to have performed precisely the same erupt-
ive part in the east as Ben Cruachan in the west, perforating stra-
tified sedimentary rocks, and producing much alteration in them
near the points of contact.
The general view of the succession here offered must, however, be
alone tested by traversing the northernmost counties from N.W. to
S.E., and by marking the manner in which one group succeeds the
other. In such examinations, a great number of dislocations like
that which has been noticed in Suilven of Assynt, and numerous
anticlinals and synclinals, with outbursts of igneous rocks, will
doubtless be detected, by which, and by parallel upheavals, the
same set of beds will be found to have been frequently repeated
between the two coasts.
* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. vii. p. 169.
1858. | MURCHISON—-NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC. 391
The great physical fact, however, in respect to the series of
erystalline rocks in Sutherland, is, that their ower members contain
those limestones in which organic remains have been found, and that
large masses of chloritic, micaceous, and gneissic flagstones, clay-
slates, and schists are so superposed, that little doubt can remain
that they are also of Silurian age. Allowing for many undulations
and repetitions, I see no reason for believing that those overlying
crystalline masses are of much greater thickness than the Lower
Silurian rocks of Wales and the adjacent English counties.
Haying no evidence of the existence of other fossil remains
which should indicate the presence of Upper Silurian rocks, and
seeing how poorly such strata are developed even in that part of
the south of Scotland (Ayrshire) where the Lower Silurians are so rich
in fossils, my inference is that the younger members of the Silurian
system have never been deposited in the far north. There, a great
upheaval of the Lower Silurian, or the quartzo-gneissose series in
question, separates it sharply from the Old Red Sandstone, which
overlaps it in entire: unconformity,—this great break accounting for
the nonexistence of any representatives of the Upper Silurian rocks.
It is unnecessary that I should continue to combat, asI did at the
last Glasgow Meeting of the British Association, the theoretical idea
that the varying and alternating mineral layers of the rocks I have
been describing are lines of cleavage or lamination as distinguished
from true stratification; since that view can, I presume, no longer
have any supporters. In considering these rocks as regularly stra-
tified deposits of different mineral matters, I simply adopted the
opinion of all my eminent precursors since the days when Hall and
Playfair classed them as metamorphosed sediments. Not only have
we examples of coarse grits and sandstones throughout them, but
even when we follow them to the south we find regular beds of
pebbles intercalated in such chloritic and micaceous schists. In
short, they present all the signs by which truly stratified aqueous
deposits are defined, not only in their successive mineral layers, but
also in having wavy bands of schist interpolated among sandy beds,
and the whole being affected by symmetrical joints.
The presence of organic remains was alone wanting to complete
the natural inference which I suggested in 1854, that many of the
stratified crystalline rocks of the Highlands are simply the meta-
morphosed equivalents of the Lower Silurian rocks of the south of
Scotland.
Crystalline Rocks of the Shetland Isles.—My voyage from point to
point of the Shetland Islands was much too rapid to enable me to
connect all their different rock-masses with those of the mainland.
I may, however, suggest that some of the northernmost crystalline
stratified masses of Unst, extending out to the small islet called the
Muckle Flugga, on which the most northern lighthouse is built,
most probably belong on the whole to the younger gneiss and flag-
stone series.
There may, however, exist, on the western shores of the mainland
(which I did not visit), some representatives of the older gneiss.
392 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, [Dee. 1,
The most remarkable exhibition of the flaglike gneiss with a
persistent and uniform dip is seen on the western cliffs of the island
of Unst, where the strata, in precipitous cliffs 200 to 300 feet high,
succeed each other rapidly at angles of about 45°. In the Burra
Fiord of the same island, granite prevails in strong veinstones, as also
in the islets called the Burra Fiord Holms. It is on the outermost
of these bosses of barren gneiss that the new lighthouse was erected
during the recent Russian War; the summit of the rock is 230 feet
above the sea, and exposed to the lashings of the wild Northern Ocean.
This rock (named the Muckle Flugga, to distinguish it from a more
southern boss, the Little Flugga), with the exception of a small
rock called the Out Stack, is the northernmost point of land in Her
Majesty’s dominions, and certainly the most northern inhabited spot ;
it is very nearly on the 61° of N. lat.
The rock, up the steep face of which 250 steps are cut, by which
we ascended to the lighthouse, consists of sharply inclined shelving
masses of gneissose, micaceous, and quartzose flagstones, with some
garnets: it is penetrated by many veins of granite. The strata, hke
those of Unst, dip E.8.E. about 45°, and are all perfectly parallel,—a
circumstance the more to be wondered at when it is seen that from
Somburgh Head on the extreme south to the Muckle Flugga on the
extreme north of the whole group, the prevalent strike and dip are
preserved for a distance of eighty miles.
In Balta Sound a visit was made to the mines of chromate of
iron, much opened out and extended of late years. This mineral
occurs in serpentine rocks with bosses of pure greenstone. Following
up certain veinstones on the surface from the north side of the Fiord
between Swenee Ness and Buness, the mineral has been found to
expand into a large stockwork, about one mile from the shore: the
chief direction of the mineral mass is from W.S.W. to E.N.E. There
the rock is cut into to a depth of about 86 feet, without detecting
any deterioration or diminution of the chromate in the floor of the
quarry, which is from forty to fifty feet wide. This mineral mass hades
to the north at an angle of from 70° to 80°, and is situated on the
hill called Keen Hill, and at the foot of the higher rocky hills called
Heysags, which stand out so boldly, overlooking Haroldswick Bay.
The other tract where I had an opportunity of studying the cry-
stalline rocks, was at the Out Skerries of Whalsey, that very singular
group of low, rugged islets, chiefly composed of gneiss with granite-
veins, but containing one strong band of limestone. It is on the
most eastern of these rocks, or the Bound Skerry, that a new light-
house has been just erected, to exceed in power that of the adjacent
Gruna Light*.
Mr. Stevenson here called my attention to the manifest proofs of
* After passing the afternoon upon the rocks, or in admiring the new mecha-
nical contrivances in the lanterns of the lighthouse, we steamed out to the north
about ten miles in the dark, to test the effect of one of the improvements made
by our companion, Mr. Stevenson, when it was perceptible to all of us that the
new light was very superior to the old one on the adjacent rock of Gruna, in the
grander and more pyramidal flashes which it gave out.
1858. | MURCHISON—NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC. 393
the remarkable power of the sea~waves when lashing upon this ex-
posed spot in great storms.
The seaward or north-eastern face of these gneissose rocks sloping
upwards presents the most chaotic aspect, being covered with clus-
ters of large angular blocks—one of the largest of these being
perched at nearly seventy feet above the sea. Now all of them
have been torn out of their beds, and most of them moved up-hill
for a considerable number of feet, to within a few yards of the base
of the new lighthouse. For my own part, I was at first incredulous
as to the mode of producing what my lamented friend Leopold von
Buch would have called a true ‘Felsen Meer;” but when Mr.
Stevenson brought the data before me, it was quite evident that the
sea had done it all. Thus, an inhabitant pointed out some of the
chief blocks, several of them of many tons weight, which in a great
storm some years back had been moved upwards on the incline fifteen
to twenty feet, to heights of fifty feet above the sea. These in their
upward translation had scored the rocks over which they passed,
just as the stones held in a glacier groove and scratch in their
descent ; and the freshness of the markings was quite striking. Not
trusting to histories of the past, and for a moment doubting even the
clear evidence offered by the scoring of the rugged subjacent rock, I
interrogated an intelligent under-officer of the lighthouse, who had
been two years on the spot, and ascertained that even in the pre-
ceding winter, and when the new lighthouse was in course of con-
struction, a huge mass of stone near the sea-level, of which he showed
the very bed out of which it had been lifted, had been wrenched out
of it and moved up an incline of 10° or 12° to a distance of sixteen
feet !—and with this proof all scepticism vanished.
Lastly, perceiving a singular cavernous chasm into which the
waves hurl up fragments of rock varying from a few inches to two
yards in width to a height of fifty or sixty feet above the sea, I
found that, being there confined as in a gullet, they are continually
agitated and rolled about in every great storm until most of them
are aS much rounded and water-worn as if they were part of an
ordinary sea-beach, before they are shot out to the other side of the
chasm.
Old Red Sandstone of the North-east of Scotland.— Let us
now take a rapid review of the character, dimensions, and fossil
contents of the Old Red Sandstone of the North-eastern parts
of Scotland, where in the year 1827 the separate masses were
described by Sedgwick and myself as offering the fullest and best
types of a series which we have since shown to constitute a natural
group, the equivalent of the Devonian rocks of other countries. This
review is the more called for now that we know the precise geolo-
gical relations of the base of the Old Red Sandstone of England to
the Upper Silurian rocks on which it rests. It is also necessary to -
point out some features in the successive distribution of its animal
remains in the latter tracts and in the central counties of Scotland,
when compared with that northern development to which attention
is now particularly directed, and to show that the ichthyolitic flags of
394
N.
(From ‘ Siluria,’ new edit. p. 280.)
Fig. 9.—General Section of the Old Red Sandstone of the North-east of Scotland.
Ord
of Caithness.
S.
Plains of Caithness.
Berridale.
b. Red sandstone.
limestones, &c.
agstones, with
d. Bituminous schists and hard fl
q- Quartz-rock and mica-schist. )
estones.
passing into fla
(g. Granite.
c. Thin-bedded sandstone
é. Upper Old Red.
a, Old Red conglomerate.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Dec. 1,
Caithness are not the lower members of the
Old Red Series, as previously stated in geo-
logical works.
The Old Red Sandstone, in the extended
sense of the term, is not what some geolo-
gists, who have never examined the North-
east of Scotland and the Orkney Islands, have
considered it, a small and unimportant for-
mation, the upper part of which might be
classed with the Carboniferous deposits, and
the rest as of no greater importance as to the
time occupied in its formation than a mere
fragment of the Devonian group only. On
the contrary, the Old Red group of this
northern region is a grand and expanded
series of very diversified mineral character,
which, both from dimensions and organic re-
mains, must be considered a full and adequate
equivalent of all the Devonian rocks of South
Britain, Germany, Russia, France, Spain, and
Turkey. The group as seen in Caithness and
the Orkney Islands is composed of three
parts—
1. Lower red conglomerate and sandstones.
2. Grey and dark-coloured flagstones and
schists, in parts both bituminous and
calcareous.
3. Upper red and yellow sandstones.
The annexed general section (fig. 9) ex-
hibits this order.
Lower Old Red.—The lower red conglome-
rate and sandstone (a, b, c) form the external
and unconformable eastern fringe of all the
stratified crystalline rocks which have been
described. Whether the latter consist of
quartzose gneiss at Strathy Head on the north
shore, or be followed inland along an irregular
boundary by Ben Ghream until they become
the thin-bedded quartz-rocks of the Scarabin
Hills, or consist of granite at the Ord of
Caithness, or of gneissose micaceous schists as
they range from Sutherland into Ross-shire
and there occupy the heights of Wyvis or -
fold round the lower country of Easter Ross
by Dingwall, Brahan Castle, and Fairburn
Tower, until they enter Inverness-shire above
Beauley, we see everywhere similar rock-rela-
tions. Throughout all this tortuous line, the
lowest member of the great group under
consideration is compounded out of the con-
1858. MURCHISON——-NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC. 395
2)
tiguous and subjacent rocks,—the derivative beds having always
a strike and dip different from those of their parent crystalline
rocks ; any approach to an agreement in their relations being local
and accidental. Allusion has already been made to the great change
observable in the outline and aspect of the country when we pass
from the one to the other group of rocks ; and it is useless to enume-
rate the numberless cases which have fallen under my own obser-
vation, where the younger deposit overlies in slightly inclined layers
the highly inclined crystalline strata, which, together with an occa-
sional boss of granite or syenite, have invariably afforded the mate-
rials out of which the Old Red strata have been composed.
Describing some striking examples of the lower conglomerate, we
shall see how it passes up gradually into the Caithness Flagstones.
On the east coast of Caithness, inclined both to the west and east,
the Old Red conglomerate and sandstone clasp round the quartz-rocks
of the Scarabin Hills. When adjacent to the quartz-rock, the Old
Red conglomerate abounds in its fragments; but on the east and
south of Braemore, granite and gneiss are added to the débris. I
ascertained, by passing along the summits of the rugged Scarabin
Hills, that the Old Red conglomerate is there almost entirely com-
pounded out of the white quartz-rock on which it rests *.
This feature is remarkably well seen on the western slope of the
Scarabins, where the white brecciated conglomerate, in twisted sheets,
dips off the various shoulders of the quartz mountain, to the W.S.W.
and N.W. Other conglomerates, whether capping the detached and
lofty Morven, or its peaked and low satellites, the Maiden Pap and
the Schmian, being further removed from the pure quartz, are more
or less red, and were described by Professor Sedgwick and myself
thirty-one years ago, when we ascended the Schmian fr.
In descending the River of Langwell, the usual conglomerate is
seen to be equally local ; for there, whether it rests upon the newer
gneiss and grey-coloured flagstones, or on the associated and eruptive
granitic rocks which range from the Ord and across Ousedale, it is
found to be of a prevailing red colour, chiefly due to the prevailing
quantity of granitic fragments. In further descending the stream
from these bosses of conglomerate to the bridge under the House of
Langwell, a grand succession of thin-bedded deep-red sandstone is
exhibited, which, dipping to the E. and E.N.E., cannot have less than
a thickness of 800 or 1000 feet.
Now, all this thin-bedded sandstone (fig. 9, 6, ¢), which passes
under and graduates upwards into the series of Caithness flagstones,
did not afford to the patient search of Mr. Peach the trace of a fish,
any more than it did to my former endeavours. It is this great lower
member of conglomerate and thin-bedded sandstone, which I have no
hesitation in considering to be the representative in time of the
* I made this last examination from the hospitable mansion of the Right
Honourable the Speaker and Lady Charlotte Denison, in September 1858. The
Scarabin is probably derived from the Gaelic word Skearach (rough), and ben or
bein (hill).
t See Trans. Geol. Soc. 2nd ser. vol. iii. p. 138.
396 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCTETY. [Dees
Cephalaspis-zone of Shropshire and Herefordshire in England, and
of Forfar and Perth in Scotland.
I examined the partial uprise of these lower beds through the
Caithness flags at Sarclet, four miles south of Wick,—a point to
which my attention was called by Mr. Peach. When seen from the
Sea, as represented in fig. 10, it is manifest that the lower rocks have
Fig. 10.—Sectron of the Lower and Middle Members of the Old Red
Sandstone at Sarclet, near Wick.
Ss. Sarclet. N.
= pee ES S| =
Caithness Old Red conglomerate Caithness flags.
flags. and sandstone.
been protruded by great force, which has subjected the whole of
the flanking series of flagstones to extensive transverse breaks and
fractures, which, on examining the shore, are found to exist with
partial reversals of dip. The little thriving fishing-station of Sarclet
is one of those numerous indentations of the coast of Caithness which
the stormy eastern ocean has helped to open out, but which, like
many of the other coast-clefts which I have seen, is mainly due to an
original powerful dislocation, resulting in transverse gullies which the
sea has simply widened or deepened. Here the breccia or conglo-
merate, as at the Ord of Caithness, is made up chiefly of granite and
quartz-rock, both grey and white: the imbedded fragments, from the
size of a bullet to that of a man’s head, are sometimes angular, but
often rounded as if they had undergone shore-action. Piled up in
massive beds of from 15 to 20 feet each, which alternate with deep-
red shaly layers, this conglomerate, where I examined it (for it folds
over in a very broken arch), dips to the north, and passes under
strong-bedded, hard, fine-grained micaceous grit, freckled with marks
of iron-ore, which in its turn is covered with thinner beds distin-
guished by their rippled surface. This upcast broken mass is seen to
be covered by the flagstones, which, as we ascend in the series,
whether by going towards Wick on the north or to the Yarrow Hills
and to Latheron on the west and south, become fossiliferous and
constitute the bituminous flagstone group. It is worthy of remark,
that even some of the lower red grits and sandstones effervesce with
acids, like many portions of the overlying Caithness flags.
Another spot where the older conglomerate and sandstone have
been protruded through the broken undulations of the Caithness
flags, is at Dirlet Castle, in the interior of the county, and about
twelve miles W.S.W. of Thurso, to which Mr. Peach and myself
were directed by that zealous and able explorer of rocks and fossils,
as well as of living plants, Mr. Robert Dick (see fig. 11). There a boss
» of flag-like gneiss (probably the newer gneiss, but largely affected by
intrusion and pierced by granite), which is covered by the ruins of the
old castle, stands out of the middle of the Thurso Water. This ery-
stalline rock, dipping sharply to the E.S.E.,1s surmounted, as shown
in this diagram, by a coarse conglomerate, almost a breccia, which
1858. ] MURCHISON—-NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC. 397
inclines to the N.E. at about 10°, and soon graduates up into purplish
and grey siliceous and micaceous thin-bedded sandstones, covered by
the true dark-grey (in parts almost bluish) flagstones, which, after
curvatures (doubtless accompanied by breaks which are hidden by
moss), become highly fossiliferous in the adjacent hills of Bannis-
kirk, &e.
Fig. 11.—Section showing the Relations of the Lower Members of the
Old Red Series near Dirlet Castle.
Dirlet
E, Castle. W.
* Gneissic and flaggy schists, penetrated by granite. a. Granitic conglomerate, or
lowest member of the Old Red Series. 0. Sandstone. c. Caithness flagstones.
In following the Old Red conglomerate southwards along the east-
ern part of Sutherland, where it forms the inland boundary of the
coast-range of the Oolitic beds of Helmsdale, Clyne, and Brora, which
it separates from the crystalline rocks, the mass may much more
truly be called a breccia ; for here the included fragments, which are
lodged in a paste of pink-coloured or granitic sand, are micaceous
fragments of all the varieties of the quartz-rock series, viz. hard,
micaceous, finely laminated sandstones of various colours passing on
the one hand into gneiss, and on the other into pure quartz-rock.
On the south flanks of Wyvis, the loftiest mountain of Ross-shire,
the gneissose flagstones are truncated, and flanked by enormous masses
of conglomerate and sandstone, in which are deep rents wherein the
streams descend to the Bay of Cromarty. One of the most remark-
able of these gorges is watered by the Alt Grant, the massive con-
glomerate precipices on the sides of which have been described by
Sedgwick and myself*; another is that in which the Alness River
flows. In ascending that stream above the House of Ardross, the
formation is perceived to assume an aspect differing a good deal from
its usual appearance. In their upper parts the beds are of dark-
grey, greenish, and deep-red soft shale, either highly inclined or
in rapid undulations, and in the lower part of a very coarse conglo-
merate and a reddish and yellowish, gritty, thin-bedded sandstone.
The lower portion of the conglomerate is here not only vertical and
much twisted, but is also much mineralized and contains a thick vein
of rich hematitic iron-ore. All these lower beds of the Old Red
have been deposited quite athwart the edges of the quartzose flag-
stones and mica-schist of Wyvis and its adjacent mountains, which
have the usual dominant strike of N.N.E. or N.E. and S8.W., whilst
the conglomerate and sandstone of this tract strike nearly east and
west, and dip southerly at angles decreasing as you recede from the
mountains.
Allusion was formerly made to the bold forms which the Old Red
* Trans. Geol. Soc. Lond. 2nd ser. vol. iii. p. 147.
398 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Dec. 1,
conglomerate assumes in various hills where it rises in more or less
rounded pyramidal masses, which have been embossed as it were on
the edges of the crystalline rocks. Good examples of this are given
in the fly-flap of the coloured section given by Sedgwick and myself,
where the Maiden Pap and Morven rise above the adjacent quartz-
rocks, and again where the hill of Meal Turach stands out in Ross-
shire above the gneissose rocks of Loch Glas, at the foot of Wyvis*.
The hill of Ben-a-vraggie, above Dunrobin in Sutherlandshire, on
which the monument of the late Duke of Sutherland stands, is also
a striking example of these lower conglomerates.
At Skibo Castle, the seat of my friend Mr. Dempster, a deep-
red coloured sandstone has been opened out in the lower division of
the formation, the strata of which dip away from the slopes of gneiss-
ose hills to the Dornoch Firth; and in this sandstone Miss Demp-
ster procured two incurvated casts about 8 or 9 inches long, which,
terminating in points, rudely resemble the pincers of a huge Crusta-
cean. If these casts should prove to be referable to some such creature
as the Pterygotus of Herefordshire, Shropshire, Forfarshire, &c., they
stand as yet alone as indications of animal life in the Lower Old Red
of the North-east of Scotland.
In this vicinity and in the much higher beds which shelve away
on the coast near Embo with an easterly dip, the sandstones become
more yellow, and range along the shore to the town of Dornoch.
Near Embo they contain strong pebbly beds, and are marked by
blotches of deep-red shale, occasionally circular. In these same
beds and among the pebbles which have been chiefly derived
from the crystalline rocks of the interior, Mr. Peach and myself
detected some fragments of those cherty and very peculiar beds of
the Durness and Assynt limestone, as well as portions of quartz-rock.
In following these upper ledges from Embo to Dornoch, the rock is
well exposed in quarries which have been opened for the construction
of the new buildings in the town ; and the yellow and even whitish-
coloured sandstone there predominates over the deep-red, the latter
being thrown away as refuse. Now, as these light-yellow strata
with occasional pebbly beds are inclined gently to the S.S.E., they
(as well as the sandstones of Tain and Tarbet Ness) seem to form
the north-western side of a wide basin, the south-eastern side of
which reappears on the opposite side of the Moray Firth, near Elgin,
where similar yellow sandstones occur. | :
In Ross-shire, the quartzose micaceous schists and gneiss through
which the Rivers Connan and Orron flow from the central highlands
and the mountains of Strath Connan and Strath-glas, have the pre-
valent dip to the E.S.E., and are admirably exposed on the banks of
both those rivers, just where they issue to the low tract of Easter
Ross. At no spot is the unconformity between these crystalline
rocks and the Old Red Sandstone better seen than to the west of the
ancient Tower of Fairburn}, where a feeder of the Orron flows over
* Trans. Geol. Soc. Lond. 2nd ser. vol. iii. pl. 14. figs. 3 & 5.
t The seat of the Mackenzies of Fairburn, my maternal ancestors, who
possessed the estates of Fairburn, Strath Connan, and Monar.
1858. | MURCHISON—NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC. 399
mica-schist inclined to the E.S.E. at 70°, the edges of which are
covered by a coarse red conglomerate, which in descending to the
low country in the same direction, but at much lower angles, is
beautifully displayed on the banks of the Orron,—the river cascading
over beds of pebbly conglomerate and intercalated hard sandstone,
and the whole subsiding under the red sandstone of the Black Isle.
In like manner when we pass to the south side of the Beauley
River we find the crystalline rocks of Strath-glas similarly flanked
by the Old Red conglomerate and sandstone, which, ranging from
W.S.W. to E.N.E. along the south side of the Murray Frith, repose
on the crystalline rocks and dip to the N.N.W.
We thus learn that the Old Red conglomerate and sandstone are
everywhere thrown off from the broken and protruding edges of the
older rocks, and that the direction and indication of these regene-
rated deposits vary with each great promontory.
But besides these main base-lines, there are other and minor ridges
of elevation, by which, whether by the rise of granite or granitic
gneiss, the conglomerate and bottom rock of the Old Red are exhibited.
Such, for example, is the uprise of the granitic and felspathic rocks,
with metamorphosed strata, in parts a true gneiss, at the mouth
of Cromarty Bay. There, however, the conglomerate is feebly ex-
hibited only ; but by following the same line of elevation along the
East Coast, other gneissose and granitic rocks (evidently meta-
morphic and eruptive) protrude into the altered rocks, extend to
Fortrose and Avoch, whence to Kessock Ferry House, opposite
Inverness, there is a most instructive development of the conglo-
merate and sandstone. Of this sandstone there are fine quarries at
Avoch, the beds being in highly inclined positions, dipping away
from the eruptive rocks of Craig Wood.
Nowhere in Ross-shire is the conglomerate better displayed than
on the coast extending from the south of the Bay of Munlochy by
Kilmuir to Drynie, and in the cliffs between that place and Kessock
Ferry opposite Inverness. Whether in the headland called Craigie
How, in which a large natural cave is opened out upon the inclined
plane of the beds, or in adjacent spots where freestone is intercalated,
the strata are seen to dip inland, or from 50° to 70° and 80° to the W.
and W.N.W. Hence we see how, along this coast-line of elevation,
the red sandstone of Redcastle, Taradale, and other places in the
Black Isle where the red sandstone is quarried, is in alternation with
conglomerates which here and there rest upon crystalline rocks.
The traveller who reaches Inverness from the South, and has a
short time only at his disposal, will indeed do well to cross the
Kessock Ferry, where, keeping to the sea-shore and passing by
Craigton to Drynie, he may examine many remarkable masses of
the conglomerate with irregular courses of hard, finely laminated,
quartzose sandstone, so made up of granitic detritus that they often
look like granite-veins traversing the conglomerate. The latter is
there compounded out of various granites (including those which |
abound on the shores of Loch Ness), of red porphyry, and of much
quartz-rock, whether grey, white, or brown; whilst poe of
VOL. XV.—PART I.
400 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. | Deexiy
mica-schist and gneiss are the smallest and least abundant materials.
The largest boulders in this coarse conglomerate are about four feet
in length, and, differing from those of the breccia of the east of
Sutherland, they are all rounded. The dip of all these beds is also
70° to the W.N.W., or sharply inland, thus seeming to throw the
Old Red Sandstone of the Black Isle into a trough.
Succeeding to these coarser conglomerates, but alternating with
pebble-beds, are the chief freestones of the group, which are so
extensively used for building-purposes throughout the counties of
Ross, Cromarty, Inverness, Nairn, Moray, &c. This sandstone, of
which quarries are opened in numberless localities, is of very varied
tints of red, is occasionally much variegated either by greenish and
whitish spots of earthier matter (Thon-Gallen of the Germans), or by
a regularly ribboned or striped structure of thin layers of deep red
alternating into lighter and yellowish lamine of deposit. In short,
we find in the rock those lithological features, which in the early
days of geology were erroneously supposed to be characteristic of
the New Red Sandstone only, but which are now known to be
prevalent not only in the Old Red, but also in the red and variegated
Lower Silurian or Caradoc freestones of Shropshire. In the lower
conglomerate and sandstone, as well as in the overlying gritty and
pebbly beds with fine building-stones, organic remains have as yet
been very sparingly found—a scale or two of a fossil fish being all
that I have heard of; and whether it be on the coast of Cromarty,
or at Strathpeffer in the interior of Ross-shire, it is only when we
‘reach certain schistose beds, often more or less bituminous (the
equivalents of the Caithness Flags), that fossil fishes begin to be
distinctly recognized.
No identifiable organic remains have as yet been detected in the
lower sandstones and conglomerates of this series in the North of
Scotland ; yet these thick and finely levigated masses are considered
by me to represent in time the lowest beds of the Old Red of For-
farshire, Shropshire, and Herefordshire, which contain Pterygotus,
Cephalaspis and Parka decipiens—remains which are quite distinct
from those of the bituminous schists and flagstones of Caithness.
Caithness Flags, or Middle Division of the Old Red Sandstone of
the N.E. of Scotland and the Orkney Islands (d of the section, fig. 9,
p- 394).—Having indicated in the General Section, fig.9, and in
figs. 10 and 11, that the Lower Old Red Sandstone and Conglomerate
pass up gradually into the Caithness Flags, it is manifest that the
latter can no longer be ranked, as they have been, with the lower
member of the group,—the more so as I have shown that the
ichthyolites they contain are in other parts of the world associated
with shells which characterize the middle and upper divisions of the
Devonian rocks*. Inno part of the British Isles are these flagstones
so copiously elaborated, and so rich in fossil fishes, as in Caithness
and the Orkney Islands. It is unnecessary that I should here pre-
sent to the reader accounts of the numerous variations in litholo-
* Russia in Europe, vol. i. p. 64; Siluria, new edit. p. 382 ; and infra, p. 414.
1858. | MURCHISON—NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC. 401
gical composition which these rocks assume in different parts of their
range, or attempt to describe their numerous undulations as well
as the powerful fractures to which they have been subjected. Li-
thologically described many years ago by Sedgwick and myself, and
since then treated of in my own publications*, they have acquired a
wide celebrity for their great economical value, whilst they are deeply
interesting to the paleontologist as containing those numerous ich-
thyolites described by Hugh Miller and Agassiz.
The real study of these flagstones is best made upon the coast-
cliffs, from the lowest strata near Dunbeath to their central parts at
Wick, and thence to the highest beds on the shores of the Pentland
Firth, where they pass up into the overlying sandstones of Dunnet
Head (fig. 9, p. 394). Many of the beds are so bituminous, owing to
the quantity of animal matter they contain, that even in 1827 they
were described by me as bituminous schists*.
One of the most instructive ascending sections in the environs of
Thurso is made (as pointed out to me by Mr. Robert Dick) by
proceeding from the gneissose rocks of the Dorrery Hills on the
_ W.S.W. to Thurso and Holborn Head on the E.N.E. In this district
the observer proceeds from the crystalline rocks through a vast
thickness of superposed strata. The lowest of these, as usual, are
breccias and conglomerate, followed by various sandstones in parts
_ calcareous ; and then follows the flagstone series, in which Mr. Dick
enumerates from 13 to 15 varieties, including sandstones, one variety
of which, at the old Bishop’s Castle near Thurso, is used as a build-
ing-stone. This flagstone series is extended into the various head-
lands of the north coast, and is prolonged eastwards in broken
undulations to Dunnet Head, Duncansby Head, &ec. Until a correct
map of the county be constructed, it is difficult, if not impossible,
so to lay down the range of the strata as to show those parts where the
flagstones expand to vast dimensions, and where they are affected by
powerful and numerous fractures and faults+; for, though the outline
of the country is on the whole one of gently sloping hills and plains,
the fractures to which the strata have been subjected are powerful
and numerous. Many of these dislocations are well exhibited in
the coast-cliffs ; and according to Mr. Robert Dick they are equally
abundant inland, and particularly around Loch Watten. Hence it is
very difficult to form an estimate of the thickness of the flagstone
group. There are, however, tracts (as between Lochs Rangan and
Stemster, and again between the Dorrery Hills and Banniskirk) where
* See particularly the last edition of ‘Siluria,’ in which the Chapter on the
“‘ Old Red Sandstone” was printed long before these memoirs were read.
Tt Trans. Geol. Soc. Lond. 2nd ser. vol. ii. p. 314.
{ Spreading out a heap of flour upon the board of his bakery, Mr. Robert
Dick, who had heard me complaining of the want of any map of Caithness, pro-
duced, in a short time, a model, in relief, of the ground and drainage of this
county, the geography of which (with the exception of the excellent charts of
the coast made by the Admiralty Surveyors) is in a worse state than in any part
of Scotland. I blessed the Duke of Sutherland for having had a good map of
Sutherland executed, whilst the want of any map of Caithness approaching to
accuracy is sorely felt by the exploring geologist.
ee 2
402 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Dec..1)
_ the persistent inclination of superposed strata (in the last case to the
E.N.E.) induces Mr. Dick as well as myself to assign very consider-
able dimensions to the deposit.
The manager of Mr. Traill’s large quarries at Castle Hill (Mr.
McBeath) defines sixteen different beds, nearly all of which, to the
ordinary eye, present a great sameness of structure. Seeing the
indestructible character of this hard pavement-stone, which resists
the weather, even when set on edge to form fences, I suggested,
when on the spot, that their great tenacity and resistance to the
atmosphere were in all probability due to the fine admixture of
silica and alumina, in a finely pulverized condition, with certain
proportions of carbonate of lime and bitumen (the latter chiefly
obtained from the numerous fossil fishes of the deposit), with traces
of iron. The analysis of Dr. Hofmann, to whom I submitted four
varieties of the flagstone of Castle Hill, taken from the base, middle,
and summit of the Castle Hill quarries, has confirmed the view as
given in the Table of the accompanying footnote*. Where the
* TABLE.
)
Silica and| ,_- Salts of
=. Oxide of | Carbo- - | Water, :
Mineral analysed. Pelcatoe Tron and| nate of |(O"S8™°| loss at Magn ria Total.
: : matter. 5
in HCI. Alumina.| Lime. 100°C. kale wer
No. 16. Top flag. .| 68°40 10-21 10-93 3.88 | 0:42 6:16 100-00
No. 7. Middle flag} 69:45 11:50 10:66 5-79 | 0-40 2-20 100-00
Bituminous Shale.| 69-96 8:15 TD. NO Go 4 Oe 2-91 100:00
No. 1. Bottom flag} 61:39 4:87 | 21-91 3°40 | 0:20 8:23 100-00
In analysing a portion of the bituminous schists from the property of the
Earl of Caithness (near Barrogill Castle), Dr. Hofmann reported to me as fol-
lows:—‘‘ When submitted to the action of heat, this substance evolves a consi-
derable amount of gas, and likewise of oily matter containing a certain propor-
tion of ammonia. The residue which remains behind is a greyish mass, con-
sisting essentially of silicate of alumina (clay) mixed with a certain quantity of
‘sesquioxide of iron and of sulphate of lime. A very minute proportion of
phosphoric acid was likewise found to be present. The loss which the mineral
undergoes on heating was found in two consecutive experiments to be 30:21 and
30-02; so that the mineral may be said to contain, in round numbers,
‘Fixed matter (mineral) 70 per cent.; volatile matter (organic) 30 per cent.
“In determining the amount of gas furnished by the distillation of the
mineral, a portion of it was heated in an iron tube, in order to imitate, as nearly
as possible, the circumstances of an operation on a large scale. In two consecu-
tive experiments which were performed in this manner, 100 grammes furnished
in one case 7690 cub. centim., and in another 7430 cub. centim.
«Assuming then 100 grammes of the mineral to yield, on an average, 7500
cubic centimetres of gas, a ton of the material would furnish 2690 cubic feet.
The ordinary varieties of coal used in gas-making yield from 8000 to 10,000
cubic feet of gas per ton. The gas obtained from the mineral is very luminous ;
it is nearly entirely free from sulphur, and it is on this account very readily
purified. The residue left in the retort after the expulsion of the gas retains but
a small amount of carbon, viz. 8°5 per cent.; this residue has therefore but little
yalue as coke.
“The mineral in question is in no way related to ozokerite, as has been sug-
gested. From that substance it may be at once distinguished by its infusibility
(ozokerite fuses at 80° C.=176° Fahr.), and by its entire insolubility im alcohol
and ether, in which solvents ozokerite, although with difficulty, dissolves.”
1858.] MURCHISON—NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC. 403
quantity of bitumen increases to so great a degree as to exude from
cracks and fissures in the stone, the quality of the paving- or floor-
stone necessarily diminishes; but when the value of this bitumen is
sufficiently known, the flagstones permeated by it may be largely
quarried for lighting and other purposes.
Revisiting that portion of the north coast of Sutherland which
confines upon Caithness, and which was formerly described by
Professor Sedgwick and myself, I found that, whilst the lower part
of the Old Red series in the tract extending from Strathy to
Reay exhibits in many places (and particularly near Port Skerry)
shore-ledges well exposed at low water, of powerful coarse breccia
made up of granite, porphyry, and the flaggy gneiss which is pene-
trated by these rocks, this coarse breccia, including huge angular
blocks from 2 to 3 feet in size, is, notwithstanding many breaks,
observed to be surmounted by sandstone of lightish colour, which,
though it weathers to a brownish red colour, cuts, as a freestone,
to a whitish tint. The thick-bedded sandstone with pink grains is
surmounted at Balligill by dark-grey ichthyolite-flags charged with
Coccosteus, Osteolepis, Dipterus, Diplopterus, Cheiracanthus, and cer-
tain plants. These beds graduate into limestones which have been
extensively worked for use, one of the beds being 3 feet thick and
followed by thin flaggy courses. On the whole, however, the lower
part of the series in its western extension is already seen to be
parting with the character which is dominant in Caithness, and is
becoming more a sandstone formation, with included limestone.
The bosses of the granite on the shore near Port Skerry have evi-
dently penetrated, when in a molten state, into the gneiss, whilst
both these rocks have afforded the fragments composing the lower
breccia and conglomerate. In truth, all this part of the coast having
been subjected to violent breaks and faults, the hard crystalline
granite, porphyry, altered rocks, and gneiss have in such movements
been necessarily protruded here and there through the softer sand-
tone and flagstone. But that all such crystalline rocks were pre-
viously solidified, is proved by the fact that their materials forming
the breccia and conglomerate here constitute the highly irregular
base of the Old Red series. This angular breccia, evidently formed
under tumultuous conditions, alternates, however, with fine-grained,
hard, siliceous sandstones, into which it passes up, and finally into
building-stone.
Fig. 12.—Section along the Burn of Isauld, near Reay, showing a
passage from the Lower to the Middle Member of the Old Red Serves.
N. by E. S. by W.
Sea-coast. Reay.
* Granite. a. Granitic red conglomerate. 0. Hard grey siliceous sandstone.
c. Calcareous dark-coloured flagstone, with geodes of limestone. d. Soft light-
coloured sandstone. ¢. Ordinary dark-grey Caithness flags, with ichthyolites.
404 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Dec. 1,
In proof of the very local character of the coarse breccia, the
observer has only to move a few miles eastward to Reay, and, in de-
scending the banks of the little Burn of Isauld to the sea-shore, he
will find that there the fundamental granite has undergone no dis-
location, and that the conglomerate, or base of the Old Red lying
on it, consists of pebbles which have evidently been rounded by the
long-continued action of waves upon a shore, while the lower part
of the flagstones, presenting the same predominance of sandstone as
above remarked, and containing some limestone, passes in even and
unbroken beds under the great mass of the Caithness series with
its fossil fishes. The order is represented in the section, fig. 12.
Fossil Remains in the Caithness Flags.—I have little new matter
to add in respect of the animal remains of this deposit of flagstones.
The genera and species of the fishes are already well known; but
I may state that a specimen of a Coccosteus lately discovered by
Mr, Peach exhibits a vertebral column more completely ossified than
that of any hitherto-discovered specimen. Again, it is to be noted,
that the Asterolepis, found by Hugh Miller in the lowest beds of the
Orkney succession, has been detected, both by Mr. John Miller and
Mr. Peach, in the highest beds of Caithness. Of the prevalent
genera, Osteolepis, Dipterus, Cheiracanthus, Diplopterus and Coccos-
teus, the fish usually lowest in the strata of Caithness is the Osteolepis ;
it may also be stated that a Pterichthys has lately been found in the
Orkney Islands.
I must not omit to speak of the only shell, or rather shell-lke
Crustacean, yet discovered in these flags, and which occurs abun-
dantly at Kirkwall in the Orkneys, and has also been found near
Lerwick in the Shetland Isles. This is a small Estheria, a Phyl-
lopodous bivalved Crustacean, such as are found in African and
South American rivers. It is about half-an-inch long, and marked
by sharp concentric lines of growth, and has the general aspect of a
small Astarte, or Venus. It occurs in certain localities in such
numbers as to form layers an inch or two thick, entirely made up
of the thin carapaces. It has been described for me by Mr. T.
Rupert Jones, and is named by him Estheria Murchisoniana.
Description of a small Bivalve Crustacean from Caithness.
EstHeriA Murcuisoniana, spec. nov. Woodcut, fig. 14, ¢, d (p. 408).
The carapace-valves of a small bivalve crustacean, occurring plentifully on
some of the surface-planes of the Caithness Flagstones, near Wick, and also in
the Orkney and Shetland Isles, have been noticed by Hugh Miller and others *.
Their close resemblance to the shells of small bivalve molluscs formerly led to
their being taken for the shells of Venus, Cyclas, &. ; but their supposed rela-
tion to molluscs having been doubted, some specimens from near Thurso, collected
~ by Mr. Peach, were given tome by Mr. Woodward ; and a far larger number, and
better preserved, from Kirkwall and Murkle Bay, were confided to me for exami-
nation by Sir R. Murchison last winter. -
In their substance, consistence, configuration, and size, these little valves offer
* See Dr. Malcolmson’s Memoir, antea, p. 351; Miller’s ‘Old Red Sandstone,’
4th edit. p. 132, pl. 5. fig. 7; and Sir Roderick Murchison’s remarks above ; and
at pp. 411, 413.
1858. ] MURCHISON—-NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC. 405
direct analogies to the bivalved carapaces of certain recent Phyllopodous Crus-
taceans inhabiting the rivers and lagoons* of hot countries, and often much
resembling the shells of Nucula, Cyrena, &e. ;
Great numbers of the valves are spread over large surfaces of the flagstone,
sometimes scattered sparsely, sometimes congregated in groups, forming films
between the layers of the fissile stone. Sir Roderick remarks (above, p. 404)
that their distribution appears to be very local ;—I have not learnt how thick the
band, or bands, of the flagstone may be that they affect. ‘The valves are usually
single; pairs, with their hinge-lines in juxtaposition, are rare. The specimens
which I have are in dark-grey, tough, fine-grained, sandy flagstone, slightly mi-
caceous, somewhat varying in tint and hardness. They usually appear to have
a superficial smoothness or even gloss, and often a light-brown tint, with some
degree of translucency. But the substance of the valve flakes off readily, leaving
a film on each of the two surface-planes in a split stone; and it is comparatively
seldom that a valve shows its real exterior; for, though the surface may some-
times come away from the stone in splitting, and leave a clean cast, yet an outer
flake of the valve seems nearly always to have fallen away with the shock of the
blow; and the sandy nature of the matrix is too coarse to retain traces of any
very fine microscopic sculpturing in the cast or mould of the surface.
In the Kirkwall specimen the valves are pyritized ; but those from Caithness
retain their brown horny tissue, although the outermost surface is seldom pre-
served, and only in little patches on some valves. From this circumstance it
is very difficult to form a correct diagnosis of the species; for the superficial
ornamentation yields important specific characters m this genus, and in this
case it cannot be well studied.
A careful examination of the materials at my command enables me to describe
the carapace as follows :—
Valves variable in shape from a subquadrate to an oblong form,—some being
about 2th inch long and 3th inch high, and others being as high as long. The
hinge-line is straight ; the generality of the valves have the anterior and posterior
edges forming sharp angles with the dorsal line and passing vertically with a
slightly convex outline to the boldly-rounded ventral border. In this case the
umbo is distinct, almost in the middle of the back line, and bordered by a tri-
angular depressed ear on either side; something like a miniature Cucullea
auriculifera.
There are aiso valves which are longer and narrower, with the ends rather
more convex, and the ventral border somewhat straight. Here the umbo is less
protuberant and nearer to one end (the anterior ?),.
In each of these forms the surface is wrinkled, by about 18 to 20 concentric,
rounded, closely-set ridges, uniform with the outline of the ventral border and
extremities of the valve. The ridges are coarsest near the umbo, their starting
point, and they become finer as they approach the edges of the valve.
Under the microscope, the patches of the outer surface, here and there retained,
are seen to be of a dark-brown opake substance, exhibitmg on and between the
ridges a finely granular appearance, which is probably the real condition of the
surface; or it may be due to an accidental modification of an originally mimute
reticulate ornament.
As it is possible that the difference in shape between the many subquadrate
and the few oblong valves may be due to pressure, to a condition of growth,
or perhaps to difference of sex, it would be too hazardous even to distinguish
them by name as varietal forms. Indeed, circumstances have so modified the
great majority of the valves, that the whole outline of a valve can very rarely
be definitely traced even among a hundred individuals; for the edges either
* The Estheria minuta of the Trias is the subject of a note in the Quart.
Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xii. p. 376; and I have there referred to the Caithness
form. The information, accompanying a recent specimen, which led me to term
Estheria a “marine” crustacean (op. cit. p. 377), is, I find, probably erroneous,
or at least requires to be substantiated. —
tT In one or two instances I was almost misled by apparently elongate valves,
which were, in truth, two valves pressed accidentally one on another “con-
formably,” but still one extending a little beyond the other.
406 _ PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. © [Dec. 1,
overlap, or are squeezed out of proportion, or are broken away, or, lastly,
remain buried a little way in the matrix. .
I had hoped to have completed an account of all the known fossil Estheria-
like Crustaceans before offering any remarks on these Caithness specimens. But,
for the present, I can only observe, that the form most like to them that I know
of is the so-called Posidonomya Keuperiana of Germany (as far as some few casts
which I possess can show). Still there is a slight difference as to shape (I have
as yet no means of comparing the valve itself of the German triassic form re-
ferred to), and I prefer to regard them as distinct; and I cannot do better than
dedicate this fossil Hstheria of Scotland to one who has devoted so much labour
and time to the elucidation of its geological relations.
Mr. Salter has lately shown me some specimens from Russia which appear to
be identical with Hstheria Murchisoniana (but in a matrix of light-grey clay
very different from the Caithness flagstone). These are labelled “‘ Asmmusia mem-
branacea, R. Pacht ;” but I do not know whether they have been described. It
does not appear to me at present that there are any grounds for separating these
fossils from the recent genus Estheria. The term membranacea, having been
already given to one of the Wealden Estherie (Cyclas membranacea, Sow.), is
preoccupied.—July, 1859. T. BR. J. ;
The following passages respecting the fossil plants of this deposit
are extracted from the last edition of ‘ Siluria’ :—
Plants of the Caithness Flags.—The most marked addition to the fossil
contents of the Old Red Sandstone consists of various fossil plants. Even as
late as the year 1854 I could allude to only one unquestionable land-plant as
having been found in this formation by Hugh Miller, and described by him as
a part of a Coniferous tree. The same author had afterwards brought to the
notice of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, in 1855,
several of these fossil plants, which have since been published in his posthumous
work the ‘ Testimony of the Rocks.’ Most of these have been there referred to
tree-ferns and illustrated in that work by woodcuts.
Living at Wick, in the central portion of the Caithness flags, Mr. C. Peach
has laboured incessantly in that locality to discover organic remains, and has
succeeded in disentangling certain fossil vegetables (as well as many ichthyolites)
from these hard rocks. The plants are all clearly of terrestrial origin, and are
of the same species as those which have been found in the Orkneys by Dr.
Hamilton, and at Thurso by Mr. John Miller and Mr. Robert Dick, who have
collected many excellent specimens near that town, some of which are figured
below.
[These fossil remains of vegetables have been figured and described at large in
the Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. (vol. xiv. p. 72, pl. 5) by Mr. Salter, who has also
supplied the following succinct notes on the plants. |
The most striking, perhaps, of these fossil plants are very large, long, flat-
tened bodies, which, from their state of preservation, were clearly woody stems
(fig. 13. 6). They were 4 or 5 inches broad, and as many feet in length, fluted
longitudinally, and possessing a central pith. Though these plants have often
been converted into thin plates of crystalline coaly matter, their forms re-
main distinct, and, under the careful microscopic scrutiny of Professor Quekett,
they have exhibited a true coniferous structure. In the arrangement and num-
ber of the disks upon the fibres, they approach near to the Araucarian group.
In general appearance, and even in the mode of preservation, they strikingly
resemble certain fossil forms from the Upper Devonian rocks of Saalfeld in
Germany, collected by Dr. Richter,—such, for instance, as the Apororylon_of
Professor Unger; but this differs in being of simple structure, and possessing
no pores or disks on the woody fibre. a
These fluted fragments are without doubt stems ; and similar but more slender
specimens found with them are as clearly the branches, which have borne whorls
of smaller twigs, like their living representatives. Again, large branching woody
roots, fig. 13. 5, but destitute of superficial markings, appear to have belonged to
the same tvees, and are often several feet long. With these occur very many
specimens of a Lepidodendron, 4, with short scaly leaves—L. nothum, Unger?
1858. | " MURCHISON——NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC. 407
or a species very like it; a Lycopodites, 3, with long prostrate stems and secund
or one-sided foliage, like that of the common Lycopodium clavatum. This last
may of course be of quite a different natural order, and even coniferous; but its
general resemblance alone is implied in the name.
Linear branched or dichotomous fragments, some of them smooth (1, 2) and
destitute of all markings, have also been found, whilst others, like them, are
covered with small tubercles in quincunx order, and are probably the roots of
the Lepidodendron, 4.
The probability of the smooth forms, 1, being also roots, is very strong.
Similar bodies occur in beds of the Upper Devonian series in N. Devon and the
South of Ireland, and in such a position with regard to the fluted stems of
Knorria, with which they are associated, as to lead to the belief that they are the
rootlets of that plant. The larger ones have even markings similar to those of the
main stem.
This probability is strengthened by finding similar linear specimens with
them, which bear tubercles or excrescences at their tips and along their sides very
like those on the roots of Leguminous plants and many of the Conifers. The
latter is the more probable analogy.
Hugh Miller has, indeed, figured a similar fossil as probably belonging to an
ancient marine plant resembling the Zostera, and has reasonably speculated on
the existence of wide fields of such vegetation on the muddy shores of the Old
Red period. But our more perfect specimens justify the belief above-stated ; and
as yet there is no evidence of any marine plant in the Caithness schists. The
vegetable remains have evidently been swept from adjacent lands into the sea
inhabited by the fishes above-mentioned.
Fig. 13.—Fossil Plant-remains from the Old Red Sandstone of Caithness.
(From ‘Siluria,’ new edit. p. 290.)
yy An?
CLT seo
il
IIs
( 1. Branched rootlets of some Lycopodiaceous? plant. 2. Dichotomous roots
ery common) of Lepidodendron ?, upon a surface marked with double annelide-
urrows. 3. Lycopodites Milleri, Salter ; one-third nat. size. 4. Lepidodendron
nothum, Unger ?, one-third nat. size. 5. Flattened root, and 6. Fluted stem, of
Coniferous tree, about one-sixth nat. size.
A. fossil plant very recently found differs from any one hitherto
published, and is so peculiar, from the rectangular setting-on of its
lateral branches, that it is here figured; and, though its genus is
408 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Decay
doubtful, it has at my request been named (after its discoverer)
Caulopteris? Peachi. See fig. 14.. The stem is wider beneath each
branch, and striated for a short distance.
Fig. 14.—Fossil Planis and Crustacean from the Old Red Sandstone.
’
a. Stem of Tree-fern (Caulopteris? Peachit, Salter); 3rd nat.size. Thurso.
6. Young shoot of a Coniferous ? plant, showing leaves; half nat.size. Dun-
causby Head.
c, d. Estheria Murchisoniana, Jones; nat. size and magnified. Murkle Bay,
Caithness (collected by Mr. R. Dick). .
The flora, then, so far as can be made out, consisted of Coniferous
1858. | MURCHISON—NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC. 409
trees, some of considerable size*, and, according to their minute
structure, of the Araucarian type; Lepidodendron also is rather
abundant, and a Lycopodites occurs. It is but a scanty assemblage,
after all, as to species, but may be compared with that flora recently
detected by Prof. Dawson in the Devonian beds of Nova Scotia, where
Conferce of a somewhat different type, and Lepidodendra, are the
chief forms described f. On the whole, it is analogous to that of the
Carboniferous formation, though distinct as to species. There were
large Coniferous trees—with whorls of branches, and with a struc-
ture like that of the Norfolk-pine; also Lepidodendron, Lycopodites,
and Ferns. That these grew hear the coast and were entombed in
the shallows of a muddy shore, seems proved by their good pre-
servation and from the coarse nature of the matrix, which is,
moreover, indented by the burrows of sea-worms, like those made
upon the shores in our own day.
As we advance still higher in the series, or into the strata which
overlie the Caithness flags, other fossil plants of large size begin to
appear ; and several of these have been discovered in the Orkneys and
Shetlands by Mr. Tufnell and Dr. Hamilton, and belonging either to
Columnaria or to some allied genus, make an approach to forms
usually considered as characteristic of the Carboniferous era (p. 413).
Upper Old Red of Caithness.—In various parts of the north coast
of Caithness the series of dark-coloured flagstones, nearly all more
or less bituminous, is seen to graduate upwards into hght-coloured
sandstone, in parts reddish, but usually of yellowish colours. At
Reay, indeed, such sandstones are developed so very low in the series
(see Section, fig. 12, p.404) as to be interlaced with some of the lowest
beds of flagstone. Here and there, as between the town of Thurso
and Holborn Head, a band of this character is intercalated higher
up among the flagstones, and the beds, being thicker and softer than
the associated flagstones, are used for building.
Fig. 15.—Section showing the relations of the Caithness Flags to the
Upper Old Red Sandstone in the neighbourhood of Dunnet Head.
Dunnet
Ham, Brough. Head. N.
Se
a S
Caithness flags.
' Upper Old Red Sandstone.
In the bold promontory, however, of Dunnet Head, the observer
ascends from the flagstones as exhibited on the coast from Barrogill
Castle to the fishing-villages of Ham and Brough, as represented in
the Section, fig. 15, where, after several undulations and breaks,
those dark bituminous and ichthyolitic beds are carried’ under the
* A large carbonized stem similar to those first mentioned (p. 406) has recently
been discovered by Mr. Peach. It measured several feet in length by sixteen
inches in breadth, thus proving that these Old Red plants attained the dimen-
sions of large fir-trees.
t Proceed. Geol. Soc. January 5, 1859.
410 | PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Dee. 15
headland of a yellowish sandstone, occasionally weathering red.
When viewed from Castle Hill, z. e. on its western side, this headland
presents a reddish exterior; and it is partially so externally on the
north and eastern faces; but when closely examined on the last-
mentioned flank, the rock, which rises in terrace over terrace to
the Lighthouse, 340 feet above the sea, is on the whole of a yellowish
colour. The lowest beds visible near Brough are of reddish-brown
colour, with blotches of light-coloured, and occasionally greenish,
crystalline spots ; the next ledge is a thick-bedded, finely-laminated,
slightly micaceous freestone, weathering white, but partially of
yellowish-brown tints. The higher’ courses consist of strong bands
of sandstone and coarse grit of whitish, yellowish, and dull brown-
red colours, with rarely occurring small pebbles of quartz,—some of
the beds, particularly those on the summit of the headland, contain-
ing elongated argillaceous blotches or concretions of dark-red and
greenish colours*.
These overlying sandstones are much more largely developed in
the Orkney Islands than in the county of Caithness.
Old Red of the Orkney Islands.—These islands, as far as I have
seen them, exhibit essentially the same geological character as the
rocks of Caithness. Possessing as extensive a development of the
ichthyolitic flagstones as Caithness itself, they exhibit a still greater
thickness of the superior and light-coloured sandstone, or third divi-
sion of the Old Red, than is anywhere to be seen in the main land
of Scotland.
In the principal island of Pomona, we observed, at two localities,
that the flagstones were underlaid by conglomerate and sandstone.
Remarking that the beautiful Cathedral of Kirkwall was built of a red
freestone which has retained the sharpness of its architectural orna-
ments for centuries, and, seeing that the Caithness flags, on which
the town stands, dipped away slightly to the north, we passed over
eastwards to the Bay of Meal, to look out for a red sandstone of
which we had heard, and there found red and mottled sandstone
arching over and rising out from beneath the flagstones. As we
also detected the same mottled red sandstone on the 8.E. side of
Scapa Bay, where it is inclined at an angle of 65° to pass under
the flagstone series, and trends to the westward, we had no doubt
that this rock, which crosses the promontory to the Bay of Meal,
was the same which had been worked for the construction of the
cathedral. This feature seems to have escaped the notice of former
explorers; and the fact proves that the ichthyolite-flagstones have —
the same base, not only of conglomerate, but also of red sandstone, in
Orkney as in Caithness.
The chief masses of rock which succeed, are largely cut into in
* Though we sought in vain for any organic remains in these yellowish sand-
stones, Mr. Peach has since detected plants in sandstones at Duncansby Head,
and also at Friswick, on the east coast. At the former place a conglomerate
charged with pebbles of greenstone occurs; and in one of the thin beds of
ae it Oy a stem, apparently with leaves, was found, which is represented in
g. 14 (4).
1858. | MURCHISON—NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC. 411
the east hill above Kirkwall, and may be best paralleled with some of
the rocks near Wick,—being hard, tough, and thick-bedded enough to
be used as rude building-stones. They are also bituminous, and are
here and there copiously charged with fish-remains ; for in them we
found Coccosteus and many remains of other ichthyolites.
These stony bands are followed, on the north side of the harbour,
by thin flagstones, which, in addition to numerous ichthyolites, are
laden with the little Crustacean Estheria (p. 404), which, wherever it
occurs, 1s equally characteristic as the fishes, beg abundant in some
spots of Caithness, particularly near Thurso. With the exception of
the partial axis of the lower sandstone of Kirkwall, and a lower con-
glomerate near Stromness, which is formed out of and rests upon
granite, just like the examples on the coast-confines of Caithness and
Sutherland, the whole of Pomona seems to be so occupied by the
ichthyolitic flagstones, that if the Roman leader who named the island
had been a naturalist, he might aptly have named it Piscina. Occu-
pying all the interior hills as well as the plains on which the famous
Stennis Stones stand, these flagstones are admirably exposed on the
shore to the N.E. of Stromness, where dipping away from low bosses
of granite and the conglomerate formed out of that rock, they form
broad undulations, all along the northern shore, the cliffs between
Breakness and Holbrow rising here and there to 150 feet or more
above the sea.
It is unnecessary here to recapitulate the numerous ichthyolites
which Pomona has yielded. ‘We ourselves met with Osteolepis, Coc-
costeus, Asterolepis, Dupterus, Diplopterus, Diplacanthus, and many
fossil plants. The works of Agassiz and Miller teem with data on
this head,—Dr. Traill having supplied the former with many of the
new specimens*,
In availing myself of the opportunity to visit the northernmost
of the Orkney Islands (Ronaldsha) and the Shetland Isles, in the
steamer of the Commissioners of the Northern Lighthouses, I was
prevented from extending the observations made in the environs of
Kirkwall and Stromness, into the adjacent island of Hoy. Of the
general order, however, in that island, there can be no doubt; for,
whether it be viewed from Dunnet Head, from the sea, or when
sailing under its cliffs on the east, west, and north sides, or by
walking along the opposite shores of Pomona, near Stromness, or
again when standing, as we did, upon the low, small island of
Gremsa, the succession is unmistakeably exhibited. Observed in all
these ways, the flagstone-rocks of Caithness, occupying low cliffs and
terraces, are seen clearly, to pass under and to be superposed by the
reddish and yellowish sandstone of the Hill of Hoy, which, where it
extends to the vertical maritime precipice on its north-eastern face,
with its outlier the Old Man, has been ascertained to have a height
of 1130 feet. I much regret not having explored this headland,
* The finest collection in Pomona is in the possession of the Rev. C. Clouston.
(See Dr. Malcolmson’s memoir, p. 348.) The traveller will find, in the excellent
and comfortable inn at Stromness, kept by Capt. Flett, a little museum containing
many of these ichthyolites.
412 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Dees 4;
which well merits a careful examination. I am not aware that
any geologists, except Hugh Miller and Dr. Malcolmson, ever visited
it* ; and they were not able to detect any fossils in the sandstone of
such great thickness, all of which, however, they clearly recognized
to be (as indeed I had ascertained it to be many years before)
younger than the Caithness flags. Though much affected by vertical
fissures, the beds of the overlying sandstone are clearly seen to be
very gently inclined to the N. and N.N.E., in conformity with the
underlying flagstones.
The mere fact that sandstones of such great thickness overlie and
graduate downwards into the Caithness flags, has necessarily had
great influence in predisposing me to believe that other sandstones,
apparently occupying a like position on the south side of the Moray
Firth, are also of the Old Red age. This point will be considered in
the following memoir.
On disembarking on North Ronaldsha, the northernmost of the
Orkney Islands, we found that the flagstone series was still persist-
ent; and, though we detected no fishes in our cursory examination,
we found there a few fossil plants similar to those of Caithness.
Judging from the uniform character of the cliffs which we con-
stantly passed near to in other islands, such as Rowsha, Stronsha,
Shapinsha, and Eda, I infer that the chief stony masses of all the
islands, seldom rising to more than 200 feet, are referable to the
Caithness flags, though it is probable that the fine building-stones
of the two last-mentioned islands, which are of light-yellow and
whitish colours, belong to the upper member of the series, or that
which we examined in Dunnet Head.
On the whole, however, and judging from the hard and siliceous
nature of the beds at North Ronaldsha, it would appear that the
ichthyolitic and bituminous schists and flagstones, which have their
maximum development in Caithness, Pomona, and the Southern
Orkneys, part with many of their peculiar characters in their range
northwards, just as I have already shown that they change in their
eastward range into the north-eastern parts of Sutherland, between
Reay and Sutherland. In the sequel, this change of petrographical
composition will be still more dwelt upon when we follow these
beds southwards into Ross-shire, and thence to the south side of the
Moray Firth.
Old Red Sandstone of the Shetland Islands.—In the rapid glance
I obtained of this extensive group of islands, I could attempt little
more than the simple determination that the sandstones, long ago
described by Dr. Hibbert as “ transition”? and ‘‘ secondary,” were
prolongations of the Old Red series of the Orkney Islandsy.
At Somburgh Head, the most southerly point of the main island
jutting out between the indentations called the East and West Voe, is
a noble vertical cliff 300 feet high, on the summit of which the
* It appears, from the preceding memoir, that Dr. Malcolmson examined this
bold headland in some detail, but met with no fossils there (p. 351).
t They are now so marked in the Geological Maps of Knipe and Nicol.
1858. MURCHISON—NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC. 413
>]
lighthouse stands. The chief mass of the rock is a finely micaceous
light-grey sandstone, in parts reddish, and weathering brownish-red
with a shght dip to the E.S.E., or away from the older rocks, which
range from the Fitful Head to the N.N.E.
In the more flag-like and thinner beds of this sandstone, and at
the very summit of the rock on which the lighthouse stands, Mr.
Peach and myself found numerous fragments of plants. Hence we
had no hesitation in considering this sandstone, and a fine con-
glomerate which it contains, to be of the same age as the rock which
we had left at North Ronaldsha in the Orkneys, and to be really a
part of the Old Red series.
As we steamed forwards to Lerwick, the cliffs of Lumboga Head,
Troswick Ness, No Ness, and the Isle of Mousa seemed to consist of
thin-bedded rocks pertaining to the same series; and in passing
close along the western shore of the Isle of Bressay, we saw that
the strata were thrown over on a dome-shaped rock of red colour.
This mass and the overlying grey beds near the centre of the island
are evidently carried under the beds of sandstone constituting the
promontory on which the Lighthouse is placed. These beds, of light-
grey colour and much charged with mica, dip to the E.N.E. at about
30°, and in lithological character are not unlike some of those of
Somburgh Head. They contain casts of the trunks and branches of
trees, the stems of which are fluted and void of joints.
At Lerwick, which is just opposite Bressay, we visited the quarries
on the shore to the south of the town, which have afforded a consi-
derable number of those plants, cluding those brought to me some
years ago by my friend the late Right Hon. H.Tufnell*. The sandstone
in which these plants are imbedded is of a brownish-red colour, whilst
under Queen Charlotte’s Fort, at the north end of Lerwick, the rock
passes down into a thick-bedded mass with a few rounded pebbles,
almost a conglomerate.
Although the ichthyolites of the Caithness flags have not yet been
discovered in the Shetland Isles, the existence of strata of this age
in the environs of Lerwick is placed beyond a doubt, by the discovery,
in flaggy beds, of the same little Crustacean (the Hstheria) which
occurs at Thurso and Kirkwall.
Again, judging from the superposition of the sandstones of the
Bressay lighthouse to a great inferior mass of rocks, there can be
little doubt that these, as well as the plant-beds of Lerwick, pertain
to the younger portion of the Old Red Sandstone +.
On inspecting several specimens which a quarryman had collected,
one of which was nearly 5 feet long and 6 inches broad, it was clear
that none of these plants possessed joints, as already noticed by
Dr. Hookert. They were simply long fluted stems without any
* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. ix. p. 49.
tT In his new map, Professor Nicol has aconately distinguished the Old Red
of the east coast of Scotland from the much older Cambrian rocks of the west
coast ; and in his Geological Map of the British Isles, Mr. Knipe had also pro-
perly extended the Old Red along this portion of the Shetland Isles.
t Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. ix. p. 49.
414 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Dee. 1,
transverse division whatever, and could not, therefore, I presume,
be referred to Calamites. They are unlike any Carboniferous plant
ever discovered, and on that account also are, in all probability, to
be grouped with the plant-bearmg Upper Devonian beds of Saalfeld
in Germany and other places.
General View of the Old Red or Devonian Rocks *.—The method
of grouping the Old Red Sandstone deposits of Caithness, the Ork-
neys, and the north-eastern counties of Scotland, as above described,
is in accordance with the tripartite division of their geological equi-
valents, the Devonian rocks of Devonshire, Belgium, and Germany.
Referring to the Table of Classification published in ‘ Siluria,’ I
would here also indicate how unanswerably the zoological contents
of the Devonian rocks of Russia (7. ¢. of deposits lying clearly be-
tween the uppermost Silurian and the lowest Carboniferous stratum)
sustain my belief that the Old Red of Scotland and Herefordshire
is the equivalent of this intermediate group on the continent of
Europe. Proofs of the intermingling, in the same beds, of the sea-
shells of the Devonshire limestones, with species of fishes identical
with those of the Scottish Old Red Sandstone (the identity being
determined by Agassiz), were first given in the work ‘ Russia and the
Ural Mountains,’ and were, I then presumed (1845), sufficient to de-
monstrate the truth of my inferences. Perceiving, however, that
scepticism still partially prevailed on this subject, and that, Russia
being far off, the statement of my associates and self had not made
such an impression as the facts called for, 1 wrote to my friend Colonel
Helmersen, who has given much attention to the stratigraphical ar-
rangement and zoological contents of the Devonian rocks of Russia,
and, referring to the recent admirable publication of Pander, I re-
quested him to inform me distinctly to what extent the ichthyolites
of the Old Red Sandstone of Scotland were commingled in Russia
with Devonian mollusks. His answer was clear and decisive, in
assuring me that there are many places, besides those seen by my
associates and self, where the marine mollusca of Devon and the Bou-
lonnais are mixed up with Scottish species of Old Red ichthyolites.
The lowest known Devonian strata in the north of Livonia, and
thence ranging into the Government of St. Petersburg, repose trans-
gressively upon various members of the Silurian rocks. Thus, in
the Isle of Oesel, as described in a memoir recently read before this
Society}, the uppermost Silurian rocks of the Isle of Oesel are
shown, from the shells they contain, to be perfect representatives
of the Ludlow rocks of England. With these are associated portions
of many new genera, in addition to the Onchus and Thelodus of those.
British Upper Ludlow rocks ; and with them two new species of the
Cephalaspis have also been shown to occur. Thus far the physical
and zoological relations of the uppermost Silurian rocks of Russia
are in accordance with those of the typical region of England.
Whilst, however, the latter affords evidence of a complete and un-
broken transition upwards into the overlying Old Red, the same
* See Tables at pp. 437-439. t Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xiv. p. 48.
1858.] MURCHISON—NORTHERN HIGHLANDS, ETC. 415
intermediate zone is wanting in Russia*, the lowest Devonian or
Old Red stage being there absent.
In Russia the lowest Devonian stage consists of the sandstones
and shales which contain the fossil fishes of the north of Livonia, and
those of the environs of Dorpat and of Tellin on the Lake of Rus-
tuck. The fishes of this zone are those which Asmus first described
(including the great , magnified
twice.
Fig. 14. Orthis striatula, Emmons. a, dorsal valve; 6, a portion of the same
magnified.
Fig. 15. —— Dorsal valve.
Fig. 16. —— _ Ventral or convex valve.
Figs, 17-21. Piloceras invaginatum, Salter. Fig. 17 is a specimen of a nearly
perfect mouth, drawn behind the abraded specimen, fig. 18, which
shows the concentric septa on the rough section, and is obscurely
annulated on the outside; fig. 19 is the conical curved tip; fig. 20
shows a section of the cap-like septa in a fractured specimen ; fig. 21
gives a transverse view of another specimen, showing three concentric
septa.
Fig. 22. Orthoceras vertebrale, Hall? or young of O. bilineatum, Hall? Com-
pressed and bent specimen.
Fig. 23. O. vertebrale, Hall?
Fig. 24a. Orthoceras mendax, Salter. Broken, and showing the subcompressed
siphuncular tube; 240, transverse view of concave septum with
siphuncle, from near the smaller end.
Fig. 25. Orthoceras undulostriatum, Hall. Interior view with angularly bent
septum.
Fig, 26. Front (or ventral?) view of another specimen.
Fig. 27. Oncoceras? undescribed species. A very doubtful specimen.
Fossils from the Quartz-rock and Shale.
Fig. 28. Annelide-tube (Helminthites), or trail.
Fig. 29. Double burrows (Arenicolites) in quartz-rock.
_ Fig. 30. —— Side view of another specimen, showing the contents of the bur-
rows, roughly striated in a vertical direction.
Fig. 31. Serpulites? M‘Cullochit, Murchison. In a mass of sandstone. These
thick, short, free annelide-tubes are very common in the quartzose
sandstones of Durness. eh
ee
Toffen West hth ad nat.
LOWER SILURIAD
Quart. Journ Geol “Sac, Vory, PIX!
Stet Ne
1
W.West
ies ERO Ma DUR NESS
{
fas fae
Pe
a
Geol. Soc. Vol. XV. Pl XU
Journ.
Quart
Taffen West lith ad nat.
ILS FROM DURNESS
Ko)
a,
PL
iS
a
=
I
iva)
fs
=
O
a -
NOTICE.
Prats XII., consisting of a Geological Map of the Highlands,
will appear in a future number of the Journal, as mentioned in the
foot-note at p. 359.
1858.] MURCHISON—SANDSIONES OF ELGIN, 419
DecemBer 15, 1858.
The Rev. J. H. Austen, Ensbury, Dorset, The Rev. Alexander
Maclennan, M.A., Rectory, Newington Butts, Surrey, John Sharp,
Esq., of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law, Tunbridge Wells,
Henry Christy, Esq., Victoria Street, Westminster, and Joseph
a. Esq., Moor-master, Aldstone, Cumberland, were elected
ellows.
The following communications were read :—
1. On the Sanpsronzs of Moraysuire (Enemy, dc.) containing Rep-
TILIAN Rematns; and on their Relations to the OLD Rep SANDSTONE
of that Country.
By Sir Ropericx I, Murcutson, G.C.St.S., F.R.S., V.P.G.S., &e.
Inrropuction.—In the preceding memoir the whole succession of
the inferior crystalline and stratified rocks having been indicated, the
triple arrangement of the Old Red Sandstone in an ascending order
was shown to consist of a lower red sandstone and conglomerate, of
a central deposit—the grey Caithness Flags, and of certain overlying
sandstones, occasionally red, but of prevailing yellowish colour.
In this manner the whole of the Old Red series (or the equivalent
of the Devonian rocks of other countries) is exhibited in the Orkney
Islands, Caithness, and Easter Ross.
The lower division of the series in those tracts has not (see above,
p. 400) afforded any of those fossils (the Pterygotus, Cephalaspis,
Pteraspis, or Parka decypiens) which characterize the lowest Old Red
of Forfarshire, Perthshire, Shropshire, and Herefordshire: the middle
division (or Caithness Flags) is abundantly characterized by ichthyo-
lites and the small crustacean Hstheria: the third, as known to the
north of the Moray Firth, has afforded, as yet, certain terrestrial
plants only, which, approaching to the Carboniferous types, are forms
hitherto unknown in any true Carboniferous deposit.
In following this natural physical group westwards along the
north coast from Caithness into Sutherland, or northwards from the
Orkneys into the Shetland Isles, its bituminous flagstone or central
portion is seen to thin out. Such is also particularly the case in the
southern extension of the group; which we proceed to consider.
Thus, after passing along the east coast of Sutherland, where the
lower member only is visible, it is already important to remark, in
reference to what is afterwards to be noticed on the south side of
the Moray Firth, that at Dornoch, where the stone is quarried on ©
the sea-shore, it is of a decided yellow colour; whilst there, and
also near Tain, such yellow sandstones, which are largely used for
building-purposes, graduate downwards into and are fairly interlaced
with the Old Red Sandstone*.
* The detailed relations of the Red and Yellow Sandstone in the environs of
Dornoch and Skibo Castle are much obscured by accumulations of gravel, forming -
remarkable ridges like the “ asar” of Sweden.
420 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Dec. 15,
In the long narrow promontory of Tarbet Ness, to the E. of Tain,
described in 1827 by Sedgwick and myself, the lower old red sand-
stone, resting upon the gneissose, granitic, and felspathic rocks of the
Sutors of Cromarty, is followed on the north by a zone with ichthy-
olites, representing in miniature the great expanded masses of the
Caithness Flags ; and it is this zone which afforded to the scrutiny of
Hugh Miller not only many Caithness forms, but also the Coccosteus
and other types of the deposit which he was the first to describe.
In this promontory, also, which juts out immediately opposite to the
coast of Moray on the opposite side of the Firth of that name, the
sandstones into which the central member of the Old Red passes
upwards are of light yellowish colours, and on these stands the
Tarbet Ness Lighthouse*. They are, in fact, an eastern portion of
the yellow sandstones of Dornoch Firth and Tain (see p. 398).
In the other and interior parts of Ross-shire the central or ichthy-
olitic zone becomes still more attenuated, being visible in one district
only, or Strathpeffer ; but, although not detected in the banks of the
Connan or the Orron, or in the Black Isle, where the sandstones and
conglomerates are covered by much drift and laid bare at intervals
only, it is probable that a feeble representative of the Caithness Flags
may some day be discovered, inasmuch as in the eastern extremity
of Inverness-shire, and not far to the S.E. of the town of Inverness,
these bituminous schists recur in small dimensions at Inches, as
pointed out to Sedgwick and myself by Mr. George Anderson.
Thence the zone is traceable at intervals eastwards through Nairn-
shire into Moray; and at Lethen Bar and Clune it contains argillo-
calcareous nodules, which afforded to the researches of Dr. Malcolm-
son and Lady Cumming Gordon the well-known fossil fishes described
by Agassiz.
Now, although these fishes are essentially the same as those of
Caithness, we already see how the great central deposit of flagstone
has dwindled away to a mere stratum.
From this point the Old Red group, trending from W.S.W. to
E.N.E., and dipping away to the N.N.W. usually at low angles, re-
poses on the flaggy micaceous gneissose rocks with granitic intrusions.
As the group is much denuded, as well as obscured by drift in its
course through Nairnshire and Morayshire, it is not surprising that
the slender nodular fish-zone or representative of the Caithness flags
should be so rarely detected. The Lower Sandstone or Conglomerate
is also of much less dimensions than in the northern counties of
Caithness, Sutherland, and Ross. The River Findhorn in its course
from south to north, on to Forres and the Moray Firth, exposes on
its banks the best succession.
But, before I proceed to consider the adjacent tract around Elgin
into which the strata seen upon the Findhorn are extended, it is
essential that I should do justice to the other observers who, be-
tween the period when Professor Sedgwick aud myself first rambled
over this country and the present day, have thrown light upon its
structure.
* See Trans. Geol. Soc. Lond. 2nd ser. vol. 1. p. 150, pl. 14. fig. 4.
1858, | MURCHISON—SANDSTONES OF ELGIN. 421
With the exception of Mr. George Anderson of Inverness, who
made known to Professor Sedgwick and myself various geolo-
gical phenomena in the North, the next geological inquirer into
the structure of Morayshire was the late Dr. J. Malcolmson, a
native of that county and a medical officer of the East India Com-
pany’s service, who, being on leave of absence in the years 1838
and 1839, prepared a most able sketch of the tract, including the
discovery of many remains of fishes. In this sketch, which was read
before the Geological Society, 5th June, 1839, Dr. Malcolmson fol-
lowed Professor Sedgwick and myself, after an interval of eleven
years, in grouping the yellow sandstones and cornstones of Elgin,
as we had done, with the Old Red Sandstone. But my lamented
friend did much more. He found many fossil fishes unknown to my
associate and myself in our rapid transit; and his memoir was, as I
can testify, a most valuable record in showing not only the relative
position of the ichthyolites of the formation—and thus of use to
Agassiz in his description of them,—but also in proving the natural
connexion between the different members of the Old Red series.
Owing to the circumstances explained in the prefatory note at
p. 336, Dr. Maleolmson’s memoir was not printed,—an able abstract
of it, prepared by Mr. Lonsdale, having alone been published. The
Rey. G. Gordon*, who has had possession of a copy of this memoir,
gave to the world the chief parts of it, as well as extracts from
letters, in a late Number of the Edinburgh New Philosophical
Journal. :
In the autumn of 1840 I revisited the spots around Altyre and on
the Findhorn, which through the discoveries of Dr. Malcolmson and
Lady Gordon Cumming, and the publications of Agassiz, had then
come prominently into notice; and, though I published no account
of my journey, it was then that I more than ever satisfied myself
that the red sandstones and conglomerates and overlying yellow
sandstones and cornstones formed one natural series. I then found
that the same ichthyolites as those of Caithness had been detected
in a thin argillaceous zone which Professor Sedgwick and myself
had considered to be the equivalent of the Caithness Flags in the
tracts to the 8.E. of Inverness. It was then also that I first saw
fossil fishes at the Findhorn and at Scat Craig, south of Elgin; the
latter under the guidance of Mr. G. Gordon.
Following Dr. Malcolmson, Mr. Patrick Duff, of Elgin, next pub-
lished his work entitled ‘Sketch of the Geology of Moray ’ (1849),
as put together from twelve letters previously published in the < Elgin
Courant,’ illustrated by a geological map prepared by Mr. Martin,
of Elgin, who had even then discovered the Old Red fishes of Scat
Craig, to the south of Elgin. The author of this work describes in
succession the physical geography, and then the various deposits, in
descending order, of which either certain debris or small patches
* In his able review of the proceedings in Morayshire, in which my friend the
Rey. G. Gordon has taken a much more active part than he himself mentions,
his chief object was to do justice to Dr. Malcolmson. (See Edinburgh New
Philosophical Journal, vol. ix. p. 14, January 1859.)
422 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Dec. 15,
exist—viz. limited areas of Wealden or Purbeck beds, and loose,
scattered, or drifted remains of the Oolite, Lias, and Cornstones.
Under these he places the older rocks of the district—the Yellow and
Red Sandstones; for, unlike other authors, he did not group the
Cornstone with the Old Red Sandstone: this memoir was illustrated
by ten plates of fossil remains.
It is unnecessary that I should here advert further to the over-
lying formations containing Wealden or other fossils of the Oolitic
series, since they have been found in mere patches only, always
overlying the rocks under consideration, and imbedded in argilla-
ceous and incoherent strata with thin shreds of limestone, the whole
entirely distinct from the underlying cornstones and yellow and red
sandstones on which they repose. In fact, the Oolitic Wealden
patch at Linksfield* rests at once on hard siliceous cornstone, the
upper surface of which has been powerfully eroded, showing that
there is no sort of natural connexion between these two deposits,
The discovery of Reptilian remains in certain light-yellow sand-
stones was made subsequently to the publication of Mr. Duff’s work.
The single specimen with the impression of scutes of Stagonolepis,
found at Lossiemouth, and which Agassiz named after Mr. Robertson,
was first in the possession of Mr. Duff; so also was the specimen
of Telerpeton, found in the Spynie quarry, and, as is well known,
transmitted by that gentleman to London through Capt. Brickenden.
The short memoir by the last-named ‘gentleman, which is published
in our Journalyt, is very correct in defining the exact position in
which the Telerpeton was found; and the description of the animal
by Dr. Mantell ¢, which accompanies it, completes this brief sketch
of the progress ‘of discovery in the Old Red strata and fauna around
Elgin.
Succession of the Stratified Rocks nm the Northern part of Moray-
shire.—Let us now proceed to consider the order in which the mineral
masses of Moray are collocated.
The best natural sections of the whole series of strata of which
the Old Red Sandstone mainly consists in this part of its range, are
seen upon the banks of the Findhorn River. To the south-west of
Altyre (the seat of Sir W. Gordon Cumming), the crystalline rocks,
in the condition of quartzose and gneissose flags, which have been
penetrated by granite-veins, roll over on a partial axis, dipping both
to the 8. by W. and N. by E., and with a strike from EK. by 8. to W.
by N.
Reposing on the crystalline rock, the following succession of strata
is exhibited as you descend the Findhorn River to Cothall near
Forres, the dip of the whole not exceeding 8° to the N.N.W. :—
a. Lowest beds, shaly and thinly laminated red and grey grit, with black and
white mica, and occasional concretionary blotches of green earth. 6. Angular
conglomerate, composed of both large and small fragments of the adjacent
* See Dr. Malcolmson’s note, Proceed. Geol. Soc. vol. ii. p. 669; and Capt.
Brickenden’s Section, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soe. pe vii. p. 291.
T Vol. viii. p. 97. t Ibid. p. 100.
1858. ] MURCHISON—-SANDSTONES OF ELGIN. 423
quartzose gneiss cemented in a reddish- and greenish-white paste and interlaced
with red- and green-spotted marly sandstone. c. Reddish fine-grained sandstone.
d. Marly grit, with some pebbles and many concretions of red and green marl or
shale (this is seen to have a thickness of 60 feet). ¢. Coarse conglomerate, of
very variable thickness, composed of fragments of the crystalline rocks, varying
from grains of sandstone to 7 or 8 inches in size, the whole in a calcareous
cement with cale-spar. jf. Yellowish sandstone. g. Deep-red sandstone. h. Yel-
low sandstone, occasionally reddish. 7. Sandstone of pinkish-white colour.
7. Cornstone of Cothall*.
Whilst such is the general section of strata clearly exposed in a
conformable succession as you descend the Findhorn River, a single
vertical section at the cliff called the Ramphlet, on the right bank of
the stream, presents the following order from the base upwards :—
Feet.
Pinkish sandstone, alternating with deep-red or purplish shale and
blotches of deep-red and green colours in a highly micaceous
mass, with much black mica . .... . Ee ee ee
Whitish and pinkish sandstone . . . Waa SEZ
Conglomerate of crystalline rocks in a calcareous cement. . . . 35
Greenish-white and reddish sandstone. . . . . ..... 5O
Dark-red sandstone . . . Mere ey tT Rel co cae ae TAO
MeN amasnsAnEStONe ss ae a et es Sk ew OO
217
It is chiefly beneath these last-mentioned red, green, white, and
yellow sandstones that many fossil fishes were found by Dr. Mal-
colmson and Lady Gordon Cumming at Clune, Lethen Bar, and
Altyre +, both in nodules in argillaceous shale, and in a thin flaglike
band of yellow and deep red colour,—the beds, as seen in the burn
near Altyre, splitting into rhombic flags, and resting at once on the
lowest conglomerate and sandstone. In these ichthyolitic beds, evi-
dently representing the Caithness Flags, no Holoptychi are found.
Owing to the vast denudation which the lower tracts of Morayshire
have undergone between the meridian of Altyre and Forres on the
west and that of Birnie and Elgin on the east, it is impossible so to
follow any one band of rock as to mark its variations and changes
along the strike of the strata.
Already, however, in Ross-shire, and still more on the Findhorn
banks, it has been shown that light-yellow colours occur through-
out the group; so that on reaching Elgin we find that the red beds
are chiefly seen in the lower parts of the section, and that, with
some partial alternations of red rock, the mass of the sandstone
which is visible is of a lght-yellow colour Reerouelly under the
chisel working as a white freestone).
* The upward continuation of the series to the north of Cothall is obscured by
drift and gravel, and the subsoil of the whole tract between Forres and the sea is
hidden under dunes of blown sand, forming low hills. Light-coloured sand-
stone crops out, however, in the Water of Nairn at the town of that name. (for
a graphic account of this district, see ‘Anderson’s Guide to the Highlands.’)
t The fossil fishes which were found at Clune, Lethen Bar, Altyre, &c., were,
_ according to Agassiz’s description, Prerichthys latus, P. Milleri, Pp. productus, P,
cornutus, P. major ; Coccosteus oblongus, C. maximus ; Cheiracanthus microle-
pidotus ; Diplacanthus striatulus, D. longispinus ; Cheirolepis Cummingie ;
Osteolepis mayor ; Diplopterus macrocephalus, &c.
424
in.
ety of the same at Elg
t
N.N.W.
Quarry-wood Ridge.
(Length about 11 miles.)
Fig. 1.—Seetion from the Crystalline Rocks across the Old Red Sandstone to the Yellow var
S.S.E.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
°
bi
(debris of all
forming the cliff
Holoptychit
containing reptiles,
with
g to the amount of drift
c. Yellowish soft sandstone,
rassié and Spynie,
rate and sandstone,
Elgin.
yolites.
with ichth
N.B. Owin
red conglome
g. Reddish and yellow sandstone,
ge at Elgin.
, to a similar sandstone at Find
(Scat Craig, &c.),
e. Coarse
Birnie.
greenish colours.
ne, much thicker than d.
y-wood Rid
the relations of the sandstone, /
Foths.
d. Mottled cornstone, of dark-red and
on the right bank of the Lossie above Birnie, jf. Cornsto
passing up into /, or the yellow and white freestone of the Quarr
sorts), 6, which obscures the surface,
with ichthyolites.
- a. Micaceous and flag-like gneiss, penetrated by granite (*). 4. Conglomerate
Hills E. of Dollas. Shoggle.
have not yet been accurately detected.
[Dec. 15,
In making an ascending
geological section (see sec-
tion, fig. 1) from the edge of
the crystalline rocks about
five miles south of Elgin,
and passing by that town to
Lossiemouth and the coast-
ridge which extends east-
wards from that place by
Covesea to Burgh Head, the
following phenomena present
themselves. In the hills east
of Dollas, the older or ery-
stalline rocks are finely la-
minated, quartzose, mica-
ceous, and gneissose flag-
stones, splitting to the thick-
ness of tiles, containing some
white quartz-veins, with
layers of pinkish and greyish
colours alternating, and with
northerly dips varying from
25° to 45°. This crystalline
rock is unconformably over-
laid by a hard grit, sur-
mounted by a coarse red con-
glomerate with interlacing
marly beds, as in the sections
described near Altyre. The
Falls of the Shoggle Burn, to
which I was conducted by
my friend the Rev. G. Gor-
don, exposes such junctions
clearly. Brick-red breccia
or conglomerate, with way-
bands of red marl, follow as
you advance into the vale
watered by the Lossie; and
these beds. are immediately
surmounted by soft yellow
grits and sandstones in
which fish-scales and other
fossils occur (Bothriolepis,
&c.)*, !
* These fossils, in a similar
matrix, also occur, according to
Mr. G. Gordon, on the side of the
Buinach Hill, halfway between
the Shoggle Burn and Pluscardine
Priory.—June 1859.
1858. ] MURCHISON—SANDSTONES OF ELGIN. 425
Though not on the same line of section, the conglomeratic beds of
Scat Craig, which lie a little to the east, are to be referred to this
member of the series, 2. ¢. to strata of a rather younger age than the
lowest fish-beds of Lethen Bar, Clune, &c., or the Caithness strata.
At Scat Craig the conglomerate is chiefly of greenish colours, though
red in parts, and is bound together with a calcareous cement and a
sandy matrix of green, red, grey, and yellow colours, such masses
being arranged in flattened concretionary forms.
_ There are, in fact, passages from fine grey grit to pebbly con-
glomerates, both angular and round, with which white cale-spar is
disseminated. The whole of this mass, like the strata upon the
Findhorn, dip at very low angles only to the N. and N.N.W.
The interest which specially attaches to the fossil fishes found at
Scat Craig is, that, whilst the Pterichthys major and other species of
that genus, as well as the Asterolepis, are common to Caithness
and the west of Moray (Lethen Bar, Clune, Altyre, &c.), there are
other forms, such as the Dendrodus latus and D. strigatus, Lamnodus,
and Cricodus, which, as well as the Asterolepis Asmusii, are common
in the Old Red of Russia, where I have myself detected them. The
Scat Craig beds offer, besides, zoological evidence of an ascending
order from the Caithness group into the superior or Holoptychius-
band so common in Perthshire and Fifeshire ; for associated with the
true Caithness fishes above mentioned we meet (for the first time in
ascending order) with the Holoptychius Nobilissimus, Ag., of Perth-
shire and the south of Scotland.
There is a union, therefore, in this one mass of conglomerate, of
genera which in other places mark the central and upper members of
the series. Moreover, it is not to be forgotten that in the overlying
beds near Scat Craig the red conglomerate and sandstones first become
foxy yellow, and then pass into the ordinary yellow and light-co-
loured sandstone in which the Holoptychius is, as far as I know,
the chief fossil, the other and older forms having disappeared.
We shall afterwards see how the lower and central sandstones and
conglomerates, expanding largely in their range to the east, again
exhibit the Caithness group of ichthyolites at Tynet, Dipple, and
Gamrie. -
In the meantime let us continue the transverse ascending section
of the Lossie. Advancing from the yellowish grit and sandstone
with remains of fishes, after a considerable amount of denudation
and consequent obscuration by gravel, a coarse red conglomerate con-
taining blocks of some size is seen to occupy strong beds, and to be
of great thickness, on the right bank of the stream, above the Manse
of Birnie,—all the strata being inclined to the N. or N. by W.
Judging, however, from the generally uniform and consistent dip
of all these beds, I satisfied myself that one of the mottled red and
greenish-grey concretionary masses, pointed out to me by Mr. Gordon,
must be considered to lie beneath the Birnie conglomerate, and range
along a tract which in the bed of the Lossie has been denuded.
In fact, the tendency to form a cornstone, or concretionary cal-
careous rock, has been already adverted to, as showing itself in the
426 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Dee. 15,
Findhorn section ; and hence I place the first or lowest cornstone
of the Elgin tract (at the spot called Foths) in the generalized
transverse section, fig.1. Indeed, the rock there is like many of
the small concretionary cornstones of Herefordshire. In advancing
to the north, or towards the town of Elgin, from the sloping higher
grounds where the lower beds are exhibited, the plain is so obscured
that little is seen under the drift, except at two or three quarries of
thick-bedded, massive, grey-coloured cornstone from which the drift
has been removed, and which I believe to be a continuation of the
calcareous band of the Cothall quarries on the Findhorn. If we
judge from their very slight general inclination to N.N.W., these
limestones must pass under the whole of the sandstone-ridge to the
south of Elgin.
On reaching the parallel of Elgin the ground begins to rise in
undulations, and consequently to expose here and there some rocks
which, judging from their position and fossils, must belong to a higher
division of the group than any portion to the north. Thus, at Bishop
Mill, north of the town, the scales of the Holoptychius Nobclissimus
are alone found in yellowish gritty sandstone (sometimes working
under the chisel as a white close-grained sandstone), the beds bemg
very slightly inclined to the N.N.W.
These rocks occupy, on the whole, a low wooded ridge extending
to the Knock of Alves on the W.S.W.; and thus far, therefore, all
is true Old Red Sandstone. It was towards the north-eastern summit
of this ridge, or in the quarries west of Spynie Castle, that the cast
of the Telerpeton was found; and Capt. Brickenden has fairly repre-
sented * how the sandstone, dipping to the N.E., seems to pass under
the hard, concretionary, siliceous or cherty cornstone on which the
old Castle stands. Again, where the ridge thickens in the meridian
of Elgin, other remains have been found in the quarries of Fin-
drassie. These, which are chiefly hollow moulds, and which Mr. P.
Duff and the authorities of the Elgin Institution have kindly sent up
for examination to the Museum of Practical Geology, have, under the
skilful manipulation of Professor Huxley, given out solid casts repre-
senting the forms of teeth, vertebrae, and other bones, all of which,
as Professor Huxley will show, belong to the Reptile Stagonolepis
Robertson. Owing to its amorphous condition and to its relations
being obscured by detritus, the massive rock of siliceous cornstone
upon which the Castle of Spynie is built exhibits no absolute junction
with the sandstone.
The surface being much covered by drift and the hills being all
very low, there is some difficulty in determining satisfactorily the
point which is, after all, the gist of the inquiry,—viz. whether the
sandstone with reptiles (7. ¢. of Spynie and Findrassie) is really united |
with the sandstone, of the same colour, containing Holoptychu. This
question, however, would seem to be answered in the affirmative,
when we follow the Elgin ridge in its extension from east to west,
by finding near its base red and yellow grits and marls, with the scales
of Holoptychu and other fish-remains. .
* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. viii. p. 99, fig. 1.
1858. | MURCHISON—SANDSTONES OF ELGIN. 427
Without quitting this ridge, the observer can scarcely doubt that
the mass of the yellow and whitish sandstones are simply the conform-
able upward continuations of the true Old Red Sandstone, and that
the succession is similar to that which is exhibited on the Findhorn
River between Altyre and Forres. Thus, at Bishop Mill, immediately
to the north of Elgin, the gritty sandstones, passing from red to yellow
colours and containing scales of Holoptychu, so dip to the N. and by
W. that, though the junction is hidden, they must infallibly pass
under the beds with Stagonolepis, which at the Findrassie quarry
apparently dip at the same low angle and in the same direction*.
According to my own observation such relations are indeed proved
to exist by following the ridge from the Hospital Quarries to the
west. At Newton, on the opposite side of the ridge to that occupied
by the Bishop Mill quarries, as well as at Carden Moor, many
scales of Holoptychwu and other remains of fishes occur in reddish
and grey pebbly grits associated with deep-red marly shale, some of
which were sent to the Museum of the Geological Society many
years ago by that close observer the late Mr. Alex. Robertson of
Inverugie. Now, I satisfied myself, when in company with Mr. G.
Gordon, that these red beds with ichthyolites form the lower part of
the yellow sandstone ridge, which, whether it contains reptiles at its
eastern end, or becomes a pebbly conglomerate towards its western
extremity in the north of west, seems to be one and the same
deposit.
In short, the red sandstone and pebble-beds with Holoptychi
constitute the natural base of the yellow and white Elgin freestone,
the summit of which, after all, is perhaps not more than 120 or 150
feet above the red fish-beds.
The most remarkable exposition of the strata on the summit of the:
Elgin ridge is seen at the Hospital quarries, where the sandstone is
cut into to a depth of about 70 or 80 feet. The uppermost strata are
hard and gritty, and only used as road-stones, the central mass
affording the best freestone in beds of great thickness—fine-grained,
slightly micaceous, of white and light-yellow colours, here and there
inclining to pk. These beds rest upon softer and marly beds of
light-greenish colours.
A plain of complete denudation, formerly much covered by water,
and extending from Spynie Castle on the E.S.E. to near Lossie-
mouth on the W.N.W., is covered by much detritus, and separates
the Elgin Hills from another low parallel ridge of similar yellow and
whitish sandstone, which, also ranging from W.S.W. to E.N.E.,
extends from Lossiemouth by Stotfield and Covesea to Burgh Head.
[The following section, fig. 2, may be considered as the northward
continuation of the preceding one, fig. 1, p. 424. ]
Along this coast-ridge, and for a distance of about six miles,
numerous quarries have been opened out, one of which has afforded
large bones of reptiles, and another numerous impressions of the
feet and claws of such animals.
Having seen in the possession of Mr. Martin, the intelligent
* The Findrassie quarry was filled in, and out of use, when I was last at Elgin.
Ea PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Dec. 15,
schoolmaster of Elgin above alluded to, a large bone which he had
recently found in the sandstone quarries at Lossiemouth, he most
generously presented it to me as a contribution to the Museum of
Practical Geology. Being astonished at the state of preservation of
this bone (all the specimens hitherto found being casts, whether the
Telerpeton of Spynie or various curious undescribed forms in the Elgin
Museum, including the scales of Stagonolepis), I lost no time in pro-
ceeding to Lossiemouth in company with my intelligent friend Mr.
G. Gordon, to endeavour to find more bony relics: for my readers
may well estimate the value I attached to such a bone as that which
I had seen there in association with the huge scales of Stagonolepis,
which, having been also found at Lossiemouth, had up to that mo-
ment been classed with Fishes.
Fig. 2.—Section showing the position of the Reptilferous Sandstone at
Lossiemouth. (Length about 3 miles.)
Ss.
Spynie Loch. Lossiemouth. Coast Ridge. N. -
«
1
1
{
'
1
i
i
a
'
———
a. Laminated red and yellow sandstone (in the suburbs of Lossiemouth).
b*, White and yellowish sandstone, with Stagonolepis and Hyperodapedon.
6. Yellowish sandstone, forming the east end of the Burgh Head, Coast Ridge.
ce. Overlying cornstone on the sea-shore. 6. Drift, covering the plain.
To the north of the drift-covered low plain of Spynie, the lowest
strata (fig. 2, a), which are seen behind the houses of the suburb
of Lossiemouth, consist of finely-laminated soft shaly sandstone
striped with deep-red and yellow colours; this band passes upwards
into very thick-bedded yellowish and white sectile freestones (6),
that are largely quarried on the side of a low cliff. It was in the
lowest part of these (* in the section, fig. 2) that we detected several
other bones, which, at the first aspect, seemed to be also those of
reptiles; and these also, under the scrutiny of Professor Huxley,
have proved to be portions of the Stagonolepis. These freestones,
underlaid by red strata and surrounded by hard splintery sandstone
(refuse of the quarrymen), present therefore precisely the same
mineral succession as parts of the parallel ridge of Elgin; and in
each, reptilian remains have been found. I must indeed avow, that
it was this Lossiemouth section which most led me to class the
yellow and white Reptiliferous sandstone with the Old Red, seeing
that there is visible a perfectly conformable passage from red beds up
into strata with reptilian remains.
The sandstones of Lossiemouth and Stotfield are further seen to be
overlaid, in perfect conformity, by hard, thick-bedded, cherty, and
cavernous cornstones (¢) ranging down to the sea-shore, in which band
thin veins of lead-ore are occasionally found; and thus the whole
series is knit together by a succession of mineral repetitions, which, in
1858. | - MURCHISON—SANDSTONES OF ELGIN. 429
the present state of my knowledge, make it impossible for me to dis-
unite stratigraphically the reptiliferous sandstone from the yellow and
red Old Red Sandstones with cornstones*. Nay, more, Mr. Gordon
directed my attention to a reef of rocks exposed only at low water,
where hard red flagstones (which I did not reach, but specimens of
which I saw) re-occur, near Halliman’s Scars.
On examining the coast-ridge, as extending from Lossiemouth by
Stotfield, and particularly in its range from Covesea Lighthouse to
Burgh Head, it is seen to exhibit several variations in structure.
Thus at the Lighthouse the beds resume a pinkish tint; then,
again, the celebrated Caves of Covesea (so much frequented by
pleasure-parties), which have been excavated by the sea in lofty
vertical cliffs, occur in softish yellow and white sandstone, and ex-
hibit undulations by which the strata roll gently over to the south
as well as to the north or seawards. This flexed arrangement per-
vades the whole of the promontory in its westward extension ; for,
on reaching the Clashan quarries, the beds are distinctly observed
to dip both southerly and northerly, the latter dip being traceable
inland, and constituting a long slope, which ranges from the highest
part of the ridge (about 300 feet above the sea) down to the valley
which lies between this coast-ridge and the Elgin Hills, This anti-
clinal is represented in the accompanying section, fig. 3.
Fig. 3.—Section across the Coast Ridge at the Clashan Quarries.
S.S.E. a b N.N.W.
a. Quarries of Clashan, &c., affording Reptilian foot-marks. 6. Overlying beds,
as seen on the shore near Burgh Head, occasionally pebbly. 6. Drift of the
plain extending westwardly to Spynie Loch.
Still further to the west, and where the promontory lowers to a
narrow peninsula terminating in the point of Burgh Head f, the same
axial tendency to folds and curvatures is exhibited along the shore.
Tt is in one of the sandstone quarries of Cummingston, called the
‘Masons’ Heugh Quarry,” and on the estate of Major Cumming
Bruce, M.P., that numerous impressions of the footsteps of reptiles
* T examined a similar cornstone with galena at Inverugie, situated nearly a
mile inland or to the south of Cummingston, at least.200 feet above the sea, which,
although no junction is visible, seems also to overlie the sandstone in which the
footsteps occur.
+ Antiquaries are generally agreed that Burgh or Brough Head is the Ultimum
Pteroton of the Romans; and as such indeed it is named in an old map of Scot-
land by General Roy. In my last visit I inspected the ancient arched excavation
and well in the sandstone rock, recently discovered and now again used as a well.
There can be no doubt that the work is Roman, from the massive character of the
steps, the figure of a bull, and other relics that have been found there. In sub-
sequent ages, Burgh Head is supposed to have been a strong place of the Norse-
men, whence its name of Burgh. See ‘ Andersun’s Guide to the Highlands,’
p. 350.
430 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Dec. 15,
have been detected for some years *, and especially of late, many of
the stones having been recently sent to Elgin to serve for the con-
struction of the new railroad rf.
On visiting this quarry of yellow sandstone, the beds of which are
inclined to the N.N.W., and where footprints have been found for
many years in different layers, and on seeing that there might be
procured, with a little precaution, finer impressions than any we
could then find, or than had been sent formerly to London by Capt.
Brickenden (as fine, i in short, as those I had seen on the premises of
Mr. Alexander Young of Elgin, and which had been derived from
this spot), I requested Mr. Gordon to secure some of the best ex-
amples from the proprietor of the quarries. This he has since done,
and has transmitted to me many good examples of those impressions,
At Burgh Head, where they run out in a narrow promontory, the
culminating point ‘of which is about 70 feet above the sea, the yel-
lowish sandstones are associated with strong hard beds containing
pebbles of quartz and granite (an association which reminded me of
the sandstone and conglomerate reefs of Embo, on the Dornoch Firth),
the whole having a northerly dip at the prevalent low angle of 4°
or 5°.
The parallelism and similarity of structure of the chief mass of
the sandstones of the coast-ridge to those north of Elgin, and the
existence in each of the same reptile (Stagonolepis), might alone
lead to the conclusion that the one was simply a repetition of the
other. Seeing the manner in which the beds of the coast-ridge fold
over with a gentle dip to the south, they may indeed well be supposed
to recur in the Elgin ridge, whether near Spynie Castle on the east
or in its western prolongation to the Moor of Alves.
At the same time, it is to be inferred that some of the strata in
the coast-ridge are higher in the series than any which are visible
near Elgin. The pebble-beds of Burgh Head may, indeed, be local
equivalents or repetitions of those of the Moor of Alves at the west
end of the Elgin ridge; but the overlying cornstones of Stotfield or
Lossiemouth, extending as they do upwards of a mile along the coast,
and surmounting the reptiliferous sandstones (to say nothing of the
red reefs near the Skerries), must be considered younger strata. The
repetition therefore of such limestones, from near the base of the
whole series at Foths (fig. 1, p. 424) to the environs of Elgin, and to
those ledges on the coast which are every here and there apparent,
* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. viii. p. 9
+ After my last inspection of this oo Mr. Beckles visited these quarries,
and, carrying wood and carpenters to the spot from Forres (as he informed me
by letter), directed the process of uncovering the foot-marked flagstones, and
obtained many large and fine specimens. The Rey. G. Gordon informs me
that footprints have been observed at the Clashan quarry of Covesea, and by
Mr. Anderson, the original discoverer, at his intermediate quarry of Greenhow.
In May last Mr. Gordon had the satisfaction of securing for the Elgin Museum,
from Messrs. Smith and Fraser, a block, which had been quarried at Lossiemouth,
and partly dressed for the step of a stair, on which there are footprints similar
to those found at Mason’s Heugh, &c. The footsteps are therefore now known
at those three localities—June 15, 1859
1858. ]-— .. MURCHISON—SANDSTONES OF ELGIN, 431
is a lithological feature common to the whole series and strongly to
be dwelt upon. It is, however, to be remarked that the cornstones
of the shore to the west of Lossiemouth, and the patch at Inverugie,
are much more cherty than those beds which, lying further to the
south, occupy an inferior position. The uppermost or third zone of
cornstone is indeed distinguishable from either of the others, in being
highly mineralized and siliceous, containing veins of pure lead-ore,
whilst the central cornstones are massive limestones, and the lowest
(thin, small, and mottled red and green) concretionary earthy lime-
stones; still they are all referable to varieties of cornstone. But,
after all, the presence of cornstone is per se no proof that the sand-
stone in which it occurs is the Old Red Sandstone ; for the rocks first
described as cornstone by Dr. Buckland in parts of Worcestershire
and Staffordshire were afterwards shown by myself to be of the
Lower New Red age (or what Ihave since named Permian)*. (See
‘Silurian System,’ p. 55, pl. 37.)
Looking to the persistent strike of all these arenaceous deposits
from their red bases to their yellow and white summits,—to their
interlamination and association with cornstones at low and high
levels,—to the ascent from the beds with Caithness fishes to the strata
laden with Holoptychii, and from the latter into the upper or reptili-
ferous masses,—to the gentle undulations and low dips to which,
from the base upwards, they all conform,—lI was led to the conviction
that, to however high a family of Reptiles the Stagonolepis might be
referred, both the yellow sandstones of Elgin and those of the coast-
ridge would seem to belong to the same geological group of strata
as the underlying Red Sandstone.
In prolonging the survey from Morayshire into Banffshire, we find
that the upper or yellow sandstones have been partially prolonged
to the sea-coast only, and that in the interior, the deep-red sand-
_ stones and conglomerates represent the middle and lower parts of the
series, which have recovered the large dimensions they possess in
Ross-shire and the northern counties. On the banks of the River
Spey vast thicknesses of deep-red sandstone and conglomerate (fine
types of which are seen at the Bridge of Fochabers) are overlaid at
Dipple and Tynet-burn (near the mill) by argillaceous courses with
nodules containing certain fishes of the genera Pterichthys, Coc-
costeus, Glyptolepis, Osteolepis, Chewracanthus, Diplacanthus, &c., a
complete Caithnessian assemblage.
Again, at Gamrie, near Troup Head, Aberdeenshire, where the
central zone reappears on the sea-coast replete with the same group
of fishes, the beds are seen to be underlaid towards the interior of
the county by vast masses of deep-red sandstone and conglomerate.
In that tract the yellow sandstones are no longer visible, being
buried under the German Ocean.
* ® The reader who may refer to the ‘Silurian System’ will see, in the foot-note
at p. 55, that in the first year of my survey I was misled by the mineral charac-
ters, and was disposed to consider those sandstones with cornstones to be of
Old Red age. ;
~ + Fine specimens of these ichthyolites were presented to me by Mr. Alex,
Simpson, of Holl, Tynet, :
VOL, XV,—PART I. 21
432 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL sociury. [Déc, 15,
- In the heart of the Aberdeenshire Highlands, near Rhynie and on
the banks of the Bogie, the Rev. Alex. Mackay found in 1854 other
fossil remains in Red Sandstone, some of which he submitted to the
late Hugh Miller*. One of these objects, which he has transmitted to
the Museum of Practical Geology, is unquestionably a fragment of a
large stem of a plant, which measures 4 feet in length by 5 inches in
width. It is nearly cylindrical, and is fluted irregularly near the
pointed tip. No joints or nodes are visible as in Calamites; but the
surface is coarsely striated. The strie or ribs are too obscure to
warrant us in placing this fossil plant in the genus Colwmnaria of
Sternberg, which it most resembles*. .
Concluding Remarks.—In still holding the received opinion, that
the sandstones in which the Stagonolepis and Telerpeton occur
belong to the uppermost member of the Old Red or Devonian group
of rocks, it is necessary to meet the objections to this classification
which may very naturally be made by persons who, not having
examined the country, are solely influenced by the circumstance of
reptiles of high organization being found in so ancient a deposit.
Such reasoners (with whom my own progressionist tendencies pre-
dispose me to concur) may also suggest one local geological feature
which appears to favour their hypothesis. Seeing that many Oolitic
and Liassic fossils are spread over the surface of the lower por-
tions of this tract of Morayshire, and that small patches of a few
yards in dimension have even been stated to occur a situ, they
may contend that these are the relics of strata which reposed upon
the light-coloured sandstones, and that the latter may really repre-
sent a portion of the Lower Lias, or even Trias, in which reptilian
remains are known to abound. But, as no strata of Lias have been
detected in situ, and as the small patches with Oolitie Wealden
fossils rest on the eroded surfaces of the cornstones and sandstones,
there is nowhere an indication of any connexion between these
fragmentary relics and the subjacent rocks. Again, it is to be recol-
lected that all the Oolitic fossils of Moray occur either in dark shale
or in loose drift, and that not a trace of these fossils is to be seen in
the reptiliferous sandstones, which are of entirely different characters.
It may also be said that, although small relics or even debris only
are left of these younger Oolitic deposits, we must not judge by the
evidences on the south side of the Moray Firth, but repair to the
tract of Brora and Dunrobin as well as to the shore of Ethie on the
northern side of this great estuary, and there see if, in the diversified
strata of Oolitic and Liassic age (all of which may once have extended
to Morayshire), there are no rocks which can be assimilated to those
' * Some of these are impressions, occurring in the argillaceous layers of the
sandstone, and were at first taken for fucoidal and fern-like imprints; but Mr,
Hugh Miller (as Iam informed by Mr. Mackay) regarded them as the tracks of a
Crustacean. An inspection of these very imperfect impressions conveyed to Mr,
Salter the idea that they might have been made by the pectoral fins of fishes
swimming in shallow water.
t Not having personally examined the tract in which Mr. Mackay resides
(though I hope to do so next summer), I cannot pretend to decide upon the posi-
tion which this plant occupies in the series of Old Red strata. :
1858.] ° —. MURCHISON—-SANDSTONES OF ELGIN,. - 433:
which contain the Elgin reptiles. Now, as those Oolitic and Liassic-
beds of Sutherland and Ross are perhaps better known to myself
than to most other geologists, and as I have twice revisited them
since I described them in the ‘ Geological Transactions’ thirty-two
years ago, I unhesitatingly affirm that in no one respect do they
resemble the reptile-bearing sandstones of Elgin. The following
reasons will place this inference clearly before the reader :—
Ist. The Oolitic and Liassic strata in Sutherland and Ross are
everywhere discordant to the strike, range, and dip of the Old Red
Sandstone, whilst the yellow sandstones and cornstones of Elgin are
(as has been shown) apparently conformable to the red sandstone
with characteristic ichthyolites, on which they rest, and into which
they graduate downwards; so that, just like the equally yellow
sandstones of Dornoch in Sutherlandshire and Tain in Ross-shire,
they seem to form an integral part of the Old Red deposits.
2nd, The prevailing masses of the northern Oolitic and Liassic
formations of Sutherland and Ross consist of numerous alternations
of dark shale and deep-bluish-grey calcareous grits, with carbona-
ceous and ferruginous sandstones, like those of the eastern moor-
lands of Yorkshire, and of finely laminated, thin-bedded Liassic lime-
stones,—the whole series being charged with shells and plants
characteristic of such deposits. Not one of these strata resembles in
any way the Reptiliferous sandstones and the cornstones, whether in
lithological character or fossil contents.
ord. There is, however, in the Oolitic rocks of Sutherland a
peculiar band of building-stone—that of Braambury Hill, near
Brora (and out of which Dunrobin Castle has been built), which,
from its white colour only, might by a superficial observer be assimi-
lated to the yellowish-white sandstones of Elgin and the coast-range
of Burgh Head and Lossiemouth. But a close comparison com-
pletely dissipates this hypothesis. The rock of Braambury Hill is
much more siliceous and closer-grained than the yellow sandstones
of Dornoch, Tain, and Morayshire, and, unlike them, offers scarcely
a trace of mica, whilst it is laden with exquisitely-preserved casts
of numerous fossil shells of the Calcareous Grit or Oxford Oolite.
This white building-stone is also charged with the casts of many
large stems of plants of Oolitic age, whilst the underlying shale and
sandstone with the Hgwisetum columnare contain thick beds of the
Brora coal,—the brecciated masses of the group at Helmsdale being
charged with a great variety of the plants noticed by Hugh Miller,
the Duke of Argyll, and others.
_ It is enough, then, to say that no one of these features is to
be recognized in the Reptiliferous Sandstones of Morayshire, in
which neither an Oolitic shell nor a land-plant has yet been detected.
These, on the contrary, are associated with cornstones and pebble-
beds, and contain reptiles of genera which have never, as Professor
Huxley assures me, been found in any other deposit, whether of paleo-
zoic or mesozoic age ; whilst the rocks seem to be linked on conform-
ably to strata laden with known ichthyolites of the Old Red Sandstone.
As then it is impossible to refer these Reptile-bearing. Sandstones ~~ -
212
434 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society, § [Dec. 15,
of Elgin to a Jurassic age,—and, seeing, from their relations to the Old
Red fish-beds, that it is scarcely possible to assimilate them to the
Trias* or New Red Sandstone (of which there is no trace whatever
on the N.E. coast of Scotland), still it might be contended that, as
in many parts of the world the Devonian rocks pass up into the
Lower Carboniferous, the sandstones of Elgin with Reptilian re-
mains may be classed with the strata forming the base of the
Coal-formation.
In estimating the evidences before us, it would unquiestionanle be
wrong to dogmatize on this point, and peremptorily to separate the
strata in question from the lowest Carboniferous zone. Future
discoveries of other fossils may lead to such a classification, though
in the present state of our knowledge no reason can be offered for
the adoption of this view.
The mere fact that cornstones underlie and overlie the fish-beds,.
and also underlie and overlie the yellow sandstones, would seem to
demonstrate that all these strata constitute one united mineral series.
Although no trace of Carboniferous plants has been detected in these
beds, it is to be remembered that the light-coloured sandstones of
Duncansby Head, Tarbet Ness, and the Shetland Islands have
afforded a rare land-plant or two, which, though apparently of
genera that occur in the Coal-period, are unquestionably of very
distinct species, and thus far favour the view, to which I still
adhere, that these yellow sandstones (often, as before stated, of
reddish colours in their northern extension in Caithness and the
Orkney Islands) form really the natural upward termination of the
Old Red or Devonian group—that great intermedium between the
Silurian and Carboniferous systems of life,
Here, then, I close this sketch of the structure and succession of
the older rocks of the North of Scotland, leaving to my associate in
the Government School of Mines, Professor Huxley, the description
of the reptile which is most characteristic of the youngest of the
deposits under consideration on this occasion.
The only merit I claim in respect to these reptilian remains,
besides the discovery, with Mr. G. Gordon, of some of their bones,
is the having earnestly preferred the request to Mr. Patrick Duff
to allow me to select from his choice cabinet a “most curious hollow
cast, which I believed to belong to a vertebrate animal, and also for
having induced the gentlemen of Elgin and the neighbourhood to
send up, from their instructive museum and their private stores,
every remarkable fossil, the examination of which could throw light
on this interesting subject.
Note on the Fossils from near Kigin.—The following account of the successive
discoverics of the remains of Reptiles and their footsteps in Sandstones near
Elgin is abstracted from a memoir recently communicated by Mr. Patrick Duff
to “the Local Scientific Society of Elgin.”
_ The first cast of scutes (scales) of the Stagonolepis was found in 1844, in the
: * For the entire dissimilarity of the so-called New Red of the North-west
~ Coast of the ae see p. 416,
1858.] - MURCHISON-—SANDSTONES OF ELGIN, } 435
refuse of a quarry at Lossiemouth, by a labouring man named Anderson,
from whom Mr. Patrick Duff obtained it. Carrying the specimen to Edinburgh,
Mr. Duff submitted it to the inspection of Professor Goodsir, Dr. Rhind,
Mr. Hugh Miller, Mr. Thomas Stevenson, and others, no one of whom could
determine to what class of animals it belonged. After having the fossil
photographed, Mr. Duff returned to Elgin, ‘no better informed” (as he says)
‘‘than when he set out.”” Then he lent the specimen to Mr. Alexander Robertson ;
and, that gentleman having sent drawings of it to Agassiz, the name of Stagono-
lepis Robertsoni was given to it by the great ichthyologist, as characterizing a fossil
fish. The next advance was made by Capt. Brickenden in the quarry of Cum-
mingstone, who obtained from the tacksman of the quarry a slab with a double
row of footprints, figured in the 8th vol. of the Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. Lond.
Subsequently Mr. Duff and Mr. Alexander Young procured other slabs with
footprints from the same quarries of Cummingstone. In 1851 the “ Spynie
Fossil of Elgin,” afterwards named Telerpeton by Mantell (Quart. Journ. Geol.
Soe. vol. viii.), was found by Mr. William Young at the bottom of a shaft which
had been sunk through 51 feet of sandstone down to a soft rubbly bed, in which
the animal had been preserved. Having obtained possession of it, Mr. Duff
submitted. this curious little reptile to the scientific world; and the result is
known. Subsequently Mr. Alexander Young found sandstone slabs in the Fin-
drassie Wood quarry, or on the northern slope of the Elgin ridge, marked with
impressions of the scales of Stagonolepis; and these, with the hollow forms or
moulds, in the possession of Mr. Duff, were confided to Sir Roderick Murchison’s
care, together with other remains in the Elgin Museum, which he requested to
have sent to London, and from which Professor Huxley has procured some of
his most remarkable results. Lastly, Mr. Martin, of Elgin, discovered a large
bone (the bony matter being. preserved) at Lossiemouth ; and shortly afterwards
Sir R. Murchison and Mr. G. Gordon found other bones at the same quarries ;
all of which have been referred by Professor Huxley to the Stagonolepis, some
of the scutes of which (the original specimen of 1844) were found in the same
spot.
PN ow, as these curious reptilian remains might long have remained unknown,
had no liberal promoter of fossil natural history, like Mr. Duff, resided at Elgin,
it is much to be regretted that neither the Ze/erpeton nor the Stagonolepis should
have had his name attached to it as its specific distinction.—R. I. M.
Postscript.—Whilst this memoir was passing through the press,
the Rev.G. Gordon acquainted me with the discovery of another fossil
animal in the same beds at Lossiemouth in which the Stagonolepis
occurs, and soon after transmitted to me some of its bones. In a
further search, in which he took an active part, Mr. Gordon was so
fortunate as to procure many more portions of the animal in question,
including vertebra, skull, and teeth. These relics having been sent
up to the Museum of Practical Geology for examination (to be after-
wards returned, with other remains, to the Elgin Institution), Pro-
fessor Huxley has pronounced them to belong to a Saurian reptile,
about six feet long, remarkable for the flattened or slightly concave
articular surfaces of the centra of its vertebree, and for its well-deve-
loped costal system and fore and hind limbs,—but more particularly
characterized by its numerous series of subcylindrical palatal teeth.
Professor Huxley terms this new reptile Hyperodapedon Gordoni,
the specific name being given in honour of my valued friend the
Rev. G. Gordon. This reptile (which, like the Stagonolepis and
Telerpeton, is of a genus unknown in any other formation) will be
fully described by Professor Huxley in the Monographs of the
Geological Survey. ,
436 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL socrety. [Dec. 15.
. The discovery of this the third genus of Reptiles found in the
uppermost sandstones of Elgin has, I confess, somewhat shaken the
belief expressed in the preceding pages, that these deposits are of as
remote an age as.the Uppermost Old Red Sandstone. So long as the
Stagonolepis and the little Telerpeton were the only evidence appealed
to by paleontologists to invalidate my inference as based on the ap-
parent stratigraphical succession and mineral character, I did not
attach undue weight to them,—the more so as those animals are
generically distinct from any fossil hitherto found.
- Now, however, that Professor Huxley informs me that the Hy-
perodapedon is not only a lacertian reptile, but is closely allied to
the Triassic Rhynchosaurus, and when I couple this determination
with what he before stated, viz. that the general affinities of the
Stagonolepis are also with Mesozoic reptiles, it becomes me to pause
in my geological conclusions.
- Throughout my researches I have invariably been mainly guided
by paleontological evidence, and have never before had such a diffi-
- eulty in reconciling it with the apparent succession and connexion
of the strata as in the present instance. It would, indeed, have
been much more in accordance with my long-cherished views, as a
- progressionist, to have separated the reptiliferous sandstones from
_ the yellow ichthyolitic sandstones, really of the Old Red age, on
which they rest. Not having, however, as yet been able to detect
any break or physical separation between the two deposits, and be-
lieving in the passage from the red to the yellow sandstones, and even
in their alternation, as shown on the banks of the Findhorn, I have
naturally been strongly influenced by these physical features.
. - It is, however, just possible that, by a closer and longer survey,
the light-coloured sandstones of Findrassie, Spynie, and the coast-
ridge, with their cornstones, may be found to be of a different age
from the mass of the similar yellow and whitish sandstones and
cornstones of Elgin, Bishop Mill, and the Findhorn. In the endea-
vour to settle this question, it is my intention to revisit Morayshire
during this summer, and to re-examine these tracts, with the view
of laying any new evidence I may obtain on this point before the
ensuing Meeting of the British Association at Aberdeen.—R. I. M.,
June 12, 1859. .
* Tables éxplanatory of the General View of the Old Red or
Devonian Rocks. (See p. 414.)
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F. E. Calvert and R. Johnson.—Hardness of Metals and Alloys, 114.
H. Ste.-Claire Deville & H. Caron.—Apatite, Wagnerite, and some
metallic phosphates, 128,
J. W. Dawson.—Devonian plants from Gaspé, 147.
T. S. Hunt.—Some points in Chemical Geology, ae
—
L2
466. DONATIONS.
London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine (continued).
H. Rosales.—Gold-field of Ballarat, 149.
J. Harley.—Cephalaspis Asterolepis, from Ludlow, 150.
A. Meyer.—New method of taking the Specific Gravity of bodies, 150.
H. Hennessy. —Terrestrial Climate as influenced by the distribution
of land and water at different geological epochs, 181. aig
J. D. Forbes.—Ice and Glaciers, 197.
G. P. Scrope.—Volcanic cones and craters, 229,
Rammelsberg.—Titaniferous iron-ores, 231.
F, Field.—Guayacanite, 232.
Mechanics’ Magazine. New Series. Nos, 1-18, December 31, 1858,
to April 29, 1859.
Notices of Scientific Meetings, &c.
Munich. Abhandlungen der Math.-Phys. Classe d. k, Bayerischen
Akad. d. Wissensch. Vol. viii. pt. 2. 1858.
A, Wagner.—Neue Beitrége zur Kenntniss der urweltlichen Fauna
des lithographischen Schiefers: Saurien, 413 (6 plates).
——. Gelehrte Anzeigen. Vol. xlv. (1857).
Bronn’s Lethzea Geognostica; Ehrenberg, iiber den Grinsand, &c. ;
Quenstedt’s Der Jura; Scheerer, uber Aftercrystalle; Senft’s
Classification des Felsarten ; Volger’s Erde und Ewigkeit ; &c. ;—
noticed. |
‘Wagner.—Zur Kenntniss der Flugsaurier aus den lithograph. Schiefern
in Bayern, 171.
—. —. Vol. xlvi. (1858).
Cotta’s Geologische Fragen ; Cotta und Miiller’s Gangstudien ; Quen-
stedt’s Der Jura, &c. ;—noticed.
Von Kobell.—Stauroskopische Beobachtungen, 254 (plate).
Wagner.— Ueber Dr. H. von Meyer’s ‘Reptilien aus der Steinkohlen-
Formation in Deutschland,’ 313.
Vogel.—Ueber die Zusammensetzung eines Conglomerates von Titt-
lingen im Bayer. Wald, 546,
es . Vol. xlvii. (1858).
Bronn’s Morphologische Studien; Cotta’s Geologische Fragen ;
Gurlt’s Uebersicht der pyrogenneten kiinstlichen Mineralien ;
Suckow’s Die Mineralogie; Zippe’s Die Charactere des Mineral-
system’s von Fr, Mohs; &c.—noticed.
Neuchatel, Bulletin de la Société des Sciences Naturelles de. Vol. iy.
part 3. 1858.
i. Desor.—Sur les terrains glaciaires, 307.
——. Invasion des Sources dans le tunnel du Hauenstein, 318.
——. Sur les roches polies, 330. .
——. Decouverte d’un ruisseau et d’un dépét de tourbe dans le
tunnel de St.-Blaise, 343. .
—~— et Gressly.—Sur la structure géologique du plateau de Trois-
Rods, 440,
Ritter.—De la résistance de nos différentes pierres, 321.
Jaccard.—Sur les restes de tortues fossiles du terrain d’eau douce
du Locle, 431.
——. Sur les Sondages dans les marais du Locle, 435,
DONATIONS. 467
Paris. L’Académie des Sciences. Comptes Rendus. 1858. 2™¢Sér.
Vol. xlvii. Nos. 19-26.
‘ . Comptes Rendus. Vol. xlvui. Nos. 1-11.
. Bulletin dela Société Géologique de France. 2™°Sér. Vol. xv.
feuill. 832-42. 1858.
Marcel de Serres.—De la découverte du Noteus laticaudus dans les
terrains d’eau douce anenthalassiques d’Armissan (Aude) (fin.),497.
L. Semann.—Sur la distribution des mollusques fossiles dans le ter-
rain crétacé du département de la Sarthe, 500.
Th. Ebray.—Sur la classification des Echinoconide (d’Orb.), etc., 525.
L. Ville.—Sur un gite de combustible minéral situé entre Ténés et
Orléansyville, 527. ;
B. J. Shumard.—Sur le terrain permien dans New Mexico, 531.
J. Marcou.—Lettre relative a la publication des notes de son explora-
tion des Montagnes Rocheuses et de la Californie, 533.
Triger.—Sur le terrain crétacé de la Sarthe, 538.
Mauget.—Sur une éruption du Vésuve, 550, 569.
De Saint-Marceaux.—Liste de 125 espéces de coquilles fossiles
trouvées dans le département de l’Aisne, 551.
Ponzi.—Sur les diverses zones de la formation pliocéne des environs
de Rome, 555.
Lartet.—Sur les débris fossiles de divers Eléphants découverts aux
environs de Rome, 564.
H. Coquand.—Sur la classification de la craie du sud-ouest, 577.
—. Description géologique de l’étage purbeckien dans les deux
Charentes, 577.
Gratiolet.—Sur un fragment de crane trouvé 4 Montrouge, prés Paris
Pl. V.), 620.
O. Terquem.—Sur lage des grés liasiques du Luxembourg, 625.
H. Benoit.—Pourquoi les dépéts morainiques sont, dans les Vosges,
usés et arrondis, 638.
De Boucheporn.—Sur la géologie de l’isthme de Panama, 642.
A. Oppel.—Classification de la formation jurassique d’aprés les carac-
téres paléontologiques, 657.
Vol. xvi. feuill. 1-6. November 1858. 1859.
Se. Gras.—Sur la constitution géologique du Brianconnais, 21.
Ch. Lory.—Sur les grés 4 anthracite du Brianconnais, 27.
Marcel de Serres.—Des dunes et de leurs effets, 32.
Des falaises des cotes de la Méditerranée, 36.
Bonjour, Defranoux et frére Ogérien.—Sur la découverte de la craie
supérieure 4 silex dans le département du Jura, 42.
Th. Ebray.—Les affleurements des étages ne représentent pas les
limites des anciennes mers, 47.
L. Pareto.—Sur les terrains du pied des Alpes dans les environs du
lac Majeur et du lac de Lugano (P1.I.), 49.
—s
e
——. I/’Ecole desMines. Annales des Mines. 5™°Sér. Vol. xiii.
1858.
E. Rivot.—Extraits de Chimie (travaux de 1857), 25.
De Sénarmont.—Extraits de Minéralogie (travaux de 1856-57), 45.
Bertera.—Sur la traversée des sables et argiles de la Sologne, dans le
foncement des puits servants & l’exploration de la Marne, 73
(plate).
468 DONATIONS.
Paris. L’Ecole des Mines. Annales des Mines (continued).
Pernolet.—Sur l'état actuel de l'industrie de fer dans le district mé-
tallurgique de Schnednion en Pologne, 89 (plate).
Comynet.—Sur les Exploitations auriféres de la vallée de Tipnani, 155.
L. Moissenet.—Description du procédé anglais pour les assais de
' cuivre par la voie séche, 183.
F, Kuhlmann.—Sur les chaux hydrauliques, les pierres artificiellés, et
la formation des roches par la voie humide, 209.
Daubrée.—Sur le relation des sources thermales de Plombiéres avec
les filons métalliféres, et sur la formation contemporaine des Zéo-
lithes, 227 (plate).
De Villeneuve.—Sur les Silicéo-carbonates naturels, leur gisement et
leur application, 257. .
Delesse.—Sur le métamorphisme, 321.
Appolt.—Carbonisation de la houille, 417 (plate).
L. Lemuhot.—Procédés d’amalgamation des minerais d’argent &
Potosi, 447.
Les houilléres de Newcastle, 505.
Scheutz.—Sur les mines de charbon de Trinidad, 526.
Tooke et Newmarch.—Sur la production de V’or et de argent, 528.
Sauvan.—Sur les anthracites de la Pennsylvanie, 536.
Bibliographie, Prem, Sem. de 1858, i,
Vol. xiv. 4° livraison de 1858.
Rammelsberg.—Sur les rapports cristallographiques et chimiques de
Vaugite, de ’hornblende et des minéraux analogues, 1.
Noblemaire.—Sur les richesses minérales du cercle de la Seo d’Urgel
(Catalogne), 49 (plate). .
L. Moissenet.—Préparation méchanique du minerai d’étain dans le
Cornwall, 77 (8 plates).
Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. Proceedings, pp. 129-
273 (sheets 10-20, title-pages, index, &c.).
F, V. Hayden.—Geology of Nebraska and Kansas, 139.
W. J. Taylor.—Lecontite and other minerals, 172.
C. M. Cresson and C. O.Sanford.—Ripple-marked Sandstone, 177, 212.
W. P. Foulke and J. Leidy.—Hadrosaurus and other Cretaceous
Fossils, 218.
I, Lea.—Cretaceous Strata of New Jersey, 218.
F, B. Meek and F. V. Hayden.—Cretaceous beds and Carboniferous
fossils of Kansas and Nebraska, 256. :
Journal, New Series. Vol. iv. pt. 1. 1858,
Photographic Society. Journal. Nos. 76-80. Jan.~March 1859.
Quarterly Journal of Microscopic Science, including the Transactions
of the Microscopical Society of London. No, 26. Jan. 1859.
Royal Geographical Society. Proceedings. Vol. iii. No. 1.
Thomson and Kerr.—Demavend, 2.
_ Gregory.—Australia, 18, 34.
Royal Society. Proceedings. No. 33.
Pratt.—Deflection of the Plumb-line in India, 493.
Wrottesley.—Anniversary Address, 499,
Society of Arts Journal. Vol. vii. Nos. 320-329. Jan.-March 1859.
G. F. Harrington. —Aluminium, 203, |
DONATIONS. 469
South Yorkshire Viewers’ Association. First Annual Report, 1857-
1858. 1858.
J. T. Woodhouse.—Inaugural Address, 11.
Stuttgart. Wirttembergische naturwissenschaftliche Jahreshefte.
Fiinfzehnter Jahrgang. Erstes Heft. 1859.
V. Jaeger.—Ueberreste von Menschen und Thieren, 35.
Fraas, Bohnerze, 38; des Wachsthum der Apiocriniten-Stile, 126 ;
Rhyncholites integer, 127 (plate); das Verwachsthum zweier Be-
lemniten, 127 (plate).
Kapff.i—Gayialartiges Reptil aus dem Stubensandstein, 46, 93.
Von Fehling und Fras.—Untersuchung der Mineralwasser bei Jaben-
hausen, 82.
Probst.—Ueber die Streifung d. fossilen Squalidenzahn, 100 (plate).
A, Aachenbach.—Ueber Bohnerze auf dem siidwestlichen Plateau
der Alp, 103.
—, . Gweites Heft. 1859.
J. Schill —Die Tertiar- und Quartarbildungen am nordlichen Bo-
densee und im Hohgau, 129.
Einige Nachrichten tiber den “Jura in Amerika,” 255.
Tyneside Naturalists’ Field-club. Transactions.
W. Kell.—Anniversary Address, 1.
A. Hancock.—Certain Vermiform Fossils found in the Mountain-
limestone districts of the North of England, 17 (6 plates).
Venice. Nono Congresso degli Scienziati Italiani in Venezia nel
Settembre 1847. Porzione degli Atti della Sezione di Geologia.
1853. From Sir C. Lyell, ViP.GS.
Yorkshire (West Riding) Geological and Polytechnic Society. Re-
port of the Proceedings, 1857-1858. 1858.
H. C. Sorby.—The Crag Deposit at Bridlington, and the Microscopic
Fossils occurring in it, 559,
R. Carter.—Colliery-ventilation, 562.
KE. W. Binney.—The mixed use of Davy-lamps and naked lights in
coal-mines, 557. ;
T. Lister.— Barnsley, its mineral and manufacturing products and
natural history, 580.
J. Brakenridge.— Working and ventilating coal-mines, 592.
Kyle.—Ancient bloomery at Lochgoilhead, Argyleshire, 605.
II. PERIODICALS PURCHASED FOR THE LIBRARY.
Annals and. Magazine of Natural Hist. 3rd Series, vol. 11. No. 13
-15. January—March 1859. ag
W. Carruthers.—Graptolites from the Silurian Shales of Dumfries-
shire, 23 (figures).
J. G. Jeffreys.—British Mollusca [Euomphalus], 106 (plate).
470 DONATIONS.
Dunker und von Meyevr’s Paleontographica. Vol. v. part 6. 1858.
R. Ludwig.—Fossile Pflanzen aus der mittlern Htage der Wetterau-
Rheinischen Tertiar-Formation (Schluss), 151 (8 plates),
——. Fossile Pflanzen aus dem Basalt-Tuffe vo Holziaaue bei
Homberg in Kurhessen, 152 (8 plates). “
——. Vol. vi. part 6. 1858.
H, von Meyer.—Archegosaurus latirostris, 219; Labyrinthodonten
aus dem bunten Sandstein von Bernburg, 221 (5 plates); Psepho-
derma Alpinum aus dem Dachsteinkalke der Alpen, 246 (plate).
Edinburgh New Phil. Journal, New Series, No. 17. vol. ix. No. 1.
January 1859.
G. Gordon.—Geology of the northern part of Morayshire, 14.
R. Harkness,—Permian Breccias of Dumfriesshire, 102,
W. Huggon.—Alkaline Water of Leeds, 137,
W. Hopkins.—Address on Geology, 1438.
H. C. Sorby.—Currents depositing the Carboniferous and Permian
Strata, 145. . |
——. Minerals in igneous rocks, 150.
T. P. Teale.—Deposits in the Aire Valley, 146.
J. G. Marshall.—Geology of the Lake District, 147.
W. Pengelly.—Ossiferous Cavern at Brixham, 147.
J. Phillips.—Heematitic ores of North Lancashire, 148.
——. Slaty cleavage of the Lake District, 150. ,
D. Page.—Fossil Seal in Fifeshire, 149.
R, Owen.—New Pterodactyle, 151.
R. I. Murchison.—Geology of North Scotland, 153.
J. Nicol.—Gneiss of North Scotland, 157.
H. D. Rogers.—Permian rocks of N. America, 157.
F. B. Meek and F. V. Hayden.—So-called Triassic rocks of Kansas
and Nebraska, 166,
Leonhard und Bronn’s Neues Jahrbuch fir Min., &c. Jahrgang
1858. 7 Heft.
J. Burkhart.—Die Fundorte der Mexikanischen Meteoreisen-Massen,
769, .
Gergens.— Ueber Konferven-artige Bildungen in manchen Chalzedon-
Kugeln, 801.
Letters: Notices of Books, Mineralogy, Geology, and Fossils,
——. Jahrgang 1859. Erstes Heft.
C. Deffner und O. Fraas.—Die Jura-Versenkung bei Langenbriicken
in Baden, 1.
H. G. Bronn.—Nachtrag iiber die Trias-Fauna von Raibl, 39 (plate).
Fr. Sandberger.— Die Bohrung auf Kohlenséure-haltiges Soolwasser
zu Soden im Herzogthum Nassau, 46.
Th. Scheerer.—Ueber Kern-Krystalle (Perimorphosen), besonders in
Bezug auf die Prioritats-Frage, 51.
Letters: Notices of Books, Minerals, Geology, and Fossils.
DONATIONS. A471
III. GEOLOGICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS.
Names of Donors in Italies.
Agassiz, Z. On Marcou’s Geology of North America. 1859.
Anon. LErdrevolutionen oder Beschreibung und Erklarung des in
Spanien am 21 Marz 1829 ausgebrochenen grossen Erdbebens.
1830. From Sir C, Lyell, V.P.GS.
Anon, The Exhibition of 1861. 1859.
Babbage, C. An Analysis of the Statistics of the Clearing-House
during the year 1839, with an Appendix on the London and New
York Clearing-Houses, and on the London Railway Clearing-
House. 1856.
. A Word to the Wise. Observations on Peerage for Life, 1856.
Scheutz’ Difference-Engine, and Babbage’s Mechanical No-
tation. 1856.
Sur la Machine suédoise de MM. Schutz pour calculer
les Tables mathématiques par la Méthode des Différences, et en
imprimer les résultats sur des planches stéréotypes. 1855,
Thoughts on the Principles of Taxation with reference to a
Property-Tax and its exceptions. 3rdedit. 1852.
Baily, W. H. Description of Fossil Invertebrata from the Crimea.
1858. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
——. Description of some Cretaceous Fossils from South Africa,
1855. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Balfour, E. The Mollusca, or the Classes, Families, and Genera of
recent and fossil Shells. 1855. Presented by SwrC. Lyell, V.P.G.S.
Bayo, J. Esquerra del. Descripcion geoldgica del terreno donde
surten las Aguas Termales en las in mediaciones de Fitero, pro-
vincia de Navarra. 1850. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Essayo de una descripcion general dela Estructura geoldogica
del Terreno de Espana. Seccion I. II. III. IV. V. 1850-57. From
Sir C, Lyell, V.P.GS.
Bowditch, H. J, An Address on bhp Life aad Character of James
Deane, M.D., of Greenfield, Mass. 1858.
Brainerd. Fossil Fishes from near Cleveland, U.S. 1852. Presented
by Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Canada, Geological Survey of. Figures and Descriptions of Cana-
dian Organic Remains. Decade III. 1858. From Sir W. E. Logan,
EGS.
. ——. Report of Progress for the year 1857. 1858. From
Sir W. E. Logan, F.GS.
Catalogue of the Books in the Admiralty Library. 1858, From the
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.
472 DONATIONS.
Cialdi, A. Cenni sul moto ondoso del mare e sul correnti di esso.
1856. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Crawfurd, J. China and its Trade. 1858. .
Cunnington, W. On the Mammalian Drift of Wiltshire and its
_ Fossil Contents. 1858. .
Dana, J. D. On the Currents of the Ocean. 1858.
Review of Marcou’s ‘ Geology of North America.’ 1858.
Davidson, T. Paleontological Notes on the Brachiopoda: No. 2.
On the Families Strophomemde and Productide. 1859. —
Durocher, J. Vitudes sur la limite des Neiges Perpétuelles. rom
Sur C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Ehrenberg, ©. G. Ueber eine auf der Insel Ischia jiingst beo-
bachtete zur Erlauterung einer ungarischen aus Kieselorganismen
bestehendes Felsart dienende Wirkung heisser Quellen. 1858.
From Sur C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Fisher, J. C. The Mosaic Account of the Creation. 1858.
Fisher, O. On the Purbeck Strata of Dorsetshire. 1855. From
Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS. |
Forbes, D. On the Chemical Composition of some N al
Minerals, 1855. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Forbes, J. D. Notes on the Geology of the Eildon Hills in Be
burghshire. 1851. From Sur C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Forchhammer, J.G. Ueber den Einfluss des Kochsalzes auf die
Bildung der Mineralien. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Foster, P. L, Aluminium, 1859. From Prof. Tennant, F.GS.
Fromherz, K. Die Jura-Formationen des Breisgaues geognostisch
beschrieben. 1838. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Geognostische Beschreibung des Schénbergs bei Freiburg im
Breisgau. 1837. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS. .
Garden, R. J. Notice of some Cretaceous Rocks near Natal, S.
Africa. 1855. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Guiscardi, G. Sopra un Minerale del Monte Somma. From Sir
C. Lyell, V.P.G.S.
—, Un Genere di Molluschi della famiglia delle Neritide, From
Sir C. Lyell, V.P.G.S?
Hall, J. Description of New Species of Fossils, from the Carbo-.
niferous Limestones of Indiana and Illinois. 1856, From Sir C.
Lyell, V.PL.GS.
———. Descriptions of New Species of Palas Fossils. 1857.
From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
On the Carboniferous Limestones of the mosiat Vale.
1857. From Sir C. Lyell, ViP.GS.
DONATIONS, 473
Hawes, W. On the Cape Colony; its Products and Resources.
1859. From Prof. Tennant, F.G.S.
Helmersen, G. v., und R. Pacht. Beitrige zur Kenntniss des Russi-
schen Reiches und der angranzenden Linder Asiens. Einund-
zwanzigstes Bandchen. Geognostische Untersuchungen im Mit-
tleren Russland. 1858.
Helmersen, G. v. Geologische Bemerkungen auf einer Reise in
Schweden und Norwegen. 1858.
Ueber Artesische Brunnen in Russland. 1858.
Herschel, J. F. W. Sensorial Vision. 1858. From the Phil. & Lit.
Soc. Manchester.
Huxley, T. H. On the Educational value of the Natural History
Sciences. 1854. Presented by Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Jamieson, T. F. On the action of the Atmosphere upon newly-
deepened Soil, 1857. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS. -
Kokscharoff, N. v. Ueber den Euklas vom Ural. From Prof. F.
Sandberger.
Lawson, G. Papers read to the Botanical Society of Edinburgh.
1848. Presented by Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Lea, H.C. Descriptions of some new species of Marine Shells in-
' habiting the coast of the United States. Presented by Sir C.
Lyell, V.P.GS.
Leckenby, J. On the Kelloway Rock of the Yorkshire Coast. 1859.
Lieber, O. M, Report on the Survey of South Carolina; being the
First Annual Report to the General Assembly of South Carolina,
embracing the progress of the Survey during the year 1856.
1857. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.G.S.
Second Annual Report on the Survey of South Carolina ;
embracing the Progress of the Survey during the year 1857.
1858. From Sir GC. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Lujan, F, de. Estudios y observaciones geoldgicas relativos 4 ter-
renos gue comprenden parte de la provincia de Badajoz y de las
de Sevilla, Toledo y Ciudad-Real; y cortes geoldgicos de estos
terrenos. 1850. From Sir C. Lyell; V.PLGS.
Marmora, A. de la. Observations Géologiques sur les deux Iles
Baléares Majorque et Minorque. 1834, - From Sir C. Lyell,
V.P.GS.
Meteorological Papers, compiled by Rear- Admiral B. Fitzroy, F.RB.S.,
and published by authority of the Board of Trade. 2nd and 3rd
Nos. 1858. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Meugy. Mémoire sur la découverte du phosphate de chaux terreux
en France, et sur ’emploi de cet engrais dans la culture. From
Str C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Meyer, H. v. Tabelle iiber die Geologie, zur Vereinfachung der-
474 DONATIONS.
selben, und zur naturgemassen Classification der Gesteine. 1833.
From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Moore, C. On the Paleontology of the Middle and Upper Lias.
1858. From Sir C, Lyell, V.P.GS.
Morlot. Lettre sur la Dolomie. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Morton, G. H. The Flora and Fauna of Geological Systems. 1858.
Miller, A. Ueber die Kupferminen am Obern See im Staate Mi-
chigan, Nordamerika. 1856. Presented by Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Miller, J. Ueber ein Echinoderm mit schuppen-formigen Tafeln
und Echinidstacheln im Eifeler Kalk. 1856. From Sor C. Lyell.
. Ueber neue Crinoiden aus dem Eifeler Kalk. 1856. From
Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Nageyro, D. F. de los Rios. Catalogo de las Aves observadas en las
Cercanias de Santiago. 1850. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Newberry, J. 8. Description of several new genera and species of
Fossil Fishes from the Carboniferous Strata of Ohio. 1856. From
Sir C. Lyell, V.P.4S.
Newbold. Summary of the Geology of Southern India. From
Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Noulet, J. B. Du Terrain Kocéne supérieur, considéré comme I’un
des Etages Constitutifs des Pyrénées. 1857. From Str C. Lyell.
Orbigny, C. d’. Mémoire sur diverses Couches de Terrain nouvelle-
ment découvertes aux Environs de Paris, entre la Craie et lArgile
Plastique. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Partsch, P. Ueber den Schwarzen Stein in der Kaaba zu Mekka.
1857. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.4GS.
Perrey, A. Bibliographie Séismique. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
. . Documents sur les Tremblements de terre au Pérou, dans la
Colombie et dans le Bassin de ?Amazone. 1858.
Note sur les Tremblements de terre en 1856, avec supplé-
ments pour les années antérieures. Brussels, 1859.
Pfizenmayer, W. Der Schwaebische Jura nach dem Flozgebirge
Wirtembergs unter Leitung des Prof. Quenstedt. 1853. Pre-
sented by Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Phillips, W. An Elementary Introduction to Mineralogy. 4th
edition. 1837. From Prof. J. Tennant, F.GS.
Quenstedt. Ueber die Granzen der Muschelkalk-Formation, From
Sur C. Lyell, V.P.4S.
Richthofen, F. v. Ueber die Bildung und Umbildung einiger
Mineralien in Sid-Tirol. 1858. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Roemer, Ferd. Notiz iiber eine riesenhafte neue Art der Gattung
Leperditia in Silurischen Diluvial-Geschieben Ost-Prussiens.
Romani, G. Dell’ Antico Corso de’ Fiumi Po, Oglio en Adda negli
Agri Cremonese, Parmigiano, Casalasco e Basso Mantovano, 24
Edizione. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
DONATIONS, 475
Rose, G. Ueber Schaumkalk als Pseudomorphose von Aragonit.
1856. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Roth, J. Die Fortschritte der physikalischen Geographie in Jahre
1855. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.4GS.
Rubio, D. P. M. Clasification de las Aguas Minerales de Espaiia
por Razon de su Temperatura. 1850. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS,
Ruskin, J. Notice respecting some artificial sections illustrating
the Geology of Chamouni. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Riutimeyer, L. Ueber schweizerische Anthracotherien, From Sir
C. Lyell, V.P.GS.,
Sandberger, F. Beitrage zur Statistik der inneren Verwaltung des
Grossherzogthums Baden. Siebentes Heft. Geologische Beschrei-
bung von Badenweiler. 4to. Carlsruhe, 1858.
——. Die Conchylien des Mainzer Tertiar-Beckens. Zweite Lief.
Ueber den Carminspath.
Schaffgotsch, F. G. Ein alter Versuch in neuem Gewande, From
Prof. F. Sandberger.
Scheutz,G. and E. Specimens of Tables Calculated, Stereomoulded,
and Printed by Machinery. 1857. From C. Babbage, Esq.
Schill, J. Die Tertiér- und Quartiirbildungen am nérdlichen Bo-
densee und im Hohgau. 1859. Presented by Sir C. Lyell.
Spratt, T. An Investigation of the Movements of Teignmouth Bar.
1856. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Steenstrup, J. Kjzmpeoxens (Bos Urus, Linn.) og Beeverens (Castor
fiber, Linn.), samtidighed med Urindvaanerne her ihandet. From
Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Strombeck, v. Ueber das Alter des Flammenmergels im nordwest-
lichen Deutschland. 1856. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Studer, B. Eroffnungsrede der 43°" Versammlung schweizerischer
Naturforscher in Bern. 1858.
Symonds, W.S8. Address to the Malvern Naturalists’ Field-Club.
1858. Presented by Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Tiberi, N. Descrizione di aleuni Nuovi Testacei viventi nel Medi-
terraneo. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Trask, J. B. Description of a new species of Ammonite and Bacu-
lite from the Tertiary Rocks of Chico Creek. 1856. From Sir
C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
On Earthquakes in California from 1812 to 1855. 1856.
From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.G4S.
Weber, C. O. Ueber die Siisswasserquarze von Muffendorf bei
Bonn. 1850. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Yorke, P. Researches on Silica. 1857. From Sir C. Lyell, V.P.GS.
Zigno, A, de, Flora fossilis Formationis Oolithice, Pars 2, 1858.
r « vere SS tine in
s & o: oe Salo tyhean (5 ae se gd
Sars
THE
QUARTERLY JOURNAL
OF
THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.
PROCEEDINGS
OF
THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
JANUARY 5, 1859,
John Ford, Esq., Market-Raisin, Lincolnshire; Charles Francis
Humbert, Esq., Watford; and Joshua Frey Jepherson, Esq., Bar-
rister-at-Law, Sydney, New South Wales, were elected Fellows,
The following communications were read :—
1. On Fosstz Prants from the Duvontan Rocxs of Cawnapa.
By J. W. Dawson, LL.D., F.G.S., Principal of M‘Guill College,
* Montreal.
In 1843-44, Sir W. E. Logan ascertained, and published in his Re-
port* for the latter year, the occurrence of a series of beds of Deyo-
nian age in the Peninsula of Gaspé, Lower Canada, containing fossil
plants, apparently of terrestrial origin, and some of them evidently
im situ. Nothing was done toward the precise determination and
description of these remains until 1856, when Sir William kindly
permitted the writer of this paper to examine his collection, and to
describe before the American Association for the Advancement of
Science the most interesting specimen contained in it—a fossil trunk
exhibiting a very remarkable and previously undescribed coniferous —
structurey. The other specimens in the collection were so fragment-
* Report of Progress of Canadian Geological Survey, 1844, p. 36, and Appendix,
t+ Proceedings of American Association, 1856, p. 174.
VOL. XY.—PART I, 2M
478 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 5,
ary or obscure, that it was not deemed expedient to attempt their
description before studying them (as all fossil plants should, when
practicable, be studied) in the rocks in which they occur. With this
view I visited Gaspé in the past summer, and examined the localities
indicated on the plans and sections of the Geological Survey. The
facts and specimens thus obtained will probably be fully described
and illustrated in one of the forthcoming Decades of Canadian Fossils ;
and in the meantime I propose to notice some of the species observed,
which appear to be of especial interest in the present state of our
general knowledge of the Devonian flora.
Before proceeding to these descriptions, it may be necessary to
state that the deposit in which the fossils occur consists of sandstone
and shale, of various colours and textures, with some conglomerate
and thin-bedded coarse limestone, and a seam of bituminous coal,
one inch in thickness. The whole series is estimated by Sir W. E.
Logan at 7000 feet of vertical thickness. It rests on Upper Silurian
rocks, and underlies unconformably the conglomerates which here
form the base of the Carboniferous system. Some of the beds,
especially in the lower part of the series, contain marine fossils of
Lower Devonian forms, which are now in process of examination by
Mr. Billings, of the Geological Survey. The greater part of the
beds are, however, destitute of marine fossils, and present appear-
ances indicative of shallow water and even of land-surfaces. Some of
the species of plants occur throughout the whole thickness; but the
bed of coal and most of the plants a situ are found in the lower
and middle portions of the series. Detailed sections and descriptions
of the beds will be found in the Report above referred 10.
1. Pstnopnyton, gen. nov. (Figs. 1 & 2.)
Lycopodiaceous plants, branching dichotomously, and covered with
interrupted ridges or closely appressed minute leaves; the stems
springing from a rhizoma having circular areoles, sending forth
cylindrical rootlets. Internal structure: an axis of scalariform
vessels, surrounded by a cylinder of parenchymatous cells, and by
an outer cortical cylinder of elongated woody cells (prosenchyma).
Fructification probably wm lateral masses, protected by leafy bracts.
The most remarkable and interesting plant of the formation is
one which, I believe, has frequently been observed and described
elsewhere "from fragmentary specimens, but which occurs in the
Gaspé sections in a state of perfection unusual with paleozoic plants.
It is characterized by slender, bifurcating, ridged stems, proceeding
from a horizontal rhizoma, which sends forth numerous rootlets.
The rhizomata, evidently in situ, clothe some beds of indurated clay
with a mat of creeping and occasionally bifurcating cylindrical
stems, filling the beds below with their vertical rootlets. They
attain a diameter of an inch or more, though usually smaller, and a
length of at least three feet. They are irregularly dotted with mi-
nute linear punctures, the marks probably of ramenta; and at inter-
vals there are circular areoles with central pits, like those of Stig-
1859. | DAWSON—DEVONIAN PLANTS. 479
Fig. 1d.
Hig. 1. Psilophyton princeps. a, rhizome ; b, stem; c, cx, termination of branches ;
d, vernation; ¢, fructification; f, stem, twice nat. size; g, areole of
rhizome ; /, large stem, nat. size; 2, restoration.
2m 2
480 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 5,
maria, but irregularly disposed, and giving origin to the roots, which,
however, unlike those of Stigmaria, subdivide in descending into the
soil. Apart from the stems, these rhizomata might be included in
the genus Karstenia or Halonia, or even as abnormal species in
Stigmaria (figs. 1 a,g). The aérial stems vary from a fourth to a
tenth of an inch in diameter at their origin, rise obliquely from the
rhizoma, and bifureate very regularly. The extreme points divide
nearly at right angles, and in some, probably young, branches the
ultimate branchlets bend into a spiral curve with a somewhat uni-
lateral arrangement of the leaflets. In the shale overlying the small
coal-seam above-mentioned, there are immense numbers of these little
branchlets, rolled so closely as to resemble spiral shells. They probably
indicate a circinate vernation like that of ferns. (See figs. 1 6, ¢, d.)
The surface of the stems is very smooth and glossy, quite destitute
of scars, but marked with numerous interrupted ridges spirally
arranged, and sometimes seen to project a little at the upper ends, as
if rudimentary leaves. This leaf-like character is more distinct
towards the extremities of the branches; but the leaves are not
sufficiently well preserved to show anything more than that they are
slender and acicular. (Figs. 1 ¢, f,h, p. 479.)
The greater part of the specimens are flattened, with the epidermis
alone preserved in a coaly state; but a few fragments were found
Fig. 1%.
Hi
=
iY
Hi
Fig. 1%, longitudinal section of stem, nat. size; /, cortical cells (300 diams.) ;
m, parenchyma (300 diams.); x, scalariform tissue of axis (300 diams.).
with the internal structure remaining. It consists of a slender axis
of scalariform vessels, surrounded by a space now occupied by cale-
spar, but showing in parts the remains of a loose cellular tissue.
Externally to this is a cylinder of well-preserved, elongated, woody
cells, without distinguishable pores, but with traces of very delicate
spiral fibres. (Figs. 1 k,l, m,n.)
The structure and external appearance above described indicate
affinities with the Lycopodiacee, and especially with the genus Ps?-
1859. ] DAWSON—DEVONIAN PLANTS. 481
lotum*, with which these plants very closely correspond in all ex-
cept their rhizomes and the circinate terminations of the branchlets.
The name proposed above is intended to express this relation, as well
as the most apparent distinction between these plants and those of
the genera Lycopodites and Selaginitest. To the species above-
described I would give the name of Psilophyton princeps. I have
attempted a restoration of its general appearance in fig. 1 2.
Some of my specimens appear to indicate a second species, charac-
terized by more robust stems, more finely ridged, and having slender
alternate branches, which bifurcate frequently and usually bend
Fig. 2 a.
Fig. 2. Psilophyton robustius. a, stem; 6, markings of stem (nat. size), ligneous
surface.
downward. The specimens are not well preserved, but are very
distinct from P. princeps, while probably generically related to it.
I would name this species P. robustius (figs. 2 a, b).
Neither of the species exhibit distinct fructification. Certain
obscurely cuneate carbonaceous spots attached to the sides of the
branches of P. princeps are, perhaps, of this character; and the ob-
* See Brongniart, Vég. Fos. vol. ii. pls.6&11. I have been favoured by Prof.
Gray, of Harvard College, with specimens of P. favidum from Tahiti and P.
triquetrum from Australia, which closely resemble the fossils in structure and
surface-markings. :
+ Ishould have preferred the term “ Psilotites ;” but this has been preoccupied
by a Jurassic plant, of which, however, I cannot find any detailed description.
See Unger, Gen. et Spec. &c. p. 279; Brongniart, Tableau des Genres, p. 41.
482 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 5,
ject represented in fig. 1 e, which appears to be thus attached, may
be an example in better preservation than usual. It consists of four
thick lanceolate leaves or bracts with single midrib, arising from a
flattened carbonaceous patch, which shows traces of similar leaves on
its surface. These leaves or bracts have evidently enclosed the fruc-
tification of some lycopodiaceous plant; and, from their association
with Psilophyton princeps, 1 regard it as highly probable, though by
no means certain, that they belong to that species.
The rhizomata of Psilophyton princeps occur in situ in a number
of argillaceous beds, in a manner which shows that they crept in
immense numbers over flats of sandy clay, on which their graceful
stems must have formed a thick, but delicate, herbage, rising to the
height of from two to four feet. The rhizomes and the bases of the
stems may possibly have been submerged ; but I should infer, from
the appearance and structure of the latter, that they were rigid,
woody, and perhaps brittle. In many beds in which the rhizomes
have not been distinctly preserved, the vertical rootlets remain, pro-
ducing an appearance very similar to that of the Stigmarian under-
clays of the coal-measures. Sir W. E. Logan has noted in his detailed
sections numerous cases of this kind.
When broken into fragments and imperfectly preserved, Pszlo-
phyton princeps presents a variety of deceptive appearances. When
perfectly compressed in such a manner as to obliterate the markings,
it might be regarded as a dichotomous fucoid or a flattened root.
When decorticated and exhibiting faint longitudinal strie, it presents,
especially when the more slender branchlets are broken off, the aspect
of a frond of Schizopteris or Trichomanites. When rendered hollow
by decay, it forms bifurcating tubules, which might be regarded as
twigs of some tree with the pith removed. Lastly, the young plants
might be mistaken for ferns in a state of vernation. In all conditions
of preservation, the stems, rhizomes, and rootlets, if separated, might
be referred to distinct genera. I have little doubt therefore that
many imperfectly preserved Devonian plants of this general form,
noticed under various names by authors, may belong to this genus,
and some of them to the species above described. In particular I
may refer to certain dichotomous fucoids in the genera Fucoides and
Chondrites ; toa plant from the Hamilton Group of New York, figured
by Vanuxem in his Report, p. 161; to the dichotomous roots from
Orkney and Caithness described by Mr. Salter in the ‘ Proceedings’ of
this Society for last year ; and to the bifurcating plants with curved
tendril-like branchlets figured by Hugh Miller, ‘Old Red Sandstone,’
plate 7, and ‘Testimony of the Rocks,’ p. 4384. From the descrip-
tion in the former work, Chap. 5, it would appear that the author
had observed not only the stems but the rhizomes with their Stig-
maria-like areoles, though without suspecting them to belong to the
same plant. I have little doubt therefore that materials exist in
the Old Red Sandstone of Scotland for the reconstruction of at least
one species of this genus. Various fragments which I have collected
induce me to believe that it may be found also in the Lower Coal-
measures.
1859. | DAWSON—DEVONIAN PLANTS. 483
I have noticed above the resemblance of flattened specimens of
Psilophyton to ferns of the genus T'richomanites (Gceppert). To this
genus, indeed, I was disposed to refer the specimens, until I found
that the internal structure was lycopodiaceous, and that the branching
filaments are true branchlets covered with minute leaves. A com-
parison of the plants above described with Trichomamites Beinertit
of Goeppert, and Sphenophyllum (T:) bifidum of Lindley and Hutton,
will show at a glance the strong resemblance that subsists; and,
since the specimens on which these species are founded do not appear
to have exhibited either internal structure or venation, I think it
still admits of a doubt whether they are really ferns. By way of
further caution on this point, I may remark that in flattened stems,
either of Psilotwm or of its ancient relative, the slender woody axis
may leave a mark resembling the nervure of a leaf, and thus com-
plete the resemblance to a frond of Trichomanes. |
Since writing the above, Professor G. S. Newberry has kindly
pointed out to me the close resemblance between the first species
above described and Halserites Dechenanus of Goeppert (‘ Flora der
Uebergangsgebirges,’ p. 88). Ican scarcely doubt that this so-called
fucoid is in reality a plant of the genus above described, but in such
a, state of compression that the stem appears like a narrow frond,
and the woody axis asa midrib. As this plant is said to occur very
abundantly at certain levels in the Devonian Series of the Rhine, if
my suspicions as to its nature be correct, further examination might
disclose its rhizomes, leaves, or fructification*,
2. Leprpopenpron. (Fig. 3.)
A single species of this genus is found rather plentifully in the
beds containing the plants just described, and is distinct from any
that I have observed in the Coal-formation. The specimens observed
were all of small size and fragmentary, nor was their state of preser-
Fig. 3a.
Fig. 38.
Fig. 3. Lepidodendron Gaspianum. a, decorticated stem and leaves ; 3, areoles ;
A c, small branch and leayes; d, decorticated branch and leaves.
vation very good, though most of them were accompanied by the
leaves. In specimens about two inches in diameter, the areoles are
* It is possible that some of the fragments, from the Devonian of the Thirin-
gerwald, included by Prof. Unger in his order Rhachiopteridee may be allied to
Psilophyton. (See Denkschr. Kais. Akad. Wissen. Wien, vol. xi. p. 139.)
484 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 5,
two lines in length and one in breadth, and placed closely together.
They are elliptical, acuminate, with central leaf-sear, the form and
markings of which could not be perceived. The leaves are thick at
the base and short, slightly ascending, and then curving downward.
The branches are slender, straight, and very uniform in thickness in
the portions observed. This plant may be identical with the L. Che-
mungense of Hall, from the Devonian rocks of New York; but I am
not aware that any specimens of that species hitherto observed show
the leaf-scars or leaves; and, when these are obtained, should the
present species prove distinct, I would name it L. Gaspianum*. Its
characters, as above stated, are represented in figs. 3 a~d.
3. PRoTOTAXITES, gen. nov. (Fig. 4.)
Woody trunks with concentric rings of growth and medullary rays.
Cells of pleurenchyma scarcely in regular series, thick-walled, and
cylindrical, with a double series of spiral fibres. Disc-structure m-
distinct im the specimens observed.
I propose the above generie appellation for a tree having the spirally
marked cells characteristic of the genera Taaites and Spiropitys of
Goeppert, but differing from any conifer known to me in the cylin-
drical form and loose aggregation of the wood-cells, as seen in the
Fig. 4c.
“al
by
RSE
WN
PMD
WN
I>
SSNS
wD
°g, Se ara EE EID
A
IN
Fig. 4. Prototaxites Logani. a, cross-section, magnified 40 diams., showing
growth-line and medullary ray; 6, longitudinal section (300 diams.) ;
c, transverse section (300 diams.).
cross-section, in which particular it more nearly resembles the young
succulent twigs of some modern conifers than their mature wood..-
A fine silicified trunk of this tree was brought from Gaspé by Sir
* TL. (Sagenaria) Velthetmianum, another ancient and widely distributed species,
resembles the above in the form of the areoles and position of the scars ; but the
leaves and young branches differ, and my specimens show no median furrow in
the areoles. L. nothwm (Unger) also seems closely allied.
od
1859. ] DAWSON—DEVONIAN PLANTS. 485
W. E. Logan, and was shortly described in the ‘ Proceedings of the
American Association’ for 1856.
The specimen is nine inches in diameter, and presents throughout
a series of rings of growth, rather more than one-tenth of an inch in
average thickness. Under the microscope, the cross-section exhibits
cells perfectly circular in outline, not crowded, but becoming much
smaller at the margins of the rings of growth, where some large
irregular openings perhaps represent resin-ducts. The medullary
rays are marked by clear structureless spaces. In the longitudinal
section, parallel to the medullary rays, the wood-cells are seen to be
much elongated, and to terminate in conical points; and their sides
are covered with the remains of a double series of spiral fibres, among
which are a few scattered roundish spots, which perhaps indicate a
single row of discs*. The cells of the medullary rays have been en-
tirely disorganized; but the space which represents them in a tan-
gential slice, shows that they HEE have consisted of several rows of
cells. (Figs. 4 a—c.)
In my late visit to Gaspé, I was so fortunate as to find a second
tree of this species imbedded in the strata, though having its struc-
ture in a less perfect state of preservation than the specimen above
- described. It was in a prostrate position, the trunk lying S8.W. and
N.E., in a thinly bedded, crumbling, pyritous sandstone. The trunk
is silicified, one foot five inches in its greatest diameter, and eleven
inches in its least, the difference being due to compression ; a branch
five inches in diameter sprang from its side. On the external surface
was a thin layer of crumbling coal, probably representing the bark.
No pith was perceptible ; but there was a channel or depression along
the upper surface, as if a pith-cayvity had existed and, when the
wood became softened by decay, had given way to pressure. The
age of this tree, as indicated by its rings of growth, would be about
one hundred and fifty years; so that, though the tissue appears lax,
it was not of more rapid growth than in modern conifers. The
growth-rings also in the specimen previously described, as well as
in this, are well marked, indicating a decided difference of tempera-
ture in the seasons of the Devonian year. I cannot propose for this
monarch of the old Devonian forests of Gaspé a better or more ap-
propriate name than that of its discoverer, and shall therefore name
it Prototaxites Logan.
With respect to the affinities of the genus, I can only say that the
markings on its wood-cells most nearly resemble those of the two
genera of fossil Taxine trees above-mentioned, which are, however,
found in much more modern geological formations. Among recent
trees known to me by specimens or figures of their tissues, Taxus
baccata and Torreya taxifolia most nearly resemble the Gaspé fossil.
In the meantime, therefore, it may be included in the subfamily
Taxinec.
I could detect no leaves or fruit likely to belong to the species ;
* This disc-like structure was first pomted out to me by Mr. Poe, of Montreal,
a very zealous and successful microscopist.
486 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. (Jan. 5,
but this is not wonderful, since in the Coal-formation the wood of
conifers is very abundant, while their foliage is extremely rare.
Before leaving this ancient taxine conifer, it may be useful to
notice the deceptive appearances which its wood presents when im-
perfectly preserved. In some parts of my second specimen the woody
tissue has been entirely obliterated, and is replaced by a kind of
oolitic concretionary structure, apparently connected with the pre-
sence of iron-pyrites. In other portions the wood seems to have
been resolved into a homogeneous paste before silicification ; and this,
being moulded on minute granular crystals of quartz, assumes the
aspect of a tissue of fine parenchymatous cells—a deceptive appearance
very common in badly preserved: fossils penetrated by caleareous or
siliceous matter. In other parts of the specimen the cell-walls remain,
but in an opaque coaly condition, which conceals their spiral fibres
and dises. I am not quite certain that this last form may not repre-
sent the natural state of the heart-wood of the tree. In the first
specimen, that obtained by Sir W. E. Logan, the whole trunk appears
to be well preserved, with the exception of the medullary rays.
4, Poacitss, Kworrta (fig. 5), Carsonizep Woop (fig. 6), ETc.
In addition to the plants above described, the Gaspé sections con-
tain, especially in the beds near the coal-seam, abundance of what
seem to be long parallel-sided leaves, with delicate longitudinal
striz, and varying from a fourth of an inch to an inch in breadth.
They may be placed provisionally in the genus Poacites, but are
perhaps leaves of Neggerathia.
Fig. 5a. There is also in the Collection of the Geological
Survey of Canada a remarkable fragment, covered
with sharp, flat, angular scales. Were it not for
its carbonaceous character, I should be inclined to
regard it as of animal rather than vegetable origin.
If a plant, it must, I presume, be referred to the
genus Knorria (see fig. 5). In the same collection
is a flattened and obscurely marked stem, from rocks
of the same age at Kettle Point, Lake Huron. Its
markings are scarcely sufficiently distinct for descrip-
tion, but cannot be distinguished from those of some
Fig. 5. Knorria? of the varieties of Knorria imbricata. Another suite
a, nat. size; of specimens in the Museum of the Geological Survey
6, magnified. indicates the existence of a large plant, the precise
nature of which it is perhaps at present impossible to determine.
One of the specimens from Gaspé has the aspect of a long flattened
trunk, having in a few places the remains of a carbonaceous coating,
presenting longitudinal ribs like those of Calamuites. It is crossed at
intervals by markings not quite at right angles to the sides of the
stem, each of which consists of a sharp ridge with a furrow at either
side. The specimen is four inches in breadth and about four feet in
length. Other specimens from Kettle Point vary from five inches
to one inch in breadth; and some of them show traces of longitu-
1859. ] DAWSON—-DEVONIAN PLANTS. 487
dinal ribs, but others are quite smooth, or marked only by the rhombic
structure-lines of the coaly matter. All show transverse or diagonal
ridges, though some of these seem to be merely cracks filled with
mineral matter. Crushed Calamites, in a very bad state of preserva-
tion, might assume these appearances ; but, until better specimens
occur, the true nature of these plants must remain doubtful. They
are very possibly of the same nature with the Calamite-like stems
described by Miller in his ‘ Testimony of the Rocks,’ p. 439.
In every part of the Gaspé sections, beds oceur having their sur-
faces thickly covered with fragments of carbonized vegetable matter,
evidently drifted by the currents which deposited the sand composing
the beds. A large proportion of these com-
Fig. 6. minuted plants belong to the genus Psilo-
phyton; but many are fragments of the wood
of larger vegetables. Nearly all are in avery
imperfect state of preservation; and most of
those that retain their structure show a sca-
lariform tissue similar to that represented
in fig. 6, and probably belong to the axis of
Lepidodendron. Others exhibit elongated
woody cells, without minute markings, per~
haps from the cortical portion of the same
Fig. 6. Scalariform tissue genus, or possibly coniferous*. Another form
(magnified 300 diams.). 9 carbonaceous matter, abundant in some of
the sandstones, consists of scaly fragments resembling the remains
of decayed cones, probably Lepidostrobi.
The great abundance of vegetable fragments throughout an im-
mense thickness of rock indicates the existence of extensive land-
surfaces clothed with vegetation, though this apparently consisted of
but a few species. The small bed of coal occurring in the lower
part of the section is composed entirely of irregularly laminated
shining coaly matter without mineral charcoal. From its appear-
ance and the vegetable remains in its underclay, I infer that it con-
sists principally of the accumulated rhizomata of Pstlophyton in situ.
Its roof-shale is filled with the Poacites-like leaves before men-
tioned, and with stems of Pstlophyton; and it is remarkable that
these last are in great part coiled up in the state of vernation, as if
overwhelmed by a succession of spring-floods.
5, ANIMAL Remarns, Rarn-MARKS, ETC.
The animal remains found in the plant-beds were Entomostraca
(Beyrichia), Spirorbis (resembling that of the coal-measures), Worm-
tracks, and Ichthyodorulites (Onchus and Macheracanthus}). In
one of the beds above the coal Sir W. E. Logan found a few brachio-
podous shells, apparently identical with those at the base of the
series, and also some remarkable transversely marked furrows, which
may have been produced by worms or by marine gasteropods.
* Aporoxylon (Unger). ;
+ Prof. Newberry regards one of these as identical with his Macheracanthus
sulcatus from the Devonian of Ohio.
488 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 5,
Near the upper part of the section, where the plants become more
rare, and the rocks are more abundantly tinged with the red per-
oxide of iron, the beds are plentifully and often very grotesquely
marked with ripple-furrows, shrinkage-cracks, and current-lines.
In one or two beds there are surfaces covered with rounded projec-
tions resembling casts of rain-marks; and in proof that this is their
true character, the surface being irregular, we have not only the
rain-marks themselves, but the little rlls formed by the gathering
drops as they rolled along in this, one of the most ancient showers
of which we have as yet any geological record.
The general character of the conditions indicated by the Devonian
rocks and flora of Gaspé does not differ materially from that of the
Carboniferous period, though the vegetation would appear to have
been poorer in species and more exclusively Lycopodiaceous; in
which respects it more nearly resembles that of the Lower than of
the Middle or Upper Coal-measures. The general history is that of
a sea-bottom elevated or filled up in such a manner as to afford sandy
or muddy flats, on portions of which plants grew, and on other por-
tions vegetable fragments were drifted, or bare surfaces were exposed
to the alternate influences of aqueous deposition and aérial desicca-
tion,—these various conditions being more or less prevalent through-
out a long period, during which the area may have been gradually
sinking, to be again disturbed and elevated at the commencement of
the Carboniferous period.
In explanation of the siliceous and sdlant tenn character of
the Gaspé beds, as compared with their more calcareous and marine
character in some other parts of America, I may point to their vici-
nity to the old Laurentian land on the north side of the Gulf of St.
Lawrence, and to the possible existence of a nearer belt of Lower
Silurian land, indicated by the unconformability, in this part of
Canada, of the Lower and Upper Silurian rocks.
In the collection of Sir W. E. Logan there are some vopealale
remains from the limestones of Cape “Gaspé and its vicinity, which
perhaps indicate a still older terrestrial flora than that above de-
scribed. They afford, I think, evidence of the existence of at least
one species of Psilophyton and one of Neggerathia or Poacites ; but
whether identical or not with those above described, I cannot deter-
- mine from the specimens. The beds in which they occur certainly
underlie the Gaspé sandstones, and are probably Upper Silurian.
2. On some Points in Coemicat Grotocy. By T. Srerry Hunt, Uses “
of the Geological Commission of Canada.
[Communicated by Prof. A. C. Ramsay, F.R.S., F.G.S.]
§ I. In a paper read before the American Association at Montreal
in August 1857, as also in some previous communications to the
Royal Society, and in the ‘ Report of the Geological Survey of
1859. | HUNI—CHEMICAL GEOLOGY. 489
Canada’ for 1856, I have endeavoured to explain the theory of
the transformation of sedimentary deposits into crystalline rocks.
In considering this process we must commence by distinguishing
between the local metamorphism which sometimes appears in the
vicinity of traps and granites and that normal metamorphism which
extends over wide areas and is apparently unconnected with the
presence of intrusive rocks. In the former case, however, we find
that the metamorphic influence of intrusive rocks is by no means
constant, showing that their heat is not the sole agent in alteration,
while in the latter case different strata are often found affected in
very different degrees; so that fossiliferous beds but little altered
are sometimes found beneath crystalline schists, or even interca-
lated with them.
- We cannot admit that the alteration of the sedimentary rocks has
been effected by a great elevation of temperature, approaching, as
many have imagined, to that of igneous fusion; for we find un-
oxidized carbon in the form of graphite both in crystalline lime-
stone and in beds of magnetic iron-ore; and it is well known that
these substances, and even the vapour of water, oxidize graphite at a
red heat, with formation of carbonic acid or carbonic oxide. I have,
however, shown that solutions of alkaline carbonates in presence of
silica and earthy carbonates slowly give rise to silicates, with disen-
gagement of carbonic acid, even at a temperature of 212° Fahr.,—the
alkali being converted into a silicate, which is then decomposed by
the earthy carbonate, regenerating the alkaline salt which serves as
an intermedium between the silica and the earthy base. I have
thus endeavoured to explain the production of the various silicates
of lime, magnesia, and oxide of iron so abundant in crystalline
rocks, and, with the intervention of the argillaceous element, the
formation of chlorite, garnet, and epidote*. I called attention to
the constant presence of small portions of alkalies in insoluble com-
bination in these silicates, both natural and artificial—a fact which
had already led Kuhlmann to conclude that alkaline silicates have
played an important part in the formation of many minerals; and I
suggested + that, by combining with alkalies, clays might yield fel-
Spars and micas, which are constantly associated in the rocks with
the silicates above mentioned. . This suggestion has since been veri
fied by Daubrée t, who has succeeded in producing felspar by heating
together for some weeks mixtures of kaolin and alkaline silicates in
the presence of water to 400° C.
The problem of the generation, from the sands, clays, and earthy
carbonates of sedimentary deposits, of the various siliceous minerals
which make up the crystalline rocks may now be regarded as solved;
and we find the agent of the process in water holding in solution
alkaline carbonates and silicates, acting upon the heated strata.
These alkaline salts are constantly produced by the slow decomposi-
* Proceedings of the Royal Society, May 7, 1857.
+ Report Geol. Surv. Canada, 1856, p. 479.
¢ Bull. de la Soc. Géol. de France, 2 série, vol. xv. p. 103.
490 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 5,
tion of felspathic sediments, and are met with alike in the waters of
the unaltered Silurian schists of Canada and of the secondary
strata of the basins of London and Paris. In the purer limestones,
however, the felspathic or alkaliferous elements are wanting; and
these strata often contain soluble salts of lime or magnesia. These.
would neutralize the alkaline salts which, infiltrating from adjacent
strata, would otherwise affect the transformation of the foreign mat-
ters present in the limestone into crystalline silicates. By a similar
process these calcareous or magnesian salts, penetrating the ad-
joining strata, would retard or prevent the alteration of these latter.
These considerations will serve to explain the anomalies presented
by the comparatively unaltered condition of some portions of the
strata in metamorphic regions *.
§ II. As the history of the crystalline rocks becomes better known,
we find that many which were formerly regarded as exclusively
of plutonic origin are also represented among altered sedimentary
strata. Crystalline aggregates of quartz and felspar with mica offer
transitions from mica-schist through gneiss to stratified granites,
while the pyroxenic and hornblendic rocks of the altered Silurian
strata of Canada pass, by admixtures of anorthie felspars, into
stratified diorites and greenstones. In like manner the interstratified
serpentines of these regions are undoubtedly indigenous rocks, re-
sulting from the alteration of silico-magnesian sediments, although
the attitude of the serpentines in many countries has caused them
to be ranked with granites and traps, as intrusive rocks. Even the
erystalline limestones of the Laurentian series, holding graphite
and pyroxene, are occasionally found enveloping broken beds of
quartzite, or injected among the fissures in adjacent siliceous strata.
From similar facts, observers in other regions have been led to
assign a plutonic origin to certain crystalline limestones. We are
thus brought to the conclusion that metamorphic rocks, such as
granite, diorite, dolerite, serpentine, and limestone, may, under cer-
tain conditions, appear as intrusive. The pasty or semifluid state
which these rocks must have assumed at the time of their displace-
ment is illustrated by the observations of Daubrée upon the swelling
up of glass and obsidian, and the development of crystals in their
mass, under the action of heated water, indicating a considerable
* De Senarmont!, in his researches on the artificial formation of the mine-
rals of metalliferous veins by the moist way, has shown that, by aid of heated
solutions of alkaline bicarbonates and sulphurets, under pressure at 200° or
300° C., we may obtain in a crystalline form many native metals, sulphurets, and
sulph-arseniates, besides quartz, fluor-spar, and sulphate of barytes.
Daubrée? has since shown that a solution of a basic alkaline silicate deposits
a large portion of its silica in the form of crystalline quartz when heated to
400° C. We have here, beyond a doubt, a key to the true theory of metal-
liferous veins. ‘The heated alkaline solutions, which are at the same time the
agents of metamorphism, dissolve from the sediments the metallic elements which
they contain disseminated, and subsequently deposit them with quartz and the
various spars in the fissures of the rock. .
1 Ann. de Chim. et de Phys..3 série, vol. xxxii. p. 129.
2 Bull. de la Soc. Géol. de France, 2 série, vol. xv. p. 99.
1859. ] HUNT—CHEMICAL GEOLOGY. 491
degree of mobility among the particles. The theory of igneo-
aqueous fusion applied to granites by Poulett Scrope and Scheerer,
and supported by Elie de Beaumont and by the late microscopic
observations of Sorby, should evidently be extended to other intru-
sive rocks; for we regard the latter as being in all cases altered and
displaced sediments.
§ ILI. The silico-aluminous rocks of plutonic and volcanic origin
are naturally divided into two great groups. The one is represented
by the granites, trachytes, and obsidians, and is distinguished by
containing an excess of silica, a predominance of potash, and only
small portions of soda, lime, magnesia, and oxide of iron. In the
other group silica is less abundant, and silicates of lime, magnesia,
and iron predominate, together with anorthic felspars, containing
soda and but little potash. To account for the existence of these
two types of plutonic rocks, Prof. J. Phillips supposes the fluid mass
beneath the earth’s crust to have spontaneously separated into a
lighter, siliceous, and less fusible layer, overlying a stratum of
denser basic silicates. In this way he explains the origin of the
supposed granitic substratum, of the existence of which, however,
the study of the oldest rocks affords no evidence. From these two
layers, occasionally modified by admixtures, and by partial separa-
tion by crystallization and eliquation, Prof. Phillips suggests that
we may derive the different igneous rocks. Bunsen and Durocher
have adopted, with some modifications, this view; and the former
has even endeavoured to calculate the composition of the normal
trachytic and pyroxenic magmat (as he designates the two supposed
zones of fluid matter underlying the earth’s crust), and then seeks,
from the proportion of silica in any intermediate rock, to deduce the
quantities of alkalies, lime, magnesia, and iron which this should
contain.
So long as the trachytic rocks are composed essentially of ortho-
clase and quartz, and the basic rocks of pyroxene and labradorite,
or a felspar approaching it in composition, it is evident that the
calculations of Bunsen will to a certain extent hold good ; butin the
analyses, by Dr. Streng, of the volcanic rocks of Hungary and
Armenia, we often find that the actual proportions of alkalies, lime,
and magnesia vary considerably from those deduced from calculation.
This will necessarily follow when felspars like albite or anorthite
replace the labradorite in pyroxenic rocks. The phonolites are
moreover highly basic rocks, which contain but very small amounts
of lime, magnesia, or iron, being essentially mixtures of orthoclase
with hydrous silicates of alumina and alkalies.
§ IY. In a recent inquiry into the probable chemical conditions of
a cooling globe like our earth, I have endeavoured to show that in the
primitive crust all the alkalies, lime, and magnesia must have existed
in combination with silica and alumina, forming a mixture which
perhaps resembled dolerites, while the very dense atmosphere would
contain, in the form of acid gases, all the carbon, chlorine, and sul-
phur, with an excess of oxygen, nitrogen, and watery vapour. The
first action of a hot acid rain, falling upon the yet uncooled crust,
492 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 5,
would give rise to chlorides and sulphates with separation of silica ;
and the accumulation of the atmospheric waters would form a sea
charged with salts of soda, lime, and magnesia. The subsequent
decomposition of the exposed portions of the crust, under the influ-
ence of water and carbonic acid, would transform the felspathic
portions into a silicate of alumina (clay) on the one hand and alkaline
bicarbonates on the other ; these, decomposing the lime-salts of the
sea, would give rise to alkaline chlorides and bicarbonate of lime—
the latter to be separated by precipitation or by organic agency as
limestone. In this way we may form an idea of the generation,
from a primitive homogeneous mass, of the siliceous, calcareous, and
argillaceous elements which make up the earth’s crust, while the
source of the vast amount of carbonate of lime in nature is also
explained.
When we examine the waters charged with saline matters which
impregnate the great mass of calcareous strata constituting in Canada
the base of the Silurian system, we find that only about one-half of
the chlorine is combined with soda; the remainder exists as chlorides
of calcium and magnesium—the former predominating, while sul-
phates are present only in small amount. If now we compare this
composition, which may be regarded as representing that of the
palzozoic sea, with that of the modern ocean, we find that the
chloride of calcium has been in great part replaced by common salt,
—a process involving the intervention of carbonate of soda and the
‘formation of carbonate of lime. The amount of magnesia in the sea,
although diminished by the formation of dolomites and magnesite, is
now many times greater than that of the lime ; for, so long as chloride
of calcium remains in the water, the magnesian salts are not precipi-
tated by bicarbonate of soda*.
When we consider that the vast amount of argillaceous sediment-
matter in the earth’s strata has doubtlessly been formed by the
same process which is now going on, viz. the decomposition of fel-
spathic minerals, it is evident that we can scarcely exaggerate the
importance of the part which the alkaline carbonates, formed in this
process, must have played in the chemistry of the seas. We have
only to recall waters like Lake Van, the natron-lakes of Egypt,
Hungary, and many other regions, the great amounts of carbonate
of soda furnished by springs like those of Carlsbad and Vichy, or
contained in the waters of the Loire, the Ottawa, and probably many:
other rivers that flow from regions of crystalline rocks, to remind
us that the same process of decomposition of alkaliferous silicates
is still going on.
§ V. A striking and important fact in the history of the sea, and of
all alkaline and saline waters, is the small proportion of potash-salts
which they contain. Soda is ‘pre-eminently the soluble alkali, while
the potash in the earth’s crust is locked up in the form of insoluble
orthoclase: the soda-felspars readily undergo decomposition. Hence
we find, in the analyses of clays and argillites, that, of the alkalies
which these rocks still retain, the potash almost always predominates
* See Report Geol. Surv. Canada, 1857, pp. 212-214.
1859, | HUNI—CHEMICAL GEOLOGY. 493
greatly over the soda. At the same time these sediments contain
silica in excess, and but small portions of lime and magnesia. These
conditions are readily explained when we consider the nature of
the soluble matters found in the mineral waters which issue from
these argillaceous rocks. I have elsewhere shown that, setting aside
the waters charged with soluble lime- and magnesia-salts, issuing from
limestones and from gypsiferous and saliferous formations, the springs
of argillaceous strata are marked by the predominance of bicarbonate
of soda, often with portions of silicate and borate, besides bicarbon-
ates of lime and magnesia, and occasionally of iron. The atmospheric
waters filtering through these strata remove their soda, lime, and
magnesia, leaving behind the silica,alumina, and potash—the elements
of granitic and trachytic rocks. The more sandy clays and argillites
being most permeable, the action of the infiltrating water will be
more or less complete; while finer and more compact clays and marls,
resisting the penetration of this liquid, will retain their soda, lime,
and magnesia, and, by their subsequent alteration, will give rise to
basic felspars containing lime and soda, and, if lime and magnesia
predominate, to hornblende or pyroxene.
The presence or absence of iron in sediments demands special
consideration, since its elimination requires the interposition of organic
matters, which, by reducing the peroxide to the condition of protoxide,
render it soluble in water, either as a bicarbonate or combined with
some organic acid. This action of waters holding organic matter
upon sediments containing iron-oxide has been described by Bischoff
and many other writers, particularly by Dr. J. W. Dawson* in a
paper on the colouring matters of some sedimentary rocks, and is
applicable to all cases where iron has been removed from certain
strata and accumulated in others. This is seen in the fire-clays
and iron-stones of the coal-measures, and in the white clays asso-
ciated with great beds of green sand (essentially a silicate of iron) in
the cretaceous series of New Jersey. Similar alternations of white
felspathic beds with others of iron-ore occur in the altered Silurian
rocks of Canada, and, on a still more remarkable scale, in those of
the Laurentian series. We may probably look upon the formation
of beds of iron-ore as in all cases due to the intervention of organic
matters, so that its presence, not less than that of graphite, affords
evidence of the existence of organic life at the time of the deposition
of these old crystalline rocks.
The agency of sulphuric and muriatic acids, from volcanic and
other sources, is not, however, to be excluded in the solution of
oxide of iron and other metallic oxides. The oxidation of pyrites,
moreover, gives rise to solutions of iron- and alumina-salts, the
subsequent decomposition of which by alkaline or earthy carbonates
will yield oxide of iron and alumina: the absence of the latter
element serves to characterize the iron-ores of organic origin. In
this way the deposits of emery, which is a mixture of crystallized
alumina with oxide of iron, have doubtless been formed.
Waters deficient in organic matters may remove soda, lime, and
* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soe. vol. v. p. 25.
VOL. XV.—PART I. 2N
494 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. &,
magnesia from sediments, and leave the granitic elements inter-
mingled with oxide of iron; while, on the other hand, by the
admixture of organic materials, the whole of the iron may be re-
moved from strata which will still retain the lime and soda necessary
for the formation of basic felspars. The faet that bicarbonate of
magnesia is much more soluble than bicarbonate of lime, is also te
be taken into account in considering these reactions.
The study of the chemistry of mimeral waters, in connexion with
that of sedimentary rocks, shows us that the result of processes
continually going on in nature is to divide the silieo-argillaceous
rocks into two great classes,—the one characterized by an excess of.
silica, by the predominance of potash, and by the small amounts of
lime, magnesia, and soda, and represented by the granites and
trachytes, while in the other class silica and potash are less abun-
dant, and soda, lime, and magnesia prevail, giving rise to triclinic
felspars and pyroxenes. The metamorphism and displacement of
sediments may thus enable us to explain the origin of the different
varieties of plutonic rocks without callmg to our aid the ejections of
the central fire.
§ VI. The most ancient sediments, hke those of modern times,
were doubtlessly composed of sands, clays, and limestones, although,
from the prineiples already defined in § IV. and § V., it is evident
that the chemical composition of these sediments in different geologie
periods must have been gradually changing. It is from a too hasty
generalization that an eminent geologist has concluded that lime-
stones were rare in earlier times; for in Canada the Laurentian
system—an immense series of str atified erystalline roeks which
underlie unconformably both the Silurian and the old Cambrian or
Huronian systems—contains a limestone-formation (interstratified
with dolomites), the thickness of which Sir W. E. Logan has esti-
mated at not less than 1000 feet. Associated with this, besides
great volumes of quartzite and gneiss, there is a formation, of vast
but unknown thickness, the predominant element of which is 2
triclinic felspar, varying in composition between anorthite and
andesine, and containing lime and much soda, with but a small pro-
portion of potash. These felspars are often mixed with hypersthene
er pyroxene; but great masses of the rock are sometimes nearly
pure felspar. These felspathic rocks, as well as the limestones, are
associated with beds of hematitic and magnetic iron-ores, the latter
often mixed with graphite. Ancient as are these Laurentian rocks,
we have no reason to suppose that they mark the commencement of
sedimentar y deposits: they were doubtlessly derived from the ruins
of other rocks in which the proportion of soda was still greater; and
the detritus of these Laurentian felspars, making up our palaeozoic
strata, is now the source of alkaline waters by which the soda of the
silicates, rendered soluble, is carried down to the sea in the form of
carbonate to be transformed into chloride of sodium. ‘The lime of
the felspars being at the same time removed as carbonate, these sedi-
mentary strata in the course of ages become less basic, poorer in
soda and lime, and comparatively richer in alumina, silica, and
1859.] z HUNI—CHEMICAL GEOLOGY. 495
potash. Hence in more recent crystalline rocks we find a less ex-
tensive development of soda-felspars, while orthoclase and mica, chlo-
rite and epidote, and silicates of alumina, like chiastolite, kyanite,
and staurotide, which contain but little or no alkali, and are rare in
the older rocks, become abundant *.
The decomposition of the rocks is more slow now than formerly,
because soda-silicates are less abundant, and because the proportion
of carbonic acid in the air (an efficient agent in these changes) has
been diminished by the formation of limestones and coal. It will
be evident that the principles above laid down are only applicable
to the study of rocks in great masses, and refer to the predominance
of certain mineral species at certain geologic epochs, since local and
exceptional causes may reproduce in different epochs the conditions
which belong to other periods.
- § VIL. Mr. Babbage + has shown that the horizons or surfaces of
equal temperature in the earth’s crust must rise and fall, as a con-
sequence of the accumulation of sediment in some parts and its
removal from others, producing thereby expansion and contraction
in the materials of the crust, and thus giving rise to gradual and
wide-spread vertical movements. Sir John Herschel + subsequently
showed that, as a result of the internal heat thus retained by accu-
mulated strata, sediments deeply enough buried will become cry-
stallized and ultimately raised with their included water to the
melting point. From the chemical reactions at this elevated tem-
perature, gases and vapours will be evolved, and earthquakes and
voleanic eruptions will result. At the same time the disturbance
of the equilibrium of pressure consequent upon the transfer of sedi-
ment, while the yielding surface reposes upon a mass of matter
partly liquid and partly solid, will enable us to explain the phe-
nomena of elevation and subsidence.
According, then, to Sir J. Herschel’s view, all volcanic phenomena
have their source in sedimentary deposits; and this ingenious hypo-
thesis, which is a necessary consequence of a high central tem-
perature, explains in a most ‘satisfactory manner the dynamical
phenomena of volcanos, and many other obscure points in their
history, as, for instance, the independent action of adjacent volcanic
vents, and the varying nature of their ejected products. Not
only are the lavas of different volcanos very unlike, but those of the
same crater vary at different times; the same is true of the gaseous
matters, hydrochloric, hydrosulphuric, and carbonic acids. As the
ascending heat penetrates saliferous strata, we shall have hydro-
chloric acid, from the decomposition of sea-salt by silica in the pre-
sence of water; while gypsum and other sulphates, by a similar
reaction, would lose their sulphur in the form of sulphuric acid and
oxygen. The intervention of organic matters, either by direct con-
tact, or by giving rise to reducing gases, would convert the sulphates
* Corundum and diaspore are probably derived from basic aluminous sili-
cates like schroterite and collyrite, themselves the kaolin of basic felspars.
t “On the Temple of Serapis,”’ Proc. Geol. Soc. vol. ii. p. 73.
t Ibid. vol. ii, pp. 548 & 596.
2N2
496 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, [Jan. 5,
into sulphurets, which would yield sulphuretted hydrogen when
decomposed by water and silica or carbonic acid, the latter being
the result of the action of silica upon earthy carbonates. We con-
ceive the ammonia so often found among the products of volcanos
to be evolved from the heated strata, where it exists in part as
ready-formed ammonia (which is absorbed from air and water, and
pertinaciously retained by argillaceous sediments), and is in part
formed by the action of heat upon azotized organic matter present
in these strata, as already maintained by Bischoff*. Nor can we
hesitate to accept this author’s theory of the formation of boracic
acid from the decomposition of borates by heat and aqueous vapour7.
The almost constant presence of remains of infusorial animals in
volcanic products, as observed by Ehrenberg, is evidence of the in-
terposition of fossiliferous rocks in volcanic phenomena. |
The metamorphism of sediments in situ, their displacement in a
pasty condition from igneo-aqueous fusion as plutonic rocks, and
their ejection as lavas with attendant gases and vapours are, then,
all results of the same cause, and depend upon the differences in
the chemical composition of the sediments, temperature, and the
depth to which they are buried; and the unstratified nucleus of the
earth, which is doubtless anhydrous, and, according to the calcula-
tions of Messrs. Hopkins and Hennessy, probably solid to a great
depth, intervenes in the phenomena under consideration only as a
source of heat.
§ VIII. The volcanic phenomena of the present day appear, so
far as I am aware, to be confined to regions covered by the more
recent secondary and tertiary deposits, beneath which we may sup-
pose the central heat to be still ascending, a process which has long
since ceased in the paleozoic regions. Both normal metamorphism
and volcanic action are generally connected with elevations and
foldings of the earth’s crust, all of which phenomena we conceive
to have a common cause, and to depend upon the accumulation of
sediments and the subsidence consequent thereon, as maintained by
Mr. James Hall in his theory of mountains. The mechanical de-
posits of great thickness are made up of coarse and heavy sediments,
and by their alteration yield hard and resisting rocks; so that sub-
sequent elevation and denudation will expose these contorted and
altered strata in the form of mountain-chains. Thus the Appala-
chians of North America mark the direction and extent of the great
accumulation of sediments by the oceanic currents during the whole
paleeozoic period; and, the upper portions having been removed by
subsequent denudation, we find the inferior members of the series
transformed into crystalline stratified rocks.
* Lehrbuch der Geologie, vol. ii. pp. 115-122.
t Ibid. vol. i. p. 669.
1859. ] ROSALES—BALLAARAT GOLD-FIELD, 497
JANUARY 19, 1859. :
John Cavafy, Esq., Westbourne Terrace; William Whitaker,
B.A. Lond., Geol. Survey of Great Britain; and T. W. Atkinson, Esq.,
Old Brompton, were elected Fellows.
The following communications were read :—
1. On the Gon-rietps of BaLtaarat and Creswick CREEK.
By H. Rosazszs, Esq.
(In a letter* to W. W. Smyth, Esq., Sec. G.S.)
[Puate XV.]
IT am not in a position to give any data concerning zoological fossil
remains in the auriferous deposits, but I have seen the bottom of the
lava entangling not mere stems, but trunks of trees, which I be-
lieve to be of the same class as those which still grow in this con-
tinent. These were found in the “ Eldorado” and “‘ United Miners’
Claims ” at a depth of upwards of 300 feet below the surface. These
“claims” are situated on the ‘Sebastopol charriagey.” Again,
another, and perhaps one of the most interesting organic remains, is
the conet of a ‘‘ She-Oak” (Casuarina), perfectly charred and inter-
woven with white pyrites, which was found, along with charred
trunks of trees and other vegetable matter, by my friend Mr. Benitua
on the “ Black-clay Lead,” which is the deep auriferous channel at
Creswick, where the deposit is reached at the depth of 70-90 feet,
and runs under the basalt. In the deep “leads” of Ballaarat large
trunks of trees and other charred vegetable matter are constantly to
be found; in fact this is characteristic of all the channels as soon as
they run into deep ground.
_ All this leads me to conclude, as you say in your letter, “ that
the auriferous alluvium is a most interesting subject to link early
* Dated Ballaarat, Sept. 13, 1858.
Tt The first-found stem entangled in the basalt was met with at the junction
of the “‘ Frenchman’s” and “ White Horse’”’ Leads in the “ Eldorado” Claim, at
305 feet from the surface. It was still firmly rooted in the slate, surrounded
up to the height of 8 feet by the alluvium of the auriferous channel, and then
entangled in the oldest basalt-flow yet known (the ‘4th rock” in miner’s par-
lance), to an unknown height. The basalt is amygdaloidal (honey-combed), of a
dark-greyish colour, and rests on the alluvial deposits and on the schists, which
at the contact are broken up into a breccia; between both rocks there is a thin
layer, from 3 to 6 inches thick, of black clay, containing more or less charred
matter. I could not ascertain what influence the basalt had had in its contact
with the alluvial deposit. At the point referred to, the course of the “ French-
man’s Lead” is N. 30° W., that of the “‘White Horse Lead” W.9°S., and after
the junction the course of the “ Sebastopol” auriferous mainchannel is W.17° N.
The trunk of the tree is 3 feet in diameter in the direction of the “‘ White Horse,”
23 feet in that of “‘ Frenchman’s” Lead, and is perfectly preserved in a charred
state. In the claim of the ‘“ United Miners” there are two more trunks; one
also perfectly preserved, but the other, which when found contained a quantity
of white pyrites, is now completely destroyed ; however in the basalt there still
remains the cylindrical vacuum, where there was once a tree. The “ United
Miners’ ”’ Claim is 345 feet deep in the gutter at the lower end of the claim.
t See also Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xiy. p. 541.—Eprr.
498 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. (Jan. 19
geological epochs to an historic period. .., establishing such a curious
analogy with the gold-washings of Siberia and their Mammoth bones,
and the Cornish stream-works with the bones of the great Irish Elk,
é&e.,” and to believe that the geological parallelism of this and the
Siberian auriferous alluvium will be established; but I regret to say
that I fear it will prove rather difficult, inasmuch as the miners do
not feel interested in the like pursuits, and naturally overlook, de-
stroy, or cast away those samples and ppecmens which science so
highly covets.
I intend endeayouring to give you in iis letter a clear idea of
the geological features of this district: namely, its petrographical
structure; the situs of quartz-lodes and veins (the matrix of gold)
in schists on the Ranges, from whence arise auriferous gullies, form-
ing eventually several auriferous channels (charriages); and finally
also the different courses of streams and successive auriferous chan-
nels, which latter, gradually dipping, attain the Basalt, under which
they continue their hidden course.
By carefully perusing the geological map (Pl. XV.) and the ac-
companying references (pp. 502-3), which I have been at great pains
in making (having had to walk over many and many a mile, some-
times under a scorching sun and sometimes in the cold and wet), you
can see at a glance the truly simple geological structure and history
of this “ Gold-field” par eacellence.
Now that you have gone over the map, the references, and Synopsis,
will you take a walk with me over the field? It will not tire you ;
for I shall at once repair to the highest point on the Redhill Range
(40), from whence you have such an extensive view and so inter-
esting a geological panorama, that I named the spot ‘‘ Panorama
Point.”
The Redhill Range extends several miles south, dividing the auri-
ferous gullies in east and west currents, and is the corresponding
bluff of the Blackhill Range (21), which continues in a northerly
direction, also dividing the auriferous gullies into E. and W. currents,
until it reaches the Dividing Range. The large gap between both
bluffs was formed by the destructive influence of the currents when
forcing their way through the ridge.
Before us then, to the north, is the Black Hill (21), with its
quartz-lodes and -veins cropping out; and we stand on the opposite
bluff, the Red Hill, where the Golden Point (36) and other quartz-
reefs also crop out near its summit. To the N.E. is the Brownhill
Range crowned by the Monte-Christo quartz-reef (8), and it was
between the Blackhill and the Brownhill Ranges that the Eureka
Channel (13) once rolled its really auriferous sands.
Below us, as already referred to, is the wide gap, the present flat,
and at the depth of 200 feet was found the auriferous mainchannel,
the Gravel Pits (25), into which ran the aggregate and different
channels of Hureka, Canadian (58), and Manpoke (22).
Almost due E. is the cone of the extinct voleano Mount Warrenheep,
towards which extends the auriferous alluvial deposit, limited in that
direction by schist-ranges ; the same which you observe to theS.E.,
1859. | ROSALES—BALLAARAT GOLD-FIELD. 499
where the conical elevation in the background is Mount Buninyong,
also an extinct volcano*,
You can also distinguish from this a the course of the shallow
channel, coming from the E.S.E. Ranges to Pennyweight Hill and
Pennyweight Flat (34), where, crossing over the course of a deep
auriferous channel (the Canadian), it was afterwards washed away
by the present Canadian Creek, and is found on the opposite side on
Poverty Point (35), pursuing its course to Golden Point (36), the
White Flat (37), and Balaclava (1), where it has been found under
the basalt in two or three pits; and, although not searched for any
further (on account of the poorness of the “ stuff,” as the miners
say), some time or other its course will be disclosed. There is
another most interesting spot (46), where again successive channels
are to be observed. It is at the lower end of the White Flat; here
the shallow auriferous channel covers a deep auriferous lead, and
the River Yarrowee or Leigh flows over the formert+. Another in-
stance would in all prebability be found at Creswick, where I under-
stand that the shallow channel in Portuguese Flat covers the deep
one; and, although I have repeatedly heard that a “ false bottom+
was gone through,” still, as I have not inspected the place, I cannot
say more about it (see P.S.).
Thus again the successive periods of deep and shallow channels
would seem to be almost satisfactorily established; but there must
be many more, for what are the drifts above the lower deposits of
the deep channels? The study of the successive periods of channels
is a most interesting one, but somewhat intricate §.
Continuing our observations, you see the township of Ballaarat to
the N.W., built on the basalt-bluffs, Turn now more westward,
and you discern the great extent of ground covered by basalt, which
igneous rock filled up the channels, valleys, and plains of the then
low ground, extending in all probability under the Lakes Burrembeet
and Laermonth towards the granite-ranges, the Pyrenees, pursuing
its gradual fall then in a direction perhaps W. of the extinct volcanos
Mount Emu and Mount Elephant.
Thus the basalt has thrown a trappean veil over the ante-volcanic
plains; raise this veil for a moment, and then you would discover
unknown schist-ranges, unknown channels and plains, and the re-
* It was from Panorama Point and from the Black Hill that, some years ago,
I made a summary survey of the levels of the alluvium, ranges, &c. of the ground
situated to the HE. and S.E. of Panorama Point, and was enabled to conclude, as
I then stated (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xi. p. 398), that the Eureka would
run into the mainchannel somewhere about Pennyweight Flat (34). This has
since eventually happened, although, at the time I made the hypothesis and pro-
gnosis, the Eureka had only been traced just to the 8. side of the Yarrowee.
t At this spot the shallow channel was struck at the depth of 15 feet below
the River Yarrowee, which flows in a S8.S.W. direction; the auriferous drift and
the quartz-boulders were lying on a “ false bottom,’’ sinking through which, to
45 feet more depth, in clayish alluvium, was sufficient to reach the gutter of
the Nightingale Lead (45) bearing W.N.W., on the “true bottom,” the schists.
¢ For this term, see my first letter, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xi. p. 397.
é See notes by Mr. Phillips and Mr, Rosales on this subject in the Quart. Journ.
Geol. Soc. vol. xiv. pp. 588 and 548,—Ebpir.
500 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. (Jan. 19,
mains of a vegetation, and perhaps of animals, similar to those at
present in this continent. But this “terra incognita” will only be
disclosed, and we may say conquered from the Kobold phantom, by
persevering mining and industrial appliances,
It is under this extensive basalt-formation, partly bounded on the
S.W. by the schist-ranges and granite of Smythe’s Creek, that the
different auriferous mainchannels, the Dead Horse (3), the Golden
Point (26), the Sebastopol (73), and Black-clay Leads (84), have
entered upon their mysterious course: the miner might say it is a
merciless one.
Further to the N. of Dead Horse there are other leads, for instance
Northumberland and Sulky-gully Lead; but I have not extended
my observations in that direction. It is true that there is not much
to observe there; sufficeit to say that the named leads are directing
their course to westward.
Now that we have had, as it were, unfolded before us the geolo-
gical habitus of this field, we will ascend Mount Buninyong.
. Let us consider how we stand. To the N.W., and divided from
us by high schist-ranges, lies Ballaarat; and Mount Warrenheep
hes N. Further westward, we again sce the lakes, the Pyrenees,
and the extensive basalt-plains, the monotonous aspect-of which is
only now and then relieved by the bold cones of extinct volcanos.
At our feet, looking due W., is the township of Buninyong.
From here you see how the Redhill Range (its summit crowned
at intervals by the White Horse, Great Republic, and other auriferous
quartz-reefs) follows a southerly direction towards the Long-gully
(80) and Buninyong Cemetery quartz-lodes, where the range 1s inter-
cepted. The debris of this part of the range supplied the alluvial
deposits which are all united in the Black-clay Mainchannel (84).
You also easily distinguish a shallow channel, which seems to arise
somewhere E.N.K. of Buninyong, at the 8. W. boundary of the town-
ship, showing itself again extensively developed on the Chalk-hills
(85); at the south end of which (notice it particularly) the schists
are again seen to crop out, following the southerly direction of the
Redhill Range,—again cropping out between Laermonth’s paddock
and the River Yarrowee, where, following the same direction, they
are again visible at the crossing-place, and finally form the ranges
from whence arise the Welshman’s (89), Rider’s (90), and Durham
(91) Leads on the E. side (which Leads eventually will join the
Greenhill Mainchannel, 92) and the Napoleon’s Lead on the western
side, which latter takes even a due N. direction, tending in all pro-
bability to join the Black-clay Lead.
Thus the southerly continuation of the Redhill Range is the
schist-ridge which divided two great ante-voleanic valleys from each
other, and parted the course of the above-mentioned mainchannels
(Black-clay, Sebastopol, &c.) from that of. the Greenhill auriferous
mainchannel (92), which doubtless will-keep a southerly course,
whilst the other mainchannels pursue at present a westerly direc-
tion; and it might figuratively be said that this interesting ridge,
which is to be traced from hence along the Redhill and Blackhill
1859. | ROSALES—BALLAARAT GOLD-FIELD. 501
Ranges unto the Dividing Range, is the spinal bone of the frame of
this gold-field.
I have purposely avoided saying anything about the “ Springs
Diggings” (1 & 2), situated far to the N.E. of Ballaarat. It is an
interesting locality, but one which I have not sufficiently studied.
However there are two distinct successive channels or auriferous
“‘ charriages ;” those in the gullies, and that which runs under the
basalt. In what geological relation they stand to the successive
channels of Ballaarat or of Creswick, I.am not prepared to say ; still
I should think “ charriage ” No. 2 contemporaneous with the shal-
low channel of Creswick. The course of both “ charriages”’ diverges
from this gold-field, and lies in some glen unravelled at present,
bearing towards Lal Lal Creek.
I have gathered a few things: some gold-specimens and crystal-
lized gold in the forms D; H, 0; O, H; and one crystal D, O, H,
and small facettes of Naumann’s Hexakistetraéder; also some zeo-
lites and a few vegetable organic remains.
P.S. Since writing the above I have been to Creswick and have
obtained correct particulars on the subject from Mr. E. Millner and
party, who worked on the ground. On Portuguese Flat, at the depth
of about 10 feet, there is an auriferous deposit (1) which spreads
mostly over the flat, resting on the schists, but frequently also on a
“false bottom.” Through this deposit the Creswick Creek has
forced its present course, which is very near N. At the depth of
26 feet, another auriferous channel (2) is met with, about 9 feet
wide on an average, bearing W. 10° N., resting also partly on schists
and partly on a “ false bottom.” This channel crosses over a deep
auriferous channel (3, the Wet Lead) which is found at a depth of 48
feet (22 feet below the No. 2 channel), resting only on the schists,
which form the “true bottom ;” it is 15 feet wide on an average,
and its course is N. 15° W.
Perhaps I may some time or other be enabled to show a certain
analogy between the periods of some of the auriferous drifts and the
epochs of volcanic eruptions.
Synopsis of the Auriferous Gullies, Channels, and Mainchannels.
Springs Diggings; auriferous gullies and channel, bearing under the Basalt
towards Lal Lal, z. ¢. S.E.
Dead-horse Gullies; the channel now under the Basalt, bearing W., into which
will run the Northumberland Lead (?).
Little Bendigo, Nuggety Gully, Kangaroo Gully, several other gullies, Rotten
Gully, Brownhill Gully, and Cockatoo Gully, fall into the Eureka Channel,
into which subsequently run the Nil desperandum, Caledonian, Lady
Berkeley, and Blackhill Leads, forming the
Eureka Mainchannel, which joins the Gravel-pits Mainchannel.
One-eye Gully, Scotchman’s Gully, New-chum Gully, Tailors’ Gully, Prince
Regent Gully, and Canadian Gully form the
Canadian Mainchannel, which, after the confluence of the Warrenheep, Navie
Jack’s, and the Redhill Leads, would empty into the Gravel-pits Main-
channel.
502
PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
[Jan. 19,
Pennyweight Flat, Poverty Point, Golden Point, White Flat, and Balaclava
show the course of the
Shallow Channel of Ballaarat.
The Mopoke Gullies, and the Bakery-hill Lead form the
Mopoke Mainchannel, which likewise runs into the
Gravel-pits Mainchannel, which just below the Camp enters on its sub-
basaltic course, goes under Bath’s Hotel, and meets the Golden-point Deep
Lead under Dana Street.
Here ends the famous Gravel-pits Mainchannel
according to law; for the Golden-point Lead, having been registered
before the Gravel-pits, takes the precedence, and hence it is that after the
junction of these two leads the Golden-point Lead retained the name—and
so the
Gravel-pits Mainchannel died a egal death, although not a geological one. The
Golden-point Lead is, we may say, a “ parvenu” ; its course is W.S.W.
The Inkermann Gullies, A 1 Lead, and the Haphazard Lead form the
Inkermann Channel, which, falling fast in a §.S.W. direction, will soon end its
golden career, running into the Golden-point 1 Mainchannel.
_So also will
the Nightingale, Malakoff, and Milkmaid Leads, as also the more important
Miners’ Right and Mount Pleasant, which two form the
Redan Channel, and bearing N.W., run into the
Golden-point Mainchannel.
The Woolshed Gullies form the Woolshed Channel, the Terrible Gullies
form the Terrible Lead, the White Horse Gullies form the White Horse Lead,
and the Frenchman’s Gullies and the Magpie form the Frenchman’s Lead.
The last three leads, after their junction, form the
Sebastopol Mainchannel, bearing W.
Into this mainchannel, the united channels of the Raglan, Cobler’s, and
Long Gully will eventually run.
The Black-lead Gullies, Hiscock’s Gullies, Poor-man’s Gully, and Sussex
form respectively the Black Lead, Hiscock’s Lead, Nelson’s, and the Sussex
Lead, which, joining together, form the
Black-lead Mainchannel, bearing W.
The Chalk-hills, the
Shallow channel of Buninyong, is only to be found in unconnected portions.
Its course, however, is likely to be detected in a westerly direction.
The Union Jack, Scotchman’s, Devonshire, Welshman’s, Rider’s, and Dur-
ham Leads will all j join the
Greenhill Mainchannel, the course of which bears southward.
CO COMI SD CUB Oo KO
References to the Numbers and Letters on the Map. Pl. XV.
Auriferous Gullies ee Dig-
ss Channel gings.
Dead-horse Channel.
vs Quartz-reef.
. Nuggety Gully.
. Little Bendigo.
. Kangaroo Gully.
. Monte Christo Quartz-reef.
. Brownhill Gully.
. Rotten Gully.
. Hit or Miss Gully.
. Cockatoo Gully.
. The Eureka Channel.
. Brownhill Channel.
. Caledonian Channel.
. Long-looked-for Channel.
. Lady Berkeley Channel.
. Nil-desperandum Channel (where
the N.-desp. nugget was found).
. Blackhill Channel.
. Great Western Bore
. Band of Hope Bore } Golden-
. Victoria Bore .
. Bakery-hill Channel.
. Blackhiil Quartz-lodes and -veins.
2. Manpoke Channel.
. Junction where the Welcome nug-
get was found.
. The lower end of Mopoke Lead.
. Grayel-pits Mainchannel.
. Junction of the last and the Golden
Point deep Channel.
. Inkermann Channel.
. Al Channel.
. Haphazard Channel.
. Township Quartz-reef: strike N.
11 W.!
\ Bores to find
| the course of
point Main-
") channel(26).
. Pennyweight Flat.
Quart. Journ.Geol. Soe. Vol. XV. PL XV.
:
|
}
ba Warrenheep
LW. Lowry fe-.
3 i
JN.
avis ss
. 1858. fi
To tllustrate M°H. Rosales 's paper
AS ASS
aut W \\\ _ SOAS
Geological plan of the — .-
GOLD*FIELD or BALLARAT .
aa \Y
v
: )
Q e stage
fesse SSS = - —* =
by \
ca ee ,
=
3 niles .
>.
The Brothers
SWIG. Swain:
— = YUpRensss
2
Zz
xo?
General strike of the Quartz-lodes
under the Basalt.
Scale $ an tech to a mile.
Great Roads.
Zz
wre, Course. of the deep Charme
‘itl Quartz-lodes uv the Ranges.
ttn!) Schists.
ag
a
(sae
é
phine, Streestte Gold -Gulliés ue use
wf running to the Basalt
“Sta det bs
Tears Granite.
GLI fy, G “+ =) .
WT
tiny Gravatue Cervus .
oe Greeks and Gullies
*
tll: Basalt.
AG e
a
a Rae
1859. ]
HARLEY——CEPHALASPIS,
35. Poverty Point. | 61. Madman’s Flat.
36. Golden Point. 62. New-chum’s Channel.
37. White Flat. 63. Scotchman’s Gully.
I Balaclava. 64. New-chum Gully.
38. Redhill Line (Channel). 65. One-eye Gully.
39. Canadian Channel (Dalton’s Flat). | 66. Woolshed Gullies.
40. Panorama Point (Redhill Range). | 67. Woolshed Channel.
41. Navie Jack’s Channel. 68. Terrible Channel.
42. Sinclair’s Hill. 69. White Horse Channel.
43. Gay’s Rush. 70. White Horse Quartz-lode or -reef.
44, Warrenheep Channel. 71. Frenchman’s Channel.
45. Pit on the Nightingale Channel. 72. Magpie Lead.
46. Interesting point on the Nightin- | 73. Sebastopol Mainchannel.
gale Channel. 74. Working Miners’) Probable
47. Junction of the last and the Mala- Pie ee course of the
koff Lead. 75. Evening Star Pit { Sebastopol
48. The Milkmaid’s Channel. WG Taste Pat 285 - Mainchannel.
49. The Malakoff Channel. 77. Raglan Channel. ©
50. Mount Pleasant Channel. 78. Cobler’s Channel.
51. Miners’-right Channel. 79. Long-gully Channel.
J. Redan Channel. | 80. Long-gully Quartz-reef.
52. Golden-gate Pit... .)\ Provable | 81. Hiscock’s Quartz-reef.
53. Golden-gate Pit. ... Sort Bo Ps raslakOhaanel:
54. Red Lion Bore.... of fic 83. Union Jack’s Gully.
5d. Perseverance Bore | pagan 84. Black-lead Mainchannel.
(through300 ft. of rock) ) ° 85. The Chalk-hills.
56. Golden-point or Old Post Office | 86. The Devonshire Channel.
Quartz-reef. 87. The Scotchman’s Channel.
ze F ee ae 88. A patch of shallow Channel.
. Canadian a . 89. Welshman’s Channel.
59. Prince Feeent eee sanction 90. Rider’s Channel.
were the jewel-
Gully ... ‘| ieee ahoas 91. Durham Channel.
60. Sailor’s Gully . 7 92. The Greenhill Mainchannel.
B. Bath’s Hotel. 93. Poor-man’s Gully.
C. TheCosmopolitan) Probable 94. Nelson Channel.
OPE) ae ae eee ate course of the 95. Sussex Lead.
K. The Kohinoor Pit { Golden-point
A. Atlas Pit..... Mainchannel.
2. Description of Two Species of CEPHALASTIs.
By Joun Hartey, Esq.
[Communicated by Prof. T. Huxley, F.G.S.]
(Abstract *.)
A new form of Cephalaspis (C. Asterolepis) was found by the author
about two years ago at Hopton Gate, about four miles east of Lud-
low, in a bed of coarse Old Red conglomerate overlying a compact
calcareous sandstone, which latter abounds with fragments of Ce-
phalaspis Lyell and Pteraspis, and in its upper part contains re-
mains of Pterygotus problematicus? The former is horizontally
bedded, and alternates with a brown micaceous shale, in which are
carbonized fragments of plants.
Cephalaspis Asterolepis from the Old Red Sandstone of the neigh-
* This memoir in full will be incorporated with the descriptions of the Cepha-
laspides in the ‘ Monographs’ to be published by the Geological Survey.
o04 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. (Jan. 19,
bourhood of Ludlow is by far the largest species that has been dis-
covered, the cephalic plate having at least twice the dimensions of that
of C. Lyell. In outline it is broadly semielliptical. In addition to
its large size, it is distinguished by the position, obliquity, and mag-
nitude of the orbits. Placed almost entirely on the posterior half of
the shield, these diverge from each other so as to be distant 1 inch
apart anteriorly, and 3 an inch posteriorly. The long diameter of
each orbit measures 17 inch. Within the orbital circumference re-
mains of the osseous sclerotica are visible. Owing to the backward
position of the orbits, it is in the posterior part of the shield that we
find some of the chief distinctive modifications: thus the occipital
crest is even shorter than that of a species less than half its size;
the space between the orbital ridges is proportionately small.
The outer enamel-layer is ornamented with tubercles, which bear
so close a resemblance to those covering the bony plates of Astero-
lepis as to have suggested the specific name. They present, however,
considerable variation: usually they arise by a circular and more or
less tumid base, which gradually terminates in an elevated papilla ;
or the papilla may be small, rounded, and distinct from the base.
Sometimes two or even three minute papille surmount the same
base ; sometimes the base is quite flat and expanded, and is occupied
by a solitary central papilla. In all cases the base presents more
or less distinctly a radiated striation. The inner layer of the bony
plate presents lacunze and long branching canaliculi precisely re-
sembling those of human bone. Many of these are completely in-
jected with a transparent blood-red material; and so beautifully are
they displayed, that one ignorant of the structure of bone would
be able to apprehend it by a glance at a minute Par of this ancient
fragment.
So wonderfully indeed has nature treasured up her secrets in this
disentombed relic of a time so distant as to be incalculable, that she
distinctly reveals in their minutest details the structure of canals not
more than the z;,th of an inch in diameter, and such as defy the
skill of the anatomist to inject.
Mr. Harley also described a more perfect specimen of Cephalaspis
Salweyi than the one on which Sir P. Egerton not long since deter-
mined the species*. It was found by Mr. Salwey at Hinstone near
Bromyard, and about 13 mile from Acton Beauchamp, in a sand-
stone similar to that in which the other specimen was found at
Acton Beauchamp.
Cephalaspis Salweyz proves to differ but very little in size and
external configuration from C. Zyellu. It is distinguished from this
species by its short and slender postero-lateral spines, which are not
prolonged further backwards than the termination of the occipital
crest. The internal parts of the posterior third of the shield form a
distinct, arched, nuchal plate, which is prolonged posteriorly. The
occipital crest 1s prominent, and bifurcates anteriorly into the orbital
ridges. These, diverging, curve a little outwards and pass to the
* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. 11. p. 283.
1859. ] SCROPE—-CONES AND CRATERS, 505
posterior margins of the orbits, enclosing between them a tabulated
surface, which, occupying the central and most elevated parts of the
general surface, forms a prominent feature. The orbits are small
and slightly oval; they are situated entirely on the anterior half of
the shield. The enamel-layer forms small, oblong or round, pearly
drop-like tubercles, which are numerous and for the most part
discrete. The spaces between them are grooved into parallel or
slightly divergent ridges, which pass from their sides and ends. The
structure of these tubercles is very vascular. |
Associated with this fossil, the author found the dermal plate or
the tooth of a placoid fish, which has close resemblance to the tecth
of Cestracion and the Rays, and even closer still with the bone of
the Silurian bodies called by Pander Celolepide. It was discovered
almost between the jaws of C. Salweyi, and thus suggests the para-
doxical question—does it belong to that fish ?
Fersruary 2, 1859.
Signor Gennaro Placci, Florence, and Zacatecas, Mexico; John
Henry Sylvester, Esq., Assist.-Surgeon, Indian Army; and Joseph
Frederick Whiteaves, Esq., St. John Street, Oxford, were elected
Fellows. ;
The following communication was read :—
On the Mover of Formation of Votcanic Cones and Craters.
‘By G. Povrerr Scrops, Esq., M.P., F.R.S., F.G.8., de.
In a paper read before the Society in April 1856, I called attention
to this subject *. I should have thought further recurrence to it
unnecessary had it not been that, in the first part of the fourth
volume of Baron Humboldt’s ‘ Kosmos’ (of which a translation has
recently issued from the press, under the superintendence of General
Sabine), that distinguished author, while treating very fully of vol-
canic action, gives the unqualified support of his great authority to
the theory of upheaval as contradistinguished from that of eruption
in reference to the origin of volcanic cones and craters,—a theory
which, in common with Sir Charles Lyell, M. Constant Prévost, and
many others, I believe to be not merely erroneous, but destructive
of all clearness of apprehension as to the part which volcanic action
has really played in the structural arrangement of the earth’s
surface.
I think I shall be justified in this last observation in the opinion
of any person who will peruse with attention Baron Humboldt’s work,
and endeavour to realize some definite idea of what the author con-
siders volcanic action to be—how cones or craters are formed—how
* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xi. p. 326.
006 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 2,
lava-currents conduct themselves when expelled under varying cir-
cumstances upon the earth’s surface—what volcanic mountains, or
what portions of any such, are the product of eruption and accumu-
lation, and what of the mere mechanical upheaval in mass of pre-
existing beds. The whole subject is rendered indistinct, and I will
venture to say unintelligible, by the author’s adhesion to the theory
of “Cones and Craters of Upheaval,” first dogmatically enounced
by M. Leopold von Buch, and subsequently supported, with most
elaborate—but, as it appears to me, very inconclusive—arguments,
by MM. De Beaumont and Dufrénoy. Now, although the study
of the laws of volcanic action is a branch of geology which has not
attracted much attention in this country, yet every one will, on
consideration, admit that, among all the forces of nature which may
be seen in activity on the surface of the earth, the volcano is by far
the most striking in its phenomena, and the most directly demon-
strative of the character and mode of operation of those (as yet little
understood) subterranean agencies by which the crust of our globe
has been unquestionably from time to time modified, and was in all
probability in a large degree elaborated.
It cannot, therefore, but be of paramount importance to the pro-
gress of the science, that just and correct views should prevail upon
this subject, and that, if erroneous opinions have been promulgated,
they should be thoroughly exposed and refuted.
It is true that the able, though succinct, argument against the
Upheaval doctrine, contained in the last editions of the ‘ Principles’
and ‘ Manual’ of Sir Charles Lyell, together with the paper recently
read by him before the Royal Society, and printed in the ‘ Philosc-
phical Transactions,’ in which he corrects the representations of
M. Elie de Beaumont on this point, with respect to the lava-currents
of Etna, may be thought to have rendered any other effort of the
kind superfluous. I may, however, remark that this, like many
other unsound doctrines, when once promulgated by high authority,
requires more than one blow to destroy it. In more than one recent
elementary work on Geology * the Upheaval theory is still put for-
ward as the true explanation of volcanic action. Our distinguished
associate, Dr. Daubeny, to a great extent, advocates it in the last
edition of his work on that subject, and has not hitherto changed
his opinion, so far as I am aware. Professor James Forbes yet lends
it his countenance. The majority of geological schools on the Con-
tinent still teach it as a matter not open to controversy. It is,
indeed, disheartening to reflect how successfully an erroneous theory
of this character may be set up, and how widely and enduringly it
may be thenceforward propagated, under the influence of one or two
great names—finding its way, as a matter of course, into all popular
compilations,—and with what difficulty its refutation can be esta-
blished.
In the present instance I have myself to repeat arguments which
* EH. g. in Keith Johnston’s ‘ Physical Geography’; Lardner’s ‘ Geology’ ;
Professor Ansted’s ‘ Elementary Geology’; the article Geology in the ‘ Encyclo-
peedia Metropolitana,’ &c.
1859. | SCROPE—CONES AND CRATERS. 507
more than thirty years ago I addressed to the Society upon the same
subject; and, under these circumstances, I hope I shall not be
deemed to trespass unnecessarily upon the attention of its members
if I now offer to them some further considerations in opposition to
what cannot be yet looked on as an exploded fallacy.
I shall avoid repeating, and only briefly allude to, the able ar eu-
ments with which all are conversant in Sir Charles Lyell’s publica-
tions, and endeavour to reinforce them by others derived chiefly
from my own observations.
But first it will be convenient that I should clearly point out what
is the real question in dispute.
In common with the unscientific world, and forming their judg-
ment on the usual character of the observed phenomena of volcanos,
all the early geologists who made this department of science their
special study—such as Saussure, Spallanzani, Sir W. Hamilton,
Dolomieu, Breislak, &c.—were accustomed to consider a volcanic
mountain as the result of the accwmulation, over and around an
eruptive vent, of the fragmentary matter and lavas thrown out from
it. Where but one eruption had occurred, the result appeared to
them to be a conical hill composed of scorie, lapilli, or other loose
ejecta, usually having a crater at its summit, and a single current
of lava, which, after flowimg from the summit or flank, or perhaps
from the base of the hill, spread over the adjoining surfaces in a
sheet or stream, whose dimensions would be determined by the
quantity and fluidity of the lava emitted, and by the levels of the
surface upon which it was poured out. Where repeated eruptions
occurred from the same habitual volcanic vent, the result, it was
naturally supposed, would be a proportionately larger and higher
cone; a volcanic mountain, in fact, composed (as such mountains
are observed to be) of irregularly alternating layers of fragmentary
ejecta and lava-streams, sloping outwardly on all sides from the
central summit of the volcano, where the vent would be generally
marked by a crater.
Thus, to give a single instance, Spallanzani describes the island
of Saline, one of the Lipari group, as composed of repeated beds of
lava and scorie, one above the other, sloping from the summit-edge
of the crater to the sea around ; and goes on to say, “ We must con-
clude that there were at least as many eruptions from the summit of
this mountain as we can count beds of lava. Thus it is that volcanic
mountains are for the most part formed. In the beginning it is only
the accumulation of the products of one first eruption; then a
second takes place; then a third; and the mass goes on increasing
always in bulk in proportion to the number of eruptions. Thus was,
no doubt, formed, increased, and extended the colossal bulk of
Etna. Such was the origin of Vesuvius, of the Lipari Isles, and of
other volcanic mountains,—not, however, forgetting that some
minor volcanic hills, like the Monte Nuovo, and the Monte Rosso on
the flank of Etna, were produced by a single eruption*.”
For this simple and common-sense theory of the mode of forma-
* Spallanzani, ‘ Voyage. dans les Deux Siciles,’ ii. p. 116.
508 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. {Feb. 2,
tion of volcanic mountains (which I need hardly say I myself
adopted and enforced in my ‘ Considerations on Volcanos,’ published
in 1825) has been substituted by certain later geologists, chiefly of the
Continental schools, one which ascribes the production of all, or nearly
all, voleanic mountains to the sudden ‘ upheaval,’ at one shock, of a
tract of pre-existing horizontal strata of lava and volcanic conglome-
rate, into the shape of a hollow cone or dome, inflated like a bladder
by the sudden expansion of a great volume of vapour beneath ;
which bubble or bladder is further supposed to have burst at the
top whenever a crater is found there. In order to avoid misrepre-
sentation, I will quote the definition given by Baron Humboldt, the
latest exponent (as well as, I believe, the original inventor) of this
theory. In the recently published volume of his ‘ Kosmos*,’ he
says :—
‘‘ In regard to volcanos, the form-giving, or shaping, activity is
exerted by the upheaval of the ground; not (as was formerly and
almost exclusively believed) in building up by successive accumulation
of scoriz and strata of lava deposited over one another. The re-
sistance which the fiery-fluid masses, pressed in too great abundance
(from below) against the surface, find at the spot which is to be the
channel of eruption, occasions the augmentation of the upheaving
force. There arises a ‘ bubble-shaped pushing-up of the ground,’ as
is indicated by the regular outward slope of the wpheaved strata. A
mine-like explosion, the bursting of the central and highest portion
of this convex swelling of the ground, sometimes produces what
Leopold von Buch has termed a ‘ crater of elevation, —and, when
the structure of a permanent volcano is to be completed, a dome-
shaped or conical mount likewise, in the middle of the ‘ crater of
elevation,’ which inner mount is also, in the greater number of cases,
open at its summit,” &e.
The first suggestion of this theory is, I believe, to be found in
M. de Humboldt’s own description of the Mexican volcano of Jorullo,
in his great work on New Spainy. In his ‘Atlas Géographique,’
ed. 1814, he gives also views and plans of the products of the great
eruption of 1759 at that locality, which, according to his notion,
occasioned the sudden swelling up of the surface of a previously
flat plain into an immense hollow convexity in the shape of a blister
or bubble, “ en forme de vessie ;” from the midst of which convexity
or ‘“plaine bombée,”’ locally called the ‘‘ Malpais,” arose six great
conical hills, covered with volcanic ashes, the largest of which—the
mountain of Jorullo proper—has a crater, and a massive promontory
of basaltic lava attached to it, and appearing to cascade, as it were,
from the crater at a point high up on the flank of the cone. The
surface of the convex plain was also studded with thousands of small
hillocks under ten feet high, which, at the time of M. de Humboldt’s
visit in 1780, twenty years after the eruption, were still smoking,
and thence called “ hornitos,” or ovens, by the natives of the country;
* Part I. p. 224. Sabine’s Translation, 1858,
t Essai Politique sur la Nouvelle Espagne, ed. 1811, vol. i. p. 251,
1859. | SCROPE—CONES AND CRATERS. 509
appearing to be composed, outwardly at least, of a black indurated
clay, or earthy “‘decomposed basalt” (for M. de Humboldt seems
rather doubtful what to call it) having a globular concretionary and
concentric lamellar structure; and these small protuberances, as
well as the large conical hills, and the entire convexity of the
Malpais, are alike considered by him as so many hollow inflated blis-
ters (see figs. 1, 2,and3). These appearances so explained, he rightly
calls, in his recent volume of ‘Kosmos,’ “ The greatest, and, since my
American journey, the most celebrated phenomenon of volcanic up-
heaval.”” I believe this to have been also the first statement ever
announced to the world of such a phenomenon, with the exception
of that (to which M. de Humboldt is never tired of referring as an
authoritative example) in the ‘Metamorphoses’ of Ovid, who vaguely
reports a tradition of something similar having occurred at Methone
in Greece *.
While engaged, many years back, upon my work on Volcanos,
which was published in 1825, I was so struck with the discord-
ance of M. de Humboldt’s theory of the eruption of Jorullo with
the then-known ordinary laws of volcanic action, that I was led to
institute a close examination of the facts and relations respecting
this celebrated event, upon which his view of its origin was
grounded. And in the appendix to that work I showed in detail
(and I venture to think conclusively) that the theory is not at all
warranted by either class of evidence; on the contrary, that both
the relation of the phenomena that accompanied the eruption, as
given by M. de Humboldt himself from the reports of eye-witnesses,
and its results as observed and described by him, are perfectly con-
sistent with the usual course of proceeding of an ordinary volcanic
eruption, witnessed in numberless examples in other parts of the
globe ; that the six conical hills are common eruptive cones of scorie,
ashes, and other fragmentary matters (of which prodigious quantities
are stated in every account to have been thrown up from these
several points of the original plain +, at the commencement of the
eruption and throughout many subsequent months); that the con-
vexity of the ‘“‘ Malpais” surrounding these cones is (like all the
other ‘‘Malpais” of Spanish America) but the surface of a thick bed
of imperfectly liquid basaltic lava, which, having been poured out of
these vents in great abundance upon a flat plain, naturally accumu-
lated there around their base (its greatest height above the original
plain being only 470 feet, therefore not thicker than some of the
lava-streams of Iceland), and this at the foot of the great cone of
Jorullo, from which is yet seen descending into and joining the
“‘ Malpais”’ a very bulky promontory of coarse-grained lava, by which
M. de Humboldt climbed up to the crater; finally, that the myste-
rious, but really insignificant, “‘hornitos” (which, by the later account
of Mr. Burkart, seem to have very soon disappeared, their covering
being washed away by the rains) were merely the higher superficial
*
“ Extentam tumefecit humum, ceu spiritus oris
Tendere vesicam solet.’’— Ovid, ‘ Met.’ lib. xv.
+ Jorullo, the largest, is 1200 feet high from the plain.
VOL. XV.—PART I. 20
510 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 2,
Fig. 1—View of Jorullo and its Malpais. (From Humboldt’s
‘Mexico.’) .
Fig. 2.—Section of Jorullo. (After Humboldt.)
Level of original plain.
Fig. 3.—Plan of Jorullo and the Malpais. (After Humboldt.)
—
SSS Ne >
«ah plins SSS = =
—_
SS _ SSS,
Se el SSS SS ee
ne, o:
= Ves - ;
Ze
1859. | SCROPE—CONES AND CRATERS. 511
asperities of this great lava-bed tossed up by jets of escaping steam,
and coated over to the depth of a foot or two by a black mud formed
from the showers of volcanic ashes mixed with rain-water, which
are recorded to have fallen in abundance during and after the erup-
tion ; in which superficial mud or clay the influence of the hot
vapours escaping through them had produced a concentric concre-
tionary arrangement of particles, such as is often found under similar
circumstances in volcanic ash or ‘‘ wacke.”’ Indeed this crust was
so brittle that Humboldt says the feet of the mules broke through
it. Consequently, I argued, it was quite unnecessary, for the purpose
of explaining the visible results of the eruption of Jorullo in 1759, to
imagine a new and unexampled mode of volcanic action, such as the
sudden inflation from beneath of a tract of solid horizontal strata
into a hollow bladder four square-miles in extent, with other sup-
posed hollow bubbles, large and small, upon its surface.
It was too much, perhaps, to expect that any arguments pro-
ceeding from me, an unknown writer at that time (more than thirty
years back), should prevail against so great and deservedly esteemed
an authority as M. de Humboldt, especially upon a question relating
to a volcanic district which he had, as it were, discovered, and which
I had not even visited. Neither is it to be wondered at that this
notion of the inflation of volcanic hills, like bladders, from beneath,
haying been thus presented to geologists in the character of an
observed fact, should have been applied by other writers as well as
by M. de Humboldt himself to many other volcanic formations. In
fact, from this supposed example, the theory of upheaval craters
(Erhebungskrater), shortly afterwards put forth by Humboldt’s
compatriot and frequent correspondent, Leopold de Buch, readily
and naturally originated. The vaulted crust of the Malpais is, of
course, a half-elevated volcanic cone, only needing a little more
“‘ pushing up”’ to become an Etna, a Chimborazo, or an Elburz, in the
imagination of the upheavalists. Nevertheless, so thoroughly per-
suaded am I that M. de Humboldt is completely in error as to this
typical example, that I should be quite willing to rest the whole con-
troversy between the rival theories of upheaval and eruption upon this
single case*. I stop for a moment to mention, as a parallel example
to that of Jorullo, tending to show its very normal and ordinary cha-
racter, the results of a great eruption of the volcano of Awatscha —
in Kamschatka in July 1827, visited by Messrs. Portel and Lenz in
the subsequent year. They describe a vast stream of trachytic lava
as having descended from the rim of the great crater of the moun-
tain, down whose outer flank it now projects in a steep ridge (evidently,
therefore, resembling the promontory of lava on the side of Jorullo).
At the base of the cone it spread out widely in a high platform,
* Jorullo has recently been visited, at the request of M. de Humboldt, by M. de
Saussure ; and I understand from Sir Charles Lyell that the latter geologist has
communicated to him his conviction that uphéaval played no part in its produc-
tion, and that an abundant stream of lava had flowed from its crater and deluged
the plain at its foot. M. de Saussure will, no doubt, before long publish his
observations in detail.
20 2,
512 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, [Feb. 2,
called by the natives “‘ the burnt field.” Its surface is covered, like
the “ Malpais” of Mexico, with a thick bed of ashes, and from this
rise numerous small knolls or hillocks some 10 or 12 feet high, and
about the same in diameter at the base, from each of which issued,
at the time of their visit, “‘fumaroles,” or streams of hot vapour
having an odour of sulphuretted hydrogen. Here, as at Jorullo, it is
evident that abundant showers of ashes gave to the superficial
asperities of the great lava-bed (which discharged vapours as usual,
so long as the interior retained its heat) the same conical or dome-
shaped figures that we see given by a deep fall of snow to accidental
protuberances on the surface of any rough field. Indeed, I observed a
precisely similar phenomenon produced by the eruption of Vesuvius
of 1822, as I remarked in a paper read before this Society in 1827.
The upheaval or “ blister” theory having been, however, thus
originated by M. de Humboldt, was adopted, and further developed
by M. de Buch in his work on the Canary Isles.
This author says, of the Peak of Teneriffe itself (fig. 4), notwith-
standing that he describes its only visible part (the surface) to be
composed of ejected pumice and streams of glassy lava, which are
admitted to have repeatedly flowed down the steep sides of the cone
Fig. 4.—Peak of Teneriffe, as seen from the margin of the Cirque.
Dir sri
from its summit *—thereby showing the cone to be of a purely erup-
tive origin, so far as it can be observed :—
“ It (2. e. the entire cone of the Pic de Teyde) has been produced
by the ‘ upheaval’ of a mass urged upwards by the force beneath,
which struggled for a vent, and which while forcing a passage in
the middle of the crater of elevation (the surrounding cirque) lifted
up the mass above it in the form of a domet.”
This assertion, be it remarked, is made dogmatically, without any
attempt to support by argument so strange a proposition, and one so
contrary to received notions—nay, even to the facts he himself
relates as to the cone being visibly composed of loose pumice and
lava-streams.
In the same manner, in speaking of Vesuvius, in the latter part
* Canaries, p. 196. tT Ibid. p. 202.
iy
7 YYZ yp
TZ ee, y yy
Lae : ff i
a ees
oEmt.D:
1859. | SCROPE—CONES AND CRATERS. 513
of the same volume, M. de Buch asserts that “It sprung up at its
origin, in the time of Pliny, ready-formed, as we see it” (Le
_ volcan, tel que nous le voyons encore, est sorti, a cet Epoque, tout formé,
du sein de laterre). <‘‘ It was not formed,” he goes on to say, “ by
successive out-flowings of currents of lava; on the contrary, its
height has, since that epoch, 4.p. 79, been constantly diminishing*.”
Again, of Etna, M. de Buch says, ‘“‘ We cannot refuse to see in it an
individual, so to speak, arrived at perfection at the moment of its
mirth, .... It could not have been the result of slow and irregular
growth, by successive eruptions. ts form is too regular and sym-
metrical for such an origin t.”
i M. Elie de Beaumont, who, with M. Dufrénoy, subsequently to
M. de Buch, took up and maintained the upheaval-theory, similarly
says of the same mountain, Etna: ‘‘ One day the internal agency
which had so frequently disturbed the ‘ terrain’ (which he had de-
scribed as, up to that time, a nearly horizontal plain, composed of
volcanic strata), having exerted an extraordinary degree of energy,
broke through and upheaved it. From that moment Etna became a
mountain.” He goes on to reject the idea of its upheaval having
been gradual, and says, “ It was effected suddenly and at one
stroket.”
So, again, M. Dufrénoy says of Somma, “ The lavas of which it
is composed were formed in horizontal sheets, under the sea’””—“‘ se
sont épanchées en nappes horizontales ;” and “it was after this that
Somma was wpheaved at once §.”
I quote these passages from the works of the chief advocates of the
upheaval-theory in order that there may be no misunderstanding as
to what it really is, and lest it should again be said (as I have heard
it said in this room) that it is only a question of degree,—that both
parties to the controversy may be right to some extent,—that truth
may lie between them, and so forth. These convenient modes of
compromising unpleasant differences of opinion will not apply here.
It is a question that admits of no compromise. It is not as to whether
some small proportion of the salient relief of a volcanic cone or
mountain, or of the angle of elevation of its outer slopes, or the par-
tial disturbance of some of its component beds, may be due to occa-
sional earthquake-shocks or other subterranean elevatory -mpulses,
accompanied by the injection of lava into the internal fissures thus
formed (afterwards hardened into solid dykes), during the successive
eruptions of the volcano. That much will be disputed by no one of the
Eruptionists (as I may call them), certainly not by myself, who have
always described this inward distension of a volcanic mountain in
habitual or occasional eruption as part of the gradual process by which
it was formed ||. But such slow accretions to its solid internal bulk
are the very reverse of the process imagined by the Upheavalists.
* Canaries, p. 342. T Ibid. p. 326.
{ Recherches sur le mont Etna, pp. 188-193.
g Terrains de Naples, p. 360.
| See ‘ Considerations on Volcanos,’ 1825, p. 156, and Trans. Geol. Soc. Lond.
2 ser. vol. ii. p. 341, 1827. .
514 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 2,
They, as I have just shown, insist upon the entire volcanic moun-
tain, just as we now see it, having sprung out of the ground at one
jump—blown up suddenly, like a bladder, by a single effort,—the
whole amount of inclination exhibited by its outer slopes, or ‘by its
component beds, being the result exclusively of the sudden and simul-
taneous ‘swelling up” of its entire mass of beds from a previously
horizontal, or nearly horizontal, position.
The extracts I have given from their works place this beyond
dispute.
But, indeed, this doctrine, in its extremest sense, is a necessary
consequence of the argument on which it is based by the Upheaval-
ists, namely, the asserted impossibility (said to have been demon-
strated by the observations of M. Elie de Beaumont on Etna) that
any bed of lava, other than a mere scoriform strip, or string, or thin
crust, has or could have consolidated at an angle of slope exceeding
2° or 3°, or at the very outside 5°. This is an argument which, as
has been justly observed by Sir Charles Lyell (in the last edition of
his ‘ Manual’, p. 507), applies, of course, to the very uppermost bed
of lava to be found upon the slope or in the framework of a vol-
canic cone, quite as much as to any of those beneath it. If, then,
the law laid down by M. de Beaumont is a true one, every cone or
volcanic mountain upon or near whose external surface any solid
bed of lava occurs having a greater inclination than 3° or 5° (a de-
scription which includes probably all the known volcanic mountains
in the world) must have been upheaved entirely, as we now see it,
from a nearly horizontal position since the deposition of that wpper or
most recent lava-stream.
I shall presently advert to the baseless character of the assumed
law as to the non-consolidation of lava upon steeper slopes than 3°
or 5°, laid down by M. de Beaumont.
Meantime, the question being thus cleared from all ambiguity,
the first remark that suggests itself is, that the upheaval-theory abso-
lutely ignores all volcanic eruptions whatever from the central vent
of a volcanic mountain subsequent to its original creation (or rather,
according to their notion, of its aflation)—at least as having erupted
anything beyond gases and a sprinkling, perhaps, of ashes. In
fact, in this view, volcanic mountains exist independently alto-
gether of volcanic eruptions, and might, nay, would, be just what
they are, even though they had never been in eruption at all*.
Of course, the fact of eruptive phenomena having repeatedly taken
place from such mountains, even within historic and recent times—
eruptions of intense violence, and which threw up, often through
long periods, prodigious quantities of fragmentary materials, and
poured forth from the central vents or their immediate vicinity
abundant streams of lava,—could not be altogether denied. M. de
Humboldt, indeed, in some passages would appear by no means to
* Indeed, de Buch expressly says of the basaltic (doleritic) beds that com-
pose the bulk of Etna, referring to those seen in the escarpments of the Val del
Bove, ‘“‘ These beds derive their origin from phenomena anterior to wie ao of
the volcano itself.” — Canaries (Paris edit.), p. 328.
1359. ] SCROPE—CONES AND CRATERS. 515
undervalue the accumulative powers of the eruptions of such moun-
tains. He speaks, for example, of ‘the mighty devastating lava-
pouring voleanos of Etna and the Peak of Teneriffe, and the abun-
dant scorize-ejecting voleanos of Cotopaxi and Tunguragua*.” But
the theory of upheaval certainly fails to answer the plain question,
What becomes of all these abundantly erupted matters, if, in the
course of ages, they do not accumulate into mountains ? That theory
unquestionably requires that the lavas and scorize thrown up from
the central and higher vents of any volcanic mountain since its
original elevation should have left no traces (or next to none) on its
summit or slopes—should scarcely in any perceptible degree have
increased its height or bulk. It is not for me to reconcile this strange
inconsistency. It is admitted, no doubt, that some parasitic cones
of scoriz and beds of lava due to eruption are to be found about the
base of a volcano, where the inclination of the slopes is less than 3°
or 4°, But even on this, as on other. points, the upheavalists are by
no means consistent with one another, or with themselves. For ex-
ample, M. Dufrénoy, in his description of Vesuvius, asserts that not
only that mountain, but also the four small parasitic cones formed on
its lower slope, immediately above Torre del Greco, by the erup-
tion of 1760, were “caused by an upheaval of pre-existing beds of
scoriz and lava, and not by the accumulation of ejected fragments ‘;”’
and he even attributes to the same origin (in his own words, “ up-
heayval, not accumulation”) the formation of the small cones formed
in June 1834, upon the outer flank of the principal cone, and in the
interior of its crater.
On the other hand, M. de Beaumont considers Vesuvius itself, as
well as its parasitic cones, to be of eruptive origin, and in his ‘ Me-
moir on Etna’ admits all of the three or four hundred parasitic
cones which stud the flanks of that mountain—many of them, such
as the Monte Rossi, exceeding in bulk ten times those of Torre del
Greco—to be true “‘ cones of eruption, the product of the accumula-
tion of ejected matters.’”’ Nay, he allows the same eruptive origin
to the whole terminal and central cone of Etna, containing the
existing crater, and which rises more than a thousand feet above the
‘Piano del Lago,’ a sort of platform at its baset; andit is only to the
intermediate cone terminating upwards in this platform, and down-
wards in the lower slopes studded with cones of eruption and coated
with their lava-streams (which he calls “ la gibbosité centrale’’),
that he applies his theory of sudden upheaval. Moreover, M. de
* Kosmos, iv. p. 164. t Mémoires sur le Vésuve, pp. 331 & 318.
t I may say here that the platform of Etna, the Piano del Lago, presents no
difficulty requiring so extraordinary a solution. It is without doubt merely a
truncation of the ancient cone of Etna at the period of some early paroxysmal
eruption,—the crater then formed having been subsequently filled up by erup-
tions, and the upper cone raised within a still later period upon the flattened
summit so produced. It is, in fact, a parallel case to the platform which, for
some years before 1822, formed the summit of Vesuvius, and upon which several
minor cones with craters were at intervals thrown up, and to the precisely similar
state of things which, after the filling up of the crater formed in 1822, existed
on the same summit from 1834 to 1850. (See fig. 5, p. 517, and fig. 17, p. 532.)
516 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 2,
Beaumont likewise admits the Peak of Teneriffe, as well as Vesu-
vius, into his category of cones of eruption and accumulation ;
nay, he even instances their “regular and straight slope from top to
bottom ”’ as the distinguishing and characteristic feature of eruptive
cones *,
So, too, MM. de Buch and Humboldt both recognize as “ cones of
eruption and accumulation,” not only the lateral or parasitic cones
of Etna, but the thirty or more cones of Lanzarote in the Azores, and
all the puys or scorial cones of Central France, about a hundred in
number, and many of them of great size.
It would appear from these admissions as if it were only to the
very largest volcanic mountains composed of repeated beds of lava
and conglomerate, which are generally supposed to be the product of
numerous successive eruptions from the same central vents, that the
majority of the upheavalists—MM. de Humboldt, de Buch, and de
Beaumont—apply their theory. This, however, is not the fact, be-
cause these same geologists, one and all, join with M. Dufrénoy in
asserting all the small tuff-cones and craters of the Phlegrean Fields
near Naples to be the result of upheaval alone, including even the
Monte Nuovo itself, which was thrown up in the year 1538 by an
eruption that lasted three days and nights, according to the testimony
of numerous observers, several of whom have left us a clear account
of the phenomena!
Thus, to recapitulate a few of the inconsistencies and discrepancies
of the upheavalists, de Buch and Humboldt assert both Somma
and Vesuvius, the Peak of Teneriffe and all Etna, “‘ as we now see
them,”’ to be due to sudden upheaval, although, at the same time,
they admit them to have been in active eruption for multiplied ages.
M. de Beaumont declares Somma, and the nucleus or central portion
alone of Etna, to be upheaved, but Vesuvius, the Peak of Teneriffe,
and the upper cone of Etna to be eruptive, as well as all the para-
sitic cones of the latter mountain. M. Dufrénoy attributes Somma,
Vesuvius, and ats parasitic cones to upheaval alone. And while all
admit the minor cones and craters of Auvergne, the Velay, and Lan-
zarote to be eruptive, all declare those of the Phlegrean Fields to be
solely due to upheaval !
These inconsistencies of the advocates of the upheaval-theory
render it difficult to suppose that they understand it themselves.
It is, indeed, a hopeless task to endeavour to discover in their works
any clear notion of what they consider to be the distinctive character
of ‘‘ upheaved”’ as contrasted with ‘‘ erupted ”’ volcanic cones.
One of them, however, M. de Beaumont, seems to recognize the
necessity of some guide of the kind, and undertakes the task. He
declares the distinction to consist in “the continuous rectilinear
slopes ”’ of erupted cones ; while those of upheaved cones are ‘‘ more
irregular, and graduate insensibly towards horizontality as they ap-
proach the base f.”” And it is on this ground expressly, of regularity
of form and slope, that he asserts Vesuvius, the Peak of Teneriffe,
* Mémoires, vol. iv. p. 157. t Ibid. p- 96.
1859. | _ SCROPE—CONES AND CRATERS. 517
and the terminal cone of Etna to be eruptive cones*. But, on the
other hand, M. de Buch, in the passage I have already referred to,
affirms the extreme regularity of the entire figure of Etna to be a
proof that it could not be the product of eruptions, but must have
been upheaved at a single stroke, ‘‘a instant méme de sa naissance +.”
In fact, M. de Buch’s test is the precise reverse of M. de Beaumont’s.
Suppose, however, we take M. de Beaumont’s as that of the latest
authority on the point. Surely it is triflimg with the subject to rest
so important a distinction as to origin upon a difference in outline
so slight, so disputable, nay, so necessarily variable under varying
circumstances of composition, dilapidation, d&c., independently of all
question of origin. In the first place too, it is undeniable that
many, perhaps the majority of the acknowledged cones of eruption
about Etna, and in Central France, show a sloping outline by no
means “rectilinear,” but sweeping downwards in a gradual curve
that lessens in steepness till it meets the base, which is M. de Beau-
mont’s characteristic of an “‘ wpheaved cone.” In the second place,
the slightest consideration makes it obvious that great differences in
this respect must be occasioned by casual differences in the size,
shape, or mineral character of the ejected fragments, by their more
or less heated state and consequent coherence or non-coherence at
the time of their fall and accumulation, by their greater or less degra-
dation by storms of rain accompanying the eruption, or by a longer
or shorter subsequent exposure to atmospheric influences. In the
case of the larger volcanic mountains, if we suppose them the pro-
duct of repeated eruptions, a graduated slope towards the base must
necessarily have been occasioned, not only by longer exposure to the
agents of degradation, but still more by the accumulation of the
lavas and scorize emitted from lateral vents on the lower flanks of
the mountain. Indeed, M. de Beaumont, by admitting the many
Fig. 5.— Outline of Hina, as seen from near Catania. (From Mém.
Soc. Géol. de France, vol. iv. pl. 2.)
hundred parasitic cones of Etna and their lava-streams to be eruptive,
himself accounts, on the theory of accumulation, not of upheaval, for
the graduated slope of the mountain as a whole into the plain
around. And, in truth, the visible portion of his “central up-
* Mémoires, iv. p. 157. + Canaries, p. 826-7.
518 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Febiney
heaval cone,” intermediate between the terminal cone and the lower -
region of parasitic eruptions, has that very “ continuous rectilinear
slope’? which he announces to be the special characteristic of an
‘“‘ eruptive cone’ (as may be seen in fig. 5, from M. de Beaumont’s
own view). So that his test, if it were worth anything, would reverse
his own conclusion. |
The outer slopes of a volcanic cone, almost without exception,
correspond to the internal arrangement of its component beds: or
strata, which have consequently what is called a quaquaversal dip
from the central axis. This general rule is not disputed, but rather
insisted on by the upheavalists. Yet this particular and very re-
markable arrangement is exactly what would be necessarily occa-
sioned by the falling of successive layers of ejected fragmentary
matters, and the flowing of successive streams of lava from a cen-
tral vent, round which they must accumulate in what may be called
an “annular talus;” while, on the other hand, the upheavalists
have failed to show how such an arrangement is likely to be, or
indeed could be, so wniformly produced by upheaval. There are
said to be, and possibly there may be found, two or three in-
stances of a nearly similar quaquaversal stratification in non-voleanic
rocks. Among the infinite diversity of foldings and squeezings
which such stratified rocks have undergone by repeated elevations
and subsidences, it would be indeed extraordinary if here and there
something of the kind should not have occurred. But what the
uvheavalists have not attempted to account for is, that whilst in non-
volcanic strata such instances, if to be met with at all, are the rarest
possible exceptions, in the strata composing volcan hills they are
the universal rule. If the same process of upheaval has occasioned
the elevation of both classes of rocks, how is it that the character
and amount of elevation observable in the two are not the same,
but on a general view so completely different? How do the up-
heavalists account under their theory for the broad fact, that in
all voleanic cones, however large, the inclination of the component
beds is so similar, and uniformly limited to a maximum of 30°
or 40°—in short, precisely that of a talus? How has it happened
that so tremendously violent a process as the (supposed) sudden
upheaval of a mass of horizontal strata some thousands of feet in
thickness and hundreds of square-miles in area, into a mountain
like Etna, and numerous others, has in every case tilted these strata
with such extreme regularity in a circular quaquaversal arrange-
ment, dipping almost symmetrically at about the same moderate
angles? Why are the strata, if upheaved by violence, not found in
long linear anticlinal ranges, and occasionally dipping at angles of
60°, 80°, and 90°, or completely vertical, like the stratified rocks,
which no one doubts to have suffered violent elevation ?
Again, M. Elie de Beaumont illustrates the kind of elevatory shock
by which he supposes a volcanic cone to have been upheaved and
its erater formed, by that of a sudden blow given from beneath to a
horizontal surface of glass or ice, producing what he calls an étozle-
ment, or star-fracture. No illustration could be more fatal to his
1859. | SCROPE—CONES AND CRATERS. 019
own theory; for (as Sir Charles Lyell and M. Prévost have both
remarked) the peculiar characteristic of a starred opening is the
formation of fissures radiating from the centre of impulsion, but all
widening inwardly towards it, which is precisely the reverse of the
universal character of the fissures, ravines, or “ barancos,” radiating
from the centre of volcanic mountains, all of which, without ex-
ception, I believe, widen outwardly towards the base of the moun-
tain, according to the usual habit of waterworn ravines, which they
no doubt are for the most part, though some may have had their
origin in earthquake-cracks. Indeed these radiating clefts or
ravines, which are very characteristic of volcanic mountains (being
the natural result of their regularly conical or pyramidal form, and
the rapid degradation from rain-fall to which their fragmentary
materials are generally liable), rarely penetrate the rim or border of
the central crater at all. And how a cone possessing an unbroken
annular central crater can be supposed to represent an étoilement
or starred fracture, or to have been raised by a sudden and violent
impulse from beneath, acting upon solid horizontal superficial strata,
passes comprehension.
It seems indeed strange that the upheavalist should fail to per-
ceive that his own arguments and illustrations tell strongly against
his own theory—that the generally unbroken and regularly circular
lip of a volcanic crater, as well as the extremely regular and uni-
form inclination of the outer slopes and parallel component beds of a
volcanic cone (which is so remarkable that observers can almost
always recognize a volcanic mountain at any distance by its pecu-
liar talus-like outline), so far from serving as arguments in his
favour, and distinctive characteristics of upheaval, are, to ordinary
minds, the very reverse.
But there is more yet to be said on this part of the subject. In
many volcanic districts, for example near Naples, in the Galapagos
Isles, and several other localities, cones and craters occur composed
of beds of tuff or pumice-ash and scorie, through which the abrasion
of torrents or of the sea-waves has exposed favourable cliff-sections,
exhibiting, besides the usual outward concentric anticlinal dip, an
inward synclinal one, equally concentric, towards the interior of the
crater. The Capo di Miseno, and the isles of Nisida and Procida,
and the Monte Barbaro near Pozzuoli, are examples of this remark-
able arrangement, which, on a little consideration, will appear to be
the natural result of the process of eruptive accumulation,—the
fragments that fall upon or roll down the outer slopes of the cone
from the beginning forming beds with an outward quaquaversal
dip,—those that fall in the interior of the crater, especially as the
eructations diminish in violence towards the close of the eruption
(and consequently become unequal to the clearance of the whole
area of the channel of discharge), accumulating in an inner talus
having a concentric dip towards the centre. (See fig. 6.)
In my volume on Volcanos, published in 1825, I gave both an ideal
section of a cone so formed (of course, by a single eruption) (fig. 6),
and a sketch of the natural sections of some actually exhibited, for ex-
’
PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 2
020
Vy
Kg YY Uy
fragmentary matters from a single vent.
LAZZLEZ
N .
LEE
LZ
Fig. 6.—Ideal section of a simple Voleame Cone, formed by the accu-
mulation of érupted
Fig. 7.—Natural Cliff-see
on: the
a
le Cone of Erupt
a sump
no, near Naples
won of
t
Capo di Mise
1859. | SCROPE—CONES AND CRATERS, 521
ample, in the Island of Nisida and the Capo di Miseno. The latter is
here reproduced (fig. 7), as also a view of Graham Island (fig. 8) taken,
just before its final disappearance, by M. Joinville in September 1831,
in which may be seen the same internal dip of the beds that composed
the nucleus of the cone, which, from their proximity to the vent,
were no doubt more firmly compacted by heat than the outer strata,
and from this cause no less than from their central position were
likely to resist longest the destructive action of the waves. Such, too,
is exactly the structure of the small crateriform island on the coast
of St. Michael in the Azores, near Villafranca, described by Mr.
Darwin (‘ Volcanic Islands,’ p. 108); and other instances will, no
doubt, occur to every one who is conversant with volcanic districts.
Now it seems quite impossible to reconcile this circular anticlinal
dip with the theory of upheaval; for, even if it were conceivable that
horizontal beds may be tilted uniformly round a central opening
(although I cannot admit even this where the ring is entire and no
fractures appear through its ridge), it is wholly inconceivable that
such a process could generate a solid annular bank with a regular
double or anticlinal dip all round. This insuperable difficulty is,
however, quietly passed over by the upheavalists by the employ-
ment of the convenient phrase, ‘local convolutions of the elevated
Strata.”
With similar facility—not to use any stronger phrase-—M. Du-
frénoy meets the obvious objection made to his theory of the sudden
upheaval of the Monte Nuovo, that the Roman buildings standing
close to its base have remained perfectly vertical and their cornices
perfectly horizontal, by the bold supposition that, after all, the Monte
Nuovo perhaps existed long before the Roman era, and was only
sprinkled over with a light coat of ashes by the eruption of 1538*;
although, according to the unanimous testimony of all contemporary
observers, it was then first seen to be formed, upon the previously
flat shore, by eruptions of large stones, scorie, mud, and ashes from
the spot—eruptions which were so abundant during two consecutive
days and nights, that the finer particles actually covered the ground
to a distance of seventy miles +,—a phenomenon therefore that could
* Mémoires, &. p. 278. So also Von Buch’s ‘Iles Canaries,’ p. 347.
t Letter of Francesco del Nero.—See Lyell, ‘ Principles,’ p. 369. In the
volume (now in the British Museum, the gift of Sir W. Hamilton,) printed at
Naples in the very year of the eruption, Signor Marco Antonio Falconi, an eye-
witness of it, thus writes :—‘ Stones and ashes were thrown up, with a noise like
the discharge of great artillery, in quantities which seemed as if they would
cover the whole earth ; and in four days their fall had formed a mountain in the
valley between Monte Barbaro and the Lake Averno, of not less than three miles
in circumference, and almost as high as Monte Barbaro itself,—a thing incredible
to those who have not seen it, thatin so short a time so considerable a mountain
should have been formed.” Another account in the same volume, by Pietro
Jacobeo di Toledo, describing the same fact, adds, ‘Some of the stones were
larger than an ox. They were thrown up, the larger ones, about a cross-bow’s
shot in height from the opening, and then fell down, some on the edge of the
mouth, some back into it. The mud ejected [ashes mixed with water] was
at first very liquid, then less so, and in such quantities that, with the help of the
afore-mentioned stones, a mountain was raised a thousand paces in height, on
the third day. I went to the top of it and looked down into its mouth, in the
522 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 2,
scarcely fail to create such a cone as we now see around the orifice
of projection—which is not nearly so big as the Monte Rosso and
many other acknowledged cones of eruption.
The unwillingness of M. Dufrénoy to admit that Monte Nuovo
was the product of eruptions is by himself grounded on the perfect
similarity of the tuff-beds of which it is composed to those which
are so generally spread over the Phlegrzan fields, and compose the
older cones and craters around. It was clearly seen by him, as well
as by all the other upheavalists (who are for once agreed on this
point), that, if the upheaval-theory is renounced in regard to the
former (the Monte Nuovo), it must be equally given up as respects
the other hills, including even Somma itself, round which these -
tuffs mantle conformably. In fact Monte Nuovo is evidently the
key to the origin and mode of formation of the neighbouring cones
and craters ; and it was therefore necessary at all risks to make it out
an upheaval cone. Consequently the bold assertion is advanced by
all of them, that Monte Nuovo was not a new hill in 1538—that it
was not formed at that time, nor by the eruption to which all con-
temporary observers attribute its production !
I may stop a moment here to say that the similarity of the tuff-
beds of which Monte Nuovo is composed to those of the surrounding
more ancient crater-hills, is, of course, owing to the eruption that
formed it having been, as in their case likewise, subaqueous, or on
the shallow margin of the sea, and the matter thrown up chiefly
pumice or felspathic scoriz, which, triturated into ashes by repeated
ejection and mixed by agitation with the sea-water into a kind of
mud or mortar, hardens into a tough tufa*. The later explosions of
the eruption being probably subaérial, or not so much mixed up with
water, the superficial beds are found to consist of incoherent tuff,
lapilli, &c., remaining just as they fell from the air. And this is the
general composition and arrangement of all the tuff-hills of the district
of the Phlegreean fieldst. An exact parallel in every particular to
these tuff-craters seems, from the statement of Mr. Darwin, to occur
in the Galapagos Isles near Banks’s Cove. He describes one 500
feet in depth and 2 of a mile in diameter,—the lower beds beimg
middle of the bottom of which the stones that had fallen there were boiling up
just as in a great caldron of water that boils on the fire.”
* In the latter days of the Vesuvian eruption of 1822, the fine ashes thrown
out by the volcano, and which, mixed with rain-water into mud, were washed down
the slopes of the mountain, formed a crust of indurated tuff so compact and hard
that it required a pickaxe to break it. Some of its beds were pisolitic, the drops
of rain having aggregated the fine ashes into globular concretions. It was an
alluvium of this character (mud-lava, lava di fango) which overwhelmed Hercu-
laneum, while Pompeii, lying beyond the base of the mountain, was buried under
the loose ejecta of the same eruption, falling upon it from the air. The trass of
the Rhine volcanos, and the Moya of the Peruvian volcanos are the result of a
similar admixture of water and felspathic ash. In these latter cases, however,
the contained infusoria or fish proved the mud-fiood to have been produced by
the debacle of crater-lakes. The mud-eruption which in great part formed Monte
Nuovo is well described by one of the eye-witnesses of the phenomenon in Sir
W. Hamilton’s book already quoted.
t This superficial bed of incoherent tuff may be seen on the cone of Miseno.
See fig. 7 above.
1859. | SCROPE—CONES AND CRATERS. a Bees
formed of compact tuff, appearing like a subaqueous deposit; the
upper of a harsh, friable, light, and occasionally pisolitic tuff; the
beds of each dipping regularly away on all sides from the crater, at
an angle of from 25° to 30°. But within the crater are other strata of
tuff dipping at a still higher angle inwardly. Mr. Darwin says truly
of them, that the appearances could not possibly have resulted from
upheaval. Professor Dana describes other tufa isles of the Pacific
in similar terms*.
_ The tuff-cones and craters of the Phlegrean fields, indeed, only
differ from the cones and craters of Lanzarote, Etna, or Central France
in being composed of pumiceous (2. e. felspathic) scorize and ash
‘instead of basaltic scoriz and ash, and in being of subaqueous instead
of subaérial origin, in consequence of which their materials are
more consolidated and stratified, and their form wider, broader, and
more openly spread out than the latter subaérial cones. In other
respects, of structure, dip, and direction of the component beds, both
classes are so exactly alike, as to make it a matter of astonishment
that an entirely different and opposite mode of production should be
attributed to them by the upheavalistst; more especially since, in
the case of the Monte Nuovo at least, there is ample contemporary
authority from bystanders for the occurrence of those very copious
eruptive ejections which these geologists admit to have given birth to
the cones of Etna and France.
It is a similar dilemma which has driven the upheavalists into
the inconsistencies already referred to respecting the mode of forma-
tion of Vesuvius. The perfect analogy of its chief cone, in form,
structure, and composition, to the half-encircling cone of Somma,
from the centre of whose crater it rises, makes it all but impossible
to attribute a totally distinct origin to the two. When, immediately
after the great eruption of 1822, I stood on the acute ridge of the
prodigious crater that had been drilled through the solid heart of
the cone by the gaseous explosions of the previous twenty days,
and marked the exact resemblance of its internal cliff-sections to
those of the half-encircling crater of Somma, which were within my
view at the same moment, I could not doubt that both the inner
and outer concentric cones and craters owed their origin to similar
developments of eruptive violence. I could as soon hesitate to
believe that the separate pieces of a turner’s nest of boxes, or the
flower-pots that we buy, fitting one into the other, were respectively
fashioned by the same process. The irregular beds of lava and con-
glomerate traversed by dykes, which visibly composed the cliffs of
either crater, dipped on all sides away from the same centre, at the
same angle, parallel in either case to the outer slopes of each cone.
* U.S. Expl. Exp. vol. i. p. 328.
+ M. Rozet, one of the disciples of this school, thus describes all the craters of
the Phlegrean fields: ‘‘ They are not eruptive craters, but simply ‘cirques,’ opened
in the pre-existing horizontal tuff-beds.” They are “ dislocations en forme de
cirque.” ‘“ O’est une grosse bulle de gaz, qui, aprés avoir formé une ampoule
dans les tuffes horizontaux, a fini par les crever.’”” (Rozet, Mém. Soc. Géol. de
France, 2 sér. part 1, p. 140.)
524 | PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 2,
The broken edge of the new crater’s rim showed, still smoking, -
sections of the lava-currents which, for some years, I myself had
watched successively flowing down the sides of the cone from minor
eruptions at its summit, and leaving solid ribs of lava-rock upon its
surface-slopes, up which ribs I often climbed the cone. I had,
through the same period, seen an abundance of fragmentary lava and
scorie discharged from various upper mouths, forming hillocks and
protuberances upon the rude platform which then surmounted the
cone; one of which minor cones, measuring no less than 450 ft. in
height, was thrown up within three months in the early part of that
year (1822), a fact confirmed by the testimony of MM. Monticelli and
Covelli. And with this positive experience of the rapid growth under
my own eyes of the cone of Vesuvius within two or three years only
of comparatively moderate activity, and with the knowledge derived
from authentic records of some fifty or more paroxysmal eruptions,
many of them of greater violence, having occurred from this same
volcanic vent during the last eighteen centuries, can I entertain any
respect for a theory which tells me that the entire mountain was
formed, just as we now see it, in the year 79, by some unintelligible,
or at least unexampled, process—that it has not since that epoch
grown at all by the accumulation of the erupted matters, whether
lavas or scorie—nay, that it has rather diminished than increased in
bulk and height from the time of its original inflation? For that is the
assertion put forth by de Buch, and endorsed by M. de Humboldt !
Have we not also a right to ask those who refuse to believe the still
larger volcanic mountains of either hemisphere to be built up from
the accumulated lavas and fragmentary ejections of thew repeated
eruptions, what else can have become of all these erupted matters ?
Many such volcanos are known to have been in frequent or habitual
eruption during even recent historical times, ejecting vast quantities
of scoriz, pumice, and ashes, and enormous streams of lava from
their central crater or its immediate vicinity. It is fairly pre-
sumable that for long previous ages similar eruptions had been taking
Fig. 9.—Ideal section of a Volcanic Cone, formed of the products of
here
place from the same vents. The eruptionists admit that a single
eruption will give birth (by accumulation, not upheaval) to a hill of
1859. ] SCROPE—CONES AND CRATERS. 525
the size of the Monte Rosso, the Puy de Come, or the great cones of
Lanzarote—hills 600 or 700 feet in height, and of proportionate bulk.
What else, then, may we not ask them, can have resulted from the
accumulated products of innumerable eruptions repeated for ages from
the same vent or its immediate neighbourhood, but just such moun-
tainous excrescences as we see in the larger volcanic cones? And
when we find them, on examination, to be composed of beds of lava
and scoriz or pumice-conglomerate, rudely alternating, and dipping
outwardly on all sides away from the central vent, at the same talus-
like angle of inclination as the most recent beds that have been seen
to flow down or fall upon the outer slopes, can we entertain any
doubts as to the mode of production of the entire mountains? (See
fig. 9.) Or is it consistent with sound philosophy to hunt about for
some other and extraordinary hypothesis to account for it?
Consolidation of Lava on Steep Slopes.—The only argument of any
seeming weight that has been adduced by the upheavalists in sup-
port of their original views, is based on the assertion of M. Elie de
Beaumont, as the result of his observations on Etna and elsewhere,
that no lava-current can, or has been ever seen to, consolidate upon
a slope having an inclination of more than 3° or at most 5°, and that
all lavas which have flowed down declivities exceeding this angle have
left no other traces than mere narrow and thin strips or a few loose
scoriform cakes upon such slopes. It is, in fact, upon this assertion
of M. de Beaumont that de Buch, Humboldt, and Dufrénoy pro-
fessed to rest their opinion that all voleanic cones containing beds of
solid lava dipping at angles of from 5° to 35° must have been
wpheaved since the flowing of such lavas.
So far as Etna is concerned, I leave this misrepresentation of
the fact to be dealt with by Sir Charles Lyell, who, in the elaborate
paper lately read by him before the Royal Society, and which will
shortly appear in the ‘ Philosophical Transactions,’ has amply refuted
it from his own recent observations. But I may assert with con-
fidence that this pretended law as to the consolidation of lavas is
directly at variance with the commonest facts observable in perhaps
all volcanic districts. I have already alluded to the lava-streams which
I myself saw harden (and over which I frequently walked), on the
slopes of Vesuvius, at an angle of 33°, in the years 1819-22*.
Among the Puys of Central France many of the most recent lava-
streams, such as those of Nugére, Graveneire, and Pariou in Au-
vergne, that of the Mont Denise and others near Le Puy, several also
in the Vivarais, have congealed in bulky masses at angles of from
10° to 30°, both upon the outer slopes of the contemporaneous erup-
tion-cones, and in portions of their headlong course down some of
the steep river-channels which they have occupied—places in which
any notion of upheaval is out of the question. A recent visit in the
past summer to these localities enables me to make this assertion with
* And many similar examples are at this moment to be observed in the streams
produced from the same volcano by the eruptions of the last five or six years.
(See Roth, Vesuv. 1858.)
VOL. XV.—PART I. 2P
526 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 2,
confidence. M. de Buch himself describes the steep slopes of the Peak
of Teneriffe as encrusted with numerous currents of glassy lava
(obsidian)*, which he admits to have been erupted near the summit
and to have flowed down the sides of the cone, an observation which
alone should have led him to discredit De Beaumont’s theory of
consolidation.
Again, he speaks of some of the cones of Lanzarote, which he admits
to have been formed by eruption, as having vast massive basaltic
currents of lava “like black glaciers precipitating themselves from
the summit to the base of each cone.” He represents himself as
painfully climbing for an hour and a half up the steep and rugged sur-
face of one of these “ cheires,” to reach the high margin of the crater.
Humboldt describes himself as doing the same thing in his attempt
to reach the source of the great lava-stream of Jorullo on the sum-
mit of the cone from whose crater it issued; and in the drawing
he gives of it, the bulky promontory of basaltic lava-rock is repre-
sented as leaning against the cone at an angle of more than 35°.
(See fig. 1, p. 510.) Even M. de Beaumont is forced to recognize
the lava-streams that have hardened on the steep slope of the cone
of Etna as eruptive. He says, “‘ La crotite de Etna est évidemment
une croite d’éruptiont ”—which indeed it is, as may be seen in
fig. 10.
Fig. 10.—View of the Summit of Etna, and the Lavas that encrust
its slopes towards the Val del Bove. (After W. Sartorius de Wal-
tershausen. )
M. de Beaumont admits the same of Teneriffe (the Peak), which
he actually classes as a cone of eruption, thereby differing from de
Buch, and, in my view, giving up his whole theory, since the slopes of
the Peak have a higher angle of elevation than those of the outer
“ cirque,” or of the mass of Etna. (See fig. 4, p. 512.)
Mr. Darwin gives a description,among the numerous unquestionable
craters of eruption in the Galapagos Islands, of five in Albemarle
Isle, from 4700 to 3720 feet in height, with craters three miles and
upwards in diameter, “over the lips of which great caldrons, or from
orifices on their summits, deluges of black lava have flowed down their
steep and naked sides.” In all these cases the lavas clearly conso-
lidated in sheets, beds, or bulky masses, at very high angles of incli-
* Canaries, p. 186. t Mémoires, vol. iii. p. 207.
1859. | SCROPE—CONES AND CRATERS. 527
Fig. 11.—Voleano of Bourbon. (After Bory de St. Vincent.)
Fig. 12.—Pillar of Lava in Tahiti. (From Dana’s ‘Geology of the
U.S. Exped.’)
Fig. 13.—Profile of the Puy de Grand Sarcouy (trachyte), between
the Puys de Goule and Petit Sarcouy (Cones of Scorie), Monts de
Dome, Central France.
528 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 2,
nation. So, again, Dr. Junghuhn describes in Java numerous volcanic
mountains from 4000 to 12,000 feet high, from the highest summits
of which streams have flowed of trachytic or basaltic lava, and
hardened on their slopes. The volcano of the Isle of Bourbon has
emitted many very copious streams of glassy lava, which, in the
admirable engravings of Bory de St. Vincent’s work, are seen to
encrust the sloping sides of the cone at an angle of at least 35°.
That great cone (fig. 11) is indeed formed almost wholly of such flows -
of lava, gaseous eruptions being unfrequent, and its phenomena chiefly
confined to the welling-up of a very viscous and ropy lava, which in
some places has formed ‘‘mamelons” or small cones 70 or 80 feet
high, and rising at angles of 60° and even 80°*, just in the manner
of the mud-cones of Macaluba, by the overlapping of one stream
upon another lazily flowing from the same central orifice: and pre-
cisely similar are the formations of Hawaii ; so also those of the Sand-
wich Isles, as described by Dana. In fact, there are, I believe, few,
if any, volcanic districts where examples of unquestionable layva-
streams consolidated at high angles are not to be found.
Professor Dana, indeed, gives a sketch of an actual bottle-
shaped pillar of lava 40 feet high (see fig. 12), on the flank of
Mauna Loa, formed by the welling-up of a fountain-like flow of lava
in an upright column, composed of one exuding wave or jet of the
viscid matter congealing over another, until the excrescence reached
that height, thus showing that, under certain conditions of viscosity,
lava will congeal positively in an upright position, or at an angle of
90°+. He adds that there are many such on the same mountain
(Mauna Loa), which is itself composed of repeated similar overflows
of very liquid but rapidly consolidating lava from the central vent.
Other lava-cones of great size in Tahiti are described by him as evi-
dently the product of the same kind of tranquil ebullition,—the erup-
tions of the Sandwich Isles being in general characterized by only
a small amount of explosive fragmentary ejections, but one overflow-
ing layer of lava covering another, and forming a cone composed
almost wholly of beds inclined at an outer slope of from 20° to 40°#.
Support has been sought for the theory of upheaval in the circum-
stance that within the interior of some craters we find bulky bosses
or hummocks of trachytic rock, which are supposed to have been
elevated in a more or less solid state, and to have tilted up the over-
lying beds in an encircling annular range. Examples are offered in
the craters of Astroni, the Camaldoli, Rocca Monfina, and Monta-
miata, in the district of Naples, in the Caldera of Palma, and that of
the Great Canary Isle, &c. There is, however, no good reason for
supposing the protrusion of such masses of trachyte to have elevated
the surrounding crater-walls. The felspathic lavas appear generally,
* See fig. 14, p. 531.
+ In truth, the common fact of the congelation of even so perfect a liquid as
water in a vertical position (as in icicles) ought to have suggested itself as a
warning to M. Elie de Beaumont of the weakness of his theoretical notion that lava
(a far less perfect fluid) could not congeal at a high angle of slope.
t U.S. Expl. Exp. i. p. 356.
1859. ] SCROPE—CONES AND CRATERS, 529
though not always, to have been erupted in a less fluid or more pasty
and viscous condition than the augitic lavas, and on that account to
have accumulated in greater bulk, and occasionally in the shape of
lumpy excrescences over or near the orifice from which they issued.
The massive trachytic beds and hummocks of the Mont Dore and
Cantal are striking examples of this tendency; and still better,
perhaps, the trachytic domes or bell-shaped hills of the chain of
Puys near Clermont. In the latter instance it is well worth re-
marking that each of them, to the number of five, rises either close
to or actually from the crater of an acknowledged cone of eruption
composed of mantling beds of ejected scoriz (see figs. 13 and 16).
Now, had not the composition of these cones presented such incon-
testable proofs of their eruptive origin—had anything in their struc-
ture offered the smallest excuse for attributing their formation to
upheaval—we should undoubtedly have had them exhibited by the
upheavalists as conclusive examples of craters of elevation, the
surrounding beds being supposed to have been tilted up by the pro-
trusion en masse of the trachytic domes that rise from their centres.
But that being inadmissible; since, on the contrary, we have in them
undeniable examples of bulky domes of trachytic lava, whose emission
was in each case evidently accompanied or succeeded by explosive
eruptions, the ejection of scoriz, and the formation of cones and craters
from their accumulation, is it not most reasonable to believe that
in the other instances of Astroni, Camaldoli, Rocca Monfina, &c., the
same order of events occurred, and that these cones and craters, as
well as the trachytic lavas they contain, are also of the ordinary erup-
tive character? Indeed I can assert from my own observation that
this is so as respects some of them. The Piperno of Pianura in the
erater of Camaldoli is proved, by the elongated shape of its vesicular
cavities and dark concretionary patches, to have flowed as a lava.
The trachyte of Olibano has evidently descended as a lava the outer
slope of the cone of the Solfatara, on which it may be seen to rest at
a high angle in a massive bed reaching from the upper edge of the
crater to the sea. In Ischia there are several trachytic lava-streams
or hummocks which have been poured out of the craters of very
recent-looking cones of scorize and pumice. In Rocca Monfina,
trachytic lavas exactly similar to that of the central boss are seen
to issue from three or four unquestionable parasitic crater-cones
on the outside of the principal cone.
M. de Humboldt speaks uniformly of the great dome-shaped tra-
chytic mountains of South America as mere crusts that have swelled
at once like enormous hollow blisters, sometimes having burst at the
summit, and in this case possessing a central crater, in other in-
stances remaining “‘unopened*.” But, as the greater number of
these mountains are in part composed of fragmentary pumice, there
has evidently in their instance been a great disengagement of elastic
vapours within the mass of lava, and eruptive explosions accompany-
ing their protrusion. Nor is there any feature in the appearance or
structure of any of them, as described by M. de Humboldt himself,
* Kosmos, p. 224.
530 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 2,
or by other later observers, inconsistent with the supposition that
they are solid throughout, and have all originated in the usual manner
by the heaping up of erupted lavas and fragmentary ejecta above their
respective vents. Many of them have been seen in eruption, ejecting
vast quantities of fragmentary pumice (felspathic scoriz) and ashes,
as well as currents of pumice or obsidian, similar to those of some
of the most evident eruptive cones and craters, for example, of
Lipari, Volcano, and Volcanello. Others seem likewise to have
given birth to radiating streams of trachytic lava, which, on cooling,
have outwardly split into massive incoherent blocks. These streams
are called trainées de blocs by Humboldt and Boussingault, and are
considered by them to have been erupted in this disaggregated con-
dition from fissures* ; but it would be more in accordance with the
analogy of ordinary volcanic phenomena to look upon them as true
lava-currents. Many of the felspathic streams of the Monts Dome
and Velay, and indeed of Etna, Vesuvius, and Heclay likewise, and
some of the basalts of the Siebengebirge, consist superficially of a
chaos of apparent fragments—heaps of loose cuboidal blocks, evi-
dently resulting from a divisionary shrinkage and fissuring of the
superficial lava on exposure to the air, from the rapid escape of the
disseminated vapour to which in great part it owed its imperfect
fluidity.
In extreme cases this splitting into loose blocks on consolidation
has been carried to so great a depth from the surface that, in the
absence of actual cliff-sections, they seem to constitute the entire
mass, especially towards the sides and termination of the current ;
and as they were, no doubt, in motion, tumbling over one another,
as the lava flowed on, they will necessarily bear the appearance in
such situations of a stream of fragments (trainée de blocs). M. de
Humboldt’s idea of their having been erupted in this fragmentary
form is quite imaginary; and M. Bonssingault’s notion of earth-
quakes being caused by the rattling of such loose blocks in the
interior of mountains¢+ (like dice in a caster) is still more far-fetched
and untenable. Professor Dana describes the greater number of lava-
fields in Hawaii as composed of such loose angular blocks of all
shapes, and of sizes from that of a half-bushel measure to that of a
house, possessing a surface of horrible roughness. He calls them
‘« Clinker-fields,” and attributes their peculiar character to the lava-
stream having been broken up during consolidation of the surface by
a fresh moving impulse §. Such too, for the most part, are the lavas
which fill the Caldera of Teneriffe, as may be seen in the photographic
views of Professor Piazzi Smyth’s recent volume.
Others of the trachytic domes of the Cordilleras (the ‘‘ unopened
domes or bells” of M. de Humboldt) probably swelled up in pasty or
‘viscous masses above their vents of eruption, like the Puy de Dome
and its associated bosses. The idea of their being hollow, and having
risen like a blister, is not supported by anything known of their
structure, nor, as I have already shown, by the example of any -
* Kosmos, iv. pp. 310-318. +t See Bunsen’s ‘ Iceland’.
t Kosmos, iv., note to p. 170. § U.S. Expl. Exp. i. p. 162.
1859. | SCROPE—CONES AND CRATERS, d31
Fig. 14.—The “ Mamelon Centrale ;”’ a boss of vitreous lava on the
summit of the Volcano of Bourbon. (After Bory de St. Vincent.)
Fig. 15.—Ideal section of the Mamelon Centrale.
Fig. 16.—Jdeal section of the Puys de Sarcouy and Goule, Monts
de Déme (fig. 13).
532 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 2,
observed phenomenon of the kind. The small hummocks or mame-
lons of glassy felspathic lava upon the summit of the volcano of
Bourbon, which Bory de St. Vincent watched and drew, in actual
process of formation by the welling-up of an enduring source of
highly viscous matter at a white heat, which consolidated as it
trickled down the slope of the hill in concentric coatings, are, in all
_ probability, types of the mode of production of all the larger trachytic
bosses. (See figs. 14 and 15.) Im the galleries excavated by the
Romans in the flanks of the Puy de Sarcouy in Auvergne, I observed
indications of such a structure in concentric coats like those of an
onion. (See fig. 16.) —
The cones formed by the mud-volcanos of Macaluba in Sicily, and
of Beila near the Indus, are apt illustrations, as has been already
suggested, of the probable mode of production of the bell-shaped
domes of trachyte. They are, of course, solid unless where a crater
has been left on the summit, but must, from the way in which they
have been formed by the overflow of one coat of mud over another,
be composed of concentric though irregular quaquaversal beds or
layers. The accompanying woodcut (fig. 17), copied from Bory de
St. Vincent, of the summit of one of the Mamelons of Bourbon erupt-
ing its viscous and glassy lava, well exhibits this analogy.
Fig. 17.—Summut of one of the Mamelons of Bourbon, in eruption.
(After Bory de St. Vincent.)
Where lavas of this imperfect liquidity were emitted simulta-
neously from several contiguous orifices on the same fissure, the re-
sulting hummocks will have been compounded into a bulky ridge
with more or less of an anticlinal structure, or a string of domes,
such as are not unfrequently observable in trachytic:formations*.
* On reference to my volume on ‘ Volcanos’ (1825), it will be seen that at that
date I published this same view almost ¢otidem verbis (p. 96), which M. de Hum-
boldt has since appeared inclined to adopt in reference to the great chains of
trachyte in the Cordilleras (Kosmos, iv. pp. 289 & 307, English ed. 1858),—a
view, however, which is evidently quite inconsistent with the theory of upheaval,
as I had remarked in p. 93 of the same volume.
1859. | SCROPE—CONES AND CRATERS. 033
MM. E. de Beaumont and Dufrénoy have applied their upheaval-
theory to the great volcanic mountains of Central France, the Mont
Dore, Cantal, and Mezen. Being well acquainted with these districts,
which I have revisited in each of the last two years, and re-examined
specially with a view to this question, I will venture to assert that
the theory is as little justified by the facts, or rather is as inconsistent
with them, in these instances, as in those of Teneriffe, Etna, or Ve-
suvius. We have presented to us in that district the results of a
series of subaérial eruptions continued at intervals, from a great many
different vents, through several geological periods, commencing with
the Lower Miocene, and reaching far into the recent, probably into
the human, era. No clear line can be drawn between them in re-
spect to age, separating the ancient from the modern rocks, upon
grounds of mineral character or constitution. It is from their aspect
and position only, that is to say, from the more or less of denudation
and decomposition they have evidently suffered through atmospheric
agency, that their relative ages are determinable. But these cha-
racters of either kind are strongly marked and strikingly demonstra-
tive, and moreover correspond together in the most remarkable and
unmistakeable manner. The fresh-looking lava-streams that take
their rise from perfect cones of loose red scorie and lapilli, and whose
scoriform surfaces scarcely admit as yet of a scanty vegetation, occupy
the lowest levels, and for the most part the bottoms of the existing
valleys; while the elongated sheets of basalt or trachyte, whose
scorie have either almost disappeared, or been converted into argil-
laceous boles, or tuffs stratified by water, appear as high platforms
crowning the summits of hills. Still the average angles of inclination
of both classes of lavas are the same. Indeed it is common to see a bed
of recent lava filling up the bottom of a narrow valley through a course
of many miles, while the heights on either side, several hundred feet
above it, are crowned by parallel plateaux of basalt, descending with
the same inclination, or gradient, in the same direction, from the
same heights whence all have evidently been erupted. Now this
fact is of course completely in accordance with the supposition that
all derive their inclination simply from having flowed, as lavas, down
the surface-slopes on which they rest, the different levels of con-
tiguous streams being due to the successive excavation of the valleys
occupied by the more recent lavas in the interval between their
eruption and that of the adjoining older and higher-placed sheets of
basalt. If, however, we are to believe that the latter owe their
inclined position to upheaval (which is the doctrine of MM. de Beau-
mont and Dufrénoy), it seems impossible to account for the constant
uniformity of their slope with that of the parallel lavas which are
admitted by these geologists to owe their inclination to fluidity alone.
There is, moreover, no line of separation to be drawn between the
supposed two classes.
Nor is there, in this case, room for even the argument (worth-
less as it is) drawn by the upheavalists in other instances from the
supposed impossibility of lavas consolidating in thick beds at a high
angle of elevation; for the slopes of the Mont Dore and Cantal, com-
534 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 2,
posed of beds of trachyte and basalt, alternating with their conglo-
merates, show angles of elevation of only from about 4° towards
the base, to 8° near the summits, of these mountain masses. But
this is likewise just about the average angle of descent of the recent
lava-streams of the Puys. The latter, by the admission of De
Beaumont and Dufrénoy, owe their slope to fluidity alone. If, as
these same authorities contend, the former owe their inclination to
sudden upheaval alone, having been previously horizontal, surely the
coincidence of the average angles of inclination of the two classes
of lavas (which, too, are often placed side by side, and slope in the
same direction, only at different heights, for considerable distances
from their several eruptive vents) would be miraculous! That such
identical effects can have proceeded from such opposite causes in so
many contiguous instances is wholly incredible; and the supposition
is contrary to the laws of philosophical reasoning. Besides, why do
we not find the upheaved lava-beds at angles of 50°, 70°, or 90°?
why not vertical? Why do they always affect just that moderate
amount of angular elevation, neither more nor less, that is charac-
teristic of the lavas which have admittedly flowed in the open air,
and close to them, only from more recently-opened vents of eruption?
A direct proof, indeed, that the old basaltic beds which cover the
slopes of the Mont Dore and Cantal have flowed down them as lavas,
is found in the fact that they are all traceable up to some high
point where more or less of scoriz and bombs show that the current
of lava had its eruptive source.
Without following this branch of the subject into further detail,
for which there is no space here—nor, as I conceive, any need—I
may say, in a word, that, interpreted by the ordinary laws of volcanic
action, the history of the volcanic remains of Central France is clear
and intelligible—the Mont Dore, Cantal, and Mezen being in this
view the skeletons of three great eruptive volcanos, like Etna or
Teneriffe, which have been subjected to a vast amount of atmospheric
degradation since the extinction of their central fires, and perhaps
have shared to some extent in a general elevation of the whole
district; while from numerous independent vents, along or near the
same N. and 8. line of presumed subterranean fissure, other single
eruptions from time to time took place, resembling those of Lanzarote
and the other chains of minor volcanos so often seen in the vicinity of
great volcanic mountains. On the contrary hypothesis, that these
mountains were severally produced by sudden upheaval, while the
cones and currents of the independent vents, or at least of the more
recent among them, were simply eruptive, which is the theory of
MM. de Beaumont and Dufrénoy, the history of this district be-
comes an unintelligible chaos, as wholly irreconcileable with its
visible phenomena as the theory itself is with the normal processes
of volcanic energy witnessed in localities where it is still in activity.
It is satisfactory to know that M. Constant Prévost and M. Cordier,
both of whom at first had countenanced the upheaval doctrine in
reference to the extinct volcanos of Central France, wholly renounced
and discarded the idea after visiting and carefully examining the
1859. ] SCROPE—CONES AND CRATERS, 539
more recently active volcanic districts of Italy. MM. Virlet and
Hoffman also joined in this recantation, so honourable to these
geologists. |
Craters.—I have hitherto confined my remarks almost entirely to
the upheaval-theory as it bears upon the mode of formation of vol-
canic cones or mountains, There remains something to be said
upon the idea which it involves as to the generation of volcanic
craters.
Craters are perhaps the most characteristic features of volcanic
districts; they are met with of all dimensions, from the slight
saucer-like depressions at the summit or on the flank of a cone of
scorie, to the wide and often deep caldron circled by more or less
sloping or precipitous banks, and the broken range of concentrically
disposed cliffs, the remaining segments of what was once probably
a complete circular or elliptical basin of vast horizontal extent. All,
however, are alike designated as volcanic craters by geologists of
every school, the only dispute being confined to their mode of origin.
The upheavalists look upon them all, I believe without exception,
and whatever their size or shape, as the contemporaneous result of
that process to which they attribute the elevation of the heights
which surround them, viz. the single, sudden, and violent outbreak
of a great volume of vapour from beneath the surface. They com-
pare the phenomenon to the explosion of a mine, or the bursting
of an enormous subterranean bubble or blister, which, swelling
upward, first upheaves the overlying strata, then opens at its apex,
leaving them tilted around the fractured edges of the cavity. These
are, indeed, the precise words of M. de Humboldt, which I quoted in
the early portion of this paper. This theory seems necessarily to
involve, particularly in the case of the larger craters, the notion of
the subsidence or foundering of the central parts of the upheaved
mass into the gulf so opened. M. Dufrénoy expressly attributes to
subsidence of this kind after explosion, the small craters of the para-
sitic cones of Vesuvius, which are in his view bell-shaped bubbles that
have burst at the apex. So, too, M. de Beaumont refers the forma-
tion of the great crater of the Val del Bove in Etna to the foundering
of the roof or crust of the colossal bubble whose sudden upheaval
created Etna, and whose bursting, he says, must have been to any
modern eruption what the blowing-up of a powder-magazine is in
comparison with the firing of a pistol*.
I will not repeat here the argument already referred to, that any
such single explosive shock could not possibly tilt up solid strata in
an unbroken ring, which is the form of the greater number of
craters. I content myself with declaring my conviction that such a
phenomenon as is here assumed as the origin of every crater is a
pure imagination, nothing like it having ever been witnessed by cre-
dible observers, and is, indeed, wholly different from what is observed
- whenever and wherever a great volcanic eruption takes place and a
crater is produced by it.
* P. 192, Mémoire, &., Mt. Htna.
5036 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, [ Feb. 2,
We do not hear in such cases (or indeed in any) of one single
explosion like that of a mine, or the bursting of a bubble, followed
by the engulfment of the shattered rocks, and immediate quiescence.
I know of no reliable report from any quarter, or at any period, of
an eruption of such an ephemeral character*. The explosive dis-
charges of vapour having once begun, are always continuous, for days,
weeks, months, or even occasionally for years, evidently proceeding
from a mass of subterranean lava in a state of ebullition, which,
having once forced a communication with the open air, at the weakest
point of some fissure broken by its expansive efforts through the
overlying rocks, blows itself out through this opening by degrees,
although with terrific violence,—just as would the boiler of a high-
pressure steam-engine, of enormous dimensions and infinite lateral
strength, when the valve of the steam-pipe, or an accidental crack
were opened—and not after the manner of a boiler bursting, and
discharging all its steam at once, or of an exploding mine of gun-
powder. .
It is not by one explosion, but by the continued repetition of mul-
tiplied explosions or eructations, caused by the successive upward
rush and discharge of innumerable vapour-bubbles of prodigious
elastic tension, that an eruption is characterized, and it is by their
continued action that the solid mass of rock overlying and obstruct-
ing the vent is—not at one shock, but by degrees—broken up and
ejected; many of the fragments falling back repeatedly into the
cavity, and being re-ejected, until they are for the most part ground
by friction into lapilli (¢. e. small globular or bouldered scorie), or
even to the finest powder, which the winds carry to vast distances.
This process it is that, as it were, eviscerates the mountain, leaving
at the close of the eruption, when the ebullition has spent its force,
that circular or oval chasm surrounded by a ring of steep sloping
sides, or precipitous cliffs, which is the well-known usual form of
the larger volcanic craters, and which will be generally of a size
proportioned to the violence and duration of the eruption—certainly
to the amount of fragmentary matter thrown out by it and spread
over the surrounding slopes, or the adjoining surfaces of sea or land.
I may perhaps, myself, entertain a more distinct conception than
many others, of the mode of formation of a great volcanic crater,
from having enjoyed the good fortune of witnessing, indeed of closely
observing, throughout its progress, the most violent eruption that
has occurred in Europe within the memory of living men—I mean
that of Vesuvius in October 1822, when continuous and rapid ex-
plosions (too rapid to be counted), and throwing up a column of
* The examples usually quoted of such a supposed phenomenon are those of
Carguairazo in 1698, Papandayang in 1772, and Galongoon in 1822. In each
of these cases, no doubt, there is ample testimony to the fact that the top of the
mountain was destroyed by the eruption, and a vast chasm produced in its place.
But the explosions which effected this were not single, like that of a mine, and
consequently followed by subsidence of the mountain-top into some subterranean
hollow, but lasted for months, and the materials of the mountain-top were blown
outwards, and spread over the adjoining regions in prodigious quantities and to
a vast distance.
1859.| — SCROPE—CONES AND CRATERS. 537
scorie and fragmentary matter several thousand feet high, lasted for
a period of twenty days, and were found at the end of that time to
have drilled through the previous solid core of the mountain an
abrupt circular chasm or caldron three miles in circumference and
more than 1000 (some observers estimated it at 2000) feet in depth.
The mass of matter removed from this cavity, together with a
large portion of the former external summit of the cone (which was
found to have lost above 600 feet in height after the eruption), had
been blown into the air. The eructations consisted of continued
discharges of aqueous vapour—in fact, of steam, which rose to a still
greater height than the fountain of solid matters (at least 10,000
feet), in a pillar composed to appearance of distinct globular volumes
or puffs of steam, which, driven upwards with immense force, rolled
over and over one another, looking like so many great balls of cotton,
and spread laterally in some degree, as the resistance of the atmo-
sphere checked the velocity of their ascent, while fresh discharges
pressed upon them, rushing up from the vent beneath. Each puff
or globe of vapour evidently consisted of the contents of a great
bubble which had risen up through the molten lava in the chimney
of the volcano and burst on reaching its surface. It was exactly as
if a continuous succession of discharges took place from some colossal
Perkins’s steam-mortar in the axis of the mountain. And to the
equal pressure in all directions of the enormous expansive force of
these flashes of steam was owing, of course, the circular section of
the crater, or canal of discharge, gradually bored by this giant artil-
lery through the heart of the cone,—continuous discharges taking
place from greater and greater depths, as the surface of the ebullient
lava fell within the vent. By degrees, however, the explosions di-
minished in force and frequency, until at length the tension of the
vapour-bubbles bursting at the bottom of the crater seemed no
longer to have power to throw off beyond its encircling rim the
fragments which fell within it, and the accumulation of which at
length wholly stifled the explosions, and the eruption terminated.
That is what I witnessed in 1822; and it is thus, I believe, that
voleanic craters of large size are always formed—wnot by any single
mine-like explosion, such as the upheavalists have imagined.
The mass of fragmentary matter thrown up during the eruption
was for the most part triturated, by repeated ejection, into fine ashes,
which were carried by the wind to great distances, or washed down
the sides of the mountain in streams of mud by the torrents of
rain that followed the eruption. On the flanks of the cone itself,
the coarser scorie and fragments accumulated of course in great
abundance. Several of the ejected masses which fell towards
Ottaiano on the eastern slope measured 25 feet or more in circum-
ference, and weighed several tons; but the average depth of the
fragmentary matter spread by this eruption over the entire area
of the mountain, or within a radius of some five miles, did not exceed
a foot or two. At Naples, distant fifteen miles, the ashes fell to a
depth of only about half an inch, although the wind drove them in that
direction ; and from this observation I was led to reflect on the far
538 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 2,
vaster dimensions likely to be exhibited by the craters formed in
other volcanic districts by eruptions of a still more violent and tre-
mendous character, of which well-authenticated reports have from
time to time been received. Take, for example, the eruption of
Coseguina in the Gulf of Fonseca in Central America, in 1835, whose
ashes were thickly scattered to distances of 700 miles, while within
a radius of 25 miles the ground was covered:by its dejections to the
depth of more than ten feet, houses and woods being buried in them!
—or that of Sangay in the Cordillera of 8. America (1842-43), whose
black ejected ashes covered the surrounding country to a distance of
twelve miles, in beds 300 and 400 feet thick (Sebastian Wiss) ;—or
that of Tunguragua, another volcano of Quito, whose eruptions in
1797, of mud, 2. ¢. of ashes mixed with melted snow or the contents
of a crater-lake, filled valleys many miles in length and 1000 feet
wide to the depth of 600 feet !—or that of L’ Altar, another volcano
of Quito, which eruption, before the discovery of America, is said by
M. Boussingault to have lasted eight years, and to have covered an
extensive plain with the fragments of what was previously a vast
trachytic cone, higher than Chimborazo ;—or that of Tomboro in the
Island of Sumbawa, which in 1815, for four months continuously,
threw up scoriz and ashes in such abundance that they broke down
the roofs of houses forty miles distant, and were carried more than 300
miles in sufficient quantity to completely darken the air at that dis-
tance, while the floating cinders to the westward of Sumatra formed
a mass 2 feet thick, many miles in extent, through which ships with
difficulty forced their way*. Let any one ask himself what must be
the size of the hollows (2. e. the craters) left by the forcible expul-
sion of these startling quantities of matter from the centre of a
volcanic mountain, and he will, I think, have no difficulty in per-
ceiving that the dimensions of the largest known craters—say of
three, five, or even more miles in diameter—craters such as the exter-
nal “ rings” of Santorini, St. Jago, the Mauritius, and others,—are no
greater than what we should expect to result from such a process,
which is the evacuation and outward dispersion, in fact, of the whole
central mass of each mountain, and that the occasional occurrence
of eruptions of stupendous violence and productive of such vast
amounts of ejected matters being an undisputed fact, we have no
need to resort to the supposition of either the circular upheaval of
previously horizontal beds, or the subsidence or engulfment of
mountain-tops (the effondrement of French geologists), to account for
the production of these and similar craters. Of course where such
craters have been exposed to the action of the sea-waves and cur-
_ rents, as in volcanic islands, or of torrents of water proceeding from
the sudden melting of a covering of snow, perhaps of internal glaciers,
they may have been enlarged by degradation, as Sir C. Lyell sup-
posest; but I am here discussing their original formation.
The great paroxysmal eruption of Vesuvius in the year 79 was
clearly of this tremendously explosive character. It is singular that
* Lyell, Principles, p. 464, &e. t Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vi. p. 207.
1359. | SCROPE—CONES AND CRATERS. 539
M. de Buch, who supposes the entire cone of Vesuvius to have been
bodily upheaved at that time, should not have perceived that all the
phenomena reported by Pliny the younger to have been witnessed
on that occasion, and all such of its undoubted results as are to be
seen at the present day, are of the very opposite character to those
which would accompany or follow the upheaval of flexible strata in
a hollow protuberance. The loud and long-continued explosions,
the lofty “‘ pine” of vapour that rose from the mountain, the dense
cloud of ashes that darkened the air, the fountain of stones and
lapill ejected for many days, in such prodigious abundance as
entirely to bury three populous cities under from 15 to 150
feet of accumulated dejections, are all phenomena indicative of
violent eruption, not at all of upheaval. It seems clear that the
southern half of the old crater’s periphery was on this occasion blown
into the air, and it is to the ejections of this eruption that are owing,
in all probability, the thick beds of loose tuff, or pumice-ash, which
mantle round the outer slopes of Somma, and indeed rise to a con-
siderable height upon them, in some places having evidently filled
up vast hollows or ravines that previously existed there. There
is no reason to believe these tuffs to be marine alluvia, as M.
Dufrénoy terms them. They are undistinguishable in character
from and continuous with those that cover Herculaneum and Stabie,
as Sir William Hamilton long since observed. Even at the distance
of Naples there is reason to believe that the ejected ashes of this
eruption fell to the thickness of several feet. In a section behind
the Studii in that town, I observed a deposit of stratified pumice
and lapilli, from 6 to 10 feet thick, overlying made ground in which
were numerous tombs and other remains of the Greek and Roman
eras, which deposit was probably formed at the period of the erup-
tion of 79*.
The vast abundance of fragmentary matter ejected from the vol-
cano on that occasion must (as I remarked in the paper read to the
Society in March 1827) have left a proportionate cavity in the moun-
tain ; and considering that the analogous, but very minor explosions
of 1822, which completely gutted the cone of Vesuvius, leaving a
crater a mile in diameter, only covered the base of the mountain
with a depth of ashes averaging a foot,while at Naples it was but half
an inch, it is reasonable to suppose that the crater produced by the
eruption of 79 must have been greater than that of 1822, in the pro-
portion of the greater mass of ejected fragments; and the size of that
of Somma, which measures about three miles in diameter, is rather
within than beyond what we might anticipate from this considera-
tion to have been formed by the eruption of 79.
The idea, indeed, of the foundering of the summit of a volcanic
mountain, by the subsidence into some vast empty gulf below of
what was but a hollow crust or roof, 1s opposed to the characteristic
phenomena of volcanic eruptions, which are inconsistent with the
existence of any such internal void immediately beneath such a
mountain. They seem to attest, on the contrary, an overflowing
* See plate to Geol. Trans. ser. 2. vol. ii. part iii. p. 341.
540 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Feb. 2,
abundance and excess of matter there, solid, no less than fluid and
gaseous, that struggles to find a vent, and having obtained one,
the mountain continues to discharge the redundant contents of its
interior until the plethora is reduced, and the forces of repression,
consisting in the weight and tenacity of the overlying mass (together
with the weight of the atmosphere, which should not be overlooked),
recover their ascendency and stop any further evacuation. This is
a state of things the very reverse of that imagined by the up-
heavalists, namely a great internal void capable of swallowing up at
one shock the whole upper crust of the mountain.
No doubt, whenever a deep crater has been formed within the axis
of a mountain by some paroxysmal eruption, surrounded by vertical
cliffs or fractured rock (the hollowed shell or lateral crust, as it were,
of the eviscerated cone), the occurrence of a violent earthquake-shock
may shake down great part of this fragile enclosure and cause it to
be precipitated into the depths of the crater, by which fall the cone
will lose a proportion of its height, and the crater itself be widened
and partially filled. Such an event seems to have occurred on Vesu-
vius in 1761, according to Hamilton; but such an occurrence in no
degree corresponds to the engulfment of an upheaved dome imagined
by the upheavalists. -
It is also not improbable that some of the small pzt- or lake-craters,
such as the Cisterna on the Piano del Lago near the summit of Etna,
the Maare of the Eifel, and the Lacs Pavin, Thavana, and others in
Central France, on whose borders are found but a very slight sprink-
ling of scorie, voleanic bombs, and other fragmentary ejecta, may
owe their origin to violent explosions of very short continuance, pro-
ceeding from a local accumulation of vapour, upon the discharge of
which the bulk of the overlying beds may have fallen back into the
cavity left by the explosions. Many of these small craters were
evidently broken through pre-existing rocks—granite, clay-slate,
basalt, or other, the fragments of which are scattered around; but
in no case that I am aware of is there any sign of the tilting, eleva-
tion, or even the derangement of the bedding of these rocks imme-
diately around the craters—certainly no appearance of their conoidal
or dome-like upheaval. What scoriz or other fragmentary dejec-
tions occur about such craters are arranged in quaquaversal taluses,
as usual, but quite unconformably to the old rocks through which the
eruption broke out, which clearly retain their former position, what-
ever it was, around the cavity forcibly drilled through them. Nor,
indeed, could this class of craters lend any support to the views of
the upheavalists, since they admit them to be of eruptive origin*.
Another kind of pit-crater is that which occurs in several instances
in the Sandwich Islands, and of which Kilauea is the best example.
Where a cone has been formed by the repeated overflow of a highly
liquid lava boiling up from a central vent, should its flanks at any
time give way to the hydrostatic pressure of the internal column,
or other cause, and a fissure be formed through which the interior
is, as it were, tapped of the greater part of its contents, a circular
* Humboldt, Kosmos, iv. p. 280.
1859. | SCROPE—CONES AND CRATERS. 541
or elliptical cavity is formed by the subsidence of the fluid, sur-
rounded by perpendicular cliffs, in which perhaps several shelves
may appear, to attest the different stages of this process. This again,
however, is evidently a process wholly distinct from, and even the
reverse of, “‘ upheaval*.”
Concentric Craters.—One of the most remarkable and interesting
features of volcanic craters is their frequent occurrence one within
the other, in more or less concentric circles. In my former paper
(of April 1856) I referred to the recorded history of the eruptions of
Vesuvius during the last hundred years, and showed that within that
short period the cone had been no less than five times gutted by ex-
plosions of paroxysmal violence, and the craters so formed been subse-
quently as often filled again by the welling up of fresh lava and the
ejection of scorize from the bottom in the intervals of these paroxysms.
And I called the attention of geologists (an attention I again solicit,
since it is a point of special importance) to this alternate filling,
emptying, re-filling, and re-emptying of the central crater of a vol-
cano, as a normal process or general law of volcanic action, to which is
owing the so frequent appearance in volcanic districts of one or more
cones and craters within encircling annular cliff-ranges, or portions of
such ranges—the ‘‘basal wrecks” (as Mr. Darwin justly calls them) of
still larger cones formerly existing there, and blown up by some early
eruptive paroxysms. As some of the most remarkable and best-known
examples may be mentioned, in addition to Vesuvius and Somma
(fig. 18, p. 542), those of Santorini in the Grecian Archipelago, of
Barren Island in the Bay of Bengal, of Bromo in Java, as described
by Professor Jukes, St. Helena, St. Jago (well described by Mr. Dar-
win), the Pic de Fogo in the Cape de Verde Islands, the Cirque of
Teneriffe (fig. 4) (within which rise the cones of the Peak and
Chahorra), the Curral of Madeira, the Cliff-range around the volcano
of Bourbon (fig. 19), Antuco in Chili, Irasn in Costa Rica, the Campo
Bianco, and the Isle of Volcano in the Lipari Isles (figs. 20 and 21),
and many others. The outer rings im all these instances, as well as
the interior cones and craters in nearly all, are of course considered
by the upheavalists as “elevation-”, or ‘“ upheaval-craters ;” but
only because, as I think I have shown, they have no correct con-
ception of the character of the eruptions which give rise to such, or
indeed to any craters.
It is, in truth, singular how completely this theory has blinded
its advocates to the best-attested facts respecting even that trite and
most frequented of European volcanos, Vesuvius, which is within
view of the luxurious residences of Naples, and which consequently
has been visited and explored more than any other. They appear
* Professor Dana thinks that there is no limit to the size of craters formed in
this mode, and considers that those of the moon may be pits of the kind. But
the moon-craters are not encircled by abrupt precipices; they rather resemble,
in aspect and configuration, the tuff-craters of the Phlegreean Fields, which owe
their origin to explosive subaqueous eruptions in shallow water. The remark,
however, is suggestive of the important bearing of the theory of the formation of
cones and craters upon astronomical no less than on geological questions.
VOL. XV.—PART I. Q
542 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 2,
Fig. 18.—View of Vesuvius from near Sorrento.
Fig. 19.—The Volcano of Bourbon, seen from the old cliff-range
nearly surrounding it. (After Bory de St. Vincent.)
ine
ine paeanee a?
sat
WSS oe = SSNs
CEOS NS WSS F Map Wh WX mh ( = SS : L
: SST RR SEAN
1859. | SCROPE—CONES AND CRATERS. 543
Fig. 21.—Plan of Volcano and Voleanello.
ee
Fig. 22.—Summit of Vesuvius in 1774, showing cone within cone.
(From Sir W. Hamilton’s ‘Campi Phlegrzi.’)
Fig. 23.—Sumumit of Vesuvius in 1777. (After Sir W. Hamilton.)
Hl
aa
544 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 2,
to give no credit to the well-attested frequent and great changes
of form in the cone and crater of that mountain, many even
within memory of man, and to which I have already referred—
changes, the earlier of which are admirably delineated and de-
scribed in the great work of Sir William Hamilton, who himself
witnessed many of them between 1768 and 1800, during which long
period of thirty-two years he resided at Naples and continually
watched the volcano (see figs. 22 and 23). Coming to a later period,
the upheavalists do not seem to be aware that for some years previous
to 1822 Vesuvius had no crater at all, but showed on its truncated
summit a rough platform upon which several parasitic cones were
occasionally thrown up, and subsequently destroyed by minor erup-
tions, while streams of lava flowed from them almost continually
down the slope of the cone and hardened there. They do not seem
at all aware that the explosions of 1822 blew off the summit of the
cone with all its excrescences, lowering its absolute height by some
600 or 800 feet *, and replacing the solid platform by a crater a mile
in diameter and a thousand feet deep, which vast cavity was within
a very few years filled again by subsequent eruptions from the
bottom, and has been again nearly emptied and re-filled in a similar
manner more than once‘. (See fig. 24.) In the face of these well-
known facts we have M. de Humboldt endorsing the strange dictum
of de Buch, that Vesuvius has not changed at all in height or
Fig. 24.—Ideal Section of Vesuvius and Somma before and after the
eruption of 1822.
bulk since the year 79 of our era; and gravely attributing recorded
differences in its height either to incorrect measurements only, or
internal elevation en masse—that is, renewed upheaval of the entire
cone .
It is singular that the geologists of the last century, Hamilton,
Breislak, and Spallanzani, should have held views respecting the
action of volcanos so much more accordant with the truth than
* Reducing it from 4200 feet to 3400 feet above the sea.—Forbes. .
t See my paper on Craters, &c., Proc. of Geol. Soc. vol. xiv. p. 335.
+t Humboldt, Tableaux de la Nature: Paris, 1829. Kosmos, iv. p. 346.
1859.] — SCROPE—CONES AND CRATERS. 545
authorities so eminent in the present day as MM. de Humboldt, de
Buch, de Beaumont, and Dufrénoy.
_ To recapitulate. My argument then is, that the “‘elevation-crater’’
or “upheaval” theory, as applied to volcanic action by MM. de
Humboldt, de Buch, de Beaumont, and Dufrénoy, and to some ex-
tent by Dr. Daubeny and Professor James Forbes, as well as in
several popular geological compilations, is an assumption irrecon-
cileable with the appearances it professes to account for, and wholly
hypothetical—such a process never having been witnessed; while
there is nothing in the form, structure, or composition of any of the
cones or craters to which it is applied by its advocates inconsistent
with the supposition that they owe their origin to the simple, ordi-.
nary, normal, and perfectly intelligible phenomena of volcanic erup-
tions, as witnessed repeatedly by competent observers as well in the
present day as through all past historical times.
- Such eruptions, where they break out on new points of the sur-
face, are seen to throw up large quantities of scorie, fragmentary
blocks, and ashes, which accumulate (as they fall) into conical hills,
having generally a circular depression in the centre or at the sum-
mit, the cause of which I have already explained. The com-
ponent layers of these hills have always, and, from their mode of
formation, necessarily, a quaquaversal outward dip, and occasionally
also a double or anticlinal concentric arrangement. And the same
disposition of the fragmentary ejectamenta is likely to take place,
and appears in fact to have taken place, when the eruption was
submarine as when it was subaérial, except so far as the weight and
resistance of the water above, or the wash of waves or currents,
have modified it. The lavas simultaneously protruded during such
eruptions take a course determined by their fluidity and specific
gravity and the form of the neighbouring surfaces:—where their
fluidity and specific gravity are both considerable, as in the fine-
grained basaltic lavas, and the adjoining surface-levels favourable,
spreading widely, or flowing to great distances, in comparatively
shallow sheets or streams; where the fluidity is less, accumulating
in thicker beds in the vicinity of the orifice of eruption ; where it is
at the minimum (as in the case of the highly vitreous and conse-
quently viscous, or the spongy and porous trachytes), heaping itself
up above the vent in bosses, hummocks, or dome-shaped masses,
just as any very viscid liquid in ebullition, like paste or pudding,
will coagulate in lumpy excrescences above any crevice in the con-
taining vessel through which it can force a partial escape.
Where eruptions habitually or frequently take place from the
same vent, it is obvious how the repetition of such a process as
has been described in the case of single eruptions must cause the
formation of a mountainous excrescence, approaching to a coni-
cal form, composed of the accumulated products, both fragmentary
and solid, arranged more or less irregularly (according as they may
be subjected during, or in the intervals of, the eruptions to more
or less of atmospheric, or in some cases marine, degradation),
546 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 2,
and of a bulk and dimensions determined by the comparative fluidity
of the expelled lavas and the comparative abundance and character
of the fragmentary ejections. When, as often is the case, owing to
the obstruction of the central vent, eruptions, whether of lava, or
of scorie alone, or of both together, have occurred repeatedly on
the lower flanks or near the base of the volcanic mountain, its form
will have been proportionately varied, by the greater bulk added to
its lower as compared with its higher slopes. Often some great
paroxysmal eruption will have broken a huge crater through the
core of the mountain thus formed, blowing off its summit and fairly
emptying its bowels, leaving a truncated cone, perhaps only a “ basal
wreck,”’ like the roots of a hollow tree-stump, wholly or partly en-
circling the cavity, which subsequent eruptions from its interior may
not have been able as yet to fillup. Sometimes two or three of such
encircling cones and craters will have been successively formed, one
within the other, round a common centre of eruption. Occasionally
the habitual vent will have been so strongly sealed up by the con-
solidation of the lava contained in it, or the accumulation of ejected
matters above it, as to force the subsequent eruptions to shift to a
new point of the same, or some newly broken, fissure; and the
axial centre of the mountain will thus have changed its place, giving
rise to an elliptical figure and other corresponding irregularities in
the external form and also in the internal structure of the mass.
The strata of the new cone will rest in such cases unconformably
on those of the old, as we see is the fact in Etna. This must also
be the case in the smaller cones of scorie, the product of a single
eruption, when the position of the vent has slightly varied, as hap-
pened in the case of the Puy Pariou in Auvergne. (See fig. 25.)
Fig. 25.—Ideal Szction of the double cone of Pariou, Monts de Dome.
CALLA
S Sittth iss
: KALEOSA BZ
Ss Y 7
SS Bi
AS SS
aSS
What I maintain is, that, making allowance for these several
varying circumstances, all of which are within the range of admitted
and indisputable experience in the instances of eruptions actually
witnessed, there is nothing in the form, structure, or mineral cha-
racter of any volcanic mountains or formations yet observed, which
cannot be explained by the simple, intelligible, and consistent laws
of volcanic action briefly described above, and that consequently
there is no need for the supposition of a sudden circular upheaval of
previously horizontal beds of volcanic matter to explain the mode of
production of any one such mountain—far less of all, or nearly all, to
which the upheavalists insist on applying their theory.
Of course it is not intended to deny—on the contrary, it is an
1859.] SCROPE—CONES AND CRATERS. 547
element in the theory of volcanic action above sketched—that the
central parts of a voleanic mountain will from time to time suffer a
certain amount of derangement, and even of absolute elevation, in
the course of its progressive accumulation,—an amount correspond-
ing (as I said in my work on Volcanos of 1825, and again in 1827)
to the number and bulk of the injected dykes that penetrate its beds
being formed by the filling up with intruded lava of fissures broken
through its framework by the expansive throes or local earthquakes
that more or less accompany each eruption. But this “inward
growth or distension ” will be triflmg in comparison with the in-
crease of the mountain by outward accretion or accumulation ; and
that it has always been so may be seen from the proportionate bulk
of the beds of lava and conglomerate, and of the dykes that traverse
them, wherever the interior of a volcanic mountain has been ex-
posed *. Above all, it must have been a slow and gradual process,
accompanying, throughout, the gradual accumulation, in very much
larger masses, of sloping beds, both solid and fragmentary, formed
from the external dejections of the voleano; and therefore in no
degree justifies the theory of the single, sudden, and simultaneous
upheaval of such a mountain by “a bubble-shaped swelling-up
of the ground ”—enounced by MM. de Humboldt, de Buch, de Beau-
mont, and Dufrénoy, as the normal mode of formation of a volcanic
mountain.
Still less is any confirmation of their doctrine to be found in
the amount of elevation en masse of large superficial areas, upon
which the products of volcanic eruptions have been previously ac-
cumulated. This no one doubts to have occurred in many instances—
as, for example, the entire western coast of Italy, the submarine base
of Etna, of Teneriffe +, of Madeira, and of numerous other volcanic
islands or districts. It is, however, a remarkable fact, that in the
interior of continents, where the greatest amount of elevation en
masse has taken place, few or no volcanic eruptions have occurred ;
and contrariwise, the greater number of (indeed nearly all) volcanic
districts are found in islands, or along coast-lines more or less
removed from, though exhibiting remarkable parallelism to, the
ereat neighbouring continental mountain-ranges or elevated areas—
a disposition favourable to the generally received notion that volcanos
act as safety-valves, letting off the local excess of subterranean
expansive force or caloric, which, where such escape is denied, dis-
tends, dislocates, and upheaves the solid superficial rocks in masses
of a much more extended area. This remark, made by me in 1825,
was illustrated by a rude map of the parallel Volcanic and Plu-
tonic ranges of the globe t. It has obtained the sanction of many
geologists, even of MM. de Humboldt and de Buch. But I submit
* See Trans. Geol. Soc. Lond. 2nd ser. vol. ii. p. 341, 1827.
+ This was, of course, the cause of the position of the marine shells found
in the Isle of Teneriffe at insignificant heights above the sea-level, which are
brought forward by Mr. Piazzi Smyth as a proof of the upheaval of the whole
mountain. See Sir C. Lyell’s notice in Phil. Mag. July 1859.
{ Considerations on Volcanos, 1825-6.
548 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 2,
that its truth adds another argument against their theory of the
upheaval of volcanic mountains, and supports the opposite view which,
in common with Mr. Darwin *, I entertain, that there is “local an-
tagonism,” rather than coincidence, between direct elevation and
volcanic action,—that “ dislocations on a large scale are rare in vol-
canic districts ;” or, as M. Constant Prévost expresses it, “ Les pro-
duits voleaniques n’ont que localement, et rarement méme, derangé
le sol & travers lequel ils se sont fait jourt.”
And on all these grounds it is submitted that the theory of eleva-
tion-craters of MM. de Beaumont and Dufrénoy, the Erhebungs-
kraters of de Buch, the “ bubble-shaped swelling-up of horizontal
volcanic strata” of Humboldt, as applied by them to account for the
formation of volcanic mountains, is an unnecessary and untenable
hypothesis, which, by introducing vagueness and uncertainty into
the views hitherto generally entertained by geologists of the laws
of volcanic action, offers a serious impediment to the advance of
sound geology.
For let no one imagine that this question is one of minor im-
portance, affecting the theory of volcanos only, and that it may
be safely left in abeyance while the other great departments of
geology are making safe and certain progress. It is a question
that vitally affects the whole theory of geological dynamics. If
we are to believe that such stupendous mountain-masses as Etna,
Teneriffe, Chimborazo, Elburz, and the other great volcanos of the
two hemispheres, were each of them elevated suddenly, and at one
stroke (d’un seul coup, in the words of Elie de Beaumont when
speaking of Etna), by the expansion of a single great bubble of
elastic vapour—and that consequently they are even now mere
arched crusts covering a vast hollow void or blister,—of course such
a belief must largely influence the views of geologists in regard
to the machinery by which the great terrestrial mountain-ranges,
other than volcanic, have been elevated, and the time occupied by
that process. The notion of the sudden and semultaneous upburst
of the great Alpine chains of the old or new worlds from the
bottoms of tertiary or secondary oceans to the vast heights which
they now obtain, would, in this case, appear quite in the order of
Nature, the probability of such extraordinary events being supported
by the analogy of volcanic mountains. And it is obvious how the
supposition that, beneath these suddenly-elevated tracts, vacuities of
corresponding magnitude probably exist, must affect the theory of
superficial subsidences.
On the other hand, if we come, as I believe we must, to the con-
clusion that volcanic mountains have been slowly built up by the
gradual accumulation, layer above layer, of the products of succes-
sive intermittent eruptions from the same or contiguous vents, very
slightly, if at all, affected by direct upheaval, a strong ground of
analogy will be laid for the belief that the elevation of the great
non-volcanic mountain-ranges of the globe, and the changes of level
of the other rocks which exhibit signs of displacement, have likewise
* Volcanic Islands, p. 78. tT Mém. Soc. Géol. de France, ii.
1859. | . BINNEY—LIAS DEPOSITS NEAR CARLISLE, 549
been effected gradually,—more or less, it may be, by fits and starts,
such as we have an example of in earthquakes, and with occasional
paroxysms, like those witnessed in volcanic eruptions—but by pro-
gressive steps, and not by such immense single expansive throes as
are the favourite idea of M. de Beaumont and those continental
geologists who maintain the theory of upheaval of volcanic cones
and craters,—the one supposition being, in fact, the counterpart and
fit companion to the other.
It is, at all events, certain that the fundamental conception of the
chronology of our geological periods must be largely affected by
these considerations. Our views as to the laws of plutonic action
upon and beneath the earth’s crust cannot but be influenced by
those we entertain respecting volcanic action; for few geologists will
doubt that both are modifications of the same subterranean agent
under varying conditions. It becomes therefore the interest of
every inquirer into the history of our planet that the question raised
in this discussion should be closely examined, and, if possible, con-
clusively solved.
- If, in the endeavour to perform this duty, I have appeared to treat
with little reserve the authority of geologists of eminent reputation,
I trust that the facts and arguments advanced in opposition to their
view of the question, and the immense importance to our science of
its complete and final settlement, will be my sufficient apology.
Fesruary 18, 1859.
ANNUAL GEenERAL MEETING.
_ [For the Reports of the Council, &c., see the commencement of this volume. ]
Frsrvuary 23, 1859.
Richard Trench, Esq., Geol. Survey of Great Britain; William
Francis, Ph.D., Richmond and Red Lion Court, Fleet Street; the
Rey. Thomas Wilkinson Norwood, Cheltenham ; John Johnes, Esq.,
Dolaucothy, near Llandeilo ; and John Bainbridge, jun., Esq., Fisher-
gate Villa, York, were elected Fellows.
The following communications were read :—
1. Notice of Lias Deposits at Quarry-Giut and other places near
CaRisLe. By E. W. Bryney, Esq., F.R.S., F.G.S8.
On the western side of the Pennine Chain, up to this time, none of
the secondary rocks superior to the Trias have been noticed north of
the small patch of Lias at Audlem in Cheshire ; therefore the dis-
550 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 23,
covery of a considerable tract of Lias near Carlisle will no doubt be
interesting.
For some years Mr. Richard B. Brockbank, of the firm of Messrs.
Carr & Co., of Carlisle, has been diligently in search of coal, and has
investigated the northern portion of Cumberland with considerable
care. His attention was chiefly directed to the district lying between
Curthwaite, on the Carlisle and Maryport Railway, and the Solway,
especially about Aikton and Oughterby, places which Prof. Sedgwick
had thought likely for finding coal, and where that eminent geologist
had been informed that a coal-seam, of 16 inches in thickness, had
been actually found *.
The first place where Mr. Brockbank found the “blue metals”
which had always been thought to be coal-measures was in the brook
at Thornby. In examining them he found a shell resembling an
Ammonite, and some other fossils, which induced him to think that
the beds might prove to be Lias. On his transmitting, through Mr.
Brockbank, engineer, of Manchester, the specimens to me, I imme-
diately pronounced them to be Liassic.
On the 13th January, 1859, being at Carlisle, Mr. R. B. Brock-
bank was so good as to drive me over the district. We first went to
Moorhouse, near which place we saw the Till, of a reddish colour, ©
exposed 12 feet without reaching its bottom. It is full of stones,
mostly rounded, consisting of Criffel granite and slate and Silurian
rocks, but it is nevertheless used for brickmaking. West of Moor-
house the land is on a cold clay, with considerable beds of peat on
it. On passing through Oughterby, Mr. Brockbank pointed out the
place at Moor Dyke where a small seam of coal is reported to have
been wrought. We next went to Quarry-Gill to look at the Moun-
tain-limestone, which had been quarried many years ago, and which
he thought might indicate the position of some of the lower coals.
He had found the dark shales in Thornby Brook, and, from the
fossils contained in them, suspected them to be Lias; but he never
imagined that Quarry-Gill stone was anything but mountain-lime-
stone, and he quoted Prof. Sedgwick and other geologists in support
of his opinion.
On my going into the field where the old quarry had been opened,
I picked up a piece of limestone containing shells of Gryphaea i-
curva, which left no doubt in my mind as to the limestone being
Lias. The old quarry is now filled up; but dark Lias-shales are seen
in situ in the ditch near the well, and in the well itself the lime-
stone is seen. The well derives its water from a bore-hole through
the limestone, about 6 feet in depth, as a person who had put a
rake-shaft down informed us; but in all probability it is much
deeper. The walls of the well are constructed of Lias-limestone,
and that rock is lying about on the surface over the field. Here-
with are sent specimens, collected by me, full of Gryphea incurva,
G. inflata (?), G. depressa (?), an Ostrea, and other shells.
* See Prof. Sedgwick’s paper on the Basin of the Eden and the North-western
Coasts of Cumberland. Transact. Geol. Soc. 2nd ser. vol. iv. p. 383 &e.
~
1859. | SALTER—PARADOXIDES. 551
_ At Fisher’s-Gill Farm, a short distance from Quarry-Gill, is a
well sunk through the Lias-shales into the limestone.
At Thornby Brook, south-east of Aikton, are the Lias-shales
first found by Mr. Brockbank. They are seen in the brook’s course,
and are not exposed more than 2 feet in height and for a distance
under 100 yards in length, being covered up by a thick deposit of
reddish-coloured Till. In these shales are found several species of
Ammomtes, which break in pieces on being taken out of their ma-
trix, and two or three species of bivalve shells. Ironstone-nodules
containing bivalve shells also occur in the shales. The dip of the
shales is difficult to determine with certainty; but at one place it
appeared to me to be 23° to the W.S.W. Specimens of the fossils
from Thornton Brook are sent herewith.
Mr. Robinson, an intelligent well-sinker in Kirk Bampton, in-
formed me that in the course of his searches for water he had be-
come well acquainted with the dark shales and limestones in which
people had long been searching for coal. This he had often heard
as having been found, but he had never seen it himself, and indeed
never expected to do so. At Wiggonby a bore-hole had been put
down 40 yards into the dark shales. At Bank House the same beds
are to be seen near the surface. They have also been met with at
the Flatt and Nut-Gill. At Oughterby Pastures they are seen in the
water-holes which have been dug inthem. At Orton Sir W. Briscoe
bored in them. He thinks that they have also been met with
both in Crofton and Aikton. Thus it appears, from Mr. Robinson’s
information, that this Lias-deposit occupies a considerable district,
extending under the rising ground between Crofton and Orton, on the
south, and the Solway, on the north, comprising Aikton, Thornby,
Wiggonby, Oughterby, and probably other places on the rising
ground between the Carlisle and Maryport and Carlisle and Port
Carlisle Railways. As the country is covered up with a thick de-
posit of Till, and there are no natural sections, the boundaries of
the Lias will be difficult to trace with certainty ; but to me it ap-
pears to lie on the “ Waterstones”’ and red marls of the Trias seen
in the Eden near Carlisle, and which appear to dip in the direction
of the Lias described in this short communication. It seems some-
what singular that so large an extent of Lias should have so long
escaped observation; but it is no doubt owing to the district being
thickly covered with Tull, and affording few (if any) natural
sections. : |
2. On the Fossils of the Lineuna-riaes or “ Zonz PRrmorvraLe.”
By J. W. Satrer, Esq., F.G.8., of the Geological Survey of Great
Britain.
Paradoaides and Conocephalus from North America.
Tue occurrence of an isolated new fossil, either at home or abroad,
is seldom worth illustration in the pages of our Journal, unless, as in
502 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Feb. 23,
the present instance, it extends the range of a new or little-known
formation, or has some other special geological interest.
It is now several years since M. Barrande began to lay stress on
the most ancient of his Bohemian formations, and to draw strong
lines of demarcation between what he called his Faune primordiale
and all the succeeding faune of the Silurian series ; and further in-
vestigation, either by himself or other naturalists, has only tended to
confirm the distinctness of this lower zone, and to show a marked
similarity in the types which characterize it wherever found.
Barrande himself was the first to point out the existence of this
formation in the United States (Wisconsin, dc.), as he had before
indicated it for Britain. It has since been recognized in Spain and
Normandy. Some few connecting links have been discovered, to
unite it with the great overlying group ; but, as a whole, both in its
contained species and genera, it remains a perfectly distinct and
well-marked formation, incomparably more cut off from the Lower
Silurian, than the latter is from the Middle or Upper portions of the
same system.
Among the characteristic genera of this zone none is more con-
spicuous than Paradowides, one of the largest forms of Trilobites, and
possessing marked peculiarities of structure. Numerous species are
known in Europe, but only one as yet from Britain ; and until lately .
it was doubtful if the genus existed in America. The discovery, how-
ever, of the true locality for Paradowides Harlan of Green*, which
occurs in great abundance in Massachusetts, has extended the true
range of the “ primordial zone” to that region, and thus defined the
age of those altered rocks in which it is found; for, though the
genera Olenus and Agnostus (the last certainly) do range out of the
Lingula-flags into the Llandeilo and Caradoc deposits, no instance
is known of such transgression on the part of Paradowides or of
Conocephalus, the genera on which we have now to offer a few de-
scriptive data.
The Paradoxides under notice has been lately sent from Branch,
on the promontory between St. Mary’s and Placentia Bays, New-
foundland; and, so far as I know, is the first Lower Paleozoic
fossil discovered in the whole island. Mr. Bennett, who sent these
specimens to the Bristol Institution, says that it is accompanied by
many other fossils; which statement we hope to see verified shortly
by a large consignment to London.
The matrix is a hard, fine-grained, flinty slate.
PaRaDoxIDES BEeNNETTII, spec. nov. (Fig. 1.)
P. maximus; capite valdé expanso, latitudine equante longitudini corporis, an-
gulis in auriculas magnas productis, spinisque brevissimis: axi corporis latis-
simo, pleurarum apicibus foliosis, curvatis, vix reflexis. Long. et lat. 10 unc.
The largest of all known species of the genus, this Paradowides is
easily distinguished from the other great Trilobites, P. spinosus, P.
* At Braintree, ten miles south of Boston.—Prof. W. B. Rogers, Proc. Amer.
Assoc. vol. iii. 1856, p. 315 ; and Boston Nat. Hist. Soc. Proceed. vol. vi. pp. 27, 40.
1859. | SALTER—PARADOXIDES. 503
Bohemicus, &c., by the extraordinary width of the head, which is
94 inches broad, and, so far as can be judged from the portions
remaining, fully as wide as the length of the entire body. Moreover
it is distinguished by the large expanded pendent ears at the pos-
terior angles, which are suddenly terminated by a short narrow
spine. The border is extremely broad, and marked with coarse
remote lineations, while the ridge that separates it from the rest of
the cheeks is very prominent.
Fig. 1.—Outline-sketch of Paradoxides Bennettii (Salter), from .
Newfoundland. (One-third of the natural size.)
The lighter lines indicate the parts of the outline that have been restored.
The axis of the broad thoracic segments is quite as wide as the
pleurze for the four or five front rings, and thence diminishes rapidly,
in proportion to the width of the pleurse,-as far as the twelfth seg-
ment. We have only clear evidence of fifteen rings to the body ;
but in all probability there were seventeen, if not more. No caudal
shield is known.
Although the axis is so broad, the pleure bear about the same
proportion to it asin other species, and resemble those of P. spznosus,
Boeck. They have the usual strong groove crossing them obliquely,
and their ends are expanded, gently curved, and scarcely at all re-
flexed,—while those of the Bohemian species above referred to ar
554 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 23,
very much so. There is another point of resemblance in the slight
expansion only of the second pair of pleure, the appearance being
rather as if the third pair were abbreviated than as if the second were
at all lengthened.
Lastly, one of the specimens shows what is rarely met with
among Trilobites, namely, an injury or malformation—the sixth and
seventh pleurz on the left side being shortened by the injury.
Next I have to notice the occurrence of a very interesting fossil,
brought to England by Dr. Feuchtwanger, and placed with numerous
other American fossils in the Great Exhibition of 1851. It is a cast
in a brown sandstone, said to be a bouldered fragment from Georgia,.,
and as the species appears to be distinct from any previously de-
scribed, there seems no reason to doubt the locality. The caudal
shield and part of the body are broken away, but the greater part of
the carapace, and ten body-rings remain. It is about the size of
Conocephalus striatus from Bohemia, and may be called—
CoNOCEPHALUS ANTIQUATUS, spec. nov. (Fig. 2.)
C. sesquiuncialis, convexus, glabella parabolica lobis inconspicuis; genis vix
radiatis, oculis medianis glabellam propioribus, segmentis corporis pleuris cur-
vatis, haud abrupte deflexis.
Head (or carapace) semicircular, convex compared with those of
other species, the glabella somewhat parabolic and rounded, not
truncated in front, nor much expanded below. It is convex, and
the lobes are very obscure (the specimen, however, has suffered
abrasion); the lower pair of lobes are
Fig. 2.—Outline-sketch rounded, the middle pair of furrows remote
of Conocephalus an- from these, and the upper ones, very near
tiquatus (Salter). the anterior end, all but obliterated.
(Natural size.) Cheeks convex ; the eye nearly midway,
and about its own length from the posterior
margin. Neck-furrow distinct, not very
strong. Facial sutures as in (. striatus;
the convex cheeks radiated, less conspi-
cuously so than in that species. The
ocular ridge, if any existed, must have
been very slight.
The axis of the body-segments is convex
and narrow, two-thirds the width of the
pleure, which are gently convex, scarcely
flat even as far as the fulcrum, and thence
curved down, not abruptly bent as in C.
striatus. The fulcrum in the forward rings
is placed more than halfway out,—in the
tenth about halfway, and the furrow which
bisects the pleura is shallower than in either
of the Bohemian species.
The characters which distinguish C. antiquatus from C. striatus,
which most resembles it, may be briefly stated:—1. The greater
convexity of the carapace, especially the glabella, which is long and
The hinder portion of the
body and the right cheek
have been restored.
1859. | HUXLEY—DICYNODON. | 559
rounded, not short and subtruncate; 2. The less remote eyes, and
3. The gently curved, not abruptly bent, pleure. The margin and
head-spines are lost, but the former was probably not so thick as in
C. striatus ; while the radiation of the cheeks is far less conspicuous.
3. Asaphus (or Olenus?). (Figs. 3 & 4.)
There is a rather obscure trilobite (fig. 3) in the “ Calciferous
Sandrock” or “‘ Chazy Limestone” of Grenville (Ottawa, in Canada),
which Sir W. E. Logan discovered and brought to England. It may,
I think, belong to the Olenida, though certainly not to Paradowides,
to which genus it was too hastily referred by me in Sir W. E. Logan’s
Fig. 3.—Portion of the head of Fig. 4.—Caudal shield of an
an Asaphus or Olenus, from Asaphus (?), from Ottawa,
Ottawa, Canada. Canada. (Natural size.)
(Natural size.)
Sz
paper*. The great size of the curved eyes, and the obscure glabella-
lobes give it much the aspect of Proetus, and the finely granular
surface offers no contradiction to this view; but no Proetus is known
with the glabella as wide in front as behind. It may be a new form
alhed to Asaphus, but the granular surface is an anomaly in that
group. On the whole its affinities are so obscure that, until better
specimens are obtained, it would be useless to give it a name; and
I only figure it here to show that it does not belong to the genus
to which I at first referred it, nor, so far as I can see, to any of the
characteristic genera of the Primordial group.
It is not avery uncommon species. Fig. 4 shows the caudal
shield associated with it, and which is like that of some Asaphide.
3. On a New Srxctss of Dicynopon (D. Murrayi) from near Cotzs-
BERG, SouTH AFrRica. By Professor T. H. Huxtey, F.R.S.,Sec.G.S.
(Abstract. )
[The publication of this Paper is deferred. ]
For the original specimen from which Professor Huxley first (in the
spring of last year) obtained evidence of the existence of this species,
he was indebted to the Rev. H. M. White, of Andover, who subse-
quently put the author in communication with the discoverer of the
fossil, Mr. J. A. Murray, and the latter gentleman having written
to his father, resident in South Africa, obtained for Professor Huxley
a large quantity of similar fossil remains. One specimen in par-
* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. viii. p. 207, nofe.
556 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 23.
ticular, having been carefully chiselled out by Mr. Dew, afforded a
complete skull of this peculiar and previously undescribed species of
Dicynodon.
The author described the distinctive features of this skull in detail.
Dicynodon Murray: is distinguished from all the already known
species by the following characters :—
1. The plane of the upper and anterior face of the nasal and pre-
maxillary bones would, if produced, cut that of the upper face of the
parietals at an angle of about 90°.
2. The supratemporal fosse are much longer from within out-
wards than from before backwards, owing partly to the shortness of
the parietal region.
3. The alveoli of the tusks, the transverse section of which is
circular, commence immediately under the nasal aperture, and extend
forwards and downwards parallel with the plane of the nasal and
upper part of the premaxillary bones, and do not leave their sockets
until they have passed beyond the level of the posterior end of the |
symphysis of the lower jaw.
4, The nasal apertures are altogether in front of the orbits.
5. The length of the upper jaw in front of the nasal apertures is
certainly equal to one-third, and probably to one-half, the whole
length of the skull, which is between six and seven inches.
6. The os quadratum is about half as long as the skull.
These structural peculiarities are sufficient to distinguish Docy-
nodon Murray? from all others; and the author stated that he should
reserve the description of many other anatomical features, which are
probably more or less common to other Dicynodons, such as the
bony sclerotic, the bony interorbital septum and vomer, the cha-
racters of the humerus, of the pelvis, and of the ribs, for another
paper, in which other Dicynodont remains would be considered.
4. On the Coat found by Dr. Livinestone at Tern, on the Zampest,
South Arrica. By Ricwarp THornton, Esq.
[Forwarded from the Foreign Office by order of Lord Malmesbury.]
(Abstract. )
Mr. Tuornvton states that this coal, which was dug by the natives
from an outcropping seam on the bank of the River Muntizi, is free-
burning ; showing no tendency to cake; containing very little of
either sulphur or iron, a large proportion of ash, but only a little
gaseous matter. The result of the trial (made in the steam-launch)
of this coal, and its appearances, favour, in the author’s opinion, the
idea that the coal, when taken from a deeper digging (that which
Dr. Livingstone had sent-was collected at the surface of the ground),
will probably contain less ash and a little more gaseous matter.
557
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TO THE
LIBRARY OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
From April \st, 1859, to June 30th, 1859. -
I. TRANSACTIONS AND JOURNALS.
Presented by the respective Societies and Editors.
ABBEVILLE. Mémoires de la Société Royale d’Emulation. 1836 et
1837. From M. Boucher des Perthes.
1838-40.
—. ——. 1841-43.
——. ——. 184448, 1849.
—. ——. 1849-52. 1852.
3 1852-57. 1857.
Buteux. Sur la Géologie du département de la Somme, 561.
Allgemeine Zeitung fiir Wissenschaft. No.1. April 7, 1859.
American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Cambridge, U.S.). Pro-
ceedings. Vol, iil. 1857, pp. 249-416.
W. B. Rogers.—Trilobites in the altered rocks of Eastern Massa-
chusetts, 315.
A. A. Hayes.—Changes in the substance of metals by percussion,
322, ;
—. Solfataras, Volcanic Ashes, &c., 337.
——. Bessemer Iron-manufacture, 341,
L. Agassiz.—Fossil Turtles, 333.
——. De Beaumont’s System of Mountains, 355,
——. Chryoceras and Ammonites, 356,
Vol. iv. 1858, pp. 1-88.
American Journal of Science and Arts. 2nd Series. Vol. xxvii.
No. 80. March 1859. From Prof. Silliman, For.M.GS.
HE. B. Hunt.—Dynamics of Ocean-currents, 169; the Florida Gulf-
stream, 206,
J. L. Smith.—Dupont’s Artesian Well at Louisville, Ky, 174, .
VOL. XY.—PART I, 2k
558
DONATIONS.
American Journal of Science and Arts (continued).
H. Wurtz.—Blowpipe-manipulation, 179.
F. B. Meek & F. V. Hayden.—Lower Cretaceous beds of Kansas and
Nebraska, 219. ss
C. M. Wetherill.—Analysis of the White Sulphur Waters of the
Artesian Well of Lafayette, Indiana, 241.
S. C. Lyman.—Record of Earthquakes at Hawaii, 264.
W. P. Foulke & J. Leidy.—Hadrosaurus Foulkii, new fossil saurian
(Cretaceous) from New Jersey, 266.
FE. Hitchcock’s ‘Ichnology of New England,’ noticed, 270.
S. B. Buckley—Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, 286.
A, A, Hayes.—Decomposition of Bituminous Coals by heat, 294.
——. No. 81. May 1859. : |
C. Whittesley.—Fluctuations of Water-level, Green Bay, Wisconsin,
305, 447,
H. Hennessey.—Terrestrial climate as influenced by the distribution
of land and water at different geological epochs, 316.
T. S. Hunt.—Huphotide and Saussurite, 336.
L. Lesquereux.—Some fossil plants of recent formations, 359.
C. T. Jackson.—Bornite from Georgia, 366.
F. Field. New Sulphide of Copper and Lead, 387.
G. J. Brush.—Boltonite, 395.
C. Dewey.— Varying level of Lake Ontario, 398.
EF. A. Genth.—Contributions to Mineralogy, 400.
T. Coan.—Eruption of Mauna Loa, 410.
J. D. Dana.—Composition of Titanic iron-ores, 423.
F. B. Meek & F. V. Hayden.—Geology of Kansas, 424.
C. von Ettingshausen.—Tertiary flora of the vicinity of Vienna, 432 ;
of Haring, Tyrol, 433; of Koflach, in Styria, 434.
C. T. Gaudin & C. Strozzii— Fossil leaves in Tuscany, 434.
J. H. Dawson.—Post-tertiary of the St. Lawrence Valley, 484.
M. Tuomey & J. W. Mallet.—Geology of Alabama, 436.
W. W. Mather, obituary notice of, 452.
American Philosophical Society (Philadelphia). Proceedings. Vol. vi.
Nos. 57, 58.
Assurance Magazine. Vol. vii. Part 3. No. 35. April 1859.
Athenszum Journal. April to June.
Notices of Scientific Meetings, &c.
H. W. Ackland and J. Ruskin.—Oxford Museum, 573.
J. MacEnery.—Cavern Researches, 574.
Ossiferous Caves of Sicily, 583.
Obituary notice of A. von Humboldt, 646, 681.
R. Owen.—Fossil Mammalia, 678.
‘Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India,’ noticed, 714.
Wills, Tyndall, &c.—‘ Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers,’ noticed, 739.
Evans.—Flint-implements found in gravel, 781. NTR
T. Wright.—Flint-implements in the Drift, 809.
R. Cull & J. Evans.— Works of art in the Drift, 841.
Eruption of Vesuvius, 843.
Bengal Asiatic Society. Journal. New Series. No. 90 (1857,
No. 6).
DONATIONS. 559
elie Asiatic Society. Journal. New Series. No. 94 (1858,
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Bent’s Monthly Literary Advertiser. ° Nos. 660-662.
Berlin. Monatsbericht der Konigl. Preuss. Akad. d. Wissenschaft.
July to December 1858. 1858-9.
Rammelsberg.—Ueber die Zusammensetzung der rhomboedrisch und.
regular krystallisirten natiirlichen Hisenoxyde, 401.
H. Rose.—Ueber das Niobchlorid, 408; Schwefelniob, 445; Niob-
fluorid, ‘448; die Losungen des Mangan-oxydules, 519; die iso-
meren Modifikationen des Zinn-oxyds, 621.
Bericht tiber die Arbeit des Hrn, Heintz die Zusammen-
setzung des Stasfurtits betreffend, 673.
Ehrenberg.—Ueber eine auf der Insel Ischia jiingst beobachtete
Wirkung heisser Quellen, 488.
——. Feststellung des Kalk-Ueberzuges am Serapis-Tempel zu
Puzzuoli als Stisswasserkalk durch Mikroskop, 585.
——. Ueber Corallinen und bisher unbekannte birn- und becher-
formig gestielte Hisen-Morpholithe an einem im tiefen Meer ver-
senkten Telegraphen-Tau, 624.
Berlin. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Geologischen Gesellschaft. Vol. x.
Part 3. May to July 1858. :
Proceedings of the Society, 223, Aine
W. von der Marck.—Ueber einige Wirbelthiere, Kruster, und Ce-
phalopoden der Westfalischen Kreide, 231 (2 plates).
H. B. Geinitz.—Ueber die Verbreitung des Melaphyrs und Sanidin-
Quarzporphyrs in der Gegend von Zwickau, 272.
Websky.—Ueber die Krystall-Structur des Serpentins und einiger
demselben zuzurechnenden Fossilien, 277.
C, Rammelsberg.—Ueber die chemische Natur des Titaneisens, des
Hisenglanzes und des Magneteisens, 294. !
G. von Liebig.—Barren Island, 299 (plate).