Societies and Academies

Abstract

LONDON. Geological Society, Jane 16.—Prof. W. J. Sollas, F.R.S., president, in the chair.—The Carboniferous Limestone of County Clare: James A. Douglas. The district forms che westernmost limit of the central Carboniferous Limestone plain of Ireland. The area, for the purposes of description, is divided into two main districts. The northern region is formed by an elevated plateau of Vise an Limestone, which rises on the north and east in terraced cliffs, but to the south-west dips below the “Coal-measure” series. The surface is of bare rock, devoid of vegetation. The southern district is not formed of lime-stone; the high ground on the east is of Old Red Sandstone and Silurian rocks, that on the west of Coal-measures. The older formations appear as two anticlinal flexures, forming the mountains of Slieve Aughty and Slieve Bernagh. The margin of the syncline is formed by Tournaisian shales and limestone, while the Viseán limestones occupy the core. The limestone fauna show that the Geological Survey boundary between the Upper and Lower Limestones corresponds with the transition from a Tournaisian to a Viséan fauna, and the Middle Limestone contains a fauna distinct from that of the Upper, although they are not separable on lithological grounds. The Old Red Sandstone is succeeded by a series of sandy shales containing brachiopods characteristic of the Cleistopora zone; at the base are found modioliform lamellibranchs. The Zaphrentis zone is well developed. The most remarkable portion of the whole sequence is included in the Syringothyris zone. These beds show evidence of deposition in shallow water. The fauna is compared with that of the Waulsortian phase of Belgium. The incoming of a Viséan fauna is well marked at the base of the Seminula zone; in the middle of this zone occurs an important bed of oolitic limestone, with abundant gasteropods. The Dibunophyllum zone attains a thickness equal to that of the Midland area.—The Howgill Fells and their topography: J. E. Marr, F.R.S., and W. G. Fcarnsides. The Howgill Fells form a mono-clinal block, from which the Carboniferous rocks have been denuded. The northern slope probably corresponds with the sloping plane of unconformity between the Carboniferous rocks and Lower Palaeozoic strata. On the south the slope to the Rawthey is along a block-fault. The chief drainage was originally north and south from the watershed at the summit of the block. The tract was glaciated by its own ice, but “foreign” ice was conterminous with the local ice on all sides. The rocks are, from the point of view of erosive effects, nearly homogeneous. The chief erosive effects of glaciation were the truncation of spurs, the formation of conchoidal scoops in the concavities of the valleys, a general widening of the valleys, and but slight deepening. A feature of interest is the contrast in this small area between these glaciated valleys and others of V-shaped cross-section, which are typical water-carved valleys unaffected by glacial erosion.—A new species of Sthenurus: L. Clauert.—Some reptilian remains from the Trias of Lossiemouth: D. M. S. Watson. The fore-limb of Ornithosuchus woodwardi is shown in a specimen in the Manchester Museum. Ornithosuchus is restored as an animal walking on all fours, with the head carried rather low. The proportions are identical with those of ^Etosaurus. A description is given of the skeleton of a very small reptile, interesting as recalling.(Etosaurus in its armour.—Some reptilian tracks from the Trias of Runcorn (Cheshire): D. M. S. Watson. Four types of tracks which occur on the slab of sandstone from Weston Point, described in 1840 by Dr. Black, are discussed in this paper. It is suggested that some of these prints, may quite well belong to such thecodonts as Ornithosuchus.—The anatomy of Lepido-phloios laricinus, Sternb.: D. M. S. Watson. Linnean Society, June 17.—Sir Fiank Crisp, vice-president, in the chair.—The growth of a species of Battarea: J. G. Otto Teppér.—The deposits in the Indian Ocean: Sir John Murray.—The Sealark Penaeidea, Stenopidea, and Reptantia: L. A. Borradaile.—The Sealark Lepido-ptera: T. B. Fletchaiv-Report on the Porifera collected by Mr. C. Crossland in the Red Sea, part i., Calcarea: R. W. H. Row.—The African species of Triumfetta, Linn.: T. A. Spragrue and J. Hutchinson.—New species of Malesian and Philippine ferns: Dr. H. Christ.—The acaulescent species of Malvastrum, A. Gray: A. W. Hill.