Locality.-Discovered by Mr. Tate in some abundance, associated with Cardinia ovalis, on the east shore of Larne Lough.

POLLICIPES LIASSICUS, Etheridge.

This single valve or scutum of Pollicipes is, I believe, the oldest known; at least, none have been described from beds older than the Great Oolite. It is an interesting form; but a specific description, or the statement of any affinities based upon a single valve, and that one of the most variable of the elements of the test of the Cirripedia, would be premature. The characters shown in this single valve (scutum) determine it to be a new species; I therefore venture to name it P. liassicus.

A single valve from the east shore of Larne Lough, found by Mr. Tate.

3. Notes on the DEVONIAN ROCKS of the BOSPHORUS.

By W. R. SWAN, Esq.

[R. E.]

[In a letter to Sir R. I. Murchison, K.C.B., F.R.S., F.G.S.]

THE strata of the Bosphorus consist, for the most part, of grey, green, brown, and yellowish argillaceous shales, schists, and sandstones, more or less micaceous, with occasional beds of grey argillaceous limestones, in part subcrystalline and generally concretionary. The strike of the strata varies: in some parts it is about due north and south, in others about north-east and south-west; the full rise being from east varying to south-east, that is, into Asia Minor.

The eruptive rocks (not including the Trachytic rocks on both sides of the Bosphorus at the entrance into the Black Sea, and as far down as nearly to Buyukderé) are greenstones of the hornblendic character, varying from fine-grained to coarse and porphyritic, and in many parts much decomposed; they occur as dykes and large bosses, and are in such abundance that the strata are greatly broken up and disordered, and in parts so altered by heat as to become suberystalline, with imperfect slaty cleavage. In consequence there is scarcely a good building-stone to be found around Constantinople, with the exception of the limestones, and they are, after all, none of the best, and too expensive to dress to constitute a stone for general purposes. The larger eruptions of trap, or bosses, are to be found at several of the prominent points of the Bosphorus, such as Kandili Point, Roumili Hissar Point, &c., and may possibly have had something to do with the forming of this far-famed channel.

I shall now attempt to give a description of the fossils of the Bosphorus, first premising that as the means of comparison with the fauna of other countries at my disposal have been very limited, and confined to only a few works on geology, I shall not attempt to give the name of each fossil, but simply confine myself at present to a description of the species found; the fossils also in general are in such a broken and decomposed state that it is next to impossible to recognize many of them. And, firstly, I have not been

able to detect Graptolites on either side of the Bosphorus; nor any Cephalopoda, excepting some few imperfect casts not recognizable as to species, and one small shell as yet undescribed, but probably either a Goniatites or Clymenia: it occurred in grey shale to the northwest of Roumili Hissar (the furthest point west in which I have detected fossils), and was associated with several Spirifers, both broadwinged and small species, Orthis and other Brachiopods, together with a Homalonotus and other Trilobites, and Corals of the genus Favosites. Immediately on both sides of the Bosphorus, the beds of grey shale are replete with fossils, the most characteristic being: of Brachiopoda, several species of Spirifers, both broad-winged and small, with Orthis several species, Strophomena and Leptona several species, Atrypa, &c.; of Trilobites, species of the genera Phacops and Homalonotus, and others as yet undescribed; also a small Crustacean, probably a Beyrichia, is highly characteristic of these strata*. Along with these are associated at least two species of the peculiar Coral, Pleurodictyum problematicum. Other Corals are almost wanting in these beds, but I have detected a few belonging to the genus Favosites. Stems of Encrinites are in abundance in some of the beds, with some stellate forms, which I was inclined at one time to consider as Star-fish. The limestones, with rare exceptions, are destitute of fossils, and likewise the brown-satiny and yellowish shales; the green and greyish shales appearing to have been most favourable to the existence of animal life.

Taking the above fossils as a criterion of the strata of the Bosphorus, imperfectly as I have described them, it is evident that they are not of Silurian age; and the absence of Graptolites and Cephalopoda, so abundant in Silurian strata, and other characteristic forms of that period, confirms this opinion in a high degree, and I should at once place these strata on a level with the Lower Devonian of the Rhine, the "Spirifer-sandstone" of Sandberger, and probably with those of Plymouth and Ogwell in the south-west of England.

I had also an opportunity lately of examining the strata along the north coast of the Sea of Marmora; and at a point about thirteen miles to the east from Scutari, I detected the broad-winged Spirifers, with Orthis, Strophomena, and a Phacops, in grey limestone and sandy shales, along with a fossil which I believe to be a Calceola; the specimen, however, is too imperfect for me to determine.

The strata in this district crop out towards the south-west to about south, and demonstrate that, by a change of the dip between these points and the Bosphorus, these strata may be in the ascending order to those in that neighbourhood. I may mention also that between these points the strata are much intercalated with quartzose rocks, and to such an extent that the large alluvial plains between Scutari and Ismidt seem to be composed entirely of quartz-conglomerate, at least wherever a section of the strata is exposed to view.

See Romer's figure of Beyrichia and other fossils from the Bosphorus ; Neues Jahrbuch, 1863, p. 521, pl. 5.-ED.

DECEMBER 16, 1863.

Andrew Leith Adams, M.D., Surgeon 22nd Regiment, Malta; J. M. Hozier, Esq., Lieutenant 2nd Life-Guards, Staff-College, Sandhurst; and J. F. Iselin, Esq., M.A., Inspector of Science-Schools, were elected Fellows.

The following communications were read :—

1. On the PEBBLE-BED of BUDLEIGH SALTERTON. By W. VICARY, Esq., F.G.S. With a NOTE on the FOSSILS; by J. W. SALTER, Esq., F.G.S.

[The publication of this paper is unavoidably deferred.]

(Abstract.)

THE south coast of Devonshire from Petit Tor, near Babbacombe Bay, to a little beyond Sidmouth, exhibits cliffs of New Red Sandstone, one of the beds of which, near Budleigh Salterton, is composed of pebbles of all sizes and of a flattened oval form; this bed attains a maximum thickness of about 100 feet, and some of the pebbles composing it were found by Mr. Vicary to contain peculiar fossils.

Mr. Vicary gave a description of the physical features of the area over which the pebble-bed extends, and entered into the stratigraphical details of this and the associated strata, referring to Mr. Salter's Note for information upon the affinities of the fossils.

In his Note, Mr. Salter observed that, on comparing the fossils of the Budleigh-Salterton pebbles with those from the Caen sandstone in the Society's Museum, he found that all the species contained in the latter collection were also represented in the former. The general aspect of the fossils was stated to be quite unlike that exhibited by English Lower Silurian collections; and Mr. Salter therefore suggested that the exact equivalent of the Caen sandstone does not exist in England. This difference in the two faunas appeared to him to favour the theory of the former existence of a barrier between the middle and northern European regions during the Silurian period.

2. EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCHES on the GRANITES of IRELAND.-PART IV. On the GRANITES and SYENITES of DONEGAL, with some remarks on those of SCOTLAND and SWEDEN. By the Rev. SAMUEL HAUGHTON, M.D., F.R.S.

[The publication of this paper is unavoidably deferred.]
(Abstract.)

THE author discussed in detail the mineralogical composition of each of the fifteen Donegal granites, and described the method usually employed by him in solving lithologico-chemical problems, coming to the conclusion that nearly half of these granites are not composed altogether of the four minerals (Quartz, Orthoclase, Oligoclase, and Black Mica) which are found in them in distinct crystals, and that

the remaining varieties, even if they be composed of these minerals, must have a paste composed of the same minerals, but with a slightly different composition. Prof. Haughton then discussed the composition of the syenites of Donegal, and instituted a comparison between the granites of that district and those of Scotland and Sweden, remarking that those of the last-named region have the same stratified structure as the granites of Donegal.

3. On the recent EARTHQUAKE at MANILA. By J. W. FARREN, Esq. [Communicated by the Foreign Office.]

(Abstract.)

In two letters to Earl Russell the author described the damage done by this earthquake, observing that 289 persons were killed, and a large number more or less injured.

4. Extracts from LETTERS relating to the FURTHER DISCOVERY of FOSSIL TEETH and BONES of REPTILES in CENTRAL INDIA. By the late Rev. S. HISLOP.

[Communicated by Prof. T. Rupert Jones, F.G.S.]

[The publication of this paper is unavoidably postponed.]

(Abstract.)

THE remains alluded to consist of (1) a series of Reptilian bones, some bearing teeth, mostly Labyrinthodont, and some probably Dicynodont, from the (Triassic?) red clay of Maledi, in which teeth of Ceratodus occur; and (2) several teeth similar to one from the Eocene clays of Takli, near Nagpore, and another like a conical tooth from the Eocene beds (with Physa Prinsepii) of Physura, from the same neighbourhood as that in which the set No. 1 was found.

At Phísdura (Tertiary) large Reptilian bones (including a femur 1 foot across at the condyles, and a vertebral centrum 7 inches across) have been found associated with large coprolites, Physa Prinsepii, and Paludina Deccanensis.

Major Gowan's discovery of a Labyrinthodont at the base of the Mahadewa Hills was also noticed by Mr. Hislop.

Mr. Hislop stated his belief that the Mangali beds, the Korhadi shales, and the red clay of Maledi should be placed above the plantbearing beds of Nagpore instead of below them as heretofore supposed.

JANUARY 6, 1864.

Nelson Boyd, Esq., Mining Engineer, 2 Great George Street, Westminster; Henry Hakewill, Esq.,C.E., 38 Harrington Square, London; John Robinson M'Clean, Esq., V.P.Inst.C.E., 23 Great George Street, Westminster; and the Rev. Frederick Silver, M.A. (Oxon), F.R.A.S., Norton-in-Hales, Salop, were elected Fellows.

M. Charles Gaudin, of Berne; Bergmeister Gümbel, of Munich; Dr. Steenstrup, of Copenhagen; M. Paul Gervais, of Montpellier; Dr. George F. Jäger, of Stuttgart; Dr. A. Oppel, of Munich; Dr. Hitchcock, Sen., of Amherst; M. E. Desor, of Neufchatel; and Dr. T. Kjerulf, of Christiania, were elected Foreign Correspondents.

The following communications were read :—

1. On the RECENT GEOLOGICAL CHANGES in SOMERSET, and their DATE relatively to the EXISTENCE of MAN and of certain of the EXTINCT MAMMALIA. By G. S. POOLE, Esq.

[Communicated by Sir C. Lyell, V.P.G.S.]

(Abstract.)

COMMENCING with a description of the country between Clevedon and Taunton, the author stated that the district consisted of three basins, known as the "North Marsh," the "South Marsh," and the "Bridgwater Level," and drained by the River Yeo, the Rivers Axe and Brue, and the River Parrett, respectively. This district, which is composed of alluvium near the coast, with peat-mosses further inland, would be subject to occasional inundations by the sea, were it not protected by a line of embankments, composed of masonry at the most exposed points, but elsewhere of earth, slightly constructed, but of immense extent. These embankments were considered by Mr. Poole to have been made by the Romans for the purpose of a double defence—against the sea and against the natives.

In the whole of the district under consideration the surface of the land dips away from the sea and from the rivers; and as the land slopes, so the thickness of the alluvium decreases, until at last it ceases altogether, when the surface is composed of peat-moors, or "turbaries" as they are locally termed. These turbaries are of two kinds, the peat of one kind, occurring in Bridgwater Level, being a black vegetable mould with little or no coherence, and easily convertible into good pasture or arable land; that of the other, on the contrary, making a good fuel.

In the middle of the South Marsh and in the Bridgwater Level are extensive sand-banks, in which marine Shells occur.

Mr. Poole then endeavoured to show that the district above described has been subject to considerable changes of level in recent geological periods, giving data towards the elucidation of the question of the extent of such changes; also that Man existed in the district prior to the last of these changes, and that some of the extinct Mammalia have existed there since that event.

Respecting the first-named hypothesis, the author described the submarine forests in Bridgwater Bay, referring frequently to the