know, thanks to the spirit and energy of the late Duke of Newcastle, that at Shire Oaks good seams of coal, the prolongation of the Sheffield field, are worked to profit. But the most important phenomenon of all others to the inhabitants of Nottingham is, that in the tract between Mansfield and that town, the coal-strata of Derbyshire, rich as they are, become thicker and richer as they dip to the east under the magnesian limestone. When visiting Mr. William Webb, at Newstead Abbey, in the year 1863, I had sincere pleasure in announcing this important fact in a lecture which I gave in the Mechanics' Institution at Mansfield, inasmuch as the realization of it rendered the properties of my friend and his neighbours much more valuable. The coal-pits which have almost been sunk along their lands near Hucknall and other places, are satisfactory proofs of the 'certainty of now finding excellent coal, superior, indeed, in quality and in dimensions to most of the coalbeds of Derbyshire, in position and in tracts where no one, even a few years ago, except geologists, thought of their existence. Indeed it is possible that at some distant day, and when the more easily attainable coals are exhausted under the magnesian limestone, the mineral will be worked under the new red sandstone to the north of Nottingham, though at depths which at present would render such operations unremunerative. But whilst I thus advert to portions of Nottinghamshire as included in those British areas in which future supplies of coal will in all probability be obtained by sinking deep through overlying deposits, it forms no part of this communication to dwell upon this point, still less to treat of the known coal-fields, whether they be basins subtended by old red and mountain limestone, as in South Wales or the Forest of Dean, or upcasts through the Permian and new red sandstones of the central counties. These subjects, which have already been ably handled by Mr. Hull, one of my associates in the Geological Survey, and whose work, as well as that of Mr. Jevons, has excited great public interest in reference to the duration of British coal, will, I know, be well inquired into by the Royal Coal Commission. My sole object is to exclude from the reasoning upon the English coal-fields, whether near the surface, or attainable through overlying rocks, those hypotheses which, however ingenious in theory, are, in my opinion negatived by fair reasoning on the data we possess. Thus, when we exclude, as of necessity, 21,800 square miles, or nearly one-half of England and Wales, as consisting of rocks older than the coal-measures, and in which no coal can possibly be found; and when I have further shown strong à priori reasons for setting aside the hypothesis that productive coal-fields may exist under our southern and eastern counties, we have first to proceed to form the best approximate estimate we can of the amount of coal left in those fields which have been long worked. Next to endeavour to ascertain what is the prospect of a profitable extraction of coal from deep-seated beds, by reaching them at certain depths beneath the superjacent Permian, or other overlying deposits, through which they have been upheaved to constitute the coalfields of the Midland Counties. Such will be the objects of the Royal Coal Commission recently appointed; and on which I am as yet unable to give any reliable opinion. By excluding from the inquiry into the present or probable future coal supply of England and Wales, all the tracts of crystalline and paleozoic rocks which rise out from beneath the carboniferous strata, and in which no trace of coal can ever be discovered, and also all those secondary and tertiary rocks beneath which, for the reasons given, there can be scarcely any hope of finding that mineral, it will be seen that the existing and possibly future supplies have, for all practical purposes, an approximately defined limit, and that they range over little more than one-eighth of England and Wales, or an area of about 6000 square miles. Declining to express any opinion as to the duration of the accessible coal-beds in Britain until a closer survey shall have been completed, I fully appreciate the anxious desire which is felt by all persons who are interested in the future welfare of their country, to have the subject fully and fairly inquired into; the more so as I have now in conclusion to announce that, by the last inquiry made by Mr. Robert Hunt, the indefatigable compiler of the Mining Records in the Government establishment under my direction, the last year's consumption of coal reached the portentous figure of nearly one hundred millions of tons. Most judiciously, therefore, did Sir W. Armstrong revive attention to this important national subject at the Newcastle Meeting of the British Association; whilst in this communication I have simply endeavoured to indicate that the public are not to believe in the almost boundless range and contents of our coal-fields which some persons would assign to them. On some Fossils from the Graptolitic Shales of Dumfriesshire. The upper Llandeilo rocks of the south of Scotland have long been known to yield graptolites in great profusion, few other forms of animal life having been recognized as occurring in them. Having had this summer an opportunity of examining the graptolitic shales of Garple Linn, near Moffat, I was struck with the occurrence in them of numerous bodies, differing from the graptolites in form, though resembling them in texture. These bodies present themselves as glistening pyritous stains, scattered in considerable numbers among the graptolites upon the surface of the shale. In their most perfect condition they appear to be bell-shaped bodies, which average three-tenths of an inch in length and two-tenths in breadth, and are provided at one extremity with a prominent spine or mucro, the other terminating in a nearly straight, or gently curved margin. When compressed from above downwards, a condition in which they often occur, they appear as oval or rounded patches, frequently very definite in their outline, and presenting somewhere within their margin an elevated point, which is surrounded by several concentric ridges, disposed with more or less regularity. The elevated point marks the position of the mucro, and the concentric rings are merely due to vertical compression. When in this compressed condition, these bodies somewhat resemble orbicular Brachiopods in appearance. The texture of these bodies appears to have been corneous, like that of the graptolites; but they show no traces of structure beyond the presence of the mucro, from which, in some well-preserved specimens, a filiform border is prolonged for a greater or less distance along the free margin. The mucro appears to have constituted their most solid portion, projecting as a marked elevation when obtained in relief, and leaving an evident hollow in the cast. In most cases these bodies are free and independent, but they occasionally occur in such close juxtaposition with the stipe of a graptolite as to justify the belief that the connexion is organic, and not merely accidental. I have not observed this except in Graptolites Sedgwickii, the form in which this might most reasonably be expected, as the cellules are separated from one another by a conspicuous interval till close to their bases. In this case the origin of the body appears to have been from the common canal or cœnosarc. In one specimen the mucro has been preserved, and seems to have been situated at the free extremity, and therefore to have been a point of dehiscence rather than one of attachment. The occurrence of these bodies in shales, crowded with graptolites and graptolitic germs, and their close connexion in some cases with the graptolites themselves, would seem to warrant the conclusion that they are gonophores," or "ovarian vesicles," at first attached to the parent stem, but finally becoming freeswimming zooids. Bodies somewhat similar to these have been described by Professor James Hall as occurring in connexion with the stipe of Graptolites Whitfieldi, a diprionidian form, and these are regarded by him as true reproductive cells. 66 If this conjecture as to the nature of these curious bodies (to which the term grapto-gonophores" might be applied) be correct, then the Graptolitide would have to be finally referred to the Hydrozoa, and would find their nearest living analogues in the Sertularida, from which, however, they would always be separated by characters sufficiently distinctive. The facts that no traces have been preserved of any central axis within these bodies, and that they are not as yet known to occur in other localities where graptolites abound, would to a certain extent militate against this hypothesis; but the first may be due to the soft nature of such an axis, and the second is probably referable to the attention of geologists not having been directed to their existence. On a Peculiar Denudation of a Coal-Seam in Coates's Park Colliery, This denudation was discovered in working the "Lower Hard" seam of coal at Coates's Park Colliery in 1859; and it appeared to be the effect of a river which once existed, but has now disappeared, about 500 yards in width, which has as yet been traced only in a southwardly direction for nearly six miles. The whole seam (about 4 ft. thick) was broken up and deposited in disjointed masses throughout the course of this supposed river, in one instance these thicknesses of the seam being found piled upon each other; and where no coal existed, the underclay (or clunch), which ordinarily is about 2 feet thick, was heaped up, in one case, to a depth of 26 feet. A great body of water must have effected this; and the nodules of ironstone found in the underclay, by their worn shape, show that they have been subjected to the action of a strong current. Further Observations on, and Additions to, the List of Fossils found in the Boulder-Clay of Caithness, N.B. By CHARLES W. PEACH. "At the Meetings of the Society in 1862 and 1864 I laid before the Members lists of the fossils then found in the Boulder-Clay of Caithness. In the first paper, I suggested that "the mode of transport to the shores of Caithness was by waterborne ice and not by local glaciers.' That opinion I still retain. I have no objection to the deposit being called glacial, believing, that, in the first instance, the materials were partly derived from glaciers formed at a distance from Caithness. These glaciers descended to the sea, and were launched into it; and from them icebergs were broken off. These, when so launched, picked up some of the sea-bottom, with its organisms, &c., and when on their voyages, wherever they touched, whether on the bottom of the sea, or the shores of the land, they added to their burdens, by picking up more organisms, stones, &c.; and, when finally stranded, mud, stones, sand, and the shells of Caithness became intermingled with them. As the icebergs slowly dissolved, the burden was dropped in a pell-mell manner. The ice protected the materials, and prevented the sea from levelling and arranging them, and giving the deposit a stratified appearance. The gradual dissolving of the bergs gave time to the clay to solidify, and thus it was preserved when its carrier and protector was no more. Once firm, especially in deepish water, little injury could be done to it. It suffers most when exposed to frost and atmospheric influences. The story of the voyaging and gathering of the icebergs is well told by the contents of their left burdens; for Crag, as seen by its shells, &c., Gault chalk and greensand, by the flints, corals, and Foraminifera, with portions of chalk, both hard and soft-some so soft that it may be used for writing with-Lias and Oolite, by their Belemnites, Ammonites, fossil wood, Septaria, &c., Silurian, by its metamorphic limestones, quartz, and other rocks, Cambrian, by its gneiss, &c., granite, porphyry, &c., are not wanting. Then we have the abundance of Old Red Sandstone, turned up and mingled with all the above by the large bergs as they bumped and grated before finally resting. These remains form an interesting and suggestive collection. The organisms are entombed in a hard and stubborn matrix. It has, however, been made to give up its ancient dead, and to show that, at the time of its formation, life was as abundant in the sea as it is now. With few exceptions, the same species are found in it as are now living around our own shores, some few in the Arctic seas only; and probably one or two may be extinct. I say may be, from having been taught great caution by so many of those said to be extinct having been from time to time dragged from ocean-depths by our active dredgers. "The fragmentary state of the organisms proves that they could not have lived and died where now found; for, with two exceptions (two small specimens of Anomia squamula), I have not seen two valves united amongst the hundreds gathered by myself and other fellow-workers. The only way of accounting for the escape of these delicate shells from destruction is, that they, with many other perfect minute univalves, had been sheltered in depressions in some of the ponderous masses they were fellow-voyagers with." He mentioned that chalk-flints were not uncommon in the boulder-clay and all over Caithness (even on the small island of Stroma) wherever the peat had been removed. Several species of chalk Foraminifera and other things he had washed out of the clay. All these show that the chalk formation must have been in situ at no great distance from Caithness. He also alluded to the scarcity of the common litoral shells, and comparative abundance of rare and deep-sea forms, as well as mentioned other things of interest connected with the state of preservation, &c., and concluded as follows:-"I might add much more, but feel unwilling to trouble you further beyond saying that, in taking leave of the subject-it may be for ever-permit me again to mention the kindness of Mr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys, who has again named the mollusca for me. Mr. H. B. Brady, of Newcastle, has examined and named the Foraminifera; his brother, Mr. G. S. Brady, of Scarborough, the Entomostraca. To Mr. Joshua Alder, of Newcastle, I am indebted also for much advice about the organisms. I am under deep obligations to all these kind naturalists for prompt and ready attention, by which I am able to lay before you lists that may be depended on. For myself I beg to say that I have not admitted a single specimen into the list but those I am satisfied were taken out of the clay." Mollusca.-Nucula sulcata-Norway, Ægean. minuta-Arctic Seas, South of England. Cardium exiguum-Norway, Egean. Venus casina-Norway, Canary Islands. ovata-Norway Egean. gallina-Iceland and Norway, Sicily. Cyrtodaria siliqua-Arctic Seas. Mr. Jeffreys says "This shell is especially interesting. Dr. Rink found it fossil in Greenland." Solecurtus candidus-Shetland, Canary Islands. Chiton cinereus-Greenland, Egean. Trochus Groenlandicus-Polar Seas, Skye. Vahli-Arctic Seas. Littorina obtusata-Iceland and Norway, Vigo. Rissoa parva, var., interrupta-Norway, Canary Islands. Odostomia albella-Norway, Sardinia. acicula-Norway, Egean. Natica Alderi, var-Norway, Sicily. Entomostraca.-Cythere concinna; Cythereis Dunedinensis; Cytheridea papillosa; Cytheridea punctillata. Annelida.-Spirorbis granulatus: Sandy tube of probably a Pectinaria. Polyzoa. Salicornaria; Hippothoa divaricata; Lepralia Peachii, var. labiosa; Cellepora pumicosa; Crisia denticulata. Foraminifera. Biloculina ringens; Quinqeloculina subtrotundata; Quinqeloculina triangularis; Trochammina incerta; Dentalina communis; Vaginulina legumen; Vaginicula linearis; Nodosaria raphanus; Polymorphina lactea; Polymorphina compressa; Globigerina bulloides; Cassidulina lævigata; Truncatulina lobulata; Protalia soldarii; Polystomella arctica; Nonionina asterizans; Nonionina depressula. Pearl of Mytilus edulis. Fish-bone, piece of. Summary. Mollusca, 21; Crustacea, 1; Entomostraca, 4; Annelida, 2; Polyzoa, 5; Foraminifera, 17; Pearl, 1; Fish-bone, 1-total of new list, 52; first list, 42; second list, 41-making altogether, 135. Of the shells, some are British, a few Arctic only; all are Scandinavian and Arctic. No correction for variation has been made for the compass-bearings in the former papers. 1866. 5 Gradual Change of Form and Position of Land on the South End of the Isle of Walney. By R. A. PEACOCK, Jersey. Sheets Nos. 27 and 28 of the Ordnance Map of Lancashire are referred to in the following account. The Map is now in the Map Department of the British Museum, and shows the coast lines of 1797, 1833, and 1847, respectively, the two first in MS. The land, consisting mostly of sand and water-worn pebbles, continues to be washed away on the west coast, at the average rate of nearly eight feet in width per annum, round Hilpsford Point, and gradually progresses as gravel (the sand disappearing) along the beach towards south-east and north-east points, at and between which it remains, and gradually becomes covered over with loose sand drifted from the Rabbit Warren. The breadth of the land at the narrowest part on the west was about 1610 feet in 1847; and it follows that at the then rate of waste the sea will make a breach through the island about the year 2050. Thế gravel-bed at the south-east point, between 1833 and 1847, extended on an average nearly 12 feet annually, at which rate of progress it would fill up Haws Hole, and reach Seldom Seen Scar about the year 1930; thereby filling up the waterway leading to Peel Harbour, but in the meantime another water-way will probably have been scooped out by Peel Channel (which is in fact a river conveying to the sea the drainage of a considerable tract of country) across Far-hill Scar, so as to continue to give coasting-vessels access to Peel Harbour. If this process of removal of land has been going on, say since Ptolemy's time-and it would appear that it must have been, for the west side of the Rabbit Warren consists of sand, intermixed with rounded pebbles-it follows that more than 2 miles in breadth of land must have been washed away during the last seventeen centuries, and deposited further east. A sufficient consideration of these and similar events elsewhere, would often assist in explaining difficult passages in the descriptions given by ancient geographers and historians. On Raised Beaches. By W. PENGELLY, F.R.S., F.G.S., &c. The author stated that, "instead of aiming at description, his object in this communication was to call attention to certain facts which, perhaps, have scarcely received all the attention to which they are entitled." The substance of the paper may be gathered from the following recapitulation, with which it concluded:: "1st. That accumulations of blown sand occasionally assume the character of raised beaches. "2nd. That it is not safe to conclude, in the absence of other evidence, that raised beaches, differing in height by as much as even 30 feet, necessarily belong to distinct periods. "3rd. That it is possible that what, in a small vertical cliff section having the direction of the coast line, appears to be one raised beach, may really be two. "4th. That, all other things being the same, raised beaches are likely to be most numerous on a coast composed of durable rocks." On the Occurrence of Felis Lynx as a British Fossil. By W. H. RANSOM. The author showed a lower jaw and part of the cranium of a species of Felis which had been submitted to Prof. Owen, and by him declared to belong to Felis cervaria, a north Asiatic variety of the Lynx. He recounted the circumstances of their discovery in a fissure in Magnesian Limestone at Pleasley, near Mansfield, associated with remains of wolves, deer, pigs, voles, and other food-animals. The jaw is preserved in the Museum of the Society of Naturalists at Nottingham. On some Characters of the Brain and Skull in Plesiosaurus. |