On the Carstone. By GoVIER SEELEY. On the Characters of Dolichosaurus, a Lizard-like Serpent of the Chalk. By GOVIER SEELEY. The Relation of the Upper and Lower Crags in Norfolk. By JOHN E. TAYLOR, Hon. Sec. Norwich Geol. Soc. The object of this paper was to prove that the present classification of shells in the Norwich Crag is imperfect, on account of an upper bed being included in the Crag. The mean percentage of the shells from the two Crags makes the relation of the Red and Norwich Crags very dissimilar, whereas there is really a near connexion between them. By separating the shells of the upper bed, the underlying Norwich Crag approaches the Red; whilst the upper bed itself forms a graduating link between the three Crags and the overlying drift beds. After giving the established percentages of recent and extinct shells in the three Crags, as well as the proportion of Arctic shells found in them, the author men-tioned several places in Norfolk where the Upper Crag may be seen overlying the Norwich Crag, as at Coltishall, Horstead, Trowse, Thorpe, Whitlingham, and Bramerton. The height of the upper bed ranges above the lower by three to fifteen feet. It is marked by the total absence of freshwater shells, by the paucity of littoral species, and by the abundance of deep-sea shells. It is also distinguished by the greater abundance of Arctic species, as at Bramerton and Thorpe, where several species of Astarte, Cyprina Islandica, Cardium Grænlandicum, Lucina borealis, and others abound. The author also showed that the shells of the Red and Norwich Crags separated them into distinct beds, whilst the same method would also separate the Upper from the Lower Crag in Norfolk. He therefore contended for the existence of four crags, instead of the present classification of them into three. This arrangement established a complete and beautiful sequence between the oldest Coralline Crag and the latest Drift deposits. On the Physical Geography of East Yorkshire. By W. TOPLEY. On the Lower Greensand of Bedfordshire. By J. F. WALKER, F.C.S. The discovery of a new deposit of phosphatic nodules was made about three years since in the Lower Greensand of Bedfordshire, in the vicinity of Potton. This bed was formerly quarried for mending the roads, until it was found to contain the nodules for which it is now extensively worked. A section at a cutting near Potton Railway Station shows, commencing at the bottom,-1, sand of different colours (in some places white); 2, conglomerate bed (9 ins. to 1 ft. thick); 3, sand of different colours, containing oxide of iron, about 12 ft. At a coprolite-working, on the left side of the line, looking towards Cambridge, a few yards from the edge of the cutting, the bed increases in thickness to two feet. At a large working on the hill, the conglomerate bed is about six feet thick, the section being as follows:-1, sandstone on which conglomerate rests; 2, conglomerate (6 ft.); 3, flaggy sandstone, not exceeding one foot in thickness (often less) and surface soil. The lower part of the conglomerate here is darker and more indurated than the upper. On the other side of the road is another working, where the nodules lie in a loose sand, and the phosphate-bed is about one foot thick. There are several other workings in the neighbourhood. The conglomerate contains phosphatic nodules and pebbles in about the same proportion. The bed is dug out, sifted, washed, and laid in heaps, then conveyed into sheds, where the nodules are picked over by hand. The quantity of phosphoric acid in the nodules varies from 15 to 22 per cent. The deposit consists of ferruginous sand, more or less indurated, rolled pebbles, light brown nodules of phosphatic matter (which have an earthy fracture, and often contain remains of shells), and lumps of hardened clay. The nodules contain a much larger percentage of alumina than those of the Cambridge Greensand. This would indicate that the phosphatic nodules had been formed of clay soaked in decomposing animal and vegetable matter, since the alumina could not be derived from animal or vegetable sources. The nodules are often covered with perforations, which Mr. A. Wanklyn discovered to be the work of small bivalves, of which he obtained several species. The remains of organic life found in this deposit exist in different states of mineralization. Some are coeval with the deposition of the bed, whilst others have been washed out of preexisting deposits. Of vegetable remains are found :— 1. Large masses of silicified wood, resembling those found in the Purbeck. 2. Small pieces of wood, mineralized with phosphoric acid, and often bored by a new species of Pholas, which I have named "Pholas Dallasii." 3. Cone of Cycadacean, from the Wealden. Of remains of animal origin we find : Rolled bones and teeth of reptiles and fishes, also shells of mollusca existing in two distinct conditions, viz., phosphatic casts and ferruginous shells. The phosphatic casts of shells are generally so much worn, that it is impossible to identify their species with precision. Their general aspect resembles those of the Kimmeridge and Oxford clays. They consist of casts of Rhynchonella; Cardium, Arca, Pholadomya, &c.; Pleurotomaria, Chemnitzia, Natica, &c. Also two or three species of Ammonites occur, of which Ammonites biplex is found in great abundance. Several of the Ammonites retain their nacreous lustre; phragmocones of large Belemnites are also found. Part of the ferruginous shells also have been derived from extraneous sources, and among these is Gryphæa dilatata. The rest of the ferruginous shells are of the age of the Lower Greensand. Amongst these there are found— Waldheimia Tamarindus. celtica. Terebratula depressa. Pleurotomaria De Lahaysii. Pecten Robinaldinus. Ostrea macroptera. Exogyra conica. Sphæra Sedgwickii, n. sp. Ferruginous casts of a shell resembling a " Perna," and other mollusca have been also found. The remains of fishes seem to be principally derived from the Kimmeridge Clay. The following species have been also found in the Kimmeridge Clay at Ely:Sphærodus gigas (palate teeth), very common. Pycnodus, sp. (palate teeth). Gyrodus, sp. (palate). Asteracanthus ornatissimus (dorsal spines), common. Hybodus, sp. (spines and teeth). Sphenonchus. Lepidotus, sp. (scales). Psammodus reticulatus (palate teeth), very common. Edaphodon, sp. The remains of reptiles are chiefly rolled bones and teeth of Plesiosaurus and Ichthyosaurus; and remains of Pliosaurus, which reptile is characteristic of the Upper and Middle Oolites, occur in considerable quantities. Some teeth of Crocodilian character are found here as well as at Ely, probably belonging to a species of Quenstedt's genus Dakosaurus. Waterworn remains of the Iguanodon, and pieces of shelly limestone containing Cyrenas, have been derived from a deposit of Wealden which previously existed near this district, and have been deposited in this bed subsequently to its destruction by denudation. We see, then, that the fossils contained in this deposit consist of some coeval with its formation, and of organic remains derived from the denudation of the Wealden and of the Kimmeridge and Oxford Clays: and thus its further study will no doubt serve to elucidate a series of very interesting and important geological changes. Notes on the Physical Features of the Land as connected with Denudation. By A. B. WYNNE, F.G.S., &c. The author called attention to a prevailing sameness of character generally observable in physical features-the results of denudation, arguing therefrom a uniformity in the action of the natural causes which produced them. Ground forms in England, Ireland, Africa and India were cited as instances to prove similarity of results, depending upon denuding agencies having been exerted upon rocks of similar kinds or in similar relative positions with regard to their strata, notwithstanding differences of climate, glaciation, rainfall, &c. The effect of rain and atmospheric weathering was alluded to, and also that variety of denudation produced by the sea, to which, for want of a more apparent cause, the formation of plains was attributed. The difficulty of reasoning upon questions of general denudation from examples occurring in countries where atmospheric agencies included the complex actions of both rain and ice, was adverted to; and the conclusion arrived at was, that although the sea may have done much towards eating into the land, the atmospheric agencies which have been in operation ever since land first rose above the sea, even in the earliest geological periods, and down to the present time, must be admitted to have performed a most important part, if not indeed the chief results, in obliterating former traces of marine action, and giving to the land the varied physical forms which it now presents. BIOLOGY. On the Dentition of the Common Mole (Talpa Europea). On the Rhizopodal Fauna of the Hebrides. The author stated that he proposed only to supplement the Report on the Hebrides dredging, just read by Mr. Jeffreys, by a few remarks on the Foraminifera which had been found amongst the dredged sands, and to note the occurrence of certain interesting forms, either new or not before recorded from any British habitat. As the examination had not been completed, details were necessarily left to a future paper. Of the family Miliolida one important addition had been made to the British list: viz., Hauerina compressa, d'Orb., a species rarely met with in a recent state, but well known as a tertiary fossil. Three or four specimens had been found in one of the deeper dredgings. The abundance and variety of the arenaceous forms belonging to the Lituolida was perhaps the most striking feature in connexion with the Rhizopoda of the area dredged; and their investigations had led to some modification of the views hitherto held as to the relationship of the genera. All the previously known British species had been found, as well as three not before noticed on our shores, namely, Valvulina comica, d'Orb. Trochammina squamata, P. & J., and T. gordialis, P. & J. The Lagenida were also largely represented. Lagena gracillima, Seguenza, L. Lyelli, Seguenza, and L. crenata, P. & J. were new to our fauna; and the list was further augmented by two new forms having the following characters: Lagena Jeffreysi, n. s. Shell flask-shaped, often more or less flattened on four sides, ecto-solenian; neck long, and furnished with a close spiral ornamentation; surface covered with minute aciculi, sometimes worn down so as to impart a merely rough appearance to the shell. Lagena pulchella, n. s. Characters as L. marginata, Mont., to which it is closely allied, but differing in having a number of delicate parallel costæ springing from the base and extending into the upper half of the shell, in some specimens nearly to the aperture. Marginulina Raphanus, Linn., and Cristellaria cultrata, Montfort, were noticed; but the specimens were scarce and of poor dimensions. A beautiful symmetrical variety of Polytrema and several obscure Rotalina were found; but these and some other doubtful specimens remained to be worked out. NOTE. Since the paper was read the author has learnt from Dr. Alcock, of Manchester, that three or four dead shells of Lagena crenata had previously been found amongst the Foraminiferous sands of Dog's Bay, Connemara, On the Application of the Greek and Latin Languages to Scientific Nomenclature. By THOMAS BROWN. On Oyster Cultivation. By F. BUCKLAND. The author began by explaining that it was difficult to give, in a few minutes, the result of a whole year's information. He would confine his remarks principally to the history of the living spat of the oyster, the chemical analysis of the meat and the mother-liquor of the oyster, to the adhesions of the various substances to which they loved to adhere, and to the marketable value of the oysters as tested by weight. He proceeded to describe the exceedingly interesting action and movements displayed by the young oyster when first emitted from its mother's shell, giving the reason why they sometimes floated on the surface of the water, and sometimes sank to the bottom, and the use to which the young oyster places its ciliæ, expressing it as his opinion that these organs never dropped off, but were absorbed after the young oyster became fixed. He then exhibited a great variety of substances to which the oysters seemed to have a natural preference for adhering. Among these were several curiosities, such as a "plague pipe," to which an oyster had fixed itself; an ordinary pipe, presented to him by Sir Walter Trevelyan, in the bowl of which no less than three oysters had taken up their position; also some old-fashioned wine or spirit bottles, from the North Sea and Loch Ryan, presented to him by Sir William Wallace. He then proceeded to describe the result of the chemical analysis which he had instituted in conjunction with A. Pythian Tarner, Esq., giving the amounts of mineral matter, the animal, and also the fatty matter. The results obtained showed that the phosphates were more important in the composition of the meat of the oyster than any other of the ingredients, and hence their great practical use for invalids and in sea-sickness. He also gave practical deductions as to choice of proper places where oysters should be laid in order to obtain a good supply of these phosphates. He then described the process of the growth of the oyster-shell, and detailed the manner in which the oyster formed the shell from the mother-liquor, the mode also by which the little oysters were enabled to form their shell inside the mother-shell. His observations enabled him to come to the conclusion as to the possible way in which the young oyster was enabled to attach itself to various articles. He had been enabled to collect samples of oysters from almost every part of the United Kingdom. These have been accurately weighed, and he gave a table showing the relative value (commercially speaking) of oysters from oyster-beds, or proposed oyster-beds of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. He stated that he was still carrying on his experiments near Herne Bay; and he was happy to be enabled to report that the French sytem of oyster-culture had been successfully carried out in a creek near Havant, not far from Portsmouth; and although he had not yet seen the results of the experiments himself, he could not help congratulating the managers upon their well-deserved success. Determined that England should be well represented, and that her oyster-fisheries should not be entirely ignored by our neighbours in France, he had at this moment one set of specimens at the Fish-Culture Exhibition at Arcachon, in the south, and another at a similar exhibition at Boulogne, in the north of that country, as well as his own collection at the Royal Horticultural Gardens, South Kensington, where he was gradually making a complete series illustrative of the culture of oysters, as well as that of salmon. On the Scientific Cultivation of a Salmon River. By FRANK BUCKLAND. The author compared the ascent of salmon from the sea to the interior of the country (where it laid its eggs) to the process of following a tree from its root upwards to its upper branches. The salmon is a very clever fish; the feeling it shows when preparing to lay its eggs is so well marked, that he preferred to call it "reason" rather than "instinct." The distance which salmon ascend into hill country under the powerful feeling by which they are influenced when preparing to deposit their eggs, he instanced by their ascent of the Rhine to a distance of 400 miles, where they are stopped by the falls of Schaffhausen. Allow the salmon to lay, he said, and it will abundantly repay the care; put ladders on weirs for it to swim up, not nets to catch it. The salmon has many enemies-hakes, cormorants, and herons; otters also hunt the salmon, not only for food, but as we ourselves do, for sport. Of all the enemies the salmon has to contend against he has not a more terrible than the millers. When a salmon comes to a water-wheel it will stay by it for days. The miller stops the wheel, and lets down a trap at the lower end of the mill-race and catches the fish. Steamers, too, are its enemies; and though the salmon is not a nervous fish it is delayed by them. It is very sensitive to smell; when it comes near large towns it will not venture to pass up rivers filled with impurities. What does it do then? It waits until a flood comes, and then ascends in purer waters. Waterfalls are no friends to the salmon. There is a waterfall at Knaresborough. People thought the salmon used to jump every Sunday morning to please them, but the fact was the millers were obliged by law to let the water down on Sunday, and then the fish leaped. Poachers are great enemies of salmon. During the winter months it was not an uncommon thing for one poacher to destroy many fish, He heard from a converted poacher a confession that made his hair stand on end--he used to feed his pigs with salmon eggs! Mr. Ashworth, of Galway, has now the model fishery of the United Kingdom. The wonderful increase in the number of fish caught, and therefore its money value, showed the use of cultivation. To cultivate a salmon fishery, however, one must not lie in bed in winter; this business admits of no idleness. Mr. Ashworth asked the salmon poachers how much they made by poaching during the winter, and gave them double the money to let the spawning fish alone. He had from 120 to 130 men employed to see that the salmon were not disturbed during the winter. He himself was proud of having opened up the river Stour at Canterbury. There had been no salmon (Salmonida) for many years-a net had been placed across the river. A deputation waited on the mayor and corporation, an association was founded, and the result was, the Salmonidæ were on the increase. The Thames used to be a salmon river. The Eton boys used to catch "skeggers;" but now there were none in the Thames, for the salmon were not allowed to go up by the weirs erected on account of navigation. If they were allowed to go up, there would soon be sufficient eggs. He himself had hatched in his back kitchen 30,000 eggs. He was pleased to say that a salmon had been brought to him which had been caught at Gravesend in a whitebait net, |