THE following account is based on the six specimens recorded by Dr. W. D Lang in his paper on “The Ibex-zone at Charmouth, and its relation to the Zones near it” After mentioning the occurrence, in the top of the zone, of an apparently new Polymorphitid, Dr. Lang added the following footnote: “A striking form, 3 to 4 inches in diameter, with numerous, very thin costæ. Two specimens were found (not in place) in the winter, 1915–16, by Lieut. Dan Haggard, who presented them to the British Museum. The author found parts of three specimens in place in the Pyritic Marls in June, 1916. A sixth specimen, the best preserved of all, has been in the British Museum many years, and is labelled ‘Said to be from Lyme Regis’.”

As missiles are falling thick like hail upon Mr. Judd since his challenge to the Glacialists, I take the opportunity of putting together a few notes, made during an Alpine journey last summer, which would have been published sooner, had more time been at my disposal. The lower parts of the Gorner, Arolla, Des Bossons, Des Bois, and Argentière Glaciers were carefully studied, but others received passing attention.

The general conclusions of the brothers Ameghino in reference to the geology of Patagonia, as detailed in the foregoing valuable synopsis of results, may be still more briefly stated in the following manner

(1) The oldest sedimentary rocks in which fossils have been found are red sandstones, containing mineralized wood, Dinosaurian bones, and other smaller reptilian remains. “Upper Cretaceous.”

(2) The terrestrial or fresh-water Pyrotherium Beds succeed these and may be partly intercalated with them. They contain a singular mammalian fauna, notably primitive Ungulata. “Upper Cretaceous.”

The material to be described was collected in the Shotts-Newhouse area (Sheet 31) of the Central Coalfield from the mussel bands above the Shotts Gas and presumed Lower Drumgray Coals. These horizons are within the Ovalis Zone (Weir and Leitch, 1936, pp. 704, 707). Fossils from above the presumed Lower Drumgray Coal were collected from the waste tip of South Langridge Colliery; material from the Shotts Gas was obtained from the tips at Fortissat, Hassockrigg, and Hirstrigg collieries.

B. Mountain Limestone Proper.—Both the Hecla Hook and Liefde Bay strata, and the strata included in the foregoing division, consist of fresh-water formations, devoid of any trace of marine fossils; which proves that Spitzbergen, during the immense period of time in which these strata were deposited, formed a considerable continent. Later, however, these circumstances were altered, inasmuch as that part of the globe was again covered by sea, from which, with only an inconsiderable, perhaps local, break (the strata of the Coal-formation in Bell Sound), during a long sequence of geological periods, strata of great extent, containing marine fossils, were deposited. The oldest and most extensive of these strata belong to the Mountain Limestone formation, which in this part of the polar regions is specially developed and rich in fossils.

In the present note it is intended to record a find of considerable importance to geologists and palaeogeographers, namely the discovery, last summer, by Mr. J. M. Wordie, St. John's College, Cambridge, of Lower Eotriassic ammonites at three localities on the south side of Gael Hamkes Bay, on the East Coast of Greenland, in 74° N. latitude. There are altogether ninety-five specimens, most of them well preserved, including various new forms, of which I hope to publish full descriptions elsewhere.

A tholeiitic andesite flow unit occurs in tholeiitic basalt lava in the Giant's Causeway region of North Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is the first example of an intermediate differentiate to be found among these quartz-normative basalts. Separate magma batches for the preceding and succeeding basalt formations are indicated by their Zr/P2O5 ratios, and by the differing fractionation trends shown by molecular proportion ratio plots. The tholeiitic andesite was probably extruded in a superheated condition with few crystal nuclei, and subsequent undercooling produced an unusual fasciculate/spherulitic texture in contrast to the very fine and even grain of the host basalt. A liquid–liquid interface between the flow units shows small-scale lava mixing.

The North Qilian orogenic belt in North China has been defined as a subduction–collision zone between the Alxa Block and the Qilian Block. We present petrography, zircon U–Pb geochronology, major- and trace-element geochemistry, and Sr–Nd–Pb–Hf isotope analysis for the Yushigou diabase from the Longshoushan area, which is located SW of the Alxa Block, aiming to understand its petrogenetic link to subduction processes. The Yushigou diabase belongs to the tholeiite series, and shows enrichment in light rare earth and large-ion lithophile elements, and a depletion in heavy rare earth and high-field-strength elements. Laser ablation – inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry U–Pb zircon dating yielded an emplacement age of 414 ± 9 Ma, with an ϵHf(t) value in the range of −10.3 to 1.8. The whole-rock initial 206Pb/204Pb, 207Pb/204Pb and 208Pb/204Pb ratios of the diabase range over 16.811–17.157, 15.331–15.422 and 37.768–37.895, respectively. The (87Sr/86Sr)i ratios vary between 0.7086 and 0.7106, and ϵNd(t) values vary between −14.4 and −13.4, which are significantly higher than the ϵHf(t) value (Nd–Hf decoupling). An interpretation of the elemental and isotopic data suggests that the Yushigou diabase was derived from partial melting of an enriched mantle I (EM-I) -type lithospheric mantle in the spinel–garnet transitional zone. Based on the geochemical features and previous regional geological data, we propose that the Silurian magmatism was most likely triggered by slab break-off after the closure of the North Qilian Ocean, and ancient continental materials from the subduction slab metasomatized the overlying lithospheric mantle during exhumation.

Feldspathic agglomerates and related tuff-like rocks occurring at the Bukusu carbonatite complex were long thought to have been deposited as pyroclastics during a later (Elgon) period of volcanism. Evidence is presented for a reinterpretation of these rocks as vent agglomerates and tuffisites emplaced in the central diatreme of this large, pre-Elgon, complex.

The hydraulic limestone series which cap the Silurian rocks of the New York sections, and are commonly embraced under the name “Salina Group”, are probably the richest known depository of remains of the Merostome Crustacea. During the past fifteen years we have been engaged upon the study of this fauna, and the results at which we arrived in our memoir on the Eurypterida of New York could not have been safely attained without the previous labours of Dr. Woodward and the late Professor Rupert Jones, of Huxley, and Hugh Miller for the British species; of Friedrich Schmidt, Nieszkowski, and Holm for the species of the Baltic basin.

The object of this paper is to show that the received explanations of the structure of mountain chains will not account for the formation of certain Precambrian ranges, and to state facts in support of a new theory of the origin of some mountains. A brief summary of the ordinary views of the subject will first be necessary.

At the last meeting of the Society, Mr. Plant made statements respecting the supply of so-called fossil shells from the Drift at Macclesfield, of a striking and curious character: he warned geologists against certain specimens, on the grounds that some were only recent shells sold as fossils, and others, though bearing the appearance of Drift-fossils, were not only spurious as such form Macclesfield, but were not even fossils at all, being nothing but the results of an elaborate system of importation and manufacture: forgeries, in fact, to meet a new demand. Mr. Plant allowed that some of these frauds were well calculated to deceive even geologists, and quoted a statement that they had been successful at the Museums of London, Liverpool, and Manchester. Besides the simple introduction of recent shells, he specially reported a process of fecthing such shells from recent beaches at Liverpool, Southport, or Ireland (even the use of West Indian African shells), the breaking-up of the same, and the subjection of the fragments to fire or acid, and a subsequent treatment by friction in a basket with gravel, ‘to give them the true Drift-character and the necessary redtinge.’

Spheroidal concretions from the Yarra estuary which were to found to contain plant-remains were described by Mr. Chapman recently in this journal. The structures in themselves are of considerable interest to geologists, and also to palæobotanists from the fact that they contain “matted fragments of woody and foliaceous-material.” They were made the subject of some comparisons with the calcareous concretions from the Lancashire Coal-measures, and as a result certain general considerations were brought forward, which call for comment, and which are of sufficient importance to receive attention.

There is no positive evidence that any species of Nerita has been found in the Corallian Rocks of Yorkshire. It is true that Nerita lœvigata, Sow., is quoted by Phillips (G. Y. 1875, p. 258), but this fossil is well known to be a Monodonta, and it is doubtful if the exact form occurs on this horizon (see postea, Turbo Erinus). The same author also quotes “Nerita bullata” as occurring in the Coralline Oolite. I can find no reference to this species, and am at a loss to understand what fossil is intended to be thus designated. There are casts in the Coral Rag of North Grimston which may belong to a species of Nerita.

Among the many singular discoveries made in the ruins of Pompeii, and deposited in that most interesting of Museums, the Museo Borbonico, in the city of Naples, are a variety of shells, principally species now found in the Mediterranean Sea, and so far of interest as an illustration of the persistency of certain known species within the historic period, no difference whatever being observable between the disinterred and living specimens. On a close examination I observed, besides those from the neighbouring seas, species from distant countries, for example:—Conus textilis, Triton femorale, Meleagrina margaritifera (Pearl Oyster), species only found in the Indian and Eastern seas. I think, therefore, that this may be regarded as part of a Natural History collection. Assuming the truth of this conjecture, its antiquity is without a precedent. Did the original proprietor form one of a Natural History Society of Pompeii, of which the distinguished Naturalist Pliny, who perished at Pompeii, was a member? It would also be curious, in these days of research for priority of names, to know how they were described. Such a discovery might disturb existing nomenclature, and increase the perplexity already felt in naming collections. But laying aside fanciful conjectures, the collection is further instructive from the condition and perfect preservation in which the specimens are found, after an interment of nearly 1,800 years. Besides the collection in the Museo Borbonico, there is still standing in a villa at Pompeii, a fountain decorated with shells of the Mediterranean, one species of which, viz. Murex Brandaris, retains its colour and general freshness and is not to be distinguished from living examples; while the same species, from the Italian Tertiaries, are colourless and in that friable condition characteristic of shells even of the most recent geological period, pointing, like other discoveries, to the great antiquity of the most modern Tertiary deposits as compared with the era of the human race.

When writing a general account of the Upper Chalk of England for vol. iii of the Cretaceous Rocks of Britain (Mem. Geol. Survey, 1904), I stated the belief of Mr. W. Hill and myself that the British Tipper Chalk comprised more than one division of the value of a stage. We grouped the zones then recognized into two divisions, pointing out that the lower zones were essentially the Chalk with Micrasters and the upper zones the Chalk with Belemnites; but we did not systematically adopt these divisions as stages with definite names.

The specimen here figured is a typical example of Actinostroma clathratum. In all its general characters, and particularly in the regular development of the radial pillars and the presence of small astrorhizas, it resembles the specimens from the Middle Devonian of Germany, which may be regarded as the normal form of the species. Very similar examples, however, occur in the Devonian Limestones of Devonshire. The surface of the specimen is not shown, being concealed beneath a crust of Stromatoporella Eifeliensis.

MONCREIFFE Hill, Perthshire, is the inclusive name for the series of low hills which form the uplands to the south and south-east of the City of Perth, and whose heather and grasscovered slopes reach in the summit of Moncreiffe Hill proper, a height of 725 feet above sea-level. The alluvium of the River Tay forms the northern boundary of the area under consideration, while on the east and south-east the hills are bounded by a continuation of the northern of the two faults which let down the Upper Old Red Sandstone outlier of the Carse of Gowrie, and by the Carse and Arctic clays of the River Earn. To the east of the City of Perth the area is bounded by the Lower Old Red Sandstone.