This district is of especial interest from the palæontological point of view in that the different members of the Upper Trias each afford a representative though not extensive flora and fauna. The scantiness of the material, in so far as the Lower Keuper and in some respects the Dane Hill Series are concerned, is due rather to the absence of good sections. This cannot, however, be said of the Rhætic beds, for the section at Glen Parva is one of the finest in the Midlands.

In my former note on the discovery of Bos primigenius in the Lower Boulder-clay, I stated that there was some “slight twisting and confusion” of the stratified deposits below the superincumbent Boulder-clay, which might have been caused by the pressure of glacier-ice. As the crumpling of sandi clay, and gravel, below Till, is by no means uncommon, and has frequently been described, I did not think it worth while at the time to give any drawing of the contortions exposed in the new railway cutting. But some geological friends having asked me about the character of these crumplings, it may not be out of place if I now add a few particulars. "When my former note was written the disturbed portions of the stratified deposits were not very well exposed, and consequently I did not in my communication lay much stress upon their occurrence, although I had little doubt as to their origin. Upon visiting the section some weeks later, however, I found the crumplings well displayed. In October last I saw them again, in company with my brother, Mr. A. Geikie. By that time the section had been still better developed, and the annexed sketch of a portion of the crumpled clays was made.

Whilst the basis of the prosperity of a country is admittedly agriculture, its industrial growth is founded on mineral resources, and its participation in the world's markets is chiefly dependent on the extent to which these raw materials can be applied to home manufactures.

The chemical evidence with relation to the formation of a laterite from a diabase was given in a paper in the March number of the GeologicalMagazine, pp. 120–3. Since that account was written I have made microscopical examinations of the materials therein described.

In a study of the surface features of our satellite one is immediately struck by the remarkable sharpness and freshness which most of those features exhibit. Further, one is impressed by the fact that evidences of compressive action are in the minority, whereas the moon's crust shows clearly innumerable clefts, rifts, and fractures pointing to an extensional tendency of its outer envelope. This is hardly in accordance with our ideas of the appearance of a sphere which has lost all its heat; everywhere it should show signs of intense contraction, and arcuate mountain ranges should be more frequent than upon the face of the earth.

The first portion of this paper is devoted to a comparison of the Delta deposits of the Po, Mississippi, and Ganges, by means of the descriptions of the strata obtained from borings in their Deltas for water. The surfaces of these Deltas, and the alluvial plains above them, are compared together, with reference to their height above the sea and inclination, and it is found that a parabolic curve drawn through the extremities of each river, and through one point in its course, nearly represents its longitudinal section,-the greatest deviation being 30 feet in some of the largest Deltas. The Delta deposits are found to be coarser and more sandy near the bottom, and indicate more rapid rivers and greater rainfall at the earlier portion of their history.

A few months ago both geologists and archæologists, and especially the latter, were surprised to hear of the discovery in the valley of the Little Ouse, between Thetford and Brandon, of certain cavities in beds of gravel, in which flint implements of the forms peculiar to the Palæolithic or river gravel were found, and which it seemed possible might have been the habitations of the early race of men who formed these implements.

The thrips described herein was submitted to me by Professor Branca of the Geologisch-Palaeontologisches Museum, Berlin, and is one of a small collection of three examples in Baltic Amber. The genus is curious on account of the abnormal tube-like development of the tenth abdominal segment, which, however, is open ventrally for its entire length. In the form of the antennæ, so far as can be ascertained from the single example and the structure of the wings, Stenurothrips would seem to show affinity with the Neotropical genus Heterothrips, and for the present I regard the genus as falling in the Heterothripidæ.

The series of slates, schists, and grits, of the Isle of Man, which are regarded as identical with the Skiddaw Slates of the Lake District, have hitherto yielded no traces of fossils, if we except the rare worm-like markings known as Palasochorda. The writer during the month of August last, took the opportunity of a visit to the island (in connection with the geological mapping by Professor Dawkins) to search very closely the least altered slates of the series along their northern outcrop.

The mineral cordierite occurs in Pre-Cambrian gneisses, granulites, and granites of the Guyana Shield in British Guiana. In the Acid Biotite Gneisses and Acid Granulites forming the Kanuku Group, the mineral was formed during regional metamorphism. Considerable enrichment of cordierite occurs in the contact aureole around the South Savanna Granite. Cordierite of xenocrystal origin also occurs in the South Savanna Granite and its apophyses. The 2V and optic sign of the mineral varies widely, and no definite pattern in relation to the paragenesis of the mineral is recognized. Untwinned cordierites are predominant in regionally metamorphosed rocks while lamellar, interpenetration and sector twins are characteristic of cordierites in contact hornfelsed aureole rocks.

The elevated Drift deposits near Dublin have been brought under the notice of the Society by other observers. The late Mr. John Kelly has described in our Journal (vol. vi. p. 133) part of the gravels which form the subject of this paper; including the collection at Caldbeck Castle, 1300 feet above the sea. I have already mentioned before the Society (in 1867) the fact of having found marine shells in the Pleistocene gravels near Dublin, at heights of 1000 and 1200 feet above the present sea-level; but I did not wish to offer a paper on the subject until I had collected what might seem sufficient materials for one. These shells are not only in a very fragmentary condition, but also scarce, so that they easily escape notice; and it is necessary to pay several visits, at sufficient intervals, to the few places where the shells are accessible, in order to obtain from thence even a limited collection of detenninable species.

At the close of the Glacial Period in North America the basin of the Red River was occupied by a large lake which has received the name of Lake Agassiz. It extended from what is now Lake Winnipeg southward for some hundreds of miles to the watershed of the Minnesota River. The bottom of this old lake now forms an extensive level plain famous for its fertility and the fine crops of wheat it produces.

No very perfect example of this species appears to have been collected; the one figured in my plate was kindly given to me by Sig. Meneghini. The shell is ovate and smooth, about ten lines in length by nine in breadth; the valves are moderately convex, and there exists a deepish sinus in the ventral valve to which corresponds an elevation or fold in the opposite one. Ter. Voglianei occurs in a yellowish marl in the Lower Miocene at Dego, and along with it is found a small Terebratulina, which may probably be a variety of T. caput-serpentis.

The discovery of a hitherto unrecorded non-marine lamellibranch fauna from the Tillery Vein of Monmouthshire indicates that this coal represents a horizon at, or near, the junction of the Phillipsii and Tenuis Zones. The characteristics of the seam in a small portion of the North Crop of the South Wales Coalfield are described in an attempt to account for the limited occurrence of these shells.

The pages of the Geological Magazine have lately contained some interesting articles on denudation. I wish to add some further remarks on the subject, which I think will, if duly considered, add important elements to the discussion of that problem.

Norwich, England, is represented as situated on the banks of an arm of the sea even in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (Lyell's “Principles,” 11th ed., vol. i, p. 521; S. Woodward). Early in the fourteenth century Pagham Harbour was formed by a sudden inroad of the sea (Encyc. Brit, vol. xxii, p. 723).