Although the ‘Culm,’ or Carbonaceous series, of Devonshire, has long been known and studied, it has been a matter of considerable doubt as to the exact horizon in the Carboniferous formation with which it may properly be correlated.

Although, ever since the classical researches of J. D. Forbes on the phenomena presented by the Swiss glaciers were published, it has been recognized that glacier-ice behaves like a viscous liquid, and flows from high to low levels much in the same way as does a river of water, it is apparent that many who have interested themselves in the subject of glacier-flow, and have written rather dogmatically on the subject, have not clearly realized the nature of the phenomenon. Very contradictory and erroneous conclusions have consequently been arrived at, with the result that it is now somewhat difficult for those who have not made a special study of the subject to distinguish what may be fairly regarded as ascertained fact from that which is purely matter of opinion.

IN an earlier paper a description of certain dolomites and calc-magnesian silicate rocks of the oldest group recognized in southern Eyre Peninsula—the Hutchison series—has been given.

Echinarachnius Woodi was founded by Forbes in his “Monograph of the Echinodermata of the British Tertiaries” on two fragments from the Red Crag of Suffolk; of all the species described in that work, this has been regarded as the most interesting and problematical. As this species certainly belonged to a genus now foreign to the British or European seas, it was felt, that if its correct generic position could be determined, it and Temnechinus would indicate the true affinities of the Crag Echinoderm fauna, better than the cosmopolitan genera with which they were associated.

The contents of a Geological Journal form as miscellaneous a series as can well be imagined. In its pages all kinds of subjects meet the eye together: the analysis of an obscure mineral on one page; the correction of a stratigraphical error on another: here is a fresh reading of an old text; and there an uninviting catalogue with synonyms. Occasionally the Journal looks like the note-book of a naturalist; and the affinities of a genus, the migrations of species, and the ‘theory of descent with modification,’ are discussed with zealous care: and then, again, we get back to the old times and old subjects of geological thought; and Werner and Berzelius, and their followers, have it for a season all their own way. There is nothing to complain of in all this: it is just what it ought to be; for it shows how wide our subject-matter is. ‘The earth andall that is therein’ — that is surely wide enough; nor will pen, pencil, or graver, till the end of time, have done with it. It is not one of the least of the charms of our comprehensive science, that every one may add something to its stores. A sea-side walk, with a hammer in the pocket, may discover a new world by accident; for, as Darwin, Lyell, and Ramsay have told us, the unrepresented past tunes have been far greater than those of which we have a geological record, and fragments of the missing pages may turn up at any time.

A Point of economic importance, as well as scientific interest, has been brought out by a study of the occurrences of hæmatite in the Furness district of Lancashire and the neighbouring shores of the River Duddon in the Millom district of Cumberland; namely, that the origin and distribution of the ore-bodies, known as “sops”, is due, in large measure, to the physiographical conditions that existed in this area in post-Carboniferous but pre-New Red times. Future explorations for these profitable ore-bodies may be guided by a true appreciation of the conditions of formation, which are discussed, in somewhat scattered form, in the recently published Geological Survey Memoir on the “Hæmatites of West Cumberland, Lancashire, and the Lake District”.

The rocks of the Skiddaw Group of the Black Combe inlier were subjected to low grade regional metamorphism during the D1 movementphase of an intra-Lower Ordovician orogenic episode. Mimetic recrystallisation of clay minerals parallel to the bedding was ubiquitous. Later, axial-plane cleavages were superimposed on this fabric. The nature of the cleavages and possible mechanism of their formation is discussed.

Silica has been mobilised on at least three occasions during the tectonic history of the inlier. In no case was this due to metasomatism but simply to metamorphic differentiation. The D1 veins are of either quartz, or quartz and chlorite whereas veins of later generations are of quartz alone.

A short while ago I received from Professor A. Lacroix a copy of a recently published memoir on the laterites of French Guinea, accompanied by the request that I should, if possible, give an account of this work in the Geological Magazine, “puisque c'est là qu'ont paru les articles les plus importants sur cette question.” I have undertaken this task with the greater pleasure because Professor Lacroix was so good as to show me, when I was passing through Paris recently, both his hand-specimens and his microscopic preparations of these rocks, and because the memoir in question seems to me to be one of the most important and thorough pieces of work on laterite published since Max Bauer's account of the laterite of the Seychelles. Although Professor Lacroix' memoir deals professedly with French Guinea only, yet it is probable that many of the conclusions will be found to apply to other regions, and on this account, and because the series in which the memoir appears will probably not be readily accessible to all, I have thought it desirable to expound it at some length.

This name is proposed for a fossil from Oldham resembling Psaronius Zeidleri, Corda; the author records the discovery of specimens of Zygopteris, and his conviction that Cotta's Medullosa elegans is “merely the rachis of a fern, or a plant allied to one.”

During the last two or three years we have been mapping and working out the geological structure of the small islands in the eastern part of the Bristol Channel. Visits to these can only be made periodically, and our work is thus likely to extend over some considerable time. We consider it desirable, in fairness to other workers and to those interested in the Lower Carboniferous rocks, to publish the main facts as far as we have established them, leaving details and any discussion until the work is completed.

The Slieve League peninsula in southwest Donegal affords some of the best exposures of the Dalradian Appin/Argyll Group transition available in Ireland. As a result, a refined stratigraphical column is available, allowing resolution of small- (metric-) scale imbrication of parts of the sequence. Large-scale D2 thrust nappes dominate the structure of the region, and the rocks have undergone multiple folding and complex cleavage development. In the Glencolumbkille valley, an imbricate duplex has been mapped in detail. Original intrusive relationships of metadolerite sheets controlled the geometry of subsquent deformation. A major ramp cuts up through the established stratigraphy and is controlled by a pre-D2 metadolerite intrusion. Throughout the region, major and minor ramps are localized by the metadolerite sheets. Within the thrust sheets, analysis of quartz petrofabric and clast fabrics in hangingwall mylonites within the Boulder Bed document kinematics and strain localization within the thrust sheets. Axial ratios in the dolomitic clasts increase up to a maximum of 30 [ratio ] 1 adjacent to the ductile thrusts. However, granite clast axial ratios are less pronounced adjacent to some of the shears, suggesting that strain may have partitioned into the matrix at high strains.

The Rochechouart impact structure, located in the western part of the Massif Central in France, has been suggested to be one of the largest impact structures in western Europe. Various age datings have placed the event in a span from the Late Triassic to the Early Jurassic, but the most recent works favour a Late Triassic age. Very little is known about the target environment at the time and location of the impact event. Seemingly coeval, potential tsunamites along palaeoshorelines of the sea that covered parts of continental Europe at the time have been suggested to be related to the impact event and may indicate a marine target setting. Here we apply the method of visual line-logging of the graded suevite in the Chassenon SC2 drill core. This method has previously been used to investigate the depositional environment of similar deposits in several marine target impact craters. It allowed us to compare the deposits at these craters with those at Rochechouart, and in this way not only confirm the marine target setting, but also estimate the target water depth to be ∼200 m. Altogether, our results indicate a palaeogeographic target setting in a newly opened seaway connecting the Paris Basin with the Aquitaine Basin, which may indicate an age of impact at the younger end of the hitherto suggested age-span, i.e. in the late Rhaetian – Early Jurassic.

The recent find by Mr. Stebbing, F.G.S., of two large boulders of granite in the Middle Chalk of Betchworth (Surrey), has called to mind the various discoveries of boulders which had previously been made in the same marine formation by other observers.

The huge masses of chalk in the glacial drift on both sides of Cromer, and especially at the headland near Trimingham, have for many years attracted the attention of geologists. In this Magazine (Dec. II, Vol. VII, 1880, p. 55) and in the Survey Memoir on the Geology of the Country around Cromer, published in 1882, Mr. Clement Reid ascribes those at the latter place to the advance of an ice-sheet by which the chalk has been thrust up into a kind of fold and the flint layers have been bent, illustrating his interpretation by a diagrammatic section. We visited the Cromer cliffs for the first time in 1892, and after a careful examination of the Trimingham headland, not only felt more strongly than before certain weak points in Mr. Reid's reasoning, but also observed some facts difficult to reconcile with his conclusions. Since that date we have more than once visited these sections, and found last April that comparatively recent inroads of the sea had made great changes which had shown the relations of the chalk and glacial drift to be, in our opinion, incompatible with Mr. Reid's interpretation.

Some time before the war I examined the profiles, or longitudinal sections, of several rivers, with the object of ascertaining whether they tended towards any particular curve. The method of examination was similar to that employed by Professor O. T. Jones in his interesting paper on “The Upper Towy Drainage System”, but the data were obtained from maps and were not so exact as his. Some rivers showed a very close approximation to a catenary for the greater part of their course, but this was not the case with all. My final conclusion was that there is no general curve towards which all river-profiles tend the form is influenced by the rate at which the volume of the river increases downwards. No sufficient data, however, were available in the case of any river for the exact application of a general theory which was in my mind, and such approximations as were possible were too rough to be of any real value.

The writer's attention was directed to Dr. Omori's description of the 1910 eruption of Usu-san through a review which appeared in Nature (1911, p. 221) from the pen of Professor Milne, F.R.S. The following pages constitute a résumé, rather than an additional review, and are justified on account of the interest of Omori's observations to many geologists who may not find it convenient to consult his original paper. All three figures here published have been redrawn for the purpose. Plate XII is based on a coloured map, and Plate XIII on photographs which have already been reproduced by Professor Milne in his review.

The Late Triassic of the back arc Domeyko Basin, Chile is characterized by the onset of marine sedimentation that persisted throughout the rest of the Mesozoic. Carbonate bulk samples from the Punta del Viento Limestone Formation have yielded a numerically small, but apparently widespread, conodont fauna including Epigondolella mosheri, Epigondolella englandi and Neogondolella steinbergensis. These specimens indicate a Rhaetian (Epigondolella mosheri conodont Biozone roughly equivalent to the Paracochloceras amoenum ammonoid Biozone) age for this unit. Their recovery represents the first record of conodonts from Chile, and also indicates a considerable potential for use in correlating sequence stratigraphic events within the Mesozoic Marginal Sea in Colombia, Peru and Chile.

In July of 1929 I visited the classic locality of Piltdown under the guidance of Sir A. Smith Woodward. After paying homage at the tomb of Eoanthropus we descended from the plateau to the low-level gravel terrace that flanks the flood-plain of the River Ouse. At a place known locally as Sharp's Bridge (marked on the accompanying map by a cross) there is a new but already extensive gravel pit. A spot-level on the map near the pit gives the approximate level of the top of the gravel terrace as 38 o.d.; the face of the pit is dug to a depth of from 8 to 10 feet below this level, and seems to reach down to about the level of saturation determined by the water of the river.