Chemical and optical data are provided on pyroxene pairs in a range of metamorphic assemblages. Tie line trends in the system CaSiO3–MgSiO3–FeSiO3 for these assemblages are compared with those recorded for plutonic igneous associations.

Carboniferous and Permian fossils collected from Central Vestspitsbergen between 1938 and 1957 are listed according to formations and the age of each is assessed from these determinations. Resting unconformably on folded Devonian or metamorphosed Hecla Hoek the succession begins with plant-bearing continental facies and passes upwards into a marine succession with fusuline, coral and brachiopod faunas in limestones and dolomites associated with evaporites and cherts. Correlation with rocks elsewhere in Svalbard, which has been effected largely by lithological facies, is reassessed on palaeontological evidence; this consists of a sequence of plants from approximately Tournaisian to Namurian; of fusulines from the Fusulina Zone to the Pseudoschwagerina Zone, with the Carboniferous-Permian boundary falling in the middle of the Wordiekammen Limestones; and of brachiopods above this. The youngest fossils may be Upper Permian. The succession has few breaks and with further study will contribute to the correlation of Russian, West European, Greenland, and American rocks.

The peninsula between Ekmanfjorden and Dicksonfjorden has been mapped geologically. Devonian sandstones are overlain unconformably by a Permo-Carboniferous sequence of limestones (200 m.) and dolomites and gypsum (300 m.). This is followed by more than 150 metres of Permian cherts. The strata show a slight but consistent dip towards the SSE. A fault having the trend of this dip has been proved in Ekmanfjorden. Sills are intruded in the higher levels of the succession and it is suggested that the intrusions are contemporaneous with the faulting. By comparing the lithology the area can be correlated with the known sections of Billefjorden and Kongsfjorden.

Plant microspores and megaspores are used to correlate the separate occurrences of the English Wealden with the marine Lower Cretaceous of Lincolnshire and with a Netherlands succession. The paper is a preliminary statement on the representation of the Continental stages in the English Wealden.

The important records of fish remains in the Ludlow Series and Ludlow Bone Bed of the Welsh Borderland are summarized. New occurrences of thelodont and acanthodian denticles in the Llandovery, Wenlock, and Ludlow Series of the Welsh Borderland, and the rocks in which they occur, are described.

Spore nomenclature and palaeobotanical nomenclature follow exactly the same rules. In both there are difficulties which must be understood historically.

A study of thin sections of Thecia swinderniana (Goldfuss) shows the trabecular nature of the skeleton. It also appears that there are neither horizontal pores not vertical tubules in the walls, which are compact. A review of genera regarded by various authors as allied to Thecia leads the writer to retain in the family Theciidae only Thecia Edwards and Haime and Angopora Jones, the genus Romingerella Amsden being considered a synonym of the latter.

The polymetamorphism and fades classification of the Saxa Vord Schists are discussed on the basis of further chemical and mineralogical data now available.

Sedimentary dykes from the Dalradian of the South-west Highlands of Scotland are described. It is suggested that these features are characteristic of certain geosynclinal environments.

Geological information obtained by core sampling of the solid rock underlying the loose deposits on the floor of the Western Approaches is set forth. Discoveries of interest include those of Chalk in the area north-west of Cornwall and of nepheline phono-lite from Epson Shoal, 6 miles east of the Wolf Rock. Other samples obtained very probably represent the Devonian, New Red Sandstone and Chalk, and on the basis of the identifications a geological map has been prepared showing the approximate distribution of these formations in the area.

The age of zircon from the Kunait pluton in south-west Greenland has been measured by the lead-alpha method. The experimental data indicate a Cambrian age and the bearing of this result on the general geology of the area is briefly discussed.

Small isolated masses of highly olivine-rich lavas within a dominantly basaltic series of pillowed flows have been found in the northern foothills of the Troodos Igneous Massif. The rock is characterized by abundant phyric olivine usually set in a glassy, basaltic groundmass. Both intrusive and extrusive varieties of the rock have been found. It is suggested that the rock originated as a melt, possibly from the Troodos ultrabasic complex. Comparison is made with the serpentine lavas of Turkey.

The field relations and petrography of the Grantown Newer Granite are described. The structure of the country rocks—Moine gneisses—is compared with that of the numerous blocks included in the granite, the results being synoptically presented. The blocks originally bore the same orientation as the country rocks and have been rotated in the granite during its emplacement. From east to west three zones of orientation, showing increasing rotation of blocks from their original position, are recognized in the granite. As the granite lacks an internal penetrative structure the kinematics of the blocks in the granite remains uncertain. All the evidence suggests that the granite did not form in situ, but was emplaced in a plastic state by dilation of the country rocks mainly along their foliation.

New occurrences of kyanite-bearing schists in the Moine Series in southern Ross-shire demonstrate the order of appearance of the typomorphic minerals staurolite, kyanite, garnet, and sillimanite, and are of significance in elucidating the relationship of regional metamorphism to orogenesis. The scarcity of kyanite in the Northern Highlands is the result of both isochemical and allo-chemical effects, and its distribution is compared with that of its polymorphs andalusite and sillimanite.

The paper describes minor fold structures, from the Dalradian of Scotland and Donegal which, following their formation, appear to have suffered partial rotation. These folds lie with their axial directions at an angle to the regional fold pattern.

Upper Jurassic faunas from Wadi Hathira (Kurnub Anticline), Southern Israel, are listed and allocated to the Callovian, Lower Oxfordian, Argovian, and Sequanian.

Work on post-tectonic complexes in South-eastern Queensland has led to a general hypothesis concerning their formation. The earliest rocks, the gabbros, are intrusive, and these are followed by metamorphic trondhjemitic types which become progressively more granodioritic and finally granitic. The true granites act intrusively towards the earlier rocks of the complex.

A bone found in the peat near King's Lynn, Norfolk, has been identified as belonging to a pelican. This is the fifth fossil record from East Anglia but it is the first to be accurately dated, and it can be correlated with Godwin's pollen zone VII–VIII (Iron Age). Other fossil pelican bones from East Anglia and Somerset are identified as those of the Dalmatian Pelican rather than the White Pelican which now visits parts of north-west Europe.