'Natural Histm-y iri London, 'Si 



oF the great Linnaeus, with those of the late President, for ;5000 guineas. 

 These collections and books will be removed immediately into the house of 

 the Society in Soho Square. We congratulate the Society and the public 

 on the acquisition of these treasures to science. Nearly all the mate- 

 rials which Linnaeus employed, are now in the possession of the British 

 public. 



Geological Society. — The first Meeting for the present session was held 

 on the 7th of November. — Read. On the Geology of Nice; by H. T, 

 De la Beche, Esq. 



Nov. 2\. Read. On the Geology of Nice, continued. The diluvium 

 of Nice is peculiar ; it, in general, takes the form of breccia, either diffused 

 regularly, or occupying clefts : appearing, however, in both situations to 

 be intimately connected. The secondary rocks of Nice consist of two 

 great formations ; the upper one composed of siliceous, argillaceous, and 

 calcareous particles, intimately mixed, but in very variable proportions ; 

 some of the beds abounding in green grains, which circumstance, together 

 with the nature of their fossils, induces the author to rank the formation 

 to which they belong with the green sand of England. Nummulites, how- 

 ever, which are rarely found in the green sand of this country, are found 

 plentifully in that of Nice. The strata are very much disturbed and con- 

 torted ; so that an unguarded observer might often suppose them to be 

 inferior to rocks on which they are in reality incum.bent. 



Dec. 5. and 16. Read. On the Excavation of Valleys, as illustrated 

 by the Volcanic Rocks of Central France; by Charles Lyell, Esq. 

 V.P.G.S. F.R.S. &c. and R. L Murchison, Esq. For. Sec. G.S. F.R.S. &c. 



The theory long since announced, which ascribes the excavation of val- 

 leys to the long continued erosion of streams, has been supposed to derive 

 remarkable support from the appearances of the volcanic tracts in the in- 

 terior of France ; and the authors referring especially to the works of Ml 

 de Monlosier, and the illustrations of that district recently published by 

 Mr. Scrope, conceive that what they had seen themselves in Auvergne and 

 the Vivarrais, strongly confirm the views of these and preceding writers. 



Jan. 2. 1829. Read. A Letter on the Series of Rocks in the United 

 States ; by G. W. Featherstonhaugh, Esq. F.G.S. The writer, after having 

 made himself acquainted, by personal observation, with the rocks of Eng- 

 land, states his opinion that the rocks in North America, which would 

 appear from Mr. lEaton's Synopsis^ to succeed one another in an order 

 perfectly irreconcilable with that which has been observed in the British 

 Islands, do, in reality, follow the same order. 



In confirmation of his opinions, the author gives a detailed account of 

 observations made by himself in the course of an excursion from the city of 

 Albany to the Hilderberg Mountains, over a plain which extends about 

 thirty miles from north to south, and sixteen miles from east to west. The 

 surface of this plain, which is 324 feet above the level of the Hudson 

 River, consists of sand incumbent upon a very thick deposit of the marl 

 above noticed, which is found also in various parts of the United States as 

 far south as Louisiana. Near the Hudson River this marl is incumbent on 

 transition rocks, but at the Hilderberg Mountains, on carboniferous lime" 

 istone, containing the fossils usually found in that formation, and imperfect 

 seams of black chert or flint. This range is remarkable for its fissures and 

 caves; one of which, more than 1500 feet long, situated in the town of 

 Bethlehem, is minutely described by the author. Within this cavern is a 

 pool of water, along which one of the attendants paddled himself in a small 

 skiff, to the distance of 800 feet, in a course parallel to that pursued by the 

 author, and separated by a screen of natural pilasters with occasional open- 

 ings; this pool forms the head of a rivulet about one third of a mile froiri 

 the entrance of the cave. The author was unsuccessful in his endeavour? 

 to discover bones within the cavern, though it abounds in diluvial matter^ 



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