458 Geological Society. 



nine are identical with species from the same locality, described by 

 Von Buch, D'Orbigny, and Lea. They are from a dark compact 

 limestone, which the reporter regards as a member of the lower part 

 of the cretaceous system. Eight of the species are new. 



2. " Comparative Remarks on the Sections of the Strata below the 

 Chalk, on the Coast near Hythe in Kent, and Atherfield, in the Isle 

 of Wight." By Dr. Fitton. 



In this paper the author enters into an elaborate review of the 

 state of our knowledge of the lower greensand in England, and 

 compares the several deposits and their fossil contents. After com- 

 menting on the relations of that formation at Hythe, with the several 

 strata of the Atherfield section, and showing the comparative state 

 of our knowledge of them when he read his memoir on the sub-cre- 

 taceous strata in 1824, with the state of the subject at the present 

 day, he proceeds to examine the researches of M. Montmoulin in 

 Switzerland, M. Dubois de Montperreaux in the Caucasus, MM. 

 Leymerie and D'Orbigny in France, and M. Roemer in Germany, 

 and to prove the identity of the beds styled by some of those authors 

 Neocomian with his lower greensand. Regarding both names as 

 objectionable, the former on account of its being derived from a lo- 

 cality which will not serve as a type for the formation, and the latter 

 because it implies erroneous relations, he proposes the term " Vec- 

 tine" from the island in which we find the strata of this part of the 

 cretaceous system best displayed. 



3. A letter from Mr. Simms was read, noticing the occurrence of 

 Lower Greensand clays resting on the Wealden at the cutting near 

 Jeston turnpike, on the Maidstone line of railway. 



4. " On the Section of the Lower Greensand, between Black Gang 

 Chine and Atherfield Point." By Capt. Boscawen Ibbetson and Prof. 

 E. Forbes. 



After describing sixty-three distinct strata, presenting a total 

 thickness of 843 feet, which constitute the lower greensand in this 

 section, the results of a chemical examination of the several strata 

 were stated. The strata were grouped under three divisions, the 

 lowest consisting of fossiliferous clays, the middle of Gryphsea sands, 

 and the upper of more or less ferruginous sands, mostly free from 

 fossils. An inquiry was entered into respecting the conditions under 

 which these beds were deposited, and the state of animal life in the 

 cretaceous seas during their formation. The distribution of their 

 fossils was given in detail, and the results of the inquiry stated as 

 proving the unity of the lower greensand, considered as a member 

 of the cretaceous series. Capt. Ibbetson laid before the Society a 

 model of the section, on the scale of three feet to the mile, con- 

 structed by himself from trigonometrical survey, on which the several 

 strata described in the paper were laid down minutely. 



5. " Description of the mouth of a Hybodus, found by Capt. Ibbet- 

 son in the Isle of Wight." By Sir Philip Grey Egerton, Bart., M.P. 



This fish was found at the junction of the Wealden with the lower 

 greensand. The specimen sets at rest the question of the relative 

 characters of the upper and lower teeth, and the general contour of 



