Geological Society* 219 



May 14. — An extract was first read from a letter by Dr. A. Ges- 

 ner, " On the Gypsiferous Red Sandstone of Nova Scotia," 



A paper was read by Mr. Austen, " On the Coal Beds of Lower 

 Normandy." 



The chief object of the author was to describe the actual geolo- 

 gical position of these small basins, and suggest that they might 

 rather be of the Permian than the true Carboniferous period. 



Dr. Mantell read a paper, entitled " Notes of a Microscopical Ex- 

 amination of the Chalk and Flint of the South-east of England, with 

 remarks on the Animalcules of certain Tertiary and Modern Deposits." 



This paper is published entire in Number 103 of the Annals of 

 Natural History for August, p. 73. 



A paper was read by Mr. Bowerbank, " On some specimens of 

 Pterodactyl recently found in the Lower Chalk of Kent." 



May 28. — A communication was read, "On the Geology of Lycia." 

 By Prof. E. Forbes and Lieut. Spratt, R.N. 



The authors stated, that the rock forming the greater part of Lycia 

 consists of the scaglia, or Apennine limestone, a series not very di- 

 stinctly defined, and that near the river Xanthus another rock of 

 greenish sandstone, whose age was not determined, rested conform- 

 ably on the scaglia. In other places, true tertiary beds, both marine 

 and freshwater, overlie the scaglia ; and of these the marine are the 

 most ancient, and, from the fossils which occur in the different beds, 

 they are found to be all of the same age. The authors then described 

 the districts in which the tertiary marine beds appear, some of them 

 being from 2000 to 3000 feet, and others at a still greater elevation 

 above the sea-level. The freshwater tertiaries of Lycia are much 

 more extensive than the marine beds, and extend over the district at 

 heights of 200 or 300 feet above the plain. They consist of marls, 

 capped by flat tables of conglomerate limestone. The relative age 

 of these tertiary beds is determined by the presence of both marine 

 and freshwater strata in the two great valleys of the Xanthus, the 

 former being identified with the Bordeaux miocenes, and the latter 

 therefore being much newer than the eocene freshwater tertiaries of 

 Smyrna. A considerable mass of travertine is found in the great 

 plains of Pamphylia, and it forms cliffs of considerable height, through 

 which the rivers pour. Certain recent changes of level were also 

 noticed, which had attracted the attention of Sir C. Fellows. In 

 conclusion, the authors consider that the scaglia, the formation of 

 most ancient date, was deposited as fine sediment in a deep sea, and 

 was in progress during the whole of the secondary, including the 

 cretaceous, epoch ; the evidence of this consisting in the remarkable 

 mixture of fossils observable in Mount Lebanon and elsewhere, and 

 the great thickness, the extent, and the conformable superposition 

 of the different beds. The sandy beds resting on the scaglia seem 

 to have been more recent than the miocene marine strata, the pre- 

 sence of which marks a great change in elevation. This change was 

 more than paralleled by a converse one of depression, producing 

 lakes in which the freshwater tertiary beds were deposited, and which 

 have been since drained by changes in level still going on. 



A short notice was read, being the translation of a memoir by the 



