[ 212 ] 

 XXXVII. Proceedings of Learned Societies. 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



[Continued from vol. xxiv. p. 378.] 



Nov. 1, T^HE following communications were read : — 1. " On the 

 1843. -■- Fossil Remains of Star-fishes of the Order Ophiurida, 

 found in Britain." By Prof. Edward Forbes. 



After enumerating the several Ophiurida recorded as British fos- 

 sils, the author describes four new species, viz. 1 . Ophioderma tenui- 

 brachiata, and 2. Ophiura Murravii, discovered by Dr. Murray in the 

 lias near Scarborough ; 3. Amphiura Pratti, discovered by Mr. Pratt 

 in the Oxford clay ; and 4. Ophiura serrata, communicated by Mr. 

 Tennant, from the chalk. The animals of this order appear to have 

 commenced their existence in the earliest periods of organic life, and 

 to have continued to the present day without any great modifications 

 of form, of family or generic value. They seem at present to be much 

 more numerous than at any former period. None of the fossil spe- 

 cies is identical with the existing. 



2. " On the Geology of the Maltese Islands." By Lieut. Spratt, 

 R.N., Assistant Surveyor H.M.S. Beacon, F.Gr.S. 



The formations composing these islands are tertiary, and appear, 

 from the author's researches, to belong to one geological epoch. 

 They are all of marine origin, and very regularly deposited in parallel 

 strata, but little inclined from the horizontal. They may be grouped 

 under four divisions : — 1. Coral limestone ; 2. Yellow sandstone and 

 blue clay ; 3. Yellow and white calcareous sandy freestone ; and 4. 

 Yellowish white semi-crystalline limestone. Each of these groups 

 is characterized by peculiar fossils, some of which are common to 

 more than one. By a careful examination of the organic remains in 

 each, the author was enabled to detect several extensive faults in 

 both islands. These displacements amount generally to about half 

 the present height of the islands above the sea, viz. about 300 feet, 

 and the direction of the faults is transverse to the line of elevation, 

 or the direction of the islands, that is, N.E. and S.W., the chain of 

 islands running N.W. and S.E. Advantage of the irregularities of 

 surface caused by these faults has been taken in constructing the 

 military defences of the island. The author concludes with a de- 

 tailed account of the several strata and their subdivisions, describing 

 the distribution of the contained fossils, a collection of which accom- 

 panied the paper. 



Nov. 15, 1843. — The following papers were read : — 



1. " On some Fossil Remains of Anoplotherium and GiraflFe, from 

 the Sewalik Hills, in the north of India." By H. Falconer M.D., 

 F.G.S., and Capt. P. T. Cautley, F.G.S. 



The Anoplotherium is an undescribed species, differing from those 

 of the Paris basin, and much larger, its size being between that of 

 the horse and the small Sumatran rhinoceros. It is founded on two 

 upper jaws, with the rear molars perfect. It is a true Anoplothe- 

 rium, as distinguished from Dichobunes, &c., but closely allied to the 

 Chalicotherium Goldfussi. The discoverers have named it Anoplothe- 

 rium Sivalense. The remains were dug out of a bed of clay in the 



