Geological Society. 371 



County of Fermanagh," by Sir Philip de Malpas Grey Egerton,13art., 

 F.G.S., was first read. 



After alluding, in terms of commendation, to Mr. Griffith's account 

 of the Connaught coal-field, the author states that his principal ob- 

 ject is to describe the organic remains which he obtained, in con- 

 junction with Lord Cole, from the beds of shale forming part of the 

 lowest division of the coal series. This shale deposit is stated to be 

 600 feet thick ; to be covered by 70 feet of sandstone, and to be 

 separated, in the northern division of the district, from the subjacent 

 or mountain limestone by another system of sandstone strata about 

 40 feet thick. It is described as being composed principally of fre- 

 quent alternations of beds of shale, more or less indurated, and of 

 clay-ironstone. In the upper part of the series, several beds of black 

 argillaceous limestone and a thin stratum of micaceous sandstone 

 are stated to occur, and in the lower a bed of finely grained ferru- 

 ginous sandstone. The shale is said to differ considerably in aspect, 

 colour and structure at the superior and inferior portions of the 

 deposit, but that the distinctive characters pass into each other by 

 insensible gradations. The whole of the beds are stated to be re- 

 plete with organic remains, entirely different from those found in the 

 subjacent limestone. In the upper strata the prevailing fossils enu- 

 merated in the Memoir, are Ammonites and Orthocerata, associated, 

 though in less abundance, with Producta and Calamites ; and in the 

 lower, crinoidal remains and corals of the genus Calamopora. 



The authorthen describes the subjacent sandstone ; the phenomena 

 which accompany the streams engulfed by the mountain limestone, 

 and the fossils he procured from that formation ; and lastly, he details 

 the characters of a bed of shale which occurs at the bottom of the 

 limestone system, and abounds with fossils, some of which are stated 

 to be peculiar to it. 



A paper " on the Osseous Cave of Santo Ciro, about two miles to 

 the S.E. of Palermo," by Samuel Peace Pratt, Esq., F.G.S., F.L.S., 

 was then read *. 



The author first describes the circumstances which led to the 

 discovery of the bones, and then the position of the cave and the 

 phenomena it presents. He states that it is situated rather more 

 than a mile from the sea, in a projecting hill, forming part of the 

 ridge of secondary limestone, which nearly traverses the northern 

 portion of Sicily, and about 50 feet above thefootof the promontory. 

 A gently inclined plain extends from the base of the ridge to the 

 shore, and is composed of nearly horizontal strata of limestone and 

 sand, containing shells analogous to those now inhabiting the Me- 

 diterranean. When discovered, the cave was filled to the level of 

 the entrance with bones, more or less rolled, and in different states 

 of decay, but cemented together by carbonate of lime. Associated 

 with them, though in much less quantity, were pebbles andfragments 



* When the author of this paper made his observations, he was not aware 

 of the Memoir on Sicily by the late Dr. Turnbull Christie, read before the 

 Society in November 1831. [See Phil. Mag. & Annals, N.S. vol. x. p. 433.1 



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