1 50 Geological Society, 



ditions which were essential to their birth and preservation. To 

 Col. Sykes we are greatly indebted for bringing under our notice a 

 Collection of fossils made by Captain Smeein the district of Cutch. 

 On comparing these remains with the fossils of the oolitic series in 

 England, we observe, not without surprise, that one agrees in 

 every respect with the Gryphcea dilatata^ that another agrees equally 

 with the young shell of Trigonia costata, that a third bears a close 

 resemblance at least to the Ammonites Harveyii, while others are 

 identical with the Ammonites WallicJiii, which is found in the range 

 of the Himalaya. I hope the interest which these species have ex- 

 cited will lead to a more extended investigation of the tract from 

 which they were procured. 



Among the illustrations which will accompany a Geological Ac- 

 count of Gurhwal and Sirmou, drawn up by Mr. Royle, is a plate 

 representing certain Shells collected by Mr. Gerard in the elevated 

 valley of the Spiti ; these shells may also be identified generically 

 with those of the secondary formations in Europe. Besides these, 

 are given the head and teeth of a small species of Deer, and the 

 tooth of a Rhinoceros, obtained by Messrs. Webb and Trail from 

 the lofty region on the north of the Snowy Mountains j and several 

 teeth of a carnivorous animal, a saurian, and fish, discovered by 

 Mr. Cautley at the southern base of the Himalayan chain. 



A list of Fossils found in the Lias of Yorkshire by Mr. Williamson, 

 jun. of Scarborough, will be valuable to us as a local monograph, 

 and still more so as a type to which we may refer the fossils of 

 the same formation in other parts of the country. The author 

 is of opinion that every particular layer is characterized by pe- 

 culiar organic remains, a statement which must be received with 

 caution ; it may be true where the district examined is very small, 

 but published lists, which deserve the greatest confidence, establish 

 beyond all doubt that those species which abound in a formation 

 belong to various beds, and that those species which at one locality 

 are most numerous fail altogether in another. 



Mr. Mammatt, one of our Fellows, has embodied the result of 

 forty years' experience in a splendid W T ork on the Coal-field of Ashby 

 de la Zouch, illustrated with beautiful engravings. 



It is a work of considerable labour, and independently of its local 

 interest, contains some remarks on fissures, joints, and " slines," 

 which coming from a practical observer are well entitled to atten- 

 tion. It is to be regretted that the specimens from which the draw- 

 ings were taken have been too frequently imperfect or indistinct. In 

 other branches of natural history, so intimate are the relations of the 

 several parts, that from the examination of an unknown tooth and 

 a few other bones, the expert physiologist has been enabled in some 

 instances to construct in imagination an unknown animal, the fidelity 

 of which, to nature, subsequent discoveries have established. The 

 laws which determine vegetable forms are more indefinite and ob« 

 scure; if fragments of plants are to be engraved, they require to be 

 selected with great judgement, and should be confined to those 

 parts of the object which are best defined and most characteristic. 



