96 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



1 . Granite of Leinster, post- Silurian, but ante-Carboniferous. 



2. Granite of Down, post-Carboniferous. 



3. Granite of Donegal, Carboniferous. 



He also adds that the Cornish granite is also carboniferous. 



The advance of foreign Geology continues progressive, although I am 

 not aware of any new fields having been lately opened. The survey of 

 India is going on satisfactorily, and, in unison with the railway system, 

 will do much to develop the immense natural resources of that rich 

 country. In Australia, also, much additional information is gradually 

 obtained. It may be said that the gold mines have acted in the most 

 powerful manner to stimulate the scientific tastes of our antipodean 

 countrymen. From the Cape, also, we are continually receiving in- 

 teresting details of the extensive chalk formation which runs through 

 the district of Port Natal. The beautiful and accurate Geological Map 

 of Europe, just published by Sir Roderick Murchison, is a great addition 

 to the obligations which we are under to that indefatigable philosopher, 

 and ought to be on the table of every student of Geology. 



A remarkable paper has been read at the London Geological Society 

 by Mr. Sharpe, on the last elevation of the Alps. He contends that 

 there can be distinctly traced throughout the Alps three lines of erosion 

 on the sides of the mountains, viz. : — 



1. At from 9000 feet to 9300 feet above the sea. 



2. At about 7500 feet above the sea. 



3. At about 4800 feet above the sea. 



From the uniformity of these lines, he concludes that the action 

 must be due to the sea, and not to lakes. 



In confirmation of these views, he examined the lines of watershed 

 traceable in the excavation of the valleys. He finds them to range 

 from 9000 feet (mer de glace) to from 2500 feet to 2600 feet above the 

 level of the sea. There is also a great amount of alluvium formed in the 

 Alpine valleys, and which has been excavated into terraces. These 

 range at a considerably lower level, from about 3190 feet to 1000 feet 

 above the sea. 



The communications of Mr. Binney on the Permian Eocks of Scot- 

 land (to which formation he considers the red sandstones of the "West 

 of Scotland, with the exception of the Annandale beds, to belong) ; of 

 Messrs. Plant and Brodie, on the Keuper Beds of Leicestershire and 

 Warwickshire, — illustrate the connexion between the British and Con- 

 tinental formations. There has also been made an important discovery 

 in Aberdeenshire of neocomian fossils. It appears that flint and green- 

 sand, containing greensand fossils, have been found in that county, and, 

 what is still more remarkable, some of the fossils resemble more those of 

 Scandinavia than of Great Britain. This points to a connexion between 

 the northern cretaceous system and that of Scotland. 



A further attempt at subdivision of the Oolite formation has been 

 made by Dr. "Wright, who contends, on very good grounds, that the 

 lower oolite sands, which reach a considerable thickness in the south 

 and midland districts of England, really belong to the upper lias. He 



