Geological Society. 401 



stinguish those shells which have been derived exclusively from the 

 tertiary beds. Nevertheless, Mr. Lyell has little doubt in assigning 

 to them the specimens of Balanus Uddevallensis and the Fusus 

 allied to F. lamellosus, which have been dredged up off Cape Bic, as* 

 they are all in the same condition as the Beauport fossils. 



The climate of Canada being now excessive, it is natural to find in 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence many northern and arctic species, without 

 any mixture of tropical forms, for the latter cannot resist severe cold, 

 though they range far towards the southern polar latitudes, where 

 a low mean annual temperature prevails. Mr. Lyell, therefore, con- 

 ceives that during the period immediately antecedent to the present, 

 the climate of Canada was even more excessive than it is now ; and 

 that the shells resembled still more closely the small assemblage 

 now living in high northern latitudes. He is also of opinion, that 

 this extreme cold may have coincided with the era of the principal 

 transportation of erratic blocks, an inference supported by the 

 masses of rock irregularly dispersed among the clay. He further be- 

 lieves, that a more equable though cold climate may have preceded 

 immediately that condition ; and that there may have been more 

 than one oscillation of climate at the modern period, the last having 

 been connected with the geographical changes which upheaved the 

 shelly deposits of Canada 200 feet above the Ifevel of the St. Law- 

 rence, and converted them from submarine deposits to dry land. 



An extract was next read from a letter addressed to Dr. Fitton by 

 HerrRoemer,of Hildesheim, on the Wealden of the North of Germany. 



The Wealden formation, including the Purbeck stone, is very 

 extensively developed in the north of Germany, and is overlaid by 

 a great argillaceous deposit containing marine shells, similar both 

 to the oolitic and cretaceous systems. Of the fossils found in the 

 Wealden of England, almost every species occurs in Germany, in- 

 cluding even the minute Cypris tuberculata, C. granulosa, and C. 

 Valdensis. Last autumn, Herr Roemer discovered the Wealden with 

 its characteristic shells, near Bottingen, in the High Alps. He 

 possesses also the Lepidotus Mantelli of the English Wealden, from 

 Saxony. The Portland sand occurs in the north of Germany, but 

 the Portland stone and the Kimmeridge clay are so intimately con- 

 nected by their fossils, that the intermediate sandy beds cannot be 

 considered as a separate deposit. The chalk with flints occurs pos- 

 sibly in the Hartz. The greensand series is extensively developed, 

 the Flammenmergel of Hausmann being the upper greensand of 

 England, and the quader-sandstein the lower. Herr Roemer be- 

 lieves that the gault also exists in Northern Germany. 



A paper was then read on the classification of the older rocks of 

 Devonshire and Cornwall, by the Rev. Professor Sedgwick, F.G.S., 

 and Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq., F.G.S.* 



In a communication read in 1837, the authors explained their 

 general views respecting the older rocks of Devon and Cornwall, 

 but having recently changed one part of their classification, they 



* [See Lond. and Edinb. Phil. Mag. vol. xiv. p. 241, 354, 358; and pres. 

 vol. p. 109,293. Edit.] 



PhU. Mag, S. 3. Vol. 15. No. 97. Nov. 1839. 2 D 



