286 Geological Society, 



when the lowest, a sandy clay, appears, and continues for some di- 

 stance, nearly horizontal. It is overlaid in part by a bed of sand, 

 containing a layer of gravel in the lower part, and the two strata form 

 together a cliff 30 or 40 feet high. In the clay the fossils are not so 

 abundant, but are apparently of the same species as in the upper beds. 



About two miles from Antium, a thin bed of tertiary sandstone, con- 

 taining abundance of the same fossils, begins to make its appearance 

 resting on the clay, and it gradually increases in thickness to about 

 20 feet; but then gradually thins out again to the west, extending 

 altogether between a quarter and half a mile. Below it, 20 feet of 

 clay are exposed, and above it, a ferruginous sand, about 15 feet 

 thick, through the lower 6 feet of which, some fine siliceous gravel 

 is interspersed, like the flint gravel of the plastic clay of England, 

 and agreeing in character with that of the present beach. The masses 

 which iiave fidlen on the shore, from above, look, when washed by the 

 waves, exactly like a rock abandoned by the sea for merely a few 

 tides, in consequence of the fresh appearance of the shells and corals 

 with which they are covered. 



In the tertiary rock of the neighbourhood, specimens were met 

 with, in which the calcareous matter of the shells had been replaced 

 by sulphur, and the author conceives the change to have been ef- 

 fected through the percolation of water, of which a stream exists, con- 

 taining a strong solution of sulphate of iron with excess of acid. 

 Near this spot, called Solfarata, are some pits, apparently in the 

 upper sand, and from which sulphur is dug in winter. 



A letter from Sir Robert Smirke was then read, forwarding an- 

 other from Mr. Edge to himself, in which the latter states, that when 

 engaged in erecting some works in the neighbourhood of St. Peter's, 

 Guernsey, he found it necessary to have a well dug. At the 

 depth of 45 feet from the sui^ace, the workmen came to a block of 

 granite, which they were forced to blast, and ascertained to be 6 feet 

 in thickness. A few feet beneath the granite, they were surprised at 

 finding a small quantity of peat, with several pieces of fossil timber 

 (specimens of which have been sent to the Society) in the state 

 of bog-wood, and conceived to be oak. 



The reading of a paper was afterwards commenced " On the Geo- 

 logy of the Eastern Portion of the Great Basaltic district of India," by 

 J. G. Malcolmson, Esq., F.G.S., of the Madras Medical Establish- 

 ment. 



Dec. 16, 1837. — Mr. Malcolmson's paper on the eastern portion 

 of the Great Basaltic district of India, begun on the 15th of Novem- 

 ber, was concluded. 



The principal objects of this paper are to describe the eastern 

 boundary of the great basaltic formation of India, with its associated 

 stratified deposits, and to arrive at a proximate conclusion respecting 

 the age of the basalt. 



Extent of Country. — The region noticed generally in the paper, is 

 included between the 14th and 21st degrees of north latitude, and 

 the 75th and 82nd degrees of east longitude ; but the districts more 

 particularly described, are those watered by the Pennar river (lat. 14°), 



