294 



Terebratula aspera (Schlotlieim) of the Eifel. President 

 Haughton says, " It is therefore highly probable that the coal- 

 beds of Melville Island are very low do\Yn in the series, and 

 do not correspond in geological position with the coal-beds of 

 Europe, which rest on the summit of the carboniferous beds." 

 The coal itself in some respects resembles some of the gas-coals 

 of Scotland, w^hich form a system older than that of the South 

 Welsh coals. The corals, collected apparently from the same 

 beds, are a curious mixture of silurian and carboniferous types. 

 " The same blending of corals has been found in Ireland, the 

 Bas Boulonnais, and in Devonshire." He concludes by saying, 

 "I do not believe in the lapse of a long interval of time be- 

 tween the silurian and carboniferous deposits, — in fact, in a 

 Devonian period." 



Mr. Lesley described the subconglomeritic or false coal 

 measures, first recognized stratigraphically by Dr. R. M. S. 

 Jackson in Northwestern Virginia, in 1841, and botanically 

 by Leo Lesquereux, in 1851 ; the system being best developed 

 in Wythe and Montgomery Counties in Southern Virginia, in 

 Southeastern Kentucky, and in Nova Scotia. He considered 

 it probable that this earlier carboniferous era, illustrated in 

 Ireland, Scotland, and elsewhere further east by workable coal- 

 beds, would determine the age of the Arctic coal-field. The 

 carbonaceous slate deposit of the lowest Devonian rocks, such 

 as have been searched for coal in Perry and Juniata Counties, 

 Pennsylvania, and have actually yielded thin coal-seams in 

 Western New York, may better represent the German De- 

 vonian coal-measures. 



Stated Meeting, March 16, 18G0. 



Present, sixteen members. 



President Dr. Wood, in the Chair. 



Letters were read from the Oberlausitzischen Gesellschaft, 

 dated Giirlitz, Dec. 21, 1859, requesting information; from 



