SXVni PK0CEFDIX6S OF THE 



The President said that he would supplement Mr. GUbertson's remarks by 

 producing a specimen of the siliceous spouge which he had procured during his 

 deep-sea explorations, at a depth of about a mile and a quarter. This sponge 

 was never found in shallow water, but occuiTed in enormous numbers in deep 

 water, each individual having its root planted, as it were, in the muddy bed of 

 the sea. No horny sponge was found at any great depth. The latest attempt at 

 an explanation of the formation of flint was, he said, that by Dr. Wallich in his 

 paper recently read befoi'e the Geological Society. But the subject was still 

 a debatable one, for they did not, as yet, know sufficient about the formation of 

 flint and how certain sponges were converted into flint. 



A large number of flints, many of which showed a close re- 

 semblance to sponges, and dried specimens of Spongilla fluviatilis 

 and S. laciistris, besides several varieties of the sponges of com- 

 merce, were exhibited by Mr. Gilbertson, in illustration of his 

 paper. 



Oedinaey Meetij^g, 16th ITaech, 1880, at Watford. 

 John Evans, Esq., D.C.L., LL.D., F.E.S., etc., Vice-President, in the Chair. 



Mrs. Aokworth, The Hooke, Northaw, Barnet ; Mrs. Bishop, 

 The Piatt, Watford ; Mr. G. JS'orman Braund, London and County 

 Bank, Ware; Mr. H. 0. F. Butcher, High Street, Ware; Mrs. 

 Carvosso, The Warren, Bayford, Hertford; Mr. Joseph Chuck, 

 High Street, Ware ; Miss Eliza Church, London Boad, St. Albans ; 

 Mr. Bobert H. Harrison, Highfields, Great Amwell ; the Kev. C. 

 W. Harvey, M.A., F.M.S., Throcking Rectory, Buntingford ; Mr. 

 Henry Lewis, St. Peter's Street, St. Albans ; the Bev. F. Lips- 

 comb, M.A., Frogmore Vicarage, St. Albans ; Miss Ludlow, Christ's 

 Hospital, Hertford; Mr. C. T. Part, The Pre, St. Albans; Mr. 

 George Pavy, Ware ; Mr. Alfred Ransom, Benslow, Hitchin ; Mr. 

 Charles E. Shelly, B.A., M.B. (Cantab). M.R.C.S., Hertford; the 

 Rev. Henry Smith, M.A., Christ's Church, St. Albans; Mr. Horace 

 James Smith- Bosanquet, Broxbourne Bury, Hoddesdon ; Mr. S. 

 Monkton White, Thorne House, St. Albans ; and Mr. E. S. Wiles, 

 London Road, St. Albans, were elected Members of the Society. 



Mr. Charles E. Geake, Hansteads, Bricket Wood, St. Albans, 

 was proposed as a Member. 



Letters were read from Professor Babington and Dr. Sclater 

 thanking the Society for their election as Honorary Members. 



The following paper was read : — 



" The Post-Tertiary Deposits of Hertfordshire." By J. Yincent 

 Elsden, B.Sc. (Lond.), F.C.S. {Transactions, Vol. I, p. 103.) 



Dr. Brett, referring to Mr. Elsden' s statement that the oldest flint implements 

 were found in the river-gravels, said that he had seen flint implements which were 

 stated to have come from beds of Miocene age, though he believed that this was a 

 disputed point. He should like to know whether the Post-tertiary deposits were 

 increasng or decreasing in thickness. The ground -level at Watford had risen 

 seven fieet above the uatiu-al soil, and in London fifteen feet. He believed that 

 worms and moles, by decomposing vegetable material, increased the thickness of 

 the superficial soil. 



Mr. Littleboy remarked that the extent to which roads were cut up during the 

 great stoim of the 3rd of August showed how it was possible by the action of 



