652 FOURTH REPORT — 1834. 



On the Old Red Sandstone and the Fonnations beneath it. By 

 R. I. MuRCHisoN, F.R.S. esc. 



Mr. Miu'chison presented a tabular view of the order of suc- 

 cession of various undescribed formations of great thickness, 

 and distinct from each other in their organic remains and mi- 

 neralogical characters, which rise from beneath the old red 

 sandstone of England and Wales. He then dwelt upon certain 

 remains of fishes which he had traced through the central divi- 

 sion of the old red sandstone of England and Wales, over an area 

 exceedhig 3000 square miles. The most striking of these fishes 

 (Cephalaspis, Agassiz,) it now appears is common to the central 

 portion of the old red sandstone of England and strata oc- 

 cupying the same geological position in Forfarshire and other 

 counties in Scotland. Mr. Murchison further expressed his 

 opinion that the Arbroath pavement is the equivalent of the tile- 

 stones or lower member of the old red sandstone of England. 

 Mr. Murchison stated that Dr. Lloyd of Ludlow was the person 

 who first called his attention to the fishes of the old red sand- 

 stone of Salop. 



On the Change of Level of the Land and Sea in Scandinavia. 

 By C. Lyell, F.R.S. 



Mr. Lyell prefaced his statement with a brief sketch of the 

 state of the controversy touching the gradual rise of Scandinavia, 

 at the time of his visiting that country. It was more than a 

 hundred years since the Swedish naturahst Celsius had declared 

 his opinion that the level of the waters, both of the Baltic and 

 the ocean, was suffering a gradual depression. 



In confirmation of this phaenomenon, Celsius had appealed to 

 several distinct classes of proofs : 1st, The testimony of the in- 

 habitants on the northern shores of the Gulf of Bothnia, that 

 towns formerly sea-ports were then far inland, and that the sea 

 was still constantly leaving dry new tracts of land along its bor- 

 ders ; 2ndly, The testimony of the same inhabitants, that various 

 insulated rocks in the Gulf of Bothnia, and on some parts of the 

 eastern shores of Sweden, then rose higher above the level of 

 the sea than they reiuembered them to have done in their youth; 

 3rdly, That marks had been cut on the fixed rocks on the shore 

 some thirty years or more before, to point out the level at which 

 the waters of the Baltic formerly stood when not raised by the 

 winds to an unusual height, and that these marks already indi- 

 cated a sinking of the waters. On the whole, Celsius concluded 



