
TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 43 
tertiary pliocene formation at Belfast which has yielded a greater variety of fossil 
species than all the other similar beds in Ireland taken together. In conclusion, the 
recent discovery of extensive beds of rock-salt near Carrickfergus was briefly al- 
luded to. 
On the Disposition of Granite Blocks in Argyllshire. 
By James Bryce, jun., F.G.S. 
On the Alps in the Vicinity of Mont Blanc. By Major Cuarters, F.G.S. 


An Account of the Changes occasioned during the Cooling of the Granite of 
Mont Blane. By M. Acuitie DELEssE, 

_ On the Rocks of the Upper Punjaub. By Dr. ANDREW FLEMING, of the 
East India Company's Service. 
Sir Roderick I. Murchison briefly explained the nature and value of the last re- 
Searches of Dr. A. Fleming, to whom the Indian government had assigned the task of 
exploring (as Director) the salt mines of the Upper Punjaub. The chief results are, 
that the salt range is composed, in descending order, of a mass of nummulite lime- 
stone, which, forming its peaks, throws off younger and pebbly deposits, and is under- 
laid first by secondary rocks of Jurassic (Oxfordian) age, and next by limestone, 
laden with well-known species of Producti of the carboniferous or mountain limestone ; 
the whole being supported by inferior masses of red shale, sandstone and conglome- 
rate, to which the salt issubordinate. After a pointed allusion to the great importance 
of these discoveries, Sir R. I. Murchison informed the Section that he had acquainted 
the author that some of the salt of Russia occupied the same position, or that of the 
Devonian or Old Red Rocks. ‘ 
On the Fossils of the Yellow Sandstone of the South of Ireland. 
By Professor E. Forzes, F’.R.S. 
During the course of the labours of the Geological Survey of Ireland in 1851, 
strata referable to the “yellow sandstone,” and consisting of compact flagstones of a 
very grey and creamy colour, at the hill of Knocktopher in Kilkenny, were found to 
abound in fossils of great beauty, and apparently entirely new. They consisted of 
remains of ferns and other plants in a beautiful state of preservation, and were 
accompanied by a large bivalve shell, which must provisionally be referred to the 
genus dAnodon, and may receive the name of Anodon Jukesit. The ferns belong 
to the genus Cyclopteris, and to a group in that genus among which the aspect of 
Neuropteris is assumed. They differ materially from any of the members of this 
group hitherto described; not only specifically, but also in their general arrange- 
‘ments; and exhibit some peculiarities not hitherto noticed in fossil ferns. The most 
common of these (Cyclopteris Hibernicus) is often two feet in length of its bipinnate 
fronds. Along with these are species of Lepidodendron and Stigmaria; also curious 
cones, formed of loose groups of scales or bracts, each furnished with an exceedingly 
long mucro. All of these appear to be new. Great interest attaches to this assem- 
blage :—Ist, as an indicat’on of fresh, or at least brackish, water conditions at the 
period of the depositions of the beds; and 2ndly, as, if we are correct in considering 
these strata Devonian, this is the most perfect illustration of the flora of that epoch 
yet discovered. Fish remains of the genus Holoptychius, and of the crustacean Ptery- 
gotus occur also in these beds. 

On the Shells found in the Alluvial Deposits of Belfast. 
By Joun Graincer, Hon. See. of the Dublin University Zool. Assoc. 
_ The author, after referring to the incomplete character of what had been published 
‘on the subject, stated, that the alluvial deposits of Belfast occupied the greater part 
of the foundations of the town, and extended three or four miles into the bay, and 
that the shells had been found in Various levels from four feet in vertical height above 
high-water mark to twenty-four feet below it. The deposits appeared to have the shells 
