52 REPORT—1845. 
cent. phosphate of lime; 13 phosphate of iron, and the remainder carbonate of lime 
and volatile matter. The stratum of greensand, with similar nodules, had been de- 
scribed by Mr. Sedgwick ; although never more than a foot thick, it occurred near 
the surface over many square miles in the vicinity of Cambridge; and the pebbles it 
contained yielded 61 per cent. of earthy phosphates and 24 of carbonate of lime, the 
rest being insoluble. These were also considered to be possibly coprolitie by Mr. 
Henslow; they frequently contained vertebrxe and teeth of fishes, crab-sheils, and 
other substances, apparently half-digested. In illustration of the origin of such ex- 
tensive layers of coprolitic matter in the marine formations, Mr. Henslow read a 
notice respecting the Appearance of Sharks on the Coast of Norway. 
On the Mechanical Action of Animals on Hard and Soft Substances during 
the Progress of Stratification. By the Rev. Dr. Bucktanp. 
Dr. Buckland remarked, that remains of animals which perforate rocks and or- 
ganized substances for their shelter and abode were almost unknown in the older 
strata, but that many instances occurred in the secondary period of extensive rock 
surfaces covered with the holes of boring shells and worms. A familiar example oc- 
curred at Vallis near Frome, where the mountain limestone, covered by the inferior 
oolite, was penetrated by the bivalve mollusks and annelids. A similar instance oc- 
curs at Marquise near Boulogne ; and it is not uncommon to find thick shells and 
fragments of saurian bone perforated or incrusted by parasitic animals. Similar ope- 
rations might be observed on our own coasts at the present time, some of the animals 
apparently making holes cnly by the accidental circumstance of living on one spot 
for a long time, as in the case of the limpet and Echinus savatilis; others, like the 
Pholas and Lithodomus, requiring it as a necessary condition of their existence. 
Extract of a Letter from Mr. Hopkins respecting Traces resembling 
Ornithichnites. 
This letter, dated “ Bogota, November 15, 1844,” contained a drawing and de- 
scription of certain tridactylous footprints observed by the writer on the soft sandy 
banks of the river Magdalena in Mexico. 
On some New Additions among the Mammalia to the Fossil Fauna of India, 
from Perim Island, in the Gulf of Cambay. By Dr. Fatconer. 
Remarks on Fossil T'rees at St. Helen’s, Lancashire, which exhibit Stigmarie 
as their Roots. By E. W. Bryyey, F.G.S. 
The fossil trees described in this memoir were discovered two years ago, standing 
upright in a bed of indurated clay, called the “ Warren,” and a notice of them was 
given, by Mr. Binney, at the meeting at Cork. Subsequently, Mr. Binney had ob- 
tained a more complete examination of the first and largest of the trees, anda fourth 
had also been discovered. 
On the Subsidence of the Land at Puzzuoli. By Jamus Suiru, F.G.S. 
When the writer visited the temple of Jupiter Serapis at Puzzuoli, in March 1819, 
its floor was elevated about six inches above the level of the sea; but on the 11th 
of May in the present year, it was covered to the depth of eighteen inches at low 
water, and twenty-eight and a half at high tide; the sea being calm at the time. 
The custode of the building told Mr. Smith that this change was progressive, amount- 
ing to one English inch and a quarter per annum. The cicerone, too, who had ex- 
ercised his profession for thirty years, said he knew a difference of at least three feet 
six inches in the height of the sea upon the piers of the bridge of Caligula, giving 
the same amount of subsidence yearly. There were, besides, many similar proofs in 
the partly submerged houses and causeways of Puzzuoli. The author adds some 
notices of the evidence of both gradual and sudden elevations having at different 
times affected Puzzuoli. 
eh Saar 
