578 Chronicles of Scrence. [ Oct., 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
A large proportion of the Society’s Proceedings during the last 
Session has been published in the August number of the ‘ Quarterly 
Journal ;’ but we shall content ourselves with a notice of a few of 
the papers of more general interest. 
In a paper “On the Speeton Clay,” the author, Mr. J. W. Judd, 
has very ably sustained the reputation which he gained by his first 
communication to the Society “ On the Strata which form the Base 
of the Lincolnshire Wolds.” Under the name “Speeton Clay” he 
includes all the beds of clay exposed in Filey Bay intermediate be- 
tween the Hunstanton Limestone and the Coralline Oolite, a series 
of deposits of very great thickness and importance. He regards it as 
certainly not the equivalent of the Gault, either as a whole or in 
part, no portion of it being referable, in his opinion, to that forma- 
tion. He divides it into seven stages, well marked lithologically, 
and even better defined paleontologically. They are:—(1) the 
Upper Neocomian, having its equivalent in the Lower Greensand 
of the south of England; (2) the Middle Neocomian, of which the 
Tealby series of Lincolnshire is the equivalent; (8) the Lower 
Neocomian, now recognized for the first time in England; (4) the 
Portlandian, agreeing, however, much more closely with some of the 
continental representatives of that formation than with the limestone 
and sand of Portland; and (5), (6), and (7) the Upper, Middle, and 
Lower Kimmeridge. This classification is a very great advance on 
our previous knowledge, and is the more welcome as the reference 
of the upper portion of the Speeton Clay to the Gault, made many 
years ago by Professor Phillips, has too frequently been regarded 
as a proved fact instead of, what it really was, merely a sugges- 
tion,—no doubt of great value in the then imperfect state of our 
knowledge. 
The Duke of Argyll, whose ability as a scientific critic is of the 
highest rank, has a paper “On the Physical Geography of Argyll- 
shire in connection with its Geological Structure ;” but the title is 
scarcely an accurate index of its contents. In point of fact it is a 
criticism on the subaérial denudation theories, as set forth in Mr. 
Geikie’s work upon ‘The Scenery of Scotland viewed in connection 
with its Physical Geology.’ It is impossible in a few words to 
review an elaborate criticism, the value and force of which depend 
in a great measure on its being thorough and elaborate; we must 
therefore content ourselves with stating that the author’s opinions 
are those of the older school of geologists,—that subterranean move- 
ments have had the greater influence in producing the most promi- 
nent features of Highland scenery, instead of the very minute effect 
which the “ Erosionists” ascribe to them. 
In a paper “On the Affinities and Probable Habits of the 
