Mr. Bkyck on the Structure of Staff a and the Giant'' s Causeway. 19 



broken, or mercury escaping, and air getting into the tube : so that it is 

 desirable to render the thermometer as useful an auxiliary as possible. 

 Fortunately, in a botanical point of view, which most concerns me, and 

 which must be my excuse for bringing forward this notice of a subject 

 apparently so imconnected with my own profession, great nicety is not 

 required in ascertaining the elevations. 



Dr. R. D. Thomson gave a notice of the sequel of Dr. Thomas 

 Thomson's expedition into Thibet, which detailed his successful attempt 

 to reach the Karokoram pass into Central Asia, his discovery of a range 

 of moimtains 24,000 feet high, and his approximation to the source 

 of the Shayok or northern branch of the Indus. It is believed, that he 

 has been the first European who has succeeded in attaining such a high 

 latitude in this part of India. The details have been published in 

 Hooker's Journal of Botany, and in the Geographical Society's Journal. 



On the motion of Mr. Crum, it was agreed that £70 shall be appro- 

 priated to the purchase of Books and Periodicals. 



3cZ January, 1849. — The President in the Chair. 



The following gentlemen were admitted members: — Messrs. James 

 Beith, Dugald Bannatyne, Michael Connal, James A. Campbell, John 

 Elder, William Ferguson, Robert M'Laren, Greorge Paterson, Neil 

 Robson. 



Mr. Gourlie mentioned that a number of bones, belonging to the extinct 

 bird of the Island of Rodriguez, called the solitaire, and the property of 

 the Andcrsonian Museum, had been laid on the table. Pigm-es of all 

 these bones, which are of great rarity, have been given in the work — "The 

 Dodo and its Kindred," by Mr. Strickland and Dr. Melville, to whom 

 the Trustees kindly lent them, for the purpose of illustrating their work, 

 a copy of which had been presented to the Museum by the authors. 



III. — On the Structure of Staffa and the Giant's Causeivay. — By Jas. 

 Bryce, Jun., Esq., M.A., F.G.S. 



The author stated and illustrated some new views regarding the struc- 

 ture of Staffa and the Giant's Causeway. He first explained the general 

 structure of the basaltic district of north-eastern Ireland. It occupies an 

 area of more than 1000 square miles, and consists of a great substratimi 

 of new red sandstone, supporting three distinct fossiliforous beds, lias, 

 greensand, and chalk, wliich are overlaid by a thick covering of trap rock 

 of igneous origui, similar to that which forms the Giant's Causeway. 

 These three fossilifcrous rocks are absent in the great natural section 



