140 Geological Sociclt/. 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Dec. 18.— Benjamin Blake, Esq. Captain in the Bengal Army; 

 Matthias Attwood, Esq., M.P., of Gracechurch-street, London, and 

 Muswell-hill, Middlesex ; James Hall, Esq, of Southampton-street, 

 Russell -square ; and Thomas Clement Sneyd Kinnersley, Esq. of 

 Essex-court, Temple, — were elected Fellows of this Society. 



M. J. J.D'Omalius D'Halloy, &c. &c. Governor of the Province of 

 Namur, in the kingdom of the Netherlands, was elected a Foreign 

 Member of this Society. 



A paper was read entitled " Observations on part of the low- 

 countries and the north of France, principally near Maestricht 

 and Aix-la-Chapelle;" by William Henry Fitton,M.D. F.G.S.&c— 

 The general structure of the country on the confines of the Nether- 

 lands and France has been described, several years ago, by M. 

 D'Omalius D'Halloy ; and various memoirs, since published by 

 other persons, confirm his statements. The basis of the whole 

 tract consists of the coal-measures, with subjacent shale, grit, 

 mountain-limestone, reddish sandstone and conglomerate, and 

 finally transition-slate. Above this series of highly inchned beds, 

 other strata, unconformable and nearly horizontal, repose ; which, 

 in the Boullonois, include the upper part of the oolitic groups ; 

 but, in advancing eastward, descend no lower than the green-sands. 

 The country therefore is analogous to the vicinity of Bristol and 

 Bath ; but the overlying formations there go down to the lower 

 oolite, lias, and new red sandstone. 



The object of the author's inquiries was, to determine what beds 

 are found, in the tract which he examined, above the coal ; and how 

 far they agree with their equivalents in England. He describes in 

 succession the several strata : the list including, in a descending 

 order, — 1. Beds above the chalk; — to which are referred, — 2. The 

 stone and calcareous sands of Maestricht. — 3. White chalk, passing 

 into the Green-sand formation, — which comprehends. — i. Fire- 

 stone, with — 5. Green and ferruginous sands. — 6. Obscure traces 

 of clays beneath the sands. The whole being unconformable and 

 superior to — 7. The coal-measures, &c. &c. — The paper is accom- 

 panied by lists of the fossils, examined and named by Mr. Sowerby ; 

 and by a sketch of a general map, with sections on a larger^scale. 

 1. Beds above the chalk. — The Crag, of Suffolk, &c. is stated, on 

 the authority of Mr. Warburton, to have been observed on the 

 French coast between Calais and Cape Blanc- Nez; near Antwerp; 

 in the neighbourhood of Tongres ; and at other places in the Nether- 

 lands. The fossils also of Klein-Spawen between Tongres and 

 Maestricht, include, along with several shells of thecalcaire-grossier, 

 some of those found in our crag. 



The sands which immediately precede the chalk, along the road 

 from London to Dover, precisely resemble those in the same situa- 

 tion, on the line from Calais through St. Omer, Cassel, and Lille, 

 &c.: the prominent hill of Cassel, however, is not topped with clay, 

 but seems to consist entirely of sand, including very numerous fossils, 

 contained principally in loose concretional beds of stone. These 



fossils, 



