Geological Society. 497 



communicated to the Society by Robert W. Hay Esq., Under Secre- 

 tary of State for the Colonies. 



Maria Island is composed, for the greater part, of trapj but 

 strata of freestone well calculated for building purposes frequently 

 occur, and at the northern point of the island is a perpendicular cliff, 

 from 200 to .500 feet high, composed of dark grey limestone, formed 

 of oysters, muscles, and other shells, in a state of great preservation. 

 On the eastern coast, near Cape Mistaken, are numerous caverns, 

 some at the height of 600 feet above the level of the sea, the roofs 

 of which are studded with stalactites. Mr. Frankland states that Van 

 Diemen's Land in every part furnishes strong evidence of the ocean 

 having once occupied a much higher level than at present. The paper 

 also contains much valuable information respecting the natural pro- 

 ductions of the island. 



A letter was next read on the geology of the country included in the 

 S.W. quarter of the Daventry, or 55th sheet of the Ordnance Survey, 

 by J. Robison Wright, Esq., F.G.S., and addressed to Capt. Mudge, 

 R.E., F.G.S. 



The surface contained in this quarter sheet is about 168 .square 

 miles, including the towns ot Southam and Kineton, and the field of 

 the battle of Edge Hill. The formations of which the district consists 

 are the new red sandstone, the lias, and the infierior oolite. 



A notice on the occurrence of marine shells in a bed of gravel at 

 Narley Bank, Cheshire, by Sir Philip Grey Egerton, Bart., M.P., 

 F.G.S., was then read. 



In proceeding from the valley of the Weaver, at the point where it 

 is crossed by the Liverpool and Birmingham Railway, towards Dela- 

 raere Forest, are two acclivities, each about 60 feet high, and distant 

 about a mile and a half from each other. Narley Bank is situated on 

 the summit of the second ridge, and the gravel-pit is in the face of the 

 northern declivity, about 157 feet above low-water mark at Weston 

 Point, and six miles from it. The gravel differs from the common 

 gravel of the country by the prevalence of calcareous matter and the 

 small proportion of fine sand ; but agrees with the gravel at the WiU 

 Ungton, described in a former paper*. This resemblance induced the 

 author to search for shells, and he found, at a second visit to the pit, 

 several imperfect fragments of apparently recent marine shells. 



In conclusion. Sir Philip Egerton states that he has always found a 

 marked distinction, in Cheshire, between the gravel containing re- 

 cent shells and that which does not ; and he infers, from the former 

 being occasionally covered, as at the Willington, by a thick deposit 

 of sand and gravel, that it was accumulated before the occurrence of 

 the last drift, to which he ascribes the origin of the common detritus 

 of the county. 



A paper was afterwards read, entitled " Accompanying remarks to 

 a section of the Upper Lias and Marlstone of Yorkshire, showing the 

 limited vertical range of the species of Ammonites and other Testacea, 

 with their value as geological tests," by Louis Hunter, Esq., and 

 communicated by John Forbes Royle, Esq., F.G.S. 



• Lond. niid Edinb F'hil. Mag., vol. vii. p. 326. 

 Third Series. Vol. '.). No. .5/. Supplement Dec. 1836. 3 O 



