On the Gi-adual Elevation of a part of the Coast of Sicily. 325 



opecies of fish (at least twentv-one) found fossil in Caithness and 

 Cromarty occur in Russia commingled with the middle Devonian 

 moUusks of Devon, the Boulonnais, and the Rhine ; and having 

 pointed out that the lowest member of the Devonian series, with its 

 Cephalaspides, is wanting in Russia, Sir Roderick insisted on the 

 importance of the Devonian series in the scale of formations, and 

 on the fact that the Old Red conglomerates, ichthyohtic schists, and 

 cornstones, with the overlying sandstones, of Scotland and Here- 

 fordshire fully represent in time the Devonian rocks of the South of 

 England and the Continent, so full of corals, crinoids, and marine 



moUusks. f, 1 r u iir (. 



Some brief observations on the Newer Red Sandstone ot the West 

 Coast of Ross-shire, and the Lias and Oolitic deposits of the North 

 of Scotland and the Western Isles, concluded this paper. 



February 24, 1858.— Prof. Phillips, President, in the Chair. 



The following communications were read : — 



1 " On the Gradual Elevation of a part of the Coast of Sicily, 

 from the Mouth of the Simeto to the Onobola." By Signor Gaetano 

 Georc-io Gemmellaro. Communicated by Sir C. Lyell, F.G.S. 



In this paper the author described in detail the physical evidences, 

 observed by him along a great part of the eastern coast of Sicily, 

 which prove— 1st, that from the shores of the Simeto to the Onobola 

 undeniable characters of the former levels of the sea in the recent 

 period are traceable from place to place. 2ndly, that great blocks 

 of lava, with blunted angles, and rolled and corroded on the surface, 

 a calcareo-siliceous shelly deposit, and a marine breccia, which are 

 seen at different heights above the present sea-level, are the efFects 

 of the continued and daily action of the waves of the sea at successive 

 levels. 3rdly, that the existence and disposition of the holes of the 

 Modiola lithophaga, Lamarck, in the calcareo-siliceous shelly deposit, 

 and the local presence of shells, both Gasteropods and Lamelhbran- 

 chiates in their normal positions, support the view of a slow and gra- 

 dual elevation of the coast. 4thly and lastly, that the lithodomous 

 molluscs and the calc- siliceous deposit being found on the Cyclopean 

 Islands (Faraglioni) up to the height of almost 13 metres, and large 

 rolled blocks of lava, invested with Serpulce being also found there to 

 the height of 14 metres, a mean height of 13 metres and 5 decim. is 

 established as the greatest extent of the now undeniable gradual 

 elevation of this portion of the coast of Sicily during the present 

 period. 



2. " On the occurrence of transported Pebbles and Boulders at 

 high levels in Aberdeenshire." By T. F. Jamieson, Esq. In letters 

 to°Sir R. I. Murchison, V.P.G.S. . . 



The author stated that he had found indications of the district 

 having been submerged beneath the sea to the height of about 430 

 or 450 feet for a considerable time during the later Tertiary period. 

 Extensive ridges or hillocks of water-worn gravelly debris, bearing 



