39G Geological Sucie/y : — 



of the deposition of these Permian beds, as evidenced by the nume- 

 rous impressions of foot-tracks of Chelonians, Lizards, and Batra- 

 chians, which walked over the shores of the Permian waters, when 

 the sandstones of Corncockle Muir and Dumfries were sandy beaches 

 with mud-patches scattered over them. 



Mr. Harkness regards the several patches or areas of the rocks in 

 question as having once been connected in a mass of great super- 

 ficial extent ; and he thinks it probable that the denudation which 

 is supposed to have removed the greater portion took place in the 

 pleistocene epoch ; the preservation of the isolated patches being 

 due to local subsidences. 



April 9, 1856. — D. Sharpe, Esq., President, in the Chair. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. " Notes on the Geology of the neighbourhood of Sydney and 

 of Brisbane, Australia." By J. S. Wilson, Esq. Communicated 

 by Sir R. I. Murchison, F.G.S. 



" Mr. Wilson, the Geologist of the North Australian Expedition, 

 availing himself of such opportunities as occurred to make geological 

 notes on the tracts hastily visited on his way to Cambridge Gulf, 

 where the party had disembarked, communicated a series of obser- 

 vations on the sandy Carboniferous Rocks of Sydney, the coal of 

 the Hunter River, the structure of Nobby 's Island in Newcastle 

 Harbour, the geological characters of the district from Newcastle, 

 through Maitland and Singleton, to the Liverpool Range, the gold- 

 diggings at the Hanging Rocks, and the Peel River district. After 

 returning to Sydney, Mr. Wilson sailed to Moreton Bay, where 

 he again had an opportunity of studying the Carboniferous strata, as 

 well as the crystalline rocks around Brisbane ; the latter are to 

 some extent auriferous, 



2. "OntheStrataof Hastings Cliffs." By S.H.Beckles.Esq., F.G.S. 

 Between Hastings and Cliff End, to the eastward, the sea has 



considerably modified the aspect of the cliffs since Mr. Webster 

 described the strata of this coast in detail ; and the author of this 

 communication, having devoted much time and labour to the search 

 for fossils in these cliffs, has been enabled to work out the relations 

 of some beds of sandstone and clays subordinate to the conglomeratic 

 shale and ironstone which Mr. Webster described as the lowest 

 strata visible in the series. The above-mentioned shale and iron- 

 stone contain remains of Insects (discovered by Messrs. Binfield in 

 1853) and Saurians, together with Cyrenee and Unionidce; and the 

 ironstone is full of fragmentary plant-remains. In the sandstone 

 beneath are also Uniones, and the natural casts of great foot-tracks, 

 already described by Mr. Beckles. In the next succeeding bed 

 are beautiful Zamia-like plant- remains, together with a large Unio or 

 Anodon, and a Paludina. Beneath these is the clay, in which 

 Hybodus-STp'mes were the only fossils found. 



3. " On the Palaeontological and Stratigraphical Relations of the 

 so-called ' Sands of the Inferior Oolite.' " By T. Wright. M.D. 

 Communicated by Prof. Ramsay, F.G.S. 



In this communication the author considered the palaeontological 



