396 Proceedings of Philosophical Societies. [May, 
contrary, we suppose any causes of partial destruction and denuda- 
tion to have been in action immediately previous to the deposition 
of the red marl, then this rock may occur superincumbent on any 
other rock from granite to coal, and of consequence be no certain 
indication of the latter. 
Nov. 1.—An extract from a letter addressed to the Secretary 
from Dr. Trail, of Liverpool, was read. 
In addition to a former notice respecting the occurrence of mag- 
netic iron and iserine in Cheshire, Dr. T. now states that, in con- 
sequence of the heavy rains of the last summer, he has been en- 
abled to trace these minerals for several miles along the Cheshire 
shore of the Mersey. They are washed out of a bed of slightly 
cohering sand of inconsiderable thickness, which is covered by a 
thick bed of clay, and appears to extend through a considerable 
part of the hundred of Wirral], the district which lies between the 
estuaries of the Dee and the Mersey. 
A letter from Captain Marryat was read, in which he gives some 
account of the country in the immediate vicinity of Nice, on the 
north-west coast of Italy. The maritime Alps consist of calcareous 
mountains, which diminish in height as they approach the coast, 
and finally sink into the Mediterranean Sea. The rock on which 
the citadel of Nice is built is a part of this extensive formation, 
being composed of a compact greyish marble, with white and yellow 
streaks. ‘The upper part of the rock, and generally speaking of the 
whole of this formation, at Jeast in the vicinity of the bay of Nice, 
is very much shattered and dislocated, and the rents thus occasioned 
are filled up by a hard red breccia, containing broken bones, together 
with land, river, and sea shells. These fossil remains are perfectly 
similar to those which occur in analogous situations in the rock of 
Gibraltar, and elsewhere on the coast of the Mediterranean, and 
appear to bear a great resemblance to those described by Cuvier, 
which are found in the neighbourhood of Paris. Near Villa Franca 
this breccia may be observed passing into a bed of clay, with frag- 
ments of lime-stone, which rests upon the compact calcareous 
rock ; and on the heights of Cimiers the same breccia is covered by 
a bed of reddish gypsum. The peninsula of St. Hospice is formed 
of the compact calcareous rock already mentioned ; but on the neck 
connecting this with the main land, and at an elevation about 22 
yards above the present level of the sea, is a deposit of considerable 
thickness, and of much more recent origin. From the external 
appearance of this, and from the evidence obtained by sinking a 
well in it to a considerable depth, it appears to be a mixture of sand 
and of shells without any distinction of beds or of structure, except 
that in some cases the ingredients are compacted by a calcareous 
infiltration into a porous mass, while in other parts they are quite 
loose. The shells, of which a copious list is given, are stated by 
Capt. M. to be of the same species with those at present inhabiting 
the adjacent shores; and, what is remarkable, are also for the most 
