34 



NATURE 



[November 8, 1900 



this is supplemented by an account of work done m the 

 petrographical and paleeontological departments of the 

 Survey. The field record is arranged stratigraphically, 

 beginning with the pre-Canibrian rocks and ending with 

 the recent deposits. Thus there are notes on nearly all 

 the main geological systems, excepting only the 

 Cambrian, Permian, and some of the Tertiary divisions. 



In the accounts of Highland regions we find many 

 references to the complex folds, the faults and thrust 

 planes, which have affected the Lewisian gneiss, the 

 schists of the " Moine series," the Torridonian and other 

 rocks. In some cases highly altered rocks are found to 

 overlie others which are less altered, showing that the 

 metamorphism must have taken place before the rocks 

 occupied their present relative positions. In places the 

 Moine rocks contain intrusions of partially foliated horn- 

 blendic rocks, and some of these are foliated parallel to 

 their sides and cut both the banding and the foliation of 

 the rocks in which they occur. 



It seems probable that the Moine schists of the 

 north-west pass into and form part of the Dalradian 

 series of the central Highlands. It is also considered 

 probable that the Moine schists acquired their present 

 crystalline characters since Cambrian times. Moreover, 

 from the fact that the phyllites, quartzites, grits, con- 

 glomerates and limestones which extend from the shores 

 of Elgin, Banff and Aberdeen to those of Islay and Jura 

 have had a sedimentary origin, it is thought that they 

 may yet find a definite place among pre-Cambrian or even 

 post-Cambrian formations. In connection with this sub- 

 ject it is to be remembered that a belt of rocks, possibly 

 of Arenig age, has been traced at intervals from Kin- 

 cardineshire to Dumbartonshire. Here the rocks are 

 wedged in along a line of disturbance between the High- 

 land schists and the Old Red Sandstone ; and they com- 

 prise graphitic shales, schists and cherts with Radiolatia. 

 Rocks of this character have now been discovered in 

 Arran. 



Another interesting discovery is chronicled in the 

 account of the work among the Silurian rocks of Ireland. 

 The majority of the igneous rocks of the Waterford coast 

 have been regarded as volcanic sheets intercalated con- 

 temporaneously among the Lower Silurian sediments. 

 Evidence is now brought forward to show that these 

 rocks, which were believed to be tuffs and agglomerates, 

 are intrusive, the " agglomerates '' having been in reality 

 produced by a process of brecciation during a prolonged 

 period of igneous intrusion. 



It has been pointed out in a previous issue of the 

 ■" Summary of Progress," that the detailed study of the 

 rocks in the North Staffordshire Coal-field has shown 

 that the coal-measures extend over a much wider area 

 at or near the surface than was previously thought. 

 Evidence furnished by a bore-hole at Thurgarton near 

 Nottingham confirms the persistence and importance of 

 the subdivisions that have been recognised and mapped 

 in the North Staffordshire coalfield. 



Much new information has also been gathered in the 

 great Coal-field of South Wales, and some remarkable 

 disturbances accompanied by over-thrusting are figured. 

 Interesting also are the observations which have been 

 made on the secondary rocks in this coal-basin. The 

 occurrence of a red and green marl in the upper part of 

 the Rhietic group at Coity, near Bridgend, and onwards 

 to near the famous old Pyle Inn, is significant as show- 

 ing the local continuation of conditions akin to those of 

 the Keuper Marl in the Rhaetic period. 



Fossils of Rhjetic character have been found in the 

 passage-beds between the Red conglomerates and Lower 

 Lias of Skye. More important still is the discovery of 

 Rhaetic fossils in the island of Arran. Here the beds 

 which have yielded the specimens are not actually in 

 situ, but are enclosed in a coarse conglomerate that fills 

 a volcanic vent, probably of Tertiary age. 



NO. 1 619. VOL. 63] 



In the accounts of Lower Cretaceous rocks mention 

 is made of fossils obtained from the Sandgate Beds, near 

 Midhurst ; and in the records of Tertiary strata there 

 are notices of new fossiliferous localities in the Reading 

 Beds, London Clay, Bagshot Sands, Bracklesham Beds 

 and Barton Clay of Hampshire. 



Among the Tertiary igneous rocks of Skye much new 

 information has been obtained. The gabbrois described 

 as consisting of numerous distinct intrusions in the form 

 of wedges, sheets and tongues. In the basalt plateaux 

 west of the Cuillin Hills the salient features of the slopes 

 are due to the numerous hard intrusive sills intercalated 

 among the softer lava flows. These latter are in general 

 amygdaloidal. References are made to other and later 

 sills which differ from those which follow the bedding- 

 planes of the lavas. 



Glacial drifts have received much attention in various 

 parts of the country. Perhaps the most interesting 

 result obtained is that having reference to the sequence 

 in the Cower promontory of South Wales. Evidence is 

 given to show that the deposits holding the Pleistocene 

 fauna in the caves are newer than the raised beach, and 

 that these bone-beds are overlam by the glacial drift. 



Of special petrographical work the descriptions of the 

 volcanic rocks of the Exeter district are noteworthy. 

 The results of a further examination of olivine-monzonites 

 from Argyllshire are also stated. Analysis is given of a 

 manganese deposit of Culm-measure age at Hockworthy 

 in Devonshire. 



Of palaeontological work mention should be made of 

 the detection of phosphatic nodules with traces of prob- 

 able cell-structure in the Torridonian rocks of Ross-shire. 

 A useful catalogue is also appended of the Eocene and 

 Oligocene type fossils which are preserved in the Museum 

 of Practical Geology. 



NOTES. 



The following Fellows of the Royal Society have been 

 recommended by the president and council of the Society for 

 election into the council for the year 1900, at the anniversary 

 meeting on November 30. The names of the new members of 

 the council are in italics. President : Sir William Hiiggins, 

 K.C.B. Treasurer: Mr. A. B. Kempe. Secretaries: Sir 

 Michael Foster, K.C.B., Prof. A. W. Riicker, Foreign 

 Secretary: Dr. T. E, Thorpe, C.B. Other members of the 

 council : Prof. H. E. Armstrong, Mr. C. V. Boys, Dr. 

 Horace T. Brown, Mr. W. H. M. Christie, C.B., Prof. 

 E. B. Elliott, Dr. Hans F. Gadow, Prof. W. M. Hicks, Lord 

 Lister, Prof. W. C. Mcintosh, Dr. Ludwig Mond, Prof. A. W. 

 Reinold, Prof. J. Emerson Reynolds, Dr. R. H. Scott, Prof. 

 C. S. Sherrington, Mr. J. J. H. Teall, Sir J. Wolfe Barry, 

 K.C.B. 



The Royal Society's Medals have this year been adjudi- 

 cated by the president and council as follows : — the Copley 

 Medal to Prof. Marcellin Berthelot, For.Mem.R.S., for his 

 brilliant services to chemical science ; the Rumford Medal 

 to Prof. Antoine Henri Becquerel, for his discoveries in 

 radiation proceeding from uranium ; a Royal Medal to Major 

 Percy Alexander MacMahon, F.R.S., for the number and range 

 of his contributions to mathematical science ; a Royal Medal to 

 Prof. Alfred Newton, F. R.S., for his eminent contributions to 

 the science of ornithology and the geographical distribution of 

 animals ; the Davy Medal to Prof. Guglielmo Koerner, for his 

 brilliant investigations on the position theory of the aromatic 

 compounds ; and the Darwin Medal to Prof. Ernst Haeckel, 

 for his long continued and highly important work in zoology, 

 all of which has been inspired by the spirit of Darwinism. Her 

 Majesty the Queen has been graciously pleased to approve 01 

 the award of the Royal Medals. The medals will, as usual, be 



