294 Geolorjical Society. 



PROCEEUIXGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



January 10, 1894.— W. H. Hudleston, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., 

 President, ia the Chair. 



The following communication was read : — 



' On the Rhffitic and some Liassic Ostracoda of Britain.' By 

 Prof. T. Rupert Jones, F.R.S., F.G.S. 



In this paper the published observations on the occurrenco of 

 these Microzoa in the Rhaetic and Lower Liassic strata of England, 

 chiefly in Gloucestershire and Somerset, by the Rev. P. B. Brodie, 

 H. E. Strickland. C. Moore, and others, are first of all recorded ; 

 and the various notices of the so-called ' Cypris liassica ' in various 

 palteontological works are considered. Numerous specimens sub- 

 mitted by the Rev. P. B. Brodie, the Rev. H. H. Win wood, and 

 Mr. E. Wilson, and some few examined in the Geological Societj-'s 

 collection, have been studied, with the result of determining, it is 

 hoped satisfactorily, the characters and alliances of Danrinula 

 liassica (Brodie) and of six or seven other species found in the 

 same and the associated series of strata. The Darwinida rjhhosa 

 (Dulf), from Linksfield, Morayshire, is also critically re-examined 

 as one of this interesting series of Rhajtic Ostracoda. The other 

 species belong for the most part to Ci/theridia ; thus most of them 

 probably lived in brackish or estuarine waters. 



January 24, 1894.— W. H. Hudleston, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., 

 President, in the Chair. 



The following communications were read : — 



1 ' The Ossiferous Fissures in the Tallcv of the Shodc, near 

 Ightham, Kent.' By W. J. Lewis Abbott, Esq., F.G.S. 



The fissures occur in a promontory of Kentish Rag between two 

 tributaries of the Shode. There are four fissures in this promontory, 

 striking at right angles to the valley. Details of the physiography 

 of the area in which the fissures occur are given in the paper. 

 Three of the fissures have obviously been in contact with the 

 surface, and from these the bones appear to have been dissolved out. 

 The fourth does not reach tlie top of the Rag, and further is sealed 

 by an aragonite-lined chamber with stalactitic floor and ceiling. 

 This fissure is from 2 to 6 feet wide and about 80 feet deep, and is 

 filled with a luiterogencous collection such as constitutes the flotsam 

 and jetsam of streams, along with materials derived from the rock 

 in wliich the fissures occur. Several thousand bones were found, 

 also 12 species of aquatic and land shells, an entomostracan, Chara 

 and other vegetable renuiins have been procured. 



The Author ijives reasons for concludin2: tliat the fis.sures have 



