ORDINARY MEETING, Arrin 4, 1887. 
H. Capman Jones, Esq., In THE CuHatr. 
The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed, and the 
following Elections were announced :— 
Associates :—Rey. J. 8. Phillips, D.D., United States ; Rev. H. M. M. 
Hackett, India ; Miss E. 8. Mitchell, England. 
Hon. Corresponpinc Memper :—W. Johnson, Esq., England. 
Mr. S. R. Parrison, F.G.S.—Before reading my paper I will take the 
liberty of prefacing what I have to put before the Institute, by a few 
geological details, which may tend to a better appreciation of the facts here- 
after dealt with. The geological facts I wish to submit, relate simply to 
the successive strata in which fossil coral-reefs are found in this country. It 
may be a matter of surprise to those who were not previously acquainted 
with the circumstance, that such things as coral-reefs are to be found in 
England—I mean inland, and not upon the coast—and in order to show 
where they are to be found, for the benefit of those who have not previously 
thought about the matter, I must refer to the geology of the country. 
Starting from London we will take a straight line towards the west, but 
from that straight line we must diverge as occasion may demand ; 
nevertheless, the general direction will be due west towards the Welsh 
coast. We first of all travel over a good deal of that which we are upon 
now, namely, the London clay, which occupies what is pretty much in the 
nature of a plain, resting on a kind of basin and having some gravel spots 
here and there, at different intervals. When we get below Reading we lose 
the tertiary strata and come to the chalk, of which the cuttings of the 
railway lines soon furnish evidence. The chalk rises from under the clay, 
beneath which it runs in a sloping direction, and, having come to the 
surface, it forms moderate hills and valleys, until we come to the 
neighbourhood of Swindon, at which point we find, rising from beneath the 
chalk, a formation that is known as the oolite, and which begins with 
Portland stone and ends with that troublesome Box tunnel, which is cut 
through Bath stone. These are the oolites. Then we come to the blue 
limestone—the hard limestone—which is found in the neighbourhood of 
Clifton, Bristol, and elsewhere, which forms a saucer, so to speak, whereon 
the coal formation rests. This is the carboniferous limestone, which still 
slants towards London, underneath the other formations. Then we must 
