Sept. 15, 1 881] 



NATURE 



473 



The Glacial Deposits 0/ IVcst Cuml>erla>2 /, by J. D. Kendall, 

 C.E., F.G.S. — The extent, form, and inner nature of these 

 dejra-its is first described ; a number of new and impwtant 

 facts being brou;j;ht forward on the distribution of boulders both 

 in the bou'der clays and in other glacial depo its. The conclu- 

 • ions arrived at from the facti are (l) that the boulder-clays 

 weve formed ia the sea, partly by glacier action and partly by 

 icebergs. The occurrence of boulders from distant localities, 

 often in very different directions, in a matrix partaki ig of the 

 character of the underlying rocks, is explained in an euturely 

 new way. 2. That the middle sands and gravels (.re the result 

 of marine and river action combined. 3. That the mounds of 

 .•and> and gravels occurring in the mouths of valleys were accu- 

 mulated by floating ice from pre-exi-ting deposits. A somewhat 

 novel explanation is given of the occurrence of boulders on 

 h'gher levels than the rocks from which they were derived. 



On " Flots," hy J. K. Da' yns, M.A., Geological Survey of 

 England and Wales. — The word " Hot " is a miner's term for 

 O'.'e lying between the beds, or at certain definite horizons in the 

 strata. In text-boo'., s flots are generally cilled "flats" or 

 "flattings." They are of two kinds : (I) those connected with 

 "cross-veins"; (2) those connected with courses of dun lime- 

 stone. Firstly, cross-veins are veins (generally mere spar veins 

 on Greenhow Hill) \\hich cross and intersect or shift the metal 

 veins, but which often bear ore at their inter.-ection m ith the 

 metal veins. Where these cross-veins cut the flot planes, ore is 

 found. Secondly, similarly with courses of dun lime -tone Dun 

 limestone, so-called from its coloui", is a dolomitised form of 

 ordinai-y limestone The dun lime occurs in beds or irregular 

 masses, or more frequently in dyke-like courses, rnnning north- 

 north-west and south-southeast. The>e courses are often 

 several yards or even fathoms wide, and where the dun course 

 crosses the flot plane ore is developed along the joints between 

 the dun and the white limestones. Ore is not found along the 

 flot plane except at its intersection with the cross-veins or with 

 the cour-es of dun limestone. 



On the Lower Cambrian of Anglesea, by J. McK. Hughes, 

 Woodwardian Professor, Cambridge. — In this paper the author 

 gives the results of further examination of the ba-eiuent beds of 

 the Cambrian, which he has now traced all along the north-west 

 flank of the Archaan axis of Llanfaelog. The sequence he 

 found almoit invariably v\as in ascending order: — (A) Quartz 

 conglomerate passing up into (B) grit, which in turn becomes 

 finer, and passed into (C) sandstones weathering brown, which 

 g)t split up in their upper part by thin slibby shales ; (D) black 

 shales with subordinate beds of L.lack (D 2) breccia, and occa- 

 sionally sandstone in the lower part. 



Ofi the Gnarled Series of Amloch and Holyhead in Anglesea, 

 by 'J'. McK. Hughes,^ Wood ,\ardian Professor, Cambridge. — 

 The author offers the results of his inquiries into the age of 

 certain schists which form the main mass of the rocks of northern 

 and Western Anglesea, leaving for the present the con-ideration 

 of the masses of somewhat similar rock which occur south of the 

 Llanfaelog gneissic axis in the central and south-east part of the 

 island. The author believes these felspathic gnarled rods mu^t 

 be either the marine equivalents of the Bala volcanic series, or 

 the result of a later (probably Silurian) denudation of those 

 beds. As Lower May Hill ( = Birkhill) fossils only occur in 

 the slates immediately south of the area in question, the latter 

 supposition is the only one tenable in the present state of the 

 evidence. 



Notes on the Subsidences above the Permian Limestone between 

 Hartlepool and Ripon, by A. G. Cameron, Geological Survey of 

 England and Wales. — In this paper attention is drawn to the 

 numerous forms of shrinkages of the land surface, often extend- 

 ing to considerable d pths into the rocks beneath, observ.ible 

 over the top of the Permian roc'^s betwixt Hartlepool and 

 Kipon. As a general explanation of their origin, it is suggested 

 that where the underground water, flow ing over the limestone 

 surface, reaches the margin of the sandstone, it receives a check 

 whereby it accumulates, forming a chain of dams or pools along 

 the line of junction of these rocks. A, denudation proceeds, 

 hollows forai above, until ultimately the phenomena of the pits 

 appear. This being so, " the water bubbling and frothing all 

 over" ii explained without calling in the aid of river-action. 

 Allusion is made to the Hone Farm Colliery accident at Hamil- 

 ton, N.B., in February, 1S77, through a suSsidence in the 

 gravelly alluvium of the Clyde ; also to the recent subsidentes 

 at Blackheath, near London, and to the extensive caverns in the 

 hematite districts of Furness. 



The Great Plain of iVorthern Lndia not an old Sea-Basin, by 

 W. T. Blanford, F.R.S. — The author de cribed the distribution 

 of land in the Indian Peninsula and the intervention of a vast 

 plain traversed by the Inius, Ganges, and Br.ahmaputra. This 

 plain has constantly been consi lered. both by geological and 

 lithological writers, as the basin of a great sea ; but on examining 

 the evidence, there does n^t appear to be a single fact in favour 

 of the sea having at any geol igical period occupie.f the Gangetic 

 or eastern position of the plain. The tract is evidently an area 

 of depression filled up to above sea-level, through a long period 

 of geological range of time. 



The Gold-Fields and the Quartz Outcrops of Southern Lndia, 

 by William King, Deputy Superintendent (for Madras), Geo- 

 logical Survey of India. — The paper is a rhumi of the know- 

 ledge ascertained through the autho 's original survey of 

 the Wainad gold-field in 1874 '"'d ''y 'he later surveys 

 and examinations of others ; also in his examination of the 

 Travancore and other areas in the b;ginning of the year. 

 The geographical distribution of the gold areas is briefly treated 

 of as being at Manyapet, on the Godavari River, near Dumbal, 

 in the South Mahratta country, near Kolar in Mysore, at Salem, 

 in part of the Travancore State, and in the Nilgiri and Malabar 

 country ; and these are reduced to the more important fields of 

 Malabvr (including Wainad, and the Nilgiris) and Mysore. The 

 reefs of Wainad are develope i to a remarkable extent over a 

 very large area of country ; but their gold-bearing quality is only 

 dis] laced over a portion of this, chiefly in the south east of 

 Wainad and in the adjacent lov c nmtry of Malabar, in a gene- 

 rally east and we--.t belt, the reefs ourside of this being fewer and 

 only very 1 ically auriferou.s. The "leaders" or offshoots of 

 the reefs in this belt are strongly and numerously developed, and 

 they and the "casing" are rich in gold. The author expects 

 the gold-yield to be seven pennyweights to the ton. He does 

 not think that a paying return can be obtained on less than three 

 pennyweights of gold to the t m. 



Geology of th: Lsland of Cyprus, by R. Russell, C.E.— The 

 author de cribed the physical features of the island as consisting 

 of two great mountain chain-, the axes of which are mainly 

 parallel to each other, distinct from each other in structure and 

 in physical matter. The southern range, rounded in outline, 

 rises to 6340 feet ; the northern range ri-es up from hummocky 

 gi'ound, on both sides, as it were, in one great continuous wall- 

 like cliff. The central area consists of fl.it-topped irreg lar hills 

 rising abruptly from the low ground, and therefore show mere 

 prominently than they would otherwise. The rocks which 

 occur may be classified as foil ows : — 

 f Blown sand. 



Alluvium (venl). 



Kavara (solidified surface). 



Raised beach. 



Sand and gravel (old river deposits). 



Calcareous tuff and travertine. 



Pliocene f Kerynia rock. 



(^ Aico-ia beds. 

 Miocene Idalian beds. 



Post- 

 Tertiary. 



Tertiary. 



Secondarv / Upper Cretaceous. Konnos. 



^\ Jurassic Mount Hilarion limestone. 



Igneous rocks. 

 The last upheaval of the island took place in a comparatively 

 recent period, and was not more than fifteen or twenty feet in 

 vertical height. 



On some Sections in the Lower Paleozoic Rocks of the Craven 

 District, by J. E. Marr, B.A., F.G.S.— The author showed by 

 means of a thin band containing Phacops elegan', Br£ck and 

 Sars, that a series of beds consisting of pale green shales, under- 

 lain by black shales, passing below into a conjlimerate which 

 rested unconformably upon the Bala beds (the wlrole exposed in 

 Austisich Beck, near Settle), were the equivalents of the Stock- 

 dale shales of the Lake District, and of the May Hill beds of 

 the Continent. The beds are lith oh igically similar to those of 

 the Lake District, and, like them, are surmounted by blue flags 

 containing ALoneigraptus priodon and M. vomerinus. 



L-ifi in Lrish and other Laurentian Rocks, by C. Motire, F.G.S. 

 — The author drew att mtion to certain forms found by a micro- 

 scopic examnation of specimens of certain Laurentian and other 

 Palaeozoic limestone prepared by trituration, solution in acid, 

 and washing. These forms were clearly those of organic struc- 

 tures, some apparently hairs and other feather barbs. The 

 author considered that he had taken precautions to eliminate 



