96 
NATURE 
[De. 1, 1870 

SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
LONDON 
Geological Society, November 9.—Mr. Joseph Prestwich, 
F.R.S., President, in the chair, Lieutenant Reginald Clare 
Hart, R.E., Brompton Barracks, Chatham ; Lieutenant James 
Frederick Lewis, R.E., Brompton Barracks, Chatham; and 
Mr. M. F. Maury, jun., 1300 Main Street, Richmond, Vir- 
ginia, U.S., were elected Fellows of the Society.—(1.) ‘‘On the 
Carboniferous Flora of Bear Island (lat..74° 30’ N.),” by Pro- 
fessor Oswald Heer, F/M.G.S. The author described the 
sequence of the strata supposed to belong to the Carboniferous 
and Devonian series in Bear Island, and indicated that the plant- 
bearing beds occurred immediately below those which, from their 
fossil contents, were to be referred to the mountain limestone. 
He enumerated eighteen species of plants, and stated that these 
indicated a close-approximation of the flora to those of Tallow- 
bridge and Kiltorkan in Ireland, the greywacke of the Vosges 
and the southern Black Forest, and the Verneuilii-shales of Aix 
and St. John’s, New Brunswick. These concordant floras he 
considered to mark a peculiar set of beds, which he proposed to 
denominate the ‘‘ Ursa-stage.”” The author remarked that the 
flora of Bear Island has nothing to do with any Devonian flora, 
and that consequently it and the other floras, which he regards 
as contemporaneous, must be referred to the Lower Carboni- 
ferous. Hence he argued that the line of separation between 
the Carboniferous and Devonian formations must be drawn below 
the yellow sandstones. The presence of fishes of Old Red Sand- 
stone type in the overlying slates he regarded as furnishing no 
argument to invalidate this conclusion. 
Parry Island and Melville Island are also regarded by the author 
as belonging to the ‘‘ Ursa-stage,’’ which, by these additions, 
presents us with a flora of seventy-seven species of plants. The 
author remarked upon the singularity of plants of the same 
«species having lived in regions so widely separated as to give 
them a range of 263° of latitude, and indicated the rela- 
tions of such a luxuriant and abundant vegetation in high 
northern latitudes to necessary changes in climate and in 
sthe distribution of land and water.—Sir Charles Lyell re- 
marked that the Yellow Sandstones of Dura Den in 
Fife, and of the county of Cork in Ireland, contain Glypéolepis 
and Asterolepis, genera of fish exclusively Devonian, or be- 
longing to the middle parts of the Old Red Sandstone—also 
‘the genus Coccosteus, which is abundantly represented in the 
Middle Old Red Sandstone, and sparingly, or only by one species, 
in the Carboniferous formation. ‘The evidence derived from these 
fishes inclined him to the belief that the Yellow Sandstone, 
whether in Ireland or Fife, should be referred to the Upper 
Devonian, and not to the Lower Carboniferous, as Sir Richard 
Griffiths contended, and as Heer now thinks. As to the argu- 
ment founded on the plants, he considered it an important and 
truly wonderful announcement, that many well-known Carbo- 
niferous species are common to Bear Island (in lat. 74° 30’ N.), 
ithe Arctic regions and to Ireland and other parts of Europe 
(26° of latitude farther south). But fossil plants are supposed to 
have a wider range in space and time than fossil fish ; and we 
know that the cryptogamic flora of the ancient coal is remarkable 
for the wide horizontal spread of the same species, extending 
from North America to Europe, so that we need not be surprised 
if many species should extend vertically from the Devonian into 
the Carboniferous strata. Mr. Carruthers remarked on the 
bearing of the paper on the Kiltorkan beds, and considered that 
Dr. Heer had completely established the correlation of the depo- 
sits. He differed, however, as to the numerical proportions of 
the species. He could not recognise Cyc/ostigma as a genus, but 
considered it founded on insufficient grounds, in which view Prof. 
Haughton now agreed. It was, in fact, founded on fragments 
of the bark of Lepidodendron Griffithsii, Brongniart, to which 
species the Lepidoaendron indicated by Prof. Heer as LZ. velthei- 
mianum really belonged. Other detached portions of this 
same plant had been described by various authors under 
no less than seven different specific names, and referred to 
nearly an equal number of distinct genera, and Prof. Heer had 
reckoned these as species in his comparison of the Bear Island 
and Irish floras. Prof. Heer had been led, chiefly by the 
erroneous determination of the Kiltorkan Zepidodendron by the 
Trish paleontologists, to refer these beds to the Carboniferous 
rather than to the Devonian formation, the Kiltorkan fossil 
having been established as a very distinct species by B:ongniart 
and Schimper. Mr, Carruthers considered that both the Irish 

The sandstones of | 

and Bear Island deposits belonged to the Devonian. Mr. Boyd 
Dawkins pointed out that the proximity of land was exhibited by 
the presence of terrestrial plants in the deposits, and believed 
that this might have much to do with the difference in the pro- 
portion in the beds. As the marine fauna decayed more rapidly 
than the terrestrial, it was preferable for classificatory purposes. 
He mentioned forms of vegetable life which had been recently 
discovered in America in beds of Cretaceous age. He did not 
believe that corals could have existed in those high latitudes 
under anything approaching to the present condition. Prof. 
Nordenskjéld had failed to discover any traces of glacial 
action in these beds; and the question arose whether 
there had been any change in the position of the Pole 
or in the radiated heat of the sun.—(2.) ‘‘On the Evi- 
dence afforded by the Detrital beds without and within 
the North-eastern part of the Valley of the Weald as to the 
mode and date of the Denudation of that Valley.” By Mr. S. 
V. Wood, jun., F.G.S. The author commenced by discussing 
the various hypotheses that have been proposed to explain the 
denudation of the Weald Valley. In his opinion the upheaval 
of the district took place in Post-glacial times, and subsequently 
to the deposition of the gravels of the Thames Valley, of East 
Essex, and of the Canterbury heights ; and the denudation was 
effected chiefly by tidal erosion during gradual upheaval in an 
inlet of the sea, aided by the action. of fresh water flowing into 
this inlet from the north by streams draining the land which now 
constitutes the counties of Middlesex and Essex. The chief 
evidence in favour of his views is as follows :—1. The absence 
from the glacial beds of Essex of any debris representing a con- 
siderable denudation of the Weald during the glacial period, 
and the probability that the Wealden area was beneath the 
sea during the deposition of the Boulder Clay. 2. The com- 
parative absence of Lower Cretaceous or Hastings-sand materials 
from the Post-glacial gravel-sheets ontside the morth of the 
Weald. 3. The impossibility of reconciling the presence of 
Tertiary pebbles in certain Weald-gravels with an origin by 
means of streams flowing in the direction of the present rivers. 
4. The antagonism between the character of the major valley of 
the Weald and that of any excavation producible by the agency 
of rivers. 5. The persistence of the old coast contour 
with the river-drainage entering it from the north. 6, 
The existence of a cause, in the shape of an isthmus 
at Dover, sufficient to induce a strong tidal scour. Mr. 
Godwin-Austen thought that the author had done his theory 
injustice in presenting only a portion of the Wealden area for 
consideration. He remarked that phenomena similar to those of 
the Weald were to be found in various parts of Western Europe. 
He was glad to find that Mr. Searles Wood did not regard the 
escarpment as representing marine cliffs ; but he did not attach 
sufficient weight to the absence of any material of marine origin 
at their base, so that there was no evidence of the presence of 
the sea within the Wealden area. He differed wholly from the 
author as to the age of the gravels, for beneath the gravels were 
silty beds ‘containing elephant remains. These gravels he was 
inclined to refer to a glacial period, as they contain blocks such 
as could only have been transported by the agency of ice. The 
elephants found in the valley of the Wey are of the species 
(Z. primigenius) which also occurs in the Selsea beds ; and he 
believed both to be of glacial age. As to the theory of the 
denudation of the Weald, he professed himself a convert to the 
views of Messrs. Foster and Topley, and cited what was now going 
on in Heligoland in illustration of atmospheric denudation. —Mr, 
Whitaker ebserved that the present absence of gravels along 
parts of the valley of the Thames affords no proof of their not 
having formerly existed. He pointed out the soft and friable 
nature of most of the rocks of the Wealden, which would account 
for their absence in the gravels. The only really hard rock was 
the Chert of the Lower Greensand, which was abundant in the 
gravels of West Kent. Angular flints occurred at the base of the 
chalk escarpment wherever it had been carried back by denuda- 
tion. The major valley of the Weald had been spoken of, but 
he denied that any such valley existed ; it was merely a series of 
numerous small valleys. He could not conceive the rivers 
flowing against the dip of the strata, as supposed by Mr. Wood. 
He did not agree in the view of the denudation of the 
Weald being such an enormous affair, but thought that 
it might be due to comparatively small causes.—The President 
pointed out that beyond Southend there was a section precisely 
similar to that of Grays. It was amistake to suppose pebbles 
from the Wealden area did not occur in the Thames gravels. 


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