88 • REPORT— 1869. 



Notes on the Braclilopoda liWierto obtained from tlie " Pehhle-hed " of Budleigh- 

 Salierton, iiear Exmoutli, in Devonshire. By T. Davidsox, F.li.S. 



On the 16tli of December, 1863, Messrs. W. Vicaiy and J. W. Salter made a com- 

 munication to the Geological Society on the pebble-bed at Budleifrh-Salterton, 

 wherein some thirty-six different fossils were described, and attributed, with greater 

 or lesser contidence, to the Lower Silurian period. Of these, ten or twelve are 

 Brachiopoda. Subsequently the author of this paper, having had from Mr. Vicary 

 and others the opportunity of examining several hundred specimens from the same 

 locality, was able to deternrine bej'ond doubt that a large proportion of the shells 

 were of Devonian age, while others ma}' be of SUurian origin. 



A great mystery is stated to hang over the derivation of the boulders composing 

 that " remanier " deposit ; the melange of fossils does not seem to occur in the same 

 pebble, but, on the contrary, every individual boulder contains species referable to 

 the one or to the other epoch, so that no real mingling of Silurian and Devonian fos- 

 sils has been hitherto detected in the same pebble. The rock is usually a sandstone 

 or quartzite, and it is difficult to conceive now fossils of two distinct ages (if true) 

 should occur in the same kind of rock, and be accumulated in the same locality, so 

 that many geologists have, rightly or wi-ongly, supposed all the boidders to be of a 

 similar age. It has not hitherto been possible to discover from where these 

 pebbles h&ve been drifted, or where is the parent rock, but they are supposed to be 

 of French origin, although no similar rock in Normandy or in Great IBritain has 

 produced the assemblage of species contained in the Budleigh boulders. 



The fossils occur in the shape of internal casts and external impressions, and only 

 a small proportion of the boulders are fossiliferous. The author has detected some 

 thirty-seven species of Brachiopoda, which he described and illustrated. Of these 

 about ten, or perhaps less, are considered to be Silurian, twelve or more are without 

 doubt Devonian, while fifteen are either new or not yet identified with described 

 species, or have not hitherto been found associated in the same pebble or rock with 

 any of the others recorded as Silurian and Devonian, but most of them seem to pos- 

 sess more of the Devonian than Silurian facies. It is highly probable that when 

 the species of the other classes, also occurring in these pebbles, shall have been care- 

 fully and critically examined, that the true age of the above fifteen species will be 

 established, as the whole series must be taken into consideration before we can 

 arrive at any definite conclusion. 



On the Occurrence of the Mineral Scheelite (Timf/state of Lime) at Val Toppa 



Gold Mine, near Domodossola, Piedmont. By C. Le Neve rosxES, B.A., 



D.Sc., F.G.S. 



The author stated that Scheelite (tungstate of lime) is now occurring at the Val 

 Toppa Gold-mine. It is associated with quartz, iron pyrites, galena, zinc-blende, 

 calc-spar, brown spar, and native gold ; whilst wolfram, tinstone, molybdenite, 

 fluor-spar, apatite, topaz, and tourmaline, which usually accompany Scheelite, are 

 entirely absent. The Scheelite is called " Marmor rosso " by the Piedmontese 

 miners, and is looked upon as a good indication for gold. 



P.S. Since this paper was written, the author has received a letter fi'om Mr. 

 David Forbes about the occurrence of Scheelite. In his ' Researches on the Mi- 

 neralogy of South America,' p. 40, he speaks of Scheelite as one of the " minerals of 

 the Post-Silurian Granite eruptions, and their accompanying metallic veins." 



The Devonian Group considered Geologically and Geographically. 

 By R. A. C. GoDmN-ArsTEN, F.B.S., F.G.S. 



The object of this paper was to define the general arrangement of land and water 

 over the northern hemisphere during the period of the accumulation of the "De- 

 vonian" group. 



After a short account of physical changes during earlier Palaeozoic times, it was 

 shown that the northern hemisphere had acquired and presented a great extent of 

 terrestrial surface immediately antecedent to the " Devonian " or Middle Palseozoic 



