ADAMSON : GEOLOGICAL PAPERS. 1 3 



Inquiry into the Microscopic Features of the Coal of the World, 



and into the Organisation of the Fossil Plants of the Coal Measures ' 



(the venerable but energetic Professor said that some years ago he 



determined on a microscopic examination of the chief coals of the 



world, the object being to obtain more information as to their origin 



and formation, amongst the specimens which had been forwarded 



from all parts of the world, ranging from the Arctic Regions to 



Australia, from Japan to Nova Scotia, and from Sweden to Borneo, 



were some from Durham and Whitehaven, but none from Yorkshire 



were mentioned); G. R. Vine, ' Polyzoa of the Red Chalk' (this 



being of a most technical character, was taken as read) ; John 



Marley and Prof. Lebour, M.A., F.G.S., 'Sketch of the rise and 



progress of the Cleveland and South Durham Salt Industry, and on 



the extension of the Durham Coal Field ' (this was a most important 



communication ; after a review of the whole subject, the area of 



proved salt was said to be at least twenty miles ; details of borings 



w^ere given and specimens exhibited of the same) ; C E. De Ranee, 



F.G.S., ' Fifteenth Report of the Committee on the Circulation of 



Underground Waters ' (the Committee had inquired into the waters 



yielded by the Permian and Trias, following these formations from 



Teignmouth in Devon to Tynemouth in Northumberland) ; Dr. D. 



Embleton, 'On the spinal column of Loxomma alhnanni from the 



Northumberland Coal-field' (this specimen had a longer series of 



vertebrce than any hitherto got from the Coal Measures, and was 



probably, when living, 14 ft. long); Dr. R. Laing, 'The Bone Caves 



of Cressweir (described the recent discovery of an extinct feline 



—Felis brevirostris — new to Great Britain) ; G. W. Lamplugh, ' Report 



on an Ancient Sea Beach near Bridlington ' (the report stated that 



no further excavation of the buried cliff-beds had been done during 



the past year, but the committee asked to be re-appointed, without 



grant, for the determination and disposal of the specimens) ; 



Dr. H. W. Crosskey, F.G.S., 'Report upon Erratic Blocks' (the work 



of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union in this direction, embracing 



nearly sixty reports during the past year, was highly eulogised, and 



stated to be excellent and exhaustive, and an example to other 



counties ; a contour map of Yorkshire, to mark the elevations of the 



various boulders reported, was recommended) ; G. W. Lamplugh, 



' Note on a new locality for the Arctic Shell-beds of the Basement 



Boulder-clay on the Yorkshire Coast' (the paper stated that the 



basement boulder-clay at the South Landing at Flamborough Head 



included many irregular masses of fine gravel, silt, and sand ; one of 



these, a thin lenticular layer of greenish-yellow sand, contained 



many shells of the same species discovered at Bridlington and 



Jan. 1890. 



