78 REPORT— 1877. 



The shifting caused by any elevation of land near the equator or poles is very 

 slight, so that the effect of the water displaced is, up to about the oth degree of 

 latitude, as great or greater than that caused directly by the movement of the land. 

 From this it is apparent that near the equator a submarine movement may act on 

 the pole in a contrary direction to that exercised by a similar movement nearer 

 45° lat. As about ^ of the globe is included between the latitudes 5° N. and 5° S., 

 the effects of movements here are specially worthy of consideration. 



The effects of the drying up of an ancient Caspian sea was taken as an illustra- 

 tion of the points brought forward. The loss of water of double the area of the 

 Caspian, evaporating to a depth of about 200 feet, woidd, by the loss of weight of 

 water, shift the pole about 106 feet towards the White Sea ; but as this water 

 would be so distributed as to cause additional weight along 45° 44' long. E. in 

 the southern hemisphere, it woidd shift the pole still further in the same direction, 

 making a total of about 170 feet. If there were a Caspian Sea in the south along 

 this line, then similar phenomena would cause a movement of 156 feet as against 

 176 feet in the north. 



On the Occurrence of Branchipus or Chirocepbalus in a Fossil State in the upper 

 part of the Fluvio-marine Series {Middle Eocene) at Gurnet and TJiorness 

 Bays, near Cowes, Isle of Wight. By Henry Woodward, F.R.S., of the 

 British Museum. 



The author referred to the great interest surrounding the geology of the Isle 

 of Wight, from the labours of Ibbetson, Forbes, Mantell, Prestwich, Bristow T , and 

 many others, and the rich Fauna contained in its strata, much of which remains to 

 be described, although its stratigraphical geology has been well worked out by the 

 officers of the Geological Survey. 



Mr. Woodward called attention to a thin band of freshwater limestone occurring 

 at the base of the cliff belonging to the Bembridge series, from 2 to 12 inches thick, 

 which at places is full of remains of plants and insects, Dytiscus, Curculio, Formica, 

 &C, and, what is most remarkable, the diaphanous bodies of a small Phyllopod 

 Crustacean without a hard shelly covering. This little Crustacean is closely related 

 to the " Brine-shrimp " (Artemia salina), so abundant in the brine-pans at Lymington 

 at the present day. Branchipus or Chirocephalus is a freshwater Crustacean found 

 living in ponds in Devonshire and Kent. Its preservation is due to the admirable 

 nature of the fine argillaceo-calcareous rock in which it has been entombed in such 

 numbers, the delicate outline of its gill-feet being stained with iron so as to be as 

 well shown as in a photograph. 



Notes on the Devonian Rocks near Newton Allot and Torquay ; with Remarks 

 on the Subject of their Classification. By Horace B. Woodward, F.G.S., 

 of the Geological Survey of England and Wales. 



After having alluded to the imperfect state of the information respecting the 

 Devonian rocks, especially in regard to local details of structure, the writer pointed 

 out that the succession of strata near Newton Abbot and Torquay was (in descend- 

 ing order) as follows: — 3, Limestone; 2, Slates; and 1, Red Sandstones. He 

 noted the resemblances in lithological characters between these beds and the Lower 

 Carboniferous rocks and Old lied Sandstone, with which they were classed fifty 

 years ago by De la Beche. lie likewise drew attention to their relations with the 

 Culm-measures, observing that while there were indications of conformability to 

 them, no positive proof to the contrary had been established ; and the supposed 

 instances of unconformability were all of them, as Jukes had considered, capable of 

 explanation by faidts and other disturbances. Attention was drawn to some striking 

 cases of such phenomena. The impossibility of accepting fossil evidence alone was 

 insisted upon, inasmuch as its value in classification could only be gained after the 



