420 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION C. 



grows upon us as we learn. Can we at all realise the greatest change that ever 

 came upon the globe, the moment when living matter appeared upon its surface, 

 perhaps over a few square miles ? Matter is either dead or living, that is, 

 endowed with life ; there is no intermediate state. And here was living matter, 

 a product of the slime, if you will, but of a slime more glorious than the stars. 

 Was this thing, life, a surface-concentration, a specialisation, of something that 

 had previously permeated all matter, but had remained powerless because it was 

 infinitely diffuse? Here you will perceive that the mere geologist is very 

 much beyond his depth. Let us return to our orderly studies, our patient 

 hammerings, our rock-slices, our chiselling out of fossil shells. Behind it all 

 is the earth itself, quiescent, it may be, but by no means in the sleep of death. 

 As Termier puts it, ' La planete n'est pas encore morte ; elle ne fait que dormir.' 

 If in this Address I have dwelt upon the possibility of rapid changes in its 

 surface, no member of our Association will feel the least alarm. 



Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas, 

 Atque metus omnes, et inexorabile fatum, 

 Subiecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis auari. 



The following Papers were then read : — 

 ]. On the Geology of Manche&ier and District. By Dr. G. Hicklino. 



2. On the Discovery of Solenopora and Sphaerocodium in the Silurian 

 Rocks of Britain. By Professor E. J. Garwood, F.R.S. 



At the meeting held at Birmingham in 1913 attention was called to the 

 important part played by calcareous algae, especially Solenopora, as rock builders 

 in the Ordovician and Carboniferous Rocks of Britain, and at the same time it 

 was pointed out that no example of this genus was, so far, known to occur in 

 rocks of Silurian age in this country. It was prophesied, however, that these 

 organisms would ultimately be found in rocks of this age if careful search for 

 them were instituted in suitable districts. This prediction has now been amply 

 justified, and it is now possible to state that, not only does Solenopora occur 

 both in the Wenlock and Woolhope limestones of the type Silurian district, but 

 that in certain areas, namely the borders of Herefordshire and Radnorshire, we 

 find what is perhaps the most remarkable development of algal limestone yet 

 met with in Britain. In this border country we find a mass of crystalline 

 limestone upwards of eighty feet thick, in which occur beds often largely made 

 up of the remains of Solenopora — some of these algal growths reaching a dia- 

 meter of over six inches. This species of Solenopora, which appears to be a new 

 form, is accompanied by remains of Oirvanella and S phceroc odium ; this latter 

 genus is now recorded for the first time from Britain, and occurs both in the 

 Old Radnor limestones and also in the Wenlock Limestone of May Hill. It 

 resembles very closely Sphcerocodium Munthei from Gothland. The species of 

 Solenopora which occurs in the Wenlock limestone at Farley Quarry is identical 

 with that from Radnorshire, and appears to be closely related to Solenopora 

 Gothlandica, while that from Woolhope is a much coarser form. 



3. The Classification of the Tertiary Strata by means of the Eutherian 

 Mammals. By Hon. Professor W. Boyd Dawkins, M.A., D.Sc, 

 F.R.S. 



The classification of the Tertiary Strata by means of the higher mammalia 

 outlined in my paper before the Geological Society in 1880 ^ has been tested 

 by tlie many discoveries all over the world since that time, and not found 



iQ.J.G.S., pp. 379 404. 



