232 Reports and Proceedings— 
the soil. They are most abundant in basaltic regions, and in a 
lake occupying a hollow in the basalt in Berar carbonate of soda is 
deposited in abundance from the water, which becomes super- 
saturated during the summer. 
The author commented on the efficacy of such a liquid as a solvent 
of silica, and noticed the selective action of the agent which had 
affected the Soudan pebbles and had corroded some layers more than 
others ; he suggested that while this might be to some extent due 
to differences in composition, it was more probably owing to differ- 
ences of nodular constitution. He considered it unnecessary to refer 
to the action of humic acid, because while the salt to which the 
solvent action is attributed would be capable of doing such work, 
and would be probably abundant in the region referred to, we could 
not expect any great amount of humic acid in the same area. 
2. “On the Probable Mode of Transport of the Fragments of 
Granite and other Rocks which are found imbedded in the Carboni- 
ferous Limestone of the Neighbourhood of Dublin.” By Prof. V. 
Ball, M.A., F.R.S., F.G.S. 
Angular fragments of granite and of schist, quartzite, and vein- 
quartz, such as might have been derived from the metamorphosed 
rocks which rest on the granite near Dublin, have been discovered 
in beds of Carboniferous Limestone, which often contain fragments 
of fossils, especially Encrinites. They have been previously noticed 
by Professor Haughton, Mr. H. B. S. Montgomery, Prof. Jukes, and 
Mr. Croll. While Prof. Jukes refers their transportation to the 
agency of land-plants, Mr. Croll quotes their occurrence in support 
of his argument as to the existence of glacial conditions during 
the Carboniferous period. 
The author observed that the specimens exhibited none of the 
indications of the existence of glacial conditions, whether we regard 
the characters of the boulders or the nature of the rock in which they 
are imbedded, which contains no such silt as that occurring in the 
boulder-bed of the Talchir formation. Whilst rejecting the view 
that they were transported by ice, he pointed out that they need not 
necessarily have been carried by land-plants, but that they might 
have been torn from the sea-floor by marine alge, some of which 
may have had a more buoyant character than those of modern seas. 
He cited the case of a sandy beach in the neighbourhood of Youghal, 
which is strewn with limestone fragments, which had been conveyed 
by seaweeds thrown up after storms from submarine banks. 
It was suggested that the occurrence of natural fissures in the rocks 
and cracks produced by concussions from large masses hurled about 
by the waves might sufficiently explain how the fragments could be 
freed from the main mass of the reefs under the stress of the waves. 
3. “The Upper Eocene, comprising the Barton and Upper Bag- 
shot Formations.” By J. Starkie Gardner, Esq., F.G.S., and Henry 
Keeping, Esq., with an Appendix by H. W. Monckton, Esq., F.G.S. 
The familiar Upper Eocene having been transferred to the Oligo- 
cene, the remaining uppermost division of the Eocene bears the title 
Middle. Unless the considerable literature relating to the Brackle- 
