128 Reports and Proceedings. 



In this pamphlet, Dr. Von Koenen endeavours to show that the 

 division of the Tertiary system into Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, 

 and Pliocene, is the most philosophical, and the most convenient. 

 He also discusses a number of incidental questions, including the 

 age of the Tertiary sands on the North Downs, which he believes to 

 be of Pliocene age, as they contain no typical Miocene fossils, but 

 several species peculiar to the Upper Crag. 



Besides the immediate object of his paper. Dr. Von Koenen's 

 great point is to show that Dr. Giebel's description of the fossils 

 from the Brown-Coal of Latdorf is both defective and inaccurate. 

 He says that Dr. Giebel knew of only 180 species from that 

 formation, while he possesses three times the number ; and of the 

 65 species figured by Dr. G-iebel, more than 30 are considered to 

 have been incorrectly determined. 



The author then describes 122 species of MoUusks from the 

 Helmstadt beds, of which 98 are known to occur in Lower Oligocene 

 deposits, 31 in Upper Eocene, and 30 in Middle Eocene. Six corals 

 have been determined in these beds by Dr. A. Eoemer, and of the 

 shells, 17 are peculiar to this locality. Dr. Von Koenen's researches 

 have led him to the conclusion that we niust expect to find species 

 considered characteristic of the Lower Oligocene fauna in beds of 

 widely different ages occurring in distant districts. 



Geological Society of London. — I. January 2-4, 1866. — W. J. 

 Hamilton, Esq., President, in the chair. The following communi- 

 cation was read : — " Notes on Belgian Geology." By E. A. C. 

 Godwin-Austen, Esq., F.E,S., For. Sec. G.S. 



This communication related to the Upper and Lower Kainozoic 

 formations of Belgium, in the following order : — 1. The Polders, or 

 sea-mud beds, and their equivalents. 2. The Campine sands, and 

 Los, or Limon de Herbaye. 3. The Boulder-formation. 4. Cailloux 

 Ardennais. 5. The Lower Kainozoic, or Crag. 



The Polders, which form a belt along the sea-board of Belgium 

 and Holland, occasionally running inland up the courses of rivers, 

 as up the Scheldt to Antwerp, indicate an elevation of very small 

 amount, corresponding to the raised estuarine and other beds around 

 our own coasts. They are covered by dunes and drifted sands. A 

 great deal of the fen-land at higher levels, with peat and bog-iron, 

 belongs to the age of the Polders, and of still earlier times, inasmuch 

 as the Polders very generally overlie a terrestrial surface. The 

 Campine sands, which run parallel with the coast from North 

 Holland towards Antwerp, but within the Polder-belt, were con- 

 jectured, from their composition, and on other considerations, to have 

 been derived from sands carried inland away from dunes of the 

 Boulder-formation period. The Los, which is of freshwater origin, 

 resulted from the annual depositions of melted snow-waters. The 



