Reports and Proceedings — Geological Society of London. 569 



in the ascending conduits of these springs or in proximity to the 

 laboratories of volcanoes. Superheated water, which betrays itself 

 outside by thermal springs and volcanic exhalations, must produce 

 slowly and silently in the interior of the globe effects both considerable 

 and permanent and, as formerly, give birth to various minerals. 



'' In its ceaseless circulation subterranean and deep, and by its 

 work principally chemical, water simulates a kind of vital action 

 which is perpetuated in the earth's crust throughout the ages of our 

 planet." W. H. H. 



Geological Socikty of London. 



November 9, 1887.— Prof. J. W. Judd, F.E.S., President, in the 

 Chair. — The following communications were read : — 



1. "Note on the so-called 'Soapstone' of Fiji." By Henry B. 

 Brady, F.E.S. 



The Suva deposit, which has a composition very similar to that 

 of the volcanic muds at present forming around oceanic islands in 

 the Pacific, is friable and easily disintegrated. The colour ranges 

 from nearly white to dark grey, the mass being usually speckled with 

 minerals of a darker hue. Under the microscope the rock presents 

 the character of a fine siliceous mud with crystals of augite, etc., 

 together with the sparsely scattered tests of Foraminifera. The 

 approximate chemical composition of typical specimens is : — Silica, 

 50 per cent. ; alumina, 18 per cent. ; lime and magnesia, from 5 to 6 

 per cent. ; ferric oxide, from 3 to 8 per cent. ; water, 16 per cent, 

 with a small proportion of alkalies, chiefly potash, and but small 

 trace of carbonates. 



The author's attention was chiefly directed to the common grey 

 friable rock, which may be softened in water and washed on a sieve, 

 the residue consisting mainly of Foraminifera with a few Ostracoda. 

 Of three specimens examined, 1 is a light-gi'ey rock from close to 

 the sea-level ; 2, of a lighter colour, from about 100 feet elevation ; 

 3 is nearly white and somewhat harder, and was derived from an 

 intermediate point. So far as the Microzoa are concerned, the first 

 two present no differences which might not be observed in dredgings 

 from the recent sea-bottom, taken at similar depths a little distance 

 apart. The third appears to have been deposited in somewhat deeper 

 water. There is a marked scarcity of arenaceous Foraminifera. 



Then followed notes on the rarer and moi'e interesting species, 

 together with a list of the 92 species of Foraminifera found. Of 

 these, 87 are forms still living in the neighbourhood of the Pacific 

 islands. Two of the remaining 5 are new to science, and the rest 

 extremely rare. The author concluded that these deposits are of 

 Post-Tertiary age, formed at depths of from 150 to 200 fathoms in 

 the neighbourhood of a volcanic region. The following new or 

 little-known species were selected for illustration : — ElUpsoidina 

 ellipso{des,\a,Y. oblonga, Seguenza ; Haplophragmium rugosum,D'Ovh.; 

 Ehrenbergina hicornis, nov. ; Sphceroidina ornata, nov. 



