Geological Society : — Anniversary oj 1839. 223 



add, that it is impossible not to look with pleasure upon the form 

 in which the work appears, enriched as it is in the most liberal 

 manner, with every illustration, map and section, picturesque 

 view and well marked fossil, which can aid in bringing vividly 

 before the reader, all the instructive and interesting features of 

 the formations there described. The book must be looked upon 

 as an admirable example of the sober and useful splendor which 

 may grace a geological monograph. 



Having been tempted to dwell so long on this subject from my 

 conviction of its importance, I must the more rapidly proceed 

 with the remainder of my survey. Mr. Bowman sent us, " Notes 

 on a small patch of Silurian Rocks to the west of Abergele." 

 In this investigation, which is interesting to us as the first appli- 

 cation of Mr. Murchison's Silurian System, the author found 

 strata of which some could be, by means of fossils, identified 

 with the Ludlow rocks-^ Mr. Malcolmson has, by the remains of 

 fossil fishes, shown that the calciferous conglomerate of Elgin 

 represents the old red sandstone of Clashbinnie, as the Rev. G. 

 Gordon had already supposed. Finally, proceeding to higher 

 strata, we have to notice a trait of the fossil history of the coal 

 strata near Bolton-le-Moors, contributed by Dr. Black. A stem 

 of a tree thirty feet long, and inclined at an angle of 18° in a di- 

 rection opposite to the strata, was discovered, having upon it a 

 Sternbergia, about an inch in diameter, extending the whole 

 length of the stem, which had been, while living, a parasite 

 plant, like the mighty existing creepers of the tropical regions. 



The most curious addition to our fossil characters of strata, 

 are the footsteps discovered on the surface of beds of the new 

 red sandstone. It is well known that several years ago such 

 marks were discovered at Corncockle Muir, in Dumfries-shire. 

 Since that time similar discoveries have been made at various 

 places, and especially in 1834, in the quarries of Hesseberg near 

 Hilbergshausen ; and to the animal which had produced the im- 

 pressions then discovered, the name of Chirotherium was provis- 

 ionally applied by Professor Kaup. In the quarries of Store ton 

 Hill, in the peninsula of Worrall, between the Mersey and the 

 Dee, marks were discovered strongly resembling the footsteps of 

 the Chirotherium of Kaup : these. were described by a committee 

 of the Natural History Society of Liverpool, and drawn by J. 

 Cunningham, Esq. Mr. James Yates has also described foot- 



