74 Meetings of the Scientific Association of Great Britain. 
are twenty nine beds of coal, of the united thickness of one hun- 
dred and nineteen feet, and that in the Edinburgh district, there are 
from twenty six to twenty nine beds of the thickness of one hundred 
and nine feet. 
The nodules of iron stone in the bituminous shale of Wardie gen- 
erally contain an organic nucleus, either a coprolite, or some portion 
of a fish. 
Organic Remains in the Limestone of Burdic House.—In the 
limestone of Burdic house, there are bones of gigantic animals, va- 
rious undescribed fish, large scales and coprolites. 
There are pointed teeth, three and three fourths inches long, and 
one and a half wide at their base, resembling those of Saurian rep- 
tiles ;* the teeth and the numerous large scales, are beautifully 
enamelled of a brown tint. ‘There were also bony rays fifteen inch- 
es long, and of course, they must have belonged to some huge fish. 
Mr. Agassiz was of the opinion, that these relics belonged to a 
fish, of a new and extraordinary genus, partaking of the character 
of reptiles, of that class of animals which appear elsewhere in great 
numbers, only at a geological era much later than that in which these 
are deposited. 
Sept. 11.— Structure of recent and fossil wood.—Mr. Nicoll 
read a paper on the structure of recent and fossil wood, with nume- 
rous specimens illustrative of his observations, and of his method of 
obtaining thin sections, so as to be transparent, and to exhibit the 
structure, in the manner, we believe, first invented and put into prac- 
tice, by Mr. Witham.+ 
Fossil Fishes.—Fossil fishes are found, abundantly, in the Ork- 
neys, and in Caithness; Mr. Agassiz refers them to an era earlier 
than the coal measures. 
Geology of North America.—A paper was introduced from Dr. 
Harlan, on the fossil organic remains of the United States. 
Mr. Murchison gave an abstract of Dr. Rogers’ report on the Ge- 
ology of North America; the following are the conclusions drawn by 
the author. 
1. The deposits of New Jersey differ from those of the southern 
States, in being chiefly arenaceous, and in containing an immense 
quantity of the pure chloritic mineral, called green sand. 
* Rather Saurian fish, according to the opinion of the celebrated M. Agassiz, 
who examined them. 
t See this Journal, Vol. xxv, p. 108, and Vol. xxvu, p. 415. 
t See this Journal, Vol. 27, p. 347. 
