Baily — Figures of British Fossils. 465 



in mind how many geological students there are living scattered 

 through the length and breadth of the land, to whom access to a 

 geological library is for ever denied, it is easily to be understood 

 what a boon such a work as a well illustrated catalogue of British 

 Fossils must be to them, even if it takes in only the characteristic 

 British sjDccies. Of course it will occupy some time for the comple- 

 tion of such a work as this which Mr, Baily has undertaken ; but 

 the present number is an earnest of the future, and promises well 

 for those who have subscribed to so good an object. 



The ten plates which accompany this number are carefully drawn 

 on stone by Mr, Baily, some from the original fossils, some from the 

 memoirs of the Geological Survey, the Palgeontographical Society's 

 Monographs, and other sources. 



We would counsel the adoption of finer grained lithographic 

 stones in illustrating the future numbers of this work, as the merit of 

 the artist's style is occasionally injured by the want of sharpness in 

 some of the figures. 



The woodcuts, interspersed through the pages of descriptive 

 remarks, are well executed, and add much to the interest of the text. 



We wish Mr. Baily all the success he so well deserves in the 

 carrying out of this important work. 



Bkitish Association for the Advancement of Science. 



ADDRESS TO THE GEOLOGICAL SECTION 



By Archibald Geikie, F.R.S., &c. 



Director of tlie Geological Survey of Scotland, President of Section C, Dundee, 



September 5tli, 1857. 



After some introductory remarks, the President said : — 

 In that combination of features which renders the British Islands 

 so remarkable an epitome of the geology of the globe, not the least 

 important item, as it seems to me, is the development of igneous 

 rocks which we possess. From the massive feldspathic lavas and 

 ashes of the Lower Silurian rocks, up to the great basaltic plateaux 

 of Miocene age, most of our geological formations contain some- 

 where evidences of contemporaneous volcanic activity. And these 

 traces, instead of being confined to limited districts, are found often 

 to range for many miles through groups of hills and wide stretches 

 of lowland. 



This copious development of volcanic rocks cannot but present 

 many facilities for the stud}'^ of volcanic phenomena. The investi- 

 gation may be approached from a number of different sides, resolv- 

 ing itself in this way into several distinct lines of research. Thus, 

 these igneous masses may be studied stratigraphically with the 

 proofs of their having been successively erupted at the surface during 

 the growth of the various formations among which they occur. 

 Hence, on the one hand, we may obtain much curious insight into 

 the geological history of a district, while, on the other, by taking 



YOL. IV. NO. XL. 30 



