Geological Society of London. 185 



IL— February 20, 1884. — Prof. T. G. Bonney, D.Sc, F.K.S., 



President, in the Chair. — The following communications were read : 



1. " On a recent Exposure of the Shelly Patches in the Boulder- 

 clay at Bridlington." By G. W. Lamplugh, Esq. Communicated 

 by Dr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys, F.K.S., F.G.S. 



During some long-continued windy weather in the early part of 

 the winter of 1882-83, the Boulder-clay, usually hidden by sand and 

 shingle, was laid bare on the foreshore at Bridlington Quay. The 

 beds thus exposed belong to the lowest recognized part of the glacial 

 series of Yorkshire, the " Basement Boulder-clay." Over this, 

 parted occasionally by a little sand or gravel, comes the Purple 

 Boulder-clay, the Laminated Clay being whollj^ absent. The Base- 

 ment Clay thus exposed contained angular and subangular boulders, 

 with rounded j^ebloles occasionally scratched, besides many ci'ushed 

 masses of sand, sandy gravel, and clay, forming nearly a third of the 

 whole mass. The last, which generally contained marine remains, 

 were very variable in shape and in lithological character. The 

 fauna of the masses varied greatly, both in abundance and in species, 

 those common in one mass being rare or absent in another. The 

 shells were commonly much crushed, though whole specimens occur 

 occasionally. The author considers that these shell- bearing patches 

 had once formed a part of the bed of a glacial sea, which had been 

 invaded and ploughed up by ice, which had transported them to their 

 present locality. He gives reasons for thinking that they have not 

 come from the immediate neighbourhood, but probably from the 

 north-east, having been floated by icebergs to their present places. 



The paper concludes with lists of the fossils discovered (obtained, 

 for the most part, by washing parts of the included masses). The 

 result has been that the number of the Mollusca (examined by Dr. J. 

 Gwyn Jeffreys) has been raised from 67 to 101, five of the additions 

 being new to science. Four species of Balanus and one of Vei-ruca 

 have been identified. More than eleven species of fish have been 

 identified with more or less certainty, and these, Mr. E. T. Newton 

 remarks, seem to be either Norwich- Crag, Eed-Crag, or London-clay 

 forms ; and all may have been derived from the last-named deposit. 

 The Ostracodaand Foraminifera, which are numerous, were described 

 by Dr. Crosskey in an apj)endix. 



2. " On the so-called Spongia pm-adoxica, S. Woodward, from the 

 Eed and White Chalk of Hunstanton." By Prof. T. McKenny 

 Hughes, M.A., F.G.S. 



The author described a branched structure found in the Eed and 

 White Chalk of Hunstanton, which was named Spongia paradoxica 

 by S. Woodward, and has since generally been known as Spongia or 

 Siphonia 'paradoxica. The beds in which this supposed sponge 

 occurs contain fragments of various organisms, inchiding sponge- 

 spicules, but no trace of structure can be found in sections of the 

 Spongia parodoxica. The fragmentary state of the undoubted organic 

 remains would indicate that they were drifted into their present 

 position, and therefore a state of things quite unfitted for the growth 

 of a slender branching sponge; the so-called sponge commonly 



