92 Hejjorts and Proceedings — 



his discoTeries, which in his opiniou bore out most completely his own views and 

 those of others who had worked before him in the same field. He cited Dr. Fitton, 

 Mr. Godwin-Austen, and Sir Cliarles Lyell as regarding the beds as unquestionably 

 Wealden, though with some marine bands accidentally intermingled. Prof. Ed. 

 Forbes, Prof. Phillips, and the Geological Survey had also regarded these beds 

 as Wealden, notwithstanding the temptation there existed from stratigraphical 

 reasons to place them in the Lower Greensand. These authors had supported their 

 views of the Wealden nature of these beds by collections of freshwater fossils, some 

 of which were figured, and are still preserved in public collections. He had himself 

 regarded the Punfield series as Neocomian, though still closely connected with the 

 Wealden, and, in fact, forming a transitional series of beds between the two, though 

 absolutely belonging to neither, and therefore worthy of a distinctive name. He 

 accepted the author's view, as carrying the boundary of these transitional beds to a 

 lower level than that previously assigned to them. In correlating the Punfield beds 

 with those of the Isle of Wight, he disputed the value of the evidence of the 

 lobster-beds, which, as had been pointed out by Edward Forbes, must of necessity 

 have varied in character at points any considerable distance apart. 



Mr. Seeley had regarded the Punfield beds from the same point of view as 

 Mr. Meyer, and had all along felt objections to the opinion of Mr. Judd. This had 

 been partly the result of his observations of the section, partly the result of the 

 palseontological evidence. By following the beds westward he had arrived nearer the 

 source of the materials of which they were composed, and had noted more particularly 

 a certain grit-bed which he thought could be recognized through the whole series, 

 and therefore aiforded a sort of basis for argument. The beds thinned out to the 

 west and thickened to the east. He was prepared to accept the two lobster-beds, 

 which in the section were one over the other, as merely showing the persistence 

 of the same bed, which, though continuous, had changed its position during the 

 interval. 



Prof. T. Eupert Jones considered that certain beds in the Wealden were sus- 

 ceptible of correlation over very wide areas by means of certain brecciated beds. 

 He pointed out that near Pidborough and at other places the Wealden terminated in 

 paper-shales, the same as those which Mr. Meyer had placed at the top of the series 

 at Punfield. Above these he thought no purely freshwater beds were to be found. 

 He considered that the whole, including the Wealden, were included in the 

 Neocomian. 



Mr. Etheridge thought the difference between the various writers on this subject to 

 be mainly one of terms. The same fossils as those found at Punfield had been found 

 in abundance in Spain. 



Mr. Meyer maintained, in opposition to Mr. Judd, that the Punfield beds were not 

 merely Upper Wealden. He had found a certain form of Ostrea over large areas 

 always on the same horizon; and this had occurred at Punfield at precisely the 

 level at which, in accordance with his views, it ought to have been present. Above 

 the marine bands he had sought in vain for fossils. 



2. " On the Coprolites of the Upper Greensand Formation, and on Flints." 

 By W. Johnson SoUas, Esq. Communicated by the Eev. T. G. Bonney, M.A., 

 F.G.S. 



The first part of this paper was principally occupied in an endeavour to explain 

 the perfect fossilization of sponges and other soft-bodied animals. It was shown 

 that the hypothesis which considered that sponges had become silicified by an 

 attraction of their spicules for silica was altogether untenable. Mr. H. Johnson's 

 supposititious reaction, according to which the carbon of animal matter is directly 

 replaced by silicon, was shown to be inconsistent with the known facts of chemistry. 

 The author's explanation was not intended to be final. The first fact pointed out 

 was the very remarkable way in which the silica or calcic phosphate of the fossils 

 under consideration followed the former extension of organic matter. This was 

 explained for silica by the fact that, when silicic acid is added to such animal matters 

 as albumen or gelatin, it forms with them a definite chemical compound ; and it was 

 assumed that in process of time this highly complex organic substance would 

 decompose, its organic constituents would be evolved, and its silica would remain 

 behind. In such a way flints might be produced, and dialysis would lend its aid. 

 The same explanation was applied to account for the connexion between calcic 

 phosphate and animal matter in the case of the "Coprolites." 



The Blackdown silicified shells were next explained, and it -Was reasoned that 



