Geologists' Association. 185 



A. Jamesoni, A. capricornis, A. margaritatus, and A. spinatus in the Middle Lias, 

 of Upper Lias fossils, including Ammonites coinmimis, falcifer, hete^-ophyllus, and 

 bifrons, and of others indicaiincr beds belonging to the Inferior Oolite and Cornbrash, 

 and to the Oxford Clay. The Loch Statfin beds were described as an estuarine series, 

 nearly approaching the Oxford Clay in geological age, and including a bed almost 

 entirely made up of the shells of Ostrea hebricUca. 



The whole series of Jurassic rocks in these islands reposes on the Torridon sandstone 

 of Cambrian age ; and the author discussed the question whether or not the intervening 

 beds have ever existed in this locality, and came to the conclusion that they probably 

 existed, and have been swept away by denudation. He remarked further upon the 

 resemblance in litliological characters of the beds described with the corresponding 

 deposits elsewhere in Britain. The trap-rocks intruded between the Jurassic deposits 

 he regarded as of post-Oolitic date. The paper was accompanied by lists of fossils 

 and descriptions of some new species prepared by Mr. Ralph Tate. 



Discussiox. — Mr. Judd pointed out that, contrary to the views of that school of 

 geologists of whom Dr. Macculloch was the leader, and which regarded the geologi- 

 cal investigation of Scotland as almost completed, that work was only now being 

 commenced by the application of those principles of Palseontological geology which 

 had been developed in England, and especially fostered by the Geological Society. 

 He congratulated Dr. Bryce on having secured the aid of so experienced a palaeonto- 

 logist as Mr. Tate, and bore witness to the fidelity with which his sections, especially 

 those of the Island of Skye, were described. He also pointed out the importance of 

 this communication as completing the history of a series of sections first so well 

 sketched by Murchison, and in parts described in detail by Geikie, Wright, and 

 Edward Forbes. 



2. " Observations on the more remarkable Boulders of the North-West of England 

 and the Welsh Borders." By D. Mackintosh, Esq., F.G.S. 



In this paper the author described the situation and indicated the probable origin, 

 of many of the more striking known boulders in Westmoreland, Cumberland, Lanca- 

 shire, Cheshire, and on the borders of Wales. The northern boulders seem to have 

 originated chiefly from Wastdale Crag, Criffel, Ennerdale, and Eslcdale ; those of 

 Cheshire chiefly from the Lake District and South of Scotland ; and many of those 

 on the Welsh borders from the mountains of Wales. Many of the boulders noticed 

 by the author exhibit glacial strise. The author also especially referred to the occur- 

 rence of boulders at hiu;h levels. 



Discussion. — Mr. Tiddeman pointed out that the course of a boulder from its 

 original source to the spot where it was deposited was probably not always in a 

 straight line ; but the carrying agents were probably diverted by currents connected 

 with the conformation of the sea-bottom of the period. In some cases also boulders 

 may have had their position changed by subsequent river-action, and also by other 

 means. 



Mr. Hicks called attention to some of the boulders to be seen in the south of 

 Wales, which have been striated by the action of the plough and the harrow, as well 

 as by ice, the marks of which had been almost entirely obliterated by human agency. 



Mr. Koch mentioned that in the late floods in Bohemia blocks as large as 6 feet x 4 

 feet had been transported by the rivers, and their surface had been striated during the 

 process in a manner much like that produced by ice. 



The Chairman pointed out that in some instances the transported blocks had 

 travelled over country higher than the parent beds from which they had been derived, 

 and considered that they afl'orded some support to the theory of a great and general 

 ice-coating, which was immediately succeeded by a period of great depression below 

 the sea-level, and a subsequent emergence, the whole comprised within one great 

 glacial period. During these oscillations there must of necessity have been a series 

 of dispersions of boulders. 



Geologists' Association. — March 7th. — Henry Woodward, Esq., F.G.S. , 

 F.Z.S., President, in the Chair. — "On the Geology of Brighton." By James 

 Howell, Esq. 



The paper commenced with a sketch of the South Downs, their longitudinal valleys, 

 latitudinal coombs, and the gaps leading down the clifl's which extend from East- 

 bourne to Brighton. The author enumerated those interesting outliers of the Plastic 

 Clay lying between Seaford Heights and Felpham, the connecting links with the 

 Bognor beds, showing that the Eocenes were once continuous along the southern 



