Geological Society of London. 327 



The Chairman had been much struck with the paper, though it was confessedly a 

 rapid sketch of the country. Persia might indeed be regarded as a typical example 

 in an exaggerated form of what was taking place in all dry areas. There are scat- 

 tered inland salt lakes and large tracts of desert sands, surrounded by immense 

 mountain-ranges, suggestive of areas like those of the Dead Sea, the Caspian, and 

 the Aral, in which the evaporation equalled the supply of water derived from the 

 rainfall, and where in consequence the lakes were salt. In many cases such lakes 

 had become filled with sediment, while others have absolutely ceased to exist from 

 want of rainfall. As to the causes of the formation of the gravels, he agreed with 

 the author that on so large a scale any ordinary river-theory appeared almost inap- 

 plicable, and he was content to confess that at present it appeared to him difficult to 

 account for their existence. The history of the Osus was well known, and its banks 

 had been the scene of constant invasion and disturbance, though they had in early 

 times been occupied by large populations. He thought that in old times the Oxus 

 might have been banked up, like most rivers along which there is an extensive popu- 

 lation, and that possibly it was in consequence of the giving way of such banks that 

 its course had been altered. Its condition might, he thought, have been like that of 

 the Po at the present day, the bed of which was now above the neighbouring plains, 

 and which a few years' neglect would divert from its course, so as to cover the sur- 

 rounding country with ruin. 



The author, in reply, stated that from the small plains there were certainly no 

 outlets, and that in all probability there was none also from the great central plain 

 of Persia. This had indeed been barometrically surveyed in various directions, and 

 it was found that a large part of its centre was at a lower level than any part of the 

 surrounding country. The slope of gravel at the edges of the deserts usually rested 

 on the lacustrine deposits ; and though there was in some cases a difference of 2000 

 feet between their highest and lowest parts, it was impossible to speak with certainty 

 as to their absolute thickness. He was not aware of any organic remains having 

 been found in the deposits, but they had as yet been but little examined. Though 

 the majority of the lakes were decidedly salt, there were two exceptions — the lake of 

 Gotcha and that of Seistan. The greater portion of this latter was now a marsh, and 

 though there was no outlet it was perfectly fresh. For this circumstance he was not 

 prepared to account, but there appeared to be no doubt on the subject. With regard 

 to the Oxus, there must have been a time before Central Asia was highly civilized, 

 when the river ran freely through the country unconfined by artificial means ; and he 

 thought it possible that at that time its lower part afforded an outlet from the sea of 

 Aral to the Caspian. With a greater rainfall he thought the water of the sea of 

 Aral would find its way along the old course of the Oxus into the Caspian Sea. 

 - 2. " On Caryophyllia Bredai. Milne-Edwards and Haime, from the Ked Crag of 

 Woodbridge." By Prof. P. Martin Duncan, M.B., P.R.S., V.P.G.S. 



The author recorded the occurrence in the Eed Crag of the Woodbridge district of 

 a variety of Caryophyllia Bredai, Milne-Edwards and Haime. The species was 

 originally described from the Maastricht Chalk, and the specimen referred to, which 

 was obtained by Mr. E. Charlesworth, appears to be a remanie fossil, derived from 

 the uppermost beds of the Chalk, some traces of which stiU remain in the neighbour- 

 hood of Norwich. 



Discussion. — Mr. Charlesworth made some comments on the difficulty of ascertain- 

 ing the exact locality at which Crag fossils were found. He mentioned th-atin former 

 years he had found Cretaceous fossils in the Crag ; but from the matrix they contained, 

 he had determined them to be derivative. He commented at some length on the 

 liability to erroneous conclusions which might result to palaeontology from this inter- 

 mixture of remains belonging to different periods, and also on the errors which arose 

 from too great a tendency to regard fossils as derivative when, like the cetotolites of 

 the Crag, they actually belonged to the beds in which they occurred. He regarded 

 the coral as derivative. 



3. "On the Cephalopoda-bed and the Oolite Sands of Dorset and part of Somerset." 

 By James Buckman, Esq., P.L.S., F.G.S. 



In this paper the author discussed the true position of certain beds containing 

 abundant remains of Cephalopoda, found in various parts of the Jurassic region of 

 this country, and of the sandy bed underlying the Inferior Oolite at Cleeve Hill and 

 other places (called by Prof. Phillips the " Midford Sands"), which has been regarded 

 by most authors as belonging to the Lias. From an investigation of the Cephal- 

 opoda-bed in quarries at Bradford Abbas in Dorsetshire, the author comes to the 

 conclusion that it is quite distinct from the Cephalopoda-bed of Gloucestershire, and 

 that it is the representative of the Rubbly Oolite at the top of Leckhampton Hill 

 and Cold Comfort, and of the Gryphite and Trigonia-'hedis, of the neighboui-hood of 

 Cheltenham. The Gloucestershire Cephalopoda-bed he regards as situated close to 

 the bottom of the Inferior Oolite series ; and this is also the position to which he 



