380 Reports and Proceedings — 



The author has already described reef corals from the Lower Cre- 

 taceous (Upper Greensand) of Jamaica : and the size of the speci- 

 mens proves that the reef was exposed to the surf of an open sea. 

 To these reefs succeeded on the same area others in the Eocene time, 

 in the Miocene and Pliocene ; and there are modern reefs in the 

 neighbourhood. 



The affinities and identities of the fossil forms with those of con- 

 temporaneous reefs in Asia and Europe, and the limitation of the 

 species of the existing Caribbean coral fauna, point out the correct- 

 ness of the views put forth by S. P. Woodward, Oarrick Moore, and 

 the author, concerning the upheaval of the isthmus of Panama after 

 the termination of the Miocene period. 



7. " Note on the Lignite-deposit of Lal-Lal, Victoria, Australia." 

 By E. Etheridge, Esq., Jun., F.G.S. 



The author described this deposit, which is worked at the village 

 of Lal-Lal, south of Mount Bunniyong. A boring towards the centre 

 of the deposit showed about 73 feet of sand, clay, and gravel, 3 feet 

 of fireclay, and 115 feet of lignite. The lignite is an earthy bitu- 

 minous coal, composed of branches, roots, etc., uf coniferous trees. 

 In the mass there are a few thin seams of jet and clay-beds, accom- 

 panied by two kinds of resin. The lignite is very poor in carbon. 

 It is almost entirely composed of remains of coniferous plants not 

 now existing in Victoria ; and the author considered that it is nearly 

 of the same age as the Lignite deposit of Morrison's Diggings, which 

 has been regarded as Miocene. 



The next Meeting of the Society will be held on Wednesday, 

 November 5, 1873. 



Geologists' Association. — July 4th. Henry Woodward, Esq., 

 F.K.S., F.G.S., President, in the Chair.— 1. " Sketch of the Geology 

 of Northamptonshire." By Samuel Sharp, Esq., F.S.A., F.G.S. 



Northamptonshire is situated about midway upon the Great Oolitic 

 and Liassic belt which traverses England from Dorsetshire to York- 

 shire. The Lias constitutes the great basal formation of the whole 

 district ; the Upper having a maximum thickness of some 200 feet, 

 the Middle or Marlstone 30 feet, and the Lower 650 feet. The 

 Upper Lias abounds with the usual Eeptilian, Cephalapodan, and 

 Molluscan remains, with some Crustaceans, including a new form, 

 referable to the Palcemonidce, named Penceus Sharpii, Woodward. 



Above the Lias repose the interesting series of beds of the Inferior 

 and Great Oolite, which were succinctly described by the author 

 in this sketch, but had been more fully treated of by him in 

 elaborate papers published in the Quarterly Journal of the Geo- 

 logical Society for August, 1870, and May, 1873. 



The lowest of these beds is the " Northampton Sand," divided 

 into the Lower and Upper : the former is for the most part ferru- 

 ginous, yielding the now well-known Northamptonshire iron-ore, 

 of which at the present time above 20,000 tons a week are being 

 excavated, and producing on an average about 40 per cent, of pig- 

 iron. This bed was quarried largely for iron-ore by the Komans 



