Geologists' Association. 187 



Geologists' Association. — 3rd Marcli, 1871. — The Eev. Thomas 

 Wiltshire, M.A., F.G.S., etc., President, in the Chair. Professor T, 

 Eupert Jones, F.G.S., Honorary member of the Geologists' Associa- 

 tion, read a paper " On the Kange in Time of the Foraminifera." 

 The paper was preceded by an interesting viva voce recapitulation 

 of the more noticeable features of the Porcellanous (imperforate), 

 the Hyaline (perforate), and the Arenaceous, Foraminifera, the more 

 important genera of which groups were illustrated by a fine series of 

 diagrams. The variations of form of the Foraminifera are in- 

 numerable, and it is extremely difficult to construct satisfactory 

 species and genera. In a strict zoological sense, indeed, a Forami- 

 niferal genus has but the value of a species of a higher class. The 

 tables and lists of genera prepared by the Professor might therefore 

 be compared with lists of species of the higher divisions of the 

 animal kingdom. Of the Porcellanous group, Miliola, Nuhicularia 

 and Cornuspira appear to have the longest range, being found in 

 Triassic and Kheetic strata, and living in our present seas. The 

 Arenaceous are older, five genera occurring in Carboniferous for- 

 mations. Of the Hyaline Foraminifera, seven genera are Palgeozuic. 

 FusuUna, Stromatopora and Eozoon appear to be essentially Palaeozoic 

 forms. The essentially abyssal genera are ArhuUna, Globigerina, 

 PuUoenia, and Sphceroidina, all Hyaline. The Globigerina, as is well 

 known, being abundant both fossil in the Chalk and living in the 

 bed q^ the Atlantic. Contrary to the general impression, there are 

 very few forms common to the Atlantic ooze and the Chalk, and this 

 leads the author to doubt some conclusions which have recently been 

 drawn. 



Professor Morris exhibited some of the Foraminiferal mud from 

 the bottom of the Atlantic, and pointed out the important part the 

 class has played in the formation of the globe, reminding the 

 Association that Fozoon forms masses of rock covering a vast area in 

 North America, that Eussian Mountain Limestone is made up of 

 FusuUna, that the Nummulitic Limestone, of which the Pyramids 

 are built, is found over a very great extent of the earth's surface, 

 and, as Lonsdale was the first to show, our world famous-chalk cliffs 

 are chiefly composed of the remains of this curious group of the 

 animal kingdom. 



Professor Eupert Jones replied to the remarks of the President 

 and several members, and took occasion to explain the method, by 

 means of successive boilings and siftings, of obtaining fossil Forami- 

 nifera from clays. 



At the next meeting of the Association on April the 4th, a paper 

 will be read by Mr. Alfred Bell, " On the English Crags considered 

 in reference to the Stratigraphical Divisions indicated by their In- 

 vertebrate Fauna." 



Edinburgh Geological Society. — February 16th, 1871.— At the 

 fourth Ordinary Meeting of this Society held this evening, the 

 following communication was read: — ''Notes on the Coal-fields at 

 Falkirk, illustrated with drawings and specimens of Antholithes and 



