Edinburgh Geological Society, 285' 



inland escarpments lie mentioned having been old coast lines. It was only acci- 

 dentally that sea cliffs had any connexion with the line of strike of the strata, whereas 

 inland cliffs always followed the strike. He thought the phenomena were rather in 

 accordance with a long exposure of the land to sub-aerial influences than with the 

 the loess having been of marine origin. Even in England, in those parts which had 

 long been free from marine action, beds of brick-earth had been formed. He also 

 instanced the plains of Picardy as exhibiting a vast extent of such sub-aerial beds. 



Prof. T. Rupert Jones said that though the area treated of by Mr. Kingsmill was 

 too large to have its geology explained merely by reference to rain-wash and valley 

 deposits, whatever his low-level loess might be, the higher accumulations of loamy 

 deposits, stated to be 1000 feet thick at an elevation of 3000 feet, and regarded by 

 Mr. Kingsmill as the quiet water sediments of a great gulf, with the Miocene con- 

 glomerates and sandstones of Nanking and elsewhere for its marginal equivalents, 

 appeared to require different explanation. All loess need not be of sea origin ; in 

 oscillations of land marine deposits must be carried up to great heights ; and, re- 

 ferring to Mr. H. M. Jenkins's determination of the marine origin of the loess of 

 Belgium, Prof. Jones thought it highly probable that some at least of that in China 

 may have been similarly formed. 



Mr. Hughes said that the author appeared to have grouped together all the super- 

 ficial deposits of a vast area without explaining very clearly the grounds upon which 

 he identified those deposits at distant points. He did not prove that what he called 

 the shore deposit was marine, or that it was of the same age as the loam which he 

 described, and which Mr. Hughes thought, from the description, was far more likely 

 to be sub-aerial. 



Mr. Evans and Mr. Etheridge suggested the probability that much of the so-called 

 loess might he derived from higher loamy beds, possibly derived from the decomposi- 

 tion of limestone rocks containing sand and clay, and redeposited by the action of 

 rain. 



Edinbuegh Geological Society. — March 16, 1871. At the fifth 

 ordinary meeting of the Society for this Session held this evening, 

 the following communication was read : — " On a new species of 

 Amblypterus, and other Fossil Fishes from the shale workings of 

 Pitcorthie, near Crail, in the county of Fife." By Eobert Walker, 

 St. Andrew's. 



Abstract. — In this paper the author commenced by giving a list of 

 the Fossil Fishes he had obtained in a more or less perfect condition 

 from the Pitcorthie beds. These embraced the following genera, of 

 which Eurynotus was the most abundant ; there were also numerous 

 scales and teeth of Bhizodus, pieces of Gyrolepis, specimens of Acrodus, 

 Ctenaeanthiis, Centrodns, Heliodus, Diplodiis, TristycTiius, Palceoniscus, 

 Amblypterus, and some other forms not yet determined, some of which 

 may ultimately prove to be reptilian. For the new species of Ambly- 

 pterus, the author proposed the name Anconocechnodus, from the 

 peculiar form of the teeth, which along with the external ornamenta- 

 tion of the scales would be sufficient, he considered, to distinguish 

 the species wherever it may be found. 



The author gave a full description of the species, which however, 

 without figures, would not be serviceable to publish in detail here. 



ooie,E;ESi=oisr3DED^OE. 



MEAN THICKNESS OF THE SEDIMENTARY ROCKS. 

 SiK, — In the Geological Magazine, p. 189, Mr. Poulett Scrope 

 has done me the honour of referring to ray paper on the " Mean 

 Thickness of the Sedimentary Eocks," and of pointing out some 



