428 Reports, and Proceedings. 



fluid or gaseous matter in the rock when in a plastic state ; some 

 roundish bodies, which, when occurring in the Stonesfield slate, 

 have been regarded as fossil fruits, but which the author considered 

 to be the ova of reptiles, and of which he described two new forms ; 

 and the flat, horny pen of a Cuttlefish from the Purbeck of Dorset- 

 shire desci'ibed by the author as Teudojpsis Brodiei, sp. n. 



Discussion. — Mr. Seeley remarked on the compressed spheroids found in so many 

 rocks, that there was a difficulty in accepting the view of their originating in fluid 

 vesicles, though he was unahle to suggest any other theory by which to account for 

 them. He observed that the eggs from the Stonesfield slate closely resemble those of 

 birds, and that it was of the highest interest to find such eggs in strata containing so 

 many remains of ornithosaurian forms, such as Rhamphorhynchus and Pterodactylus. 

 of which genus probably these were the eggs. 



Prof. Eupert Jones fully recognized the ingenious explanation of the bubble-formed 

 limited slickensides, that looked so much like possible fossil fruits, and Mr. Carruthers's 

 masterly treatment of the other specimens. But he wished that the author would 

 take up the subject exhaustively, and define the nature of other supposed vegetable 

 fossils, such as the so-called fucoids, PalmocJiorda, Falmophyton, Oldkamia, etc., many, 

 if not all, of which Prof. Jones thought to be due to galleries and other tracks made 

 by Crustaceans. 



Prof. Ramsay had known many instances of such blunders as these pointed out, 

 made, not by experienced geologists, but by those unacquainted with the science. 

 Though he had never regarded the flattened spheroids as fossils, he was unable to 

 account for their presence in the clay-beds of different ages. 



Mr. Hulke inquired whether Mr. Carruthers considered the limited slickensides 

 cornmon in the Kimmeridge shales as due to gaseous origin. He remarked on the 

 rarity of Pterodactylian remains as compared with those of other Saurians in the 

 "Wealden beds, in which the presumed eggs of Pterodactyle were found. 



Mr. Seeley did not regard the Wealden egg as being that of a Pterodactyle. 



Mr. Carruthers, in reply, remarked that the local slickensides mentioned by Mr. 

 Hulke differed in character from those to which he had referred. 



2. " Notes on the Geology of part of the County of Donegal." 

 By A. H. Green, Esq., F.G.S. 



In this paper the author described the geological structure of the 

 country in the neighbourhood of the Errigal Mountain, with the 

 view of demonstrating the occurrence in this district of an inter- 

 stratification with mica-schist of beds of rock, which can hardly be 

 distinguished from granite, the very gradual passage from alterna- 

 tions of granitic gneiss and mica-schist into granite alone, and the 

 marked traces of bedding and other signs of stratification that appear 

 in the granite, to which the author ascribed a metamorphic origin. 

 He also noticed the marks of ice-action observed by him in this 

 region, and referred especially to some remarkable fluted bosses of 

 quartzite, and to the formation of some small lakes by the scooping 

 action of ice. 



Discussion. — Mr. Forbes stated that none of the facts of this communication were 

 new, but he dissented altogether from the conclusions arrived at by the author in re- 

 garding these rocks as originally of sedimentary origin, and for the following reasons : 

 — (1) That this district had been studied in detail by Mr. Scott and Prof. Haughton, 

 who declare the rock to be undoubtedly intrusive, as it not only sends out veins into 

 the neighbouring strata, but also incloses fragments of the rocks through which it 

 has broken. (2) Because the author starts from the idea, that if such rocks are 

 found to lie conformably on beds of undoubted sedimentary origin, it is a proof of 

 their being themselves sedimentary or stratified, — a conclusion which is totally un- 

 warranted, since there are innumerable instances, not only of beds of lava or other 

 igneous rocks being conformable to fossiliferous strata, but of their also being found 

 intercalated with such beds even for considerable distances. (3) The strata, so far 



