88 Reports and Proceedings. 



thological, Historical, G-eographical, and Dynamical Geology ; besides 

 which are some special papers sent expressly for the Eeview, such as 

 M. Delbos' on the Department of the Haut-Rhin ; MM. Mussey and 

 Lacroix' on the Departments of the Ariege and Lot and Garonne ; 

 and a useful table of the classification of the rocks of Jura, with 

 their mineral characters and characteristic fossils, by the late M. 

 Ogerien ; as well as some analyses of rocks and minerals made at the 

 Normal School and School of Mines. — J. M. 



Geological Society of London. — December 20th, 187L — Joseph 

 Prestwich, Esq., F.E.S., President, in the Chair. — The following 

 communications were read : — 1. A Letter from G. Milner Stephen, 

 Esq., F.G.S., to the late Sir Roderick Murchison, dated Sydney, 

 6th October, 1871, announcing the discovery of a rich auriferous 

 deposit on the banks of the river Bonde, on the N.E. coast of New 

 Caledonia, and of a great deposit of Tin-ore in the district of New 

 England, New South Wales. The gold in New Caledonia is found 

 in drift, and there are indications of the near proximity of a quartz- 

 reef. The Tin-ore in New South Wales is said to be in " pepitas, 

 crystals, and beds of conglomerate ; especially in Micaceous granite, 

 more or less decomposed." 



Discussion-. — Mr. D. Forbes stated that in 1859 he had placed in his hands some 

 specimens of granite from the district the discovery of tin in which was announced 

 by Mr. Stephen, and that he found them to be perfectly identical with the stanni- 

 ferous granites of Cornwall, Spain, Portugal, Bolivia, Peru, and Malacca, which he 

 had also examined. These granites were all composed of white orthoclase felspar, 

 colourless or black Muscovite mica, and quartz. He was not aware that tinstone 

 fcassiterite or oxide of tin) occurred anywhere in rock of a different character. It 

 "was always accompanied by more or less native gold. 



Mr. Pattison remarked that in many places where tin occurred it was not present in 

 sufficient quantity to be remuneratively worked. 



Mr. D. Forbes, in answer to a question frottl Prof. Eamsay, stated that, as far as 

 could be ascertained, the age of the stanniferous granites mentioned by him must be 

 between the end of the Silurian and the early part of the Carboniferous period. 



Prof. Ramsay would carry them down to the close of the Carboniferous period, 

 and would be contented to term them pre-Permian. 



2. " Remarks on the Greenland Meteorites." By Prof. E. A. 

 Nordenskjold, For. Corr. G.S. 



The author stated that the masses of meteoric iron brought from 

 Greenland by the recent Swedish expedition seemed to have formed 

 the principal masses of an enormous meteoric fall of Miocene date, 

 extending over an area of some 200 miles. The iron appears to be 

 free from silicates. Against its eruptive origin the author urges 

 that when heated it evolves a great amount of gaseous matter, and 

 that it contains imbedded particles of sulphide of iron, the mass 

 itself being nearly free from sulphur. The masses are composed of 

 meteoric nickeliferous cast and wrought iron, or of mixtures of the 

 two ; in the last case the Widmannstastten's figures are best deve- 

 loped. The author further noticed the various conditions in which the 

 iron occurs ; viz. 1, as meteorites ; 2, filling cracks ; 3, as breccii- 



