330 Reports and Proceedings. 



rock-basins in the Yorkshire area, and as to the absence of marine drift on great part 

 of the slope of the Pennine chain. The terminal moraines had to some extent become 

 obscured by the washing in of soil by rain ; but their ancient existence in many of the 

 Yorkshire valleys was indisputable. The features of the country were, moreover, in 

 many instances such as could not be reconciled with the deposition of the drift by 

 marine action. 



3. " On a Sea-coast Section of Boulder-clay in Cheshire." By D. 

 Mackintosh, Esq., F.Gr.S. 



The principal object of the author was to draw attention to the 

 fact of the occurrence of numerous sea-shells in a lower boulder- 

 clay at Dawpool, as thoroughly glacial in its appearance, structure, 

 and composition, as any clay to be met with along the shores of the 

 Irish Sea, and differing in no essential respect from the Pinel, which 

 runs up the slopes and valleys of the Lake District. He pointed 

 out a number of very important distinctions between the Lower and 

 Upper Boulder-clays of Cheshire, referring especially to the light 

 grey or blue facings of the fractures of the latter. He gave a list of 

 a number of large boulders, greenstone and Criffell granite predo- 

 minating, though among the smaller stones Silurian grit was most 

 prevalent. The author likewise explained the mode of striation of 

 the stones found in the clay, and the positions they occupied in re- 

 ference to their flattened surfaces. 



The paper was illustrated by samples of the two clays, a number 

 of shells in various states of preservation, and about forty specimens 

 (most of them named and their parentage assigned) of Silurian grit 

 and argillite, greenstone, several varieties of felstone and porphyry, 

 felspathic breccia, Criffell and Eskdale granites, and granites of un- 

 known parentage, Wastdale or Ennesdale syenite, quartz, Carboni- 

 ferous-limestone, chalk-flints (?), local gypsum, sandstone, etc. 



In a letter Mr. Searles V. Wood, Jun., stated that he regarded the 

 Boulder-clay containing the shells as later than the newest of the 

 East- Anglian beds, and the Upper clay as probably equivalent to the 

 Hessle clay. 



The fragmentary shells sent had been determined by Mr. J. Gwyn 

 Jeffreys, who found eleven species represented among them, and 

 stated that they agreed with the shells from Moel-Tryfaen and Mac- 

 clesfield. He remarked especially on the occurrence of Astarte 

 horealis, a species now extinct in the British area. 



Discussion. — Prof. Eamsay remarked, with regard to the Bridlington beds which 

 had been cited, that they were probably preglacial, and not glacial. He thought 

 that eventually it would be proved that during the Glacial Period there had been 

 several oscillations in this country both in level and in temperature. With respect 

 to temperature, the calculations of Mr. CroU showed the extreme probability of such 

 variations being due to astronomical causes ; and these were best illustrated by re- 

 producing his figures in the form of a diagram, showing the curves and oscillations of 

 temperature. 



4. " On Modern Glacial Action in Canada." (Second Article.) 

 By the Kev. William Bleasdell, M.A. Communicated by Prof. J. 

 W. Dawson, LL.D., F.E.S., F.G.S. 



In this paper the author communicated some facts illustrative of 

 the action of ice in Canada, in continuation of a former paper. Fid- 



