Notices of Memoirs — British Association. 463 



specimens varied very greatly ; on. some of them parts yellow as 

 brass, of troilite were discernible, and the polished surface of the 

 metal itself appeared, when the light fell on it in a certain direction, 

 divided into rounded parts of different brilliancy and shades of 

 colour. Other pieces seemed to form a perfectly homogeneous aggre- 

 gate of crystal needles of carburetted nickel iron. The Widman- 

 stadt's figures were visible after etching on some, but not all, of the 

 specimens. These loere particularly distinct on the iron from the 

 above-mentioned basalt ridge. In general the iron was so hard that 

 they would not undertake at the ironworks to saw through any of 

 the larger balls, in consequence of which I know no more of the 

 internal character of the meteoric iron than what I could ascertain 

 from the specimens which fell to pieces. 



(To he concluded in our next.) 



isroTiciES o:f ^y^:Elv^OTI^s. 



Papers Eead before the British Association, Brighton, 1872. 



I, — On the Ogoitrrence of Trunks of Fsaronius in an Erect 

 Position, resting on their original Bed, in Eocks of Devo- 

 nian Age in the State of New York ; with some Inferences 

 regarding the Condition of Sea-bottom and Shore-line 



DURING THE DEPOSITION OF THE StRATA. 

 By Professor James Hall, For. Memb. Geol. Soc, Lond. ; of Albany, U.S.A. 



AFTEE a preliminary explanation of the general geological fea- 

 tures and sequence of the formations in the State of New York, 

 and a comparison of the thickness, condition, and nature of the 

 sedimentary deposits along the Apallachian range, and in the 

 plateaux of the west, Mr. Hall proceeded to the subject of the paper. 



During the year 1870, some excavations made in Schoharie County, 

 New York, in beds of fine sandstone referred at that time to the upper 

 part of the Hamilton Group, but which probably belong to higher 

 beds of the series, several trunks, which appeared to belong to Tree- 

 ferns, were found in an upright position, with their bases resting in 

 and upon a clay-bed, in which they appear to have originally grown. 

 The clay-bed is filled with thin blackened bits of vegetable substance, 

 which appear to belong to the large roots or bases, but no direct con- 

 nexion has yet been shown. The strata above this, which enveloped 

 the trunks to the height of two or three feet, were filled with frag- 

 ments supposed to belong to these trunks and of other vegetation of 

 the period. These trunks have been referred by Principal Dawson, 

 of Montreal, to the genus Fsaronius; and he has determined two 

 or more species from the locality. 



The points which I would call attention to are not those relating 

 to the structure or relations of these plants, but to the fact that their 

 presence indicates a point of comparatively dry land upon the 

 eastern margin of the Devonian Sea. The position and relation of 

 these trunks does not, I think, admit of a doubt that they have re- 

 tained the position and locality in which they grew. No less than 



