Reports and Proceedings. 579 



wheat-soil is formed, whilst the slaty or shaly beds are best adapted 

 for woodland. The Mountain Limestone soil produces good pasture 

 for the native sheep and cattle. The Millstone Grit appears adapted 

 for sheep-walks only. It has been stated, says Mr. Fothergill, that 

 the worst land in England lies upon the Coal-measures, and certainly, 

 at its best, it is but hungry soil ; however, by draining and lining, 

 it may be rendered in a measure productive. 



The New Eed Sandstone is of well-known and marked fertility, 

 producing in rich abundance every kind of crop. 



The Lias furnishes a cold, wet, tenacious clay or clayey loam. 

 When pervious it is found fit for cultivation, and grows good wheat 

 and tares. The Alluvium gives great variety of soil, both in appear- 

 ance and in productiveness, and this arises partly from deficient 

 drainage, partly from the character of the subsoil, and sometimes 

 from the elevation. 



Mr. S. B. L. Druce gives an account of an Embankment and 

 Cutting in the parishes of Standlake, Northmoor, Stanton Harcourt, 

 and Eynsham, in the county of Oxford, made to protect the district 

 from the flood waters of the river Thames. This contains an 

 analysis of soil from Stanton Harcourt, by Dr. Voelcker. 



The agriculture of the Scilly Isles is treated of by Messrs. L. Scott 

 and H. Eivington, F.Gr.S. These islands are almost entirely granitic. 

 The rock is remarkably loose in texture, readily disintegrating, and 

 liable to rapid decomposition, owing to the many joints that occur in 

 it. The granite contains large quantities of iron and felspar, to the 

 presence of which the fertility of the soil is attributed. 



To the several other papers in this journal we need not allude, 

 as they have no direct reference to Geology. 



laiEiPOiaTS j^isTJD iFiaooEiEnDiisrca-s. 



Geologioal Society of Londok. — Opening Meeting: Nov. 9, 

 1870. Joseph Prestwich, Esq., E.E.S., President, in the chair. The 

 following communications were read : — 1. " On the Carboniferous 

 Flora of Bear Island (lat. 74° 30^ N.)." By Professor Oswald Heer, 

 E.M.G.S. 



The author described the sequence of the strata supposed to 

 belong to the Carboniferous and Devonian series in Bear Island, and 

 indicated that the plant-bearing beds occurred immediately below 

 those which, from their fossil contents, were to be referred to the 

 Mountain Limestone. He enumerated eighteen species of plants, 

 and stated that these indicated a close approximation of the flora to 

 those of Tallowbridge and Kiltorkan in Ireland, the Greywacke of 

 the Vosges and the southern Black Forest, and the Verneuilii-^dleB 

 of Aix and St. John's, New Brunswick. These concordant floras he 

 considered to mark a peculiar set of beds, which he proposed to 

 denominate the '^ Ursa-stage." The author remarked that the flora 

 of Bear Island has nothing to do with any Devonian flora, and that 

 consequently it and the other floras, which he regards as contempo- 



