Reports and Proceedings — Geological Society of London. 175 



facilities afforded for n^^merous excursions, will all offer in- 

 ducements to the hundreds of strangers who will then visit the 

 " Land of the Giant Deer, and the Giant's Causeway." And to 

 each and every one of these we would say, Make yourself acquainted 

 with the facts detailed in Prof. Hull's " Physical Geology and 

 Geography of Ireland," and so well acquainted that you can realize 

 those facts, and be able to trace the broad features in the succession 

 of events which have produced the present features of the country. 

 Then, whether you tarry in pleasant dalliance over the lovely 

 scenery of Killiney and Bray, or stray in softened mood among the 

 richly wooded beauty of the Dargle or Ovoca, or seek the wilder 

 loneliness of some of the more distant glens of Wicklow or Galway, 

 and stand awestruck and silent before the deeper secrets of Nature's 

 revealing, or whether you visit " that most delightful spot in the 

 British Isles," and contrast the luxuriant fertility and astounding 

 richness of colom-ing of the lakes and islets and woods of Killarney 

 with the weird savageness of the Gap of Dunloe, or the lonely gloom 

 of the Black Valley, you will derive a deeper and a more lasting 

 impression of the beauties of all, if you bring to this examination 

 a previous acquaintance with the general causes of all the varied 

 features of the country, and with the history of the successive steps 

 in their production. And, in this view, we confidently hope that 

 Prof. Hull's excellent summary will prove remarkably well timed 

 and successful. 



I^E:poI^,TS .A-i<rx) I=I^ooE:BIDI^s^C3-s. 



Geological Society of London. — I. — February 6, 1878. — Prof. 

 P. M. Duncan, M.B., F.E.S., President, in the Chair.— The following 

 communications were read : — 



1. "On some Foraminifera from Pleistocene Beds in Ischia." By M. Ernest 

 Vanden Broeck. Preceded by some geological remarks by A. W. Waters, Esq., F.G.S. 



In this note Mr. Waters refeiTed to certain fossiliferous deposits occurring at 

 various elevations in the island of Ischia, the oldest being a clay found up to 1800 

 feet on M onte Buceto, whilst the others may be classed with raised beaches. These 

 deposits have been already noticed by Sir Charles Lyell, who obtained from them 

 twenty-eight species of shells, all, with one exception, identified by Deshayes with 

 recent species. M. Fonseca has given a list of ten species of shells from the Buceto 

 beds, and to these Mr. Waters has added ten more, all now living in the heigh- 

 boirring sea. A portion of marl forming the matrix of one of these shells was sent 

 by Mr. Waters to M. Vanden Broeck, who found in it twenty-seven species of 

 Foraminifera, with respect to which he remarks that this fauna has a more recent 

 facies than that of the true Subapennine deposits, all the species being now living 

 either in the North Atlantic or Arctic Ocean, and nearly all in the Mediterranean. 

 The presence of Lagence and of some other forms, however, indicates closer relations 

 with the northern oceanic fauna than with that of the warmer Mediterranean. The 

 Foraminifera from Ischia are generally of small size,' probably indicating unfavour- 

 able conditions. The deposit containing them was probably formed in not very deep 

 water, and more recent than the true Subapennine deposits ; and the small size of 

 most of the specimens, and the predominance of northern forms, would seem to show 

 that the deposit took place when the refrigerating influence of the glaciers was 

 beginning to be felt. 



2. " On the Influence of the Advent of a Higher Form of Life in modifying the 

 structure of an older and lower Form." By Professor Owen, C.B., F.R.S., F.G.S. 



