139 



mander of the late Expeditions overland to the N.W. coast of Ame- 

 rica, of Devonshire-street, Portland Place ; and W. A. Cadell, Esq., 

 F.R.S. L. & E. of Edinburgh, — were elected Fellows of this Society. 



A letter dated March 14, 1829, from Dr. Prout to Professor Buck- 

 land, was read, stating that since the last meeting he had made an 

 analysis of the bezoar stones from Lyme Regis and Westbury on 

 Severn, and found the composition of all of them to be very similar, 

 viz. : phosphate of lime and carbonate of lime, together with minute 

 variable proportions of iron, sulphur, and carbonaceous matter. The 

 relative proportions of the principal ingredients appear to differ some- 

 what in different specimens, and even in different parts of the same 

 specimen : hence no formal analysis has been attempted ; but the 

 phosphate of lime may perhaps be estimated to constitute from about 

 one-half to three-fourths of the whole mass. 



Dr. Prout conceives this composition to prove that the basis of 

 these bezoar stones is bone ; and that Professor Buckland's opinion 

 that they are of faecal origin, or of the nature of Album Grsecum, offers 

 a very satisfactory explanation of their occurrence, and accounts at 

 once for their chemical composition, their external form, and their 

 mechanical structure. 



A paper " On the Bituminous Schist and Fossil Fish of Seefeld in 

 the Tyrol," by Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq. Sec. G.S., F.R.S. , 

 &c, was read. 



The bituminous schist of Seefeld is subordinate to a vast formation 

 of dolomite, forming a lofty mountain chain which separates the Tyrol 

 from Bavaria, in which it occupies a thickness of several hundred 

 feet. This slaty rock is quarried solely for the bitumen it contains, 

 which is extracted by subjecting the schist, when broken up and placed 

 in crucibles, to an intense heat during ten or twelve hours. The 

 only animal remains observed were fossil fish ; and amongst these 

 M. Valenciennes has discovered at least four species, three of which 

 are distinguished by quadrangular scales without articulating points, 

 thus resembling the Esox osseus (LepisosteusLacipbde) , but differing 

 essentially from that genus in having a forked tail, as also in the po- 

 sition and structure of the fins ; whilst another specimen is distinctly 

 referred by him to the genus Clupea. With these ichthyolites were 

 found a few vegetables, one of which has some resemblance to a Ly- 

 copodium. 



As the general characters of the fish approach to those of the Kup- 

 fer Schiefer of Germany, of the magnesian limestone of England, and 

 of the Caithness schist in Scotland, while on the other hand they 

 differ entirely from all the species hitherto observed in the lias and 

 oolitic series, the author, combining this fact with the mineral charac- 

 ters of the Seefeld rock and those of the metalliferous dolomite to 

 which it is subordinate, refers the deposit to one of those formations 

 below the new-red-sandstone so universally abundant in ichthyolites. 

 He further speculates on the probability of the destruction of so many 

 fish having materially cooperated in the bituminization of the schist, 

 because this rock, on distillation, gives off a much larger proportion of 

 ammonia than has ever been detected in any coal, however bitumi- 



