XXXVIU PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



land, the frequent contortions of the rocks in mountains and else- 

 where, the different coast-lines, deep and shallow seas, the lakes and 

 rivers, and all the modifications of animal and vegetable life attend- 

 ing such changes and alteration of conditions. Attempts have from 

 time to time been made, from the facts known, to sketch the pro- 

 bable distribution of sea and land on certain parts of the earth's 

 surface at what have been termed geological periods. No doubt we 

 have much to consider when we attempt to define geological periods, 

 such as the more sudden effects produced on some parts of the 

 earth's surface, the more tranquil changes in others, and the in- 

 eqviality of these changes both as regards geological times, superficial 

 modifications, and their consequent effects on mechanical accumula- 

 tions and animal and vegetable life; yet all such attempts, if fairly 

 worked out according to the existing evidence, may be considered as 

 highly useful. We may expect in future years, as geological know- 

 ledge advances, that these sketches will more and more approach the 

 truth, so that the probable great rivers and lakes, mountain-ranges 

 and level tracts, forms of shores, and in fact the relief of the dry 

 lands, and depressions of the sea-bottom, of many geological times, 

 may, to a certain extent, be made apparent. And this we consider 

 by no means so visionary as might be imagined by those who are 

 not conversant with the kind of geological research now in progress. 



To our old and staunch friend Mr. Lonsdale we are indebted for an 

 elaborate communication on the fossil zoophytes in the deposits ex- 

 posed between Atherfield and Rocken End, described by Dr. Fitton. 

 In it he takes general views of the subject, and enters into details 

 exhibiting that research and desire to attain the truth for its own 

 sake which characterise our colleague, and which contributed, while 

 he was an ofiicer of our Society, so much to its welfare. 



Mr. Lonsdale describes new genera and species, and enters largely 

 upon the views and opinions of previous authors. Let us hope that 

 the retirement, which ill-health compelled him to seek, may continue 

 to afford him the leisure and quiet requisite for communications such 

 as this, and that he will enrich our works with further contributions 

 on fossil corals, a branch of palaeontology to which he has devoted 

 so much attention. 



Among the labours of our Foreign Secretary, Mr. Bunbury, during 

 his late travels on the continent, was included an examination of the 

 fossil plants from the anthracite formation of the Savoy Alps. The 

 results of this investigation he communicated to us in a memoir, in 

 which he not only describes the species of plants that came under 

 his observation, but also gave us a history of the researches and 

 opinions connected with the mode of occurrence of these plants, add- 

 ing general views of his own. 



As you are aware, M. Elie de Beaumont was the first, in 1828, to 

 announce the fact, that near Petit Coeur in the Tarentaise, beds con- 

 taining an abundance of plants, of the same species as those disco- 

 vered in the coal-measures of the palaeozoic period, alternated with 

 other beds containing belemnites; and referred the whole to the 

 period of the has. The plants were determined by M. Adolphe 



