1848.] MOORE ON fOSSILIFEROUS BEDS OF WIGTOWNSHIRE. 7 



and may have become obliterated by friction at the surface, are pro- 

 portional in amount to the sine of the co-latitude of the pole of the 

 axis of rotation, and could not exist if the axis coincided, as it does 

 now, with the axis of figure. 



3. An Elucidation of the successive Changes of Temperature and the 

 Levels of the Oceanic Waters upon the Earth's Surface, in har- 

 mony with Geological Evidences. By William Devonshire 

 Saull, Esq., F.R.S.A., &c. 



This paper commences with an investigation of matter in its various 

 forms, and proposes a new view of the nature of heat and light. The 

 author next states that the poles of the earth are not fixed and inva- 

 riable in position, as astronomers generally suppose, but are in con- 

 tinual motion. From these various causes combined he then deduces 

 a new theory to account for the alternations of climate and the changes 

 in the relative level of sea and land observed by geologists. 



May 17, 1848. 



J. R. Logan, Esq., Singapore, and the Rev. John Thornton, B.A., 

 Kimbolton, were elected Fellows of the Society. 



The following; communications were read : — 



•o 



1. On some Fossiliferous Beds in the Silurian Bocks o/* Wigtown- 

 shire and Ayrshire. By J. Carrick Moore, Esq., Sec. G.S. 



The difficulty of assigning to the great chain of rocks of the south 

 of Scotland their true place in the geological series, arises from the 

 rarity of fossil remains, and from the want of beds with such well- 

 marked mineral character, as to enable the observer to determine 

 their superposition. Part of this obscurity has been lately removed 

 by Mr. Nicol's description of fossiliferous beds in the valley of the 

 Tweed (Geol. Journ. vol. iv. p. 195) ; and as any additional infor- 

 mation, however scanty, may be interesting, I shall briefly describe 

 the localities in Wigtownshire and the south of Ayrshire where I 

 have found fossils, commencing with some account of the general 

 structure of the country. 



The description given by Mr. Nicol of the physical structure of 

 Peeblesshire applies in the main to Wigtownshire and the south of 

 Ayrshire. There is the same prevalent strike in an E.N.E. direction, 

 a system of valleys running parallel to the strike formed by the con- 

 volutions of the rocks, with another transverse system of valleys at 

 right angles to the former, remarkably equidistant, and through 

 which the principal drainage of the country is effected. The rivers 

 Stincher and Finnart are instances of the former system ; the Cree, 

 the Bladenoch and the Tarf, the Luce, and the Piltanton of the 

 latter. The bays of Loch Ryan and Glenhice form another instance 



