252 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Mar. 19, 



March 19, 1856. 



Capt. W. S. Sherwill, the Rev. H. H. Wood, and D. T. Evans, Esq., 

 were elected Fellows. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. On some Organic Remains from the Bone-bed at the base of 

 the Lias at Lyme Regis. By the Rev. Mr. Dennis. Com- 

 municated by Sir C. Lyell, V.P.G.S. 



[This Paper was withdrawn by the Author by permission of the Council.] 



(Abstract.) 



In this communication the author drew attention to some peculiar 

 bones and teeth from the Bone-bed which occurs between the Trias 

 and the Lias. Mr. Dennis considered that some of these fossils 

 presented mammalian structure under the microscope. Among the 

 specimens from the Lyme Regis bone-bed. Prof. Owen determined 

 the remains of Lepidotus and Saurichthys, and also of a fish, Pla- 

 coduSy which had not previously been recognized among British 

 fossils. 



2. On the Valenciennes Coal-basin. By MM. Degousee and 

 Laurent, Civil Engineers. 



[In a letter to, and communicated by, A. Tylor, Esq., F.G.S.] 



(Plate V.) 



We are enabled to give you some particulars relative to the works in 

 the coal-basin of the Departments of the " Nord " and the " Pas de 

 Calais," on the prolongation of the Belgian coal-basin of Mons. At 

 the end of the last century, France in the north possessed only the 

 mines of Anzin, which were first worked in 1716. This state of 

 things lasted until 1832, when the workings had only extended to 

 Denain. In 1839, the concessions of Douchy, Bruille, Vicoigne, 

 Aniche, Azincourt, and Thivencelles were made. The works of re- 

 search went on until 1841, at which period the adventurers, discou- 

 raged by the numerous fruitless attempts made in the supposed direc- 

 tion of the basin — towards Arras, abandoned them. Six years later, 

 the works undertaken towards the north-west of Douai, in the direc- 

 tion of the present concessions of the " Pas de Calais," indicated the 

 true direction of the coal-basin, and up to 1854 numerous trial- 

 sinkings, of which many passed through the coal, led to the esta- 

 blishment of nine new concessions. A tenth on the border of the 

 basin is in progress. Two more also have been made this year, one 

 to the north of Douai, the other to the north of Bethune, above 

 Choques, where it is supposed that the bands of dry coal {faisceau 

 maigre) end, the coal-basin beyond this place becoming narrower, 

 and representing only the seams of caking-coal in all the concessions 



