386 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 18 



bad preservation, are not rare in the calcareous schists, but I found 

 no impressions of plants. At first sight, the cleavage may easily be 

 mistaken for stratification ; but by attentive observation, the strata 

 are evident, and their dip is normal, supposing Mont Blanc to be the 

 centre of upheaval. The Forclaz is a continuation of Lacha, but 

 tov\^ards the N.W. end, vs^here it is separated by the River Arve from 

 the Aiguilles Rouges, the rocks are crystalline and the strata nearly 

 vertical. 



The above section is a true copy of one taken by myself on the 

 spot in 1851. 



Mont Lacha throws much light on the apparently abnormal posi- 

 tion of the strata in some points named by Prof. Forbes, as Mont 

 Fretty, Cote de Piget, at the foot of Mont Bochard, &c., — in short 

 the whole "Superposition Monstrueuse" of De Saussure disappears, 

 and I am fully convinced (as far as the Section here described is 

 concerned) of the accuracy of Mr. Sharpe's observations. 



Until I studied the stratification and cleavage of Mont Lacha, I 

 was under the delusion that the strata of Mont Fretty, &c. dipped 

 towards the crystalline rocks ; but as they were mere fractions, com- 

 pared to the immense masses of Mont Cramout, Mont Carmot, &c. 

 on the south of Mont Blanc, all in their normal position, I attributed 

 them to reversal. 



Bath, April 25, 1856. 



2. Further Notice* of the Recent Eruption /rom the Volcano 

 o/Mauna Loa in Hawaii (Owhyhee). By W. Miller, Esq., 

 H.M. Consul -General for the Sandwich Islands. 



[Forwarded from the Foreign Office by order of Lord Clarendon.] 



(Abstract.) 



The stream of lava burst forth in August, 1855, from the side of 

 Mauna Loa, which rises to a height of 14,000 feet above the sea, at 

 a short distance below the summit, and about sixty miles in a direct 

 line from the harbour of the town of Hilo in Byron's Bay. At the 

 date of Mr. Miller's letter it had not ceased to flow, and had then 

 continued for a period of twenty-three weeks, and the stream had 

 a length of about fifty miles in all its windings. For the first 

 three weeks it had flowed uninterruptedly about thirty- eight miles, 

 when it met with a dense forest of trees and jungle which arrested 

 its rapid progress. It had forced its way through ten or twelve 

 miles of the forest, at the rate of about half a mile in a week. There 

 still remained about three miles of the forest to the open ground 

 which extends to the town of Hilo, the lava being about five or 

 six miles distant from the town. 



* Dated March 1, 1856. For the first notice, see this volume of the Journal, 

 p. 171. Mr. Miller's communication was accompanied with a sketch -plan of the 

 position of the Lava-stream, and with a box of specimens of lava, &c. collected 

 by Mr. John Ritson. 



