198 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOIOGICAI, SOCIETT. [Jan. 25, 



cards arranged in order, 1, 2, 3, and so on up to Knave, Queen and 

 King ; so that by their marks we should always be able to mention 

 the cards above and below any given number, unless it happened 

 that one or more had been surreptitiously abstracted from their 

 places. The lacustrine, as distinguished from marine formations, do 

 not strictly follow this rule. 



DiscirssiON. 



Mr. Etheeidge thought the question of the nature of the Ehsetic 

 beds was to a great extent paleeontological. The main point in 

 connexion with them was as to how the British beds were to be con- 

 nected with those of the Lombardic and Middle European areas. It 

 certainly seemed probable that in this part of the world the con- 

 ditions of life were different, the deposits being much less in thick- 

 ness, and the fauna much diminished ; and where represented at aU 

 the shells occurred in a dwarfed and stunted form. The exact 

 horizon and nature of the Sutton beds had still to be determined. 



Mr. Godwin- AtrsTEK beheved that every mass of red sandstone 

 would ultimately be referred to either a brackish or freshwater 

 origin. A comparison of the ancient and present area of the Caspian 

 Sea would tend to remove any doubt that might remain on the mind 

 of geologists as to the possibility of the existence of such vast 

 internal seas as those which had to be called in to account for these 

 formations. He regretted that former observers had not attached 

 more importance to the duration and extent of those freshwater 

 conditions which were found so commonly to have prevailed between 

 the periods of deposit of the great marine formations. There was 

 another fact to be borne in mind, that even in existing lakes the 

 water at the one end was sometimes completely fresh, and at the 

 other end salt, each of course with a different fauna. 



Prof. Eupeet Jones said that although there were good grounds 

 for the lake-theory, something might be said for shallow seas. He 

 remarked that sulphate of lime was deposited from sea-water before 

 salt, that oxide of iron might originate from chloride of iron dif- 

 fused in water whether of lakes or seas, and tbat the haematites of 

 Permian age were probably deposited in the sea. He considered 

 that Foraminifera required great caution when used as criteria, as 

 the varietal forms giving the facies were of more importance than 

 the genera and species. The Estherice were never marine, although 

 often occurring in plenty in temporary freshwater pools on the sea- 

 shore. In his monograph of Estheria he had said much to substan- 

 tiate the notion that freshwater conditions often prevailed during 

 the formation of the Keuper. Both in the Old Eed Sandstone of 

 the Baltic provinces and in the Lettenkohle and Keuper of Ger- 

 many, when Estheria comes in, Lingula dies out. The repeated set 

 of formations in the Permian and the Trias precludes their contem- 

 poraneity, as supposed by Messrs, Godwin-Austen and Marcou. 



Mr. Bauerman remarked that the HaUstatt beds which had been 

 cited as marine contained large deposits of rock-salt. 



