256 PKOCEEDINGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Mar. 22, 



water, by its greater specific gravity, remained in the bottom of the 

 sea of Marmora, so that, while the upper portion of the water and 

 that on the shores were diluted to the Black-Sea density, Mediter- 

 ranean conditions existed in the deep centre of the sea. If, there- 

 fore, the Black Sea had been pure fresh water, the upper portion of 

 the Sea of Marmora would have been fresh also, with its fresh- 

 water fauna, whilst the deeps of that sea would be marine. 



Dr. Duncan mentioned that in certain coral reefs intersected by 

 freshwater currents, the corals still continued to be formed ; so that 

 the existence of dwarfed forms of corals in ancient times was quite 

 consistent with modern facts. 



Mr. Forbes commented on the chemical features of Prof. Ram- 

 say's views, and could see no reason why the beds containing iron 

 should not have been deposited in the open sea. Many beds, for 

 instance the Gault, contain more iron than those which are now red, 

 though they may be grey or blue. In sands the grains are often 

 coloured only superficially with iron, probably derived from sulphates. 

 In other cases the sand^ consist of fragments of rocks already red. 

 There was, in fact, no reason why the beds deposited in the open sea 

 might not subsequently, by oxidation, become perfectly red. 



Prof. Ramsay replied to the remarks of the various speakers, and 

 summed up by contrasting the usual colour of marine fossiliferous 

 beds with that of the thick, almost non-fossiliferous rocks of which 

 he had been treating. 



March 22, 1871. 



A. R. Selwyn, Esq., Director of the Geological Survey of Canada ; 

 J. Bridges Lee, Esq., B.A., of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, 

 and 115, Ledbury Road, Westbourne Park, "W. ; the Rev. Thomas 

 Robert Willacy, B.A., of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge ; and 

 James Putnam Kimball, Ph.D., of 20 Union Square, New York, 

 were elected Fellows o± the Society. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. On the *' Passage-Beds" in the neighbourhood of Woolhope, 

 Herefordshire, and on the discovery of a ISTew Species of Euryp- 

 terus, and some New Land-plants in them. By the Rev. P. B. 

 Brodie, M.A., F.G.S., Vicar of Rowington. 



The " Passage-beds" between the Tipper Silurian rocks and the Old 

 Red Sandstone, on the outer area of the Woolhope valley of eleva- 

 tion, although they have been already noticed by Sir R. Murchison, 

 Professor Phillips, Strickland, Symonds, and myself, at Hagley, 

 Tarrington, Ledbury, and Perton have not in this district received 

 the fuU attention they deserve ; for although they are of compara- 

 tively limited vertical thickness when compared with the finer and 

 more complete sections at Down ton and the Ledbiiry tuniiel, they 

 occupy a larger extent round the vaUey of Woolhope than has been 

 previously recognized, and contain some new and interesting fossils 



