ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRlJSlDENT. Ixxiu 



certain proportion of Antwerp crag fossils, supposing them, as is here 

 stated, to be really intermixed with the others, would also tend to 

 prove the correctness of the views of those geologists who have been 

 disposed to consider the fossils of North Germany to belong to a 

 system extending upwards into beds of a newer period, rather than 

 to one which should be classed with the Eocene beds below ; — nor 

 would this view be invalidated, even should it be found, on closer 

 examination, that these Antwerp crag fossils belong to a more recent 

 formation than the other North German fossils. They all belong 

 evidently to a series of beds the sequence of which is uninterrupted, 

 and would thus equally prove the existence of a gradual passage 

 upwards rather than a connexion with Eocene beds below. 



This same volume of memoirs also contains much interesting 

 matter respecting the overlying drift beds and diluvium, some of 

 which are referred to the action of the Rhine, while others are con- 

 sidered as of Scandinavian origin. Here, then, we have a wide field 

 open for inquiry, as the two beds appear to be easily distinguishable. 



In reference to the geology of the Netherlands, the ' Bulletin de 

 la Soc. Geol. de France,' vol. xi. p. 21, Nov. 7, 1853, contains an in- 

 teresting notice, *' Sur la Constitution geologique des environs d' Am- 

 sterdam, &c., par M. P. Harting." The author gives the particulars 

 of seven artesian wells at Amsterdam, one of which was carried to 

 the depth of 174 metres, or 172 metres beneath the mean sea-level. 

 All these wells gave approximatively the same result. They showed 

 that the surface-bed was composed of a peat 1^ to 5|^ metres thick, 

 formed of freshwater plants and fallen trees. Beneath this is a 

 series of marly clays, with subordinate sands. In mineral struc- 

 ture these beds were found to agree with the silt now brought 

 down by the Rhine and Mcuse, whilst their organic remains show 

 them to have been deposited in the sea. The mineral debris are 

 examined with great care and skill, as are also the organic remains. 

 Of the latter the author determines nine species of Gasteropods, 

 thirteen species of Lamellibranchiates, several Zoophytes, nine species 

 of Foraminifera, and one Annelid, mostly of recent species. One 

 bed is composed in great part of the siliceous carapaces of Diato- 

 maceae, of which M. Harting enumerates thirty-three species, whilst 

 dispersed in the other beds are nine additional species. Only a few 

 remains of plants are found — fragments of Finns sylvestris, Zostera 

 marina., he. 



Beneath this argillaceous series is an immense mass of sand, 

 through which none of the borings have penetrated, and conse- 

 quently its thickness exceeds 117 metres. This deposit shows traces 

 of stratification; but no traces of organic remains, with the exception 

 of a few fragments of plants, have been found in it. It is composed 

 chiefly of fine sands, but contains also pebbles of quartz, sandstone, 

 syenite, limestones, flints, &c., mostly minerals not found in the 

 upper beds. 



Another well at Gorinchem reached a depth of 182 metres ; here 

 organic remains were found all through. To the depth of 121 metres 

 they are land and freshwater remains, including bones of three 



