198 PKOCEEDIlirGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [NoV. 17, 



Inn. This section differs in some important features from that pub- 

 lished by Mr. Bain of the same district. 



Dr. Eubidge considers that the slaty beds flanking Zuurberg on 

 either side, and forming the synclinal trough at the Van der Merwve's 

 River, are of the same age as the quartzites of the Zuurberg, which 

 are in his opinion siUcified by metamorphic influences : the inter- 

 bedded felspathic rock may also in his opinion be possibly of meta- 

 morphic origin. 



The author follows up his argument by reference to other parallel 

 sections, and regards the plant-beds of Ecca, as well as those of the 

 Great Pish River and the Van der Merwye's River, as being of De- 

 vonian age, and not belonging to the lower Karoo beds, regarded 

 by Mr. Bain as having a more southerly extension. . Dr. Rubidge 

 notices that some members of the two formations resemble each 

 other so strongly, that sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between 

 them. 



The plant-beds above referred to contain innumerable obscure 

 vegetable fragments, like those of stems, reeds, &c. ; and in the rocks 

 at Gower's on Bushman's River, Dr. Rubidge has seen, besides frag- 

 mentary vegetable remains, some fine jointed stems. 



A large series of specimens from the Zuurberg and Van der 

 Merwve's River accompanied this communication ; and Dr. Rubidge 

 also sent a series of fossil plants from the Dicynodon- or Karoo-beds 

 of Bloemkop, with which Mr. C. J. Powell, of Graaf Reinett, had sup- 

 plied him. The plant-beds of the Karoo series, at Bloemkop, con- 

 tain two or more kinds of Glossopteris, very similar to those of the 

 plant-beds of Central India and Bengal. 



Amongst the fossils sent by Dr. Rubidge are several fossils from 

 the Zwartzkop and from the mouth of Sunday River ; amongst the 

 latter are some Belemnites and Hamites, probably of Cretaceous age. 



3. On some Mineral Springs near Tehran, Persia. 

 By the Hon. C. A. Murray, C.B., H.B.M. Envoy Extraordinary and 



Mtu. Plen. in Persia. 



Iln a Letter* to Sir Charles Lyell, F.G.S.] 

 [Abstract.] 



In August the author made an excursion into the wild and rocky 

 valleys of Laridjan, on the northern side of the Elburz chain, to 

 examine some mineral springs near the village of Aske. This village 

 is placed on a steep declivity above the impetuous torrent of the Laur, 

 and is about 40 or 45 miles E.N.E. from Tehran, and near where 

 latitude 36° IN", intersects longitude 52° E. It is only a few miles 

 from the lofty and slumbering volcano Demavendf. Round Aske the 

 country is chiefly limestone, with dark-coloured pudding-stone, and 



* Dated August 25, 1858. 



t For a late account of Demavend, see the paper by Thomson and Kerr in 

 the Roy. Geograph. Soc. Proceed, vol. iii. no. 1. 



