ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Cxli 



preceding, as its object is to trace out the boundaries, and determine 

 the age of a great Oriental lake or chain of lakes which embraced 

 the Dardanelles, Sea of Marmora, and perhaps part of the Mediter- 

 ranean, as indicated by the detached or fragmentary deposits along 

 the ancient margin. This is a noble speculation ; and I "will only 

 add that Capt. Spratt, who invites the attention of geologists to 

 the subject, has proved himself a very able pioneer of their re- 

 searches. 



During the late war, the occupation of part of the Crimea by the 

 allied armies brought within the scope of observation the geology 

 of a country, which, although it had been previously examined, still 

 left much open to further investigation. Had the proposition which 

 was made at the commencement of the war, to attach a scientific 

 committee to the army, been carried into effect, there cannot be a 

 doubt that much most valuable information would have been obtained 

 towards the correct correlation of the strata of the Crimea with 

 those of England ; but, even as it was, some of our officers found 

 time, amidst all the dangers and privations of that most remarkable 

 campaign and siege, to collect materials for geological investigation. 

 Amongst these intellectual soldiers, Capt. P. Cockburn, Royal Ar- 

 tillery, was one who not only worked hard to collect a series of fossils 

 and rock- specimens illustrative of the geology of the neighbourhood 

 of Sevastopol and Balaclava, but who wisely placed them in the hands 

 of our able member, Mr. "W. Baily, for description ; and the result is a 

 very copious list of fossils, which have been well illustrated by three 

 lithographed plates. The range of strata extends from the shales of 

 the "Woronzoff road (described by M. Dubois de Montpereux as the 

 oldest fossiliferous deposits, and considered by Mr. Baily to be 

 equivalent to the Lower Lias) through Jurassic and Cretaceous strata, 

 up to the Steppe Limestone, which, though often oolitic in character, 

 is proved to belong to the Newer Tertiaries, — an example which, like 

 those I have before cited from Capt. Spratt's and my own observations, 

 exhibits the long continuance of the same physical conditions, not- 

 withstanding the variation in the imbedded organisms. Specimens of 

 the various intrusive volcanic rocks which have disrupted the strata, 

 and doubtless effected much metamorphic change, were also collected 

 by Capt. Cockburn, who observes that the upper Tertiaries, occurring 

 sometimes shelly, sometimes sandy, and then again as oolitic lime- 

 stones, are generally marine, but sometimes freshwater, and are 

 occasionally associated with volcanic ashes and tufa. Mr. Baily, in 

 working up the materials placed in his hands by Capt. Cockburn, 

 first does justice to all the preceding authors who have either given 

 descriptions of the geology of the district, or of other districts having 

 an immediate connexion with it — not overlooking Keyserling, De 

 Yerneuil, and Sir R. Murchison — and then proceeds to the examina- 

 tion of the fossils, the lowest geological formation noticed in his 

 list being Jurassic. The number of species passed under review was 

 286, of which 60 are described by Mr. Baily as new. The propor- 

 tions in the several formations are as follows : — 



