Notices and Extracts from the Minutes of the Geological Societij. 49 i 



6. — Extract from a Communication from Captain Colquhouiij R.A., addressed 

 to Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq., F.G.S., descriptive of Masses of Me- 

 teoric Iron found in Mexico and Potosi. [Read June 12th, 1833.] 



The mass of iron principally noticed in this communication is in the street 

 of San Domingo, at Zacatecas in Mexico. Its extreme length is 49 inches, 

 greatest breadth 23 inches, least 15; greatest thickness 13 inches, least II, 

 and its weight is estimated to be about 2300 lbs. The whole mass appears to 

 be compact ; but the surface presents several impressions of a globular form, 

 varying in size : one of them being 7 inches in diameter, and 3 inches deep. 

 This mass has been noticed by Sonneschmid, Miner alogische Bcschrcibung 

 der Bergwerks Reviere von Mexico, p. 192, 8vo, 1804, and by Humboldt, in 

 his Essai Politique, vol. ii. p. 385. It is not known where it came from. 



Another similar mass of iron stands in the north-west corner of the church- 

 yard at Charcas, between Catorce and San Luis Potosi, and is also noticed 

 by Sonneschmid (p. 288). Its height above ground is 32 inches. In appear- 

 ance it closely resembles the mass at Zacatecas, and is exceedingly tough. 



At Pablazon a Hacienda, to the westward of Catorce, is a third mass. Se- 

 veral small masses, some weighing 20lbs., have been found in the vicinity of 

 the Rancho del Sitio, between Charcas and Pablazon, whence the mass at 

 Charcas is said to have been brought. 



7. — On the Geology of the Banks of the Indus, the Indian Caucasus, and the 

 Plains of Tartarij to the Shores of the Caspian By Lieut. Alexander 

 Burnes : communicated by Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq., P.G.S. 

 [Read December 18th, 1833.] 



The author has endeavoured in this paper to embody the geological obser- 

 vations which he made on a journey during the years 1831 and 1832, up the 

 river Indus, and across the lofty range of Hindoo Koosh, to the Caspian Sea. 



He first describes the province of Cutch, situated near the eastern mouth 

 of the Indus. He states that it is mountainous ; that the soil is either rocky 

 or sandy, with masses of lava scattered over its surface ; and that sulphur, 

 coal, iron, and alum are found in the district. 



Nummulites occur in a ridge near the right banks of the Indus. The delta 

 of the river is composed of a succession of beds of earth, clay, and sand of 

 different colours, sometimes parallel, and sometimes having one stratum dove- 

 tailed into another. The sea is described as being discoloured to a distance 



