540 A. C. EAMSAY AND J. GEIKIE ON 



hoped for some information as to the continuation of this remarkable 

 isolated mass of inclined strata to the hills of Spain and of Morocco ; 

 and he stated that some very large delicate Terebratulce, different from 

 those exhibited, had been found in old Moorish building-materials 

 from local Tertiary soft limestone, the place of which it was desirable 

 to know. 



Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins urged that, as the land was more ele- 

 vated when the breccias were formed, at least to the extent of the 

 depth of the existing Straits, Gibraltar would then have been raised 

 some 1800 feet above its present level, which would bring the highest 

 summit of the rock to an elevation of about 3200 feet. Mr. Maw 

 had described glaciers in the Atlas Mountains descending to about 

 5000 feet. As ice was not wholly unknown on the Rock of Gibral- 

 tar at present, he thought that the difference of elevation would 

 account for sufficiently severe frosts to produce the angular debris, 

 supposing their production to be due to this agent. Even at the 

 present day snow descended to between 2000 and 3000 feet above 

 the sea near Naples. Increased elevation alone, he thought, might 

 account for the formations of these breccias. With regard to the 

 fossils obtained, he remarked that among them there were no traces 

 of Arctic mammals, which are known to extend as far south as the 

 Pyrenees, the Mediterranean, and the Alps, but no further. MepJias 

 meridioncdis had already been found in Africa, but this was the first 

 time that E. antiquus had been obtained there. 



Adiiieal Speatt remarked that to the westward of Tarifa Point 

 there exists a submarine ridge the depth of which nowhere seems to 

 exceed 120 or 130 fathoms. An upheaval of about 800 feet would 

 therefore connect the two continents by dry land at this point. 



Mr. Ceaeleswoeth said that he presumed it was not solely upon 

 the evidence of the Mhynchonella, which had been identified with 

 Bh. concinna, that the authors founded their ascription of the lime- 

 stone to the Jurassic series. He thought that if the specimen were 

 shown to half a dozen palaeontologists experienced in the study of 

 the Brachiopoda, half a dozen different opinions might be obtained as 

 to its specific identity. 



Mr. Usshee compared the limestone-agglomerate with the " head " 

 of the Cornish coast, which he had accounted for by a greater 

 elevation of land attended by a sufficiently rigorous climate to pro- 

 duce extensive weathering of exposed rock-surfaces. 



Mr. John Evans inquired whether the authors had been able to 

 detect any submerged terraces of denudation in the sea immediately 

 surrounding Gibraltar ; and also whether it was not possible that the 

 two breccias described were of the same age, seeing that they were 

 not superposed. 



Mr. Whitaxee inquired whether the authors had investigated the 

 origin of the cliff on the west. 



Prof. Hughes maintained that the increase in the height of the 

 rock would suffice to account for the production of the breccia. He 

 asked whether the caves implied any difference in the configuration 

 of tho land. 



