PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 1909, 



2. Are yon in favour of the Admission of Women as Fellows, or as 



Associates only ? The 97 in favour of admission voted : — 



As Fellows 70 



As Associates 25 



Not specified 2 



97 



3. If there should not be a majority of those voting in favour of Women 



as Fellows, are you in favour of their Admission as Associates ? 



Yes 93 



No 3 



Not specified ,,. 1 



The Secretary read a note from the Under Secretary of State 

 for the Colonies, embodying the following extracts from a Eeport 

 on a Scientific Expedition to the Falkland Islands (October 1907- 

 February 1908) by Dr. Carl Skottsberg :— 



' We here [in the East Falkland] met with a most interesting field for our 

 work, as we discovered that the so-called " Lafonia," that is, the south-western 

 part of the island, belongs to a geological formation different from the rest, 

 namely, the Permo-Carbonil'erous Period 



' The Devonian formation, which constitutes the larger part of the islands, 

 was closely surveyed, and fossils were discovered in several new localities. 

 The stratigraphical and tectonic conditions, especially on the West Island, 

 proved to be of interest and value for the explanation of its present topo- 

 graphical features. Mr. T. Halle's most important task was to solve the 

 question of the supposed occurrence of Permo-Carboniferous layers of Goncl- 

 wana type. Some fragmentary plant-fossils, collected in 1902 during the 

 Swedish Antarctic Expedition, were described by Prof. A. G. Natkorst under 

 the name of Phyllothcca sp., and compared with a species from the Glossopteris- 

 flora ; but, because of the poor condition of the samples, his determination 

 remained doubtful. Mr. Halle has now been able to solve the question. 

 Fossils, principally leaves of Glossojrteris, occur in many places, and it is 

 evident that the whole southern part of the East Falkland, south of Wickham 

 Heights, belongs to the Gondwana System. At the base of the Glossopteris- 

 Series he discovered a clay- stone, containing blocks, apparently of glacial 

 origin, which undoubtedly corresponds with the moraines from other parts of 

 Gondwaualand. ' This discovery is of very great importance. The old Permo- 

 Carboniferous ice-age has been known before, from discoveries made in India, 

 Australia, Africa, and San Luis in Argentina ; its boundary is now moved 

 17 degrees farther south. 



' Of more recent formation, an interesting forest-bed, discovered on West 

 Point Island by Mr. A. E. Felton, was made an object of special investigation. 

 The bed, which contains great quantities of large trunks, is covered by old 

 "flowing-soil," formed during the period of solifluction, of which we have 

 such striking monuments in the famous stone-runs studied by Dr. Andersson 

 and myself during the Swedish Antarctic voyage. The bed is probably of 

 pre-Glacial age. After having been worked out, the collections will give im- 

 portant information as to the phyto-geographical and cliinatological conditions 

 during the early Quaternary. We also paid attention to the other Pleistocene 

 deposits, as well as to the question of changes of the level of the islands, sup- 

 posed to have occurred in the latest period. The result of these researches, 

 however, cannot be communicated until the observations and collections have 

 been thoroughly studied.'— [Dated Punta Arenas, April 1st, 1908.] 



