Yol. 50.] ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. 6t, 



It remains for the students of fossil botany to determine how far 

 this analysis, which was extended to the plant-bed at Atanekerdluk 

 in Greenland, can be substantiated. Meanwhile, the Author con- 

 tended that the identification of the above flora with the Miocene 

 plants of Europe was groundless, or only applicable to such pre- 

 vailing types of leaves as are common to widely distinct genera, and 

 which occur in floras recent as well as fossil. He held that the 

 resemblance and even identity of the best characterized forms with 

 the older Eocene plants had been ignored. The most strongly 

 marked types of Greenland, which also recur in Antrim, are met 

 with in the Heersian of Gelinden and on no other horizon. These 

 amply suffice to fix the date of the Antrim flora, whilst that of 

 Mull is regarded as somewhat older. Independently of positive 

 evidence, the absence of any late Tertiary types, even of the Legu- 

 minosae which abound as low down as the Reading Beds, is held by 

 Mr. Gardner to indicate their antiquity. 



Dynamical Problems. — There have been two papers by Mr. Charles 

 Davison ' On the Movement of Scree Material,' one by Mr. Oldham 

 ' On the Law that Limits the Action of Flowing Streams,' one by 

 Mr. Barlow ' On the Horizontal Movements of Rocks,' and possibly 

 some other papers which might come under this heading, such as 

 Mr Davison's notice of the Inverness Earthquake. A valuable 

 communication from Prof. Spencer ' On the Origin of the Basins of 

 the Great Lakes of America ' would seem also to find a place here. 



It is now time to call your attention to the four principal subjects 

 constituting the first group — which I propose to consider somewhat 

 in detail. These are The Newer Palaeozoic Rocks, The Older Palaeo- 

 zoic Rocks, The Fundamental Rocks, and General Petrology. 



The Newer Paleozoic Bocks. 



Coal-measures. — The Carboniferous System has not yielded us 

 any important stratigraphical papers of late years ; consequently 

 such matters as have been brought to the notice of the Society 

 relate to details of varied character. 



Thus, for instance, the question of boulders found in seams of 

 coal has been raised by two Authors, viz. Mr. James Batcliffe and 

 Mr. John Spencer. The former indicated a series of boulders, 

 ranging from 4 to 166 lbs. in weight, which had been embedded in 

 the roof of a coal-seam in the Manchester district, similar boulders 



