Geological Society. 241 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



[Continued from p. 160.] 



May 25, 1864. — W. J. Hamilton, Esq., President, 

 in the Chair. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. " On the Geology of part of the North-western Himalayas. '* 

 By Capt. Godwin- Austen. With Notes on the Fossils, by T. 

 Davidson, Esq., F.R.S., F.G.S., R. Etheridge, Esq., F.G.S., and 

 S. P. Woodward, Esq., F.G.S. 



The geological formations occurring in these regions were stated to 

 be (1) a fluvio-lacustrine series, (2) a Siwalik series, (3) Nummulitic 

 Limestone, (4) Jurassic rocks, and (5) a Palaeozoic series. In refer- 

 ence to the fluvio-lacustrine strata, the author gave a resume of the 

 conclusions respecting their physical features and mode of formation 

 at which he had arrived in a former paper, and in addition gave some 

 details respecting their position and stratigraphical characters, espe- 

 cially describing the mode of occurrence in them of some land and 

 freshwater Shells, which were referred to in a Note by Mr. S. P. 

 Woodward. The lakes in which the lacustrine deposits were formed 

 were supposed by Capt. Godwin-Austen to have been produced in 

 consequence of the mouths of valleys, into which rivers run, be- 

 coming blocked up by means of glaciers and otherwise, as now often 

 happens in the same region. Stratigraphical details of the other series 

 of rocks were then given, the Jurassic formation being supposed to 

 belong to the Middle division of the Oolites, and the Palaeozoic lime- 

 stone being described as Carboniferous Limestone, both of which de- 

 terminations were confirmed by Messrs. Etheridge and Davidson in 

 Notes on the Fossils. The age of the clay-slate and mica-slate was 

 stated to be very doubtful, and the author concluded by describing 

 the localities in which granitic rocks occur, but chiefly as forming 

 the axis of the North-western Himalayas. In Notes appended to 

 the paper, Mr. Davidson described species of Brachiopoda from 

 three deposits, one of Carboniferous age, one of Jurassic, and one of 

 unknown date ; Mr. Etheridge described the remaining fossils from 

 the Jurassic strata; and Mr. Woodward noticed the Shells from the 

 fluvio-lacustrine series. While the latter were stated to be nearly 

 all recent British species, Mr. Etheridge remarked on the great 

 affinity of the Jurassic fossils to those of the same age (Middle 

 Oolite) in England, and Mr. Davidson observed that the fossili- 

 ferous limestone of the Carboniferous series bore a great resem- 

 blance, lithologically and in its fossils, to deposits of a similar age in 

 Great Britain. 



2. " On the Cetacean Fossils termed Ziphius by Cuvier, with a 

 notice of a new species (Belemno ziphius compressus) from the Red 

 Crag." By Prof. T. H. Huxley, F.R.S., F.G.S. 



The genius Ziphius, as originally constituted by Cuvier, contained 

 three species described by him, namely, Z. cavirostris , Z. plani- 



