314  Geological  Society ; — 
GEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY. 
[Continued  from  p.  238.] 
December  20th,  1871. — Joseph  Prestwich,  Esq.,  E.E.S.,  President, 
in  the  Chair. 
The  following  communications  were  read : — 
1.  A  Letter  from  Gr,  Milner  Stephen,  Esq.,  E.G.S.,  to  the  late 
Sir  Eoderick  Murchison,  dated  Sydney,  5  October,  1871,  announcing 
the  discovery  of  a  rich  auriferous  deposit  on  the  banks  of  the  river 
Bonde,  on  the  N.E.  coast  of  New  Caledonia,  and  of  a  great  deposit 
of  Tin-ore  in  the  district  of  New  England,  New  South  Wales. 
The  gold  in  New  Caledonia  is  found  in  drift ;  and  there  are  indica- 
tions of  the  near  proximity  of  a  quartz-reef.  The  Tin-ore  in  New 
South  Wales  is  said  to  be  in  "pepitas,  crystals,  and  beds  of  conglo- 
merate, especially  in  Micaceous  granite,  more  or  less  decomposed." 
2.  "  Remarks  on  the  Greenland  Meteorites."  By  Prof.  A.  E. 
Nordenskjold,  Eor.  Corr.  G.S. 
The  author  stated  that  the  masses  of  meteoric  iron  brought  from 
Greenland  by  the  recent  Swedish  expedition  seem  to  have  formed 
the  principal  masses  of  an  enormous  meteoric  fall  of  Miocene  date, 
extending  over  an  area  of  some  200  miles.  The  iron  appears  to  be 
free  from  silicates.  Against  its  eruptive  origin  the  author  urges 
that  when  heated  it  evolves  a  great  amount,  of  gaseous  matter,  and 
that  it  contains  imbedded  particles  of  sulphide  of  iron,  the  mass 
itself  being  nearly  free  from  sulphur.  The  masses  are  composed  of 
meteoric  nickeliferous  cast  and  wrought  iron,  or  of  mixtures  of  the 
two  ;  in  the  last  case  the  Widmannstaetten's  figures  are  best  deve- 
loped. The  author  further  noticed  the  various  modes  in  which  the 
iron  occurs,  viz. : — 1,  as  meteorites  ;  2,  filling  cracks  ;  3,  as  breccii- 
form  stones  cemented  with  oxide  and  silicate  of  iron ;  and  4,  in 
grains  disseminated  in  the  basalt. 
3.  "  Eurther  Eemarks  on  the  Eelationship  of  the  Limulidw  (Xi- 
pliosurd)  to  the  Eurypteridce  and  to  the  Trilobita."  By  Henry 
Woodward,  Esq.,  E.G.S. 
In  this  paper  the  author  described  the  recent  investigations  made 
by  Dr.  A.  S.  Packard,  Dr.  Anton  Dohrn,  and  the  Eev.  Samuel  Lock- 
wood,,  upon  the  developmental  history  of  the  North- American  King- 
crab  (Limulus  Polyphemus),  and  discussed  the  conclusions  as  to  the 
alliances  of  the  Xiphosura  and  Eurypteridae,  and  to  the  general 
classification  of  the  Arthropoda,  to  which  the  results  of  these  inves- 
tigations have  led  Dr.  Dohrn  and  some  other  continental  naturalists. 
According  to  this  view,  the  Xiphosura  and  Eurypteridae  are  more 
nearly  related  to  certain  Arachnida  (the  Scorpions,  <fcc.)  than  to  the 
Crustacea ;  and  this  opinion  is  further  supported  by  the  assertion 
of  Dr.  Dohrn,  that  in  Limulus  only  one  pair  of  organs  (antennules) 
receives  its  nerves  from  the  supraoesophageal  ganglion,  and  that  the 
