1865.] Geology and Palaeontology . 107 



of mere descriptions of species, are better fitted for the " Annals and 

 Magazine of Natural History." 



Proceedings oe the Geological Society. 



The last two numbers of the ' Quarterly Journal ' of the Geological 

 Society contain many important papers ; but we have not space to 

 discuss more than those relating to the following subjects, which 

 appear to be of the most general interest, namely : (1) Eecent Dis- 

 coveries of Flint Implements in England ; (2) Welsh Lingula-flag 

 Fossils ; (3) the Mineralization of Corals ; and (4) the oldest known 

 Mammal. 



1. Recent Discoveries of Flint Implements in England.— Since the 

 authenticity of the flint implements of the Valley of the Somme has 

 been admitted by competent judges, very many amateur English 

 geologists have confined themselves to the endeavour to discover these 

 relics of ancient man in their own districts. That success has crowned 

 the efforts of some of them is proved by the fact that since last July 

 the Geological Society has published accounts of further discoveries 

 of flint implements near Bedford, by Mr. J. Wyatt, in Hampshire and 

 in Wiltshire, by Mr. John Evans, and in Gloucestershire by Mr. E. 

 Witchell, and these memoirs teem with the names of fortunate finders 

 of similar weapons in the different districts treated of. 



The flint implements referred to in these papers all came from 

 freshwater gravel-beds, as is proved by the shells found in association 

 with them ; but it is remarkable, in reference to the age of the de- 

 posits, that the molluscan fauna varies very little from that now living 

 in the neighbourhood, while the mammals, as is well known, show a 

 very great amount of difference. It should, therefore, be recollected 

 that changes in a mammalian fauna indicate by no means so great a 

 lapse of time as similar changes in a molluscan fauna do, and it would 

 appear that even Mr. Evans places almost an extreme value on the 

 mammalian evidence in the argument which leads to the following 

 very temperate conclusion to his paper : — " Geologically speaking, 

 indeed, the time may appear insignificant, as compared with the vast 

 lapse of ages represented by even a single formation ; but where man 

 is concerned, we are involuntarily led to compare the period of his 

 duration with the short space of time embraced by history and 

 tradition." 



2. Welsh Lingula-flag Fossils. — Last year Mr. Salter described some 

 fragments of a large Trilobite belonging to the genus Paradoxides, 

 until then unknown in Britain, and in a more recent paper " On some 

 new Fossils from the Lingula-flags of Wales," he has given an 

 amended description of the great Paradoxides (P. Davidis), and has 

 also described several new species of fossils from Porth-y-Bhaw and 

 Solva Harbours, near St. David's, including two new genera of trilobites, 

 and a new genus of sponges. These fossils were obtained by local 

 observers from beds hitherto considered almost unfossiliferous, but 

 now shown to contain a large number of species ; and according t< > 



