286 Geological Society :—~ 



The authors append a map of the strata of Dundry Hill, coloured 

 on a palgeontological basis : and they show how it may be compared 

 with the map of the Geological Survey, and with a map by Sanders. 



May 27th.— Dr. Henry Hicks, F.K.S., President, 

 in the Chair. 

 The following communications were read : — 

 1. ' On the Pliocene Deposits of Holland, and their Relation to 

 the English and Belgian Crags ; with a Suggestion for the Establish- 

 ment of a new Zone " Amstelien," and some Remarks on the 

 Geographical Conditions of the Pliocene Epoch in Northern Europe.' 

 By F. W. Harmer, Esq., F.G.S. 



The author draws attention to some papers by Dr. J. Lorie, of 

 Utrecht, describing the strata met with in some deep borings in 

 Holland, which show that the Newer Pliocene is in that country 

 nearly 500 feet thick, and that it has been depressed more than 

 1000 feet below its original position. He enquires whether this 

 subsidence can be connected with the elevation of the Older 

 Pliocene in Belgium and Kent, and how far these earth-movements 

 can be traced in East Anglia and influenced the deposition of the 

 English Crag. 



He gives particulars of the alterations in level which have taken 

 place during and since the Crag period in England and on the 

 Continent, showing that the two movements of upheaval and 

 subsidence have much in common, and especially that they re- 

 gularly increase in degree to the north and south respectively. 



He gives a map showing the extension of the Diestien deposits of 

 Belgium, and their probable connexion with the Lenham Beds, and 

 opposes the view of M. Dollfus that the Diestien sea was closed to 

 the south, though the connexion with it was probably cut off by the 

 elevation of the southern part of the area at the close of the Diestien 

 epoch, which also caused the Scaldisien sea to retreat to the north. 

 At the close of the Scaldisien period the sea retired from Belgium 

 altogether, no beds equivalent to the Upper Crag of England being 

 known in that country. A similar alteration of the margin of the 

 Crag sea can be traced in East Anglia. 



He analyses the fauna of the Scaldisien and Poederlien, and shows 

 its close correspondence with that of the Walton bed and the 

 difference between it and the Upper Crag, which contains Arctic 

 shells. 



He describes the beds met with in the Dutch borings, regarded by 

 Dr. Lorie as Diestien and Scaldisien, and their fauna, at some length. 

 He concludes that a large part of them are altogether newer than 

 the latter formation, and are equivalent to the Butley Crag, and 

 he proposes for them the term ' Amstelien.' 



He doubts whether any deposits of similar age to the Norwich 

 Crag or Chillesford Beds have been met with in the sous-sol of 

 Holland, which he considers became at that time a land-area ; and 



