542 Qeological Society, 



Yalley. The Karnes or Eskers, which are frequent in the valleys, he 

 ascribed to the deposition of moraines in the sea instead of on land, 



3. "On a Sea-coast Section of Boulder -clay in Cheshire." Ey 

 D. Mackintosh, Esq., F.G.S. 



The principal object of the author was to draw attention to the 

 fact of the occurrence of numerous sea-sheUs in a lower boulder- 

 clay at Dawpool as thoroughly glacial in its appearance, structure, 

 and composition as any clay to be met with along the shores of the 

 Irish Sea, and differing in no essential respect from the Finel, which 

 runs up the slopes and yalleys of the Lake District. He pointed out 

 a number of very important distinctions between the Lower and 

 Upper Eoulder-clays of Cheshire, referring especially to the light 

 grey or blue facings of the fractures of the latter. He gave a list of 

 a number of large boulders, greenstone and Criffell granite predo- 

 minating, though among the smaller stones ^ Silurian grit was most 

 prevalent. The author likewise explained the mode of striation of 

 the stones found in the clay, and the positions they occupied in re- 

 ference to their flattened surfaces. 



The paper was illustrated by samples of the two clays, a number 

 of shells in various states of preservation, and about forty specimens 

 (most of them named and their parentage assigned) of Silurian grit 

 and argillite, greenstone, several varieties of felstone and porphyry, 

 felspathic breccia, Criffell and Eskdale granites, and granites of un- 

 known parentage, "Wastdale or Ennesdale syenite, quartz. Carboni- 

 ferous Limestone, chalk-flints (?), local gypsum, sandstone, &c. 



In a letter, Mr. Searles Y. Wood, Jun., stated that he regarded 

 the Boulder-clay containing the shells as later than the newest of 

 the East-Anglian beds, and the Upper clay as probably equivalent 

 to the Hessle clay. 



The fragmentary shells sent had been determined by Mr. J. Gwyn 

 Jeff'reys, who found " eleven species represented among them, and 

 stated that they agreed with the shells from Moel-Tryfaen and Mac- 

 clesfield. He remarked especially on the occurrence of Astarte 

 horealis, a species now extinct in the British area. 



4. " On Modern Glacial Action in Canada " (second article). By 

 the Eev. William Bleasdell, M.A. 



In this paper the author communicated some facts illustrative of 

 the action of ice in Canada, in continuation of a former paper. Eid- 

 lar's Island, in the rapids of the river Trent (flowing into the 

 head of Lake Ontario), has been removed within the last eighteen 

 months. Patrick's Island, a mile lower down, is also rapidly dis- 

 appearing. Salmon Island, in the Bay of Quinte, between Amherst 

 Island and the mainland, which had an area of about an acre fifty 

 years ago, has disappeared, leaving a shoal with about 4 feet of 

 water over it ; and three neighbouring islets, known as the Brothers, 

 are in course of removal. The removal of these islands is due to 

 the action of drift-ice. The author also referred to the formation of 

 ground-ice in the Canadian rivers. 



