2 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



November 17, 1886. 

 Prof. J. W. Judd, F.R.S., President, in the Chair. 

 The List of Donations to the Library was read. 



The Secretary announced that the following type specimens had 

 been bequeathed to the Society's Museum by the late Caleb Evans, 

 Esq., F.G.S., viz. : — Palceocorystes glabra, H. Woodw. (Quart. Journ. 

 Geol. Soc. xxvii. p. 90), and Litoricola glabra, H. "Woodw. (Quart. 

 Journ. Geol. Soc. xxix. p. 29), from the Lower Eocene of Ports- 

 mouth ; also two specimens of elytra of Beetles from the London 

 Clay of Peckham. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. A letter from the Lieutenant-Governor of the Falkland Islands, 

 communicated by H.M. Secretary of State for the Colonies : — 



" Government House, 



Stanley, Falkland Islands, 

 3rd June, 1886. 



" My Lord, — I regret to have to report that a slip of the peat- 

 bog at the back of the town of Stanley, similar to that which 

 occurred in November 1878 *, but about two hundred yards to the 

 westward of the scene of that accident, took place last night. A 

 stream of half-liquid peat, over a hundred yards in width, and 4 or 

 5 feet deep, flowed suddenly through the town into the harbour, 

 blocking up the streets, wrecking one or two houses in its path, and 

 surrounding others so as completely to imprison the inhabitants. 

 Fortunately, as the night was wet and stormy, almost everyone was 

 within doors, and the few who were in the wrecked houses escaped 

 in time. One child was, unfortunately, smothered in the peat, whose 

 body has been recovered, but no other casualties are known to have 

 occurred. An old man is, however, reported to be missing this 

 morning, and it is feared he may also have perished, as part of 

 his house is almost filled with peat. * * * * The slip was 

 caused, apparently, by the unusually heavy rains which have fallen 

 during the last few days, and which the drains constructed by 

 Mr. Bailey, the Surveyor, in 1878, proved insufficient to carry off. 

 Deeper and wider cuttings will now be made, and I trust that the 

 recurrence of any similar catastrophe may thus be prevented. The 

 town of Stanley is, however, from its situation and the mass of 

 peat-bog on the high ground behind it, always to some extent ex- 

 posed to danger of this nature in times of unusually heavy rainfall. 



" I have &c, 



" (Signed) Arthur Barely." 

 " The Right Hon. Earl Granville, E.G., 

 Sfc. Sfc. Sfc" 



* See Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. voL xxxv. Proc. p. 96. 



