296 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



fracture. This deposit seemed to have been formed by the vegetable 

 matter carried down by the Dee and Don, constituting a marine coal 

 formation, in which the leaves of the oak and thorn were found, mixed 

 with Sertulariae and marine productions. 



The Marquis of Northampton remarked the importance of studying 

 causes now in action, with the view to determine the origin of ancient 

 phenomena ; and he expressed a hope that Dr. Fleming would make a 

 full and detailed report on the structure and formation of peat at the 

 next meeting of the Association. 



On the Remains of Insects in the Lias of Gloucestershire, 

 by the Rev, P. B, Brodie. 



The President read a letter from Mr. Brodie^ stating 

 that his former discovery of insects in the Wealden formation 

 of Sussex had led him to close investigation of the strata in 

 the neighbourhood of Cheltenham, where such fossils were 

 comparatively of great rarity, having hitherto been found 

 only once in the Has. The remains detected by Mr. Brodie 

 consisted of the elytra of one or more genera of Coleoptera, 

 one or two minute beetles, and a few wings resembling those 

 of the Libellulee. They were generally of small size, the 

 largest elytra being little more than half an inch long, and 

 the largest wing about an inch in length. The beds in which 

 they occur consist of thin courses of blue, green, and white 

 limestone, forming some of the lower beds of the lias forma- 

 tion, so extensively developed in the vicinity of Cheltenham 

 and Gloucester. 



Mr. H. E. Strickland mentioned a wing of a Libellula t^vice the size 

 of the largest British species, found in the lias of Hatherleigh, near 

 Gloucester. The remains of insects probably indicated shallow water, 

 and the proximity of land. 



