PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



9$ 



tooth remaining in the socket in a perfect state, corresponding exactly with the 

 ordinary description of the roebuck. Above the shingle, in a stratum of strong 

 ooze about ten feet thick, quantities of alder roots and trees were found." — Histo- 

 rical Account of Wisheach, by W. Watson, 1827, p. 58- 



" Some labourers, in 1819, digging for gravel in Chatteris, at a place called 

 Campole, about half a mile from the church, found, at the depth of full ten feet 

 from the surface, part of the skeleton of an elephant in a fossil state. The most 

 perfect part was the two upper grinders ; these, when found, were fixed in the jaw- 

 bones, which the men broke to come at the teeth. A short piece of tusk about 

 three inches long, part of the skull, part of a leg-bone about fourteen inches long, 

 with some fragments of the jawbone, were all that were discovered. One of the 

 gi-inders weighed five pounds fourteen ounces. There were found in the same 

 place some pieces of wood quite black and spongy. In 1827 these relics were in 

 the possession of Mr. John Girdlestone." — Op. cit. p. 578. 



" A very fine specimen of an Elk's horn was dug up in the vicinity of West 

 Water, in 1827."— Op. cit. p. 578. 



PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



Geological Society of London, January 5th, 1859. — The following commu- 

 nications were read : — 



1. " On Fossil Plants from the Devonian Rocks of Gasp^, Canada." By Dr. 

 J. W. Dawson, F.G.S., Principal of McGill's College, Montreal. 



The ^plant-bearing rocks in the peninsula of Gaspe Avere first noticed by Sir 

 W. E. Logan in 1843. To determine these fossil i)lants accurately, it was neces- 

 sary to study them in place. With this view Dr. Dawson visited Gaspe last 

 summer, and carefully examined the localities by the aid of the plans and sections 

 of the Geological Survey of Canada. The strata referred to have a vertical thick- 

 ness of 7,000 feet, as estimated by Sir W. Logan ; they rest on Upper Silurian 

 rocks, and underlie the Carboniferous conglomerates ; and some beds contain Lower 

 Devonian Brachiopods, &c. 



Among the vegetable remains determined by Dr. Dawson is a curious genus, 

 termed l)y him Fsiloj^hyton, which belonged to the Lycopodiacece, and had minute 

 adpressed leaves on slender dichotomously-branching stems, with circinate ver- 

 nation, and springing from a horizontal rhizome, Avhich had circular areoles with 

 cylindrical rootlets. Some of the shales are matted with these rhizomes. Obscure 

 traces of fructification are observable in cuneate clusters of bracts. The fragments 

 of the diff"erent parts of this interesting plant might easily be mistaken for portions 

 of other and very distinct plants, such as Karstenia, Halonia, Stig^naria, Schizo- 

 pteris, Trichomanites, Fucoids, &c. The author describes two species oi Psilophyton, 

 P. princeps and P. robustius. 



Dr. Dawson further described a new form of Lepidodendron {L. Qaspianum) ; 

 also some specimens of Coniferous wood related to the Taxus (Prototaxites Logani), 

 and some less clear forms belonging to Kno7Tia, Poacites, &c. The author also 

 noticed the occurrence of Entomostraca (Beyrichia), Spirorbis, occasional fish- 

 remains, some Brachiopods, and also rain-marks and ripple-marks in these 

 Devonian beds. 



[Specimens of the Fossil Plants from Gaspe were exhibited in illustration of this 

 paper.] 



2. " On some Points in Chemical Geology." By T. Sterry Hunt, Esq., of the 

 Geological Commission of Canada. (Communicated by Prof. A. C. Ramsay, F.G.S.) 



§ 1. Referring to his communications to other Societies, in which he had endea- 

 voured to explain the theory of the transformation of sedimentary deposits into 



