PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



165 



PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



Geological Society of London. — Annual General Meeti-sg.— February 

 ISfk, 1859.— Prof. J. Phillips, President, in the Chair, 



The Reports of the Council, of the Museum and Library Committee, and of the 

 Auditors, having been read by the Secretaiy, were adopted, and ordered to be 

 printed. 



The President stated the Council had unanimously awarded the Wollastou 

 Medal to Mr. Charles Darwm, F.R.S., F.G.S., in testimony of their appreciation 

 of the great value of his long-continued and successful geological researches both 

 abroad and at home, and both in the practical and the pliilosophical branches of 

 the science. 



The President then announced the award of the balance of the proceeds of the 

 WoUaston Fund to Mr. Charles Peach, of Wick, N.B. 



The President then proceeded to read his Anniversaiy address, briefly alluding 

 to the loss the Society had of late sustained in the decease of several Fellows and 

 Foreign Members, among whom were H. Warburton, Esq., the Dean of Ely, the 

 Duke of Devonshire, Lieut.-Col. Sir W. Reid, Sir W. G. Cumming, Rev. E. Tagart, 

 Herbert MackAvorth, Esq., Richard Taylor, Esq., Prof. Weiss, &c. 



The ballot for the Council and Ofticers was then taken ; Prof. John Phillips, 

 M.A., LL.D., F.R.S. was re-elected President. 



Ordinary General Meeting. — February '23d, 1859. — The following com- 

 munications were read : — 



1. " On the occurrence of Liassic Deposits near Carlisle." By E. W. Bmney, 

 Esq., F.G.S. 



The author's attention had been drawn by Mr. Richard B. Brockbank, of 

 Carlisle, to the district lying between Carthwaite, on the Carlisle and Maryport 

 Railway, and the Solway, especially about Aikton and Oughterby, as containing 

 a limestone, supposed to belong to the coal-measures, but fomid by Mr. Brockbank 

 to contain an Ammonite and other fossils, which he thought to be Liassic. Mr. 

 Binney subsequently went over the district with Mr. R. B. Brockbank, and found 

 that, although the country is thickly coated Avith boulder-clay or till, yet lias- 

 limestone and shales w^ere observable in several spots, in Avells, streams, &c., 

 especially at Quarry Gill, Fisher's Gill Farm, and in Thornbybrook, south-east of 

 Aikton. Gryphcea incurra and other Gryplia^a;, Avith Oysters and Ammonites, 

 characterise these beds. The area occupied by the Lias is known to extend under 

 the rising ground lying betAA-een Crofton and Orton, on the south, and the Sohvay, 

 on the north, comprising Aikton, Thornby, Wiggonby, Oughterby, and probably 

 other places on the rising gxound betAveen the Carlisle and Maryport and Carlisle 

 and Port Carhsle Railways. 



This paper was illustrated by specimens of the Lias, forwarded by Mr. E. W. 

 Binney. 



2. " On the Fossils of the Lingula-flags or Zone Primordiale. — I. Paradoxides 

 and Conocephalus fi^om North America." By J. W. Salter, Esq., F.G.S., of the 

 Geological Survey of Great Britain. 



After briefly noticing the relations of the "Zone Primordiale" instituted by 

 M. Barrande, the author described the remains of a large Paradoxides sent from 

 the vicinity of St. John's, Newfoundland, by Mr. Bennett. The fossil belongs to 

 a new species of Paradoxides, the largest yet knoAvn (9^ inches broad), and termed 

 P. novo-repertus by Mr. Salter. A neAV species of Conocephalus, from Georgia, 



