PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



293 



now remaining. As far as actual mining experience shows, some of the "quartz- 

 reefs " in Victoria prove as rich in gold at a depth of 200, 230, and 400 feet, as at 

 the surface ; the yield, however, fluctuates at any depth yet reached. According 

 to the author's latest observations, the gold-diifts, and their accompanying basaltic 

 lavas, are of Pliocene and Post-pliocene age. ]Miocene beds occur at Corio Bay, 

 Cape Otway coast, Murray basin, and Brighton ; and Eocene beds on the east 

 shore of Port Phillip, Muddy Creek, and Hamilton. Two silicified fossils (Echi- 

 nodemi and Coral), thought by Prof. M'Coy to be of cretaceous origin, have been 

 found in the gTavel near Melbourne. 



This letter also contains some remarks on the probability of some of the coal of 

 Eastern Victoria being of "Carboniferous" age, — on the occm-rence of Silurian 

 fossils in the rocks of all the gold districts, — on the newly-discovered bone-cave at 

 Gisbome,>about twenty-five miles north of Melbourne, — and on the progress of the 

 Geological Smn^ey of the Colony. 



[Portions of the Geological Survey Map of Victoria, lent by the Secretary of 

 State for the Colonies, and specimens of gold, &c. lent by Prof. Tennant, F.G.S., 

 were exhibited in illustration of this paper.] 



[Fossils from Mayence, &c., presented by W. J. Hamilton, Esq., For. Sec. G. S., 

 Fossil Trigonise from South Africa, presented by Capt. Harvey, B.E., and a series 

 of Photolithographs of fossil foot-tracks trom Connecticut, lent by Dr. Bowditch, 

 were exhibited at this Meeting.] 



June 15th, 1859. — 1. "Notes on Spitzbergen." By J. Lamont, Esq. Commu- 

 nicated by Su- C. Lyell, V.P.G.S. 



Mr. Lamont cruised about Spitzbergen in his yacht in the summer of 1858, and 

 went up the Stom- Fiord, which, he remarks, is a sound, dividing the island, not 

 a gulf. The first thuty miles of coast along which he sailed on this Fiord con- 

 sisted almost entirely of the faces of two or tliree enormous glaciers : the water is 

 shallow, seldom as much as sixteen fathoms, and such appears to be the case all 

 around Spitzbergen ; and hence icebergs of very large size are not formed. The 

 shores are mostly formed of a muddy flat, from half a mile to three miles broad, 

 with ice or hard ground at from twelve to eighteen inches under the surface ; this 

 is intersected with muddy riviilets, and bears saxifrages, mosses, and lichens, on 

 which the reindeer fattens. Protruding trap-rocks appear at many spots on these 

 flats. A steep slope of mud, snow, and debris succeeds the flats, and reaches up 

 to perpendicular crags of schistose rock, above which extend the great glaciers. 

 Above these, peaks, probably of granite, appear when free of mist. 



The upper part of the sound has much drift-wood, chiefly small pine-trees, 

 weather-worn and water-logged, and some wreck-wood. Bones and skeletons of 

 whales are numerous. Dritt-wood and bones of whales were observed several miles 

 inland, and high above high -water mark — at least thirty feet. Whales' skeletons 

 were also seen high up on the Thousand Islands. These circumstances, connected 

 with the fact that seal-fishers and whalers state their behef in the shallowing of 

 these seas, lead the author to think that Spitzbergen and the adjacent islands are 

 emerging from the sea at a rate even more rapid than that at which some parts of 

 Norway have been shown to be rising. 



2. "On the Formation of Gypsums and Dolomite." By T. S. Hunt, Esq., of 

 the Geol. Surv. Canada. Communicated by Prof. A. C. Ramsay. F.G.S. 



The points to which the author calls attention are, first, the formation of sul- 

 phate of lime and bicarbonate of magnesia by the action of bicarbonate of lime 

 upon a solution of sulphate of magnesia, and their successive deposition in the 

 forms of gypsum and hydrous carbonate of magnesia, during the process of evapo- 

 ration ; and, secondly, the direct union, under certain conditions, of this carbonate 

 of magnesia with carbonate of lime to form a double carbonate, which is dolomite. 



3. " On the Tertiary Deposits, associated with Trap-rocks, in the East Indies." 

 By the Rev. S. Hislop. With Descriptions of the Shells by the Rev. S. Hislop ; 

 and of the Insects by A. Murray, Esq. (Communicated by the President.) 



In the first place, the author brought forward additional proof to support his 

 views, already given in the Society's Journal, of the probability of the amygda- 

 loidal trap-rock found beneath the freshwater deposits at Nagpur being posterior 

 in age to those beds and to the nodular trap-rock overlying them. Also, he again 



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