pbjOCeedings of geological societies. 



69 



panies and causes this molecular action, seems to result from these 

 primary causes. As, therefore, on the whole, the chemical and 

 mineralogical composition of rocks varies httle, and as it is easy to 

 see that one and the same mineral may have had, at times an aqueous 

 origin, at times an igneous one, we have no reason to be surprised if 

 it is not always possible to trace the rigid limit between rocks which, 

 at first sight, seem the most opposite, such as those engendered by 

 heat or by water." 



PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



Geological Society of London, Jamiary 4, 1S60. — Prof. J. Phillips, 

 President, in tlie Chair. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. " On the Plora of the Silurian, Devonian, and Lower Carboniferous For- 

 mations." By Prof. H. R. Goeppcrt, For. Mem. G.S. 



2. "On the Freshwater Deposits of Bessarabia, Moldavia, WaUachia, and 

 Bulgaria." By Capt. T. Spratt, K.N., C.B., F.R.S., F.G.S. 



3. " On the Rhizopodal Fauna of the Mediterranean compared with that of 

 some of the Italian and other Tertiary deposits." By T. llupert Jones, F.G.S., 

 and W. K. Parker, Mem. Micr. Soc. 



The authors presented an extensive table of the Species and varieties of re- 

 cent Toramimfera from several localities in the Mediterranean (worked out 

 from material gathered and dredged by Capt. Spratt, Mr. Hamilton, Prof. 

 Meneghid and other friends), and of the fossil forms from the Tertiary deposits 

 of Malaga (Spain), Turin, Sienna, Palermo, and Malta (communicated by Prof 

 Ansted, Prof. Meneghiui, and the Marchese C. Strozzi, or supphed from the 

 Society's Museum) ; also the fossil Foraminifera from Baljik supplied by Capt. 

 Spratt, and those of the Vienna Basin as elaborated by D'Orbigny, Czjeck, and 

 Reuss. The recent Foraminifera:, tabulated in eleven columns, were illustrative 

 of the range of the respective species and varieties in different zones of sea- 

 depth, from the shore to one thousand seven hundred fathoms, and of the rela- 

 tive size of the individuals, and of their proportional paucity or abundance. 

 Among the seventeen columns of fossH Torariiinifera, some were very rich in 

 species and varieties, especially in the case of the Siennese clays, the Malaga 

 clay, and the Vienna basin. From the evidence afforded by the comparison of 

 the fossil with the recent Forami7iifera, the Siennese blue clays of S. Cerajolo, 

 S. Donnino, S, Lazaro, and Coroncino were regarded as having been deposited 

 in various depths of from forty to one hundred fathoms ; so also the clay-beds 

 of Malaga and of the Vienna basin. A blue clay from S. Quirico was probably 

 formed in about two hundred fathoms ; a blue clay from Pescajo, on the con- 

 trary, was the deposit of a shallow estuary. A sand from Pienza, and others 

 from Montipoh, CastePArquato, and San Frediano, contain AmpUstegina, 

 and were probably deposited in from ten to twenty fathoms water. As the 

 Amphistegina appears now to be extinct as regards the Mediterranean, these 

 Amphistegitia-beds, and others at Palermo and in the Vienna Basin, may be of 

 miocene age. Another Siennese clay from Monti Arioso is of shallow water 



