PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



133 



The majority of those in the first class are on a level with the 

 water, whilst the remainder are elevated above, var;yHLiig from a few 

 to upwards of sixty feet. 



In the second class the level varies, but nearly all are above that 

 of the sea, and, as will presently be described, none penetrate the 

 earth to a considerable depth ; but this may be found to be othermse 

 as the explorations are continued. In none have animal remains 

 been found, excepting in one instance, and they were discovered 

 loose and not imbedded in stalagmite ; and so far as I am aware, not 

 a single object, such as a flint arrow-head or spear, used by the 

 ancient inhabitants of the country, has been observed. This circum- 

 stance may in some measure detract from the present communica- 

 tion ; that part of the inquiry has still to be worked out, as many of 

 the caverns have been but very partially explored, indeed some have 

 scarcely been examined and as several of them branch off by means 

 of fissures and galleries, running from distinct chambers (most of 

 the latter containing stalagmite) we may yet hope for interesting 

 discoveries, particularly in that district of country in which exist the 



huo'e caverns of Mono and Eramosa in the Niao-ara limestone rocks 



... . 

 of the Upper Silurian formation. The researches of my friend, Mr. 



S terry Hunt, of the Canadian Geological Survey, have sliowm that 

 these limestones are essentially dolomitic, and thus perhaps favour- 

 ably constituted for the development of caverns. 



(To be continued.) 



PROCEEDITOS OF GEOLOaiCAL SOCIETIES. 



Geological Society of London, Fehnmry 29, IS60.— L. Horner, Esq., 

 President, in the Ciiair, 



" On the Lower Lias of the South of England." By Dr. T. Wright, E.G.S. 



The author first stated that the uppermost beds of the Lower Lias are those 

 Qoiiidimmg Hippopodiiim ponderosiiiu, and that the lowest beds are those with 

 Ammonites Pla?iorbis, overlying a series of strata containing EstJieria, &c., 

 which he separates from the Lias, under the name of the Avicula contorta 

 beds. The last rest on the grey and red marls of the Keuper. 



Dr. Wright then proeeeded with the description of the A. contorta beds, in- 

 cluding the " Bone-bed," having first enumerated the authors who have written 

 on these and the equivalent strata (K5ssener, Shichten, etc.,) on the Continent. 

 The sections at Garden Cliff, near Westbury on the Severn, at Wainlode Cliff, 

 at Aust Cliff, at Penarth, near Cardiff, at Uphill near Weston-super-Mare, at 

 Culverhole near Axmouth, at Wilmcote and Binton near Stratford-onAvon, 

 were described in detail as illustrating this series; and General Portlock's 

 section of these beds in the North of Ireland was also alluded to. Fecten 



