136 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



ing and size, — bear, in the general style of the bold wavy ridges of 

 their exposed overlying portions, a character which there is no mistaking, 

 no matter what their position. Yours truly, 



W. Davies. 



March 12, 1863. 



TJie Rev. W. Allen's Letter on Portland Fissures. 



Sie, — Will you allow me to say a few words on the subject of Mr. Al- 

 len's letter in your last number ? If his suggestion be correct, how is it 

 that animals of distinct genera, if not species, from any known to have in- 

 habited Britain in historic times are found in the Middle and Upper 

 Oolite? And, again, if he be right concerning the "Upper Oolite" of 

 Portland, why may not the same have taken place with other geological 

 formations after the Oolitic series ? And this we know cannot well be, as 

 those succeeding it must be far older than 6-7000 years. Is it not more 

 likely that during the Pliocene period (when man is supposed to have 

 existed), the " Upper Oolite " of Portland was submerged ; and, as the re- 

 mains of an extensive estuary (in Dorset and Hampshire) exist close at 

 hand, may not the human remains referred to by Mr. Allen have been 

 washed down to the sea and so deposited in the submerged strata, than 

 that a fresh sedimentary deposit has taken place, and the whole forma- 

 tion have been again upraised, and rent almost throughout, perhaps by 

 volcanic action ? Hoping you will excuse these perhaps somewhat crude 

 remarks, 



I remain, yours truly, 



Chables Jicks, Jrx. 



Woodlands, Thorpe, near Norwich, March 23. 



Norway Horses. 



Sie, — At p. 26 of the ' Geologist ' is an inquiry about the teeth of Norway 

 horses. Last autumn, in a Norwegian tour, a friend, Charles Montagu 

 Doughty, Esq., picked up by the sea, and near the jNcrth Cape, the tooth 

 of a horse — which molar I have forgotten. It had not the aspect of a 

 fossil, nor was it very recent, but, as Mr. Doughty suspected before I 

 saw it, was certainly Fquus fossilis. Although I have often found on our 

 own coasts teeth of Fquus caballus in exactly the same state of preserva- 

 tion, this cannot be regarded as more than suggestive evidence of the exis- 

 tence of the fossil form, since horses are not now kept so far north. 



I am, Sir, faithfully yours, 



Haeet Seelet. 



Cambridge, March 9, 1863. 



PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



Geological Society.— February 1S63.— " On the Middle and 



Upper Lias of the Dorsetshire Coast." By E. C. H. Day, Esq. 



The subdivisions of the Lias instituted 'by Sir Henry' de la Beche and 



