PROCEEDINGS OE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



140 



Iii the Microscopical Section, (10th February,) Mr. R. D. Darbishirc 

 presented specimens of mud and fossil shells (received through Dr. P. P. 

 Carpenter) from the Post-pliocene or latest Tertiary deposits at Logan's 

 Farm, Mile-end Quarries, near Montreal, Canada, described by Sir C. 

 Lycll (' First Travels in North America,' vol. ii. p. 135), and in Papers 

 by Dr. J. W. Dawson in the ' Canadian Naturalist,' 1858 and in 1859. 

 Mr. Darbishirc, in a note to the Secretary, stated that one of the pecu- 

 liarities of the deposit is that it seems to have been formed in a quiet 

 hollow. Spicula? of sponges are found in position, as if the sponge had 

 grown and been quietly buried on the spot. Amongst other character- 

 istic fossils are numerous Foraminifera, and a siliceous and close-tex- 

 tured sponge, referred to Tethea, of the species Logani, which is now 

 found in water from the tide-line to 200 fathoms deep. 



Cotswold Club.— From a reprinted paper on Gryphcca incurva, 

 with plates by Mr. J ohn Jones, of Gloucester, which we have received, it 

 appears that old and valuable club, the Cotswold, are devoting their re- 

 sources to really good work. In Vol. III. of this periodical we printed a 

 paper on Hhynchonella acuta by Mr. Jones, and the steps which that 

 author then took to work out the identity of many so-called but unreal 

 species he has repeated in respect to that more common and character- 

 istic bivalve mollusk of the Lias, abundant and familiar, though it would 

 seem in all its varieties yet not always a well-known shell, — the Gry- 

 phcea incurva of British and Gryphcea arquata of foreign writers. The 

 following extracts from Mr. Jones's paper will convey the views he promul- 

 gates in respect to the various forms of Gryphsea which have received spe- 

 cific names. 



" Gryphcce. — 'A free, (except when very young,) unequal-valved, inequi- 

 lateral bivalve, larger valve involutely curved, concave, smaller valve flat- 

 tish, bcaklcss ; hinge, a transversely striated pit, containing an internal 

 ligament, without teeth or crenatures.' 



" The Liassic species, recognized by most English writers, to which the 

 foregoing generic terms apply, arc those to which we have now to address 

 ourselves, and maybe stated as follows: — Gryphcea incurva, Sowerby ; 

 G. suilla, Schlotheim; G. obliquata, Sowerby ; G. Maccullochii, Sower- 

 by ; G. deprcssa, Phillips ; G. cymhium, Lamarck ; all of which, labelled 

 as above, are to be found in most collections of importance throughout 

 the kingdom, and are more or less common (as we believe) in this district. 



" Upon inquiring where, as tyros, we may find pictorial illustrations of 

 the differences between them, we learn that we must refer to the works 

 cited as follows : — For G. cymhium, to the 'Encyclopedic Methodiquo ;' 

 the ' Petrefacta Germanic ' of Goldfuss ; the 1 Coquilles Fossiles des 

 Environs dc Paris ' of Deshayes ; Sowerby 's 1 Mineral Conchology ;' or 

 Phillips's ' Geology of Yorkshire.' For G. deprcssa, to the last-named 

 work. For G. incurva, to two of the former w^orks; to the ' Petrefacten ' 

 of Zieten ; and Parkinsou's ' Organic Remains.' For G. suilla, to Gold- 

 fuss, ' Petrefacta Germania).' For G. obliquata and G. Maccullochii, to 

 Sowerby's ' Mineral Conchology.' 



" It is scarcely necessary to observe, (hat all these works arc of so expen- 

 sive a character, as to place them beyond the reach of the great majority 

 of geological students; that they are all out of print, and not always at- 

 tainable by those who m» afford to purchase them; hence, therefore, the 

 desirability of carrying out the design we have formed. It will he seen in 

 the sequel, that we shall have occasion to refer to various other supposed 

 species, described by Continental authorities. 



" Hie first which claims our notice in stratigraphically ascending order is 



