266 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



liar type and fresh appearance at Moulin-Quignon has led to questions 

 having been lately raised as to the age of the gravel-beds, and the antiquity 

 of these remains. Mr. Prestwich showed how conflicting had been the 

 evidence in support of the views formerly entertained, and dwelt upon the 

 appearances which had raised the doubts as to the genuineness of certain 

 implements and the fossil nature of the jaw. He also gave a resume of 

 the proceedings of the conference lately held at Paris and Abbeville, and 

 remarked that the intrinsic evidence appeared to prove the spurious nature 

 of the objects, while the evidence derived from the study of the beds had 

 led to the opposite conclusion. 



The author then showed that, from the physical configuration of the dis- 

 trict, corroborated by the presence of extinct mammalia distinctly of con- 

 temporaneous age, the modern age assigned to these beds by some geolo- 

 gists could not be maintained ; and that, from the occurrence of freshwater 

 shells in both the high- and low-level gravels, their formation must have 

 been due to river-action, and not to a wave of translation or other modifi- 

 cation of marine action. 



Mr. Prestwich concluded by stating that, whatever may be the conclu- 

 sions drawn from the jaw and the flint-implements, the age of the deposits 

 is to him perfectly well determined as being of the early quaternary or 

 post-pliocene period, older than the Menchecourt gravels, and anterior to 

 the excavation of the valley of the Somme ; and as some flint-implements, 

 the genuineness of which is not doubted, have been found in these depo- 

 sits, the question of the antiquity of man will not be affected, whatever 

 the conclusions arrived at with regard to certain others. 



The following specimens were presented : — 



Cretaceous fossils from Pas Partak, on the south-east coast of Arabia ; 

 fossils from the Somali Mountains, collected by Messrs. Burton and 

 Speke ; fossils from the north bank of the river Nerbudda ; and Tertiary 

 fossils from Travancore, by Dr. H. J. Carter, E.R.S ; fossils from the 

 Valley of Kelat, by Dr. Cook, of H.M. Bombay Army. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



New Ossiferous Caveen.— Sir Lawrance Palk, Bart.. M.P., has placed 

 a limestone cavern, recently discovered on his property at Torquay, under 

 the care of Mr. Pengelly, who has undertaken to explore it. 



[Bones are numerous, and the highest interest will undoubtedly attach to the results 

 of the exploration in Mr. Pengclly's able hands. — En. Geol.] 



Roots of Lepidodendeon.— At page 107 of the April number of the 

 1 Geologist' for the year 1861, \diich has just fallen into my hands, it is 

 there stated by Mr. Salter, in his lecture on Coal, that he believes Halonia 

 to be the root of Lepidodendron. I have had in my possession for about 

 three years a good specimen of Lepidodendron, with roots of Halonia 

 attached, which puts the matter beyond a doubt. It may also be pleasing 

 to those geologists to inform them that I shall take an especial interest in 

 showing it, — James Wild. 



Pleasant Spring, Bed Tan Nook, Oldham, May S0t7i, 1863. 



The Reptiles of the Chalk.— The reptiles of the Chalk, although 

 they are not so abundant or so varied in that formation as reptilia are 

 both in forms and numbers iu the Liassic and Oolitic beds, nor so grand, 



