PltOCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



307 



The elaborate data from which the laws of vertical distribution of marine 

 organisms may be inferred with any degree of security being so extremely 

 scarce, we must admit Dr. Lorenz's book to be a highly valuable contribu- 

 tion to this branch of science ; the more so as he, working on the few clas- 

 sical investigations of his precursors, has really added new riches to 

 our scientific stores. 



This book, although not directly connected with geology and palaeonto- 

 logy, as E. Forbes's investigations were in their time, nor published with 

 any view to the practical purposes of propagation and acclimatization, may 

 be profitable notwithstanding to each of those branches, as it offers a rich 

 store of thoroughly discussed facts whose influence on extinct animal 

 forms was certainly not less than it is still on those now living. 



Even plain good sense, unassisted by science, can comprehend how from 

 investigations of this nature, that only by following the still-neglected paths 

 of physico-organographical researches profitable results may be achieved 

 concerning the rational culture and multiplication of useful marine pro- 

 ductions. 



PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



Dudley Geological Society. — In a paper read before the Dudley 

 Field Club, Mr. John Jones, of Gloucester, has described some flint-flakes 

 and the deposit in which they were found by Mr. E. Witchell, of Stroud. 



In an excavation for a reservoir on the brow of the Oolite hills at that 

 place, the superficial clay charged with land and freshwater shells rests ap- 

 parently on land-slipped masses of Oolites and subjacent rocks, the total 

 thickness of the clay being from 15 to 20 feet, and the elevation of the de- 

 posit 700 feet above the sea. The clay bed is said to be divided into an 

 upper, middle, and lower portion. It is from the middle portion Mr. Jones 

 records "flint-implements with cutting-edges (i.e. flint-flakes), carbonized 

 wood, Oolitic stone changed in colour by the action of fire, the bones of 

 animals, a portion of a deer's antler, apparently that of the red deer, and 

 what, from the description of the workmen, who had not cared to preserve 

 it, was probably a boar's tusk, all in close proximity." The shells found 

 in the clay are various species of Zonites, Helix, Pupa, Succinea, etc. ; such, 

 as Mr. Jones says, have been found fossil at Grays, Copford, and Clacton, 

 and as he gives a list of the mammalia found at those places, we presume 

 he is disposed to infer the same age for the Stroud clay : a conclusion we 

 do not see borne out by the character of the flint-flakes, which are of 

 prehistoric, but not geological age, according to the opinion of Mr. John 

 Evans, who has inspected them. Mr. Jones's method of comparison with 

 the organic remains from Grays and' other beds for the age of this deposit 

 is very curious, but in the case of mollusks is not, we think, practicable. 

 The circumstances are, however, well recorded, and the author has worked 

 together very nicely all the facts which have come to his knowledge in 

 support of his views. The locality from which these relics have come 

 would, if worked in an antiquarian point of view, afford, we think, many 

 more interesting details, and we are glad to hear the proprietor intends 

 carrying on further excavations. The paper is, like many others by Mr. 

 Jones which we have already noticed, carefully worked out, and one pro- 

 perly adapted for the discussion of a field-club. 



Manchester Geological Society. — Mr. Binney communicated to 

 the Society a section of the drift deposits near Eainford, kindly furnished, 



