BRITISH ASSOCIATION MEETING AT NEWCASTLE. 



383 



of the very curious joint-structure, which was nowhere better exhibited 



On the Bivalved Entomostraca of the Carboniferous Steata 

 of Great Britain and Ireland. By Professor liupert Jones. 



Fossil Fishes from the Permian Limestone. By Mr. J. W. 

 Kirkby. — The object of the paper was to record the discovery of fish- 

 remains in the Upper Magnesian limestone of the Permian formation, the 

 discovery being of interest, especially on account of the remains having 

 been found at a horizon considerably higher in the Permian series than any 

 vertebrate remains had been previously known to occur. The fossils were 

 first noticed in August, 1861, in a newly-opened quarry belonging to Sir 

 Hedworth Williamson, at Fulwell, a mile and a half to the north of Sun- 

 derland. Most of them are found in one bed or zone of beds of limestone, 

 there nevertheless being several instances of their occurrence both above and 

 below. The same fish-bed appeared to extend considerably to the north- 

 east, a portion of a small fish having been obtained from Marsden Bay. 

 The fossils were almost invariably perfect individuals. Fully nine-tenths 

 of the specimens found belonged to a single species of Palseoniscus. The 

 remainder belonged probably to two, or probably to three, species of the 

 same genus and to a species of Acrolepis. The Palpeonisci were small, the 

 largest being but little over 4 inches in length. The Acrolepis seemed to 

 have attained a length of 12 inches. Associated with the fish-remains 

 there occurred rarely fragments of plants. These, though imperfect, ap- 

 peared to be referable to three species ; one a Calamite, another a Caulerpa, 

 and the third was a large reed-like form, whose generic relations were at 

 present difficult to determine. These were the only fossils that had been 

 met with along with the fish. These fish-bearing strata were 150 feet 

 from the top of the upper limestone. The discovery carried the Permian 

 vertebrate from the lower beds of the Durham series high into the upper, 

 and near enough to the Trias to give to their occurrence perhaps more than 

 usual interest. 



Mr. Howse suggested that as the Palajoniscus was a freshwater fish, and the mag- 

 nesian. limestone not a freshwater formation, the plants had heen drifted with the fish 

 into the sea, and both deposited together in the limestone. 



Swedish Fossils. — Mr. J. G. Jeffreys gave a list of the Upper Ter- 

 tiary fossils of Uddewaila, in Sweden. 



On the Upper Tertiary Strata of the Bohuslan District. By 

 Dr. A. W. Malm. — This was another contribution from Sweden. It had 

 been accompanied by a slab, which, unfortunately, excited the suspicions 

 of the Customs' officers, who, suspecting perhaps the concealment of 

 brandy or cigars, or concluding that the slab was rubbish, had broken it up 

 and destroyed it. 



The President, Mr. Warington Smyth, remarked that observation was now establishing, 

 beyond the possibility of a doubt, that certain portions of the north of Europe were now 

 being elevated at a slow, still, comparatively speaking, rapid rate above the level of the 

 sea, and also that we had in our country, especially in Wales, most conclusive evidence 

 that the land had been elevated to an enormous height within a comparatively recent 

 period. Dr. Malm had shown that there had been almost magical transformation in 

 Sweden ; but nearer home we might find the same class of phenomena. He had now 

 to call attention to a most extraordinary depression between Durham and the south of 

 the Tyne. A paper to be read showed that at a recent period, comparatively speaking, 

 there had been a channel of considerable depth between Durham aud a point above the 

 High Level Bridge. The subject was of much importance to the coal trade, and it had 

 excited great interest among viewers and miners generally. 



