470 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



The author showed that although the upper coal-field of Lancashire and 

 the Midland Counties of England contained several workable seams, the 

 same beds in Cumberland and Scotland contained none. On the other 

 hand, the mountain-limestone series in the latter districts contained nume- 

 rous seams of coal, whilst none were to be found in the former. 



Geological Society. — November Uh, 1863. — 1. " On some Ichthyolites 

 from New South Wales sent over by the Eev. W. B. Clarke, F.G.S." By 

 Sir P. de M. Grey Egerton, F.R.S. 



Two specimens and three photographs, sent to England for the author's 

 determination, enabled him to distinguish four genera, two of which are 

 new, and allied to Acrolepis and Platysomus respectively ; the known 

 genera being Urosthenus, Dana (allied to Pygopterus), and Palaeoniscus, 

 Agass. Sir Philip was of opinion that these genera were sufficient to stamp 

 the deposit in which they occur— namely, the coal-formation of New South 

 Wales — as belonging to the Palaeozoic period, if they may be regarded as 

 representative genera living at the same period as, but geographically dis- 

 tant from, their nearest allies ; but, as regards the actual age of the forma- 

 tion, the allied genera are more abundantly represented in the Magnesian 

 Limestone and the Kupferschiefer thau in the coal-measures ; the mate- 

 rials were, he considered, too meagre to justify a conclusion. 



2. " Notes on the Geology of a portion of the Nile Valley north of the 

 Second Cataract, in Nubia," chiefly with the view of inducing further search 

 for Fluviatile Shells at High Levels." By A. Leith Adams, A.M., M.B., 

 Surgeon 22nd Regiment. With a Note on the Shells, by S. P. Woodward, 

 Esq., F.G.S. ; and a Note on some Teeth of Hippopotamus, by Hugh 

 Falconer, M.D., F.E.S. 



In company with the late Mr. A. H. Ehind, F.S.A., the author made 

 the usual boat-voyage from Cairo to the Second Cataract during last No- 

 vember and the two following months, when he was enabled to make some 

 observations on the geology of that portion of the Nile valley. In this 

 paper he first described the physical features of the district, beginning at 

 Selsileh and proceeding southwards, and then the lithological and strati- 

 graphical characters of the Nile sandstone, as well as its mode of junction 

 M 7 ith the granite, noticing also the evidences of the Nile having shifted its 

 bed, and of other physical changes occurring in Nubia. Near the Second 

 Cataract were abundant proofs of the river having formerly flowed at 

 higher levels, the author having found river shells, such as Cyrena fiumi- 

 nalis, Paludina bulimoides, Iridina Nilotica, and OEthevia semilunata (the 

 Nile oj^ster), as also Bulimus pullus and a Unio like U. pictorum, in beds 

 of alluvium on elevated plateaus at various heights, ranging up to 130 feet, 

 above the highest inundations of the present day. 



Dr. Adams concluded from these facts that the Nile was formerly a more 

 rapid river than it is now, and that the force and wearing power of the 

 stream lias been steadily declining since the upheaval of the valley ceased. 



The determinations of the shells were made by Mr. Woodward, who 

 gave a complete list of them in a note. Dr. Falconer also described two 

 molars embedded, in situ, in a fragment of the left maxillary of a very 

 large hippopotamus ; the specimen was dug up near the old temple of 

 Kalabshe, in Nubia ; and Dr. Falconer was of opinion that it belonged 

 to the same species as the existing hippopotamus of that country. 



November 18.— 1. " On the Fossil Corals of the West Indies."— Part II. 

 By P. Martin Duncan, M.B., F.G.S. — This communication consisted 

 chiefly of a description of corals returned to the Society's Museum by 

 Mr. Lonsdale soon after the reading of the first part. 



