152 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



quartzites having yielded an Orthoceratite, and pebbles being present in one of 

 the schists of Ben Lomond, these facts were adduced as further evidences of the 

 real stratal condition of the schists and quartzites of the Highlands. 



2. "On the Rocks of portions of the Highlands of Scotland South of the 

 Caledonian Canal, and on their equivalents in the North of Ireland." By Pro- 

 fessor B, Harkness, E.R.S, I.G.S. 



The author having had the opportunity of examining the geology of the 

 north-west of Scotland in the year 1859, and more especially the arrangement 

 of rocks described by Sir R. Murchison as " fundamental gneiss, Cambrian 

 grits, lower quartz-rock, limestones, upper quartz-rock, and overlying gneissose 

 flags," applied the results of his observations during last summer to portions of 

 the Highlands lying south of the Caledonian Canal, and to the North of Ireland. 

 Developed over'a large portion of these districts are masses of gneissose rock, 

 of varying mineral nature, and sometimes putting on the aspect of a simple 

 flaggy rock. Where these gneissose masses come in contact with plutonic 

 masses, they exhibit that highly crystalline aspect which induced Macculloch 

 and others of the Scotch geologists to regard them as occupying an extremely 

 low position among the sedimentary series, and to apply them to the Wernian 

 term " primitive." Many of Macculloch's descriptions, however, show that 

 this assumed low position is not the true place of this gneiss among the sedi- 

 mentary rocks which make up the Highlands of Scotland. 



In a section from the southern flank of the Grampians to Loch Earn (and 

 in other directions from Loch Earn to Loch Tay, from Dunkeld to Blair Athol, 

 in the Ben y Goe Mountains, in Glen Shee, &c), there is seen a sequence which 

 indicates that this gneiss is the highest portion of the series of rocks, with 

 underlying quartz-rock and limestone. 



In the county of Donegal, Ireland, a like sequence is seen. A section from 

 Inishowen Head to Malin Head, along the east side of Loch Eoyle, presents us 

 with gneissose rocks above limestone and quartz-rocks, exactly as in Scotland. 

 In no portion of Scotland south of the Caledonian Canal, nor in the North of 

 Ireland, did the author recognise any traces of the " fundamental gneiss." 



Geologists' Association— On January 7th the members of this Society 

 met at their rooms, 5, Cavendish Square, to receive the annual general report 

 of the committee, and to elect the council and officers for the ensuing session. 

 The report dwelt upon the continued success and prosperity of the Association, 

 and stated the legacy left by the late Mr. Brown, of 'Stanway, had been 

 funded ; that members desirous of exchanging fossils had been placed in com- 

 munication with each other ; that a number of good geological books would be 

 purchased, towards the formation of a library ; that the collection of fossils in 

 the Society's cabinet was increasing ; and that, as the excursions to Folkestone, 

 Maidstone, and Charlton during the past year had afforded great satisfaction 

 to the members, it was intended to follow the same course during the coming 

 .summer, and hold two or three similar field-lectures, of which timely notice 

 would be given. 



Papers were read the same evening "On the Geology of the Isle of 

 Sheppey,,' by the Rev. R. Bingham. The author, speaking of the divisions of 

 i he Tertiary beds, alluded to the island of Sheppey being an outlier of the 

 strata forming "the London Basin." He then proceeded to dwell upon the 

 physical aspect of the locality; and gave much interesting information in 

 reference to the cliffs and their fossil contents, stating that a ramble along the 

 northern side would be rewarded with many a fossilized shell, fruic, and crus- 

 tacean silent witnesses of the existence of a group of spice-islands in tha 

 neighbourhood in ages long antecedent to the historic period. 



2. "On Discoveries in the Lower London Tertiaries at Dulwich and Peck- 



