PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



157 



Lower Lias formation. This latter portion is of great interest, on account of 

 the numerous fossils contained in some of the thin beds of limestone, etc., 

 found there ; one of the lowest beds of the Lias in this section being a thin 

 stratum of calcareous : conglomerate, containing a very great abundance of 

 reptilian bones, coprolites, and fish-remains, known as the "bone-bed." 



Tehran,'!/ 12, 1S61. — The President read his annual address. After review- 

 ing the progress of the Society, and giving a sketch of the geology of Liver- 

 pool and the surrounding district, he proceeded to describe the leading geolo- 

 gical and palseontological discoveries of the past year, dwelling more particularly 

 on the very interesting facts elucidated in Prance by Messieurs Lartet, Gosse, 

 De Vibraye, and De Verneuil in connection with that great scientific question 

 of the day, "the geological age of man." 



" On the Geology of the Arctic Regions." By David Walker, Esq., M.D., 

 F.K.G.S. 



This paper was the result of the author's observations during the voyage of 

 the "Pox," in search of Sir John Pranklin. He stated that on approaching 

 the coast of South Greenland, the appearance of the mountains at once shows 

 their igneous origin, being composed of granite, gneiss, and mica-schist, with 

 occasional intervals of quartzose rock. After proceeding along a coast-line of 

 five hundred miles, the volcanic rocks appear. These are first seen at Disco 

 Island, and continue with a few interruptions as far north as the expedition 

 reached. The precise formation of the land between Jones' Sound and Lan- 

 caster Sound is not known, but from its tabular appearance it is most likely 

 Upper Silurian Limestone, as occurs further westward in. Barrow Strait. 



To the southward of Lancaster Sound, Silurian Limestone appears as far as 

 Possession Bay, when the primary and metamorphic rocks make their appear- 

 ance. Beyond Croker's Bay, as far westward as visited, the formation is 

 Upper Silurian Limestone ; the hills presenting tabulated fronts to the sea, 

 with deep ravines intervening, rendering the hills cone-shaped. The shore of 

 Barrow Strait is also made up of similar cone-shaped hills of Silurian Lime- 

 stone. The west coast of Regent Inlet is of the same formation, but the fronts 

 to seaward are much more elevated than on the north side of Barrow Strait. 

 Prom Pury Point south to Bellot Strait the elevation of the land fronting the 

 sea gradually decreases until it is seen lying against the granite, which forms 

 a back-bone. 



The author exhibited many specimens of the fossils he had collected from 

 the Upper Silurian limestone described — Arctic species of the genera Loxo- 

 nema, Encrinurus, Spirifer, Atrypa, Rhynchonetta, etc. The resemblance of the 

 specimens to those of Dudley and Colebrookdale is very remarkable. The 

 presence of raised beaches and of Tertiary coal was also dilated upon. 



Malvern Natural History Pield Club. — The unfavourable weather of last 

 year prevented the appointment of any Pielcl Meeting earlier than the 15th of 

 May, when a joint meeting of the Malvern and Worcester Clubs at Eastnor 

 took place. The first move was to the line of the Worcester and Hereford 

 Railway, striking it at the east end of the Ledbury tunnel, where a shaft had 

 been sunk in the Ludlow rocks of the Silurian system, from the spoil banks of 

 which Mr. Stephen Ballard, the engineer, explained the course to be taken by 

 the line, while the geologists broke into the line with eager determination, but 

 neither here or at an adjacent quarry of Aymestry limestone was any thing 

 taken, except a stray Lingvla. Since this time, however, the spoil has become 

 much more productive.* The party moved on to the open cutting in front of 

 the tunnel at May Hill, where the "Passage -beds," between the Silurian 



* All the excavated material is to be sent down the shaft, and if well searched at that time 

 will doubtless afford many y aluable specimens. 



