PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



505 



those from others, so as to learn the circumstances under which this 

 peculiar variety had been produced. 



At the general meetings no paper of geological interest was read 

 except that by Dr. Zollner, on the nutrition of plants, in which he 

 described some experiments made along with Liebig, showing that 

 the inorganic constituents are not merely derived from the substances 

 existing in a soluble form in the soil, which would soon be washed 

 out by the action of the rain water, but that the rootlets have the 

 power of dissolving substances insoluble in rain water by means of an 

 acid excretion. They had found that the development of the rootlets 

 is in inverse proportion to the richness of the soil, and thus by an in- 

 crease in the sphere of their action the rootlets make up for the poverty 

 of the soil. 



PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



Liverpool Geological Society. 



October 8. — Tae Rev. Professor H. Griffiths, Vice-President, in the chair. 



<c Report of the Excursion made by the Society to Holywell, July 11th, 

 1861." By Henry Duckworth, E.G.S., E.L.S. 



The mountain limestone of the neighbourhood contains many species of the 

 ordinary fossils in profusion; Productus giganteus, P. semireticulatus, Lithos- 

 trotion basaltiforme, and St/ringopora geniculata being the most common. The 

 formation may be divided into the following subdivisions : — 



1. Numerous beds of chert. 



2. Shale and limestone with concretions of chert. 



3. Black limestone. 



4. White limestone. 



The position of the cherts in No. 2 is similar to that of the flints in the 

 Chalk formation, but their form is different, being round, flat concretions, thick 

 in the centre, and gradually thinning towards the circumference. 



"Report of the Excursion made by the Society to Coalbrookdale, July 31st, 

 1861." By George H. Morton, E.G.S. 



The low land to the west of Coalbrookdale, towards Build was, is Wenlock 

 shale ; the lofty ridge, including Benthall Edge and Lincoln Hill, is Wenlock 

 limestone, with Millstone-grit, and the Coal-measures reposing thereon. The 

 following fossils were obtained on the occasion : — 



Wenlock Limestone. Wenlock Limestone. 



1. Heliolites Murchisonii. 7. Lebecheia conferta. 



2. „ megastoma. 8. Haly sites catenularia. 



3. Propora tubulata. 9. Syringopora bifurcata. 



4. Eavosites Eorbesii. 10. „ > fascicularis. 



5. „ cristata. 11. Thecia Swindernana. 



6. „ fibrosa. 12. Cyathophyllum articulatum. 

 vor>. iv. * 3 k 



