PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES- 



bones and coprolites included — by the running water of violent inundations, 

 the caverns being of Tertiary origin, the detritus being contemporary with the 

 old alluvium of the Rhone, and the fauna indicated by the bones having been 

 antecedent to the latter. 



2. " On the Petroleum-springs in North America." By Doctor A. Gesn er 

 F.G.S. 



After some observations on the antiquity of the use of mineral oil in North 

 America and elsewhere, and on the present condition of the oil and gasspins 

 and the associated sulphur and brine springs in the United States, the author 

 stated that 50,000 gallons of mineral oil are daily raised for home use and for 

 exportation. The oil region comprises parts of Lower and Upper Canada 

 Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, New 

 Mexico, and California. It reaches from the 65th to the 128th degree of loug. 

 W. of Greenwich, and there are outlying tracts besides. The oil is said to 

 be derived from Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous rocks. In some cases 

 the oil may have originated during the slow and gradual passage of wood into 

 coal, and in its final transformation into anthracite and graphite — the hydrogen 

 and some carbon and oxygen being disengaged, probably forming hydrocarbone 

 including the oils. In other cases, animal matter may have been the source of 

 hydrocarbons. Other native asphalts and petroleums were lef erred to by the 

 author, who concluded by observing that these products were most probably 

 being continually produced by slow chemical changes in fossiliferous rocks. 



3. "Notice of the Discovery of some additional Land Animals in the 

 Coal-measures of the South Joggins, Nova Scotia." By Dr. J. W. Dawson, P.G.S. 



Two additional fossil stumps of trees have been examined by the author 

 from the same group of the Coal-measures as that which has already afforded 

 Reptilian, Molluscan, and Myriapodal specimens. These trees stand on the six- 

 inch coal in Group XV. One {Sigillaria Brownii) has yielded indications of 

 six skeletons of Dendrerpeton Acadianum (one probably perfect), a jaw of a 

 new species, two skeletons of Ilj/huomus Lyellii, one of II. Wymanii, a number 

 of specimens of Pupa vetmta and Xolobius Sigillariee, and some remnants of 

 insects (in coprolites). In a lower bed (1217 feet beneath, — in Group VIII.), 

 a St igmarian under-clay, seven feet thick, the Pupa was found abundantly in a 

 thickness of two inches — with fragments of Reptilian bones. The coal-seams 

 between the trees and this bed indicate that this Pupa must have existed 

 during the growth and burial of at least twenty forests. 



4. " On a Volcanic Phenomenon observed at Manilla, Philippine Isles." By 

 J. G. Veitch, Esq. In a letter to Dr. J. D. Hooker, P.G.S. 



On the 1st of May, 1861, the River Passig, at Manilla, from fifteen to 

 eighteen feet deep, was disturbed by a violent ebullition from six to ten a.m., 

 for a distance extending to a quarter of a mile. Its temperature here was 100 

 deg. to 105 deg. Pahr. (elsewhere 80 deg.) A bank of fetid mud was thrown 

 up several feet above the water, and had a temperature of 60 deg. to 65 deg. 

 The Chairman remarked that a bank of mud, 30 feet high, and more than a 

 mile long, had lately been thrown up in the southern portion of the Caspian. 

 He also further stated that he had received a letter from J. G. Medlicott, Esq., 

 of the Indian Geological Survey, announcing that a scientific expedition had 

 been set on foot by the Government of India for the exploration of the great 

 mountains of Central Asia. The expedition is to consist of five men of science, 

 and Mr. Medlicott is to be the geologist. They will assemble early in the new 

 year at Almorah, traverse the Himalaya and Karchan Chains, and, proceeding 

 into Tartary, they will explore the Great Thian-Chan, then passing eastwards, 

 they are to return to Hindostan by the Ganges or the Brahmaputra River; 

 The explorers are anxious to receive any suggestions from the Members of the 

 Scientific Societies of London. 



