PEOCEEDIJs'GS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



91 



that of Imilac, wliich may have fallen about 1820, I -will now refer to 

 Shepard's account in 1850 of three new ^s'orth American meteorites, 

 with observations upon the general distribution of such bodies, 

 and on the falling of meteorites over a limited zone or area of 

 the earth's surface. He says : — " Out of the fourteen depositions of 

 meteoric matter on the American continent within the last few years, 

 thirteen have taken place between 33° and 44° N. ; one only at 

 IMaceio, in Brazil, south of the Equator, — a distribution exceedingly 

 unequal." He however concludes " that there is a zone or region 

 over which meteoric falls are more frequent than elsewhere," 



Bun the eye easterly from the meteoric region of Atacama, on tlie 

 west coast of South America, for ten degrees of longitude, and now 

 we come upon that extraordinary deposit of solid meteoric iron of 

 Otumpa* (about thirteen tons), of which there is so magnificent 

 a specimen in the British Museum. Xear Bahia, in Brazil, is another 

 mass of iron of 14,000 lbs. 



On Arrowsmith's old map of South America, at a distance of twenty- 

 three geographical miles S.S.W. of the cit}' of Tucuman, appears 

 the word Meteores ;" does this mean that meteoric iron has been 

 found there ? Antofogasta is about 2° "W.N.AV. of the " Meteores," 

 and I have reason to believe that meteoric iron exists about there. 



In the map to AVilcocke's 'Buenos Ayres,' at the junction of the 

 Bermejo and Paraguay rivers are the Montes de Hierro;" monte 

 may mean mountain or forest. This locality is about 2° N.E. of 

 Otumpa, and the iron spoken of here may be meteoric. 



In the ' Coleccion de Memorias Cientificas, etc.. por M. E.deKivero 

 y Ustariz' (Brussels, 1857), there are details and analyses of several 

 masses of meteoric iron found in the Cordillera of the Andes (of 

 Bogota) . 



My impression is, that when this subject of meteoric zones is 

 worked out, more falls will have to be recorded in South America 

 than given by Shepard. 



PEOCEEDINOS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



Geological Society or Londojt. — January 22, 1862. — Sir R. 1. Mur- 

 chison, V.P.G.S., in the chair. The following communications were read: — 



1. "On some Flint Arrow-heads (?) from near Ba^gy Point, JSTorth 

 Devon." By N. Whitley, Esq., communicated by J. S. Enys, Esq., F.G.S. 

 Immediately beneath the surface-soil above the " raised beaches " of North 

 Devon and Cornwall, the author has observed broken flints ; and even 



* It is not known when the Otnmpa iron fell. It was visited by Celis and Cervino 

 in 1783. The length of it is 3? yards, 2 yards in width, 4 feet 6 inches deep, and con- 

 tains 9f cubic yards. This appears to be independent of smaller pieces. It is called 

 by the natives the Masa de fierro, or mass of iron ; the meteorite of the Chaco ; of the 

 Chaco Gaalamba. It was discovered by people from Santiago del Estero on one of their 

 expeditions to "malear," or hunt for honey and wax. It is in about 27° 43' S., 2° 40' 

 W. of Buenos Ayres. 



