PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



187 



many ripple-marked surfaces. It is only in this limited band tliat foot- 

 prints of the Clieirotlieriiiin and four other much smaller reptilian impres- 

 sions have been found; the only other trace of a fossil that has been 

 discovered being the remains of an Equisetiform reed at Flaybrick, a 

 neighbouring locality in similar strata. Pligher beds of the Keuper sand- 

 stone occur towards the east of Liverpool, where thick strata of grey and 

 red shales, with yellow and red sandstones, form the uppermost part of 

 the Keuper on the Lancashire side of the Mersey. In Cheshire the over- 

 lying " Eed Marl " can be seen reposing upon still higher strata, about 

 Greasby and other villages in Wirral. The thickness of the whole of the 

 Keuper formation near Liverpool is probably about 550 feet. 



Glasgow Geological Society. — Wtli April. — About thirty of the 

 members of the Glasgow Geological Society proceeded on their first ex- 

 cursion of the season. The ground examiuecl extends between Bowling 

 and the river Leven. The heights above Auchentorlie House were found 

 to be trappean ; a donsiderable platform of white sandstone in one spot, 

 little affected by the surrounding igneous rocks, has been quarried for 

 building purposes. Where the sandstone is contiguous to the trap, it is 

 much altered. The excursionists next struck off in a north-westerly direc- 

 tion, skirting the bold escarpment of the "Lang Craig;" crossing the eastern 

 branch of the Garshake Burn, they discovered a trap-dyke intersecting and 

 exposing a seam of the peculiar thin-bedded grey limestone of the " Bal- 

 lagan " series of strata, evidently imderlying the thick-bedded sandstone 

 of the higher level. A short walk brought the party to Garshake Burn. 

 Here a highly interesting section of shale, sandstone, and limestone, ap- 

 pears for a considerable distance along the banks of the stream. Then the 

 party proceeded to Auchenreoch Glen, still further west. This glen di- 

 vides into two branches, the stream which threads it flowing into the Leven 

 above Dumbarton, and the beautiful sections of strata exposed in its banks 

 have long attracted the attention of geologists. 



The " Gates of Sodom," a vertical dyke of greenstone- porphyry cross- 

 ing the course of the stream, which flows through a breacli in this natural 

 barrier, was an object of remark, as was also a grotesque column of tu- 

 faceous felstone, locally known as "Lot's Wife." Other trap- dykes were 

 found intersecting and disturbing the strata, and in the lower part of the 

 glen a seam of fibrous gypsum was discovered in the shale. 



The course of the stream was then followed to the low ground, where 

 the underlying Old Eed sandstone was expected to appear, but the junc- 

 tion could not be observed on account of the superincumbent drift. Some 

 of the members now parted for Dumbarton, but some continued tow-ards 

 Bowling, and after viewing the junction of the Old Eed with the " Ballagan 

 beds " in Dumbuck Glen, and visiting Dumbuck, finished with groping by 

 moonlight for zeolitic minerals in Bowling quarry, — not without success. 



Geologists' Association. — April 7, 1862. — Mr. Cresy read a paper 

 " On some ancient skulls and flint-implements found in the Essex marshes 

 during the progress of the Northern Outfall Sewer of the Metropolitan 

 Main Drainage Works." 



The three skulls exhibited were found along the line of the sewer, one 

 on the east, and another on the v\ est side of the Eiver Lea, and the third, 

 to which the greatest interest attached, in the East Ham marshes. A 

 diagram was exhibited showing sections of the strata at various points. 



Erom one to two feet of surface soil, chiefly vegetable mould, w^as first 

 penetrated, then a bed of yellow^ or brown clay, three to five feet, then 

 bhie clay, two to four feet, — this sometimes alternated with beds of peat, 

 —and then the gravel was reached. No shells of any kind have yet been 



