310 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



4. "Or the Premolar Teeth of Di^iroiodon, and on a New Species of 

 that G-enus from Qaeensland in Australia." By Professor Huxley. 



Among a collection of fossil bones from the Darling Down district, in 

 the possession of Dr. Cotton, F.G.S., the author has observed a portion of 

 the right ramus of the lower jaw of Dvprotodon, and parts of the right and 

 left upper jaws, with the anterior grinders in place, of distinct individuals. 

 Hence he was enabled to olFer some observations on the dentition of the 

 genus, and more particularlj^ upon the characters of the premolars. Por 

 the form which he finds distinct from Diprotodon australis he proposes 

 the name of D. minor. 



5. " On the Old Pv.ed Sandstone of Pifeshire." By James Powrie, F.G.S. 

 Having again examined some sections of the Old Ped at Whiteness, near 



Arbroath, and elsewhere, the author is satisfied of a local unconformity of 

 the Upx^er on the Lower Old Eed, but that no other locality in Porfarshire 

 exhibits this want of conformity ; and neither in Pifeshire nor Perthshire 

 does the author find a section distinct enough to exhibit such a break in 

 the series. Mr. Powrie alluded to the yellow sandstone of Dura Den, and 

 observed that though it is unconformable to the red sandstone beneath, yet 

 he believes that it belongs to the Old Red Series. He proceeded to notice 

 the fossil fishes of Dura Den, of which he says there are six well-marked 

 genera (includmg Glyptolepis) with about seven or eight species. 



6. " On some Upper Coal-measures, containing a bed of Limestone, at 

 Catrine, in Ayrshire." By E. W. Binney, P.E.S. 



Some red and purple strata near Catrine, underlying the Permian 

 breccia of Ballochmoyle, were referred to in 1856 by the author. He has 

 since revisited the locality, and finds that these strata at Ballochmoyle 

 Braes, Catrine, and Sorn represent a coal-field as high as any in the 

 English series ; in fact, similar to those at Ardwick near Manchester, 

 Uffington, Leebotwood near Shrewsbury, Buxtaby near Nuneaton, and 

 Lane End Potteries. Mr. Binney referred to the observations made by 

 Mr. Palph Moore, and by G-eikie and Murchison, and pointed out how far 

 he diff'ers from them. Mr. Moore gives 565 fathoms for the whole series 

 in Ayrshire; the author finds reason to add nearly 300 fathoms of Car- 

 boniferous strata (not productive of coal) to the above estimate. 



7. " On the Oeological Structure of the Southern Grampians." By 

 Professor James Nicol. 



The author stated that in 1844, and in subsequent years, he indicated 

 that the Silurian strata of the South of Scotland are represented in the 

 North by the metamoi-phosed or so-called primary strata; and he pro- 

 ceeded to point out that the object of the present communication is to ex- 

 amine the relation which the three great formations. Clay-slate, Mica- slate, 

 and Gneiss bear one to the other as regular constituents of the crust of the 

 earth, and especially in certain parts of the Scottish Highlands, as illus- 

 trated by sections observed by himself. These he correlated with what is 

 seen in other parts of the Highlands. 



Contrasting his published sections with the corresponding ones given by 

 Sir R. I. Murchison and Mr. Geikie, he observes that, though represented 

 as maintaining the identity of the gneiss of the west coast with certain 

 mica- or chlorite-slates, yet he has in former papers, and in his published 

 map, always regarded them as being identical only so far as both belong 

 to the great series of metamorphic formations inferior to the red sandstone 

 and quartzite, but still as distinct formations with peculiar features, and, 

 it may be, of widely difi'erent age. 



8. "On some Natural Casts of Foot-prints from the Wealdea of the 

 Isle of Wight, and of Swanage." By S. H. Beckles, F.E.S. 



