PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



163 



February 24, Ordinary Greneral Meeting. — Prof. Phillips, President, in the 

 chair. The following communications were read : — 



1. " On the gradual elevation of a part of the Coast of Sicily, from the mouth 

 of the Simeto to the Onobola." By Signer Gaetano Georgio Gemmellaro. Com- 

 municated by Sir C. Lyell, F.G.S. 



In this paper the author described in detail the physical evidences observed by 

 him along a great part of the eastern coast of Sicily, which prove — 1st, that from 

 the shores of the Simeto to the Onobola undeniable characters of the former levels 

 of the sea in the recent period are traceable from place to place. 2ndly. That 

 great blocks of lava, with blunted angles, and rolled and corroded on the surface, 

 a calcareo-siliceous shelly deposit, and a marine breccia, which are seen at different 

 heights, above the present sea-level, are the effects of the continued and daily 

 action of the waves of the sea at successive levels. 3rdly. That the existence and 

 disposition of the holes of Modiola lithophaga, Lamarck, in the calcareo-siliceous 

 shelly deposit, and the local presence of shells, both gasteropods and lamellibran- 

 chiates, in their normal positions, support the view of a slow and gradual elevation 

 of the coast. 4thly, and lastly, that the lithodomous molluscs and the calc-siliceous 

 deposit being found on the Cyclopean Islands (Faraglioni) up to the height of 

 almost 13 metres, and large rolled blocks of lava, invested with Serpulce being also 

 found there to the height of 14 metres, a mean height of 13 metres and 5 decim. 

 is established as the greatest extent of the now undeniable gradual elevation of 

 this portion of the coast of Sicily during the present period. 



2. " On the occurrence of Fossil Shells and transported Pebbles and Boulders at 

 high levels in Aberdeenshire." By T. F. Jamieson, Esq. In letters to Sir R. I. 

 Murchison, V.F.G.S. 



The author stated that he had found indications of the district having been sub- 

 merged beneath the sea to the height of about 430 or 450 feet for a considerable 

 time during the later Tertiary period. Extensive ridges or hillocks of water-worn 

 gravelly debris, bearing large boulders on their surfaces, occur in Aberdeenshire. 

 Beneath the gravel of these mounds the author has found beds of sand and clay, 

 containing marine shells, generally broken, such as Xucula tenuis, Leda pygmoca. 

 Lucina ferruginosa, Cyprina Islandica, Mactra, Pecten, and Mangelia. 



At higher levels, to the elevation of 800 feet at least, Mr. Jamieson has found 

 striated pebbles and boulders, but unaccompanied by deposits similar to the above. 

 The last change of level in Aberdeenshire seems to have been one of depression, 

 indicated by beds of peat passing below the sea at various places between Aberdeen 

 and the Moray Firth. 



3. Mr. Kennedy Macnab, of Inverness, communicated, in a letter to the Secre- 

 taries, the fact of flint arrow-heads and whelk-shells having been found at the 

 depth of about 3ft. 6in. beneath the surface of a moss, covered with wood, in the 

 parish of Abernethy (Inverness and Elgin). 



4. Mr. Richard Mason, of Tenby, in a communication to the Secretaries, offered 

 a resume 0^ the evidences, both traditionary, historical, and physical, of — 1st, the 

 probable depression at some pre-historic period of an extensive tract of country, 

 covering the site of the Bristol Channel and Cardigan Bay ; and 2ndly, of the 

 more recent elevation of the land in the neighbourhood of Tenby, South Wales; 

 the elevated district being apparently confined to that lying on the carboniferous 

 limestone. Evidences of a comparatively recent depression of the Cardiff area was 

 also alluded to. 



March 10th.— 1. '« On the Geology of the Gold-fields of Victoria." By A. R. 

 C. Selwyn, Esq., Geologist to the Colony of Victoria. (In a letter to Professor 

 Ramsay, F.G.S.). 



The author stated, that in the Colony of Victoria, from a line east of Melbourne 

 to some distance west of that place, he has traced a succession of fossiliferous 



