358 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



any residing in the neighbourhood of Bathgate, would inform me if the vei-y 

 bituminous shale found in that, and other such localities, are not abundantly suj)- 

 plied with fish remains, concluding, as I do, that the inflammable specimens I 

 have seen must be derived from that source, viz., the exudation from fish- 

 remains.— G. W., Wakefield." 



Geology op South Staffordshire. — A lecture on the Geologyof South Stafford- 

 shire was delivered on the 28th June, by Henry Beckett, Esq., at the "Working 

 Men's Institution, Wolverhampton. It was delivered in a very familiar and easy 

 manner, and is printed in full in the ' Dudley and Midland Counties Express,' of 

 3rd July. The lecturer gave a very popular and simple sketch of the chief geolo- 

 gical features, and dwelt at some length on the formation and nature of coal; the 

 formation of iron ; and concluded with an account of the Wenlock and Dudley 

 limestones, and a review of the causes which had produced the physical condition 

 of the strata of that district. 



EEPOETS OF THE PEOCEEDmGS OF GEOLOGICAL 

 SOCIETIES. 



Peoceedhstgs of the Geological Society op Lotstdon. — June 23, 1858. — 

 1« "On some points in the History and Formation of Etna.'' By Dr. H. Abich, 

 For. Memb. G.S. (In a letter to Sir C. Lyell, F.G.S.) 



In this letter the author explained his views of the stratification of the rocks 

 in the Val di Bove, of the distribution, nature, and efifects of the dykes, and 

 the difiierent characters of the lavas of successive ages in Etna, and stated his 

 belief that the Val di Bove had originated in subsidence ; and, pointing out the 

 value of the peculiar outline of the mountain as illustrative of the double-coned 

 origin of Etna, he described some dykes and rents that have been connected with 

 the catastrophe, followed by the formation of the Val di Bove, which gave the 

 chief features to Etna in its modern form. 



2. " On the Lacustrine or Karewah Deposits of Kashmir.'* By H. H. Godwin- 

 Austen, Lieut. H.M. 24th Reg., Kashmir Survey. Communicated by B. Godwin- 

 Austen, Esq., F.G.S. 



The author, in going up the Jhelum to Baramula, observed great quantities of 

 granitic boulders at Kuthai, Oorie, and Gingle, where the river- valley ''irtd dens out 

 after having been narrowed by gorges. These blocks occur throughout the whole 

 thickness of the Alluvium, sometimes upwards of 200 feet, as seen in the sections 

 where the nullahs cut through it. Mr. Vigne had supposed that these granite- 

 boulders were originally brought across the Valley of Kashmir from Haramuk by 

 ice or some other transporting agency, but the author observed no trace of such 

 fragments along the supposed line of transport, except at the isolated localities above- 

 mentioned. In pursuing his journey up the Jhelum by Baramual and Sopur through 

 North Kashmir to the North Punjal Range, which he was occupied in surveying, 

 the author was enabled to study the nature of the great alluvial deposits of 

 Kashmir, constituting a formation of great thickness, and of which the Karewah 

 Hills, sometimes upwards of 300 feet in height, are formed. This alluvium or 

 " Karewah formation " is believed by Mr. H. Godwin- Austen to be purely of 

 lacustrine origin. He found that it is always composed of detritus of local origin, 

 containing granitic, basaltic, or calcareous fragments, according to the nature of 

 the mountains in the back -ground, from which the materials had been derived ; 

 and that the coarser constituents lie near the mountains, whilst finer and finer 

 detritus is discernible in the beds towards the plains. Subsequently examining 

 the heights above the Jhelum outside the Baramula Pass, the author found the 

 granitic rocks in place from whence the granite -boulders of the valley-deposits at 

 Kuthai, Oorie, and Gingle had been derived. A journey through the Valley of 

 Kashmir, past the old buried city, and by Islamabad and Shahbad, to survey the 

 country traversed by the Chunab and Kishtwar Rivers, and overlooked by the 

 Brahma Mountain, 22,000 feet high, still further illustrated the author's views of 

 the local origin of the great alluvial or lacustrine deposits of the country — which, 

 whether formed in the outer and smaller basins, or in the great Kashmir Valley, 



