36 
expressed his belief that the country had probably receded in that parti- 
cular. The English had long been anxious to obtain possession, and in 
1825 had secured a part of the Peninsular, but had only acquired Burma 
in 1847- He inquired from Mr. Fedden about the climate of Burma, and 
also about the constitution of the Geological Survey, and its method 
of research. 
Mr. Fedden, in reply, said that the Indian Survey consisted of 18 or 
20 officers, who were divided into parties of three or four, but even these 
were separated when they came to actual field-work. In Burma there 
were only two officers, but the survey had been established there 15 years. 
The only possible mode of observation where the jungle was thick, was to 
follow the water-courses ; if the ground were easy, an officer might survey 
8000 square miles in a season, but if it were important, only 200 or 300 
miles. With regard to the climate, he thought it healthy for those who 
went from England direct, but it was too damp for Anglo-Indians. The 
rainy season commenced between May 15th and 20th, and in July and 
Angust the rains were so heavy that the country was impassable even for 
two months after the cessation of the rain in October. Jungle fever was 
most prevalent at the commencement and end of the rains. About Christ- 
mas it was really cold, but the temperature and rainfall entirely depended 
on the situation. On the coast, from 120 to 200 inches of rain fell per year ; 
he was not aware of any accurate thermometric observations, but the sun's 
heat was not felt so much as in India, owing to the absence of the hot 
winds. 
Mr. W. W. Stoddart, F.G.S., then made a short verbal communica- 
tion on the occurrence of the Sutton Lias series near Bristol. The exact 
position Of the so-called c< Sutton series," had long been a matter of debate 
among geologists, one party asserting that it should be placed among the 
Rhsetic beds ; while the other maintained that they were more recent than 
such a position would make them out to be. The speaker had discovered 
a quarry at the top of Gotham Grove, 25 feet deep, and he exhibited a 
diagram of a section of the beds found therein ; at the top were the typical 
Ammonites planorbis beds, and the third bed down was the commencement 
of the Sutton series, the sixth bed of which contained all the characteristic 
fossils, while below were the Ammonites Johnstoni beds, and the well 
known Cotham marble, which was an acknowledged line of demarcation. 
This discovery, it was contended, decided the question, and proved 
most clearly that the Sutton series were simply Ammonites planorbis beds 
slightly altered. The beds below the Cotham marble were not yet exposed. 
Mr. B. N. Lobb inquired whether the author's conclusions might not 
have been too hastily drawn, from the observation of too small a district. 
Mr. Stoddart, in reply, said that he had traced the series from Cotham 
