riiOCEHDINGij OF (lEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 
35 
;iro of deusc structure; in the latter mostly of a porous character, taking 
regular forms, not unlike those of many modern sponges. 
Some renuirks wcit, then made on Dr. liowerbaiik's theory that tiie great 
mass of the Hints found in the ctialk are true sponges : a theory to wliieh Pro- 
fessor Tenuant. said iu; was inelinc^d to subscribe. He pointed out as an illustra- 
tion of its possible truth, and as a proof that organic remains may be enclosed in 
■silica, the well known appearance of moss-ag-ates, sections of which, procured 
from Oberstcin, cannot under the microscope be distinguished from sections of 
^ certain modern sponges. Professor Tennant also drew attention to the differ- 
ence in the flints of volcanic and aqueous rocks ; the former being destitute of, 
whilst the latter abound in, organic remains. 
After alluding to the beds of chert in many of the formations, such as the 
Portland-rock, Greensand, etc., he advocated the view that the Paramoudra, of 
Ireland, are notiiing more than enormous sdicified sponges, and concluded with 
an account of the hollow flints found on Salisbury Plain, the core of which 
when examined under the microscope is seen to be composed of a mass of 
delicate spicules. 
A discussion by several of the members followed, dming which the president 
directed attention to a circumstance, which Mr. Charlesworth confirmed, viz., 
that a mass of fUnt when surrounding the base of a ventriculite, never en- 
velopes the whole of the root of the ventriculite. 
Mr. Charlesworth made several remarks, with a view of explaining this phe- 
nomenon, and at some length entered into reasons for disagreeing with the 
views of Dr. Bowerbank as to the spongous origin of many of the Chalk flints. 
The late Mr. John Brown, P.G.S., of Stanway, has bequeathed the sum of 
£100 to the Association. 
Malvesn Field Club. — The Naturalists' Pield Club lately held a meeting 
at Pershore, on which occasion the President, the liev. Mr. Symonds, of Pen- 
doek, addressed the meeting at some length upon a few of the most important 
scientific topics of the day. On the subject of the supposed flint implements 
which have caused so much disquisition among geologists, Mr. Symonds re- 
marked that they were discovered in the north of Prance, in undisturbed beds 
of gravel, sand, and clay, in drift, in fact, of much the same geological age as 
the old lake- and river- margins of the Avon, the Severn, and the Wye. The 
level of the land in that part of France, however, appears to have been more 
deranged by oscillating movements than has been the water-level of the peace- 
ful vales of Worcestershire and Herefordshire. The stratified gravel, contain- 
ing the weapon-looking flints, associated with the remains of the extinct ele- 
phant and rhinoceros, occupies, in some localities, a height of one hundred feet 
above the present level of the river Somme, which has worn for itself a newer 
and deeper bed since those flints and the bones of wild beasts were buried 
together in the mud, sUt, and gravel of its ancient margins. On the question 
of the human fabrication of the flints, Mr. Symonds said that he had seen many 
exhibited at Aberdeen, by Sir Charles Lyell and Mr. R. W. Myhie, and that 
the rudeness of many of these implements might well cause the cautious inves- 
tigator of truth to pause before lie believed that they were wrought by men ; 
while on the other hand some of the specimens appeared to have been so 
wrousrht. The question rested, from the evidence Mr. Symonds could collect, 
on the fact as to whether or not the flints were human implements. The re- 
mains of the extinct mammalia may have been drifted from older beds, but the 
physical geology of the district, and the physical position of the stratified drifts, 
containing the supposed human implements, compelled the most able of the 
geologists of France and England to arrive at the conclusion that, if these flints 
