PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 
163 
Pebruai'y 24, Ordinary General 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 Qeorgio 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 (Paraglioni) up to the height of 
almost 13 metres, and large rolled blocks of lava, invested with Serpulm being also 
found there to the height of 14 metres, a mean height of 13 metres and 5 deoira. 
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. P. Jamieson, Esq. In letters to Sir R. I. 
Murchison, V.P.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 Nucula ienuis, Leda pygmaa, 
Lucina fernnjinosa, 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. Gin. 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 resumd oi 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 conSned 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 we&t of that place, he has traced a succession of fossiliferous 
