358 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
any residing in the neiglibonrhood of Bathgate, would inform me if the very 
bituminous shale found in that, and other such localities, are not abundantly sup- 
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 of Sodth Staffordshibe. — A lecture on the Geologyof South Stafford- 
shire was delivered on the 2Sth 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. 
KEPOETS OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL 
SOCIETIES. 
Peoceedings of the Geological Society of London. — 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, P.G.S.) 
In this letter the author explained his views of the stratification of the rocks 
in the "\'al di Bove, of the distribution, nature, and effects of the dykes, and 
the difterent characters of the lavas of successive ages in Etna, and stated his 
belief that the Val di Bove had originated in subsidence ; and, jjointing 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 li. 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 ■Cvi 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 alongthe su])ii()scd lineof transport, except at the i-solated 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 tlie back-ground, from which the materials had been derived ; 
and that the coarser constituents lie near the mountains, whilst finer and finer 
detritus is discerniljle in the beds towards the plains. Subsecjuently 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 Shahl)ad, to survey the 
country traversed by the Chunab and Kishtvvar 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 V^alley, 
