PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 
505 
those from others, so as to learn the circumstances under which this 
peculiar variety had been produced. 
At the general meetings no paper of geological interest was read 
except that by Dr. Zollner, on the nutrition of plants, in which he 
described some experiments made along with Liebig, showing that 
the inorganic constituents are not merely derived from the substances 
existing in a soluble form in the soil, which would soon be washed 
out by the action of the rain water, but that the rootlets have the 
power of dissolving substiinces insoluble in rain water by means of an 
acid excretion. They had found that the development of the rootlets 
is in inverse proportion to the richness of the soil, and thus by an in- 
crease in the sphere of their action the rootlets make up for the poverty 
of the soil. 
October 8. — Tiie Rev. Professor H. Griffiths, Vice-President, in the chair. 
"Report of the Excursion made by the Society to Holywell, July 11th, 
1861." By Henry Duckworth, F.G.S.', T.L.S. 
The mountain limestone of the neighbourhood contains many species of the 
ordinary fossils in profusion; Produdus gigantetcs, P. semireticulatus, Lithos- 
trotion basaltiforme, and Syringopora geniculata being the most common. The 
formation may be divided into the foUowiag subdivisions : — 
1. Numerous beds of chert. 
2. Shale and limestone with concretions of chert. 
3. Black limestone. 
4. White limestone. 
The position of the cherts in No. 2 is similar to that of the flints in the 
Chalk formation, but their form is different, being round, flat concretions, thick 
in the centre, and gradually thinnm^ towards the circumference. 
" Report of the Excursion made by the Society to Coalbrookdale, July 31st, 
1861." By George H. Morton, E.G.S. 
The low land to the west of Coalbrookdale, towards Buildwas, is Wenlock 
shale ; the lofty ridge, including Benthall Edge and Lincoln Hill, is Wenlock 
limestone, with MLUstone-grit, and the Coal-measures reposing thereon. The 
following fossils were obtained on the occasion : — 
PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 
LivEUPOOL Geological Society. 
Wenlock Limestone, 
Wenlock Limestone. 
1. Hehohtes Murchisonii. 
7. Lebecheia conferta. 
8. Haly sites catenularia. 
9. Syringopora bifurcata. 
10. „ fascicularis. 
11. Thecia Swindernana. 
12. Cyathophyllum articidatum. 
4. Pavosites Porbesii. 
5. „ cristata. 
6. „ fibrosa. 
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