PKOCEEDINGS OF GEOLOaiCAL SOCIETIES. 
461 
PEOCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 
Liverpool Geological Society. — Amongst the papers of the last ses- 
sion are : — " On the Ancient Glaciers of Snowdon," by Mr. G. H. Morton, 
who gives an account of the experiences of two days spent on the moun- 
tain, and describes the group included under that name, — the highest 
peak, Pen Wyddfa, being 3571 feet above the sea. " On the Lingula- 
flags an(> Strata beneath," by the same author, who describes at con- 
siderable length the principal localities in Europe and North America 
where the Lingula-flags and Lower Llandeilo strata are developed, and in 
conclusion, states that " the fossils of tlie Lingula-flags embraced many 
varieties of form, and that though there are cosmopolitan species, there are 
others of more limited range m space. The result of geological investiga- 
tion in the Cambrian rocks has brought to light but very scanty traces of 
early life, it being only in the strata of that age, at Church Stretton and 
Bray Head, that any such indications have been found. It is, however, 
remarkable that crystalline limestone should occur in the still lower Lau- 
rentiaii system, for if this rock was formed, like other limestones, of com- 
minuted fragments of shells and corals, since altered by a high tempera- 
ture, then the theory of such rocks being azoic is groundless, and we have 
yet to become acquainted with the most ancient life-creation." 
Report of the Field Meeting at Storeton, on Monday, the 7th of 
July, 1862, — when Mr. Morton exhibited for the first time a section 
drawn to scale, sliowing each important bed that occurs in the oldest of 
the Storeton quarries — the south quarry. The interesting faults, and the 
position of the Keuper Sandstone, in a fissure of the Bunter Sandstone, 
cause this section to be very remarkable and instructive. 
A field meeting was held at Leasowe, September 20th, 1862, when the 
members visited the interesting sections of the submarine forest bods at 
Leasowe Lighthouse and Dove Point. 
" On the Geology of the Thames Valley." By Mr. W. S. Horton, F.G.S. 
The physical features of the district consist of a succession of low terraces 
overlooking the valley of the Thames, or Isis, presenting to the course of 
that river their more abrupt flanks, and gently sloping down in the oppo- 
site direction. This terrace-like succession is a true index to the stratigra- 
phical structure of the district, as it will be found that each of them is com- 
posed eitlier of limestone or some other firm rock, resting upon a basis of 
clay, which forms the intervening valley. The formations occupying the 
tract of country described in this paper are in descending order ; the Post- 
Pliocene (represented by the high-level gravel and the estuarine, or low- 
level gravel) ; the Lower Cretaceous (the Shotover Sand and Lower Green- 
sand) ; and the Upper and Middle Oolites, consisting of the Purbeck beds, 
Portland Stone and Sand, Kimmeridge Clay, Upper Calcareous Grit, Coral 
Eag, Lower Calcareous Grit, and Oxford Clay. The Oxford Clay occu- 
pies a considerable area, extending northward from the ridge of the Coral 
Eag, but, as for the most part it is level ground, and generally covered by 
the Estuarine gravel, but very few sections occur. Its thickness is very 
considerable ; at Wytham Hill it was ascertained from a boring to be 600 
feet ; it is, however, probable tliat thickness is somewhat exceptional, as at 
St. Clement's, on the other side of Oxford, it is reduced to 265 feet. Crys- 
tals of selenite and iron pyrites occur, but fossils are by no means plentiful, 
and only locally preserved. The Coral Eag and its associated beds — the 
Upper and Lower Calcareous Grits — form a low terrace, rising somewhat 
