466 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
It does not exist througliout the entire mass, but merely coats tlie grains of 
sand. As far as he had yet noticed these deposits, they appear to occur most 
frequently in bands of from a mere line in thickness to i inch ; but they 
are also found distributed in patches and small lumps throughout the mass 
of the rock. In several pieces the black sandstone was distributed much 
in the same manner as currants in an ordinary cake. The deposits de- 
scribed must not be confounded with other dark-coloured portions of the 
sandstone. Some sandstones undoubtedly owe their dark colour to tlie 
presence of organic matter, derived from the overlying vegetable mould, 
whence it is extracted by water and conveyed to the rocks beneath. la 
some dark-coloured sandstones protoxide of iron may also be found. 
" Description of the Footprints of Cheirotherium, and of an Equisetum, 
found at Storeton, Cheshire." By Mr. Morton.— The author referred to the 
original description of the Cheirotherium footprints found at Storeton, as 
given by John Cunningham, Esq., F.G.S., in 1838. He proposed the pro- 
visional name of Cheirotherium Storetonense for the smallest of the follow- 
ing three, from different places in Cheshire, — Cheirotherium Hercules^ 
Tarporley; C. Kaupii, Lymm ; C. Storetonense, Storeton. About the 
time the footprints were discovered, the reed-like stem of a plant was 
found at the same place. Lithographs of both were published by the late 
jN^atural History Society of Liverpool. The fossil reed is now in the mu- 
seum of the Royal Institution. It has been examined by Mr. F. M. Webb, 
who described it as the upper portion of an Equisetum, but without any 
remains of fructification. In Professor Morris's catalogue of British fossils 
there is no species of the genus, but one from the Keuper of Wiirtemberg 
is inserted. The author proposes the name Equisetites Keuperina. 
"On the Corals of the Silurian Sea." By Mr. Morton. — Tlie author 
remarks " that if the great development of the septal arrangement in the 
Zoantharia indicates a higher organization of the polyp, most of the Silu- 
rian corals certainly belong to lower forms of that order than those com- 
mon at the present time. We must, however, remember, that as we find 
the two suborders, tabulata and rugosa only, in the Devonian, Carbo- 
niferous, and Permian systems, it cannot be said that the Silurian differs, 
except by the addition in its upper strata of Pala^ocyclus ; and if we include 
that genus in the suborder Aporosa, the coralline fauna as a whole 
is absolutely higher than that of any other more recent palaeozoic epoch. 
If Palasocyclus really belongs to the family Fungidae, it is ver}' remarkable 
that no recurrence of the suborder Aporosa has been noticed until after 
the close of the Palaeozoic period." 
" The earliest Llandeilo corals known seem to belong to Zoantharia 
tabulata, and do not differ materially from those of the same suborder in 
the Upper Silurian. Pyritoiiema is a peculiar genus, while HelioUtes 
catenularius occurs from the Llandeilo to the Wenlock strata inclusive. 
No early examples of Zoantharia rugosa have been discovered, and it does 
not appear that the earliest forms of coralline bodies were the lowest* 
of their order. Few and fragmentary, however, are the corals of the 
Lower Silurian, and not even a trace has come to light from the still more 
ancient Cambrian, so that our knowledge after all is very scanty and 
uncertain about them." 
Manchestee Philosophical Society. — October 20. — "Further Ob- 
servations on the Carboniferous, Permian, and Triassic Strata of Cumber- 
land and Dumfries," by E. W. Binney, F.R.S., F.G.S. When, in 1848, the 
red sandstones of the neighbourhood of Dumfries first came under the 
author's observation, in company with his friend Professor Harkness, 
doubts came into his mind as to the propriety of their being classed with 
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