470 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
The author showed that althouc^h the upper coal-field of Lancashire and 
the Midland Counties of Englaiid contained several workable seams, the 
same beds in Cumberland and Scotland contained none. On the other 
hand, the mountain-limestone series in the latter districts contained nume- 
rous seams of coal, whilst none were to be found in the former. 
Geological Society. — November UTi, 1863. — 1. " On some Ichthyolites 
from ^^ew South Wales sent over by the Eev. W. B. Clarke, F.G.S." By 
Sir P. de M. Grey Egerton, F.K.S. 
Two specimens and three photographs, sent to England for the author's 
determination, enabled him to distinguish four genera, two of which are 
new, and allied to Acrolepis and Platysomus respectively ; the known 
genera being Urosthenus, T>ana (allied to Pygopterus), and Palseoniscus, 
Agass. Sir Philip was of opinion that these genera were sufBcient to stamp 
the deposit in which they occur— namely, the coal-formation of ]S"ew South 
"Wales — as belonging to the Palasozoic period, if they may be regarded as 
representative genera living at the same period as, but geographically dis- 
tant from, their nearest allies ; but, as regards the actual age of the forma- 
tion, the allied genera are more abundantly represented in the Magnesian 
Limestone and the Kupferschiefer than in the coal-measures ; the mate- 
rials were, he considered, too meagre to justify a conclusion. 
2. " Notes on the Geology of a portion of the Xile Valley north of the 
Second Cataract, in iS^ubia, chiefly with the view of inducing further search 
for Fluviatile Shells at High Levels." By A. Leith Adams, A.M., M.B., 
Surgeon 22nd Eegiment. With a Note on the Shells, by S. P. Woodward, 
Esq., F.G.S. ; and a Note on some Teeth of Hippopotamus, by Hugh 
Falconer, M.D., F.E.S. 
In company with the late Mr. A. H. Ehind, F.S.A., the author made 
the usual boat-voyage from Cairo to the Second Cataract during last No- 
vember and the two following months, when he was enabled to make some 
observations on the geology of that portion of the Nile valley. In this 
paper he first described the physical features of the district, beginning at 
Selsileh and proceeding southwards, and then the lithological and strati- 
graphical characters of the Nile sandstone, as well as its mode of junction 
with the granite, noticing also the evidences of the Nile having shifted its 
bed, and of other physical changes occurring in Nubia. Near the Second 
Cataract were abundant proofs of the river having formerly flowed at 
higher levels, the author having found river shells, such as Cyrena jiumi- 
nalis, Paludina huUmoides, Iridina Nilotica, and (Etheria semilunata (the 
Nile oyster), as also Bulimus pullus and a Unio like U. piciorum, in beds 
of alluvium on elevated plateaus at various heights, ranging up to 130 feet, 
above the highest inundations of the present day. 
Dr. Adams concluded from these facts that the Nile was formerly a more 
rapid river than it is now, and that the force and wearing power of the 
stream has been steadily declining since the upheaval of the valley ceased. 
The determinations of the shells were made by Mr. Woodward, who 
gave a complete list of them in a note. Dr. Falconer also described two 
molars embedded, in situ, in a fragment of the left maxillary of a very 
large hippopotamus ; the specimen was dug up near the old temple of 
Kalabshe, in Nubia ; and Dr. Falconer was of opinion that it belonged 
to the same species as the existing hippopotamus of that country. 
November 18.— 1. " On the Fossil Corals of the West Indies." — Part 11. 
By P. Martin Duncan, M.B., F.G.S. — This communication consisted 
chiefly of a description of corals returned to the Society's Museum by 
Mr. Lonsdale soon after the reading of the first part. 
