PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 
293 
now remaining. As far as actual mining experience shows, some of the "quartz- 
reefs " in Victoria prove as rich in gold at a depth of 200, 230, and 400 feet, as at 
the siu-face ; the yield, however, fluctuates at any depth yet reached. According 
to the author's latest observations, the gold-di'ifts, and their accompanying basaltic 
lavas, are of Pliocene and Post-pliocene age. Miocene beds occur at Corio Bay, 
Cape Otway coast, Murray basin, and Brighton ; and Eocene beds on the east 
shore of Port Phillip, Muddy Creek, and Hamilton. Two silicified fossils (Echi- 
noderm and Coral), thought by Prof. M'Coy to be of cretaceous origin, have been 
found in the gi'avel near Melbourne. 
This letter also contains some remarks on the probability of some of the coal of 
Eastern Victoria being of "Carboniferous" age, — on the occuiTence of Silurian 
fossils in the rocks of Si the gold districts, — on the newly-discovered bone-cave at 
Gisborne, about twenty-five miles north of Melbourne, — and on the progress of the 
Geological Sm-vey of the Colony. 
[Portions of the Geological Survey Map of Victoria, lent by the Secretaiy of 
State for the Colonies, and specimens of gold, &c. lent by Prof. Tennant, F.G.S., 
■were exhibited in illustration of this paper.] 
[Fossils from Mayence, &c., presented by W. J. Hamilton, Esq., For. Sec. G. S., 
Fossil Trigonire from South Afi'ica, presented by Capt. Hai-vey, R.E., and a seiies 
of PhotoUthogiaphs of fossQ foot-tracks ti'om Connecticut, lent by Dr. Bowditch, 
were exhibited at this Meeting.] 
June 15th, 1859.— 1. "Notes on Spitzbergen." By J. Lamont, Esq. Commu- 
nicated by Sir C. Lyell, V.P.6.S. 
Mr. Lamont craised about Spitzbergen iu his yacht in the summer of 1858, and 
went up the Stour Fiord, which, he remarks, is a sound, dividing the island, not 
a gulf. The fii'st thirty mUes of coast along wMcIi he sailed on this Fiord con- 
sisted almost entirely of the faces of two or tlu-ee enormous glaciers : the water is 
shallow, seldom as much as sixteen fathoms, and such appears to be the case all 
around Spitzbergen ; and hence icebergs of veiy large size are not fonned. The 
shores are mostly formed of a muddy flat, from half a mile to three miles broad, 
with ice or hard ground at from twelve to eighteen inches under the sOTface ; this 
is intersected with muddy rividets, and bears saxifrages, mosses, and lichens, on 
which the reindeer fattens. Protruding trap-rocks appear at many spots on these 
flats. A steep slope of mud, snow, and debris succeeds the flats, and reaches up 
to perpendicular crags of schistose rock, above which extend the great glaciers. 
Above these, peaks, probably of granite, appear when free of mist. 
The upper part of the soimd has much drift-wood, chiefly small pine-trees, 
weather-worn and water-logged, and some wreck-wood. Bones and .skeletons of 
whales are numerous. Drift-wood and bones of whales were obsei"ved several miles 
inland, and high above high-water mark — at least thirty feet. Whales' skeletons 
were also seen high up on the Thousand Islands. The.s'e cucumstances, connected 
with the fact that seal-fLshers and whalers .state their behef in the shallowing of 
these seas, lead the author to think that Spitzbergen and the adjacent islands are 
emerging from the sea at a rate even more rapid than that at which some parts of 
Norway nave been shown to be rising. 
2. "On the Formation of Gyijsums and Dolomite." By T. S. Hunt, Esq., of 
the Geol. Surv. Canada. Communicated by Prof. A. C. Ramsay. F.G.S. 
The poiiits to which the author calls attention are, first, the formation of siU- 
phate of lime and bicarbonate of magnesia by the action of bicarbonate of lime 
upon a solution of sulphate of magnesia, and then- successive deposition in the 
forms of gypsum and hydrmis carbonate of magnesia, during the process of evapo- 
ration ; and, secondly, the direct union, mider certain conditions, of this carbonate 
of magnesia with cai-bonate of lime to form a double carbonate, which is dolomite. 
3. " On the Tertiary Deposits, associated with Trap-rocks, in the East Indies." 
By the Rev. S. Hislop. With Descriptions of the SheUs by the Rev. S. Hislop ; 
and of the Insects by A. Murray, Esq. (Communicated by the President.) 
In the first place, the author brought forward adcUtional proof to support his 
views, already given in the Society's Journal, of the probability of the amygda- 
loidal trap-rock found beneath the freshwater deposits at Nagpur being posterior 
in age to those beds and to the nodular trap-rock overlying them. Also, ne again 
VOL. 11. 
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