SCIENTIFIC SUM31ARY. 
311 
variable tbickness, inclined to tbe south at an angle of from 3 to 8 degrees. 
Some parts of these sediments contain pyrites more or less altered, limo7cite, 
and scales not determined. 
Plants from Brazilian Coal-beds. — In the Geological Magazine for April, 
Mr. W. Carruthers gives an account of his examination of certain fossils, 
placed in his hands by Mr. N. Plant, and which came from Pio Grande do 
Sul, The coal contains no recognisable fossils, but they abound in tlie shale. 
The substance of the plants is converted into a brittle coal, that possesses no 
structure, and exhibits the form only of the organism, but the superficial 
structure and the venation is often so beautifully preserved on the surface of 
the shale, when the coal is removed, that the nature of the fossils is very 
clearly exhibited. He has thus been able to determine with precision 
three species, and to recognise more vaguely a number of other forms, which, 
however, it would be injudicious, until additional material is obtained, to 
name or describe from the specimens in his possession. All these forms, as 
far as they can be determined, and certainly the three well-preserved species, 
belong to Palaeozoic genera, species of which occur in the coal-measures 
of Britain, We are thus, says the author, enabled with certainty to refer 
the coal-fields of the province of llio Grande do Sul to the Carboniferous 
period, although the coal itself has more the aspect of being the product of 
a Secondary formation. The three species which he describes in this paper 
are new forms belonging to the genera Flemingites, Odontopteris, and 
Foeggerathia. The most interesting of the three is the species of Flemingites, 
of which there fire a large series of specimens of the stems and foliage, as 
well as of the detached sporangia. 
Organisms in Volcanic Bocks. — According to the statement recently made 
in a memoir published by Herr Jenzsch, of Gotha, this savant has found, in 
volcanic and crystalline rocks, minute animal and vegetable forms in pro- 
digious numbers and in a fossil condition. Some of these minute creatures he 
describes as having been petrified in the midst of their “life functions.” 
Among them he finds Infusoria and Botifera, intermingled with algm, and 
he infers their formation in a large expanse of stagnant water. 
Prehistoric Arclueology. — The following are the members of the Com- 
mittee of the Ethnological Society appointed to examine British Prehistono 
remains : — Sir .John Lubbock, Professor Huxley, Colonel Lane Fox, Mr. 
Hyde Clarke, Mr, John Evans, Mr. Thomas Wriglit, Dr. Thurnam, Mr. H. 
G. Bohn, Mr. Blackmore, and Mr. A. W, Franks. 
The origin of the Ferwentwater Depression. — At a meeting of the Geological 
Society of Edinburgh, on the I8th of April, Dr. II. A. Nicholson read a 
paper on the geology of Derwentwater. Among other phenomena which 
he sought to explain was that of the depression in which Derwentwater was 
situated. With regard to this he held that it is to be ascribed to the ordi- 
nary denuding agents, but especially to glacial action. At the same time he 
could not doubt but that the faults which he had shown to exist had power- 
fully co-operated in the production of the valley. He did not suppose that 
faults caused open fissures, which were subsequently widened into valleys ; 
I and he was not aware that any one held this view. On the contraiy, it was 
I simply held that faults might constitute lines of weakness along w'hich 
1 denuding agencies would meet with less resistance than elsewhere ; this 
