89 
Reports and Rroceedinys. 
With this piling up of the drift over tliese last records a period 
was reaclied wken Mau appeared on the scene. Tken came the Pile- 
builders, and constructed their villages in the Swiss lakes, the history 
of which has been so admirably told for us by Keller, and traus- 
lated by Mr. J. E. Lee, F.S.A. But of all this, and of the Glacial 
Period in the Swiss valleys when the Alpine flora and fauna came 
down the mountain sides into the sheltered valleys, and ice and snow 
increased greatly, let those who desire to know more, read Prof. 
Heer’s interesting volumes. 
To the lover of Switzerland an additional charm will be added to 
each fresh visit by this insight into its ancient history teeming 
with matter of interest alike for the palaeontological and geological 
Student. H. W. 
EEPOETS .A-ZsTID IFIE&OCIEEIDIISra-S. 
Geological Society of London. — I. — December 20tk, 1876. — 
Prof. P. Martin Duncan, M.B., F.B.S., President, in the Chair. 
The President read to the Meeting a copy of resolutions passed at 
the Meeting of the Council of the Royal Society held on December 7th, 
relative to the administration of the Government Fund of £4000, 
voted for the advancement of Scientific Research. He stated that 
the Secretaries of the Royal Society were prepared to receive appliea- 
tions for a portion of the sum so liberally voted by Government for 
the advancement of Science, and added that the Council of the 
Geological Society would be glad to receive any hints or suggestions 
bearing upon the disposal of this fund. 
The President also announced that the late Dr. Barlow, whose loss 
must be deplored by all the Fellows of the Society, had left to the 
Society by will the sum of £500, to be invested and to constitute a 
Fund under the title of the “ Jameson-Barlow Fund,” the proceeds 
to be applied annually, or at intervals of two or more years, at the 
discretion of the Council, in such manner as shall seem to them best 
for the advancement of the study of Geology. Dr. Barlow also left 
to the Society, under certain restrictions, his Collections of geological 
specimens, and a selection of books from his Library. 
The President further announced thedonation to the Society by the 
Earl of Enniskillen of the drawings made by Mr. Dinkel, from Sir 
Philip de Malpas Grey-Egerton’s collection, for the illustration of Prof. 
Agassiz’s great work on Fossil Fishes, presented in accordance with 
the promise made by his Lordship at the meeting of the 24th May. 
The following Communications were read : — 
1. On “ Pharetrospongia Strahani , a fossil Holorhaphidote Sponge 
from the Cambridge Coprolite Bed.” By W. J. Sollas, Esq., B.A., 
F.G.S. 
The sponge described by the author, which had been long labelled 
as a Chenendopora in the Woodwai’dian Museum at Cambridge, is a 
fossilized siliceous sponge, characterized by an irregulär ly reticulate 
fibrous skeleton, the fibres of which in the living state were com- 
posed of a number of siliceous acerate spicules, lying parallel to each 
