Page:Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. 27.djvu/390

 water, by its greater specific gravity, remained in the bottom of the sea of Marmora, so that, while the upper portion of the water and that on the shores were diluted to the Black-Sea density, Mediterranean conditions existed in the deep centre of the sea. If, therefore, the Black Sea had been pure fresh water, the upper portion of the Sea of Marmora would have been fresh also, with its freshwater fauna, whilst the deeps of that sea would be marine.

Dr. Duncan mentioned that in certain coral reefs intersected by freshwater currents, the corals still continued to be formed ; so that the existence of dwarfed forms of corals in ancient times was quite consistent with modern facts.

Mr. Forbes commented on the chemical features of Prof. Ramsay's views, and could see no reason why the beds containing iron should not have been deposited in the open sea. Many beds, for instance the Gault, contain more iron than those which are now red, though they may be grey or blue. In sands the grains are often coloured only superficially with iron, probably derived from sulphates. In other cases the sands consist of fragments of rocks already red. There was, in fact, no reason why the beds deposited in the open sea might not subsequently, by oxidation, become perfectly red.

Prof. Ramsay replied to the remarks of the various speakers, and summed up by contrasting the usual colour of marine fossiliferous beds with that of the thick, almost non-fossiliferous rocks of which he had been treating.

March 22, 1871.

A. R. Selwyn, Esq., Director of the Geological Survey of Canada ; J. Bridges Lee, Esq., B.A., of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and 115, Ledbury Road, Westbourne Park, W. ; the Rev. Thomas Robert Willacy, B.A., of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge ; and James Putnam Kimball, Ph.D., of 20 Union Square, New York, were elected Fellows of the Society.

The following communications were read : —

1. On the " Passage-Beds" in the neighbourhood of Woolhope, Herefordshire, and on the discovery of a New Species of Eurypterus, and some New Land-plants in them. By the Rev. P. B. Brodie, M.A., F.G.S., Vicar of Rowington.

The " Passage-beds" between the Upper Silurian rocks and the Old Red Sandstone, on the outer area of the Woolhope valley of elevation, although they have been already noticed by Sir R. Murchison, Professor Phillips, Strickland, Symonds, and myself, at Hagley, Tarrington, Ledbury, and Perton have not in this district received the full attention they deserve ; for although they are of comparatively limited vertical thickness when compared with the finer and more complete sections at Down ton and the Ledbury tunnel, they occupy a larger extent round the valley of Woolhope than has been previously recognized, and contain some new and interesting fossils