sons TRILOBITES FRO:!

Nicholson did not feel sure of its correct identification, it has been deemed better to notice it only by an outline figure. (J. G. G.) The trilobite fauna of the Skiddaw Slates, then, so far, may be stated as follows :- Phacops nicholsoni, Salter. Cybele ovata, Etheridge. ? Calymene breoicapitata, ? Iicmopleurides sp. ? Olenus sp. ? Tl'inucleus gibbsii. New genus, represented by No. 1. ? Ogygia Sclwgni. ? Ogygia sp. Barratulea falcata, n.s., P. & G. Niobe doveri, Eth. Eurmnetopus cumbrianus, n.g. & n.sp., P. & G. Eurymetopus horrisonii, n.g. & n.sp., P. & G. .diglina? redioioa, Barr• .diglin a ? binodosa . .JEglina obtusicaudata, Hicks. LEglina? caliginosa. Aqnostus morei, Salt.

OBSERVATIONS UPON THE STRATIGRAPHICAL RELATIONS OF THE SKIDDAW* SLATES. By J. G. GOODCHILD, H.M. Geol. Survey, F.G.S., F.Z.S. From the days of Jonathan Otley down to within the last few years, Otley's views in regard to the geological position of the Skiddaw Slates in relation to the other rocks of the Lake District have been accepted unquestioned by geologists. Of late, however, chiefly since the results of Dr. Hicks's researches amongst the Ar­ chsean Rocks have been made known, many geologists seem to have been struck with the remarkably close resemblance in lithological character between the " Green Slates and Porphyries" of the Lake District and the Pebidian Rocks of the St. David's area and else­ where. They have thence been led to inquire whether there might not be something more than a mere resemblance between the two * In deference to established usage I here adopt the customary spelling of Bkiddaw ; otherwise I should prefer to write Skidda---J, G. G. 470 J. G. GOODCHILD ON SKIDDAW SLATES.

great groups of volcanic rocks, and whether, after all, the Volcanic Series of Borrowdale might not represent in time those oldest known volcanic rocks of the St. David's area made known to us as such by Dr. Hicks. In discussing this question in connection with the Lake District, it was pointed out that, on the one hand, the junction between the Coniston Limestone (Bala) and the Borrowdale Volcanic Series is marked locally by a very considerable discordancy in the strike of the two rocks, so that, within short distances, the Coniston Lime­ stone could be seen lying across the ends of various and widely separated members of the older strata. Similarly, at the base of the Volcanic Series, everyone secms to have been much impressed with the fact that the junction with the older beds nearly everywhere coincides with faults, which have un­ known amounts of throw. Under these circumstances there is little wonder that geologists have felt considerable doubt as to whether the views generally re­ ceived regarding the relation of the Borrowdale Volcanic rocks to the Skiddaw Slates should continue to be accepted. Now that additional palreontological evidence has been laid be­ fore the public," it may be as well to review some of thc facts, with a view to a final settlement of at least some of the questions at issue. First, with regard to the question whether either the Skiddaw Slates or the Borrowdale Volcanic Rocks, or both, might not be inverted-the Skiddaw Slate in such a case being newer, instead of older, than the Volcanic Rocks. In regard to the Skiddaw Slate, at all events, there is not much difficulty in finding an answer to this question, for ripple-marks are common enough on all horizons throughout this vast pile of old sedimentary accumulations, and these, as is well known, offer us a ready means whereby one may determine whether the strata bearing them are inverted or not. Now, in making several traverses of considerable length across the outcrop of the Skiddaw Slates, both in the neighbourhood of Kes­ wick and in other parts of the district adjoining, I have examined these ripple-marked surfaces here and there at sufficiently-close intervals to determine the point in question. There are many small and purely local disturbances and inversions of the strata here, as there are in nearly all districts composed of rocks having a similar * Seethe paper on the" ~'rilobites of the Skiddaw Slates," preceding this. J. G. GOODCHILD ON SKIDDAW SLATES. 471 history to the Skiddaw Slates; but ignoring these (and I have only met with two or three cases of the kind), I have found it the rule that the ripple-marks remain the original way up. In all cases the crest, or hig her part of the ripple-mark, is flanked on each side by thecustomary shallow trough intervening between the crests; and this trough has the concave side, and not the convex, upper­ most, as would have been the case had a cast of the ripple-mark been under notice. With such evidence as this before us, it is easy enough to demonstrate, on the ground, that at least tlie greater part-practically the whole-of the Skiddaw Slate remains un­ inverted. Then, with regard to the 'Tolcanic Rocks. As these are pro­ bably wholly subaerial in origin, at least in the Lake District proper, the evidence afforded by ripple-marks fails us entirely. But there remain other means of testing their position. Amongst the numerous beds of lava interspersed here and there throughout the series, are many that yet retain more or less evident indications of their original vesicular and scoriaceous character. In such cases it is evident that we have means of determining which was origi­ nally the upper, and which the lower surface, by comparing the difference in extent of the scoriaceous part; referring the less scoriaceous surface to the original under-surface of the lava-flow, and the more scoriaceous and vesicular zone to the original upper surface. Applying this test to the volcanic strata of the Lake District, we find that, as a rule, the more vesicular surfaces are still uppermost, and we are thus able to prove conclusively that these rocks also are not inverted, but are simply inclined from their original position, a variable, but never very great,number of degrees. This inclination, by the way, is usually much less in amount than either the average angle of dip of the Skiddaw Slates, on the one hand, or than that of the Silurian Rocks on the south side of the Lake District on the other. The reason why this is so will appear on further consideration presently. The point remaining to be considered, then, is whether any clear case can be made out where the Voleanic Rocks alternate with Skiddaw Slate. Mr. Ward has himself shown that this is the case at several isolated localities along the line of junction of the two formations. Volcanic Rocks interbedded with the Skiddaw Slates may be seen near Hollas, close to Grange, not far below the sec­ tion pointed out by Mr. Postlethwaite, at the Keswick meeting of VOL. IX., No.7. 34 472 J. G. GOODCHILD ON SKIDDAW SLATES. the Cumberland and Westmoreland Association (May, 1886), as a junction between the Borrowdale Hocks and the Skiddaw Slate. Outside the Lake District proper the contemporaneity of some thousands of feet of volcanic strata with the Skiddaw Slates is well seen in the sections near Milburn, which were described many years ago in the' Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society' by the late Prof. Harkness. These last-named sections alone, to my mind, are sufficiently conclusive in regard to the contemporaneity, or, rather, to the stratigraphical continuity, of the two deposits. They suggest that the Skiddaw Slates represent the normal type of accumulation prevailing all over this area in the rocks below the Coniston Limestone, and that the volcanic pile now seen in the Lake District represents, as one might expect to find it, merely a local and exceptional episode in the history of a great accumula­ tion of strata otherwise mainly of sedimentary origin. The whole of the evidence simply points to the conclusion that the Borrowdale type of strata represents one or more great piles of volcanic material accumulated, during the later part of the Skid­ daw Slate period, at such a rate, around the foci of eruption, as to have prevented the deposition of any marine sediments there; while on the immediate outskirts of the volcanic area volcanic ejectmenta were interbedded with the sedimentary strata, or were intermingled with them in varying proportions, which diminished with increased distance from the centres of erup­ tion. The volcanic rocks thus shaded off all round into sedimen­ tary deposits pure and simple. The Milburn Rocks, first described in detail by Prof. Harkness, represent one of the intermediate types of deposit, accumulated beneath the sea, on the outskirts of the old volcanic area. Some other difficulties connected with the relation of the Volcanic Series to the Skiddaw Slates will be discussed further on. But let us now examine some further stratigraphical evidence bearing upon the relation of these rocks to strata whose place in the geological scale can be fixed with approximate certainty. Up to the time when Prof. Harkness wrote his paper in the' Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,'* hardly any attempt had been made at fixing, even ap­ proximately, the age of the great group of strata under notice. In that year he showed that on the south side of the Lake Dis­ trict, in the neighbourhood of Kentmere, and from there to * 'Q. J. G. S.' xxii, p, 480. J. G. GOODCHILD ON SKIDDAW SLATES. 473

Shap Wells, the Coniston Limestone, whose fossils clearly proved it to be the paleeontological equivalent of the Bala Lime­ stone of North vVales, conformably overlay a thick mass of vol­ canic rocks, which, in turn, graduated downwards into a second calcareous horizon, containing other fossils, also clearly of Bala types. This thin band, in turn, passed down into the upper part of the great mass of volcanic rocks now constituting the rugged mountain scenery of all the typical parts of the Lake District. Hence it was concluded that at least the upper part of the Volcanic Series of Borrowdale was of Bala age also, and therefore the equivalent in time of the rocks of the Snowdon area. (Prof. Harkness identified the lower calcareous band just referred to, which he named the StyIe End Grassing Beds, with certain shales at Dufton, This identification was, however, founded upon a mistake, and does not further concern us here.) The Bala age of the upper part of the Borrowdale Volcanic Series having been demonstrated, it was natural to conclude that the strata that rose from beneath these volcanic rocks, and that, in many places, ap­ peared to extend downwards without interruption so as to form their natural base, were the equivalents in time of some part of the Llandeilo series. As this view of their position received the sup­ port of Salter, and other paltccntologists, it took the place of the view advocated at a much earlier period by Sedgwick, and has con­ tinued to maintain its hold until quite lately. But, as the facts bearing upon the stratigraphical relation of the Borrowdale Volcanic Series came to be better understood, the correlation of the Skiddaw Slates with the Lower Llandeilo rocks began again to be questioned. In regard to the upper limit of the Volcanic Series, the maps of the Geological Survey (98 N.E., N. W., and S.W.), and their illustrative sections, confirmed in the most complete manner Sedgwick's old view that the Coniston Limestone lay on different and widely-separated horizons of the rocks next older in the series, in different parts of the Lake Dis­ trict. On 98 N.W. this feature is particularly well shown along the base of the Coniston Limestone, from Coniston south-westward for many miles. In one part of that map the Coniston Limestone certainly lies on beds some thousands of feet lower down in the Volcanic Series than it does elsewhere-east of Ambleside, for example, where the downward succession certainly does appear to be uninterrupted and complete. This fact of the local discordancy 474 J. G. GOODCHILD ON SKIDDAW SLATES. struck the late Mr. Ward so strongly that it led him to regard the main stratigraphical break in the rocks of the Lake District as being below, and not above, the equivalents of the Bala Limestone. The same view was held by other officers of the Geological Survey. Whatever the explanation may be, the maps and sections of the Geological Survey plainly show that there cannot be much doubt about the facts. Other evidence, morc or less complete, and tending to confirm this view of the variable nature of the beds below the Coniston Limestone or its equivalents, came to light during my survey of the older Palreozoic rocks exposed at the foot of the Pennine escarpment. This evidence, however, cannot be referred to in detail until it has appeared in due course through the proper official channels. Judging by these facts alone, therefore, it would appear that there may be still some doubt regarding the precise age of the upper part of the Volcanic Series. It would follow, accordingly, that, as we have no means of determining the age of the Skiddaw Slates, except through its relations to other rocks whose age is known beyond question, we seem to be left almost as much in doubt as ever upon this point. But this is not the only particular wherein the Volcanic rocks " do not conform to the rules laid down by geologists "-to use an expression borrowed from my friend Mr. T. V. Holmes. We have, at the base of the series-in other words, at the top of the Skiddaw Slates-a repetition of the anomalies observable at the base line of the Ooniston Limestone. The Volcanic rocks appear to lie on widely-separated members of the Skiddaw Slate series in different parts. of the country; just as they would do if the two sets of rocks were separated from each other by a plane of uncon­ formity. Mr. Ward was, of course, fully aware of this fact, and has published references to it in several of his writings. Like everyone else that has thought the matter over well, he was evidently much puzzled to account for it in a satisfactory way. One has to bear in mind the fact, clearly shown upon the Keswick map (101 S.E.), and much more clearly still in the rocks of the Milburn area, that bands of submarine tuff do undoubtedly occur interbedded with the Skiddaw Slate in some localities, thereby proving, beyond the possibility of a doubt, that volcanic action went on contemporaneously with the deposition of the higher part of J. G. GOOD CHILD ON sKIDDAW SLATES. 475 th e Skiddaw Slate. An d yet , elsewhere, much of the evidence seems equally clear that the two groups, th e volcanic and th e sedimentary, are separated by an unconformity almost as strongly mar ked as that observable between the Volcanic rocks and the over­ lyin g Coniston Limestone to the west of Conist on. Another anomalous feature related to the last is pr esented by the Skiddaw Slates themselves, also referr ed to by Mr. W ard, and seems still furt her to complicate matters. This is, tha t a band of grit high up in the Skiddaw Slates, and referred to by Mr. W ard as the possible equivalent of th e Arenig Grit of North W ales, contai ns rolled fragme nts of an older member of the same Skiddaw Slate series. It follows that upheaval and denuda tion of the Skiddaw Slates in one part of the area must have gone on contemporaneously with subsidence and deposit ion in another, and these localities, too, from th e nature of th e case in question, within a very few-possibly not more than -four or five- miles of each other. It would follow from that, that even in the typical region of th e Skiddaw Slates, some of the higher beds of this sedimentary series lllay never have been deposited at all; and the complete sequence can hardly be ex­ pected to be met with, except as a ki nd of local accident . Under these circumstances it is little wonder if we find th e volcanic rocks resting indifferently upon various horizons of the olde r rocks. Add to this anomaly, the complications arising from the widely­ separated ages of the several lower members of th e Volcanic series themselves, and then consider th e effects of subsequent meta­ morphic action and of faults and other disturbances, and there are causes enough, and more than enough, to account for the difficulties met with by th e geologis t in his attempts at unravelling the struc­ ture of the rocks on this horizon. There are SOllie othe r facts th at have to be taken into account in dealing with questions of this kind. Just consider the thickness of the Volcanic Rocks th emselves, and reflect upon what it means. Mr . Ward calculated that, where most fully developed, that thick­ ness amounts t o at least twelve thousand feet. Some think he might well have set th e figure even high er than that. Be that as it may, th ere can be no question-after due allowance has been made for the gigantic systems of false-bedding prevailing through­ out the strata of volcanic cones of all ages-that the vast accumu­ lation of volcanic ejectamen ta forming th e Borrowdale Volcanic rocks represents just that much material that must first have been 476 J. G. GOODCHILD ON SKIDDAW SLATES.

removed from underground, in the neighbourhood of the old foci of eruption, before it could be piled up at the surface. What took the place of the vacuity thus formed? Sometimes it may have been filled with fluid rock; but in most cases it was probably the cause of much local subsidence of the area around the vent, which subsi­ dence would by degrees lead to the earlier-formed layers of volcanic matter being first flattened out, and then depressed into a basin, the adjacent strata in the meantime remaining hardly at all affected. Further, if we are guided by the facts connected with existing volcanoes, we should be quite prepared to find that such local sub­ sidences and minor oscillations of level were accompanied, at no great distance, by considerable and often widely-extended move­ ments of elevation. We need, therefore, have no hesitation in adopting the" working hypothesis" that subsidence and deposition in the neighbourhood of the old volcanic cones went on contem­ poraneously with elevation (and consequently with denudation) in some of the areas adjoining. This, then, is what I conceive to have happened in the Lake District, as, according to Dr. A. Geikie, it happened in later geolo­ gical times in Central Scotland. In the later part of the Skiddaw Slate period volcanic ejectamenta were spread ont, at first only occa­ sionally, along with the ordinary sedimentary accumulations, here and there in the neighbourhood of the foci of eruption. Then after­ wards, as volcanic action increased in intensity, the materials accu­ mulated locally to such an extent as to rise above the level of the waves, so that no sedimentary matter was deposited at those parti­ cular points. Beyond those centres sedimentation of one kind or another was continued, and on the seaward flanks of the old cones volcanic matter was mixed with, or was interbedded with, strata of the ordinary sedimentary character, such as was accumulating over the sea-bottom contemporaneously with the formation of the sub­ aerial cones. The main foci of eruption seem to have been situated somewhere not far from where Ambleside now is ; and it was here­ abouts, I conceive, that the highest rate of subsidence of the old sea-bottom took place, and where, consequently, the greatest quan­ tity of volcanic material was accumulated. Outside the area situated immediately around the cones-chiefly to the north and to the west-local centres of elevation, possibly several in number, brought in succession lower and lower parts of the earlier-formed rocks of that area within the denuding action of the waves, which J. G. GOODCHILD ON SKIDDAW SLATES. 477 planed off the strata to a great but unknown depth below their normal upper limit, contemporaneously with the growth of the volcanoes in the area adjoining. Then, as volcanic action extended, and tuffs were spread out over a wider area, they would be laid down, here on one horizon, there on another, according to local circumstances arising from the irregular oscillation of the old sea­ bottom, as well as from the accompanying irregularities of deposi­ tion, or of denudation, as the case might be, in times preceding. The following diagram may help to illustrate these relations of the volcanic strata to the beds above and below them:-

FIG. I.-Diagram to illustrate the stratigraphical relation of the Borrow­ dale Volcanic Series (D) to the newer Ordovician Rocks (0) above, and to the Skiddaw Slate Series (A) beneath them.

We can, if we adopt this hypothesis, readily understand how the volcanic material would be spread out on an irregular surface shaped by denudation out of various members of the older rocks; and also how, in some parts where upheaval preponderated as the net result of the oseillations going on, only the higher members of the volcanic series were deposited; while, in an area adjoining, records of the whole series of eruptions may be represented intact even to the present day. I think it quite conceivable that, in some areas, beds even low down in the Skiddaw Slate series might be directly sur­ mounted by the equivalents of the Coniston Limestone without the intervention of a single trace of the Borrowdale Rocks properly so called. The absence of these volcanic rocks, in such a case, would be due to the continued elevation of the sea-bottom there, which would favour a more rapid denudation of the newly-formed 478 J. G, GOODCHILD ON SKIDDAW SI,ATES. rock material at that particular spot than was possible under the conditions that prevailed in the adjoining areas where the earth movements principally took the form of subsidence. Such a sequence of events must necessarily give rise to local unconformities, which would thus be almost contemporaneous with the formation wherein they occur, taken as a whole. If the denudation of the Skiddaw Slate in one part of the area, and of the newly-formed Volcanic Rocks in another part, really went on contemporaneously with the deposition of both these rocks in areas adjacent, we should be led to expect that, in a third area, not far removed, the re-sorted materials of these rocks would be repre­ sented by yet a third type of strata. Such strata do exist,and within twenty miles of the centres of oscillation whose existence I have inferred from a study of the evidence. Rocks of exactly such a nature as would result from the denu­ dation of an area consisting of both volcanic material and sedimen­ tary rocks like the Skiddaw Slates occur in the Craven district. Here the strata occupy precisely the same relation to the equiva­ lents of the Bala Limestone as the Borrowdalo Rocks near Shap do to the Ooniston Limestone. These rocks, which are remarkably well exposed in Chapcl-lo-dalo, north of Ingleton, were fully described by Professor Hughes in the 'Geological Magazine,' iv (1867), p. 346-356. No one comparing the upper beds there seen with the higher beds of the Borrowdale series near Shap can enter­ tain any reasonable doubt about the Chapel-le-dale Rocks and the Borrowdale Rocks being at least homotaxial, if they are not exactly contemporaneous; although the obviously-sedimentary and detrital character of the Ohapel-Ie-dale Rocks might seem to tell against that view. Doubtless, were the newer strata of the Kendal area stripped off so that the beds below the Ooniston Limestone could be followed continuously as far as Ingleton, we should find a gradual passage from the rocks of the subaerial volcanic type on the one hand and the Skiddaw Slate on the other, into the re­ arranged mixture of sedimentary and agglomeratic material com­ posing the "Green-Slate" series of Ingleton. At Irigleton it is perfectly clear that there is unbroken downward continuity from the Bala Limestones and their associated deposits into this great pile, eighteen or twenty thousand feet in thickness, of re-sorted volcanic and sedimentary matter. And as the Bala Limestones of Craven may safely be claimed as the chronological J. G. GOODCHILD ON SKIDDAW SLATES. 479 representatives of the Bala Limestone of the Lake District, the rocks that form the downward continuation of the Bala beds in vVestmoreland must be the chronological equivalents of those in the same relative position in Craven. In that case Sedgwick was right in correlating the "Green Slates" of Ingleton with the "Green Slates and Porphyries" (Borrowdale series) of the Lake District; and their differenc~ in origin need no longer occasion us any trouble. The suppositions here put forward are perfectly in accordance with the facts observable in the field, and, when taken into account with the effects of both metamorphism and disturbance of the strata, they enable us to account for all the puzzling anomalies we come across in our study of the Skiddaw Slate, and its related rocks, in the field, in a complete and satisfactory manner. The whole his­ tory presents a most remarkable parallel to the history of the Silurian rocks of central Scotland in their relation to the volcanic strata of the Lower Old Red Sandstone. This history was de­ scribed in detail by Dr. A. Geikie in his lectures at the Royal Insti­ tution on the "Volcanic Rocks of the British Isles." In this case Dr. Geikie explains the anomalous relation of the Lower Old Red V olcanic Rocks to the older sedimentary series, by supposing that subsidence and deposition in one area was contemporaneous with elevation and denudation in the area adjoining. In both cases ex­ tensive overlap and strongly-marked unconformity of one group of rocks to another coexist in comparatively close proximity to areas where the continuity of the two formations is beyond question. In the face of such facts it is evident that our present ideas re­ garding the chronological significance of any unconformity occurring in connection with volcanic phenomena will have to be reconsidered. Evidently, in such a case, an unconformity may be actually con­ temporaneous with part of the very formation affected. At any rate the facts here referred to will serve to teach us the necessity of exercising great caution in attaching too much importance to the local absence of even a considerable thickness of strata in a series known to be, within a short distance, practically continuous from bottom to top. The views I have put forth, then, lead us back after all to the old conclusion, viz., that the Volcanic series of Borrowdale, not­ withstanding its anomalous stratigraphical relation to the beds above and below it, represents the downward continuation of the Bala 480 J. G. GOODCHILD ON SKIDDAW SLATES. rocks j and that the Skiddaw Slates are partly contemporaneous with the lower part of the Borrowdale Rocks, but are mainly an older series, extending below the equivalents of the Bala beds to horizons lower by fifteen or twenty thousand feet. We need, then, have no hesitation about accepting, at least pro­ visionally, Ward's views as to the age and equivalents of the Skiddaw Slates, more especially of the Skiddaw Slates around Kes­ wick. Beyond that area we must, I think, pause before coming to any definite conclusion in this respect. Whether the palreontological evidence will be generally accepted as bearing out his conclusions must for the present remain very much a matter of opinion. The general facies of the Trilobite fauna (if we take no account of the forms that seem to mimic Para­ doxides) is mixed Arenig and Tremadoc, as Etheridge, Ward, and others have pointed out. The question arises, have we, in the Lake District, beds representing the lapse of time supposed to be indio cated by the change in the fauna on this horizon in Wales? If so, where is the line between the Ordovician and the Oambrian to be drawn (by those who use those terms)? Or does such a line exist at all in the north-west of England? To solve this problem we must await the discovery of more facts. Another question of some interest is suggested by a study of the fauna of the Skiddaw Slates as now made known, and that is in reo gard to the relative palreontological value of Graptolites on the one hand, and of the more highly-organized forms of life, like Trilobites, on the other. If, for example, we compare the Graptolite fauna of the Skiddaw Slates with that found in the rocks of the Quebec Group, the resemblance between the two faunas is so close as to amount almost to absolute identity. But the case is far otherwise with the Trilobites. The Trilobite Fauna of the Skiddaw Slates stands alone, and it bears, at the most, only a very distant relation to that of the Quebec Group. The case is nearly parallel to that of the Graptolitic Mudstones of the Lake District, which, although distinctly overlying the repre­ sentative, of the Bala Limestone, and separated from it by an unconformity, yet contain an abundant Graptolite fauna, consist­ ing of forms characteristic of Upper Llandeilo strata. Yet these same Graptolitic Mudstones graduate upwards into, and are inseparably connected with, beds yielding Graptolites of Wenlock types, without any admixture of the older forms. The more highly- J. G. GOODCHILD ON SKIDDAW SLATES. 481 organized fossils are, in this case, in accordance with the physical evidence. To put this in another form: if we are guided by the palalontological evidence afforded by the Graptolites alone, we should unhesitatingly place the Graptolitic Mudstones in the same series with the Skiddaw Slates and the Coniston Limestone, what­ ever name we may call that series by. But if we are guided by the stratigraphical evidence we should then link the Graptolitic Mudstones with the higher series. And this is the conclusion we are led to by a study of the higher forms of life associated with the Graptolites. This fact will have to be borne steadily in mind in correlating the Skiddaw Slates with other formations elsewhere, and it should be an inducement to geologists to search these rocks more diligently still, with a view to bringing more light to bear upon the solution of some of the remaining problems in connection with the Skiddaw Slates. Would that Dr. Hicks would turn his attention in that direction I

ORDINARY MEETING. FRIDAY, JUNE 4TH, 1886. W. TOPLEY, Esq., F.G.S., Assoc. Iust, C.E., President, in the Chair. The donations to the Library since the previous meeting were an­ nounced, and the thanks of the Association accorded to the donors. The following were elected members of the Association:­ Samuel Blows, B.A., F.G.S.; William Brown, F.G.S.; G. G. Butler, M.A., F.G.S. j W. Crouch, F.L.S.; H. J. W. Dick j Adolphus Dovaston; J. Fielding; W. Hill, jun. j T. Leighton, M.A.; G. W. Page; Y. L. Saunders j Dr. Michael W. Taylor; and J. W. White. The following papers were then read :- , On the connection in time of changes in fossil floras with those of faunas,' by Prof. G. S. BOULGER. ,A list of the genera and species of the Entomostraca found in the Carboniferous formation of Great Britain and Ireland, with notes on the characters and distribution of the genera,' by Prof. T. RUPERT JONES and J. W. KIRKBY. The paper 'On the shingle-beaches and recent coast-changes of Romney Marsh' (in Illustration of the Whitsuntide Excursion), by the President, was taken as read.