A Splendid map of South Africa published by the Geological Survey of the Union has just reached me. Few will hail it with more pleasure than myself, for I know the country well, having spent fifteen years in helping to unravel its geology. This map marks a great advance on previous geological sketch-maps. To future workers it will be a great boon.

There is one marked difference in the descriptions of the Carboniferous floral succession that have been furnished by Kidston and Potonié. Kidston emphasizes the existence of an abrupt change of flora at some point within the British Millstone Grit; while Potonié claims that he can demonstrate floral continuity right across the corresponding position in Upper Silesia (U.S. of Fig. 1, p. 58). Recent work by Renier seems to show that Potonié's results apply also in Belgium.

The geological feature which strikes the traveller in Iceland perhaps most forcibly is the complete contrast afforded by the well-ordered, level, or gently dipping basalt sheets with almost negligible tuff intercalations which constitute the Pre-glacial Kainozoic Plateau and the Late-glacial and Recent volcanic formations, and the enormous, chaotic, rarely-bedded accumulations of the Palagonite Formation in which lava flows are subordinate in amount; and he is at once presented with the question: Why did igneous action which produced lava sheets in Pre-glacial times result in dominant tuffs and breccias in the period which followed, and then revert to the production of lavas in later times ? This question has not yet been fully answered.

A Glance at the exhibited collections in any of our leading museums, such as the British Museum, the Geological Survey Museum, or the Oxford University Museum, shows that the naming and identification of many of the Mesozoic fossils is in a very unsatisfactory state. The private collector or the student who becomes thoroughly familiar with the fauna of his own district and then goes to these museums to classify and identify it will usually come away with many misconceptions. He finds, moreover, that the various museums contradict one another.

Many years ago, after a short experience in collecting crinoid cups at the localities herein noted, especially that of Invertiel, it became evident to me that there was considerable variation in the disposition and shape of the anal plates in the cups of Eupachycrinus and in a lesser degree in those of Zeacrinus and other genera. From this I thought it might be possible, in a large number of specimens, to trace the evolutionary stages in the passage of these plates upwards in the cup, and perhaps even their elimination from the limits of the cup. With thoughts such as these in mind, I have in subsequent years laid aside the majority of the cups I have found, and in 1918 (Trans. Geol. Soc. Glasgow, vol. xvi, pt. iii, p. 376) gave a short account of an examination of 200 cups of Eupachycrinus, 45 of Zeacrinus, and 50 of Hydrieonocrinus. This examination was necessarily hurried, owing to the circumstances of the time, but it convinced me that some interesting results would be obtained from a larger series. It was not, however, till recently that I was able to begin this work, my original intention being not only to deal with the cups of the three genera already mentioned but also with a considerable number belonging to Ulocrinus and Woodocrinus. As the sorting and cleaning of the specimens proceeded it became evident that this would occupy considerable time. I have accordingly thought it advisable, in the first instance, to confine attention to Eupachycrinus and Zeacrinus, and in this communication propose only to give the results of the study so far as it has gone.

Echini from the Palaeozoic formations are rare, and rarer still is it to find a new form of one of the more specialized genera in good condition of preservation. It was a keen pleasure to me, therefore, when my friend Dr. F. A. Bather, of the British Museum, recently gave me the privilege of studying and reporting on the specimen here described. It proves to be a species of the highly specialized genus Lepidesthes from the Lower Carboniferous, and was sent to Dr. Bather for study by the authorities of the Hancock Museum, Newcastle-on-Tyne.

In the following pages the writer has attempted to collate the records of boulders of Scandinavian origin which are scattered through many publications. The lists of boulders in Table C of this paper are an amplified version of similar lists drawn up by T. Sheppard in 1895, and, in addition, lists of percentages of various types of boulders are shown in Tables A and B, those in A having been already recorded, while those in B are original. From a study of the statistics set out below the writer has ventured to make certain suggestions with regard to the debated question of the extension of a Scandinavian ice-sheet over Britain.

It is admitted that the data, from which the author draws his conclusions are, taken piecemeal, scanty, hazy, and often ambiguous. The main purpose of the investigation was to examine the contention of Bonney that the phenomena of Bardon Hill might possibly be explained by assuming flow-brecciation, and also to satisfy the author's own observation of a not irregular distribution of enclaves, which seemed to him to warrant a revision of the ideas held on the relative age of the units, that go to the building of the hill. Perhaps the main quest may be summarized into—whether the Bardon Rock is to be regarded as merely compacted agglomerate or whether it is truly igneous ? With these purposes in view the groups of data given in this paper rank in order of value: 1, Field Data; 2, Macroscopic Data; 3, Microscopic Data; 4, Chemical Data. This order iolds good, because the more searching the investigation the more obscure the real issues become—befogged by the increasing insistence of metamorphic phenomena. Any conclusions drawn must satisfactorily explain the bulk phenomena of the Bardon Hill rocks and must depend on converging evidence. Where two opposing explanations are possible, the author has adopted the simpler as the more likely.

In this paper it is proposed (1) to describe the superficial deposits along the coast between Sunderland and Ryhope, (2) to give a short account of the beds exposed in the recent excavations at the Sunderland Barracks, and (3) to attempt a correlation of the Glacial and Post-Glacial deposits of the East of Durham. It is felt by the authors that a true conception of the sequence of events during the Pleistocene and Recent periods will be eventually obtained by the examination of typical areas and by the working out of the succession and mode of origin of the deposits in such regions.

Hall and Molengraaff have recently produced a memoir of outstanding importance dealing with the Vredefort Mountain Land on the border of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State (1925). Their account, which is a model of lucidity, is accompanied by a map and sections, and is copiously illustrated with photographs, mainly of rock slices. It includes a chapter on the History of Research, and another that introduces tectonic comparisons with the Black Hills of Dakota and Wyoming and the Ries Kessel near Nördlingen. The features of the Vredefort district that command most attention in this country are its tectonics and its flinty crush-rocks, or pseudotachylytes, to use Shand's alternative designation. Hall and Molengraaff's memoir supplies much new information on these two subjects, and also in regard to other topics, stratigraphical and petrographical, that are of rather more local interest. In the present notice, only one aspect of the memoir will be discussed, namely the tectonics of the Vredefort Dome.

The known cephalopod faunas of Upper Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous age in South America were reviewed by the late Professor V. Uhlig from the standpoint of their general character and relationships. In Mexico and in Texas certain lamellibranch species occur as part of a faunal development which Uhlig regarded as having an intimate connexion with the assemblages of the South Andean Jurassic-Cretaceous province. He remarked upon the regional unity shown by the faunas of Upper Jurassic age described by C. Burckhardt from the Mazapil district in Mexico, by Castillo and Aguilera from San Luis Potosi (Mexico), and by Cragin from the Malone district in Texas. The fossils described, from San Luis Potosi and from Cragin's so-called Malone Jurassic Formation comprise some bivalve shells, particularly Trigoniae, which resemble closely certain characteristic forms found in undoubted Lower Cretaceous deposits in South America, and also in the Africano-Indian province, of Krenkel's nomenclature.

An extensive collection of Eocene Foraminifera was made during a geological reconnaissance of parts of Western India undertaken on behalf of the Whitehall Petroleum Corporation by Mr. D. Dale Condit and myself. Further specimens have been lent by the Indian Geological Survey. As traced from north to south the region examined includes parts of the Dera Ghazi Khan District in the Punjab; the Loralai District, the Bugti Hills, the Bolan Pass, Kalat and Las Bela States in Baluchistan; the Laki Range and Indus valley in Lower Sind; and Cutch State. The distance from the northernmost area examined to the southernmost is approximately 550 miles. I have already published a brief account of the stratigraphical geology with palaeontological descriptions of the species of Foraminifera encountered (3 to 8). In this paper it is proposed to summarize the results of this investigation and compare briefly the zonal distribution and evolution of the species with that of the European Eocene.

In 1880 I communicated to the Manchester Geological Society a short paper, on the above subject, which endeavoured to show that Ramsay's suggestion of glacier erosion cannot explain the origin of Rock Basins. I have often since considered the facts and arguments advanced by different writers on the subject, but am more convinced than when I previously wrote that our Lake Basins were not formed by glacier erosion. The arguments herein are additional to those employed in my communication to the Manchester Geological Society.

1. The igneous complex shows a remarkably complete series of types from ordinary biotite granite, through contaminated granite, intrusion gneisses, lit-par-lit aplitic intrusions, to aplites and muscovite pegmatites. 2. Pale-coloured reaction zones occur between xenoliths and the granitic masses. The evidence points to an exchange of material between xenoliths and the surrounding magma. 3. All the rocks are mylonized and it is suggested that the micro-structure can only be explained by movement during the final stages of crystallization. The folding is believed to have taken place in late Mesozoic times, as the area forms part of the Indo-Malayan Mountain System.

The high temperature of the Bath springs, their saline character, and their content of radioactive substances all combine to show that the waters must rise from a great depth. If we take the average temperature of normal spring water at 50° F. and that of the Bath Springs at 120° F., this gives an excess of 70° above the normal. Accepting the usual temperature gradient in England as being 1° F. for every 64 feet of depth, this makes the position of the: ultimate source 4,480 feet below the surface. This figure must, however, be regarded as a minimum, since no allowance is here made for cooling on ascent. This is an unknown factor, and sufficient data are not available for a reliable estimate. In any case the depth is unlikely to be less than 5,000 ft. and is probably far greater. This water, then, is obviously something very unlike the ordinary surface springs fed by atmospheric waters circulating in the upper layers of the earth's crust.

In my work on The Geology of the Lake District, p. 162, I suggested that this pothole was a “giant's kettle” formed by water flowing down a crevasse in the ice.

The island of Sark lies 7 miles to the east of Guernsey. Its length from north to south is over 3 miles, and its average breadth is one and a half miles. The island is a table-land with an average height, above sea-level, of 300 feet, probably a result of marine planation of Pliocene date. Access is accomplished by scaling the cliffs of Havre Gosselin (west coast) or through the tunnel of Creux Harbour (east coast). The southern portion, Little Sark, joins the mainland by an isthmus 8 feet wide, 250 feet high, and 300 yards long, known as La Coup´ee. Here, as in many parts of the island, the cliffs drop sheer to the sea, and considerable care is required in examining the rocks.

A few years ago Mr. W. J. Rees had occasion to analyse samples of sandstones from the Coal Measures of Yorkshire, which had been used for the grinding of tools and rough castings. As the unused portions of the original samples were still available, it was thought that a record of these analyses, accompanied by petrological descriptions of the stones, might be of interest and of use. The subject of grindstone petrology is one which appears to have received little attention in this country. Merrill, however, in 1905, gave brief descriptions of various grindstones then used in America; among these he included the “Wickersley Rock”, which here receives further attention.