In the Geological Magazine, Dec. II. Vol. IX. November, 1882, my esteemed friend, Mr. W. Keeping, describes (pp. 485–491) some markings from the Silurian beds of Central Wales, which he considers to be fossil plants. The description of those markings, however, so far from supporting the correctness of Mr. Keeping's views, seem, on the contrary, to put it quite beyond doubt that the objects referred to are only trails and burrows of Annelids. It is indeed most surprising that Mr. Keeping, although referring to my paper on trails of different animals, etc., seems to have taken no notice whatever of the statements which are there brought forward as to the mode of occurrence and structure of the worm trails. For if this had been done, I think that the objects referred to would never have been described as fossil plants.

I have been urged so strongly to state what is the result of my researches, with respect to the presence of Elephas primigenius in the Forest-bed series, that I am induced to offer the following remarks for insertion in the Geological Magazine.

Having gained a general comprehension of the probable physical and palæontological sequence among the Lower Palæozoic strata of the Southern Uplands of Scotland, as partly published in my memoirs upon the “Moffat Series,” and the Girvan Succession, I felt myself at liberty last summer to commence the study of those rocks of the North-west Highlands, which are supposed to be of corresponding age.

Some views in theoretical geology are held so vaguely that when one attempts to grasp them it is like clutching at shadows. To any one who will put his ideas into figures our thanks are therefore due.

It must be sufficiently obvious to the readers of the Geological Magazine that any modification of the original meaning of a descriptive term that may serve the purpose of enabling us to convey a specific idea with less chance of ambiguity is a distinct gain to both author and reader. This is especially the case when other specific terms are forthcoming to fill the vacancies in descriptive terminology caused by the restriction in meaning of the term in question, and when it is possible at the same time to supply a suitable generic term sufficiently comprehensive in its meaning to embrace the common characteristics of the whole.

At page 37 of his chapter “On the Minute Structure of the Shells of the Brachiopoda,” and forming part of my work “On British Fossil Brachiopoda,” Dr. Carpenter says:— “Chonetes.— Of this genus, also, I have examined two species, armata and lata, both of which are perforated,”—but Dr. Carpenter does not explain in what way they are perforated, viz. whether these perforations pass through the entire thickness of the valve, or are restricted to a small portion of its thickness as in Productus.

Having resided for some years past on Long Island, the terminal moraine of the Great American continental glacier, and having given considerable attention to the drift phenomena, I am convinced that no oscillation of the continent has taken place subsequent to the Glacial period; and that the river kames, with their assorted gravel, etc., can be accounted for, without resorting to any such doubtful interpretations. I am aware that the presence of shells in the Boulder-clay argues in its favour; but that shells become mixed with the drift while the glacier is in motion is evident from what Prof. Geikie saw in Scandinavia. I will now try in a brief way to give your readers the result of my observations; and, though the sketch may be somewhat crude and imperfect, it may serve to throw a little light on this difficult problem.

A few years since it would have been flat heresy to assert that very clear proof would be necessary before we could accept a crystalline schist as the metamorphosed representative of a rock of Palæozoic age. Yet at the present time many who have made a special study of this branch of petrology would not hesitate to go thus far, and some would even declare that we do not know of any completely metamorphic rock which is not of Archæan age. Certainly the stock instances of metamorphism in Wales, and especially in Anglesey, in Cornwall, in Leicestershire, in Worcestershire, have utterly broken down on careful study. Outside the English Geological Survey probably no person who can use a microscope believes that the schists of Anglesey are altered Cambrian, or that the slates of this age are melted down into the quartz-porphyry of Llyn Padarn. It is becoming evident that even the metamorphic fastnesses of the Highlands are in danger, and that at any rate even there the realm of “altered Lower Silurian” will be grievously curtailed. Startling facts are now and then adduced by the defenders of what we may call the ‘established’ (i.e. non-progressive) geology; fossils are said to have occurred in crystalline non-calcareous rocks, Calamites in gneiss, Trilobites in mica-schist, and so on; but those who are familiar with the molecular changes which take place in the formation of such rocks as these will require the clearest evidence before they can accept statements so antecedently improbable.

The remarkable conglomerate, called nagelflue, which fringes a considerable extent of the northern district of the Swiss Alps, and in places forms almost mountain masses rising some 5000 feet above the sea, has already received much attention from geologists. One might then fear to handle a subject almost as well worn as its pebbles. Still there are one or two points to which in the present state of our knowledge it may be worth while to call attention.