The eastern margin of the Vale of Eden, in the neighbourhood of Blencairn, Ousby, and Melmerby, is abruptly terminated by a steep and lofty escarpment, which rises to an eminence of 2892 feet at Cross Fell, 2331 feet at Melberby Fell, and 2082 feet at Fiends Fell, the elevations between these points being nearly as great. Eastwards, from the top of the escarpment, a large expanse of elevated moorlands slope gradually towards the North Sea.

Having seen an account, in Notes of the Geology of the District round Llandudno, by the Rev. W. S. Symonds, that shells had been found by Mr. R. D. Darbishire, F.G.S., in some clay near the New Baths at the Great Orme, it occurred to me that the clay was Boulder-clay, and would probably not be limited to so small a patch, but that it most likely extended far over the hills. And I now propose to give, very briefly, the result of some observations on the subject made during a short stay at Llandudno.

In the July Number of the GeologicalMagazine, I described certain new species of bivalve Mollusca from the Carboniferous series of Scotland. These will now be found on Plate XII., accompanied by three other well-marked forms from the same formation, and which appear to me to be undescribed. In Messrs. Young and Armstrong's Catalogue of the Carboniferous Fossils of the West of Scotland is recorded a new species of Pteronites, under the specific name of P. fluctuosus (Etheridge, MS.), a shell so named by my father, but never yet described. P. fluctuosus is specifically remarkable for its small size, and the absence of ribs on the anterior side.

The Coal-measures of the Brown Clee are of themselves extremely insignificant and unimportant. The total area is limited, and the thickness of the coals would not have entitled them to be considered of commercial value, if it were not for the fact, that from its elevated position it is placed well above the reach of water, and hence the great difficulties which beset early mining operations in freeing the mines from water did not affect the coal-mines of the Brown Clee; consequently, in those times they were worked to advantage, but there is very little coal remaining to be won. They have, however, a value to the geologist, as indicative of the much wider range of the Coalbrookdale Coal-measures than is shown by its present boundary, for there is an unmistakable analogy between both deposits, to which, we shall presently refer.

It has been argued by some that the seas were anciently cooler than at the present day, and that thence certain ulterior effects might be assumed. Without treating of the supposed effects, I wish to state that the premiss itself seems to me inconsistent with what, geologically viewed, appears to be the order of transition through which our planet has passed in its successive changes. My own unprofessional view, founded upon grounds generally admitted, has been that, from a temperature originally much higher, the oceans had gradually cooled down under adequate influences to the mean temperatures which they now maintain under the permanent climatic conditions of the globe; and indeed that the peculiar condition distinguished by geologists as the “Glacial Period” was but the effect of the rapid condensation of the vapours arising during the longcontinued process of cooling, under a great and sudden organic change.

The term Quartzyte has been used to designate quartz-schist and seems to be generally adopted, while Argillyte is used by some authorities in place of argillous or argillaceous-schist. I would therefore suggest that the other subgroups and varieties of schistose rocks should be given similar names.

Lower Greensand. A. (a) Fitton. (b) 1824. (c) Ann. Phil. vol. viii. n.s., p. 371. (d) Greensand. (e) Retained the title green sand because it had “been adopted so very generally by the geologists of England,” but protested that the term was “objectionable, as being derived from a character which is not only very variable, but in reality does not belong to the greater part of this stratum.” [Query—When was “Lower” added to the name?]