It may seem to many geologists, accustomed to speak of the “simple order of North Devon,” a somewhat unusual process to fall back on the more troubled districts of the southern division of the County for evidence upon which to take one's stand in interpreting the grand facts of succession within the original “Devonian” area, Devonshire. That is, however, the plan of campaign which I shall adopt; but instead of publishing the paper I read last year before the British Association, in Section C, at Plymouth (which will appear in abstract in the Annual volume of Reports), I will only recapitulate the facts I then brought forward, relating to the southern limestones of Torbay.

In passing on to the consideration of the rate at which the various strata were formed, it will be well, I think, to group the rocks under six heads. First, Mechanical deposits formed in deltas, lakes, and estuaries; secondly, Mechanical deposits along the shoreline, in large bays, or constricted seas, such as the German Ocean; thirdly, Chalk; fourthly, Coral Limestone; fifthly, Coal; and lastly. Volcanic Rocks.

In his important paper on the Physical Structure of West Somerset and North Devon (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xxiii. p. 568), Mr. Etheridge incidentally refers to a felstone at Bittadon, saying of it (p. 609): “There is no proof that the igneous rock at Bittadon is eruptive.” At the time when these words were written, it was undoubtedly impossible, from the nature of the exposure, to decide whether the rock was intrusive or interbedded; but, on visiting the locality in September, 1876, I found that a small quarry (for road metal) had been opened in the felstone, and its relations to the sedimentary rocks were pretty clearly exposed.

In the last edition of his Great lee Age (1877), Mr. Geikie has noticed at some length my descriptions of the glaciation and superficial deposits of the central region of North America, from Lake Superior to the Kocky Mountains; giving an outline of the facts recorded, and of the explanation of these facts which I have ventured to present as that which appeared to me most probable.

During a recent residence in Portugal I paid a visit in Feb. 1877, to Coimbra, and while standing on the tower of the University, whence a magnificent view of the surrounding country can be obtained, I was much struck by the immense accumulation of sand deposited over a wide area on both banks of the river Mondego, by whose margin the city stands. A considerable, though, comparatively speaking, a small quantity was of recent date, and was evidently brought down by the heavy rains in the months of November and December of the previous year, which had produced destructive floods throughout the country, and had here greatly threatened the low-lying parts of the town. I was informed that every year a large quantity of new sand is spread out over the valley; but the shortness of my stay here precluded any attempt to estimate the yearly additions to the fluviatile stratum.

If an apology were needed for writing a few words upon the subject of the fossil fish of the Lebanon, mine would be this, that I have resided so near the well-known localities as to be able to visit them often and collect more and better specimens than have ever been found there before. Many and celebrated geologists and palæontologists have written upon the subject of the fossil fish found here, and yet the localities have been visited by few of those who have written best. The distinguished palæontologist F. J. Pictet published a volume in 1850, and another, together with M. Alois Humbert, in 1866, in which are found interesting histories of the localities Hâkel and Sahel Alma, and most excellent and accurate descriptions and figures of the fossil fish found there up to the last date mentioned.

In the course of a re-investigation into the vexed question of the origin and nature of Chalk flints, the very natural suggestion occurred to me that the remains of a fresh water sponge might probably be found in the “flints” of the Purbeck limestones, and a recent visit to Lulworth afforded the opportunity of verifying the conjecture. Patches of spicules with valves of Cypris, etc., etc., occur in most of the specimens then obtained.