Various ways in which Lower Carboniferous reef limestones have accumulated are described, and terms defining them are introduced. Regional sedimentation, lithology, structure, fauna, and erosion history are kept separate in the discussion. The reef limestones of Northern England are briefly reviewed in the light of this classification.

The generic name Gigantoproductus nom. nov. is proposed to replace Gigantella Sarycheva, pre-occupied. The status of Kansuella Chao is discussed, and it is suggested that this be retained for the kansuensis group only.

Large augen, composed principally of single crystals of potash felspar, are sporadically distributed in certain banded gneisses. It is inferred from structural and textural evidence that the augen have formed by metasomatic processes.

Basic hornfelses occurring at the contact of slates and olivinenorite are ascribed to influx of Ca, Mg, Fe, Ti, Mn, and P from the gabbro magma into the sedimentary rocks. This kind of basic front, unlike those postulated for acid bodies, has a basic back.

An outlier of the Bagshot Series occurs at St. Ann' Hill, Chertsey, where beds of the Bagshot, Bracklesham, and Barton sub-divisions are exposed. The division into these beds by pebble bed junctions is suggested. Heavy mineral analyses using percentages of fresh and abraded grains of three indicator minerals, viz. tourmaline, rutile, and zircon, suggests that the divisions postulated are justified.

In France a National Geological Survey was planned in 1822 by the Corps Royal des Mines, a government institution, in association with its subsidiary, the Ecole des Mines. The first objective was a rapid Survey of the whole of France, with the intention of preparing a general Geological Map of the country, to be followed by a more detailed Survey, based on the Départements. Field work for the general map commenced in 1825, and was completed in 1835 and a Geological Map of the whole of France, on a scale of approximately 8 miles to the inch was published by the Ministry of Public Works in 1841. The project was carried out entirely under the direction of the Ministry, at public expense. As a National Survey it thus preceded that of Great Britain, established in 1835, by some ten years.

Five new trilobites from the Girvan district are recorded and described. A new Proetus is remarkable for the great width of the anterior shield, the squat glabella, and the great length of the genal spines. Another small proetid is referred to Kegel's subgenus Cyphoproetus. The genus Asaphus is rare in the Girvan district, and beyond a thorax and an incomplete anterior shield from the Drummuck Group of Lady Burn (Ashgillian) the only record appears to be of three species of Asaphus (Isotelus) from the Balclatchie Group. Recently three pygidia of Asaphus, which may be referrable to Raymond's doubtful genus Homotelus, have been found in the Orthis confinis beds at Minuntion, Barr Series (Caradoc) The most interesting find is probably a new species of the hitherto monospecific genus Teratorhynchus.

A distinction is drawn between the gneisses above the Craig, excessively shattered, and those of the Gaerwen country, now regarded as autochtonous and on a different tectonic horizon.

The sandstone injections which penetrate the Kimmeridgian strata of Eathie are described, the presence of sill-like injections being particularly noted. It is considered that the occurrence of “sandstone-sills” at Eathie is of importance in ascertaining the mode of origin of the injections of the locality. It is further suggested that the sills support the hypothesis that the injections are the result of infilling of fissures from below by sand and water.

William Lonsdale's associations with Sedgwick, Murchison. and Darwin are noted and his inference that the “transition series” was Devonian age, derived in 1837 from a study of fossil corals, is interpreted as an unique contribution to the belief that “species undergo modification”. As the first applied evolutionist, it is argued that he belongs on the list of important early contributors to the theory of evolution.