302 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



points as sharp as that of a coai-se needle; these the author supposed to l>c 

 spinons scales belonging to several new species of fish, allied to the Squa- 

 loraia, and that to the same gemis were to be referred a number of hair-like 

 spines with flattened fluted sides found in the same deposit. There were also 

 present specimens hitherto supposed to be teeth, and for which Agassi/ ha I 

 created the genus Ctenoptychius, but which he was rather disposed to con- 

 sider, like those previously referred to, to be the outer scales of a fish allie 1 

 to the squaloraia. It Avas remarked that, as the drift must have been trans- 

 ported from some distance, delicate organisms could scarcely have been 

 expected; but, notwithstanding, it contained some most minute fish-jaws 

 and palates, of which the author had, either perfect or otherwise, one hun- 

 dred and thirty examples. These were from a quarter to the eighth of an 

 inch in length, and within this small compass he possessed specimens with 

 from thirty to forty teeth; and in one palate he had succeeded in reckoning 

 as many as seventy-four teeth in position, and there were spaces where six- 

 teen more had disappeared; so that, in this tiny specimen, there were ninety 

 teeth. Of the order reptilia there were probably eight or nine genera, con- 

 sisting of detached teeth, scales, vertebra? and ribs, and articulated bones. 

 Amongst these he had found the flat crushing teeth of the Placodus, a dis- 

 covery of interest, for hitherto this reptile had only been found in the mus- 

 chelkalk of Germany, a zone of rocks hitherto wanting in Great Britain, 

 but which in its fauna was represented by the above reptile. But by far the 

 most important remains in the deposit were indications of the existence of 

 triassic mammalia. Two little teeth of the Microlestes had some years 

 before been found in Germany, and were the only traces of this high order 

 in beds older than the Stonesfield slate. The author's minute researches had 

 brought to light fifteen molar teeth, either identical Avith, or allied to, the 

 Jlicrolestes, and also fiA r e incisor teeth, eA r idently belonging to more than one 

 species. A very small double-tanged tooth, not unlike the oolitic Spalacothe- 

 rium, proved the presence of another genus, and a fragment of a tooth, con- 

 sisting of a single fang, with a small portion of the crown attached, a third 

 genus, larger in size than the Microlestes. Three vertebras, belonging to an 

 animal smaller than any existing mammal, had also been found. The author 

 inferred that if twenty-five teeth and A'ertebrse, belonging to three or four 

 genera of mammalia, were to be found Avithin the space occupied by three 

 square yards of earth, that portion of the globe Avhich was then dry land, 

 and from Avhence the material was in part derived, Avas probably inhabited 

 at this early period of its history by many genera of mammalia, and would 

 serve to encourage a hope that this family might yet be found in beds of 

 even a more remote age. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE ACCUMULATION AND DEPOSITION OF 



SEDIMENTARY MATTER. 



At a recent meeting of the Boston Society of Natural History, Professor 

 W. B. Rogers exhibited a fossil cast in sandstone of part of the trunk of a 

 large Sigillaria, from the South Joggins, in NoA r a Scotia, Avhere, as first SIIOAVII 

 by Logan and Dawson, these and other stems belonging to the carboniferous 

 age occur at numerous leA'els in the strata, and are to be seen standing in the 

 erect position in which they greAv. 



In considering the process by Avhich these stems were originally enveloped 

 by the mass of sediment now enclosing them, in the shape of sandstone and 



