Portsmouth Liter ary and Philosophical Societj/. 141 



cially termed ^' malen," which occurs in the same alluvial tract. 

 In one place several human skeletons have been taken out of the 

 marl. 



Jpril 1 5. — An extract of a letter was read from Jeremiah Van 

 Rensselaer, Esq. on the discovery of the skeleton of a mastodon 

 at New York ; and of the tertiary formation in New Jersey. 



In this letter Mr. Rensselaer mentions that in a late expedition 

 which he had made with some friends to examine the geology of 

 the state of New Jersey, they had discovered, disinterred, and 

 afterwards brought to New York, the skeleton of a mastodon 

 very nearly perfect. They also satisfied themselves that much of 

 the region which lies between the Atlantic and the range of primi- 

 tive mountains was referable to the tertiary formations, and that 

 the secondary do not make their appearance for some hundreds 

 of miles. 



A paper was also read, entitled, Account of a Fossil Crocodile 



recently discovered in the Alum-Shale^ near Whitby ; by the 



Rev. George Young. 



Mr. Young describes the osteology of this fossil animal, which 



has been deposited in the Museum at Whitby, and of which a 



drawing accompanied this communication ; its length exceeds 14 



feet, and when perfect must have reached 18. 



The author mentions that these are not the only remains of the 



crocodile which have been discovered near Whitby, although they 



had been generally confounded with those of the Plesiosaurus; 



of which animal, however, as well as of three or four species of 



the Icthyosaurusy undoubted remains occur in the alum-shale of 



Whitby. 



PORTSMOUTH AND PORTSEA LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL 

 SOCIETY. 



We have much pleasure in noticing the progress of this associa- 

 tion, as detailed in the report of its proceedings during the Session 

 of 1823-4. By this report it appears that the Society has been 

 rapidly advancing in improvement as it regards the number of 

 its members, the increasing interest of the lectures and papers 

 which have been read at the meetings, and the numerous addi- 



