Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 189 



three species of mastodon, gariols and rhinoceros, and the heads, 

 horns and teeth of stags, antelopes, oxen, &c. The writer concluded 

 with the observation that there was still a rich field of research re- 

 maining at this deposit, and that he had sent to India, not only for 

 some of the specimens before referred to, but was also making ar- 

 rangements for prosecuting further research. 



Dr. Mantell remarked, that the specimens aflforded additional 

 confirmation of the fact, first pointed out by Capt. Cautley and 

 Dr. Falconer, that in the tertiary formations of India were collocated 

 the remains of several species of reptiles and mammalia, with those 

 of extinct species and genera belonging to the most ancient European 

 deposits of the same geological group (the eocene) ; as, for exam])le, 

 the teeth and bones of the Cheiropotamus, and other pachyderms of 

 the Paris basin, with those of the existing gariol of India. Dr. 

 Mantell then offered some observations on the analogy which the 

 specimens from Perim, as well as those from Ava and from the Se- 

 valik hills, presented in their mineralogical condition, and the me- 

 chanical action to which they had been subjected, with those more 

 ancient fossil bones and teeth that abound in the Wealden deposits 

 of the south-east of England, particularly with those obtained from 

 the conglomerate and grits of Tilgate Forest. The Indian and the 

 British fossils are alike mineralized by iron, and have an investment 

 of indurated ferruginous sand, interspersed with quartz, piebbles and 

 rolled fragments of other rocks ; and the bones are, for the most part, 

 mutilated and much water-worn, proving that previously to their 

 mineralization they had been exposed to abrasion from streams and 

 rivers, and were transported from a great distance by currents. 

 Dr. Mantell dwelt on the discrepancy between the faunas of the two 

 epochs, although that of the Wealden was as decidedly of a tropical 

 character as that of the tertiary strata of India ; but in the latter 

 large mammalia prevailed, while in the far more ancient secondary 

 formation of England mammalia were absent, and the place of the 

 gigantic ruminants and pachyderms was occupied by herbivorous 

 reptiles of appalling magnitude. 



BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 



May 8, 1845.— Dr. Seller, V.P., in the Chair. 



A collection of British specimens was announced from the London 

 Botanical Society ; and fresh specimens of a Primula, regarded as the 

 P. elatior of Jacquin, from Dr. Dewar, Dunfermline, were placed on 

 the table. 



The following papers were read : — 



1. "On some species of Cuscuta." By Charles C. Babington, 

 M.A., F.L.S. &c., Cambridge. (Ann. Nat. Hist. p. 1 of the present 

 volume. 



2. " On the genus Diodium, Breb." By John Ralfs, M.R.C.S. 

 &c., Penzance. 



June 12. — Dr. Douglas Maclagan, President, in the chair. 

 The following communications were read : — 

 1. "List of the rarer Lichens found in the neighbourhood of 



L2 



