Miscellaneous. 459 



the individuals composing the genus Hybodus, confirming the views 

 of Prof. Agassiz. The species is new, and Sir Philip Egerton pro- 

 poses to name it Hybodus Bassanus. 



6. The President read extracts from letters lately addressed by 

 M. Dubois de Montperreaux and by Prof. Agassiz to Capt. Ibbetson, 

 on the subject of the Neocomian. The former of these geologists 

 states that the Neuchatel beds cannot be regarded as complete, or as 

 the type of that formation, which he considers is best developed in 

 the Crimea and Caucasus. The latter considers the Neocomian as a 

 peculiar stage, and that the very lowest of the cretaceous system. 



May 15. — The following papers were read : — 



1 . A letter from Dr. Ick on some new fossil Crustacea, from the 

 South Staffordshire coal-field. 



2. " On the Geology of Cape Breton." By Mr. R. Brown. 

 The newest stratified rocks in the island of Cape Breton belong to 



the coal formation. The coal-field of Sidney occupies an area of 250 

 square miles, and appears, from the dip of the beds, to be a portion 

 of a still more extensive field. The coal measures repose on mill- 

 stone grit of variable thickness and great extent. Beneath the 

 millstone grit lies carboniferous limestone, associated with extensive 

 beds of gypsum and marls. These gypsiferous beds lie upon con- 

 glomerates, which pass downwards into slates, corresponding to the 

 grauwacke formation in Europe. In places the eruption of red gra- 

 nite has converted the schists into white marble. Igneous rocks of 

 various forms, granites, porphyries, greenstone' and trap, occupy a 

 considerable portion of the island. * 



3. " On the anthracite formation of Massachusetts." By Mr. Lyell. 



The author states that the fossil plants associated with the anthra- 

 cite of Wrentham, Cumberland and Mansfield on the borders of the 

 States of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, are of true carboniferous 

 species. The strata containing them, as shown by Hitchcock, Jack- 

 son and others, pass into mica-schist, clay-slate, and other meta- 

 morphic rocks. The bed of plumbago and anthracite, two feet thick, 

 at Worcester, Massachusetts, is separated from the anthracite before 

 mentioned, by a district of gneiss, thirty-five miles wide. This bed 

 Mr. Lyell regards as coal in a still more completely metamorphic 

 state, all the volatile ingredients having been discharged and carbon 

 alone remaining, the accompanying coal- shales and grits having been 

 turned into carbonaceous clay-slate, mica-schist, with granite and 

 quartzite. No similar beds are found in the North American Silu- 

 rian formations. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



CAPTURE OF HEMIPODIUS TACHYDROMUS IN BRITAIN. 



To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. 



Gentlemen, — I have recently received a bird which appears to me 

 to be new to this country ; it is a Quail, having no back toe, and is 



