OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 2G7 



PAPERS READ. 



On some Tertiary Fossils, from New Guinea. 

 By the Rev. J. E. Tenison- Woods, F.G.S., F.L.S., &c. 



At a previous meeting this year (Aug. 27), I drew the atten- 

 tion of the Society to some Echini, which had been obtained by 

 Mr. Macleay in New Guinea. They were fossils, and the beds 

 with their position and character were then described, I 

 promised at the same time to refer to the Mollusca on a future 

 occasion. Since then the whole collection has been carefully 

 gone over by Mr. Masters, who has broken up all the larger 

 portions and cleared away the matrix from the casts. The result 

 has not revealed any new fossils, and no new casts of any definite 

 character have been found. The consequence is that the material 

 at my disposal is exceedingly small. There are casts in abun- 

 dance, but for the most part of bivalves, and these, only internal 

 casts are preserved from which even the genus can very seldom 

 be ascertained. I proceed therefore to deal with what can be 

 clearly described. The only shell is a Pecten, which appears 

 to me to be a new species. It is a remarkable fact, as I before 

 observed, that Pectens seem to have some singular power of 

 resisting the dissolving action of water in limestone deposits. 

 Pectens and Brachiopoda are the only mollusca preserved in the 

 Mount Gambier limestones, though there are casts of others. 

 Even the finest ornaments of the shell, and the most delicate 

 tracery, is quite fresh and well preserved, while the large shells 

 of other genera are entirely dissolved away. It would be really 

 worth while to investigate the microscopic structure of these 

 shells with a view to explain the cause of their permanent 

 character. The following is the diagnosis of the new species. 



Pecten Nov^guin.e. 

 P. shell regularly orbicular, equivalve regularly convex, but 

 not globose, rather thick, equilateral and symmetrically rounded 

 at the margin ; ears quite square, one* being a little obliquely 

 indented at the edge,, but otherwise almost equal and rather 

 large ; furnished with 12 to 14 large rounded radiate ribs, each 



