1885.1 261 | Cope . 



the base of the Carboniferous Limestones, {. e., the system that includes 

 the Psammites of Coudroz and the upper "Old Red." The question of asso- 

 ciating the Permian -with the Carboniferous provoked the most heated de- 

 bate. Stur, Blanford, Lapparent, and Newberry spoke in favor of such 

 association ; Hughes, Topley, Nikitin and some others, against it. It was 

 finally decided to leave the question as it was. The Triassic was divided 

 into three parts, but without assigning to them any names. 



The eruptive rocks were divided according to the scheme of Prof. Lossen, 

 into seven divisions, one of which is "Serpentine." This part of the Con- 

 gress's work appears not to have received the attention it deserved, as all 

 the petrographers who were consulted by the writer as to the advisability 

 of such a heading of a division, agreed that it was unfortunate. Among 

 these were Profs. Zirkel, Stelzner, and among the other geologists, Profs. 

 Hughes, Hall, and a great many others. 



The Congress formerly approved and voted committees to assist two works 

 of the nature of compendiums. The first of these is a Geographical-Geo- 

 logical Dictionary, by D. Juan Vilanova, Piera Professor in the University 

 of Madrid. The committee appointed at the Bologna Congress to assist in 

 this work consisted of MM. Hughes, Mayer-Eymar, Steinmanu, Meli, 

 Szabo, and Inostranzeff. M. Vilanova explained that this was merely an 

 attempt of his to make a French- Spanish dictionary of terms, but he hoped 

 that it w r ould be taken up and improved upon by others, and that especi- 

 ally the parallel terms in other languages would be gradually grafted upon 

 it. I should be glad of the assistance of the members of this Society in 

 extending a knowledge of its scope. 



The other w T ork which the Congress appointed a committee to foster was 

 Xeumayr's Nomenclator Palseontologicus. The names of the members of 

 this committee are MM. Gaudry, Zittel, ISTeumayr, and Etheridge. 



On the Species of Iguanmce. By E. D. Cope. 



(Read before the American Philosophical Society, October 16th, 1SS5.) 



By Iguaninee I mean Iguanida:* without abdominal ribsf or free dermal 

 margins of the digits:): which have the nostrils on the line of the canthus 

 rostralis and not below it, and which possess the compressed form and 

 other characteristics indicating an arboreal rather than a terrestrial habit 

 of life. With one exception§ these animals are confined to the forest re- 

 gions of Tropica] America, the greater number of species being found in 

 the West Indies and Mexico. A few species, as the Conolophus subcris- 



* Exclusive of the Anolidae, which I have shown to differ in the structure of 

 the lower jaw. Proceedings Academy, Phila., 1864. 

 f Those with abdominal ribs are the Polychrinio. 

 X The Basiliscinse are characterized by the digital margins. 

 'i The Braehyloplms fasciatus of tbe Fejee Islands. 



