NOTES ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 149 



the time on the wing, and are rarely seen on land, so that, as a consequence 

 of the hind hmbs not being used for swimming or walking, they have degene- 

 rated. Mr. Andrews has called this new bird-form Propha'ctoii shrtibsolei ; the 

 generic name records the fact that it stands in the line of descent of the 

 modern Tropic- birds (the genus Phaeton), while the specific name is given in 

 honour of the discoverer. This find is of considerable interest, for it is 

 another proof of the change that has taken place in the climate of England 

 since the early Eocene times, as is also evidenced by the fossil palm fruits 

 from the same locality, and it adds one more steganopodous bird to our fossil 

 fauna, which now contains four, the others being the Pelican, from the fens of 

 East Anglia and the lake-dwellings at Glastonbury ; Odontopteryx, with 

 serrated jaws, like those of some tortoises ; and Aygillornis, both from the 

 London Clay at Sheppy." 



Fossils of the London Clay. — At a meeting of the Geologists' 

 Association at Sheppey, on July i6th, 1898, [Proc. Geol. Ass. vol. xv., Novem- 

 ber, 1898, Mr. W. H. Shrubsole, F.G.S., who has done so much to elucidate 

 the very obscure palseontology of the London Clay, gave some information 

 concerning his own discoveries. The remarkable mineralised Diatoms ' 

 occurred in a zone (having a considerable range) near the base of the London 

 Clay, and therefore only to be reached in Sheppey by deep excavation. 

 Radiolaria^ in a pyritised condition, had also been found in clay from a well 

 near Queenboro' Railway Station. The only freshwater shells, Camptoceras 

 prisciim,^ known to occur in the London Clay, he found in a septarian nodule 

 The skull and other portions of the skeleton of the toothed bird, Argilloruis 

 longipennis'- were found at different times among the shingle on the beach, 

 unobscured either by limestone or pyrites. The immenss skull of Chehme 

 gigas^ [Eosphavgis gigas) was enclosed in a septarian nodule, the outline of 

 which famished the only clue to something organic within. Interesting 

 reference was made to its skilful exhumation at the British Museum, and the 

 delights of Sir I^ichard Owsn at finding such complete evidence of a gigantic 

 Chelonian, the existence of v/hich was foreshadowed forty years before by a 

 small fragment of bone, on which the name has been bestowed. 



The most recent discovery was the skull of another bird in 1897. Unlike 

 the Aygillornis, it was enclosed in a limestone nodule of oval form, at one end 

 of which the base of the cranium was slightly exposed. The expert mason of 

 the British Museum soon revealed what appears to be a perfect avian skuli^ 



GEOLOGY. 

 Sketch of the Geology of Ilford,— On Mav 13th last the Geologists' 

 Association paid a visit to Ilford, that classic land for Essex palaeontologists, 

 under the direction of Mr. T. V. Holmes, F.G.S., who favoured the company 

 with an interesting sketch of the geology of the district. This, by Mr. Holmes' 

 kind permission, we are now able to reproduce. A visit was made to the 



1 See Journ. Royal Microscopical Soc, 1881. 



2 See Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xlv, iSHg.p. 121. 



3 Ibid., vol. xxxviii, 1882, p. 218. 



4 Ibid., vols, xxxiv. and xxxvi. 



5 /6u/., vol. xlv ; Cat. Fossil Reptilia, Brit. .Museum, pa.n s; Owens Palceontology, 2nd 

 edition, pp. 317, 318. 



6 See note on this fossil bird above. 



