46 puocEEDixas of tup: 



8]mrks are cliaracf eristic, of tlio period, and interestinjr ns showing; 

 a more cjiMieralised vertebrate skeleton than any later Fishes. The 

 C'ocldiodont Sharks with grinding teeth appear to be closelv related 

 to the existing Ceslracion, but have many of the (eeth fused into 

 extensive plates. Some of the sharp-toothed Sharks also seem to 

 have had their teeth fused into rigid masses. 'J'he highest Fishes 

 are the Paheoniscida and Phvlysomids, whieh exliihit all the funda- 

 mental characters of the present-day Sturgeons, obscured beneath 

 a normal covering of ganoid head- plates and scales. Large 

 Dipnoan Fishes are numerous, and differ little from Ceratodus, 

 except in showing traces of the separate points of which their 

 denial ]ilates are com|)Osed. Most, important are the Crosso- 

 ])terygian Fishes, of which llhizodxis and Mer/alichiJn/s are typical 

 genera. These Fishes make a closer approach to the earliest 

 lung-breathers than any Fishes which have existed before or since. 

 Lung-breathers were certainly in existence just before the begin- 

 ning of the Carboniferous Period, and all seem to belong to a very 

 primitive group of Amphibia, variously termed Stegocephalia or 

 Labyrinthodontia, in allusion to the complete roofing of their 

 cheeks by bone and to the complicated structure of their teeth. 

 In their possession of supra-temporal plates and often of post- 

 temporal bones, as also in the marking of th(nr superficial bones 

 by the course of the slline-canals, these Amphibians more closely 

 resemble fishes than any later members of the Order. Towards 

 the end of the Carboniferous Period some of the smaller Stego- 

 cephalia, the so-called Microsauria, seem to have passed into true 

 lleptiles very similar to the surviving Sj^henodon or llatieria. 



A discussion followed, the itndermentioned taking part : — 

 The President, Mr. William Cash (visitor), the Eev. T. 11. E. 

 Stebbing, and Mr. A. O. Walker ; the author replying. 



June 15tb, 1911. 



Dr. A. B. Eexdle, F.E.S., Yice-Presideut, in the Chair 



The ^Minutes of the General Meeting of the 1st June, 1911, 

 were read and confirmed. 



jNlr. George Herbert Wailes, INliss Freda Bage, ;M.Sc., Mr. 

 Malcolm Wilson, 13. Sc, IMiss Ann Croniii Halket, and Mr, Ernest 

 Lee, B.Sc, were admitted Fellows. 



INIr. AVilliam Neilson Jones, M.A. (Cantab.), was elected a 

 Fellow. 



A letter congratulating Sir Joseph Hooiceu on his approaching 

 94th birthday, was read and signed by the Chairman and the 

 Fellows present. 



