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TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 57 
that on comparison with the remains of other species already described there were good 
grounds for assigning to the fossil referred to, and illustrated to the Section by a litho- 
graphic drawing, the rank of a new species, to which he proposed to apply the name 
Bucklandi, the author proceeded briefly to point out the osteologicai features of the 
fossil. The specimen was described as consisting of the internal surface of the 
greater part of the bones of the cranium, presenting both orbits entire, the nasal 
aperture somewhat mutilated, and about twenty more or less perfect teeth in the su- 
perior maxillary bone of one side, and also preserving, either by the presence of bone 
or by impressions left of absent bones, the general configuration of the skull, the di- 
mensions of which were about 114 inches from the termination of the premandibular 
to the extremity of the projecting condyles of the occipital bone, and about 9 inches 
from the outer edge of one temporal bone to that of the other. The general consoli- 
dation of the bones of the cranium, especially of those forming the orbits, was con- 
trasted with the comparative loosely constructed skull of modern Batrachians; and 
the projecting condyles of the occiput were pointed out as highly characteristic of that 
family. The teeth presented the usual characters of the genus; and the position of 
the nostril, in conjunction with the other osteological peculiarities, confirmed the com- 
pound nature and amphibian habits of this reptile. ‘The fossil described was recently 
discovered in the Bunter-sandstein. 

Note on the Genus Siphonotreta, with a Description of a New Species. By 
Joun Morris, F.G.S. (Communicated by Sir R. I. Murcutson.) 
Among the numerous interesting fossils collected by Mr. John Gray from the Wen- 
lock limestone and shale in the vicinity of Dudley, is a form which I am inclined to 
consider belongs to Siphonotreta (de Verneuil), a genus of Brachiopoda, hitherto con- 
sidered peculiar to the Silurian formations of Russia. 
The genus having been previously unnoticed in this country, and presenting some 
peculiarities both as regards the structure of the shell and the mode of attachment, it 
may not be uninteresting to offer a few general remarks on the subject; more especially 
as this shell, and some apparently allied forms, have been lately made the subject ofa 
special notice by Dr. Kutorga of St. Petersburg. In this memoir* Dr. Kutorga has 
grouped together in one family (the Siphonotretez) four genera, Siphonotreta, Schi- 
gotreta, Acrotreta, and Aulonotreta, which scarcely present any character in common, 
and have been in part considered by preceding authors as belonging to different 
groups or distinct subfamilies of the Brachiopoda. 
Of the above-mentioned generic forms, two of them have been known for about 
twenty years. One of them, remarkable for the immense abundance with which it 
occurs in the lower Silurian grits of the north of Russia, its broken fragments disse- 
minated in the plane of stratification, giving to the rock a micaceous appearance, was 
first made known (1829) as a peculiar genus by Prof. Eichwald+, under the name of 
Obolus (Aulonotreta, Kut.) ; about the same period (1830), Pander} gave the name 
Ungula to this fossil, and which L. von Buch§ considered to be an Orthis. The other 
form was also first noticed by Prof. Eichwald in 1829 as a Crania (C. sulcata, C. un- 
guiculata), which he afterwards (1843) placed under Terebratula|| ; subsequently how- 
ever M. de Verneuil, in the second volume of the great work on Russia , after a careful 
examination of these fossils, clearly recognized the differences which separated them 
from Crania and Terebratula, and gave them the very characteristic name of Sipho- 
notreta, describing two species, S. unguiculata and S. verrucosa. 
Since the publication of the work on Russia, four additional species of the latter 
genus have rewarded the researches of Hern. v. Volborth and other Russian geolo- 
gists, and which are fully described, as well as those previously known, in the mono- 
graph by Dr. Kutorga above alluded to, and from which is extracted the following 
synopsis of the principal characters of the genera in the family. 
* Uber die Siphonotretezx, von Dr. S. Kutorga, Verhandlungen der Kaiserlichen Minera- 
logischen Gesselschaft fiir das Jahr 1847, p. 250. 
+ Zoologia Specialis, 1829, vol. i. p. 274, 
t Beitrage zur Geognosie der Russischen Reichs, 1830. 
§ Beitrage zur Bestimmung der Gebirgsformationen Russland, 1840. 
|| Beitragen zur Kentniss des Russ, Reichs, 1843. 
{| Russia and the Ural Mountains, 1845, vol. ii. p. 286. 
