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PROCEEDINGS OF METROPOLITAN SOCIETIES. 327 
suspicion the identification, as portions of marsupial quadrupeds, of 
the very ancient secondary organic remains under consideration.— 
Mr. Owen commenced by passing a just eulogy on the skill and 
discrimination uniformly evinced by Cuvier in forming a judgment 
on the affinities of an external animal, from inspection of a fossil 
fragment ; and proceeded to examine in succession the various ob- 
jections which had been raised by Professor de Blainville, laying 
particular stress upon the fact that that naturalist had only examin- 
ed casts or models of the fossils in question, whereas the author of 
the present paper had inspected and carefully studied the originals. 
Mr. Owen’s arguments were chiefly based on the distinctness of the 
true and false molars and of their sockets, each tooth being provided 
with two or more separate fangs, which were not anchyloed with 
the jaw-bone ; on the unity of the jaw, which is composed of three 
pieces in the oviparous classes ; on the form of the coronoid process, 
which, though lost; had left its impression on the matrix, which 
showed it to have resembled that of the Opossum group ; on that of 
the inferior projecting condyle ; and finally, it was stated that in 
the angle of the jaw of the Marsupiata, there is a constant modifica- 
tion not hitherto considered by the anatomists who have written 
upon the Stonesfield fossils, but which would serve to prove, if co- 
existent with a convex condyle, the marsupial nature of a fossil, 
though all the teeth were wanting: thee angle of the jaw being 
bent inwards, in the form of a process, varying in shape and degree 
of development in the different genera. In the course of this paper, 
Mr. Owen frequently alluded to the late memoir of M. Valenci- 
ennes, wherein the conclusions of Cuvier respecting these fossils he 
deemed to be ably and successfully advocated. Two other commu- 
nications were afterwards read, one by Mr. R. W. Fox, “ On the 
formation, by voltaic agency, of Mineral Veins ;” and the other, by 
Captain Alexander, ‘‘ On the discovery of portions of the Mastodon 
teeth near Southwold.” A brilliant discussion then ensued, in 
which the opinion of M. de Blainville was supported with great abi- 
lity by Professor Grant, who had long previously entertained the 
same idea respecting the nature of the Stonesfield fossils, and had 
annually, as was well known to many naturalists present, expressed 
it in his course of lectures delivered at the London University. 
DecemBer 5th.—A communication was read from the council of 
the Natural History Society of Liverpool, entitled “ An account of 
the footsteps of the Cheirotherium, and five or six other unknown 
animals, lately discovered in the quarries of Storeton Hill, between 
the Mersey and the Dee,” and which was illustrated by some admi- 
rable drawings by J. Cunningham, Esq. In 1834, there were dis- 
covered in several quarries at the village of Hessberg, near Hild- 
berghausen, casts in a gray quartzoze sandstone, resembling, to a 
certain extent, a human hand, and for which Professor Kaup pro- 
posed the inappropriate name, as it now appears, of Cheirotherium. 
Similar casts were discovered in the early part of last June, in 
Storeton Hill quarries, which the workmen designated petrified hu- 
