PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. 181 
10 showed affinities with Recent species. 
2 i is » Pliocene ,, 
5 vf ; » Miocene ,, 
1 4 0 3 WOligocene:;; 
3 * 3 ee ocene x3 
He made four comparisons in the case of other classes, 
two sharks, a whale, and an echinoid. The three first 
resembled Miocene species, and the last a Recent one. 
This is practically all the evidence M‘Coy published im 
support of his opinion that the beds were in part Miocene 
and in part Oligocene. 
Tate, in his long series of papers, makes his comparisons 
of mollusca with species ranging from Lias to Recent, and 
by far the greater number are with either Recenc or with 
Eocene species, and it is certainly startling to find that his 
comparisons with Recent forms are twice as numerous as 
those with Eocene ones. 
TRANSGRESSIONS OF OUR OLDEST TERTIARY FossuiLs. 
Before it can be stated what forms are to be regarded as 
cransgressing, some decision must be come to as regards the 
age of the beds containing them, and as in most of the 
recent work the age of our Oldest Marine Tertiary beds 
has been spoken of as Eocene, we shall take that as our 
standard of comparison, and note some divergences from 
that standard. ; 
Porifera.—The occurrence of Plectroninu: is an extension 
back into the Eocene of the Lithonine sponges, Itherto 
uniguely represented by the recent Japanese /etrostroma 
(Hinde, 00). Possibly some of the associated forms, Dr. 
Hinde thinks, may be really Pharetrones, and if so, we have 
an extension forward of a group hitherto generally 
regarded as Mesozoic, though Professor Dendy has described 
what he regards as a recent member in the existing Vic- 
torian fauna (Dendy, '94). 
Hydrocoralline.—Deontopora is only doubtfully separ 
able from Stylaster, a recent genus elsewhere. Derontopora 
is widely spread in our “ Eocene’ and © Miocene "’ deposits. 
Zoantharia.——_Mr. Dennant tells me that, as far as his 
observations go, it is to Miocene rather than to oider species 
that he has to look for affinities with our Eocene corals. 
There appear to be no striking anomalies of range. 
Echinoidea.—TYate tabulated the range of 28 genera of 
urchins occurring in our EKocene, and 5 other genera have 
been recorded since. Two genera, only, show evidence of 
