196 Prof. M'Coy on the Recent Zoology 



argillaceous and sandy rock, containing two large species of 

 laucerumus {I. Carsoni and /. Sutherlmidi, M'Coy), so nearly 

 agreeing in size and shape with the English Cretaceous /. mijti- 

 loides (Sow.) and the English and French /. Cuvieri respectively, 

 that at first sight they might be readily confounded. With 

 these are two species of Ammunites, one {A. Flindersi, M'Coy) 

 so closely agreeing in size, number of whorls, shape, markings, 

 and septa with the common Ammonites Beudanti (Br.) of the 

 French Lower Chalk, that, except for being shghtly less com- 

 pressed and a slight difference in some of the septal lobes, it 

 could scarcely be separated, even as a variety. 



With these is a Belemnite [Belemnitella diptijcha, M'Coy) so 

 exactly like in size and shape the B. plena of the English and 

 French Lower Cretaceous rocks that they can only be distin- 

 guished by a slight difference in the distance of the two great 

 longitudinal furrows. 



The most wonderful occurrence which I am able to announce 

 along with those molluscan forms are three new species of 

 Enaliosauriau reptiles of Cretaceous genera, and most nearly 

 allied to cretacean European species. One of these is an Ichthyo- 

 saurus {I. australis, M'Coy), of which I have recognized a large 

 nun)ber of vertebrae, the large skull, with the eye and its bony 

 sclerotic ring perfectly preserved, and part of one of the paddles. 

 The other two are species of Plesiosaurus, — one (P. macrospon- 

 dylus, M'Coy) differing from the nearest known species in the 

 greater proportional length of the bodies of the vertebrse, and 

 the other {P. Sutherlandi, M'Coy) more nearly approaching the 

 ordinary proportions of the genus and the New-Zealand species 

 of Owen. 



LOWER MESOZOIC. 



The coal-bearing rocks of Victoria belong, I have no doubt, 

 to the Mesozoic period, from the characteristic plants being such 

 as are found with the Mesozoic coal in Yorkshire, Germany, &c., 

 and from the total absence of all the genera characteristic of the 

 Palaeozoic coal. At Cape Paterson and Bellerine we find in the 

 shales alternating with the coal three well-marked species of 

 Zamites [Z. eltipticus and Z. Barklyi, M'Coy, and a rarer spe- 

 cies, Z. longifolius, M'Coy, which I have seen from the N.S.W. 

 beds), a Tceniupteris {T. Daintrei, M'Coy) of the size and shape 

 of the T, vittata of the English Oolitic coal-beds, but differing 

 in the number of transverse veins in a given space, and the 

 Phyllotheca australis, identical with the New-South- Wales coal- 

 species. The association of these genera alone would indicate 

 the beds to be Mesozoic and not Palaeozoic with certainty j but 

 the association of the same plants with other species in other 



