Geological Society. 515 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



June 23rd, 1915.— Dr. A. Smith Woodward, F.R.S., President, 



in the Chair. 

 The following communications were read : — 



1. 'On a New Eurypterid from the Belgian Coal Measures.' 

 By Prof. Xavier Stainier. 



In this paper the Author records the discovery of a specimen of a 

 new Eurypterus in the cores of a trial-boring for coal in Belgium. 

 He describes the fossil, which is in a very satisfactory state of pre- 

 servation. To allow of comparisons, a short description of the eleven 

 Carboniferous species known up to the present is appended. The 

 nearest form to the Belgian fossil seems to be a Pennsylvanian 

 Eurypterus, which nevertheless is not identical with the former. 

 The Author then discusses the geological range and the evolution 

 in time of the twelve Carboniferous Eurypterids. The paper ends 

 with a short literature of the subject. 



2. ' On a Fossiliferous Limestone from the North Sea.' By 

 Richard Bullen Newton, F.G.S. 



The material on which this paper is based was trawled from the 

 floor of the North Sea, some 100 miles N.E. | N. of Buchan Ness, 

 and was forwarded to the British Museum (Natural History) by 

 Mr. R. D. Thomson, of Aberdeen. It presents no appearance of 

 glaeiation, so that its occurrence in situ seems to be highly probable. 

 There is no record of a similar limestone from either England or 

 Scotland. It is of highly siliceous character and full of marine 

 shells, of which the Pelecypoda are the more prominent ; there are, 

 also, occasional fragments of wood in contact with the limestone 

 which, from a preliminary examination, appear to show coniferous 

 characters. Some 23 species of mollusca have been determined, all 

 of which exhibit a southern facies, including 10 gastropods and 

 13 pelecypods : the latter embrace a new Dosinif orm shell belonging 

 to the genus Sinodia, the relationships of which are entirely confined 

 to the Indian Ocean regions of Southern Asia. Eighteen of the 

 species, or about 80 per cent., trace their origin from the Vindobonian 

 stage of the Miocene ; ten, or about 40 per cent., may be regarded 

 as extinct; whereas twelve, or 50 per cent., still exist in recent 

 seas. The majority of the species are fairly evenly distributed in 

 both the Coralline and the Red Crag formations of East Anglia, 

 although, on account of so large a number being extinct, and bearing 

 in mind their southern facies, it is thought that the rock must be of 

 older age than Reel Crag. Additional support is given to this view, 

 because such shells as Arcopema sericea, Tellina benedeni t and 

 Panopcea menardi are not known of later age in this country than 

 the Coralline Crag. The occurrence also of the extinct gastropods 

 Streptoclietus sexcostatus and Ficus \ L Pyi-uJa~] simplex, which are 

 particularly characteristic of the Upper Miocene or Messinian 

 deposits of Northern Germany, constitutes further evidence in 

 favour of a greater antiquity for this limestone than that of the 

 Red Crag : it is, therefore, considered to be of Coralline Crag age. 



