President's Address. 59 



we know, unrepresented, although their presence in the Coal 

 Measures of North America has been shown by Dr Dawson 

 and other writers. I see no reason why Pulmonate Molluscs 

 should not have lived during the deposition of the British 

 Coal Measures, and, like many other things, their presence 

 probably only requires looking for. Some authors, notably 

 Messrs Van Beneden and Coemans,* have endeavoured to 

 prove that our little Annelide Spirorhis {Microconchus) pusillus 

 (Martin) appertains to this group, but the balance of facts 

 appears to prove the contrary ; -f at any rate, stronger evi- 

 dence than that offered by these distinguished Palaeontologists 

 is required before the Annelidian affinities of this little form 

 can be shaken. We have no definite evidence that the Sipho- 

 nostomate Univalves existed in the Carboniferous seas of 

 Scotland, the fauna apparently appertaining to the Holosto- 

 niata, or those with an entire mouth. 



The Family N'aticidse is represented by two genera, JS'ati- 

 copsis (M'Coy), and one lately established by the writer, 

 Platyosto7ndla, J for the reception of a peculiar little shell 

 found by Mr James Bennie in the Calciferous Sandstone 

 Series of E. Scotland. On the other hand, Messrs Meek 

 and Hayden believe § some forms of Naticopsis really belong- 

 to the ISTeritidai ; they certainly have much the appearance 

 of a Nerita, but so far as I am aware, no direct evidence is 

 yet forthcoming. Again, Dr Stoliczkall regarded some species 

 of Naticopsis as possibly referable to Lamarck's AvipulH/ia. 

 The Carboniferous members of the Naticida3 are certainly 

 on anything but a sound basis, for the very existence of 

 Naticopsis itself is not directly proven. We have Professor 

 M'Coy at one time describing it without an umbilicus,1F at 

 another with.** The balance of evidence appears to be in 

 favour of the absence of this feature,-[-f and taking this into 



* Bull. I'Acad. R. Bruxelles, 1867, 2nie ser., xxiii. 



t Etheridge, "Carboniferous Tubicolar Annelida" (Geol. Mag., 1880, vii., 

 p. 215). 



X Proc. R. Phys. See, Ediub., 1880, p. 163. 



§ Pal. Up. Missouri, p. 108. || Cret. Gasterop. of India, p. 295. 



IT Synop. Garb. Lime. Foss., Ireland, 1844, p. 33. 



** Brit. Pal. Foss., 1852, p. 301. 



t+ Illinois Geol. Survey Rept., ii., p. 364. 



