46(i Geological Soci'eti/. 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



May 24th, 1899.— W. Whitaker. B.A., F.R.S., 

 President, in the Chair. 



Prof. Seeley exhibited a cast from a footprint obtained by Mr. H. 

 C. Beasley from the Trias at Stourton. The impression is about 

 ]4 inch long, and nearl}- as -wide. The cast has been treated by 

 oblique illumination, so as to display its osteolno;ieal structure by 

 means of the shadows thus thrown. All the claws are directed 

 outward, as in a burrowing animal. The form of the foot resembles 

 that of a monotreme mammal rather than that of any existing re])tile. 

 There appears to be a slender pre-pollex including three bones. The 

 only other example of this structure in the Trias is in the Theriodonfc 

 reptile Theriodesnms, in which it is less definite. This character 

 may add to the interest of other footprints from Stourton, which in 

 the form of the foot ajjjiroximate to Anomodont reptiles from the 

 Karoo Beds of Cape Colony. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. 'On the Distal End of a Mammalian Humerus from Tonbridge.' 

 By Prof. H. G. Seeley, F.R.S., F.G.S. 



The bone described in this communication Avas found in 1898 by 

 Mr. Anderson on the bank of the River Medway, near Tonbridge. 

 It was seen projecting from reconstructed rock which contained 

 fragments of flints among other materials. Traces of matrix at the 

 distal end show that the specimen has been derived from quartz- 

 sand bound together with limonite, such as might occur in the 

 Hastings Sand, Wealden Clay, or Lower Grcensand. Conditions of 

 mineral structure and osteological character incline the Antlior 

 to believe that the bone was originally contained in the Wealden 

 Clay. The fossil is 4 inches long, and indicates a humerus which 

 may have been 6 inches in length when perfect, as large as that of 

 a wolf but smaller than that of a bloodhound. The form of the 

 shaft precludes any comparison with the carnivora, and indicates a 

 resemblance to ungulate types. "When the bone is held vertically 

 and seen from the front, the condyles are obli(|Uc — a character not 

 observed in any other animal. The weiglit of evidence ajipears to 

 incline towards reference of the fo.ssil to the Artiodactyla, but it 

 probably indicates a new family type. 



2. 'On Evidence of a Bird from the Wealden Beds of Ansty 

 Lane, near Cuckfield.' By Prof. H. G. Seeley, F.R.S., F.G.S. 



A fragment of bone found, by Mr. Neville Jones, a member of the 

 London Geological Field Class, embedded in sandstone was identified 

 by the Author as probably the distal end of the femur of a bird. 



