Geological Society. 119 



Loc. Kota Kota, west coast of Nyasa (Universities' 

 Mission). Five females and one male. 



So far as my knowledge of the genus extends, tliis is a very 

 distinct species, falling partly into section 2 and partly into 

 section 3 of the table of South-African species of Urophctes 

 published in Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist (6) xvii., May 1896. 

 It approaches occidentalism vittatus, and Fischeri in colour 

 and in having the caudal segments smooth, punctured, and 

 keelless ; and olivaceus, triangulifer, and chlorodermus in 

 having the hand of the male spinous internally ; further 

 approaching triangulifer and Marahalli in having the basal 

 pectinal tooth of normal size in the female. 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



November 18, 1896.— Dr. Henry Hicks, P.R.S., 

 President, in the Chair. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. ' On Cycadeoidea gigantea, a new Cycadean Stem from the 

 Isle of Portland.' By A. C. Seward, Esq., M.A., E.G.S. 



The specimen described by the Author was discovered a short 

 time since in one of the Purbeck Dirt-beds, and is now in the FossQ 

 Plant gallery of the British Museum. In the abseuce of any fnicti- 

 fication, Buckland's generic name of Cycadeoidea is chosen in pre- 

 ference to Bennettites, although in many respects the Portland stem is 

 identical with Bennettites Gihsonianus. Externally, the surface is 

 covered with rhomboidal areas separated from one another by a pro- 

 jecting framework consisting of the silicified ramental tissue, which 

 thickly clothed the bases of the petioles. The peripheral portion of the 

 stem afforded thin sections from which it was possible to investigate 

 the anatomical structure ' of the leaf-bases and ramental scales. 

 Internally, the wood- and pith-tissues have been entirely replaced by 

 inorganic material. The Author calls attention to the preservation 

 of a prominent apical bud covered with narrow bud-scales and 

 capped by a mass of ramenta. No indication is found of a lateral 

 inflorescence such as characterizes Bennettites Gihsoniam(s, and the 

 negative evidence suggests the occurrence of terminal reproductive 

 structures. A comparison of this fossil with recent Cycads and Perns 

 brings out many points of close agreement with the former, and as 

 regards the structure of the ramenta, ovideuce is afforded of an 

 interesting survival of the closer resemblance which formerly existed 

 between Cycadean and Fern-like plants. The stem is named 

 Cycadeoidea gigantea. 



2. ' The Fauna of the Keisley Limestone. — Part II. Conclusion.' 

 By F. R. C. Reed, Esq., M.A., F.G.S. 



The Author describes the ostracoda, brachiopoda, mollusca, echino- 

 dermata, and aetinozoa of the Keisley Limestone. He gives a list of 



