142 Geological Society. 



development will find this volume a rich storehouse of facts 

 and stimulating induction. Some of his facts are curious — as, 

 for example, in the case of Elasmosaurus, which has a neck of 

 enormous length (nearly 3 times the length of the body) and 

 containing no less than 76 vertebrae. This was an adaptation 

 enabling the creature to feed, swan fashion, in deep water, occa- 

 sionally, no doubt, as the author remarks, the creature, like the 

 Swan, secured food from yet deeper water by tilting the body into 

 a vertical position, sustaining this position by the action of the 

 paddles. Thus it is inferred they were shallow-water creatures 

 living near the shore and at the surface of the water ; wherein 

 they differed from the shorter-necked Pliosaurs and the Ichthyosaurs, 

 which were probably pelagic. These short-necked forms, further- 

 more, seem to have lived chiefly on cuttle-fish, at any rate the rims 

 of the suckers of the arms and dark masses representing ink-bags 

 have been found embedded within masses of gizzard-stones lying 

 between the ribs of not a few specimens. 



J3ut besides these inferences as to the life-history, Dr. Andrews 

 has brought to light a mass of facts in regard to osteology which 

 are of the highest importance in themselves, and further, as he has 

 shown, they have a no less deep significance when used as indices 

 of adaptation to environment, in which connection these new facts 

 will prove of the highest value to the selectionist. 



We congratulate Dr. Andrews on the completion of his task and 

 look forward to the appearance of the promised second part. 



PllOCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



November 23rd, 1910.— Prof. W. W. Watts, Sc.D., M.Sc, F.R.S., 

 President, in the Chair. 



The following communication was read : — 



' The Effects of Secular Oscillation in Egypt during the Eocene 

 and Cretaceous Periods.' By William Eraser Hume, D.Sc, F.G.S., 

 Director of the Geological Survey of Egypt. 



The main points considered in the paper are : — 



A (1). — There is evidence of the gradual advance of the Cretaceous 

 sea from north or north-east over Egypt during Upper Cretaceous 

 times. Four stages in this advance are indicated by the geographical 

 distribution of the Cretaceous deposits, and especially by the 

 relations of the detrital Nubian Sandstone formation to the organic 

 Cretaceous limestones. The four phases are : — (a) A North 

 Egyptian type, in which the Nubian Sandstone entirely 

 underlies fossilif erous beds of Ccnomanian (Lower Chalk) 



