468 Geological Society. 



Coal about 400 feet above tbe base of the Middle Coal-measures, 

 and were chiefly obtained from this bed at the Tingley Colliery. 

 The author described the general geological structure of the district. 

 At Tingley the fish-remains were stated to occur in greatest abun- 

 dance between the Cannel Coal and the " hubb ;" but they are also 

 found in both those portions of the deposit. Of known species the 

 author has identified Coelacanthus leptwrus, Ctenodus elegans, Megcd- 

 ichthys Hibberti, Rhizodopsis, sp., Palaconiscus, sp., Gyracanthus 

 formosus, Ctenacanthus horridus, Diplodus gibbosus, Ctenoptychius 

 pectinatus, Helodus simplex, teeth of Cladodus and Petalodus, scales 

 of Rhizodus, ribs and bones of Ctenodus, Pleuracanihus Icevisshnvs, 

 and six other species, and the following, which are described as new 

 forms — (1) Compsacantlius triangularis, (2) C. major, and (3) 

 Ostracacanthus dilatatus, the type of a new genus resembling Byssa- 

 canthus, Agass. The teeth of Coelacanthus were said to be small 

 and sharply pointed : they have not been found attached to the 

 jaw ; but in certain specimens of the latter the alveolar spaces are 

 well shown, extending in a single row along the rami. The air- 

 bladder of this genus is also said to be preserved, and to present 

 some resemblance to the bony air-bladders of Siluroid fish inha- 

 biting the fresh waters of Northern India ; and, in general, the 

 author dwelt at considerable length upon the possible relationships 

 existing between the fishes whose remains he described and the 

 Teleostean Siluroids and Ostracion. 



2. " On the Skull of Argillornis longipennis, Owen." By Prof. 

 E. Owen, C.B., F.U.S., F.G.S., &c. 



In this paper the author described a fragmentary cranium from 

 the London Clay of Sheppey, from which it was procured by "W. H. 

 Shrubsole, Esq., who also furnished him with the humerus described 

 in a former paper under the name of Argillornis longipennis *. In 

 the present specimen the lower jaw and the fore part of the upper 

 jaw are deficient. The author described the characters presented 

 by the specimen in detail, and stated that, like those of the humerus 

 previously described, they seemed to approximate the fossil most 

 nearly to the Albatross among existing birds, although, like Odon- 

 topteryx, it differed from Diomedea and also from the Cormorant 

 and the Totipalmates generally, in the absence of the basirostral 

 external nares and of the supraorbital gland-pits. The present 

 fossil differs from Odontopteryx in having the fore part of the 

 frontal broader and the upper tract of the bill less defined, as also 

 in some other characters ; but no comparison of the palatal structure 

 can be made upon the existing specimens. In point of size, taking 

 the Albatross as a term of comparison, this skull may well have 

 belonged to a bird with wings of the extent indicated by the hu- 

 merus already described ; and the resemblance of the skull to that 

 of the Albatross would also seem to be confirmatory of the specific 

 collocation of the two specimens. The presence of four small pits 



* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxxiv. p. 124. 



