Geological Society. 241 



basalts, Staurocephalites semula, sp. n., and Nereidavus antiquus, 

 sp. n., from the Wenlock group. Including varieties, 27 forms are 

 noticed by the author, of which 21 are peculiar to the Wenlock 

 group and 2 to the Ludlow, while 4 are common to the two groups. 

 In the Wenlock there are 8 forms already described from American 

 rocks, 3 occurring in the Cincinnati group, 3 in the Clinton, and 2 

 in both groups of rocks. Of the Ludlow forms, 2 occur in the 

 Cincinnati group, and 1 of these also in the Clinton. 



June 23, 1880.— Robert Etheridge, Esq., F.R.S., 

 President, in the Chair. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. " On the Skull of an Ichthyosaurus from the Lias of Whitby, 

 apparently indicating a new species (/. Zetlandicus, Seeley), pre- 

 served in the Woodwardian Museum of the University of Cam- 

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



In this paper a very fine skull of Ichthyosaurus was described in 

 detail. Prom the broad triangular form of the skull and the great 

 distance between the orbits, the author is led to regard it as belong- 

 ing to a species distinct from any that have hitherto been described. 

 As it was presented to the Woodwardian Museum by the Earl of 

 Zetland, he proposed to name it Ichthyosaurus Zetlandicus. 



2. " Note on the Cranial Characters of a large Teleosaur from 

 the Whitby Lias, preserved in the Woodwardian Museum of the 

 University of Cambridge." By Prof. H. G. Seeley, E.E.S., F.G.S. 



The author described a somewhat fragmentary cranium from the 

 Whitby Lias, which has been sawn through along the median line 

 so as to expose the brain-cavity. From the characters thus re- 

 vealed he is led to infer that the resemblance of the Teleosaurs to 

 the existing Crocodilia has been somewhat too strongly insisted upon. 

 From the peculiarities of the prootic bone, and of the tympanic 

 region, and the general shape of the brain-case, the author is led to 

 regard the fragment as indicating a new species, for which he pro- 

 poses the name of Teleosaurus eucephalus, 



3. " On new Erian (Devonian) Plants." By J. W. Dawson, 

 LL.D., F.K.S., F.G.S. 



The paper first referred to recent publications bearing on the 

 Erian (Devonian) flora of N.E. America, and then proceeded to de- 

 scribe new species from New York and New Brunswick, and to 

 notice others from Queensland, Australia, and Scotland. 



The first and most interesting is a small Tree Fern, Asteropteris 

 noveboracensis, characterized by an axial cylinder composed of ra- 

 diating vertical plates of scalariform tissue imbedded in parenchyma, 

 surrounded by an outer cylinder penetrated with leaf-bundles with 



