TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 123 



articulated 'by a simple head to its extremity, aa in the Plesiosaurus ; but the 

 succeeding' rib had been pushed a little behind' the end of its diapophysis, and the 

 same kiud of dislocation had placed the five following ribs -svith theu- articvUai- ends 

 opposite the interspaces of their diapophyses. The niuth rib had nearly resumed 

 its proper position opposite the end of t^je diapophysis, but at some distance from 

 it ; the impression of the tenth rib sliows the normal relative position of the plem-- 

 aud diapophyses. The ribs are solid, of compact texture, cylindrical, sbghtly 

 curved, the fragments looking more like coprolites than bone ; they are about an 

 inch in diameter, with but small intervals ot, say, one-third of an inch, sliglitly ex- 

 panding as they recede from the ti-ansverse process, and slightly contracting to the 

 lower end. The first, terminating in an obtuse end of i an inch diameter, is 7 inches 

 long ; the second is 8 inches long ; the third is 8 J inches ; the fourth rib is 9 inches 

 long. The extremities of the others are broken off with the matrix. The sepa- 

 rated fossils sent from New Zealand included the mesial coadjusted ends of a pair 

 of long and broad bones, thiclcest where they were united, and becoming thinner 

 a-s they extended outwards, and also towards the fore and hind parts of the bone, 

 both of which ends were broken away. On one side the surface of the bone is 

 convex lengthwise, and slightly conca\c transversely. On the opposite side the 

 contour imdulates lengthwise, the siuface being concave, then rising to a convexity, 

 where a protuberance has been fomiod by part of the coadjusted mesial mai-gius of 

 the bone; transversely this siufaco is slightly concave. A similar but less deve- 

 loped median prominence is seen at the midiUe of the medially imited margins of 

 tlie coracoids in tlie rksiosaunis H(nchinsii, and the author regards the above- 

 described parts of the New Zealand fossils as being homologous bones. But a more 

 decided evidence of the Plesiosaurian nature of this antipodeal fossil is afforded by 

 the vertebral centrums. They have flat articular ends, with two large and two 

 small venous foramiua beneath. Tlie nemapophysial surfaces, showing the per- 

 sistent independence of the nem-al arch, are separated from the costal sui-fixces by 

 about half the diameter of the latter. These are of a fidl oval figui-e, 1 inch 3 lines 

 in vertical, and 1 inch in fore-and-aft diameter. On one side of one of the ceutnims 

 the rib has coalesced with the costal sm-face. The following are the dimensions of 

 this centrum : — Length 1 inch 9 lines, depth 2 inches 2 lines, breadth of articular 

 end 3 inches G lines. The non-articidar part of the centrum oiiers a fine silky 

 character. The shape and mode of articidation of the cervical and dorsal ribs, the 

 shape and proportions of the coracoids concm- with the more decisive evidence of 

 the vertebr.'B in attesting the Plesiosauroid character of these New Zealand fossils, 

 and, pending the discovery of the teeth, the author provisionally referred them to 

 a species for which he proposed the name of Flcsiosaiirus Amtndis. The specimens 

 had been presented by Mr. Hood to the Biitish Museum. 



On certain Markings in Sandstones. By W. Patteeson. 



On a nexu Bone-cave at Brixham. B>j W. Pengellt, F.G.S. 

 This cavern (a second new one) was discovered in March last ; it is rich in fossil 

 bones ; and the district in which it exists has become famous in connexion with 

 these caverns. The town of Brixham occupies a vaUey running nearly east and 

 west, which is separated from Torbay on the north by a limestone hill, knowii as 

 Furzeham Conmron, 150 feet above the sea, while the southern bouudaiy consists 

 of four hills forming a chain parallel to that on the north, but extending a mile 

 fru-ther eastward, where it terminates in BeiTy Head, the southern hom of Torbay. 

 In Windmill Hill, the second (fi-om the west) of the fom-, the celebrated cavern 

 was discovered in 1858 ; and in the thfrd is the weU-lmo^vn Ash Hole. After a ces- 

 sation of upwards of twentj- yeai-s, quanying operations had been partially resumed 

 at Bench, on the Torbay si ope' of Fm-zeham Hill ; and these led to the discovery of the 

 new cave. The quaiTyis being worked at right angles to the coast-line. Near 

 the top of the west or back wall, and near the angle formed by the jimction with 

 the south wall, there is a dyke of breccia, made up of bones, reddish clayey earth, 

 and angidar pieces of limes'tone, evidently from the adjoining rock. The earth is 

 precisely similar to that in which the bones are foimd imbedded in the other Torbay 



