C80 REPORT— 1888. 



On the question of animal life the author talies his stand on the results C'f 

 Mobius's investigations, which cannot be explained away, and considers that it is 

 impossible to accept such slender evidence as has been produced of the organic 

 origin of Eozoon canadense in the face of the overwhelming physical evidence 

 (general and particular) against it. 



The assumption by Sterry Hunt that the great heds of iro7i-o:cides in th* 

 archsean roclis point to the pre-existence of vegetation, is shown to be without 

 foundation ; ferric oxide being the direct product of the combustion of iron-vapour 

 in oxygen, and magnetic oxide the product of the reaction of steam on iron at high 

 temperatures. 



The nnfossiliferotts limestones (as well as the quartzites of the archasan and 

 earlier Cambrian can be explained on purely chemical and physical principles,, 

 which are known and demonstrable ; and there is no need here for the intervention 

 of the agency of living organisms. 



The sum of the whole matter is that we have no tangible and trustworthy 

 evidence whatever of the existence on this globe of organic life in archtean time. 



8. On some Devonian Cephalopods and Gasteropods, 

 B>j the Kev. G. F. Whidborne, M.A., F.O.S. 



The following new species occur at Woulborough or Lummaton, or, in the cass 

 of some of the (i asteropods, at Chudleigh": Goniatites ohliquus, a large shell with 

 open umbilicus, Hat sloping sides and narrow Hat back ; G. psittacinus, a small 

 tumid shell with closed umbilicus, rounded whorls, slightly curved sutures; G. 

 nuciformis, with minute umbilicus and much broader back than the preceding ; 

 G. aratus, a flatter shell with small umbilicus and marked with four augulated 

 sulci ; G. pe/itant/ulca-is, with open spire, inner whorls ribbed, and section of whorls 

 pentagonal ; G. Hm/hesii, large and flat with closed umbilicus, evenly rounded 

 back and minutely striated surface ; Cipioceras Leei, a large curved conoidal form 

 "with more irregular and dilate lamelUe than C. flmbriatum. Ph. ; C. jmlcherrimum, 

 unlike (J. reticulatum, Ph., in having tubercles on the shoulder instead of ribs; 

 C. Viccirii, having a broader section and much fewer tubercles than the last; 

 C prfeclarus, more involute and elliptical than the last, with wider mouth and 

 oblique ridges crossed by distant stritB ; C. majestica, large and smooth, with oval 

 mouth, narrow chambers and imperfect spire ; Hercoceras inomatum, diflering 

 from H. subtuberculatum, Sandb., in being smooth ; Orthoceras /umtatum, more- 

 conical and with fewer annuls than C). tubiciuella, Ph.; O. Vicarii, diflering from 

 O. puk'hellum, F.A.Rci., in being round and not oval in section ; O. comatum, which 

 is O. tubiciuella, Sandb., not Ph. ; Fhragmocents vasiformis, which is rather less 

 convex than Ph. subpyiiforme. Mil. ; Ph. unyulatum, small and more arched than 

 C. cornucopiffi, Sandb. ; I'h. Mavri, conical and transversely flattened, approaching 

 G. Oonradi, Barr. ; B. mundus^ with broad grooved keel and very transverse kidney- 

 shaped mouth ; Euomphalus ftnestralis, which has a depressed spire with three 

 ridges cancellated by numerous rings ; PI. perversa, a large sinistral shell, unlike 

 PI. expansa in having spiral stride, a deeper suture, more convex whorls ; PI. victrii; 

 which has an elevated spire, angulated whorls, central sinus band and a few spiraJ. 

 striae; PL furfilineata=^V\. imbricata, M'Coy, not F.A.llo. ; PI. Cliudleiyhensis, 

 separated from the preceding, having its spiral ridges crenulated and the sinus band 

 much higher; Littorina devonica,\iAvm^ the general shape of Purpura lapillus, 

 with eight spiral rows of tubercles which are largest near the suture ; Monodonta 

 archon, very large and trochiform with flat base and sides, linear suture and oblique 

 growth lines ; Phorus pkilosuplms, with a low spire, wide umbilicus, and convex 

 whorls bearing fragments of broken shells ; M acracheilus tuynescens, a much more 

 globular form than M. subcostatus, Scblot ; Turbo Pengellii, unlike T. subangulosus, 

 d'A. & de v., in its wider flatness above the shoulder; Loxonema scalariodes, very 

 elongate, with its convex whorls crossed by discontinuous varices ; H. diiplistdcata, 

 differing from H. tenuisulcata in possessing a series of subsidiary striae ; AcrocuHa 

 columhina, a wide depressed form with fine waving longitudinal markings ; Melo- 



