TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 85 



Note on the BejptiUan Remains from the Dolomitic Conglomerate on Durdham 

 Down. By Dr. Thomas Weight, F.E.S.E. 



The author placed on the table the original specimens of Thecodontosaiirm and 

 Palaosaunis ootained from the dolomitic conglomerate of Durdham Down, and 

 described by Dr. Riley and Mr. Stutchbury in the Geological Transactions, 1836. 

 The author briefly described the principal characters of these remains, especially 

 the jaw, teeth, vertebrae, and bones of the limbs, and which were all firmly im- 

 bedded in the conglomerate rock. He said the object he had in view in bringing 

 this subject before the Section was to obtain an authoritative expression of opinion 

 from the local geologists present as to the age of the conglomerate containing these 

 Dinosaurian remains, as a doubt had been cast on the usually received opinion of 

 the age of this formation in the late discussion which had taken place on the 

 Avicida contorta or Rhcetic beds. IMr. W. Sanders, whilst objecting to the term 

 "dolomitic conglomerate," had nevertheless stated his conviction that the conglo- 

 merate formed part of the New Red Sandstone or Triassic series, and as such he 

 had placed it in his geological map of the district. Mr. W. W. Stoddart, who 

 admitted the conglomerate to he of Trias age, stated that he had analyzed the rock, 

 and found it to be for the most part a double carbonate of magnesia and lime, and 

 that it contained minerals foimd only in the Triassic rocks. Mr. Etheridge was 

 also cited by the author as giving affirmative testimony to the same opinion ; he 

 therefore held that, with the evidence adduced, there could be no doubt that 

 the dolomitic conglomerate was of Triassic age, and that the bones exhibited 

 belonged to Dinosaurian reptiles of that period. This conglomerate rock was alto- 

 gether different from the Liassic and other debris, rolled and rounded, that filled 

 fissures in the Carboniferous limestone, of which they heard so much on a pre- 

 vious occasion. This conglomerate had been likened by one of the. sj)eakers in the 

 Avicida-contorta debate to the matrix of these fissui-es ; but the expression of opinion 

 given to-day on this subject, he hoped, would remove the doubt that had been cast 

 upon this point, and settle the question of the age of the dolomitic conglomerate, 

 which was, he believed, a formation of the Triassic period. 



BIOLOGY. 



Address by P. L. Sclater, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.8., F.L.S., President of the 



Section. 



In the office, which I-have now held for more than sixteen years, of Secretary to 

 the Zoological Society of London, I have been not unfrequeutly requested by our 

 Members and Correspondents in various parts of the world to furnish them with 

 information as to the best works to be consulted on the Zoology of the coimtries 

 in which they are resident, or which they are about to visit. With the well- 

 furnished Library of the Zoological Society at my command this is not usually a 

 very difficult task, so far as publications are actually in existence to supply the 

 desii-ed information. I am also frequently asked to point out the principal defici- 

 encies in our knowledge of the animals of particular countries. This is also a not 

 very difficult reqviest to comply with, although it is somewhat embarrassing on ac- 

 count of the veiy imperfect information which we still possess of geogi-aphical zoology 

 generally, and the largeness of the claims I am therefore constrained to put forward 

 for the attention of those who make such inquiries. Great, however, has been the 

 progress made of late years towards a more complete Imowledge of the faunas of 

 the various parts of the earth's sxu-face. Expeditions have been sent out into 

 countries not previously explored ; collections have been formed in districts hitherto 

 little Imown ; and many general works have been published combining the results 

 of previous fragmentary Imowledge on this class of subjects. Under these circum- 

 stances I have thought that suclx an account as I might be able to give of the 



