68 REPORT — 1 880. 



niutli foot-level below the Granular Stalagmitic Floor, on June 15, 1880, 

 that is the fourth day before the suspension of the work. 



It may not be out of place to remark here that the second, that is the 

 deeper, excavation has yielded a greater number of archaeological than of 

 palseontological ' finds ' ; and that whilst no animal relic was found below 

 the seventh foot-level, the three fine nodule-tools (Nos. 7323, 7328, 7339) 

 were found in the eighth foot-level, and several flint chips occurred in the 

 ninth or lowest. 



In closing their Report the Committee beg to express their thanks to 

 Lord Haldon for so freely and kindly allowing them the entire control of 

 the Cavern whilst carrying on the exploration ; to the Committee of the 

 Geological Section for their uniform, firm, and most encouraging support ; 

 to the General Committee of the Association for their liberal annual 

 grants during a period of sixteen years, which have resulted in an instance 

 of Cavern-exploration without parallel, it is believed, in this or any other 

 country, for, at least, its continuity and duration ; and to the private 

 friends whose timely and kind donations enabled a considerable and satis- 

 factory deeper excavation to be made, and thereby to give the work a 

 nearer approach to completeness than would otherwise Jiave been the 

 case. 



Finally, the Superintendents feel that it would be less than just were 

 they to fail on this occasion to state, not merely the satisfaction, but the 

 admiration with which they review the manner in which the work has 

 been done by George Smerdon and his co-labourers in the Cavern. From 

 the first day of the exploration — March 28, 1865 — to its suspension on 

 June 19, 1880, Smerdon was continuously engaged on the work, and for 

 nearly thirteen years he was the foreman. During the entire period he 

 not merely discharged his duties in a most faithful manner, but he never 

 had a misunderstanding with the Superintendents. 



Report on the inode of reproduction of certain species of Ichthya 

 sauries from the Lias of England and Wurtemherg, by a Com- 

 mittee consisting of Professor H. G. Seeley, F.R.S., Professor 

 W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., and Mr. C. Moore, F.G.S. Dra^vn 

 up by Professor H. G. Seeley. 



[Plate I.] 



Minute Ichthyosaurian skeletons found in the Lias have, from time to 

 time, raised a suspicion that the young of Ichthyosaurus might possibly 

 pass in their development through a tadpole stage, since the smallest speci- 

 mens show no indication of limbs. Prof. Haughton, in his ' Manual of 

 Geology ' (2nd edit. 1866, p. 272, fig. 37), has figured a small individual of 

 this kind from the Lias of Boll. A less perfect specimen, 9 inches long, from 

 the Lias of Charm outh, preserved in the Woodwardian Museum, is devoid of 

 all traces of limbs. These small specimens, like the young of all vertebrate 

 animals, are characterised by the relatively large size of the head. This 

 uncertainty as to the mode of reproduction of Ichthyosaurus, has perhaps 

 received some countenance from the circumstance that Prof. Owen, in his 



