854 Notices of Memoirs — G. A. Boulenger — Triassic Reptilia. 



of the Thames be explained by any "meander system" such as 

 that which Professor Davis expounds, or by any "curve-law" of 

 " volume in relation to velocity " of which we often read ? To me 

 it is, throughout, a struggle between the influence of the affluents 

 on the one and those on the other side, each, in turn, prevailing as 

 their size or favourable circumstances may determine. If the great 

 curve at Abingdon be not due to the influence of the river Ock and 

 of other streams lower down, to what is it due ? Can it be that the 

 Isle of Dogs was formed " entirely independently of the action of 

 tributaries," while we see that the Thames, in forming it, suddenly 

 strikes southwards and takes in the Ravensbourne ; then, as suddenly, 

 striking_ northwards and taking in the Lea ? I have not been able 

 to examine the circumstances of every bend in the Thames, but 

 those that I cannot understand, as seen on the map, are so few as to 

 justify my belief that every one, from Oxford to Woolwich, admits 

 of explanation. 



My observations have mostly been made on the Severn, but 

 I have never seen any reason to doubt the general application of 

 the laws first suggested to me by these facts : — Above Gloucester is 

 the " Long Reach," no affluents and a straight river ; opposite the 

 town, affluents on both sides and multiple channels, now only two 

 enclosing the island of Alney ; below the town, affluents on either 

 side and a river with large or small curves according to the position 

 of the affluents ; in the estuary, affluents on botli sides, and an ever- 

 continuing struggle as to the extent to which either will prevail in 

 having the principal channel on one or on the other side. 



jciTOTiGES oip nvcEivnonas, etc. 



I, — On Reptilian Remains fkom the Trias of Elgin. By 

 G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S.^ 



DESCRIPTIONS are given of various reptilian remains obtained 

 by Mr. William Taylor, J.P., of Lhanbryde, in the Triassic 

 sandstone quarries at Lossiemouth, near Elgin. Thanks to the 

 kind permission of Dr. A. S. Woodward, the fossils were further 

 developed in the Geological Department of the British Museum by 

 Mr. Hall. 



The remains described belong to three different reptiles. 



1. Hyperodapedon Gordoni, Huxley. 



A skull is contained in a block of sandstone, split horizontally in 

 the plane of the palate, which is for the first time clearly exposed. 

 The structure of the palate is seen to have been very difi'erent from 

 what Huxley had surmised, and shows a much nearer approximation 

 to that of Splienodon. The choanee were elongate, oval, and situated 

 between the palatines and the vomers at some distance behind the 



1 Abstract of a paper (published by permission) read before the Eoyal Society of 

 London, June 11th, 1903 (Proc. Roy. Soc, vol. Ixxii, pp. 55-58). 



