Reports & Proceedings — Zoological Society of London. 43 



REPORTS .AJSTXD PBOOEBDI1TG-S. 



1. — Zoological Society of London. 



November 24, 1914.— Professor E. A. Minohin, M.A., F.R.S., Vice- 

 President, in the Chair. 



The Minutes of the last Scientific Meeting were confirmed. 



Dr. R. Broom, C.M.Z.S., exhibited the skull of a new type of 

 Thecodont Reptile from the Upper Permian beds of South Africa, 

 and a number of skulls of Trichosurus vulpecula, Phascolarctus 

 cinereus, Chrysochloris hottentota, and C. asiatica, illustrating dental 

 variations. 



Dr. C.W.Andrews, F.R.S., F.Z.S., communicated three papers by 

 Mr. D. M.S. Watson. 



The first paper contained the description of a new reptile from the 

 Permian of the Cape Province, South Africa, which Mr. Watson 

 regards as derived from a Cotylosaurian ancestor and as perhaps 

 related to Arceoscelis and the modern lizards. A new genus is founded 

 for the reception of the so-called ' Proterosaurm huxleyi '. 



In the second paper the origin of the Chelonia is discussed, and 

 a number of reasons given for supposing that they may be descended 

 from some such form as Eunotosaurus africanus, Seeley. 



In the third paper Mr. Watson describes the skulls of Bauria, 

 Microgomphodon, and Sesamodon, and discusses the relation of the 

 group with the Cynognathids. He also describes a new skull of 

 Zycosuchus, in which both the prevomers and vomer are present. 



II. — Geologists' Association. 



On December 4, 1914, at University College, Grower Street, W. C, 

 the President (George W. Young, F.G.S., F.Z.S.) in the chair, the 

 following lecture was delivered : — 



" The Fossil Flora of the Pettycur Limestone." By W. T. Gordon, 

 M.A.,D.Sc.,F.R.S.E. 



Several localities are known where rocks of Lower Carboniferous 

 age have yielded petrified plant remains, but nowhere has such 

 a variety of types been obtained as at Pettycur, near Burntisland. 

 Here the sediments are of Calciferous Sandstone age, but the great 

 bulk of the rocks are of igneous origin, and the plant petrifactions, 

 preserved in lime or silica, occur in the igneous rocks either separately 

 or in masses. 



The rocks have been very vesicular, show pillow structure, and are 

 much decomposed. Round the petrified masses ashy material is 

 always present, and it is possible that we have a set of mud lavas into 

 which later injections of fresh material have been forced. 



The decomposition of the ashes — in which there were numerous 

 limestone fragments — gave rise to solutions of calcareous and siliceous 

 material by which vegetable fragments enveloped in the ashes became 

 petrified. Volcanic ashes here, and probably in other districts also, 

 offer opportunities for palaeobotanical research of great importance. 



