84 Notices of Memoirs — 



about six times tlie diameter of one of them, while in the latter 

 the interval is only equal in width to one of the orbits. (4) The 

 roofing bones of the skull, at least in the posterior region, differ 

 considerably in form and arrangement in the two species. This 

 is particularly noticeable in the case of the parietals, which in 

 E. crassum form together a rectangle about twice as long from side 

 to side as from before backwards. (5) In K. crassum the sculpture 

 of the cranial bones consists merely of a few widely separated pits. 



The differences between these two forms appear, therefore, to be 

 so great as to render it impossible to refer them both to the 

 same genus, and K. crassum should, therefore, be referred to as 

 Scincosaurus crassus, the name originally applied to it by Fritscli 

 in 1875.1 



Concerning the resemblance of this skull to that of Urocordylus it 

 is difficult to speak with certainty, since the skull of the specimen 

 on which Huxley founded that genus is unfortunately very badly 

 preserved (see loc. ctt. pi. xx. fig. 1). In it no epiotic cornua are to 

 be seen, and these structures are also wanting in Z7. scalaris, Fritsch, 

 the skull of which also differs widely in other respects from that of 

 K. Galvani. In U. reticulatus, Hancock and Atthey," these cornua 

 are well developed, but the specimen resembles K. Galvani in so 

 many respects that it is not improbably a young individual of that 

 species. 



The remainder of the skeleton is not well preserved. The 

 serration of the upper border of the neural spine, characteristic of 

 the family Nectridea, is clearly visible in some of the dorsal vertebree. 

 The whole of the tail is missing, so that comparison in that respect 

 with Urocordylus is out of the question. A large part of one of the 

 lateral plates of the thoracic buckler is preserved, and in form exactly 

 resembles the bone figured as scapula (?) by Huxley (loc. cit. pi. i. 

 fig. 1). In this specimen the surface of the bone shows a sculpture 

 of pits in rows radiating from its posterior spine-like prolongation. 

 Scattered about the skeleton there are several scutes with a sculpture 

 like that of the cranial bones, of which, indeed, some may be 

 fragments ; the others are probably the larger scutes figured by 

 Huxley, pi. xix. fig. 3. Of the limbs only obscure traces of the 

 femur and humerus remain. 



nsroTiciES OIF ^vceimioie-s. 



Abstract of the Fourteenth Eeport to the British Association 

 ON THE Earthquake and Volcanic Phenomena of Japan. 

 (Drawn up by the Secretary, Prof. J. Milne, F.R.S., F.G.S.) 



THE first part of the Eeport gives a list of the earthquakes 

 recorded in Tokio during the last year. The second portion 

 gives an account of observations made with horizontal pendulums. 

 These pendulums consist of a horizontal boom about five feet in 

 length held up by a fine brass wire. At the extremity of the boom 



1 Sitzungb. der k. bohm. Ges. der Wissensch. 19 Marz, 1875. 



2 Nat. Hist. Trans. Northumberland and Durham, vol. iii. p. 310. 



