204 



" On Ichthyopatolites, or petrified trackwings of ambulatory fishes 

 upon sandstone of the Coal formation." By the Rev. W. Buckland, 

 D.D., F.G.S. 



These impressions were discovered by Miss Potts of Chester, on 

 a flagstone near the shaft of a coal-pit at Mostyn in Flintshire, and 

 were communicated by her to Dr. Buckland, with a remark on the 

 novelty of footsteps in any stratum older than the new red sand- 

 stone. As they present no trace of any true foot to which long 

 claws may have been attached. Dr. Buckland rejects the notion of 

 their having been made by a reptile. They consist of curvilinear 

 scratches disposed symmetrically at regular intervals on each side of 

 a level space, about two inches wide, which in his opinion may re- 

 present the body of a fish, to the pectoral rays of which animal he 

 attributes the scratches. They follow one another in nearly equi- 

 distant rows of three scratches in a row, and at intervals of about 

 two inches from the point of each individual scratch to the points 

 of those next succeeding and preceding it. They are all slightly 

 convex outwards, three on each side of the median space, or supposed 

 place of the body of the fish. Each external scratch is about one inch 

 and a half in length ; the inner ones are about half an inch, and the 

 middle one about an inch long. These proportions are pretty constant 

 through a series of eight successive rows of triple impressions on the 

 slab from the Mostyn coal-pit. The impressions of the right and left 

 fin-ray are not quite symmetrically opposed to each other on a straight 

 line of progression ; but the path of the animal appears to have been 

 curvilinear, trending towards the right : each impression or scratch 

 is deepest on its supposed frontal side, and becomes more shallow 

 gradually backwards. All these conditions seem to agree with the 

 hypothesis of their having been made by three bony processes pro- 

 jecting from the anterior rays of the pectoral fin of a fish. They are 

 not consistent with conditions that would have accompanied the im- 

 pressions of claws proceeding fi'om the feet of any reptile. 



Dr. Buckland refers to the structure of existing Siluroid and Lo- 

 phoid fishes, and of the climbing perch (Anabas scandens), and Has- 

 sar (Doras costaia), as bearing him out in the conclusions he has 

 come to regarding those markings. He also refers to the observa- 

 tions of Prof. Deslonchamps, on the ambulatory movements under 

 water of the common Gurnard, as confirmatory of his views. He 

 has been informed of a slab of coal sandstone bearing similar mark- 

 ings in the museum of Sheffield ; and remarks, that there are several 

 fossil fishes of the carboniferous system approximating the characters 

 of Gurnards, and capable of making such markings as those described. 



" Observations on certain Fossiliferous beds in Southern India." 

 By C. T. Kaye, Esq., F.G.S. , of the Madras Civil Service. 



The beds described in this paper are found at three localities ; viz. 

 Pondicherry, Verdachellum and Trinchinopoly. 



1. Pondicherry. — This town, like Madras, is situated on a very 

 recent formation of loose sand, which extends for a considerable di- 

 stance along the eastern coast of India, and which in many places 



