a 
Geological Society of London. 89 
reality, sponge-protoplasm. 8. That no valid lithological distinction 
exists between the Chalk and the calcareous mud of the Atlantic; 
and pro tanto, therefore, the calcareous mud may be, and in all pro- 
bability is, “a continuation of the Chalk-formation.” 
2¢ “Undescribed Fossil Carnivora from the Sivalik Hills, in the 
Collection of the British Museum.” By P. N. Bose, Esq., B.Sc. 
This communication contained descriptions of nine species of 
Carnivora from the ossiferous Sivaliks, together with an introduction, 
in which the age of the Sivalik fauna, and several matters of general 
interest, were briefly discussed. The species described were :— 
Macherodus sivalensis, M. palwindicus, Felis grandicristata, Hyena 
sivalensis, H. felina, Viverra Bakerii, Lutra paleindica, Canis curvi- 
palatus, and C. Cautleyi. 
Canis curvipalatus is so named on account of the curvation of the 
palate. C. Cautleyi is closely allied to the Wolf, as is Viverra Bakerii 
to the Civet. The form of the forehead is peculiar in Lutra pale- 
indica. In the form of the skull, the dimensions of the upper tuber- 
cular, etc., Hyena sivalensis approximates to the living Indian 
Hyena (H. striata) ; but, in the absence or extremely rudimentary 
character of the postero-internal cusp in the lower carnassial, as well 
as in the entire absence of the anterior accessory cusps in the upper 
and the first two lower premolars, the Sivalik species comes closer 
to H. crocuta. H. felina differs from all other species of Hyena, 
living or extinct, in the absence of the upper premolar I. Felis 
grandicristata, which was of about the same size as some of the 
larger varieties of the Royal Tiger, had the sagittal crest even more 
prominent than the / cristata of Falconer and Cautley. Macherodus 
sivalensis was of about the same size as the Jaguar. One of the 
specimens, on which this species is based, shows two molars in the 
deciduous dentition instead of three (as in the genus Felis). M. 
paleindicus was considerably larger than M. sivalensis. Both differ 
from all other known species of Macherodus in the form of the lower 
jaw, etc. 
II.—January 7, 1880.—Henry Clifton Sorby, Esq., LL.D., F.R.S8., 
President, in the Chair.—The following communications were read : 
1. “On the Portland Rocks of England.” By the Rev. J. F. 
Blake, M.A., F.G.S. 
The author gave a general account of the relations of the several 
Portland rocks in the areas of their development to each other, and 
hence deduced the history of the Portland “episode.” The name is 
used on the Continent in a wider sense than in England, and this 
use was shown to be unjustifiable. After giving an account of his 
observations on the rocks at Portland itself, and dividing the lime- 
stones into the building-stone and flinty series, the author showed 
that the so-called “ Upper Portlandian ” of Boulogne corresponds to 
the latter, and the upper part of the “Middle Portlandian” to the 
Portland Sand. He then endeavoured to prove by the proportionate 
thickness, the indications of change in the lithology, and the distri- 
bution of some of the fossils, that the rest of the so-called “ Middle” 
