276 Reports and Proceedings — Geological Society of London, 



Geological Society of London. 



I.— March 21, 1900.— H. W. Monckton, Esq., F.L.S., Vice-President^ 

 in the Chair. The following communications were read : — 



1. " On a Bird from the Stonesfield Slate." By Professor H. G. 

 Seeley, F.E.S., F.L.S., V.P.G.S. 



During his residence at Oxford the late Earl of Enniskillen made 

 a collection of Ornithosaurian bones from Stonesfield, which was 

 acquired by the British Museum in 1866. Among these is one 

 identified by the author in 1899 as the right humerus of a bird 

 about as large as a flamingo. The bone is complete, except for 

 fracture through the proximal articulation, and the specimen is on 

 the whole well preserved. The chief characters available for com- 

 parison are the form of the shaft, the character of the proximal end, 

 especially the ulnar tuberosity and the radial crest, and the form of 

 the distal end. The character which first showed the fossil to be 

 a bird was the ulnar tuberosity ; probably the flamingo approaches 

 as closely as any living genus to the Stonesfield fossil in this feature. 

 The radial crest shows affinities with those of the flamingo and the 

 eider-duck. The impression left by the humero-cubital muscle on 

 the external surface above the condyles is almost identical with 

 that seen in the flamingo. " The varied affinities of this large 

 Carinate bird appear to lie midway between the ducks and geese on 

 the one side, and the herons and flamingos on the other. It may 

 be placed in a new family ; but its characters are in all respects 

 such as might have occurred in an existing bird. There is no 

 indication of affinity to the Archceopteryx, or that the bird diverged 

 in any way from modern types." 



2. " The Lower Ludlow Formation and its Graptolite-Fauna." 

 By Miss Ethel M. K. Wood. (Communicated by Prof. C. Lapwortli, 

 LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S.) 



After dealing with the literature of the stratigraphical and 

 paleeontological sides of the subject, the author passes to a full 

 consideration of tlie sequence and character of the Ludlow Rocks 

 in the following localities : the Ludlow district, the Builth 

 district, the Long Mountain ; and gives a briefer account of those 

 of the Dee Valley, the Lake District, Southern Scotland, Dudley, 

 and the Abberley Hills. While the Wenlock Shales are characterized 

 by Cyrtograptus and by the Flemingii-type of Monograpttis, in the 

 Lower Ludlow Shales the colomis- and spinose forms of Ilonograptus- 

 such as M. cJiimcsra are abundant. The line between Lower and 

 Upper Ludlow is drawn at the top of the Aymestry Limestone. 

 The Lower Ludlow Eocks are divided into five graptolitic zones, 

 which are not constant in character or thickness in the different 

 areas. The distribution of the zones is given in the annexed table 

 (p. 277). Two of the zone-graptolites are new species, described in 

 the latter part of the paper. 



