272 
half of the Arbuckle uplift consists of relatively 
wide shallow folds. The axial portions of the 
synclines have been dropped down by opposite 
normal faults. In some instances the vertical 
displacements amount to many thousand feet. 
The softer and thinner formations, from the 
upper Ordovician to the coal measures, which 
occupy the downthrown blocks, were crumpled 
into narrow folds prior to the faulting. 
F. L. RANSOME, 
DAVID WHITE, 
Secretaries. 
SECTION OF BIOLOGY OF THE NEW YORK 
ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 
THE regular monthly meeting for January 
was held on the 14th, Professor C. L. Bristol 
presiding. Dr. H. E. Crampton was elected 
Secretary, in place of Professor F. E. Lloyd, 
resigned. 
The following program was offered : 
(1) ‘ A New Species of Phoronis’: H. B. TORREY. 
(2) ‘Characters and Relationships of the Belodont 
Reptiles’: J. H. McGREGOR. 
(3) ‘Notes on Chrysoma pauciflosculosa’; ‘On the 
Occurrence of Nectaries in Pteris aquilinaw’: F. E. 
LLoyD. 
Mr. Torrey described a new species of Phor- 
onis, the first that has been collected upon the 
western coast of America. It is intermediate 
in its characters between the European and 
eastern American species, and those found in 
Australia and the Philippines. In size it agrees 
with P. Buskii. The lophophore, though 
spirally coiled—thus differing from that of the 
European species—is less complex than that of 
P. Buskii, and the tentacles are fewer in num- 
ber (200). The longitudinal muscles are stouter 
than those of P. Buskii, agreeing more nearly 
with the condition in P. architecta of the east 
coast. The new species agrees with this latter 
species in habit, in the possession of a longi- 
tudinal ciliated ridge in the digestive tract, and 
in the possible separation of the sexes. 
Dr. McGregor presented the results of a re- 
cent study of the Belodonts, a group of fossil 
reptiles occurring in the Triassic of Germany 
and North America. The Belodonts have 
usually been regarded as ancestral crocodiles, 
though many students of the group have ad- 
SOLENOE. 
[N.S. Vou. XIII. No. 320./ 
mitted possible affinities with Rhynchocephalia 
and Dinosauria. The material used in the 
present study, chiefly from the genera Mystrio- 
suchus and Rhytinodon, yielded some parts new 
to science, e. g., the atlas and clavicle. The 
presence of two cervical intercentra and a 
large clavicle tends to ally the group more 
closely to the Rhynchocephalia. The hyoid 
apparatus was found to be suspended from the 
skull as in Hatteria ; and there is strong evi- 
dence that the carpals (and probably also the 
tarsals) remained cartilaginous throughout life. 
Some doubt was expressed regarding the Belo- 
dont ancestry of the crocodiles, though it was 
admitted that the Belodonts stand near the 
crocodilian stem. The suggestion was made 
that the Belodonts may belong on or very close 
to the line of descent of the Ichthyosauria, 
occupying a position midway between some 
Permian land-living Rhynchocephalian and the 
marine Ichthyosauria of the Jurassic. In sup- 
port of this theory, many structures of the 
Belodonts were shown to be such as one would 
expect to find in an ancestor of the Ichthyo- 
sauria, e. g., position of the nares, elongated 
premaxillary, bicipital ribs, form of the 
shoulder-girdle, ete. Some other structures, 
apparently incompatible with this view, were 
shown to be in reality not inconsistent with it. 
In a discussion of Dr. McGregor’s paper, Pro- 
fessor Osborn emphasized the importance of the 
Belodonts, and the conflicting nature of the 
opinions regarding them. Huxley placed them 
near the crocodiles, as evidenced by the choice 
of the name Parasuchia for the group. The 
paleontologists of the Stuttgart school relate 
them to Dinosauria. Dr. McGregor is the first 
to bring out the idea of their relationship to the 
Ichthyosauria ; and, based as it is upon many 
new characters described for the first time, the 
theory is of great interest and importance. 
Professor Lloyd stated that the chief point of 
interest in Chrysoma pauciflosculosa, a sub trop- 
ical marine form, is in the structure of the 
leaves. The surface of these is sculptured in 
the form of a mosaic. This appearance is 
caused by deep and regularly-arranged involu- 
tions of the epidermis. At the bottom of each 
sulcus are to be found flagellated and glandular 
hairs,such as have been described by Vesque for 
