284 Reports and Proceedings. 



in very considerable abundance, and from wbich very complete speci- 

 mens had been obtained of fishes belonging to the families Cephalaspidce 

 and Acantliodidce. Little notice was taken of the cephalaspid fishes, as 

 a monograph of this family, by Mr. E. Eay Lankester, was in course 

 of publication by the Palaeontographical Society ; but of the various 

 genera and species of the latter lengthened descriptions were given. 

 Pive genera of that family, namely, Acanthodes, Diplacanthus, Eutha- 

 canthus, Ponexiti, and Climatin, yielding twelve species, were stated to 

 have been found in the Forfarshire sandstones. In addition to these, a 

 solitary specimen of a fish was described, which was shown to have 

 little or no affinity to any known family of this class, whether recent 

 or fossil. The name Ceplmlopterus Pagei was assigned to it, and a new 

 family suggested for its reception, to be called Cephalopteridce. In con- 

 clusion, the high class these olden fishes held in the scale of organic 

 existence was pointed out, in many respects approaching to the Placoid 

 order, to which the modern shark belongs, and which, if high organ- 

 ization and great adaptability for the element in which the animal 

 moves mark rank, must stand very high indeed amongst fishes. The 

 Acanthodidce are perfect fishes of their kind, classing even higher than 

 the average of those which are found in the waters of to-day ; and 

 that, in no respect, approximating to any of the other orders of verte- 

 brate life, they gave small reason to believe in a common origin for all; 

 and in this respect that they agreed with the varieties of animal life of 

 that very ancient period. ]^ot only all the great divisions, but even 

 the various classes of animals, being as distinct then as now, and that 

 no intermediate forms could yet be shown to have existed. 



Geological Societx of Glasgow. — The ordinary meeting was held 

 on the 1st of April. The Eev. Henry "W. Crosskey, P.G.S., Yice- 

 " President, in the Chair. 



The following papers were read ; — 



I. "On the action of organic matter on peroxide of iron, as observed 

 in the Post-Tertiary sands of Glasgow." By Mr. J. "Wallace Young. 

 Mr. Young's observations were the result of a visit to the excavations 

 for Stobcross docks, and the following summary, in part only, may prove 

 interesting to chemical geologists : 1. Underneath a few feet of ordinary 

 brown river sand, containing hazel nuts and fragments of decayed 

 wood, a dark-coloured bed of sand, charged with decaying vegetable 

 matter, was found, which, when treated with an acid, gave off sul- 

 phuretted hydrogen, resulting, he believed, from sulphide of iron. The 

 sulphur and sulphuric acid were estimated in the usual manner, and 

 were: — Sand dried at 100- C, sulphuric acid, -10 per cent.; sulphur, 

 1*49 per cent. The sulphuric acid would be equal to '21 per cent, of 

 gypsum, and the sulphur equal to 4*09 per cent, of the monosulphide 

 of iron. 2, A portion of a large oak tree, which had been turned up, 

 gave a water solution containing free sulphuric acid and sulphate of 

 iron, probably derived from oxidation of sulphide of iron by exposure 

 to the air. The presence of sulphide of iron may be explained by the 

 reducing action of decaying organic matter on peroxide of iron and 

 sulphate of lime — carbonate of iron and sulphide of calcium being first 

 formed, and then immediately decomposed into sulphide of iron, which 



