380 JReporfs and Proceedings — 



individuals partially retaining their siliceous condition have been 

 discovered, especially by Dr. Bossey, whose description of the 

 method best adopted for their isolation is also given. 



Mr. Kitton supplies a list of the genera and species recognized by 

 him. Among these, Coscinodiscua supplies by far the greatest num- 

 ber. Dr. Bossey, Dr. Stolterfoth, Mr. G. D. Brown, and Mr. Shrub- 

 sole have met with other forms, also enumerated here. Eighteen 

 genera altogether have been observed. 



At page 387, Mr. Kitton makes a very valuable observation, not 

 unlocked for in some quarters, namely, the occurrence of Diatoms in 

 the Chalk, as stated by Ehrenberg, is undoubtedly erroneous ; the 

 few forms figured by him being from fresh-water, and probably 

 quite recent. That there may have been, and probably were, 

 Diatoms in the Chalk, and subsequently converted into calcic car- 

 bonate (according to Sollas), is duly stated in a note at the foot of 

 the same page. 



Some geological notes occur also in the excellent " Summary of 

 Current Eesearches," etc., with which the enthusiastic Editor and 

 h-is energetic Assistants enrich the Journal. Notices of the fossil 

 Bryozoa (Polyzoa) of New Zealand, by Eev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, and 

 of Australia by A. W. Waters, are given (pp. 429 and 430) ; and are 

 appropriately associated with remarks hy W. A. Haswell, on twenty- 

 seven new forms from the Queensland coast (p. 439). Dr. G. J. 

 Hinde's fossil Sponge Spicules from the Chalk (p. 471), and Green's 

 Foraminiferal banks in the Isle of Ely (p. 473), are also referred to. 



T. E. J. 



Geological Society of London. 

 June 22, 1881.— Eobert Etheridge, Esq., F.E.S., President, in the 

 Chair. — The following communications were read : — 



1. "Description of a new Species of Coral from the Middle Lias 

 of Oxfordshire." By E. F. Tomes, Esq., F.G.S. 



The species of Coral described in this paper was referred by the 

 author to the genus Thamnastrcea and the subgenus Synastroea, 

 under the name of Thamnastrcea Walfordt, in honour of its dis- 

 coverer, Mr. E. A. Walford. The specimen was from the Spinatiis- 

 beds of the Marlstone, at Aston-le- Walls, Oxfordshire. Like Tham- 

 nastroBa Etheridgei, previously described by the author (Q.J.G.S. 

 xxxiv. p. 190) from the Middle Lias of Oxfordshire, this species 

 presents the same subgeneric characters as T. arachnoides of the 

 Coral Eag of Steeple Ashton ; and the author remarks upon the 

 fact that the only species known from the English Lias resemble 

 Corallian rather than Inferior-Oolite forms. 



2. " Note on the Occurrence of the Eemains of a Cetacean in the 

 Lower Oligocene Strata of the Hampshire Basin." By Prof. J. W. 

 Judd, F.E.S., SecG.S. With a note by Prof. H. G. Seeley, F.E.S. 



The author referred to the rarity of remains of marine Mammalia 

 in the Lower Tertiaries of Britain, the only recorded species being 



