Reports and Proceedings. 421 



and tlie Limagne; and if the majority of the species belonged to 

 families existing in contemporaneous French fauna, not one is known 

 living, and many present sufficient characters to form distinct genera. 

 A form of Parrot, Psittacus Lartetianus, more slender than that of 

 Allier, is one of the most interesting species found in this rich 

 deposit. Gallinaceous birds, of great size, scarcely inferior to the 

 Peacock and true Pheasants, inhabited also the margin of the small 

 lake in which was accumulated the deposits which now constitute 

 the hill of Sansan. 



Numerous Passerines, recalling the ' Bengalies ' and the ' Sene- 

 galies' ("Wax-Bills"), also frequented the water margin. The 

 marine Faluns of the Loire have yielded only a few species of birds, 

 A Cormorant has been recognized nearly as large as that which now 

 lives on our coasts ; also a Goose, a little smaller than the Bernacle, 

 a Heron, and a Pheasant. 



The beds of gypsum in the vicinity of Paris contain many impres- 

 sions of the skeletons of birds. These birds are very distinct from the 

 existing forms; and notwithstanding M. Milne Edwards' repugnance 

 to increase the already too numerous generic divisions, he has been 

 obliged to form fresh genera for many of them. Thus the Cryptornis 

 antiquus was nearer the Calaos than any other known type. The 

 Laurillardia and the PalcBogitlicdus belong to the Passerines, but are 

 distinguished from all those at present known. 



The Palceortyx is gallinaceous, and resembles the Quails in form, 

 but is very distinct from these birds; the Gypsornis is the giant of the 

 family BallidcB, it nearly attained the size of the Stork ; the Agnopterus 

 resembles the Flamingoes, although it presents some special characterp. 



The singular form of these Eocene birds makes us regret our 

 present want of knowledge of those of the Cretaceous period. 

 There are, unfortunately, only a small number of fresh-water 

 deposits of this period. It is then not extraordinary that we have 

 noticed only a few traces of land animals which existed during the 

 accumulation of these thick (chiefly marine) strata. Perhaps in this 

 formation we may yet discover new zoological forms, that may fill 

 up the great gap which exists between the Jurassic Archceopteryx 

 and the typical birds of the Tertiary period. — J.M. 



I. — Leeds Natuealists' Field Club and SciENTiric Association. — 

 August 5, 1873. — "The Permian Kocks of the Neighbourhood of 

 Leeds." By Mr. Louis C. Miall, Curator to the Leeds Philosophical 

 and Literary Society. The author first described the base of the 

 Permian system. The Carboniferous rocks, having been disturbed, 

 thi'own into anticlinals, and faulted, were greatly denude I, and the 

 Permian rocks were then deposited upon the new surface thus pro- 

 duced. He then considered the conditions of deposit of the Mag- 

 nesian Limestone. The abundance of mineral salts, exclusive of 

 carbonate of lime, the scantiness of animal life, and the dwarfed 

 state of the Mullusca, all point to deposition in an inland sea or con- 



