Beports and Proceedings — Geological Society of London. 569 



of England was laid down in freshwater even of this peculiar kind, 

 when we bear in mind the character of its fauna, pauperized it is 

 true from Carboniferous types, but still unmistakably marine wherever 

 fossils have been found. Referring once more to the conditions of 

 deposition both of the Permian and the Trias, no one will quarrel 

 with the author's subsequent statement that both these systems 

 indicate a period of shallow seas and general disturbance resulting 

 in the formation of land surfaces inclosing saline lakes, etc. " During 

 this age many forms of life disappeared, and were replaced by others 

 of a different type and order : hence, the Permian group is regarded 

 as Palaeozoic, and the Triassic as Mesozoic." 



Somewhat less than one-half of the volume is occupied with the 

 Palceozoic rocks, and of this portion we have endeavoured to give 

 a brief and inadequate notice, showing more especially the methods 

 adopted by the author, who continues to treat the remainder of his 

 subject with equal fulness. Indeed, if there is any fault to find, it 

 would be that too much matter is given, that the several paragraphs 

 are not always in accord with each other, and that the work bears the 

 impress of having been written at different times, producing rather a 

 want of uniformity in some cases. But for the purposes for which 

 it is required, more especially as a work of reference, this Manual 

 possesses the highest value, despite such trifling and obvious slips as 

 we have noted. We would especially direct attention to the Tabular 

 Summaries, of which there are no less than 116 throughout the book. 

 These present, in a most condensed form, an amount of information 

 scarcely to be found in any other work. Undoubtedly it is a volume 

 which must find a place in the library of every geologist who wishes 

 to know what has been done in stratigraphical palEeontology during 

 the last thirty years. W. H. H. 



iaEi='Oi^TS jL.i<riD i^s-OGsiEnDiisra-s. 



Geological Society of London. 



November 4, 1885.— Prof. T. G. Bonney, D.Sc, LL.D., F.R.S., 

 President, in the Chair. — The following communications were read : 



1. " On the Premaxillaries and Scalpriform Teeth of a large 

 Extinct Wombat (Phascolomys curvirostris, Ow.)." By Sir Richard 

 Owen, K.C.B., F.R.S., F.G.S. 



The specimen described in this paper is a cast from a fossil dis- 

 covered in a late exploration of the Wellington bone-caves, and 

 sent to the author with some other casts from the same collection by 

 the authorities of the Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales. 



The fragments in question consist of the premaxillary bones, con- 

 taining a pair of scalpriform incisors, 160 millim. (6^- inches) long, 

 measured along the outer curve. 



The teeth and the fragments of bone in which they are implanted 

 were described in detail, and referred to the Wombat family. The 

 animal to which they belonged must have been somewhat larger 

 than Phascolomys mediiis, Owen, but less than the type of the sub- 



