Reports and Proceedings — Oeol. Soc. London. 87 



well stratified gneiss to highly crystalline syenite. He attributed 

 the coarsely crystalline structure of these and other granitic rocks to 

 long-continued variations either of temperature or of the action of 

 some partial decomposition, such as steam or other gases may be 

 supposed to effect, rather than to fusion ; and he pointed out that 

 there were granitic veins in the islands which appeared to have 

 originated like ordinary quartz-veins, while others were intrusive, 

 and concluded that the granitic structure was a result of metamor- 

 phosis, and that the proof of the igneous origin of a granitic rock 

 must be determined by considerations independent of its crystalline 

 character. 



I2,E:P0S,TS J^ISTTD ZPS-OOZEJZEJnDIIsrOS. 



Geological Society of London. — December 19th, 1877. — 

 Prof. P. Martin Duncan, M.B., F.R.S., President, in the Chair. 

 The following communications were read : — 



1. " On Argillornis longipennis, Owen, a large bird of flight, from 

 the Eocene Clay of Sheppey." By Prof. Owen, C.B., F.E.S., 

 F.G.S., etc. 



In this paper the author described some remains of a large bird 

 obtained by Mr. W. H. Shrubsole from the London Clay of Sheppey, 

 consisting of parts of fractured humeri belonging to the right and 

 left sides of the same species or perhaps individual, and including 

 the head of the bone, with portions of the upper and lower parts of 

 the shaft. The texture of the shaft, the thinness of its bony wall, 

 and the large size of the cavity recall the characters of the wing- 

 bones of the large Cretaceous Pterodactyles. The author indicated 

 the characters which led him to regard the remains under considera- 

 tion as those of a volant bird, most nearly approaching the genera 

 Felecanus and Diomedea ; and as the evidence derived from the 

 cranium of Dasornis would indicate a bird too large to be upborne 

 by wings to which these bones might have belonged, whilst the 

 skull of Odontojpteryx is far too small to have formed part of a bird 

 with wings as large as those of the Albati'oss, and LitJiornis and 

 Pelargornis are excluded by the characters of their remains, the 

 author concluded that the bones obtained by Mr. Shrubsole fur- 

 nished indications of a new genus and species of flying birds, for 

 which he proposed the name of Argillornis longipennis. He regarded 

 it as probably a longwinged natatorial bird, most nearly related to 

 Diomedea, but considerably exceeding the Albatross {D. exulans) in 

 size. The author remarked that the generic name Megalornis, pro- 

 posed by Prof. Seeley for the Lithornis emuianus, Bowerb., had been 

 preoccupied by the late Mr. G. K. Gray. 



2, " Contributions to the History of the Deer of the European 

 Miocene and Pliocene Strata." By Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins, M.A., 

 F.E.S., F.G.S. 



The author commenced by referring to the difficulties attending 

 the study of the European Miocene and Pliocene Deer, and indicated 

 that the majority of the known antlers may be referred to two cate- 



