90 RECORDS 



The following program was then offered : 



H. B. Torrey, A New Species of Phoronis. 



J. H. McGregor, Characters and Relationships of the 

 Belodont Reptiles. 



F. E. Lloyd, (i) Notes on Clirysoma pauciflosculosa. (2) On 

 THE Occurrence of Nectaries in Pteris aqiiilina. 



Prior to the reading of the minutes, Dr. H. E. Cramp ton was 

 elected Secretary of the Section, in place of Professor Lloyd, 

 resigned. 



Summary of Papers. 



Mr. Torrey described a new species of Phoronis, the first that 

 has been collected on the western coast of America. It is inter- 

 mediate in its characters between the European and eastern 

 American species, and those found in Australia and the Philip- 

 pines. In size it agrees with P. Buskii. The lophophore, though 

 spirally coiled — thus differing from that of the European spe- 

 cies — is less complex than that of P. Buskii, and the tentacles 

 are fewer in number (200). The longitudinal muscles are stouter 

 than those of P. Buskii, agreeing more nearly with the condition 

 in P. architecta of the east coast. The new species agrees with 

 the latter species in habit, in the possession of a longitudinal 

 ciliated ridge in the digestive tract, and in the possible separation 

 of the sexes. 



Dr. McGregor presented the results of a recent study of the 

 Belodonts, a group of fossil reptiles occurring in the Triassic of 

 Germany and North America. The Belodonts have usually 

 been regarded as ancestral Crocodiles, though many students of 

 the group have admitted possible affinities with Rhynchocephalia 

 and Dinosauria, The material used in the present study, chiefly 

 from the genera MystriosucJms and Rhytinodou, yielded some 

 parts new to science, e. g., the atlas and the clavicle. The pres- 

 ence of two cervical intercentra and a large clavicle tends to ally 

 the group more closely to the Rhynchocephalia. The hyoid 

 apparatus was found to be suspended from the skull as in Hat- 

 teria ; and there is strong evidence that the carpals (and prob- 

 ably also the tarsals) remained cartilaginous throughout life. 

 Some doubt was expressed regarding the Belodont ancestry of 



