RECORDS 91 



the Crocodiles, though it was admitted that the Belodonts stand 

 near the Crocodihan stem. The suggestion was made that the 

 Belodonts may belong on or very close to the line of descent 

 of the Ichthyosauria, occupying a position midway between 

 some Permian land-living Rhynchocephalian and the marine 

 Ichthyosauria of the Jurassic. In support of this theory, many 

 structures of the Belodonts were shown to be such as one 

 would expect to find in an ancestor of the Ichthyosauria, c. g., 

 position of nares, elongated premaxillary, bicipital ribs, two or 

 more cervical intercentra, abdominal ribs, form of shoulder-gir- 

 dle, etc. Some other structures, apparently incompatible with 

 this view, were shown to be in reality not inconsistent with it. 



In discussion of Dr. McGregor's paper, Professor Osborn 

 emphasized the importance of the Belodonts, and the conflicting 

 nature of the opinions regarding them. Huxley placed them 

 near the crocodiles as evidenced by his choice of the name 

 Parasuchia for the group. The palaeontologists of the Stuttgart 

 school relate them to the Dinosaurs. Dr. McGregor is the first 

 to bring out the idea of their relationship to the Ichthyo- 

 sauria, and based as it is upon many new characters described 

 for the first time, the theory is of great interest and importance. 



Professor Lloyd stated that the chief point of interest in 

 Chrysoma paiiciflosciilosa, a sub-tropical marine form, is in the 

 structure of the leaves. The surface of these is sculptured in 

 the form of a mosaic. This appearance is caused by deep and 

 regularly-arranged involutions of the epidermis. At the bottom 

 of each sulcus are to be found flagellated and glandular hairs, 

 such as have been described by Vesque for the Compositae. 

 Transverse sections show that each element of the mosaic con- 

 tains chlorenchyma, which, though packed densely around the 

 edges, forms in the middle a large air-chamber, suggesting in 

 appearance the air-chambers of certa,in Hepaticae. The leaf, a 

 bifacial one, is maintained in a vertical position. 



In a second paper. Professor Lloyd drew attention to the 

 occurrence, in Pteris aqiiilina^ of nectaries near the bases of the 

 pinnae. The activity of these glands reaches a maximum dur- 

 ing the development of the frond in spring and early summer, 



