Ivi PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



valents of the Wenlock series being here split into twelve members. 

 Some curious results are deduced from this investigation ; as, for 

 example, whilst the Gasteropods of America and Great Britain are 

 apparently totally distinct, and few species of the Lamellibranchiate 

 bivalves are common to both countries, above two-fifths of the Bra- 

 chiopoda are common to both, — a fact which, as Mr. Sharpe suggests, 

 may be due to the limitation of littoral shells in their expansion 

 in space by the necessity of a continuous shore, whilst deep-sea 

 genera and species may admit of a much wider distribution. In- 

 genious and natural, however, as such explanations appear, they 

 depend on so many peculiarities in the condition of the earth's crust 

 in the spaces which separate distant countries, as to become merely 

 speculative ; but one remark of Mr. Sharpe requires especial notice, 

 as being a proof — and he gave many — of that philosophic spirit which 

 so strongly characterized him : — *' It would be interesting," he says, 

 *' to trace out the first appearance of each species in many countries, 

 and to see whether it is found in one at an earlier period than in 

 another country, and thus learn of what region it was originally 

 native ; " — an inquiry, which, were it possible to trace out also the 

 extent of variation to which species may have been subject from 

 gradual alteration of place and circumstances, would assuredly be one 

 of the most interesting the geological naturalist could follow out. 



Every member of this Society is aware of the zeal and industry 

 with which Mr. Sharpe applied himself to the investigation of fossils, 

 whether collected by himself and to be used in illustrating his own 

 papers, or collected by others and merely submitted to him for ex- 

 amination in aid of labours not his own. In conjunction with Messrs. 

 Bunbury, Salter, and Rupert Jones, he described the fossils collected 

 by Senhor Carlos Ribiero from the Carboniferous and Silurian rocks 

 of Portugal. In this paper one new genus of corals, Disteichia, 

 and two new species were described from the Silurian, as well as 

 24 species of Testacea, some belonging to new genera recently esta- 

 bhshed by M. Rouault. The Trilobites identified by Mr. Salter 

 had all been previously recognized as Silurian fossils, and are seven 

 in number, sufficient to verify the geological classification, but still 

 not enough to prevent our wishing for something like that patient 

 form of comparison with which Mr. Prestwich has made us 

 familiar under the term correlation. Of other Entomostraca Mr. 

 Jones described a species of Beyrichia, B. Bussacensis (Jones), 

 closely allied to B. complicata (Salter), and another, B. simplex 

 (Jones), closely allied to and forming a passage between B. Loyani 

 and B. strangulata. 



Of 14 plants, Mr. Bunbury considers all which could be identified 

 as belonging to the true coal formation, with the exception of one, a 

 Walchia, which might be either Coal or Permian ; 4 of the 14 occur 

 in the anthracitic formation of the Alps, and 6 have been recorded 

 as British. The general resemblance is to the coal of France, and 

 the absence of Lepidodendroiiy CalamiteSy and Sigillaria is noted as 

 a remarkable peculiarity. 



Passing by some minor papers, one of which however, on the 



