75 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF 



THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



POSTPONED PAPERS. 



(hi some Fossil Crustacea from the Coal-measures and Devonian 

 Rocks of British North America. By J. W. Salter, Esq., F.G.S., 

 A.L.S., of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. 



[Read May 21, 1862*.] 



Dr. Dawson, so "well known for his researches in the Coal-measures 

 of Nova Scotia, has entrusted to me several fragments of Crustacea 

 from the Coal-measures and Devonian rocks of that region for 

 description. These form a most welcome supplement to the late 

 discoveries in Scotland, recorded in the last volume of the Society's 

 Journal f, which Dr. Dawson could not have seen when he kindly 

 sent these specimens for examination. 



Accompanying the Crustacea, there are eight specimens % of other 

 fossils, of which three are shells (see further on, p. 80) agreeing 

 closely in character with some from our own Coal-measures, and 

 tending to confirm, if proof were needed, the age of the Crustacean 

 fragments. They are numbered by Dr. Dawson from 1 to 5. 



Of these, No. 1 is most probably the abdomen of an Isopodous 

 Crustacean, and is from a rich plant-bed in the Coal-measures of the 

 Joggins, Nova Scotia. No. 5 is part of a large species of Eurypterus, 

 also from the Coal-measures. Nos. 3 and 4 belong to a small species 

 of Eurypterus, a genus already well known in the Devonian. They 

 are from St. John's, New Brunswick. 



Of No. 2, from the Devonian slate of St. John's, I know no 

 analogue, and can only guess that it has some relation to the Sto- 

 mapods. It is well preserved, however, and there can be no doubt 

 of its general structure. I have here called it Amphipeltis. 



I am obliged to propose new generic terms for some of these 

 €rustacea, even though the specimens are imperfect. I will describe 

 the large Devonian species first. 



Amphipeltis, gen. nov. 



Carapace oblong-oval, rounded in front, and more truncate be- 

 hind, with a thorax of (probably) nine segments, five of which project 

 beyond the carapace, and four are concealed beneath it. Tail-piece 



* For the other communications read at this Evening-meeting, see Quart. 

 Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xviii. p. 331. 



t Vol. xviii. p. 528. 



I All the specimens noticed are in the Colonial Collections of the Museum of 

 Practical Geology, except Nos. 1 and la, which have been returned to Dr. Daw- 

 son's cabinet. 



