104 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 7, 



Extraneous fragments occasionally project from them and are 

 half imbedded in their sides. On being broken they are found to 

 be intersected with cracks, like septaria, probably the result of de- 

 siccation, and subsequently filled by crystalline carbonate of lime. 



The author explains the origin of these stones by referring to the 

 analogous concretions of clay described by him many years ago, 

 and occurring on the sea-shore at Lyme Regis. These latter are 

 coprolitic, containing within them undigested scales and bones of 

 fishes ; but the Lough Neagh stones, although only containing frag- 

 ments of stone, are, like these marine Bezoars of Lyme, formed by 

 the rolling action of the waves of the lake on balls of clay, which 

 gather up any extraneous substance that may come within their ad- 

 hesive contact. 



They have been subsequently hardened by exposure to the dry- 

 ing action of sun and Mind in summer, and afterwards have again 

 undergone attrition by the waves when the waters of the lake have 

 once more reached them, perhaps at the return of winter. 



January 7, 1846. 



Henry Scale, Esq., and George Thornton, Esq., were elected 

 Fellows of the Society. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. On the Fossil Remains of Birds in the Wealden Strata of the 

 South-east of England. By G. A. Mantell, Esq., LL.D., 

 F.R.S. 



As the recent communication of Professor Owen, " on the Sup- 

 posed Fossil Bones of Birds in the Wealden,"* relates to a specimen 

 described by me in the Geological Transactions, vol. v. p. 175, and 

 accurately figured in that volume (pi. 1 3. figs. 1 and 3), I am in- 

 clined to solicit the attention of the Society to the following remarks 

 on this interesting subject. 



These two portions of bone were discovered by me twelve years 

 since in a quarry near Cuckfield in Sussex. Each specimen was 

 imbedded in a mass of sandstone of the same colour and composi- 

 tion ; and though formed separately, and the intermediate portions 

 both of bone and sandstone wanting, the resemblance between the 

 fossils was such that I did not hesitate to consider them as the upper 

 and lower extremity of the same bone. I cleared away the stone 

 with great care, and attached the two portions to a card, with a 

 dotted outline to indicate the supposed line of union. The specimen 

 was exhibited in this state in my museum at Brighton ; the humerus 

 of a bird being placed beside it, to show the general resemblance 

 * See ante^ p. 96. 



