6 4 



Antrim, was of this nature ; it now occurs as a hard pointed 

 spear or pencil-like substance. This once formed the internal 

 bone of a kind of cuttlefish, like the cuttlefish of our waters, 

 which has an internal soft bone — known as cuttle-bone, and 

 used for various purposes ; but besides the internal bone, 

 the very inkbag of the fossil Belemnite is often found in the 

 Lias rock, and still contains the black ink intended for the 

 protection of the creatures in old Liassic seas, ages before the 

 hills of Antrim were formed ; for the creature was extinct be- 

 fore the white limestone was lifted from the deep sea waters 

 in which it was originally deposited. Besides the soft cuttle- 

 fish, with internal bones or straight shells, another family, 

 the " Spirilla,'" had an internal chambered shell, very like the 

 Nautilus, and another family, the "Argonauta," or paper 

 Nautilus, had an external shell, but not chambered. The 

 Spirula is not found in fossil, but the Argonauta is found in 

 some Tertiary deposits. 



On Wednesday evening, igth April, the closing meeting 

 of the session was held, at which Professor Wyville Thom- 

 son, LL.D., delivered a lecture on " The Structure of the 

 Palaeozoic Crinoids," in which he sketched the anatomical 

 structure of the recent representatives of the group, and 

 showed that, though some of the subdivisions found as fossils 

 are represented by modern examples, yet there were others to 

 which no corresponding recent species could be referred. He 

 proceeded to state, however, that quite lately a minute study 

 of recent crinoids (in which he had himself taken part) had 

 thrown much light upon the structure of the whole series of 

 palaeozoic groups, and had proved that many recent spec imens 

 were more closely allied to the ancient fauna than had formerly 

 been believed. At the close of the lecture a farewell address 

 was read by the Chairman from the council of the Belfast 



