IXX PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



general mass, the subsequent upheaval of the whole chain to the 

 height of 13,000 or 14,000 feet, not only without dislocating these 

 Tertiary strata, but without even destroying their horizontality, ap- 

 pears to be so improbable, that we ought not to adopt the conclusion, 

 and much less ought we to make it the foundation of other reason- 

 ings, until the marine origin of these strata is established by decisive 

 evidence. The further investigation of their age, structure, and cha- 

 racters will be full of interest, and may enable us to draw the most 

 important conclusions as to the nature of the movements which have 

 resulted in the formation of this grandest physical feature which the 

 surface of our globe presents to us. 



On the geology of the Palaeozoic rocks several papers have been 

 presented to us in the course of the year. Sir R. I. Murchison has 

 given us one " On the Silurian Rocks of the South of Scotland," 

 and Mr. Harkness another on the similar rocks of Dumfriesshire and 

 Kirkcudbrightshire. Professor Sedgwick has given us a paper " On 

 the Slate Rocks of Devon and Cornwall ;" and another " On the 

 Lower Palaeozoic Rocks of Westmoreland and Yorkshire." Mr. D. 

 Sharpe has also read a communication " On the Quartz Rock of 

 Macculloch's Map of Scotland." 



Both these last-named gentlemen have announced their intention 

 of making further communications to us on subjects nearly allied to 

 those of their respective papers just mentioned, and therefore, since 

 the views of these two able geologists on these subjects are at present 

 but imperfectly before us, I shall postpone any remarks upon them 

 until a future opportunity. There is one subject, however, of too 

 much immediate interest to be passed over in silence, I allude to the 

 discovery of Reptilian Foot-prints, and that of the skeleton of a Rep- 

 tile in rocks belonging to these ancient formations. The fossil Reptile 

 is from the Old Red Sandstone of Morayshire, and was obtained by 

 Mr. Patrick Duff, and described by Dr. Mantell at one of our late 

 meetings*, under the name of the Telerpeton Elginense. As the 

 paper containing this description has not yet appeared in print, I 

 have been favoured by Dr. Mantell with the following description of 

 this beautiful specimen, as well as of the foot-prints which have been 

 observed by Captain Lambart Brickenden on a slab of the same rock. 



" The specimen consists of the distinct impression of the entire 

 skeleton of a four-footed reptile, about 6 or 7 inches in length. The 

 skull is crushed and partially enveloped in the stone, so that its 

 normal characters cannot be determined ; and the imprints of the 

 feet are concealed. The structure of the vertebral column, the form 

 of the pelvis, as indicated by the imprints, and the slenderness of 

 the ribs resemble in many respects those of certain Batrachians, while 

 the form of the extremities, the length of the ribs, and the relative 

 proportions of the general form of the skeleton are nearly allied to 

 the Lacertian modification of structure. The original animal was a 

 small air-breathing reptile, probably resembling in its aspect the 

 Tritons or Aquatic Salamanders, but with a wider dorsal region and 



* The same fossil has also been described by Prof. Owen, in the Literary 

 Gazette of December 20, 1851, under the name of Leptopleuron lacertinum. 



