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



Sir Charles Lyell remarks, that from the entire absence of shells 

 in the grey shales and slates that underlie the conglomerate of the 

 Old Red of Forfarshire, he found no fossils so useful in identifying 

 the beds as these ova. The Cephalaspis occasionally occurs in the 

 same strata ; but, assuming these eggs to be batrachian, the remains 

 of fishes are absolutely as nothing in comparison with the myriads 

 of vestiges of aquatic reptiles that are scattered through the Lower 

 Devonian deposits of Forfarshire and to the north of Fife. 



Thus, for the first time, we have obtained certain proofs of the ex- 

 istence during the Devonian epoch of several orders of the class 

 Reptilia, of which (with the exception of the supposed chelonian 

 foot-prints in the Lower Silurian) no indications were known in any 

 formation more ancient than the Carboniferous. 



In the Telerpeton Elginense (and whether the original were a 

 lacertian or a batrachian is of no importance whatever in a geological 

 point of view) we have indisputable evidence of the presence of air- 

 breathing oviparous quadrupeds, bearing a general resemblance to the 

 Lacertians or Salamanders of modern times. 



The quadrupedal foot- tracks discovered by Capt. L. Brickenden — 

 according to the accepted interpretation of similar imprints by palae- 

 ontologists — denote the existence of terrestrial Chelonians or Tor- 

 toises contemporaneously with the Telerpeton. The ova in the 

 shales of Forfarshire carry back the reptilian fauna to a yet remoter 

 period, and afford presumptive proof that the rivers and streams of 

 the Devonian ages swarmed with Frogs and Tritons ; and the occur- 

 rence of these remains with those of fluviatile plants, and of ganoid 

 fishes (which, for aught we know to the contrary, may, like the 

 Lepidostei of the American rivers, and the Polypteri of the Nile, 

 have been inhabitants or frequenters of fresh water), together with the 

 absence of shells and casts of shells, suggests the probability that the 

 strata in which these fossils are distributed may be of lacustrine or 

 freshwater origin. 



I refrain from indulging in any comments on the bearing of these 

 discoveries on the problems relating to the successive appearance of 

 distinct types of organic life on the surface of our planet, as indicated 

 by the fossil remains discovered in the respective formations ; yet I 

 cannot conclude without reminding the Society, that but a few months 

 have elapsed since our late President, Sir Charles Lyell, in his last 

 Anniversary Address, with the view of restraining the rash and hasty 

 generalizations of those who would fix the first creation of each tribe 

 of plants or animals, or even of animate beings in general, at the pre- 

 cise point where our retrospective knowledge happens to stop, em- 

 phatically remarked that *' our acquaintance with the living creation 

 of given periods of the past must depend in a great measure on what 

 we commonly term chance ; and that the casual discovery of new 

 localities rich in peculiar fossils, may modify or entirely overthrow all 

 our generalizations which are based on the supposed non-existence at 

 former epochs of the fossil representatives of large families or classes 

 of plants and animals*." 



* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 1851, vol. vii. p. Ixviii. 



