294 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 6, 



saurus it comes close to that edge. In the Plesiosaurus it forms 

 part of it. 



13. The petrosal bone is covered externally by the qnadratum in 

 the Crocodile. In the Teleosaurus it is almost completely exposed, 

 as in the Plesiosaurus. 



These facts seem to me to have an especial interest when we con- 

 sider the palseontological relations of the Teleosauria to the long- 

 necked Enaliosauria, on the one hand, and to the Crocodilia on the 

 other. Anatomically, as chronologically, the Teleosaurian bridges 

 over the gap between Nothosaurus and Alligator. 



3. On the Coal found to the $ow£Ao/ , Concepcion, in Southern 

 Chili. By Dr. C.Forbes, R.N. (In a Letter to the President.) 



[Abstract.] 



The coal* is found in seams alternating with shales and overlaid 

 by calcareous sandstone ; fire-clay underlies the whole. The shales 

 contain fine impressions of dicotyledonous leaves ; and some of the 

 sandstones above the coal abound with casts of a Mactra-like bivalve ; 

 and others with Turritellce. From this association of fossils, Dr. C. 

 Forbes believes that the coal is decidedly not of palaeozoic age, and 

 may be tertiary. 



4. On a Quantity of Crabs thrown up on the Beach in Payta 

 Bay. By Dr. C. Forbes, R.N. (In a Letter to Prof. Ansted, 



F.G.S.) 



[Abstract.] 



For some time previous to the occurrence of a severe earthquake- 

 shock, on or about the 30th August 1857, the Bay of Payta swarmed 

 with crabs of a kind not generally observed, and ten days after the 

 earthquake they were thrown up on the beach, in a raised wall-like 

 line, 3 to 4 feet wide, and to the height of about 3 feet, along the 

 whole extent of the bay, and above highwater-mark. 



At the same time as the upheaval of the crabs took place, the 

 water of the bay became changed, from a clear blue, to a dirty 

 blackish-green colour, much resembling that off the Island of Chiloe, 

 Concepcion, and the southern parts of Chili. Ten days afterwards, 

 Dr. C. Forbes found that living specimens of the crabs were still 

 numerous in the bay, but all appeared to be sickly, and numbers 

 came ashore to die. 



There were no appearances of any alteration of the relative 

 position of sea and land in the vicinity, nor had any ebullition of 

 gases been observed ; although probably to both these causes com- 

 bined the phenomenon described was due. 



* For notices of the coal of Chili, see also Darwin's ' South America/ p. 125, 

 and Mr. W. Bollaert's paper in the Roy. Geograph. Soc. Journ. vol. xxv. p. 172. 



