580 Reports and Proceedings. 



hard and heavy phosphatic stones. These stones having been thus 

 removed from their parent bed., became a portion of the new deposit, 

 the Crag, then in process of formation upon and around them. 



n. — The third annual meeting of the Norwich Geological Society- 

 was held at the Koyal Hotel, on October 20th. About thirty gentle- 

 men met at tea, under the presidency of the Eev. John Gunn, F.G.S. 



The re-election of the rev. gentleman as President was carried by 

 acclamation. 



The President thanked the members most heartily for the manner 

 in which they had expressed their wish to re-elect him, and he made 

 a few remarks on the proceedings of the Society during the past 

 year. He first desired to express his painful feelings at the loss of 

 a very esteemed member of the Society — he alluded to the late Rev. 

 S. W. King, of Saxlingham. In one sense he was a young student 

 of Norfolk geology, for he had not devoted his attention to the 

 geology of this county more than a few years. He had devoted his 

 attention previously to the geology of Scotland and the Alps. He 

 (the President) had the good fortune to be with him when accom- 

 panying Sir Charles Lyell and Dr. Hooker on an excursion to Cromer. 

 Mr. King was then so struck with the grandeur of the Forest Bed, 

 that he instantly set about collecting, and in a short time he brought 

 together a very fine collection, which was to be placed in the Jermyn- 

 street Museum. 



Literary and Philosophical Society, Newcastle-on-Tyne. — 

 On the 6th November, Mr. T. P. Barkas read a paper to the Members 

 " On the Fauna of the Low Main Coal Seam, Northumberland." 



" The genus Diplodus merits special attention. Its name is derived 

 from the peculiar large double crowns which are possessed by the 

 supposed teeth of the fish. JDipIodus is a genus founded by Agassiz, 

 and is described by him in his great work on Fossil Fishes. He de- 

 scribes and figures two species, Diplodus gilhosus and D. minutum, 

 both of which are very abundant in the shale overlying our Low 

 Main Coal. The form of Diplodus when once seen cannot easily be 

 forgotten. In addition to the two long crowns there is generally a 

 shorter and sharper central process or tooth. The majority of the 

 Diplodi have three pointed elevations, but I have specimens in my 

 possession which have four, and one has as many as six of the pro- 

 cesses or elongated prominences. It is yet a moot question whether 

 the Diplodi are teeth or dermal tubercles. Professor Owen in his 

 recent pamphlet on the Fossils of the Low Main Coal-shale refers 

 sections of the Diplodi to teeth. Messrs. Hancock and Atthey, in 

 one of their recent papers in the Annals of Natural History, lean 

 to the opinion that they are dermal tubercles. 



Professor Kner, of Vienna,^ in a work on Xenacanthus ( Orthacanthus) 



Dechenii, which genus is said by Sir Philip de M. Grey Egerton to 



be generally identical with Dleur acanthus, and Pleuracanthus with 



Diplodus. These references and generalizations are rendered more 



^ See Geological Magazine, Vol. V., 1868, p. 376. 



