1870.] HANCOCK AND HOWSE—LEPIDOTOSAURUS. 557 
mains of the fishes which have been so long well known, and frag- 
ments of plants, a few of which are new to England, though most 
of them have been described from the Kupferschiefer of Germany. 
The Mollusca observed by Mr. Duff consist of fragments of Nautilus 
Freiesleben, Schloth., specimens of Discina nitidu, Phil., Lingula 
mytiloides, Sow., and Myalina Hausmann, Goldf. Of these shells, 
only a few imperfect specimens occurred. ‘The appearances pre- 
sented by the whole of the fossils entombed in this Marl-slate 
seem to lead to the conclusion that this deposit was formed in a 
very quiet estuary, into which the land reptiles and the freshwater 
Ganoids and-the remains of coniferous plants were brought, to be 
intermixed with other exuvie, such as the shells of Nautil, Dis- 
cme, and Lingule, which are undoubtedly of marine origin. 
The Marl-slate at this spot appears to be perfectly unconformable 
to the Coal-measures No. 1 of the above section. But between it 
and this sandstone there is an accumulation of yellow unctuous clay, 
about 2 feet thick, which has not the appearance of an original 
deposit, but appears to have been formed partly by the destruction 
of the lower part of the Marl-slate, and partly by the infiltration of 
water carrying in clayey particles through the extensive fissures 
which abound in the superincumbent limestone. Upwards the Marl- 
slate gradually passes, becoming more calcareous according to its 
height, into the thin-bedded compact limestone No. 3 of Prof. Sedg- 
wick’s section. It is in these transition beds, at about 7 feet above 
the Marl-slate proper, that our new Labyrinthodont was found. The 
beds of this portion are much thicker than in the compact limestone 
above, and more marly, and contain here and there small accumula- 
tions of gritty materials surrounded by hard compact limestone. 
The amphibian itself seems to have been imbedded in avery compact 
nodulous mass of one of these beds, and was fortunately brought to 
light by the splitting of the stone right through the central portion of 
the bed. In this part of the series at this quarry the only other fossil 
remains found were a few Lingule and fragments of a Polyzoan ; but 
in a neighbouring quarry the beds on this horizon contain numerous 
remains of the well-known Permian mollusca. Although found in 
this higher portion of the series, we imagine there will be no diffi- 
culty in inferring that the remains of this creature were carried from 
its freshwater haunts to be imbedded in a deposit which was fast 
putting on a marine aspect. 
The specimen of this new and interesting form (Pl. XX XVIII. 
fig. 1), for which we propose the name of Lepidotosaurus Duffit, is 
unfortunately in a bad state of preservation, owing partly to the crys- 
talline condition of the matrix, and partly to the peculiar state of the 
bones, some of which look as if they were composed of dark grey car- 
bonate of lime, while certain parts of them have a burnt appearance, 
and are reduced to a brittle, white, flaky, chalk-like substance, conspi- 
cuously displaying the concentric layers of growth. The fossil lies on 
its side, and is seen in vertical section, part of the bones being on one 
slab and part on the counter slab. The backbone (a, a, a’) is split 
open longitudinally, there having been a natural division through this 
