256 General Notes. [March, 



both in England and in Hanover, teach us that they did not make 

 use of their tail for support, either when walking or when at rest, 

 since up to this time no trace of a caudal impression has been 

 found. This is also what might be inferred from the structure of 

 the processes of the caudal vertebrae and from the tendons, which 

 are so distinctly ossified that with a little trouble the myology of 

 the tail could be made out. 



There has been considerable difference of opinion among natu- 

 ralists as to the homologies of the pelvic bones of saurians, espe- 

 cially with regard to the pubis, which is incomplete and does not 

 take part in the formation of the cotyloid cavity. The pelvic 

 basin of Com h) is, according to that author, 



nearest to that of the Iguanodon, but has the post-pubis more 

 bird-like than in the latter. 



Hulke on Polacanthus foxi 1 .— Dr. J. M. Hulke has at last 

 given us a description of this species, whose name has been on 

 our lists for some years, but of which it has been impossible to 

 get any information. In proper concession to mnemonic conve- 

 nience Dr. Hulke has adopted the name given without descrip- 

 tion by Professor Owen, but the species will stand Polacanthus foxi 

 Hulke. The animal is nearly allied to Hyl(gosaitrus,a.r\d is one of 

 the most thoroughly defended of the Dinosauria. Its body sup- 

 ported huge spines, and its tail was enclosed in an armor of bony 

 plates. The species was large and powerful, but not one of the 

 gigantic forms of the order. It was found in the Wealden of 

 the Isle of Wight by Dr. Fox, who has made so many important 

 discoveries in that region. 



Russian Sauropterygia. — M. Kiprijanoff has communicated 

 an important memoir on the genus Ichthyosaurus to the Imperial 

 Academy of St. Petersburg 2 . The motive for the memoir was 

 found in the discovery of the genus in the Cretaceous greensand 

 of European Russia. This threw the genus into a later geological 

 epoch than its range in Continental Europe had included. The 

 author takes occasion to analyze the species of the genus, a work 

 which will be of great service to extra-European palaeontologists 

 in their studies. The Russian species is the /. campylodon oi 

 Carter. Besides describing the bones of the skeleton, M. Kipri- 

 janoff investigates their histology, and especially the minute struc- 

 ture of the teeth. The plates illustrating this part of the subject 

 are beautiful specimens of art. 



The Geology of Florida.— Prof. E. A. Smith, of Alabama, 

 summarizes the geological history of the Peninsula of Florida as 

 follows : 



(1.) Since no rocks have been found in Florida older than the 



'From the Transactions of the Royal Society, London. Part Til, 1SS1. 

 »Sui.lien udter <lie Kossillen Rer,tili«.-n. i :ianoff. I Theii, 



Galiieng Ichthyosaurus. Mem. de l'Academie Imperiale de Sciences de St. Peters- 



