24 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Mollusca have left decided traces, as have also other inver- 

 tebrates unidentified. 



We must remember that there are numbers of foot- 

 prints different from any I have so far described or classi- 

 fied. The great proportion of these are of small size, 

 varying from ^in. to an inch in length. From the nature 

 of the traces of fossil remains so far discovered in the Trias 

 in this country, it is highly improbable that we shall find 

 remains of animals small enough to fit these prints. The 

 smallest hitherto found is the Telerpeton elginense, 

 measuring a foot in length ; it is included in the Rhyncho- 

 cephalia ; only two specimens have been seen, and in those 

 the bones of the feet were missing. There may be some 

 among the smaller prints due to these, but it is impossible 

 to say which until we are able to compare them with 

 remains that we may hope will be found elsewhere, where 

 the conditions were more favourable to their preservation. 



The Palaeontology of the Trias is perhaps more 

 interesting, and its study is likely to lead to more impor- 

 tant results than that of any other geological period. The 

 expedition to Greece this spring has enabled Dr. A. S. 

 Woodward to bring back to the British Museum a great 

 amount of material which there is every hope will enable 

 us to follow the later stages in the evolution of the higher 

 vertebrata with far more certainty than has hitherto been 

 the case. The earlier and more important stages, which 

 took place probably during the period we have been look- 

 ing into to-night, are comparatively unknown. Let the 

 members of this Society bear this in mind when in search 

 of a field in which to expend their energies. 



Rather more scope is, I believe, allowed in a presi- 

 dential address to the exercise of the imagination than 

 would be permissible in a more technical paper. I fear, 

 however, that I may have exceeded that liberal allowance. 



