1893.] Geology and Paleontology. 145 
` The Genus Hybodus.—<According to Mr. A. S. Woodward, the 
genus Hybodus, which was determined solely from the evidence of the 
teeth and associated ribbed dorsal fin-spines, is now definitely deter- 
mined by the other essential regions revealed by new specimens. 
The fossils in question comprise numerous skulls and two portions of 
the trunk of the typical Hybodus basanus from the Wealden of the 
Sussex coast. 
The characters which afford information are (1) the presence of 
hooked cephalic spines, and (2) the occurrence of a vacant space 
between the neural and hemal arches of the endoskeleton, which 
must have been occupied by a persistent notochord. Mr. Woodward 
is inclined to think that the presence or absence of cephalic spines will 
eventually prove to be a sexual character—Proceeds. Yorkshire Geol. 
and Polytechnic Soc., Vol. xii, 1891. 
On Some Dicynodont and Other Reptilian Remains from 
the Elgin Sandstone.—At the Aberdeen meeting of British Asso- 
ciation in 1835, Dr. Traquair called attention to the skull of a Diey- 
nodont which had been discovered in the Elgin sandstone of Cutlies 
Hillock (= New Spynie). Since that time several other specimens 
have been obtained from the same place, some of which are the prop- 
erty of the Elgin Museum, while others belong to the Geological 
Survey of the United Kingdom. These specimens are now being 
worked out by Mr. E. T. Newton, and the following is a preliminary 
note on the interesting results which have been obtained. 
All the reptile remains obtained from Cutlies’ Hillock are in the 
condition of hollow casts, the bones themselves having been dissolved 
away; this, it will be remembered, was the case with some of the 
examples of Stagonolepis from the Elgin sandstone, described by Prof. 
Huxley, and the method of taking casts from the hollow cavities 
which was adopted in that case, has been found of great advantage in 
the present instance. The blocks when brought from the quarry were 
more or less split open, exposing portions of the specimens. In some 
cases these cavities were traced out and developed with the chisel, 
while in others they were further split open, thus allowing casts to be 
taken. In many cases these casts had to be made in several parts and 
afterwards fitted together. The time and labor involved in this task 
have been repaid by the restoration of the skulls and parts of skele- 
tons of several Dicynodonts, and one or two other equally remarkable 
forms of reptiles. 
