1885.] ' Geology and Paleontology. 289 
course, with the object to discover some practicable channel of 
communication with the natives of the large area of country 
lying between Lake Nyassa and the coast. A large portion of 
this country, marked upon the maps as Makua land, is really oc- 
cupied by the Lomwe. The valley of the Likuga is very thickly 
peopled, as is indeed the entire country except near the coast 
where the long continued slave trade has caused depopulation. 
Mr. O'Neill believes the reverenced Namuli peak to bè an extinct 
volcano, the upper cone of which has disappeared. The Lomwe 
of the Likugu are a strong tribe and have a bad character among 
the slave-dealing traders who are not allowed to pass through their 
country. Their houses are oblong, strong, and with doors and 
veranda high enough to be entered without stooping. The only 
rivers that extend a considerable distance inland between the 
Zambezi and Lujenda are the Miuli, Ligonya, Mlela and Likugu, 
but none of these furnish a waterway into the interior, which can, 
in Mr. O'Neill’s opinion, be reached most conveniently from Lake 
Nyassa and the Shiré. : 
In a subsequent journey Mr. O'Neill has traced the course of 
the Ruo river, which has been brought forward as the natu 
and proper boundary of the Portuguese in this direction. 
| GEOLOGY AND PALZONTOLOGY. 
THE POSITION oF PTERICHTHYS IN THE SYSTEM.—It is probable 
that the most primitive type of vertebrate of which we have any 
knowledge in a fossil state is the genus Pterichthys, if vertebrate 
it can be called. No intelligent attempt has as yet been made to 
assign this animal to its exact position. The opportunity of ex- 
amining specimens of the P. canadensis Whiteaves, having been 
afforded me by Dr. A. R. C. Selwyn, director of the Geological 
Survey of Canada, I give here the results of my examination. 
Numerous specimens in which the anterior portion of the animal 
is well preserved, display three important peculiarities. There is 
a single opening on the middle line above. There are no orbits. 
There is no lower jaw The single opening may well be com- 
pared with the so-called nasal pouch of the lampreys. The ab- 
sence of orbits is comparable to the condition in Amphioxus. In 
the absence of a lower jaw it agrees with both the types men- 
tioned 
I have also instituted comparisons with the Tunicate genus 
Chelyosoma, of which the Smithsonian Institution, through the 
recommendation of Dr. Dall, has liberally placed at my disposal 
_a fine alcoholic specimen from Point Barrow, Alaska. The scu- 
tellation of the dorsum of this animal in every detail with 
ory 
that of Pterichthys, excepting in some of the small segments 
1 A pair of small, delicate Jaminiform bones found beneath the anterior end of the 
carapace are of uncertain inati 
YOL. XIx,—wno, 11, 19 
