152 Proceedings of Societies. 
next in succession. The spines along the sides of the arms are 
long and slender; in no case, however, could I satisfy myself that 
more than a single spine was borne by each lateral shield; but the 
condition of the specimens does not justify our thus limiting the 
number of those spines. Neither was I able to discover in the 
specimens any evidence of scales over the apertures for the cirri. 
The deposit in which Ophiolepis gracilis occurs is a fine dense 
tenacious blue clay of Post-pliocene age. It is situated upon the 
shore of the Firth of Forth, about two miles to the west of Dunbar, 
and is largely worked for the manufacture of bricks. It lies low; 
and were it not for an artificial embankment, would be flooded at 
high tide. 
In this deposit, at about five feet from the surface, is a horizontal 
bed, where the star-fishes are found. They occur in great numbers 
upon the surface of the bed, which is occasionally separated from 
the bed above it by a thin parting of fine sand. They are remark- 
able for their unmutilated condition, lying there with their slender 
arms, even to the extreme points, in the position which they must 
have naturally held during life, thus showing an entire absence of 
that spontaneous dismemberment which is so characteristic of the 
Ophiuride when dying under any prolonged irritation, and indicat- 
ing some sudden cause of deprivation of life, such as we may sup- 
pose to result from an irruption of fresh water into the part of the 
sea inhabited by them. 
None of the specimens I obtained, however, were sufficiently 
well preserved to enable me to make out all their characters as 
completely as I could have wished, the nature of the clay in which 
they were imbedded being apparently not suited to the preservation 
of the more delicate structures. The oral surface of the disc, espe- 
cially, was in no case retained so perfectly as to allow of the mouth 
or the disposition of the plates of this part of the animal being 
observed. It was only in some instances that traces of the spines 
were visible, and then almost the only indications left were their 
impressions in the surrounding clay. 
It is a curious and interesting fact, that not only did all the 
specimens found belong to a single species, but that not a vestige 
of a shell, or of any other organism, could be detected in any part 
of the clay which I had an opportunity of examining. 
Monday, 6th April 1863.—Prorgessor KELLAND, V.P., 
in the Chair. 
The following Communications were read :— 
1. Note as to Portions of Lead from the Roof of the 
Lower Storey of Nelson’s Monument, injured by Light- 
ning on the evening of 4th February 1863. By Professor 
C. Piazzi Smyth. 
The portions of sheet-lead above mentioned had attracted my atten- 
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