304 Proceedings of Societies. 
upper surface only of the organism, in a yellow, fine-grained micaceous 
sandstone, and, although imperfect, yet being doubtless a sea star, and 
the first discovered in the formation, it deserved the attention of pale- 
ontologists. The following characters could be observed :—Rays five, 
rounded, lanceolate, five times as long as the disk, ridged in the centre, 
covered with longitudinal rows of reticulating tubercles; disk small and 
tuberculated. The disk was only ‘3 of an inch in diameter, whilst the 
rays were 1'5 inch in length. The sandstone from which this asteroid 
was obtained was about twenty feet above the Shilbottle coal, and about 
ten feet below the ‘‘ 18-foot limestone,” which was the fifth limestone sill 
in the mountain limestone of Northumberland ; it was, he estimated, 
about 600 feet below the base of the mill-stone grit ; and as the forma- 
tion was about 3000 feet in thickness, it was in the upper part of this 
series of beds. 
** Some Facts observed in Weardale.” By Mr Cuarztes Artwoop. 
‘** On a Section of the Strata from Hownesgill to Cross Fell.””? By Mr 
T. Sorpwitu. 
‘* On the Neanderthal Skull, or Reasons for believing it to belong to 
the Clydian Period, and to be specifically distinct from Man.’ By Pro- 
fessor Wiiu1am Kina. 
**On some Fish Remains that have occurred in the Coal Measures of 
Durham and Northumberland.” By. Mr Tuos. Arrury and Mr James 
W. Kirxsy. 
Section D.—ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY. 
President—Professor Batrour. 
Mr J. G. Jerrreys read the “ Report of the Committee appointed for 
Exploring the Coast of Shetland by Means of the Dredge.”—After ex- 
plaining the nature of such researches, as well as their utility in a zoolo- 
gical and geological point of view, the author gave a short history of the 
marine invertebrata of the Shetland seas during the last half-century. 
He described the result of the expeditions which he had undertaken to 
this remote district since 1841. Several zoological problems of real in- 
terest were then discussed; viz. the colour of animals living at great 
depths,—the condition and composition of the sea-bed,—the idea that cer- 
tain species were now “ dying out,” which the author opposed,—the distri- 
bution of certain species,—the absence of the Gulf Stream on the eastern 
and northern coasts of Shetland,—the gradual sinking of the sea-bed since 
the glacial epoch,—the lively state of mollusea taken from the deep, and 
kept in a shallow vessel filled with sea-water from the beach,—and also 
the improbability of any marine strata being unfossiliferous except when 
they have been subjected to chemical action. 
** On the Cultivation of Cinchona in India.” By Mr C. R. Marxuam. 
‘On the Zoology of Hylton Dene, near Sunderland.” By Mr G.S. 
Brapy. 
*¢ On the Marine Cyclopoid Entomostraca (Calanide), with Notices of 
some Species new to Britain.” By Mr G. 8. Brapy. 
‘* Descriptions of New British Polyzoa, with Remarks on some imper- 
fectly known Species.’ By Mr J. Atper.—The species forming the 
subject of this communication belong chiefly to the branched calcareous 
forms of the genera Cellepora and Eschara. The new species described 
were named Cellepora laevigata, Eschara ligulata, and Palmicellaria 
