PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



239 



May 11, 1881. 



E. Etheridge, Esq., F.H.S., President, in the Chair. 



Joseph Deeley, Esq., Ruabon, North Wales ; George Kilgour, Esq., 

 C.E., E.R.A.S., Dutoit's Pan, Griqualand West, South Africa; and 

 Roderick William MacLeod, Esq., Bengal Staff Corps, 55 Parliament 

 Street, W., were elected Fellows of the Society. 



The List of Donations to the Library was read. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. " ISTotes on the Eish-remains of the Bone-bed at Aust, near 

 Bristol, with the Description of some new Genera and Species." By 

 James W. Davis, Esq., E.S.A., E.G.S. 



2. " On some Fish-spines from the Coal-measures." By J. W. 

 Davis, Esq., F.S.A., F.G.S. 



3. " On some specimens of Diastopora and Stomatopora from the 

 Wenlock Limestone." By Francis D. Longe, Esq., F.G.S. 



[Abstract.] 



Mr. Longe showed and described some specimens of Bryozoa from 

 the Wenlock Limestone of Dudley, which he compared with corre- 

 sponding forms from the Oolites and later periods, and pointed out 

 the close similarity of the Silurian with the later forms, in respect 

 of the shape and dimensions of the cells, as well as in the habit of 

 coenoecic growth. 



Alluding to some other Palaeozoic forms, assigned to the Bryozoa 

 under the generic names of Berenicea and Qeramopora, he pointed 

 out the difference between the shape of the cells in these forms and 

 those which he had described, and expressed a doubt whether they 

 should be classed as Bryozoa at all. 



On the other hand, he referred to some specimens described by 

 Professor Nicholson (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. xv. 1875) under 

 the names of Alecto auloporoides &c. as having the true Bryozoan 

 cell, and furnishing additional evidence of the existence in the 

 Silurian seas of forms of Bryozoa which, though very abundant in 

 the Oolites and at all subsequent periods, were not generally sup- 

 posed to have existed in the Palaeozoic period. 



Discussion. 



The President stated that the genus Aulopora had never been 

 referred to the Bryozoa before, but to the Actinozoa. He demurred 

 to the use of the term " rjlant" as applied to the Bryozoa. 



The Author stated that the object of his paper was to prove that 

 in the Wenlock beds he had found forms quite undistinguishable 

 from Stomatopora or Alecto, and Diastopora or Berenicea of later 

 periods. He had not confounded Aulopora with the Bryozoa. 



