196 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



facility and assistance in the work of excavation. A great 

 number of specimens had been obtained in beautiful preserva- 

 tion, as could be seen from those exhibited to the Society, 

 and geologists might rest assured that every care would be 

 taken to render these treasures available to the purposes of 

 science.* Independent of the palseontological value of so 

 many new and perfect forms, the discovery was of high litho- 

 logical interest, as enabling geologists to determine with 

 greater precision the relative ages of the Forfarshire and 

 Caithness series, both of which had now been proved to be 

 characterised by the same specific forms. 



III. On tlie Nidus and Young of Pontobdella muricata, and other An- 

 nelides. By Chas. William Peach, Esq., Wick. (With Illustrative 

 Sketches.) 



On the 21st January 1859, my colleague, Collector Boyd, 

 kindly sent me an old oyster shell attached to an oyster, 

 brought to him from the Frith of Forth, on which he had 

 observed something strange and unusual. The form was quite 

 new to me, and although well acquainted with the nests of 

 many shells and other sea animals, this differed from all I had 

 previously seen. I found amongst the nests a small annelid, and, 

 on applying my lens, discovered that it was a young Pontob- 

 della, which I supposed had got in there for shelter. I laid it 

 carefully aside, and continued my examination, and soon found 

 a portion of a second worm protruding from the upper part of 

 one of the nests, and that it, too, was another tiny Pontob- 

 della. This quite surprised and delighted me. Still, I had 

 my doubts whether it had not crept into the nest after it had 

 been accidentally ruptured, and suspected that its errand 

 was one of felonious intent. I then selected a nest which 

 appeared to be full and uninjured. On opening it with my 

 lancet, I found that I had libelled the above-mentioned, for 

 there, snugly coiled up, was another veritable baby Pontob- 



* Several of the fishes referred to by Mr Page have since been figured and 

 described by Sir Philip Egerton in No. 10 of the " Decades of the Geological 

 Survey of Great Britain." Three of the genera are also figured in Mr Page's 

 new work, " Past and Present Life of the Globe." 



