PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



209 



dentally to some undescribed peculiarities in the structure of the coracoid of 

 Diviorphodon macronyx. 



3. " On a- Fossil Bird and a Fossil Cetacean from New Zealand." By Thomas 

 H. Huxley, F.R.S., Sec. G.S., Prof, of Natural History, Government School of 

 Mines. 



These remains were, the right tarso-metatarsal bone of a member of the Penguin 

 family, allied to Eudyptes, but indicating a bird of much larger size than any 

 living species of tliat genus, larger indeed than even the largest Aptenodytes, and 

 to which the name oi^Falcendyptes antarcticus was given,— and the left humerus 

 of a small cetacean, more nearly resembling that of the common Porpoise than 

 that of any other member of the order {Bakena, Baluiuoptera, Mouodon, Delphinus, 

 Orca, Byperoodon) with wliich the author had been able to compare it. Never- 

 theless, as there are very marked differences between the fossil humerus and that 

 of Phoccena, Prof. Huxley named the species Fhoccenopsis Mantelli. Mr. W. 

 Mantell, F.G.S., to whom the author was indebted for the opportunity of exam- 

 ining these bones, stated that the beds whence they were obtained were certainly 

 of Tertiary age, and of much earlier date than the epoch of the Dinomis, which 

 he considered to have been contemporaneous with man. The Palceudyptes was 

 from an older bed than the Phoccenopsis. 



Prof. Huxley drew attention to the remarkable fact that a genus so closely 

 allied to the Penguins which now inhabit New Zealand, and are entirely confined 

 to the Southern Hemisphere, should have existed at so remote an epoch in the 

 same locality. 



4. " Oil the Dermal Armom^ of Crocodilus HastingsiceP By Thomas H. 

 Huxley, F.R.S., Sec. G.S., Prof, of Natural History, Government School of 

 Mines. 



The author, after briefly mentioning the very complete armour of articulated 

 dorsal and ventnil scutes Vv'hich he had recently discovered (and described before 

 the Linnsean Society) in two of the three living genera of AUigatoridce, viz. Caiman 

 and Jacare, showed that similar scutes are found associated with the remains of 

 Crocodilus Hastingsice, a veiy fine skull and some scutes of which reptile from 

 Hordwell, kindly lent to Prof. Huxley by Mr. S. Laing, F.G.S., were exhibited. 

 With respect to the suggestion of Prof. Owen, that tlie Alligator Hantoniensis 

 might possibly be a variety of Crocodilus Hasting sice, the author stated that he 

 had observed in several specimens of the recent Crocodilus palustris, which by its 

 straight premaxillo-maxillary suture and the general form of its skull most nearly 

 approaches C. Hastingsice, a tendency to assume the alligator character of a pit, 

 instead of a groove, for the reception of the mandibular canine. Sometimes there 

 is a pit on one side and a gxoove on the other, and sometimes incomplete pits on 

 both sides in this Crocodile. Crocodilus Hastingsice still more nearly approaches 

 the A lligatoridoi in the number of its teeth and in the characters of the dermal 

 armour now described, so that the probability of its occasionally assuming the 

 Alligatorian dental pits on both sides is greatly increased. 



[The foregoing Papers were illustrated by specimens and drawings.] 



April 6th, 1859. Prof. J. Phillips, President, in the Chair. — The following 

 communication was read : - 



1. " On the Subdivisions of the Inferior Oolite in the South of England, com- 

 pared with the Equivalent beds of the same formation on the Yorkshire Coast," 

 by Thomas Wright, M.D., F.R.S.E. (Communicated by T. H. Huxley, Esq., 

 Sec. G.S.) With a Note on Dundry Hill, by R. Etheridge, Esq., F.G.S. 



The author first remarked that, since the publication of his memoir " On the 

 so-called Sands of the Inferior Oolite " in the Society's Journal (vol. xii. p. 292), 

 some geologists, both in England and on the Continent, had taken the Liassic 

 character of these sands into consideration, and that Oppel, Hebert, and Dewalque 

 had agreed with the author on palseontological grounds ; whilst in England Mr. E. 

 Hull (of the Geological Survey) had also adopted his views. On the other hand, 

 Mr. Lycett and Prof. Buckman in their recent memoirs still regard these sands as 

 distinct from the Upper Lias. 



Dr. Wright then described the beds at Bluewick, on the Yorkshire coast, which 

 he regards as the equivalents of the "Cephalopoda-bed" or " Jurensis-bed :" 



