PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



33 



Greensand near Cambridge, now in the Woodwardian Museum, and in another 

 collection of fossils from the Greensand beds near Kursk iii Russia, submitted 

 to the Professor's examination by Col. Kiprianoff, there are teeth of Folyptyclio- 

 doH, associated with plesiosauroid vertebrae of the same proportional magnitude, 

 and with portions of large iimb-bones, without medullary cavity, and of 

 plesiosauroid shape. 



Thus the evidence at present obtained respecting this huge, but hitherto 

 problematical, carnivorous Saurian of the Cretaceous period seemed to prove 

 it to be a maruie one, more closely adhering to the prevailing type of the Sea- 

 lizards of the great mesozoic epoch, then drawing to its close, than to the Mosa- 

 saums of the Upper Chalk, which, by its vertebral, palatal, and dental charac- 

 ters, seemed to foreshadow the Saurian type to follow. 



Professor Owen exhibited also drawings of specimens in the Woodwardian 

 Museum and in the collection of Mr. W. Harris, of Charing, which show the 

 mode and degree of use or abrasion to which the teeth of Folyptycliodon had 

 been subject. 



2. " On some Fossils from near Bahia, South America." By S. Allport, 

 Esq. Communicated by Professor Morris, E.G.S. 



The south-west point of the liill on which the Port of Montserrate is built, 

 in Bahia Bay, exhibits a section of alternating beds of conglomerate, sandstone, 

 and shale ; in the last Mr. Allport discovered a large Dinosaurian dorsal verte- 

 bra, not unlil^e that of Megaloscmnis, several Crocodilian teeth, and numerous 

 large scales of Lepidotiis, together with a few Molluscs {Paludina, Unlo, &c.), 

 some Entomostraca, and Lignite. Two miles from Montserrate, in a N.E. 

 direction, is the Plantaforma, another hill of the same formation, but loftier. 

 The shales here also yielded similar fossils. 



These fossilifcrous shales and conglomerates dip to the N.W. towards the 

 Bay, and appear to overlie a similarly inclined whitish sandstone, which rests 

 against the gneissose hills ranging north-easterly from the point of St. Antonio. 



3. ^ " On a Terrestrial Mollusc, a Chilognathous Myriapod, and some new 

 species of Reptiles, from the Coal-formatian of Nova Scotia." By J. W. 

 Dawson, L.L.D., P.G.S., &c. 



On revisiting the South Joggmgs in the past summer. Dr. Dawson had the 

 opportunity of examining the interior of another erect tree in the same bed 

 which had afforded the fossil stump from which the remains of Bemlrerpetoii. 

 Acadiamm and other terrestrial animals were obtained in 1851 by Sir C. Lyell 

 and himself. This second trunk was about fifteen inches iia diameter, and was 

 much more richly stored with animal remains than that previously met with. 

 There were here numerous specimens of the land-shell found in the tree pre- 

 viously discovered in this bed — several individuals of an articulated annual, pro- 

 bably a Myriapod — portions of two skeletons of Dendrerpeton — and seven 

 small skeletons belonging to another Reptilian genus, and probably to three 

 species. 



The bottom of the trunk was floored with a thin layer of carbonized bark. 

 On this was a bed of fragments of mineral charcoal (having Sigillaroid cell- 

 structure), an inch thick, with a few Reptilian bones and a Stembergia-cdi^i. 

 Above this, the trunk was occupied, to a height of about six inches, with a 

 hard black lamiaated material, consisting of fine sand and carbonized vegetable 

 matter, cemented by carbonate of lime. In this occurred most of the animal 

 remains, with coprolites, and with leaves of NoeggemtUa (Poacites), Carpo- 

 lithes, and Calamites, also many small pieces of mineral charcoal, showing the 

 structures of Lepidodendron, Stigmaria, and the leaf-stalks of Perns. The 

 upper part of this carbonaceous mass alternated with fine grey sandstone, which 

 filled the remainder of the trunk as far as seen. The author remarked that 

 this tree, like other erect Sigillaria in this section, became hollow by decay, 



VOL. III. e" 



