34 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



after having been more or less buried in sediment; but that, unlike most 

 others, it remained hoUow for some time in the soil of a forest, receiving small 

 quantities of earthy and vegetable matter, fallmg into it, or washed in by rains. 

 In this state it was probably a place of residence for the snails and myriapods 

 and a trap and tomb for the reptiles ; though the presence of coproHtic matter 

 would seem to show that in some instances at least the latter could exist for a 

 time in their underground prison. The occurrence of so many skeletons, with 

 a hundred or more specimens of land-snails and myriapods, in a cylinder only 

 fifteen inches in diameter proves that these creatures were by no means rare in 

 the coal-forests ; and the conditions of the tree with its air-breatliing inhabitants 

 implies that the SigiUarian forests were not so low and wet as we are apt to 

 imagine. 



The little land-shell, specimens of which with the mouth entire have now oc- 

 curred to the author, is named by him Tupa vetusta. Dr. Dawson found entire 

 shells of Physa heterostropha in the stomach of MenobrancJms lateralis, and 

 hence he supposes that the Pupa may have been the food of the little reptiles, 

 the remains of which are associated with them. 



Two examples of Spirorbis carhonarius also occurred ; these may have been 

 drifted into the hollow trunk whilst they were adherent to vegetable fragments. 

 The Myriapod is named Xylohius Sigillario', and regarded as being allied to lulus. 



The reptilian bones, scutes, and teeth referable to Pendrerpeton Acadianum 

 bear out the supposition of its Labyrinthodont affinities. Those of the new 

 genus, Hylonomus, established by Dr. Dawson on the other reptilian remains, 

 indicate a type remote from Archegosaurus and Labi/rinthodon, but in many 

 respects approaching the Lacertians. The three species determined by the 

 author are named H. Lyellii, H. aciedentattis, and ZT. Wymani. 



4. " On the Occurrence of Eootsteps of ChirofJierium in the Upper Keuper 

 of Warwickshire.;' By the "Rev. P. B. Brodie, E.G.S. 



True Chirotherian feetsteps do not appear to have been hitherto met with in 

 the Keuper of Warwickshire ; but a specimen of Keuper sandstone showing 

 the casts of a fore- and a hind-foot of Chirotherium was lately turned up by the 

 plough at Whitley Green, near Henley-in-Arden. The breadth of the fore-foot 

 is about two inches, the hind-foot is four and a-half inches across. As the 

 New Red sandstone of Cheshire, so well knowTi for its fine Chirotherian foot- 

 tracts, certainly belongs to the upper part of the New Bed series, it may now 

 be further correlated with the Upper Keuper of Warwickshire, the latter 

 having yielded true Chirotherian foot-prints. 



Geologist's Association, Ordinary Meeting, 5th Dec., 1859. Bev. 

 Thomas Wiltshire, M.A., F.G.S., President, in the chair. 



The president stated that since the last meeting the Association had lost a 

 valuable friend in the person of John Brown, Esq., F.G.S., who had prepared a 

 paper which was to have been read that evening. Under these circumstances 

 the committee had thought it respectful to the memory of Mr. John Brown, 

 that his paper (which had been forwarded to the president) should not be read 

 until the next meeting in Jauuaiy. It M^as announced that Professor Temiant, 

 P.G.S., had kindly volunteered at very short notice to give a lecture on 

 siliceous nodules in the various formations. 



Professor Tennant commenced by some observations on the large proportion 

 in which silica enters into the composition of rocks, constituting one-half part 

 of granite, one-third part of syenite, nine-tenths of quartz, and three-foui-ths of 

 greensand. He then described the enormous amount of sUica in the flints of the 

 upper chalk, and called attention to the peculiarity which distinguishes tlie 

 beds of flints in Kent and Sussex from those of Yorkslm-e. In the former they 



