458 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



"On the Useful Minerals:" by Mark Eryar, Esq., T.G.S., Glasgow School of 

 Mines. "On the Tormation of Amygdaloides by John Sconler, Esq., M.D., 

 L.L.D., President. " On the Methods of Scientific Investigation, with special 

 application to Geology by Rev. H. W, Crosskey. " On the Permanence of 

 Species by John SconlerJ Esq., M.D., L.L.D., President. 



Besides these, the Council have determined on having an Exhibition of Rocks, 

 Metals, and Eossils, during the present Session, and circulars requesting con- 

 tribution have been issued. The time is fixed for the 27 and 28th of December; 

 and the Exhibition will take pL^ce in the Merchants' Hall. The Carboniferous 

 fossils are expected to be very numerous and excellent, as several of the mem- 

 l3ers of the association have paid great attention in collecting and arranging 

 their cabinets of specimens. 



This last is a very desirable proceeding, and cannot but be productive of 

 good results. The Society noAv numbers upwards of one hundred and seventy 

 members ; no small number for a commercial city, like Glasgow, Vv'here every 

 hour from business is regarded as so much pecuniary loss ; and, therefore, 

 we may well believe what we hear from every quarter, that the members are all 

 animated with the determination to work out their department of Scottish 

 Geology and Paleeontology. 



We all know how much good work the Cotteswold, Malvern, Worcester, New- 

 castle, Cornwall, and other English Eield-Clubs have done; but the comparison 

 of the first number of tlie Glasgow Transactions, not only shows itself to be worthy 

 of ranking in the first classof local productions, but augurs well for the future 

 advancement of Geological Science by the Glasgow men, and we shall regard 

 with great interest their future doings. 



KOTES AliTD QUEEIES. 



StructuHE of the Scales oe Lepidotus akd Lepidostel's. — Eew de- 

 partments of palaeontology are of greater interest than the niicroscojncal 

 examinations of organic structures ; and the interest is increased where a com- 

 parison can be made between the organization of fossil specimens with that of 

 recent beings of the same or allied genera. The accompanying figures give an 

 example of such a comparison. It is well known that in the Wealden beds 

 there are remains of a fresh-water fish, called the LepidoiKS : its scales are 

 amongst the most frequent fossils of this formation. It is also known that an 

 allied genus, the Lepidosteus, or Garjuke, Avhich is one of the few heterocercal 

 fishes (or those vrhicli have the vertebrae prolonged into the upper lobe of the 

 tail), is now living in the rivers oi America. The figures give enlarged views 

 of very thin sections of scales I'loin i lie ivro fishes, magnilied about two hun- 

 dred and fifty times, and etched direct on the copper by means of the camera 

 lucida fitted to the eyepiece of the microscope. (^Sce pi. xii.) 



The upper figure is from the recent Lcpidoste/'s, or Garpike, of the Missis- 

 sippi. The lacuna) and the canaliculi ramifying from them are beautifully 

 shown, and are vciy cliaracterislic ; but the chief interest of the plate arises 

 from the comparibou of the structure of the upper, or recent spechnen, with 

 that of the lower figure, which represents a section of a scale from the fossil 

 'Lepidu/i's, found in tlie Vreahlcii formation of Sussex. The organization seems 

 to be almost identical; and if the plate were reversed, and the letters erased, 

 it would be diificult for an unpractised eye to say which was the recent and 

 which the fossil scale. 



