60 
however appear to exist in the same locality though fossils were not 
obtained from them by Messrs. Sherring and Claypole. The following 
list includes the names of the species exhibited. 
Sargodon tomicus 
Mr. Claypole also exhibited some large crystals of Selenite obtained from 
the New Eed Sandstone near Wickwar. 
The President Mr. "William Sanders then gave his third Lecture on 
Fossil Fishes. On the previous evenings he described the Cartilaginous 
division. The Osseous fishes formed the subject of this Lecture. They 
compose the 4th, 5th, and 6th Orders. The 4th order, the Acanthopteri, 
possess fins having the first rays unjointed, the ventral fins being placed 
before the pectoral. It includes Ctenoid and Cycloid fishes. A very few 
of these are found in Oolitic and Chalk strata, the greater number are 
from Tertiary beds. The Semiophorus, Smerdis, and Coelorhyncus are 
examples. The 5th Order Anacanthini includes Ctenoid and Cycloid fishes. 
The fin-rays are flexible. The ventral fins are beneath the pectoral. This 
Order is limited to the Tertiary period and affords as examples the 
Merlinus and Rhombus. The 6th Order the Malacopteri possess Cycloid 
scales and abdominal fins. They are found only in Tertiary strata. 
The author then made some general remarks on the high type of organ- 
ization shewn by the fishes of Palaeozoic age. The heterocercal tail, ovo- 
viviparous birth, the structure of the heart, the brain, the air-bladder, the 
great amount of energy — characters prevailing amongst the Placoid 
and Ganoid groups— mark an approach towards the class of Reptiles ; 
while the Osseous tribes of the Tertiary strata present the truly typical 
form of the class of fishes. 
At the second meeting of the section on the 13th December, the 
President, Mr. W. Sanders, F.R.S., gave an account of certain bones which 
had been found in the Rhictic beds at Aust. The first shown was a large 
vertebra about 7 inches broad which, after close examination and compa- 
rison with similar bones at the British Museum, was ascertained to be a 
cervical vertebra of a very large Ichthyosaurus. Three other bones were 
then noticed. The largest was 25 inches long and 17 inches in circum- 
ference ; nearly cylindrical. Both ends of the bone were absent. The next 
bono had the same thickness, but was only 14 inches in length and also 
wanted tho terminations. This latter was found by Mr. Edward Higgins, 
G-yrolepis tenuistriatus (Alberti) 
Saurichthys apicalis 
Acrodus minimus 
Pholidophorus. 
