458 
TUE GEOLOGIST. 
"Oil the Useful Minerals :" by Mark Fryar, Esq., "F.G.S., Glasgow School of 
Mines. " On the Eormat-iou of Ainys'daloidcs :" by John Scouler, Esq., M.D., 
L.L.D., President. " On the M(;t)iods of Scicutilie Investigation, with special 
application to Geology:" by llev. H. W. Crosskey. "On the Permanence of 
Species :" by John Seonlcr, Esq., M.D., L.L.D., President. 
Besides these, the Council have determined on iiaving an Exhibition of Rocks, 
Metals, and Fossils, during the present Session, and circulars requesting con- 
tribution have been issued. The time is fixed for the 27 and 2Sth of December; 
and the Exhibition will take place in the IMerehants' Hall. The Carboniferous 
fossils are expected to be very numerous and excellent, as several of the mem- 
bers 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 now numbers upwards of one hundred and seventy 
members ; no small number for a commercial city, like Glasgow, where 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 witli the determination to work out their department of Scottish 
Geology and Paleontology. 
We all know how much good work the Cottcswold, Malvern, Worcester, New- 
castle, Cornwall, and other English Field-Clubs have done; but the comparison 
of the first number of the Glasgow Transactions, not only shows itself to be worthy 
of ranking in the first elassof 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. 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Structure of the Scales op Lepidotus and Lepidosteus. — Few de- 
partments of pala;ontology arc of greater interest than the microscopical 
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 Wealdeu beds 
there are remains of a fresh-water fish, called the Lepidotus : its scales are 
amongst the most frequent fossils of this formation. It is also known that an 
allied genus, the Lepidosteus, or Garpike, which is one of the few heteroeercal 
fishes (or tliose which have the vertebrse prolonged into the upper lobe of the 
tail), is now living in the rivers of xYmerica. The figures give enlarged views 
of very thin sections of scales from the two fishes, magnified about two hun- 
dred and fifty times, and etched direct on the copper by means of the camera 
lueida fitted to the eyepiece of the microscope. (See pi. xii.) 
The upper figure is from the recent Tjcpidosteus, or Garpike, of the Missis- 
sippi. The lacunae and the canaliculi ramifying from tliem are beautifully 
shown, and are very characteristic ; but the chief interest of the plate arises 
from the comparison of the structure of the upper, or recent spceimen, with 
that of the lower figure, which represents a section of a scale from the fossil 
Lepidotus, found in the Wealdeu formation of Sussex. The organization seems 
to be almost identical ; and if the plate were reversed, and the letters erased, 
it would be diffic\dr, for an uiqiractised eye to say which was the recent and 
which the fossil scale. 
