270 
THE GEOLOGHST. 
Salter, Esq., F.G.S., etc. Of this form an imperfect individual, from the 
anthracite-shales (Llandeilo flags) of Dumfriesshire, was formerly described 
by the author as Dicthyrocaris 1 aptychoides. Better specimens enabled 
him to distinguish it as a new generic form belonging to the Phyllopods, 
not far removed from Hymenocaris and Dithyrocaris. A fragment of an- 
other larger form, from the same locality, is described by the author as 
JPeltocaris 1 Harlcnessi. Mr. Salter also explained his views of the rela- 
tionship of the palaeozoic Phyllopoda, among themselves and with the re- 
ranged in chronological succession. 
6. " On a Crustacean Track in the Llandeilo Flags of Chirbury, Shrop- 
shire." By J. W. Salter, Esq., F.G.S., etc. This track consists of nume- 
rous short, narrow, oblique, chisel-shaped imprints, on the ripple-ridges of 
the slab ; and, according to the author, it must have been caused by a small 
Crustacean with a bifid telson or prong-like tail. To a like agency Mr. 
Salter refers similar markings described by M. Brebisson as occurring in 
the Lower Silurian Sandstone of Noron in the Falaise (IS^ormandy). 
June 4. — The following communications were read : — 
1. " On the disputed affinities of the Purbeck Mammalian genus Pla- 
giaidaxr By Hugh Falconer, M.D., F.E.S., F.G.S. 
Referring to his former description (Journal Geol. Soc, vol. xiii. p. 261, 
etc.) of Flagiaulax as a rodent form of marsupial, having affinities with the 
existing Hypsiprymnus ; and to the very different opinion of its relation- 
ship expressed by Professor Owen in the 8th edition of the ' Encyclopaedia 
Britannica,' where it is said to have been " a carnivorous marsupial," Dr. 
Falconer then reviewed the dental characters of Flagiaulax in detail. 
The incisors, in regard of number, order of suppression, collateral position, 
and relation to the premolars, correspond exactly with the type of marsu- 
pial herbivora, and are wholly at variance with the carnivorous type ; and he 
argued that Professor Owen's argument drawn from Thylacoleo has no 
bearing on the incisors of Flagiaulax, and gives no support to the car- 
nivorous inference. Of the premolars, after a full comparative re-exami- 
nation (in agreement with his already published views) he finds reason to 
regard the carnivorous deduction from the shape of the premolars to 
be altogether untenable. 
The form of the lower jaw of Flagiaulax having been regarded by 
Professor Owen as conforming with the carnivorous type, the author 
showed that in the non- carnivorous Cheiromys (Aye-Aye) and FJias- 
colarctus (Koala) a similar form of ramus obtains ; and that the coronoid 
and condyle of the Aye- Aye are not unlike those of Flagiaulax ; whilst 
in existing predaceous marsupials the condyle has a different form. The 
author considered that Flagiaulax was essentially a phytophagous mar- 
supial. 
2. " On some Fossil Plants from the Hempstead Beds, Isle of Wight." 
Bv the Eev. Dr. O. Heer, Professor of Botany, Zurich. With an intro- 
duction, by W. Pengelly, F.G.S. 
These plant-remains, from the Hempstead Series, consist of seeds, 
cones, leaves, and twigs, and are referable to ten species, four of which 
have been found lately at Bovey Tracey also, namely, Sequoia Couttsice, 
Heer, Andromeda reticulata, Ettin., Nymphcea Doris, Heer, and Carpo- 
lites Wehstetn, Brongn. The other species are Cyperites Forhesi, n.s.,Nelum- 
bium Buchii, Ettin., Carpoliies globulus, n. s., Chara Escheri, Braun, and 
Ch. tuberculata, Lyell, var. Professor Heer notices that six of the above- 
named species are found also in the Lower Miocene (Tongrian and Aqui- 
tanian) of the Continent ; and that this flora, as far as represented, seems 
diagram in which they were ar- 
