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cate that the animal had an elongated muzzle, and that the upper posterior 
parts of the skull were of the gavial type. The temporal apertures were 
large and near together. The teeth were not obtained. The vertebrae are 
well preserved, and present marked characters. The articular cup is trans- 
versely oval in the cervicals and anterior dorsals, and has its upper margin 
depressed in the posterior dorsals. The hypapophyses are simple and elon- 
gate. The neural canal of the cervical and anterior dorsal series is trans- 
verse and sub-rectangular in outline, and the floor unusually broad and flat. 
In the posterior dorsals, the canal, although still transverse, becomes less 
rectangular, with the broader portion above. The species may prove to be 
generically identical with the one named by the writer Thecachampsa Squan- 
Jcensis , which is the only crocodilian hitherto in the Eocene of New Jersey, but 
it is doubtful. — American Journal of Science , 2nd series, vol. i. No. 148. 
A New Fossil Snake, Python Euhoicus. — Professor Boemer, of Breslau, gives 
a description of a comparatively well preserved, and clearly identified ophidian, 
from the Tertiary limestone (Kalkschiefer) of Kumi, in the Island of Euboea, 
which is so important as to merit the attention of palaeontologists. The 
remains were found in a slab of limestone, 9 in. in length by 5 in. in breadth, 
which exhibits on its surface the vertebral column and ribs of an ophidian. 
It was procured for the University Museum from the cabinet of the late Dr. 
Beinert, and is stated to have been obtained from the wall of the Brown- 
coal deposit of Kumi, and is probably of Miocene Tertiary Age, like those 
from the Braunkohlen formation of Germany. The portion of the skeleton 
preserved consists of part of the vertebral column, 9£ in. in length, and com- 
prising 25 vertebrae with the ribs attached, also the greater part of the left 
ramus of the lower jaw, with eight of the teeth in situ. The specimen is so 
disposed upon the slab that about half the vertebrae exhibit their dorsal, and 
half their ventral, aspect. 
A New Large Terebratula, which occurs in East Anglia, is described in 
the Geological Magazine for September, by Mr. E. Bay Lankester. 
The Microscope in Geology. — Mr. S. Allport, F.G.S., has recently con- 
tributed a paper to the Monthly Microscopical Journal for August, which is 
of interest to all Geologists, as it shows them how useful is the microscope 
in their investigations. We commend the paper to the consideration of our 
readers. We give the following conclusions : — u Having now made upwards 
of four hundred sections of rocks and minerals, I am inclined to believe that 
the following results of microscopical examination will stand the test of 
further study. 1. The mineral constituents of the melaphyres and other 
fine-grained igneous rocks may be determined with certainty — a result which 
has not been attained by any other method of examination. 2. The mineral 
constituents of the true volcanic rocks, and those of the old melaphyres, are 
generally the same. 3. The old rocks have almost invariably undergone a 
considerable amount of alteration, and this change alone constitutes the dif- 
ference now existing between them and the recent volcanic basalts. The 
basaltic lavas of the Bhino and Central France are composed of a triclinic 
felspar, augite, magnetite, olivine, and frequently apatite, the same minerals 
as those constituting the old rocks above described. I have fine-grained 
specimens of the latter hardly distinguishable from recent basalts ; and a 
section of dolerite from the Buy de Barn^re, in Auvergne, does not differ in 
