On the Remains of a Reptile (Dendrerpeton Acadianum, Wyman and Owen) and of a Land Shell Discovered in the Interior of an Erect

58 PROCEEDINGSOF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jail. 19,

JANUARY 19, 1853. John Brogden, Jun., Esq., was elected a Fellow. The following communications were read :-- 1. On the REMAINS Of a REPTILE (DENDRERPETON ACADIANUM, tVyman and Owen) and of a LANV SHELL discovered in the INTERIOR of an ERECT FOSSIL TREE in the COAL MEASURES of Nova SCOTIA. By Sir CHARLES LYELL, F.R.S., V.P.G.S. &c., and J. W. DAWSON, Esq. [Plates II., III., IV.] DESCRIPTIONS and sections of the Coal-formation of Nova Scotia, and particularly of the cliffs called the South Joggins, have been pub- lished by Messrs. Jackson and Alger*, Mr. Brownt, Dr. Gesner~, Sir C. Lyellw and Mr. Logan]l. In September last (1852) the authors of the present notice re-visited and re-examined the strata in a part of these cliffs, with a view of ascertaining what may have been the particular circumstances which favoured the preservation of so many fossil trees, at so many different levels, in an erect position; such a position being a rare ahd very exceptional fact in the coal strata of North America generally. We were also desirous of ob- taining additional evidence on a point which is still a matter of con- troversy in the United States and elsewhere (although we ourselves were already satisfied with the evidence adduced by Mr. Binney82and others), namely, the relation of Stigmaria, as a root, to 8igillaria. We also directed our special attention to the difference of the depo- sits enveloping the upright trees, and those which fill the trunks themselves, forming casts within a cylinder of bark now turned to coal, the central wood of the trunk having decayed. We searched diligently for fossils in these stony casts, suspecting that organic bodies preserved in so peculiar a situation might differ from such as are buried in ordinary subaqueous strata. With this object we em- ployed a labourer to dig out many vertical trees from the cliffs, so that we might break them up and carefully examine their stony con- tents. To clear out the trees, so as to expose to view both their trunks and roots, is a work of no small bodily labour. We reserve for a future communication to the Society an account of the general results which we obtained from an inspection of a series of coal-measures 1400 feet in thickness, and shall confine our present remarks to a few strata, not more than 10 feet thick, which enclose certain vertical trees ;---one of these trees having Stigmarian roots, See Jackson and Alger on the Mimn~logy and Geology of Nova Scotia, SilL Amer. Journ. xiv. p. 305, 1828, and Mere. of Amer. Acad. of Arts and Sciences, voL i. New Ser. 1833. Cambri~e, Mass. t Reports on Nova Scotia Coal Fields, 1829. Remarks on the Geology and Mineralogy d Nova Scotia, 1836. w Travels in North America, 1845, vol. ii. p. 180. II First Report of Survey of Canada, Appendix, 1845. 82See E. W. Binney, on the Dukinfield and St. Helen's $/9///a~, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. ii. p. 592. 1846. t853.] LYELL AND DA'WSONmREPTILE AND LAND SHELL. 59 and another containing in its interior.the first examples yet known in America of Reptilian bones, together with what we believe to be a Land Shell, of which last also no instance seems to have been previously observed in rocks of the Carboniferous ~era. After we had already, in the course of this investigation, met with fragments of Plants, such as Ferns, Poacites ?, Nceggerathia?, Sigillaria, Stigmaria, and Calamite in the inside of several trees, we at length found near the base of an upright trunk some dermal plates, together with bones, one of which we conjectured to be the femur of a Reptile, feeling sure at least that it differed from any Fish bones with which we were acquainted. This led us to return next day to examine the same trunk more thoroughly. We accordingly broke up the remaining portion, and found what we imagined might possibly be the jaws and teeth of a Zabyrinthodon, which we supposed to belong to the same individual as the bones. These osseous remains were scattered about in the interior of the trunk among fragments of wood converted into charcoal, as if they had accumulated while the tree was rotting away. All the fragments were cemented together by a dark-coloured cal- careo-argillaceons and sandy matrix. From their position in the tree, we concluded, or rather guessed, the fossil relics to be those of an air- breather, but pretending to no sufficient osteological knowledge to determine a point of such importance, we lost no time in submitting the collection to Professor Jeffries Wyman, of Harvard University, at Boston, who soon declared his opinion that the bones of the extremities resembled those of the Batrachian Reptile called Menobran- chuB, which now inhabits the Ohio river and Lake Champlain. In regard to its dimensions, he estimated this fossil ichthyoid quadruped to have been between 2 and 3 feet in length. In breaking up the fragments of rock, Professor Wyman detected in the same matrix a series of nine small vertebrae, two of them having what appeared to be short ribs connected with them (like those of a Salamander). These vertebree he believes to be dorsal or lumbar, and to have belonged to an adult individual of a different and much smaller species of reptile, not exceeding 6 inches in length, whereas the Dendrer2eton dcadia- hum was probably 2~2 feet long. Professor Wyman, feeling considerable diffidence as to his deter- mination, in consequence of his limited means of osteological comparison, requested one of the authors to show his notes, together with the specimens, to Prof. Owen, before they were laid before the Geo- logical Society. To this proposal Prof. Owen has promptly and kindly acceded, fully confirming the principal conclusion to which the American anatomist had arrived, namely, that the characters of the fossils are those of Perennibranchiate Batrachians. The Hun- terian Professor has also, in compliance with a suggestion of Dr. Wyman, added notes of his own on several points where he differed somewhat in opinion as to anatomical details. Prof. Quekett, of the College of Surgeons, has had the kindness to examine microscopi- cally longitudinal and transverse sections of one of the larger bones ; and he states that it exhibits very decidedly Batrachian structure, and that the bone-cells (P1. III. fig. 8) closely resemble those seen 60 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 19,

in Menopoma and Menobranchu~* (fig. 10). Prof. Quekett has also found similar batrachian structure in the small vertebrve above alluded to. (See P1. III. fig. 9.) In breaking up the rock in which the reptilian remains were im- bedded, Dr. Wyman found another fossil body, which he and Sir C. Lyell immediately suspected to be a Land-Shell allied to Pupa or Clausilia, having the central whorls larger than the anterior and pos- terior ones, and exhibiting the same kind of striation as characterizes the shells of these pulmoniferous mollusks. Dr. Gould, of Boston, detached the same fossil more completely from the matrix (see P1. IV. figs. 1, 2, 3, 4) ; but he was unable to discover the month, so as to enable a conchologist to determine the genus with precision. He observed that in its form and striation it bore no resemblance to any known marine shell. M. Deshayes, when the fossil was shown to him, declared at once his opinion that it was the shell of a pulmoniferous and terrestrial mollusk, of the same family as that to which Helix and Pupa belong. [Doubts, however, having been expressed by other pala~ontologists (since this paper was read) as to the correctness of this conclusion, the specimen was submitted to Prof. Quekett for microscopical examination. Part of the striated or finely grooved surface, on being magnified 50 diameters (see Pl. IV. fig. 5), presented exactly the same appearance as a portion, corresponding in size, of the surface of the common English Pupajuniperi (see P1. IV. fig. 6). On making sections of such parts of the fossil shell as were not in too crystalline a condition to exhibit structure, Prof. Quekett detected the same prismatic or hexagonal tissue and the same tubular structure as are generally characteristic of the shells of molluscs, and as may be seen in the recent Pupa, P. juniperi, before alluded to. See PI. IV. figs. 7-14. One of the sections, moreover, exhibited what may probably have been a portion of the eolumella and spire somewhat crushed (P1. IV. fig. 7, upper part), for, as will be seen by the magnified representation of the entire shell (P1. IV. figs. 2--4), it had been subjected to considerable pressure, and had been slightly flat- tened and fractured.--March 21, 1853.] More than usual hesitation has been felt in acceding to the conclusion that this fossil belonged to the family Helieida~, inasmuch as no land-shell had previously been observed in an.y palseozoic rock; but the mode of occurrence of this body appears m perfect accord- ance with the idea of its being referable to a pulmonfferous mollusk, since it was lying among the rotten wood in the interior of a hollow tree, the upper part of which doubtlessly projected into the air 8 or 9 feet above the roots, or into the water during river inundations. In connexion with the reptilian remains, it may not be irrelevant to observe, that Mr. Logan and Dr. Harding have previously called attention to the foot-prints of a quadruped imprinted on sandy slabs, 9In a plate of the volume of the HistologicalCatalogue, Mus. Coll. Surg., on which Prof. Quekett is now engaged, sections of the bones of recent Batrachians are magnifiedon a uniform scale, namely 440 diameters, and the identity of size and character of the bone.cells can at once be recognized. 1853.] LYELL AND DAWSON--REPTILE AND LAND SHELL. 61 in a lower part of the coal-measures of Nova Scotia, at Horton Bluff, which foot-prints might well correspond in size with the larger animal found in the South Joggins tree, assuming that the small vertebrm indicate a distinct species. Dr. Gesner has also mentioned in a letter to one of the authors, that he has discovered in the lower coal- measures of Parsborough a smaller series of foot-prints supposed to be those of an individual about 5 inches long, or of the size of the common small lizard of Nova Scotia. The mark of the tail between the rows of tracks is, he says, very perfect. These impressions de- serve notice, as they may possibly have some relation to the smaller of the two reptiles above noticed. The only indication of reptilian life detected in America previously to this discovery, in rocks of such high antiquity, were confined to foot-prints in the coal of Pennsylvania. The following section, extracted from our field-notes, being part of a more complete list of the South Joggins strata, is given to enable the reader to understand the exact position of the fossil tree in which the bones occur. We have also subjoined a description of the strata immediately above and below the bed where the bones were found. The locality is that part of the South Joggins coast where vertical trees are most frequent, about half a mile eastward of the Coal Pier. A thickness of 600 feet of strata intervenes between the main coal, called the King's Vein, which is higher in the series, and the reptile- bearing bed, No. 5, see fig. p. 62, there being several thousand feet of well-characterized carboniferous strata both above and below the rocks containing the fossil forests. The dip at the place where the bones were met with is to the south 25 ~ west, at an angle of 20 ~ The beds in the following section are mentioned in the descending order. ft. in. 1. Grey sandstone (Grindstone), with prostrate carbonized trees and fragments of vegetable matter ...... 25 0 9(This bed is about 550 feet below the main coal.) 2. Alternations of shale and bluish argillaceous sandstone, with two erect fluted trees, one of them with Stigmarian roots spreading in shale 3 feet above next bed ...... 14 0 3. Coal and bituminous shale, with Si#iUaria, Stigmaria, Lepidodendron, Calamites, and Poacites or Nee##era- thia? ...... 0 14 4. Underclay, with rootlets of Stigmaria, resting on grey shale, with two thin layers of coaly matter ...... 8 10 5. Grey sandstone, with three erect trees, one having Stig- marian roots ; erect Calamites and stems of unknown plants. (One of the erect trees in this bed contained the bones, teeth, ~c. and land-shell above-mentioned.) 9 0 6. Coal ...... 0 6 7. Underclay, with Stigmaria rootlets ...... 2 0 The bed No. 1 forms a high cliff' and projecting reef, behind which the shore recedes and takes for a short space the direction of the strike of the beds. Owing to this circumstance an unusually large 62 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGIC&L SOCIETY. [Jail. 19,

portion of the beds immediately underlying is exposed and accessible. Thus exposed, the sandstone No. 5 shows, on the beach, a stump 1 foot in height and 1 foot in diameter, having its surface-markings destroyed by the sea, but retaining two distinctly marked Stigmata roots, one of them bifurcating at the distance of 2 feet from the stump. In the cliff are seen, in the same bed, Calataite#, rooted and erect, a plant-stem, somewhat inclined, but apparently having roots attached, and a large vertical tree, 2 feet in diameter at base, and fluted irregularly, but without leaf-scars. This tree springs from the coal No. 6, and extends to the top of No. 5, but the Calamites and stems of some unknown plant are rooted at a higher level, and there are 8tigmaria roots, apparently in r at three distinct levels in the sandstone. One of these levels corresponds to the broken tops of the Calamite stems, another to their base, and the third apparently to the roots of the first stump seen on the beach. These appearances are shown in the following section, which represents these fossils as seen from the shore above mentioned, which follows the strike of the beds.

In tracing this bed a little beyond the large tree represented in the section, see fig., we found on the beach another fossil tree, 22 inches in diameter, which had fallen from the bed No. 5, and had no doubt occu- pied a position similar to that of the large tree still standing. It was a cylindrical cast in sandstone, having on the surface flutings like those of Sigillaria, but without leaf-scars. In the lower part of the cast, the sandstone contained a large quantity of vegetable fragments, as above mentioned (p. 59), principally pieces of carbonized wood, leaves of Nceggerathia or Poaeitesq., and stems of Calamite,. With these vegetable remains we found the bones, jaws, teeth, &c. before alluded to, all distinctly within the lower part of the cast, and scattered among the vegetable fragments contained in it, as if either washed in in separate pieces, or, more probably, mixed with the woody matter, when the animal fell to pieces through decay. A part of the vegetable matter present must have been introduced after the tree became hollow. The creature to which the bones belonged may, therefore, 1853.] LYELL AND DAWSON~REPTILE AND LAND SHELL. 63 either have been washed in after death, or may, when creeping on the surface, have fallen into the open pit caused by the decay of the tree, or it may have crept into some crevice in the trunk before it was finally buried in the mud and sand. The fragments of wood found with the bones, when sliced, show a dense irregular cellular tissue, with scalariform ducts, like those of Ferns. They therefore probably belong to Si#il[aria, and may be parts of the woody tissue of the tree within which they were found. The other vegetable fossils contained in these beds, and the circumstances under which they grew and were entombed, will be fully discussed in another communication to the Geological Society.

DESCRIPTION OF PLATES II., II[., IV. PLATE IL Fig. 1. PARABAT~tACHUSCOLEL Portion of skull ; half nat. size. 12, Post-frontal bone ; 21, maxillary ; 22, premaxillary ; 26, malar ; 27, squamosal ; 73, lacrymal. Fig. 2. DENDR]~B.PETONACADL~.NUM. Portion of lower jaw, with teeth; nat. size. Fig. 3. Small tooth ; a, b, magnified ; c, nat. size. Fig. 4. Base of larger tooth, magnified 289diam. Fig. 5. Cranial bone; nat. size. Fig. 6. Iliac bone; nat. size. Fig. 7. Humerus, with proximal extremity of the radius at a ; nat. size. Fig. 8. The bones of the pelvis and hind leg of the Menobranch~ : a a, b b, the two elements of the lilac bone. PLATE III. DENDREItPETON ACADIANUM. Fig. 1. Rib bone ; nat. size. Figs. 2 a, 2 b. Dermal scutes, magnified 3 diam. Fig. 3. Pharyngeal (?) teeth, and dermal seutes at a ; nat. size. Fig. 4, 5. Vertebrae of the smaller reptile ; nat. size. Fig. 6. Single vertebra ; magnified 4 diam. Fig. 7. Single vertebra from a, fig. 5 ; magnified 4 diam. Fig. 8. Bone-cells from the iliac bone of the Dendrerpeton ~4cadianum, magnified 440 diameters. Fig. 9. Bone-cells from the vertebr~ of the smaller reptile. Fig. 10. Bone-cells from the recent Menobra~whus. PLATE IV. Fig. 1. Land Shell from the interior of fossil tree, nat. size. Fig. 2. ~~, magnified 3 diam. Fig. 3. - , side view, magnified 3 diam. Fig. 4. ~, magnified 8 diam. Fig. 5. , stri~e of the surface. ~ Magn. 50 diam. Fig. 6. Recent Pupa Juniperi, ditto. J Fig. 7. Fossil Land Shell, section of part of, magnified 25 diam. Fig. 8. , microscopical structure of the same, showing hexagonal cells, magnified 500 diam. Fig. 9. , section of a chipping, with hexagonal cells. Fig. 10.]. , tubuliferous structure. ! Fig. 11. j LMagn. 250 Fig. 12. . , prismatic structure, r diam. Fig. 13. Recent Pupa Juniperi, hexagonal cell-structure of. Fig. 14. , prismatic cell-structure of. J VOL. IX.--PART I. F 64 PROCEEDINGSOF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jail. 19,

NOTES On the REPTILIAN I~EMAINS. ]~y Dr, JEFFRIES WYMAN, Professor of Anatomy in Harvard College, Cambridge, U.S.t [PLATES II. and III.] 1. P1. II. fig. 6. This bone (on the specimen marked No. 1 ~) resembles one of the bones of the pelvis of Menobranchus; its two articulating surfaces corresponding with those which are attached to the extremities of the sacral vertebra, fig. 8 a. The extremity, a*, in Menobranchus is cartilaginous, but if this were completely ossified, the resemblance to the fossil becomes very strong. The bone under consideration has a double articulating surface at one extremity, is contracted in the middle, and becomes broad at the other end, where it is quite thin. It has been compared to the lateral portion of the hyoid arch of ganoid fishes. In LeTidosteus and ~4raia the part which corresponds in shape with this bone consists of three pieces united by cartilage or ligament. (See Agassiz, Osteology of Lepidosteus, Poiss. Foss. vol. ii. pl. B. fig. 3, 37, as, 3~.) In the instance before us, the bone is undivided, and the form is quite dig ferent from that seen in any described species of Le~idosteus. 2. PI. II. fig. 7. This bone (specimen No. 2) is somewhat similar to the preceding, but larger, and differing materially in its details. Of the two processes at the extremity, one is provided with a hemi- spherical articulating head, giving the parts a strong resemblance to the upper portion of a femur. At the other extremity the bone becomes broad w 3. P1. II. fig. 2. Specimen No. 3 contains fragments of a large portion of a jaw, with a few teeth attached. The jaw is hollow near the symphysis, as well as at the other extremity, as is seen by re- moving an upper fragment of the stone. When examined on its inner surface, a portion of the pterygoid or palatine bone may be seen very nearly in its natural position. There are other portions of jaws with teeth, and, in one fragment, the base of a fractured tooth projects through the charcoal, which on close examination will be found to have its dentine convoluted as in Lepidosteus and Archegosaurus (see P1. II. fig. 4). This tooth is larger than any others connected in these specimens with portions of the jaws. The teeth, therefore, are of two kinds, but all appear to be more or less hollow. The smaller series do not seem to be either striated or convoluted externally, though there are some faint traces of folding at the base of the single detached tooth, specimen No. 30 (P1. II. fig. 3). The larger teeth, one of which (specimen No. 17) was before mentioned, are very distinctly folded at the base, and present un- equivocal Labyrinthodontic structure in having the dentinal substance t The following notes are extracted by Sir C. Lyell, in compliancewith the wishes of Dr. Wyman,from a longer and ~nore special description of each of the numerous fragments of bone submitted to his examination. These numbers have reference to the series of specimensbrought to England by Sir C. Lyeil. w See note by Prof. Owen, p. 66. ~u~r'.,Tot:n. :%e,i. ,%r ~v%l~f Pi J.

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Nova' Scotwt . 1853.] WYMAN~CARBONIFEROUS REPTILE. 65 convoluted, and processes of the pulp-cavity extending between the folds (see fig. 4). The coexistence of two kinds of teeth above-mentioned is met with in both Arche#osaurus and s among Reptiles, and in Zepidosteus and other allied Ganoids among Fishes. The minute teeth seen on the fractured edge of specimen No. 16, and on the surface of No. 22 (P1. III. fig. 3), appear to be pharyngeal, but may nevertheless belong to the pterygoid or palatine bones ; this last supposition is sustained by the fact that in specimen No. 16 a tooth of larger size coexists with the smaller ones, which would be less likely to occur among pharyngeals. 4. On the edge of specimen No. 8 is a well-preserved bone, en- larged at either extremity, resembling one of the bones of a reptilian fore-arm or leg. 5. Specimen No. 9 contains a strongly curved bone, nearly cylindrical in the centre, but which is quite broad and thin at either extremity. In its general shape it resembles the bone marked b, in the sketch of the pelvis of Menobranchus (P1. II. fig. 8). This bone ar- ticulates in ichthyoid reptiles with the fib-like bone to which I have already compared No. l, fig. 6, & fig. 8 a. According to Prof. Owen, both the bones here referred to, taken together, constitute the ilium or pleurapophysis. 6. With the above-mentioned bones occur numerous small scales, or bony plates, with indistinct concentric markings (see P1. III. fig. 2), and also sculptured dermal or cranial bones of a larger size (specimen No. 4, P1. II. fig. 5). The former are seen in specimens Nos. 1, 19, 22, 23, 25, 26 ; the latter, in specimens Nos. 4, 15, 16, 17, 18, and resemble the cranial bones of Arche#osaurus, as well as those of some of the Ganoid fishes. These scales and plates re- spectively have such similarity of style as to render it probable that they belong to one individual. 7. To sum up the characters of the animal to which the above- described bones belonged, we may describe the head as having been covered with bony plates, the surface of which was distinctly sculptured. The teeth were of two kinds, a smaller series attached to the jaws, and a larger or folded series, which may have been attached either to jaws, pterygoids, palatines, or vomer. The coexistence of these two kinds of teeth is met with in Labyrinthodons and Ganoid Fishes. If the. bones marked Nos. 1 and 9 (see above, Notes 1 and 5), resembling a and b, fig. 8, P1. II. (the iliac bones of Menobranchus), are true pelvic bones, then it becomes highly probable that the animal to which the above-described bones and teeth belonged was allied to Labyrinthodont reptiles. 8. All the fossil remains hitherto mentioned may have belonged to one individual between 2 and 3 feet in length ; but on some of the same specimens of stone (Nos. 11, 12, and part of No. 1), there are several small biconcave vertebrae, usually more or less crushed, which seem to have formed part of a much smaller species, probably not more than 5 or 6 inches in length (see P1. III. figs. 4 to 7). In the finest specimen, No. 12 (P1. III. fig. 5), may be seen in one part a F2 66 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. ~Jan. 19, connected series of nine, and in another a series of three of these vertebrae, all of an elongated shape. In the series of nine, the absence of spinous processes shows that the under surface is exposcd, malso that they belong to either the dorsal or lumbar region. The transverse processes are largely developed, are broad at their bases, and contracted almost to a point at their free extremity (P1. III. fig. 6). Imperfect traces of what appear to be ribs are visible near the third, sixth, and seventh vertebrae. In the series of three vertebrae, distinct articulating processes can be traced, in part from the fragments of bone, and in part from the casts in which they were lodged. In specimen No. l, from which No. 12 was detached, may be seen casts of the under surface of the nine vertebrae, also some fragments of the series of three : traces of a spinal canal may be seen, if they are carefully examined in the direction of their length. These elongated vertebrae, with hourglass-shaped bodies, well developed triangular transverse processes, and distinct articulating processes, all these characters being taken together, bear closer resemblance to the conditions of Salamanders and Ichthyoid Reptiles than to Fishes. The biconcave vertebrae, though they are to be met with in some Salamanders, yet are more confined among reptiles to the ichthyoid species. No vertebrae, ribs, or spinous processes which could be referable to the larger animal before described have been found.

NOTES on the above-describedFossxL REMAINS. By Prof. OWEN, F.R.S., G.S. &c. HAVING, in compliance with the request of Dr. Wyman, examined and compared the subjects of his Memoirs, the results of such com- parisons, agreeably with his desire, are here subjoined. PI. II. fig. 6. The bone, specimen No. 1, most resembles the proximal or upper element of the iliac bone of the Menopoma: it may have an equal or perhaps closer resemblance to that of the Meno- branchus, but the skeleton of this perennibranchiate batrachian does not exist in the Museum of the College of Surgeons, or in the British Museum. P1. II. fig. 7. The bone, No. 2, so far as the fractured surface permits the comparison to be made, accords best with the humerus of the MenoSranchus. It shows the same sub-bicondyloid distal end, and the characteristic deltoid and pectoral plates or crests near the proximal end. It has nearly the same proportion to No. 1 which the humerus bears to the upper element of the ilium in the Meno- poma. Near the distal end of No. 2 is the articular end of a smaller bone, fig. 7 a, corresponding in size and shape with the head of the radius in the Menopome. P1. II. fig. 5. The flat bone* (No. 4), with a slight convexity on the sculptured surface, and a slighter concavity on the opposite smooth surface, resembles in the character of the sculptured surface some of the broad and fiat cranial bones of Labyrinthodon. The deep radiating grooves, at the peripheral part of the bone, give the appear- * See Note 6 of Prof. Wyman's Observations, p. 65. 1853.] OWEN--BRITISH CARBONIFEROUS REPTILE. 67 ante of rays ; but this appearance seems to be due to the abrasion or removal of the very thin parts of the bone impressed by the grooves, the thicker raised interspaces being left. No. 9 shows the half-twist characteristic of the bone (lower or distal element of the ilium) alluded to by Dr. Wyman (see above, p. 65, No. 5), which character, however, is manifested by most of the long bones of the Menopoma. In reference, however, to the bone in the hyoid arch of Ganoid fishes, to which this and other of the long bones in the fossil in question have been compared, I would remark, that the half-twisted character is not present in the eerato-hyal, or other element of the hyoid apparatus, in the Lepidosteus, approaching in shape to any of the long bones of the fossil: and I would further remark, that the sum of the evidences afforded by the several remains agrees best with the characters derived from the skeletons of the perennibranchiate Batrachians. Although a single bone, amongst the series obtained from the Nova-Scotian coal-tree, may show some resemblance to the cerato-hyal of a LeTidosteus or rtmia, the characters of all the other fossil bones accord closer with those of the above-cited batrachian skeletons, and do not repeat the characters of any bone in the known existing ganoid and salamandroid fishes. Had the fossil bones found in the coal-tree belonged to a ganoid fish, although one pair --the cerato-hyals--might have resembled certain long bones of a batrachian, those of the rest of the skeleton would have offered un- mistakeable piscine characters, whilst these are not shown by any of the bones extracted from the coal-tree. P.S. [March 9, 1853.l--Although the long bones have been compared by Dr. Wyman and myself to those in the skeletons of existing Perennibranchians, it is not improbable that the corresponding bones in the Archegosaurus and Labyrinthodon would present similar cor- respondences:and the sculptured surface of No. 4 (P1. II. fig. 5)offers significant evidence of the closer affinity of the Nova-Scotian coal-field reptile to those that have been discovered in formations of corresponding age in Europe. The reptile or batrachian in question cannot be referred to any known species of 2frchegosaurus or Lahyrinthodon ; and, it having been suggested that it would be convenient to the geolo~st to have a provisional name for this fossil, that of Dendrerpeton ~Ica- dianum is proposed : the generic name having reference to the peculiar circumstances under which the fossil reptile was found, and the specific name indicating the geographical position of the coal-ficld,--2tcadia being the ancient Indian name of Nova Scotia.

2. Notice of a BATRACHOID FOSSIL in BRITISH COAL-SHALE. By Professor OWEN, F.R.S., G.S. &c. ~PLATE II.] WHILST in the museum of the Earl of Enniskillen, during a visit at Florence Court, after the Belfast Meeting of the British Association, September 1852, my attention was called by Prof. M'Coy to a coal- shale fossil in a drawer of unnamed and unarranged specimens,