bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Notes on Brocchi’s Collection of Subapennine Shells
Authors: Jeffreys J. Gwyn 
Published: October 2009

H
aving
lately passed through Milan on my way to Venice, I took the opportunity of examining the collection of fossil shells made by Professor Brocchi and described in his classical work ‘Conchiologia fossile subapennina’. That remarkable work was published in 1814, when the study of palæontology was almost in its infancy. It was based on the Linnean system and nomenclature.

Giovanni Battista Brocchi was not only a celebrated geologist but also a botanist, an entomologist, and an antiquary. His first essay was on Egyptian sculpture, and was published at Venice in 1792, when he was only 20 years old. His other works on different subjects were about fifty in number. In 1802 he was appointed to the chair of natural history at Brescia, and he afterwards became Inspector of Mines in Lombardy. He died in 1826, at the age of 54.
The first volume of the ‘Conchiologia’ contains an interesting introduction, an elaborate treatise on the progress of the study of fossil conchology in Italy from 1300 to 1811, and geological remarks on the Subapennine and adjacent formations. The second volume is devoted to the enumeration and description of the fossil shells, and is illustrated by 16 well-executed copper plates. The ‘Conchiologia’ is a monument of careful and conscientious labour, and is invaluable to every palæontologist.
The collection was shown to me, in the absence of Professor Stoppani, by Signor Francesco Molinari, an assistant at the Civico Museo of the Reale Istituto, whose courteous attention I am glad to acknowledge.
The Geology of Monte Somma and Vesuvius, being a Study in Vulcanology
Authors: Johnston-Lavis H. J. 
Published: October 2009

T
he
general form and outline of Monte Somma, the relation of the cone of Vesuvius piled around the recent eruptive axis, to that of the prehistoric one, have been so often alluded to by various authors, that the subject might appear exhausted.

If Monte Somma is viewed from the north, for example from the bridge at Marigliano, it presents to the view certain characteristics of many volcanic cones. Its eastern and western flanks rise from the fertile Campanian plain at a gradually increasing angle, until at an average of 1050 metres of altitude, the outline becomes horizontal, presenting an irregular crenated ridge. In fact it exhibits that symmetry of form so characteristic of many truncated volcanic cones.
If the observer has chosen the early morning, the sunlight falling obliquely across the face of the slopes brings out in all the detail of sharply cut light and shade, the ravines or valleys with which the mountain sides are scored.
As the observer winds round the base in a westerly direction, the above-described apparent regularity disappears. From Naples, which lies very nearly west of Somma, the line of truncation is seen to slope from the Punta del Nasone 1137 metres, the highest point on the northern ridge, to the Pedimentina, 650 metres, the summit of the old crater-ridge on the southern side. This curve is concave downwards, and of irregular outline. It marks the edge of the great crater that was excavated by one, or a series of eruptions, which culminated in
On the Skull and Dentition of a Triassic Mammal (
Tritylodon longævus
, Owen) from South Africa
Authors: Owen Richard 
Published: October 2009

A
collection
of fossils from the Trias of Thaba-chou, Basuto-land, submitted to me by Dr. Exton of Bloemfontein, Cape of Good Hope, included the subject of the present paper. It was associated with remains of some of the Reptilian genera (
Kisticephalus, Batrachosaurus
, e. g.) described in my ‘Catalogue of the Fossil Reptilia of South Africa in the British Museum’.

It is a skull with mammalian characters, lacking the hinder cranial end and the mandible, but retaining with the upper jaw its dentition, though many of the teeth are more or less mutilated. This dentition consists of incisors and molars, with a diastema of the relative extent shown in many Rodents and some Marsupials. The subjoined figures (Pl. VI. figs. 1–4), being of the natural size, dispense with notes of admeasurements.
The matrix adhering to this fossil is identical in colour, density, and composition, with that attached to the Labyrinthodont and other Reptilian remains therewith associated: the degree of petrifaction and the specific gravity of the mammalian fossil are the same. No Tertiary deposits or any recent petrifying formation, inducing such mineral change in bone and contiguous bed, exist in the locality whence this skull and the associated organic remains were obtained.
In the preserved portion of the cranium (Pl. VI. figs. 1,2,3) sutural tracts are recognizable: these determine the pair of parietal bones by the portions of them, 7, 7, which contribute to the calvarium; they meet above the upper mid line, and there develope a crest which has undergone
On the Cranial and Vertebral Characters of the
Crocodilian
Genus
Plesiosuchus
, Owen
Authors: Owen Richard 
Published: October 2009

I
n
the ‘Preliminary Remarks’ to the palæontology of the Crocodilian Reptiles, Cuvier urges the need of a precise determination of the generic characters, with regard to which he writes, “observations, however novel, lose all their merit, unless they rest on this basis”.

He proceeds to exemplify the apophthegm by descriptions which have never been surpassed of new and interesting species of extinct Reptiles, especially Crocodilian, which he shows to have been erroneously referred to other previously defined genera.
Cuvier refrained from attaching generic names, distinct from those of his “subgenera” of existing Crocodiles, to the extinct forms of which his keen and careful observations had detected characters since generally admitted to merit such distinction, and of which a contemporary availed himself.

The characters which Cuvier defines as forming for the Crocodiles a “very natural genus” are now recognized as defining an ordinal group of the class Reptilia. But of this group he admits and names “Subgenera,” and to their distinctive characters he devotes special “Sections,” as, for example, “I°, Espèces de Caymans” (p. 30); “II°, Espèces de Crocodiles” (p. 42); “III°, Espèces de Gavials” (p. 59). Our Catalogues accordingly admit these groups of
Crocodilia
, under the generic names
Alligator, Crocodilus, Gavialis
.

In the
Section
III, “Sur les
Ossemens Fossiles
de Crocodiles,” the vertebral, dental, and narial characters of the extinct species are defined, and those of the “Secondary” or “Mesozoic” formations are of higher value than he assigns to his recent “Subgenera;” but he forbears to invent special terms for
On Streptelasma Rœmeri, a New Coral from the Wenlock Shale
Authors: Duncan P. Martin 
Published: October 2009

V
ery
numerous specimens of simple Corals belonging to the Rugosa were found in the washed Wenlock Shale prepared by G. Maw, Esq., F.G.S. Amongst them are forms which have not hitherto been described, but which are allied to a species from Girvan. They belong to the genus
Streptelasma
, Hall, and are specifically distinct from any others. As the variability of some parts of these Corals is great, and there are some interesting points about their morphology, I have brought them before the Society in this communication.

The corallum is simple, free, reversely conical in shape, slightly bent and horn-like, sharp at the base, longer than broad, and with a circular or elliptical calicular margin.
The calice is widely open, shallow, and has a central depression leading to a more or less distinct fossula. About fifty costæ cover the corallum, and they are subequal in breadth, slightly rounded, and separated by linear depressions. Their length differs according to their position and direction, and there are four sets of them: three on the convex side of the bent corallum and partly on the flanks, and one on the concave side and partly on the flanks (figs. 4, 5, 6).
Of the three sets on the convex side, one is composed of two costæ placed side by side, and reaching from the base to the calice in a vertical line. They are usually slightly larger than the other costæ, and are very distinct and parallel (fig. 5). There is another set on either
On some Tracks of Terrestrial and Freshwater Animals
Authors: Hughes T. M’Kenny 
Published: October 2009

T
he
ancient rock-markings known as “Bilobites,” and afterwards described by D’Orbigny under the name of
Cruziana
, have long been known, and have proved a fertile source of controversy, some regarding them as plant-remains, and others looking upon them as traces of animals. A host of smaller, but similar markings, such as
Rysophycus
or simpler forms, as
Palæochorda
, or the various very constant and symmetrical varieties known as
Nereites
and
Myrianites
, or those with a more plant-like outline, as
Chondrites
, all belong to the same line of inquiry. Few writers on the Cambrian and Silurian rocks have not had to refer to what they called fucoidal markings, or worm-tracks, which often have their importance increased by being the only traces of life in the bed. Throughout the geological series to the present day, similar things are found.

But though observations on the tracks made by recent animals had long ago been made by Emmons (American Geology, Pt. vi. 1857), and though Dawson had watched and recorded the various markings produced between tides on the long shores of the Bay of Fundy (Acadian Geology, p. 25), it has remained for Nathorst, in his splendid monograph on “Tracks of Invertebrate Animals” (K. Svenska Vet. Academiens Handlingar, Band xviii. No. 7), to place the whole question on a new footing by his experiments with living marine animals, and his extended observations on recent and fossil forms.
The very full bibliography given by him renders it unnecessary to refer more particularly to the various authors
On Further Discoveries of Vertebrate Remains in the Triassic Strata of the South Coast of Devonshire, between Budleigh Salterton and Sidmouth
Authors: Metcalfe A. T. 
Published: October 2009

M
y
special object in making this communication is to bring under the notice of the Society some further vertebrate remains which have been obtained by my friend H. J. Carter, Esq., F.R.S., of Budleigh Salterton, from the Triassic strata of the south coast of Devon, between Budleigh Salterton and Sidmouth, and are now deposited in the Geological Department of the British Museum of Natural History, at South Kensington.

In order to fix the precise geographical and stratigraphical position of these extremely rare and interesting specimens, I propose to commence with a brief reference to the coast section (fig. 1, p. 258).
The Upper Sandstones (following Mr. Ussher’s classification of the Triassic rocks of Devonshire), in which the before-mentioned fossils were found, crop out in the cliffs at Budleigh Salterton. Near their outcrop the beds are coarse and conglomeratic, but they become less and less so as we follow them along the dip towards Sidmouth, which lies about six miles to the east.
About two miles before Sidmouth is reached, the cliffs suddenly rise to the height of 513 feet at a spot called “High Peake Hill,” where the sandstones are capped by the Upper Marls (Triassic), the Upper Greensand, and supracretaceous gravel. The section at this point is approximately as follows:— On the Budleigh Salterton or western side of High Peake Hill is a steep slope leading to a stile on the brink of the cliff, whence a stratum in the sandstones, somewhat lighter in colour than the
On the Volcanic Group of St. David’s
Authors: Blake J. F. 
Published: October 2009

The discordant views which at the present moment prevail on the subject of the oldest rocks in the St. David’s district, and the interest which attaches to these rocks according to one at least of the interpretations, induced me, after a visit to the Highland regions on which the same discordance is shown (hut where nature seemed to differ widely from her earlier and disputant interpreters), to attack the St. David’s problem independently, and to stay in the district long enough to come to a conclusion as to the true nature and age of the rocks.
Finding myself in accord neither with Dr. Hicks on the one hand, nor with Dr. Geikie on the other, but led irresistibly to the more simple results so ably shadowed forth by Mr. Hudleston, I cannot refrain from offering to the Society the evidences on which my conclusions are based; as I cannot suppose that the reply which Dr. Hicks will doubtless produce, will represent the same and, as I believe, the true view of the question.
The result of my observations may be thus briefly stated:—all the rocks which have been designated Dimetian, Arvonian, and Pebidian, round and near the city of St. David’s, belong to one volcanic series, whose members are those usually recognized in eruptive areas, and whose age is anterior to and independent of the true Cambrian epoch.

An a
priori
argument in favour of this view is, that it unites the essential features of both the other interpretations; it
On a Recent Exposure of the Shelly Patches in the Boulder-Clay at Bridlington Quay
Authors: Lamplugh G. W. 
Published: October 2009

T
he
arctic Molluscan fauna obtained from Bridlington many years ago attracted the attention of many observers, and yielded results of great interest. But though the fauna was carefully studied, the deposit from which it came was comparatively neglected; and as that part of the cliff from which the shells were first obtained was built over, in raising sea-walls for the protection of the town, soon after the bed was discovered, much misconception has arisen as to the nature and position of the deposit. And, the bed being inaccessible to the later workers who established the present system of divisions in our Yorkshire drifts, it came to be described as a
seam
or
bed of shelly sand in place
, in the
Purple
Boulder-clay.

Two years ago, however, I was able to show that neither these shells nor those similarly found at Dimlington, near Spurn Point, had been obtained from beds in place, but from masses of sand and clay occurring as boulders in the
Basement
Boulder-clay. This I endeavoured to prove, not only by evidence collected during the building of a new sea-wall at Bridlington, but also by reference to the accounts of the beds themselves, given by their early investigators.

But as there is still a tendency to hold that the Bridlington shells occurred in place, I am glad to be able to bring forward further evidence bearing on this point, and at the same time to add materially to our knowledge of the fauna of the deposit.
During the
Appendix D. Note on the Ostracoda and Foraminifera of the shelly Patches
Authors: Crosskey H. W. 
Published: October 2009

An examination of the material obtained by Mr. G. W. Lamplugh during the recent exposure of the shelly patches in the Boulder-clay at Bridlington, has both added to the catalogue and confirmed the previously existing evidence of the arctic character of the Ostracoda and Foraminifera contained in that bed.
In making this examination, I have to acknowledge the valuable assistance I have received from Mr. G. S. Brady, with respect to the Ostracoda, and from Mr. H. B. Brady with respect to the Foraminifera. From the facts to be narrated it would appear that the new exposure reveals the same deposit as that to which the name of Bridlington Crag was given when it was first observed; and Mr. Lamplugh informs me that its position on the beach agrees exactly with the early accounts.
In order that the general character of the group of Ostracoda may be clearly understood, it is necessary to refer to the investigations that have already been made, especially since the identity of the newer and older exposures is a point of importance.

In the “Monograph of the Tertiary Entomostraca of England,” by T. Rupert Jones, two species of Ostracoda are described, for which Bridlington is the only locality given, viz.
Cythere concinna
, Jones, and
Cytheridea Sorbyana
, Jones. Neither of these species, wrote Mr. Sorby, “have been met with any where else either living or fossil.”

Since the date of these publications both
Cythere concinna
and
Cytheridea Sorbyana
have, however, been found living as far north
A Comparative and Critical Revision of the Madreporaria of the White Lias of the Middle and Western Counties of England, and of those of the Conglomerate at the base of the South-Wales Lias
Authors: Tomes Robert F. 
Published: October 2009

T
he
purpose of the present paper is a twofold one—to point out the identity of certain Madreporaria from the Rhætic White Lias of Warwickshire and the Western counties with species from the South-Wales Liassic Conglomerate, and to show that a greater number than has been supposed are identical also with corals from the St. Cassian beds.

In 1878, when my paper on Liassic Corals was published in the Society’s Journal, I thought I had exhausted the whole of the material at command. However, a recent examination of Prof. Duncan’s types of species of Madreporaria from the Glamorganshire Lias, collected by the late Mr. Moore, and now in the Bath Museum, and the acquisition of a considerable collection made at Sutton during the present year (1883) by my friends Mr. W. C. Lucy, F.G.S., and Mr. T. J. Slatter, F.G.S., and by myself, has led me to re-examine the several species. The results of such examination I now lay before the Society; but before doing so, it is desirable that I should briefly notice the several papers which have appeared on the subject. Unfortunately the greater part of them are so far controversial, and even contradictory within themselves, as to render their conclusions, to say the least of it, far less valuable than they otherwise would have been.
The present observations were made upon a small but thick slice of obsidian from Java, given me some years ago by Prof. W. Chandler Roberts. On examining this section under the microscope, in
On some Zaphrentoid Corals from British Devonian Beds
Authors: Champernowne A. 
Published: October 2009

T
he
authors of the monograph of “The Devonian Fossil Corals,” in the Palæontographical Society’s volume for 1853, described and figured two species only of Devonian corals included in their subfamily Zaphrentinæ, namely
Hallia Pengellii
of those authors, and
Amplexus tortuous
Phillips. Since the publication of that work fresh material has been accumulating, and this will eventually necessitate a complete revision of the Devonian corals, involving, it may be, the admission of some new genera and the fusion of others.

To this end the way has been already paved to some extent by several palæontologists. For example, the genus
Battersbyia
, E. and H., has (metaphorically) had its corallites
extricated
from the so-called “cœnenchyma,” and been classed by Dr. Duncan as a precursor of the aporose corals of the Mesozoic and later ages, under the family Palæastræidae; whilst the “cœnenchyma” itself is manifestly, in various
Battersbyiæ, Stromatopora
of different kinds. Hence the name, though retained, has come to bear a very different meaning from that attached to it by its authors.

In treating therefore of a particular branch of the subject, I have confined myself to noticing, and having figured, the best specimens which are at present available to me; but it must not be supposed that even this branch is brought up to date, as, with two exceptions only, the fossils I shall attempt to describe are all in my own collection, and I have scarcely ventured to go further than that.
With such very disconnected material at hand one can
On the Pre-Cambrian Rocks of Pembrokeshire, with especial reference to the St. David’s District
Authors: Hicks Henry 
Published: October 2009

The papers on the Pre-Cambrian Rocks of St. David’s which I communicated to the Geological Society in the years 1876, 1878, and 1879, gave the facts concerning those rocks so far as they were then known. Since then I have revisited that district on several occasions, and have been able to obtain very much additional information in regard to them. Most of this has proved highly confirmatory of my previous conclusions, and it has shown that all the main points insisted upon in those papers are correct. Some of the evidence has tended, however, to cause me to adopt minor modifications of the views expressed; but this is only what I was quite prepared to expect, as further researches were being prosecuted in this and other areas. The growth of the question, so fraught with difficulties at first from its novelty and from the want of that special knowledge which time and experience alone can give, has been, I readily confess, “a process of development during a course of years.” Of this I am not in the slightest degree ashamed; for as my sole object has been to arrive at the truth concerning these rocks, I have always been anxious to correct errors when made clear, as the result of fuller information, and also when they have been pointed out at any time by those whose special experience enabled them to do so.
The additional information now submitted has been gradually accumulated since my last paper was read in 1879;
Appendix.—Notes on the Microscopic Structure of some Rocks from Pembrokeshire
Authors: Davies Thomas 
Published: October 2009

Nos. 1–5. These are textural varieties of the Dimetian, Nos. 1 and 2 being from Porth-lisky, Nos. 3 and 4 from Porth-clais, and No. 5 from a quarry south of the Camp. It is difficult to add to the descriptions already given of this rock. The quartz is of a peculiarly dirty aspect, being filled with enclosures, by far the larger portion of which are not fluid, but of a fine dusty nature, resembling much the dusty débris of felspars. It is often of a rounded character, like that of a typical quartz -felsite, and frequently in isolated crystals, surrounded by a mass of what may be immature or undeveloped rather than altered felspar. There is orthoclase and sometimes plagioclase and microcline. No mica is present, but in No. 4 there are evidences of the former presence either of hornblende or of biotite, probably the latter. The green chloritic mineral occupies interstices or fissures, or partly replaces the felspars, and it presents no indication of its having resulted from the decomposition of a micaceous constituent. A rhombohedral carbonate is present in No. 1, which is probably a dolomite. The peculiar dendrito-graphic structure existing between the quartz and the felspar is very striking in Nos. 2 and 3—a rock which, probably from crushing, presents a remarkably brecciated aspect. No. 5 is banded, the darker bands containing much of a fine-grained translucent grey mineral, which depolarizes light.
I may remark here that on a former occasion I thought this rock might be