The number of fossil species of Fusus is considerable, but they do not date back from a very high antiquity. None are enumerated by Tate and Blake from the Lias of Yorkshire. Certain forms from the Upper Lias of Normandy, referred by Deslongchamps to Fusus, have not been accepted as such, and the first of the genus admitted by D'Orbigny is Fusus nodulosus, Desl., from the Great Oolite of Langrune. Even this almost comes within the genus Brachytrema of Lycett (Ool. Moll. p. 24), instituted to include some small turbinated forms with highly ornamented whorls and a short oblique canal.

The first Pterosaurians discovered were recognized as flying animals, but were thought to be bats. As soon as their general structure became known, they were classed with the Reptiles, although it was considered possible that their power of flight was due to feathers. Later, their bones were mistaken for those of Birds by various experienced anatomists, and others regarded them as sharing important characters with that group. Some anatomists, however, believed that the fore limbs of Pterodactyles were used for swimming, rather than for flight, and this view has found supporters within the present decade. A single fortunate discovery, made a few years since, has done much to settle the question as to the wings of Pterodactyles, as well as their mode of flight, and it is the aim of the present article to place on record some of the more important facts thus brought to light.

Through the kindness of Mr. J. J. Harris Teall, F.G.S., I have been enabled to examine a hand-specimen of the above rock, gathered by himself at a point about half-way between the village of Mosedale and the summit of Carrock Fell. In general appearance it coincides with the white or grey variety of the hypersthenite of Mr. J. C. Ward, and which is described by him generally as “a coarsely crystalline compound of plagioclase felspar and hypersthene, with scattered grains of titaniferous iron oxide, and more or less quartz,” remarking that “the hypersthene may be replaced by a hornblendic mineral or may occur in conjunction with it.”

A sound like that of a cannon ball passing through the air was heard by four observers near Warrenton. On looking up they saw an object falling, which struck a tree, breaking off the limbs, and then coming to the ground with a crash. The observers were fifty or sixty mètres distant from the spot where it fell. The snow was melted where it fell. From the fragments found, it appears to have had a conical form, and to have been about eighteen inches in length. The pieces, although warm, were easily handled. It is estimated that the stone weighed about one hundred pounds, but only about from ten to fifteen pounds weight have been preserved.

In the Midland Counties the rocks mapped as Permian are considered on all sides, if Permian at all, to belong to the Lower or Rothliegende series; we need not therefore stop to discuss them at any great length here. The chief authorities are Mr. Howell and the late Prof. Jukes. In Warwickshire the case is a simple one: there is, according to Mr. Howell, a general unconformity of the rocks called Permian with the Triassic strata which lie above them. In the Staffordshire area the case is somewhat different. After a careful perusal of Mr. Jukes's Memoir, I fail to find that his survey of the district enabled him to furnish any direct evidence of the unconformity between the Permians and the Trias, in the existence of which he expresses his belief in the text.

The best test of the difficulty of an inquiry is the number of theories which its solution has evolved. If we test the subjectmatter of the present communication in this way, we shall be assured that, second only perhaps to the Loess, which has occupied us previously, it may claim pre-eminence for the difficulty of the problems which surround it. We only venture upon a tentative solution. Such a solution is in effect the only one which is available in science at all; for to-morrow's fiercer light is certain to throw out of perspective some of to-day's most cherished convictions; and finality is outside the pale of all living and fertile inquiry.