Proceedings of the Royal Society for the month of August, 1876

Abstract

The usual monthly evening meeting of the Society was held on Tuesday 8th August; His Excellency the Governor, President, in the chair. The Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods then read a paper on a new species of Ampullaria with some observations on Swainson's genus Thelidomus, of which a species occurs in Tasmania, the animal being unknown. The Bishop asked whether the Gault formation was found in Australia, and if the Sauroid fishes were such as Ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus. He regretted that he could not be present during the former lecture as well as on this occasion, but should like to add another question. He remembered that geologists of a few years' back had called attention to the persistence in Australia of secondary forms such as Trigonice and Terebratulae, and would wish to know whether these resemblances had been increased or lessened by subsequent investigations? Mr. Stephens bore testimony to the cretaceous character of the formations around the Gulf of Carpentaria. He himself had seen fossils, such as Belemnites, Inoceramus, etc., which, he was informed, might be gathered in great quantities from the surface. His Excellency said that in New Zealand extensive Mesozoic formations had been discovered, which were very similar in every respect to contemporary formations of Europe.