THE Lower Cambrian genus Salterella, Billings, has lately received a good deal of attention in connection with the problem of the origin of the Cephalopoda. The genus, it may be remembered, was first described by its author as undoubtedly allied to Serpulites i.e. a worm-tube, but it was soon transferred by Billings himself to the pteropods. Barrande and Walcott also considered Salterella to be related to Tentaculites and Hyolithes. Clark (1925), who revised the genus, came to the conclusion that Salterella was a cephalopod, and not by any means a primitive type, but it did not seem to him to be ancestral to any subsequent form. Poulsen (1927) accepted this view, stating that the cephalopod characters were very conspicuous, but his later (1932) restoration of an East Greenland form, identified with S. rugosa from Labrador, is no more convincing than was Clark's restoration of S. conulata. Unfortunately, the genotype species of Salterella (S. rugosa Billings) is still incompletely known and I agree with Teichert (1935) that further investigation is needed before the real nature of Salterella can be held to be established. If the “septal necks” are still a doubtful feature and if the very existence of a “siphuncle” is open to question, as Teichert rightly says, it is clearly as premature to visualize Salterella as a possible forerunner of the holochoanites (Schuchert, in Schindewolf, 1929) as it is to connect the equally doubtful Volborthella with either holochoanites (Teichert and Kobayashi) or orthochoanites (Schindewolf, 1934).

THE fossil material collected from the Ordovician limestones of Akpatok Island, N.W.T., by Mr. Ian Cox during the Oxford Hudson Straits Expedition in 1931, included a specimen whose affinities could not be determined from a superficial examination. In asking me to report on the Polyzoa from these rocks, Mr. Cox suggested that I might also investigate this doubtful form, since it resembled in many respects certain massive Polyzoa. Critical examination by means of thin sections has shown, however, that it is not a Polyzoan but a Tabulate Coral referable to the genus Chaetetes.

Following the recent discovery at Sandling (near Hythe) of a Hypacanthoplites of the group of H. milletianus (d'Orb.) in place (i.e. below the regularis level), and still comparatively high up in the Folkestone Sands, collecting at this locality was intensified, for it was realized that we now had the attractive possibility of bridging over for the first time the enormous time interval separating the latest Aptian faunas from the earliest known Albian examples of this country. Unfortunately in this respect we were to be disappointed, for although further ammonoid faunas were brought to light, they proved to be of uppermost Aptian age, and therefore substantiated this gap in the British sequence. However, despite that we have been able to extend the Aptian high into the Folkestone Sands, what is more important, we have obtained the first indication of a milletianus fauna in this country.

The nodules examined have been shown to contain a variety of minerals and to exhibit certain mineralogical and structural differences from one another or within the nodules themselves. The mineralogical differences serve to separate five definite types of mineral facies. There are also described types transitional between the nodules themselves, and between them and the surrounding rock, grading from types sufficiently aluminous to exclude the formation of wollastonite to less aluminous types in which this mineral is formed.

Owing to insufficiently prolonged variations of the metamorphic conditions equilibrium has not been established, and a remarkable series of replacement structures has been left in the rock by means of which the course of several stages of its metamorphism has been established.

Lack of knowledge concerning the metamorphic conditions previous to changes due to the influence of the surrounding diorite, the isolated character of the nodules and the intricacy of the relationships between the minerals render the origin and metamorphism of these nodules subject to a variety of interpretations. The balance of evidence seems in favour of the one put forward here.

IN the investigation of the somewhat poorly exposed Dalradian rocks of North-East Scotland, the Banffshire coast-section is of inestimable value. Excellent exposures are presented for study throughout a dip-section some 25 miles in length. The general characters, subdivisions, and relationships of the Dalradian rocks of this section were dealt with by me (1, 2, 3) before the importance of current-bedding and graded bedding in the investigation of the stratigraphical order of metamorphic rocks had been realized. In this paper an account is given of the examination of the section along the lines developed by Professor E. B. Bailey and the Glasgow school (5, 6, 7, 8, 9). I have to thank especially Professor Bailey and Dr. W. J. McCallien for their instruction in the study of current-bedding in metamorphic rocks during excursions to the Kinloch-leven and Schichallion districts.

AS a result of a study of the Liassic limestones of the Dorset coast, Dr. W. A. Richardson (1923) concluded that both the limestone bands and the nodules were of secondary origin, and largely displaced the associated marls and shales. Observations made during a study of the Hydraulic Limestone Series (pre-planorbis-johnstoni subzones) in south Nottinghamshire lend support to the hypothesis of concretionary origin, but do not accord with certain other of Dr. Richardson's suggestions.