In April, 1879, William Davies published in the GeologicalMagazine (n.s., Dec. II, Vol. VI. pp. 145–8) a paper on “Some Fish Exuviæ from the Chalk, generally referred to Dercetis elongatus, Ag.; and on a new species of Fossil Annelide, Terebella Lewesiensis”. Herein he discussed certain longitudinal or tubular agglomerations of fish-debris, originally named Murœna(?) Lewesiensis, by G. A. Mantell, but subsequently assigned by L. Agassiz to the fish described by him as Dercetis elongatus. References to the various papers and books in which these remains had been mentioned will be found in the paper quoted. From his profound knowledge of fossil fish Davies was able to show that these agglomerations contained the remains of more than one species of fish, and he considered that the fragments had been collected and affixed to their tubes by annelids allied to the modern Terebella. It is well known that some living species of that genus have similar tube-building habits, so that the suggestion made by Davies has been generally accepted, and the specimens in the British Museum on which he based his conclusions have since then been labelled Terebella(?) Lewesiensis Mantell sp.

Among the Crustacea from the Coal-measures of Coseley, near Dudley, which have been lent to me for examination by Mr. Walter Egginton, are a number of specimens of a form probably identical with that described by Dr. Henry Woodward as Prœanaspides prœcursor. These specimens make it possible to supplement, in some important particulars, the original account of the species, and throw fresh light on its relations to the living Syncarida. Reasons are given below for regarding the genus Prœanaspides as a synonym of Palœocaris, Meek & Worthen.

In the interesting paper, by Mr. F. G. Collins, on the so-called Culm-measures of the Exeter district, which has recently appeared in the last number of the Quarterly Journal, there are to be found certain conclusions which can hardly pass unchallenged. When this paper was read at the Geological Society, I happened to be in the extreme west of Ireland, and thus, unfortunately, I was unable to be present at that meeting or to take part in the discussion. In fact, it was not until my return to Cambridge in September that I knew anything of the substance of the paper, beyond the very small contribution on the fossil plants which I wrote for it some time ago.

As several rare and interesting fossils from this coal-field have been described in this Magazine and elsewhere, it seems advisable to place on record several other animal remains from the same district which, owing to their minuteness, or to the fact that they are fragmentary, are not worthy of a separate and detailed description, in the hope that their publication may inspire geologists to obtain better and more perfect examples from other localities.

Detrital Laterite or Lateritite.—Many of the so-called low-level laterites and some of the high-level laterites consist of admixtures of detritus from the various varieties of laterite already mentioned, with quartz and argillaceous detritus from granites and gneisses, the whole cemented together by the action of water on the lateritic constituents of the mixture. For such rocks the name detrital laterite is available, and could be used in all cases in which the reconstructed rock contained, say, at least 40 per cent of lateritic constituents. Theoretically, detrital laterites may contain, as an upper limit, 100 per cent of lateritic constituents, corresponding to the case of a detrital rock composed entirely of fragments of a pure laterite, without admixture of extraneous constituents. From the above it will be seen that I would allow greater elasticity in using the term laterite for the detrital forms than for those formed in situ (see next paragraph), provided the adjective detrital be carefully prefixed; for this word seems to me to imply the great variability of composition that must characterize these secondary laterites. But if it were considered desirable to avoid the use of the word laterite altogether in this connexion, the obvious term to use instead would seem to be lateritite, implying a rock the individual constituents of which are pieces of laterite. This term would be of great utility, and could be applied to all detrital and reconstructed lateritic rocks. The word is put forward here merely as a suggestion, but if geologists were to distinguish, in writing, between laterite, lateritoid, and lateritite, great clarity could be introduced into the literature of these substances.