In my “Notes on Drepanaspis Gemündenensis, Schlüter,” published in the Geological Magazine for April, 1900 (pp. 153–159), I described a paired plate of a trapezoidal form occupying a position on each margin of the under surface of the head, a little behind the mouth, and to which I gave the name ‘sensory’ plate, as it is perforated by an opening which, if not orbital, evidently marks the place of an organ of sense of some sort. With this opening I also identified a depression seen in some specimens in a similar position on the dorsal aspect, and came to the conclusion that its position was marginal, being seen in some specimens on the ventral and in others on the dorsal surface of the head. I was also much puzzled to find that in some specimens this pit or depression seemed to have a floor, covered with tubercles like those of the rest of the surface, a condition which apparently militated very decisively against the idea of its being an orbit.

More detailed examination of the material collected by Mr. Beadnell and myself in the Fayûm in 1901 has led to the recognition of two additional species of Mœritherium, and has made it clear that the Sirenian belongs to a distinct genus, which presents some characters of much interest and is nearly related to Prototherium (Halitherium) veronense, described by Zigno from remains found in beds of Upper Eocene age at Monte Zuello in Northern Italy.

In the geotectonics of the Japanese Islands, neo-volcanic eruptions in chains parallel to the direction of their elongation play an important part. Dr. Harada has counted three of them on the north, and four on the south of Kwantō, where the mountain-systems of northern and southern Japan are confluent. Besides, there are three chains across Japan. They are (1) the Kirishima chain running from N.W. to S.E., in the southern part of Kyushū; (2) the Chishima chain in Hokkaidō running from N.E. to S.W.; and (3) the Fuji chain forming the boundary of northern and southern Japan (Fig. 1). In a part of the Myokō volcanic group forming the northern extremity of the last important chain, there are the volcanoes of Onigajō, Myokō, Kurohime, and Iijuna, all of which have erupted, according to Mr. Yamazaki, through the Neogene Tertiary (probably Miocene). The southern continuation of this group is that of Yatsugatake, consisting of about nine volcanoes. Further on the south stands Mt. Fuji, formed in the Pliocene or Diluvium, like its southern neighbour Ashitaka-yama, which, according to Mr. Hirabayashi, more early reposed. In the Hakone and Atami volcanoes, also in the Fuji chain, eruption took place, according to him, first in the Pliocene epoch, but chiefly in the Diluvial.

To those students interested in the palæontology of Maryland, United States, it may be welcome intelligence to know that the “John Finch Collection” of Tertiary Mollusca from that State, including some of the type-specimens figured and described by Thomas Say in 1824, is in the possession of the British Museum. This fact has only recently been recognized through the examination of certain documentary evidence connected with the history of the fossil invertebrate collections contained in that institution.

The Upper Gondwána (Rajmahál Series) beds near Madras are divided into two groups, the lower of which has been named from Sripermatúr, a town 25 miles west-south-west of Madras, and a well-known locality for fossil plants. The group is composed of white and pale buff-coloured shales containing plants, at least 10 feet in thickness, resting upon sandstones, grits, and micaceous sandy shales, at least 15 feet in thickness, whose base is not seen, but which probably rest on the gneiss. Silicified wood occurs in some of the gritty beds. The other fossils occur in the shales, and consist of plant and animal remains. The latter are poor, and comprise two or three indeterminable species of ammonites and several lamellibranch bivalves.

During the last year the Marwood Beds of Sloley Quarry, near Barnstaple, have yielded some additional specimens of Echinocaris, which have afforded material for the present note. The specimens have all been found in the fine micaceous shaly beds, six to eight feet thick, on the north side of the quarry, below the massive sandstones, and above the shallow-water bed containing plant-remains, rain-prints, worm-tracks, etc. The same shaly beds contain Lingula squamiformis in abundance; other bivalves are less frequent. They have now yielded as many as twelve specimens of Echinocaris.

The following pages present some results obtained by me from the geological survey of the Fassa district in the Dolomites comprising the Bufaure and Monzoni mountain groups, where the porphyritic and monzonitic rocks are widely exposed. In selecting this district I had two objects in view—(1) to study in detail the tectonic relations between the igneous and stratified rocks; (2) to test the results which I had previously obtained from my survey of Sella Massive, etc.