In a paper “On a Pneumatic Type of Vertebra from the Lower Karroo Rocks of Cape Colony” (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. VII, vol. xiv, November, 1904, pp. 336–344), by Professor H. G. Seeley, F.E.S., the author makes (on p. 341) some interesting remarks on pneumatic foramina in fossil bones which appear sufficiently important to reproduce here:—

“Doubt has of late been current concerning the significance of pneumatic foramina in fossil bones, and is put forward verbally and in print by Professor H. F. Osborn. In an article in the Century Magazine for September, 1904, similar in scope to the lecture given at Cambridge in August to the British Association, he enunciates the same views. Writing of Ornitholestes, Professor Osborn remarks:— ‘Externally its bones are simple and solid-looking, but, as a matter of fact, they are mere shells, the walls being hardly thicker than paper, the entire interior of the bone having been removed by the action of the same marvellous law of adaptation which sculptured the vertebræ of its huge contemporaries. There is no evidence, however, that these hollow bones were filled with air from the lungs, as is the case of the bones of birds.’

Since the year 1871 I have been much impressed with the interest and importance of one of the byways of science, the problem of the Geological Physios of the Shallow Seas. Recent discoveries in raised beaches have brought this subject again to the front, and the object of the present paper is to plead for further inquiry by specialists.

I may briefly mention my own now antiquated papers, viz., “Notes on Torbay” (Trans. Dev. Assoc., 1878); “The Formation of Ripple-mark” (Proc. Roy. Soc., 1882); “The Action of Waves on Sea Beaches and Sea Bottoms” (Roy. Dublin Soc., 1885); and “On the Influence of Wave-currents on the Fauna inhabiting Shallow Seas” (Journ. Linn. Soc., 1884). With the exception of the Dublin paper, the MSS. were, as a matter of fact, perused by eminent mathematicians, who kindly guarded me against any conflict between observation and theory.

I Have read with interest Mr. Lowe's articlel on Devonshire geology, in which he discusses the question whether the Bovey beds are Miocene or Eocene, and what may be their relation to the Hampshire and Dorsetshire Lower Bagshots.

In former years I have had some acquaintance with the Hants and Dorset beds, and I have seen the Bovey deposit and was struck with their similarity. I am much impressed with the weight of Mr. Lowe's objection that the enormous amount of detritus represented by the sands and clays extending from Bournemouth—or we may even say from Whitecliff Bay, I.W.—to Bovey can hardly have been derived from so small an area as Dartmoor.

Some marine shells, associated with crab-remains,1 Balani, and small thread-like annelid tubes, from the Post-Pliocene deposits of north-eastern Ceylon, have been entrusted to me for determination by Dr. H. Woodward, F.K.S. They were collected by Mr. A. K. Coomaraswamy, B.Sc, Director of the Mineralogical Survey of Ceylon, and his description of the deposits containing the fossils forms the preface of this communication. Lithologically it is observable that there are two sets of specimens-those that occur in hard, water-worn nodules of clay, and others that were obtained from soft, dark, clayey beds found in situ. The fossils found in the clayey material may perhaps be rather older than those found in the nodules, but as two of the shells are common to each, viz. Placuna placenta and Potamides fluvialilis, it is certain that no great distinction in age is to be recognised.

An examination of the species represented in the collection goes to prove that they belong to the existing fauna of the Indian Ocean, being similar to the life which is found in the creeks and back-watersof that sea, and consequently bearing a littoral or an estuarine facies.

It is interesting to know of the presence of corresponding Post-Tertiary deposits crowded with shells forming the coastal areas of the Madras Presidency of India, particularly at Pondicherry, Cuddalore, Tangore, etc., for the history of which we are mainly indebted to the late Mr. H. F. Blanford (Mem. Geol. Surv. India, 1862, vol. iv, pt. 1, pp. 192,193). So numerous are the mollusca of these beds that they are utilised by the natives for the manufacture of lime.