The two substances known as “Tasmanite” and Australian “White Coal,” which are the subject of the present communication, have a special interest for the geologist on account of the light which they throw upon the microscopio structure and composition of many Coals. My attention was first directed to them when collecting materials for Professor Huxley’s examination into the microscopic structure of Coal. My esteemed colleague, Mr. Etheridge, at that time gave me a specimen of brown laminated substance, labelled “Lignite, the so-called White Coal, Australia,” and drew my attention to the fact that it was very largely composed of small seed-like bodies, very similar to, although smaller than, the macrospores of Flemingites, which are to be seen in many kinds of British Coal. A specimen of this same kind of White Coal is in the Museum of Practical Geology, and is labelled, “ Bituminous Shale (locally called White Coal), New South Wales, Australia.” I have likewise been able to examine the specimen of Tasmanite also in this Museum, which is labelled “ Tasmanite; combustible matter from the river Mersey on the north side of Tasmania; stratum of unknown thickness, but known to extend for some miles. Presented by Sir Won. Denison.” These specimens are very similar in appearance and structure, but the White Coal is softer than the Tasmanite. Chemical analyses of Tasmanite have been published, but I am not aware of any satisfactory account of ’its microscopic structure. The only mention of Australian White Coal with which I am acquainted is that in Prof. Huxley’s lecture on “On the Formation of Coal” (“Contemporary Keview,” Nov. 1870). And there is a figure, of a section and some separated spores, given by Sir C Lyell in the 2nd edition of his Student’s Elements of Geology, 1874.

Notwithstanding the many additions which within the last few years have been made to our knowledge of the Pliocene Mammalian Fauna, by Mr. Lydekker, in the Quarterly Journal of this Society, in the ‘Geological Magazine,’ and in the British-Museum Catalogues (1885–87), several species new to the British Crags, and others altogether new to science, have come to light during a critical investigation of the Crag Yertebrata, which it has been my official duty to undertake. As it is likely to be some time before the results of this investigation can be published, it is hoped that an account of the new forms will be acceptable to the Fellows of this Society. For several of the specimens here described I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. E. C. Moor, of Great Bealings, Suffolk, who has most courteously placed these and many other fossils at my disposal. Mr. James Reeve, of the Norwich Museum, has likewise been good enough to lend me many specimens, and among them the unique tooth which is now to be named after him. For the opportunity of studying the rostrum of Mesoplodon Floweri * I am under obligation to the genial Curator of the Ipswich Museum, Dr. Taylor. To all these friends of science I tender my best thanks for their kindly assistance. Description of Species. 1. L utra D scubia , Blainville. (P1. XVIII. figs. I a-1 c.) Within the last few years Mr. E. C. Moor, of Great Bealings, has obtained from the nodule-bed of the Red

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These fossils are especially interesting on account of their having been obtained from a more southerly point than any hitherto recorded. The number of specimens is nine; five of these are referable to the genus Cucullœa, one to Cytherea, one probably to Natica, and two are fragments of Coniferous Wood. With the Cytherea are other small shells which may indicate the presence of Crassatella (?) and Donax (?). Two of the pieces of Cucullœa are entirely free from matrix, while three show in their interiors a fine sandy rock which effervesces when treated with hydrochloric acid. The shells themselves have a calcedonic appearance, but, like the matrix, they effervesce strongly with acid; they are much denuded, having apparently been long exposed to the weather. The matrix within the Cytherea is coarser than that in the Cucullœa, containing, besides fragments of quartz and of a black rock, numerous fragments of shells. The Natica (?) is almost free from matrix, and is much denuded, but in some of the crevices sandy material may be seen very like the matrix of the other shells. All these genera have a wide distribution in time, and are now living, consequently they give but little clue to the age of the rocks in which they were found. Cucullœa is rare at the present day, and the few known species occur in the Mauritius, Nicobar, and China; but as a fossil it is very common and widely distributed.

Mr. A. Savin, of Cromer, has been kind enough to send me for examination a large number of small vertebrate remains which he has recently collected from the Upper Freshwater Bed of the Norfolk Forest Bed Series at West Runton. Among these there is one little specimen which deserves to be recorded, as it represents a genus not hitherto recognized in the ‘Forest Bed’. The specimen is a right maxilla with three grinders in place, indubitably belonging to the genus Cricetus; in size it is distinctly larger than the common Hamster Cricetus vulgaris (= C. frumentarius), which is the largest species of the genus living at the present day. Only once before has Cricetus been recognized in Britain, W. A. Sanford having identified from the Hutton Cave, Mendip Hills, remains of a small mouse-like species which he referred to Cricetus songarus.