In the Scottish Lower Carboniferous limestones there are known to occur at least sevenspecies of Dicyclic Inadunate crinoids belonging to the family Poteriocrinidae, one of the main characters of which is the possession of five simple unbranched arms. One species is also known from the Carboniferous of the Isle of Man. Two of the Scottish species have been assigned to the genus Ulocrinus, viz. U. globularis de Koninck and U. doliolus Wright. The former species is now referred to U. bockschii (Geinitz), which has priority, and the Scottish specimens as they commonly occur appear to be indistinguishable from it. The cup in these two species is specially characteristic, the shape being for the most part globular and the anal area, while sometimes of normal character, is more commonly occupied by a large RA with anal X and rt surmounting it and comparatively small. The arms are rather long, uniserial, and formed of narrow cuneiform brachials (Plate XIV, Figs. 1–6). (Bather, 1916–17; Wright, 1927, 1936.)

The papers on the floras of the Carboniferous rocks, published in recent years by Dr. Emily Dix [7, 8], collectively form an important contribution to our knowledge of British Carboniferous palaeobotany. In these publications a floral classification was proposed for the Carboniferous strata of the Swansea district and an endeavour was made to apply it to other British and to foreign coalfields. The present writer, however, considers that some modification of the suggested scheme is necessary in regard to the strata included in the Yorkian Stage. Until this is done the classification will not be applicable to areas outside South Wales.

The writer made a journey recently on the Continent to study the various facies of the Lower Devonian in connection with work on a fauna from New Zealand. Although not directly concerned with the lower limit of the Devonian System he gathered certain information regarding faunas near that boundary. This was especially a consequence of an invitation to the international excursion in May, 1937, arranged by the Prussian Geological Survey to discuss the Siluro-Devonian boundary and view a series of trenches at Hüinghausen, Westphalia, which, it was hoped, would expose the passage beds between these systems. The Prussian Geological Survey generously allowed the writer to collect somewhat later from these trenches. Professor Pruvost also invited the writer to examine the collections from Liévin at Lille, and later loaned a series of specimens for more detailed examination. For all these kindnesses the writer expresses his thanks. Mr. S. H. Straw has kindly read through the manuscript and made many valuable suggestions, and the writer had the benefit of discussion with Professor Richter of Frankfurt who also helped with material for comparison. To the authorities of the British Museum, the Museum of the Geological Survey, and the Sedgwick Museum the writer is indebted for the loan of, or access to, figured specimens. He also acknowledges a grant from the Royal Society which enabled him to make a journey on the Continent.

In my Catalogue of the Ammonites of the Liassic Family Liparo-ceratidae in the British Museum, now in press, I was obliged to discuss one of the commonest and most widely quoted of ammonite species, namely Schlotheim's Amm. capricornus.1 Clearly it was impossible to ignore this species, merely because “its precise application was not known”2 I am not only in agreement with H. Douvillé3 that it is of capital importance always to respect a specific [trivial] name, however much generic names may be changed, but among the foreign ammonites in the British Museum there were several different forms labelled Amm.

The mudstones of the Manganese Shale Group are very similar in their characters throughout, but in the present work, greatest stress is laid upon the mudstones of one horizon—the Bluestone. This is about 5 ft. 6 in. thick, and occurs immediately above the manganese-ore band, which is 30 feet above the base of the group. From this horizon special metamorphic derivatives of the normal mudstones have been obtained from one locality—the lower end of the workings of the Hendre Mines on the north-west slopes of Moelfre, about 2¾ miles east 15 degrees south of the village of Llanbedr. There is no doubt that the types described belong to this one horizon, which is everywhere else remarkable for its uniformity of character. They always follow immediately on the manganese-ore band in the normal manner, without break, and their relationships with the succeeding strata are apparently the same as with the normal rocks. Also, with the exception of the calcite-bearing rock (p. 372), all the rock types are identical chemically.