AT certain levels in the Coal Measures of North Wales a flood of fish scales and bones occurs, to the exclusion of almost every other fossil; at others only an isolated scale or tooth is seen. The area appears to be especially rich in fish remains, though possibly this is due to inadequate collecting in other areas. A summary of the succession in the Flintshire and Denbighshire portions of the coalfield is shown in the diagram on p. 483, while the area dealt with is shown on the map (p. 482).

1. The anatomy of Helodus simplex Ag. is described.

2. The skull is found to be holostylic, and to have many characters in common with the skull of the Holocephali, but in some respects is less specialized.

3. The pectoral fins, with their long metapterygium, small propterygium, and fused anterior radials, resemble very closely those of the Holocephali.

4. The pelvic and unpaired fins, and general body shape are found to resemble those of the Holocephali.

5. It is concluded that the Cochliodonts are almost certainly closely related to the ancestors of the Holocephali, and the relatively unspecialized condition of the teeth gives support to the view that the holostylic condition of the jaws is primitive for the group. It is suggested that all the Bradyodonts were holostylic, that the hyomandibular may never have been suspensory, and that they may have diverged from the true Selachii before the hyomandibular played a part in the jaw suspension. The difficulties which this view involves are appreciated.

6. The condition of the ethmoid region of Helodus supports the view of the nature of the ethmoidal canal put forward by De Beer and Moy-Thomas (1935) rather than that of Allis (1917, 1926, 1934).

A NUMBER of soil samples were collected from Kalgoorlie, Southern Cross, and other areas in the gold-bearing belt of Western Australia with a view to establishing the relationship between the “ heavy ” minerals of the soils and those of the parental material.

WHILST working through a batch of slides of heavy minerals of the Millstone Grit of the Pennine region some interesting outgrowths on zircon have been noticed which are worthy of record. The writer is not aware that they have been recorded before, but they must have a wider distribution than the Millstone Grit of this area, and therefore this mention of them may lead to further records being made known.

THIS paper describes and discusses the affinities of a new genus of Rugose corals, and indicates the trends of development affecting it; the stratigraphical distribution of the four new species which compose the genus is recorded, and the structure, insertion, and symmetry of their septa are described in some detail.