Some time since, a gentleman handed me, at one of the meetings of the Geologists' Association, a bone from the Stonesfield slate. Unfortunately the label attached to the specimen has been accidentally lost, and consequently I can neither give due credit to its owner for his find nor return the specimen to him as I would wish to do, as his name and address are both thus unknown to me.

The nature of the specimen was very evident, at the first glance, to any practised palæontologist. It is a bone that is peculiarly characteristic of a peculiar class of reptiles which, at the present day, comprises the tortoises, terrapins, and turtles. In short, it is the coracoid bone of some member of the family Chelonia.

Our evidences of this order of reptiles, in strata of Mesozoic age, are few and far between; but Chelonian remains are rare in the Secondary beds, chiefly by reason that many of our most productive localities are neglected to be well worked.

In his admirable essay on the Devonian Fishes, in the Tenth Decade of the Geological Survey, Professor Huxley has clearly indicated and described the differences and the resemblances of the genera Holoptychius and Glyptolepis. In the interesting work of the Rev. Dr. Anderson on ‘Dura Den,’ in which its exquisitely-preserved fossils are described, no mention is made of Glyptolepis. In the November part of the ‘Journal of the Geological Society of London,’ Mr. Powrie lias called attention to the occurrence of Glyptolepis in slabs recently disinterred, for the St. Andrew's Museum, from Dura Den. Through the kindness of Dr. Anderson, a slab was presented to the Montrose Museum in 1859; and it is now apparent from it that Glyptolepis is not of rare occurrence at Dura Den, and that either this genus has been passed over altogether, or confounded with Holoptychius. The fishes in the Montrose Museum are smaller, and do not in all points correspond with those described by Mr. Powrie, but we think they emphatically demonstrate that the Holoptychius Flemingii must now be denominated Glyptolepis.

On the slab in the Montrose Museum there is one fine specimen of Holoptychius and six specimens of Glyptolepis, not regarding fragmentary portions of fishes. At the first glance there is a resemblance in size, in general aspect, and outline, among the fishes. Their average length is about nine inches, and their breadth at the thickest part of the body nearly three inches.

Five stone “celts” have been submitted to me, from the collections of antiquarian objects from Chiriquí formed by my friends William Bollaert, Esq., F.R.G.S., Corr. Mem. Univ. Chile, etc., and W. Duprée, M.D., F.R.G.S., of Panamá.

No information has been given to me respecting the locality, condition, or probable age of these “celts.” I understand, however, that they were obtained from the same graves in Chiriquí whence have been derived the various objects wrought in gold and moulded in pottery, some of which have been lately described in the United States, and in this country by Mr. Bollaert.

All the celts exhibited the well-known scalpriform sharpening of the larger end, and are sharpened laterally by a succession of blows, producing facets, analogous to those of the chipped flints which have been found at Abbeville, at the Kjökkenmöddings in Denmark and in various European localities, and which probably belong to a period antecedent to the known historical era.

Four of the celts, marked B 2, B 3, D 1, and D 2, are composed of the porphyritic stone found in great abundance on the Isthmus of Darien. One only, marked B 1, is hewn more roughly than the others from an indurated clay, and closely resembles some of the European worked flints.

This is a cave in the Mountain Limestone, with a wide entrance looking to the north-east at about 70 feet above the level of the valley beneath, up which the tide has recently flowed. The cave extends tortuously for 30 or 40 yards into the axis of a ridge which is a spur of the “Ridgeway,” extending from Pembroke to Tenby, composed of the Old Red, the strike of which is east and west.

Within, the cave is distinguished by chambers, alternating with narrow passages. The floor is generally not more than three feet deep, at which depth the limestone is met with as at the roof and sides. The entrance being conspicuous, it is often visited from curiosity, but has never before been carefully explored for the definite purpose of discovering works of ancient art. This search was prompted by the recent discoveries in France and at Hoxne, strongly seconded by the fact that above, on the Ridgeway, some six or seven barrows exist, which yielded to the reporter and others a few years since, not only cinerary urns, but also well-shaped flint arrow-heads.

So much by way of introduction.

The Section will be glad to learn that the search in this cave for flint weapons has been successful, and that the number found is seventy-three, including the identical lumps of flint which remained after the chips had been struck off, when from their reduced size they were no longer capable of yielding flakes sufficiently large to answer the destined purpose, whatever that might be.