XLVI. Notes on the Age of the Limestones of South Devonshire.

The reasons which induced me to assume on zoological evidence, that the limestones of Southern Devon, between Dartmoor and the coast, would prove to be of the age of the old red sandstone, not having been placed on record in a separate form, Mr. Murchison has begged me to lay before the Society a distinct notice of my claim to having been the first to propose the classification recently put forth by Professor Sedgwick and himself; and in consequence of an extension of those views to Belgium and the Boulonnais, Dr. Fitton has urged me to comply with the request. In the memoirs† in which Professor Sedgwick and Mr. Murchison announced the change in their classification of the older sedimentary strata of Devonshire and Cornwall, the clearest and amplest acknowledgements are made of my share in promoting the alteration; but as it is possible that some mistake may hereafter arise, relative to the nature and limits of my suggestion, I conceive it is a duty to others as well as to myself to comply with the above request. I regret, however, that I cannot make this notice as satisfactory as I could wish, from the whole of the data not being accessible ; and I regret that my official duties have prevented me from bestowing upon it that time and thought and research which ought to be evident in the shortest communications read to this Society. Before I state the nature of my claim, I consider myself called upon to