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The first fossil sclerosponge with well-preserved spicules is described as Murania lefeldi gen. et sp. nov. It comes from the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) Muran Limestone of the Slovakian Tatra Mountains. The relationship of this sponge with recent sclerosponges is discussed and the affinities of the sclerosponges with the Palaeozoic stromatoporoids are briefly reviewed.

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Fertile specimens of Zosterophyllum Penhallow. Salopella gen. nov. (assigned to the Rhyniaceae). and Prototaxites Dawson are described from the upper group of the Ditton Series (Lower Devonian, approximately late Gedinnian or lower Siegenian of Europe) of Shropshire. Spores have been isolated from Salopella gen. nov., oval and fusiform carbonaceous masses, and from the matrix.

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A new megalosaurid, Megalosaurus hesperis sp. nov., is described from the Upper Inferior Oolite (Bajocian) of Dorset; the type material was previously assigned to M. bucklandi. The holotype of M. nethercombensis von Huene, 1923, from the Middle Inferior Oolite of the same county, is redescribed; von Huene's proposal of a new genus (Magnosaurus 1932) for this species was unjustified. Sarcosaurus andrewsi is transferred to the genus Megalosaurus.

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Pachydyptes simpsoni sp. nov., a 'giant' fossil penguin, is described from fragmentary remains found at two levels in the Upper Eocene, Blanche Point Marls, South Australia. The remains from the lowest level immediately predate the first appearance of the index coccolith Isthmolithus recurvus Deflandre and are amongst the oldest well-dated penguin bones known.Comparison with the largest modern penguin Aptenodytes forsteri Grey suggests that the fossil species probably stood about 140 cm tall.

• Read more about A new giant penguin from the Eocene of Australia

Twelve trilobite species are described and illustrated from Upper Ordovician (Caradoc) successions of central New South Wales. Included among the forms is a new scutelluid genus, Heptabronteus, with two new species. H. atavus (type species) and H. major, and five other new species. Toernquistia arguta, Parkesolithus dictyotos, Sphaerocoryphe exserta, Amphilichas nasutus, and A. encyrtos. A discussion of relationships between Heptabronteus and other scutelluid genera is presented. Triathrus is recorded for the first time from New South Wales, and evidence for dimorphism in the raphiophorid.

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Amphibian remains from several 'Lower Keuper' Sandstone localities in England, including the holo-type of Cyclotosaurus stantonensis (Woodward), are examined. Differences in patterns of skull ornamentation in mastodonsaurs and parotosaur/cyclotosaurs are discussed and it is suggested that these are of taxonomic value. The specimens fall into three groups, two of which are species of Cyclotosaurus, the other group representing a primitive mastodonsaur.

• Read more about Capitosauroid labyrinthodonts from the Trias of England

A new genus of bivalve mollusc Cryptocardia is described and assigned to the subfamily Protocardiinae. Four new species are described from the Domerian, Bajocian, and Bathonian stages of Europe, and from the Callovian stage of Africa. This Jurassic genus, characterized by the presence of posterior internal radial ridges and no external radial ornament, is ancestral to the Cretaceous genus Globocardium.

• Read more about A new genus of Jurassic bivalve mollusc ancestral to Globocardium

Ultrastructural studies of living and fossil brachiopods belonging to the Terebratulidae show that the shell is invariably penetrated by unbranched puncta and generally consists of a three-fold mineral succession: a primary layer composed of acicular and granular crystallites, a secondary layer of orthodoxly stacked fibres, and a prismatic tertiary layer. The constituents of the last layer are not 'prisms' in the crystallographic sense but discrete units with interlocking boundaries arranged normal to the surface of accretion.

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A number of specimens of young rhabdomesoid colonies were examined, each carrying a curious conical proximal termination. Sectioning showed that these represent the earliest growth stages, following fixation of the ancestrula. External walls of cones have a two-fold structure comprising outer, primary (recrystallized) and inner, secondary (laminar) layers. The arrangement corresponds with that in the basal walls of encrusting trepostomates. There are reasons for believing that during later development the conical structures were progressively obscured by calcification from an external mantle.

• Read more about Early growth stages in rhabdomesoid bryozoans from the Lower Carboniferous of Hook Head, Ireland

The type specimen of the Bennettitalean flower Williamsoniella lingnieri (Nathorst) on reinvestigation proved to have an intact pollen sac yielding vell-preserved pollen. The pollen grains resemble Exesipollenites scabratus. Most of the grains are distorted by crushing and the distortion of outline is related to folds on the surface. Hollow balls made of various materials were compressed between flat surfaces and their various secondary distortions are described; one kind of ball mimicked the forms seen in W.

• Read more about Williamsoniella lignieri: its pollen and the compression of spherical pollen grains