i68 NATURAL SCIENCE. Sept.. 1S95. 



necessarily preclude payment. At the end of May, when many of the 

 examinations are held, holidays are beginning in large firms, and 

 sitting for the examination may mean the loss or spoiling of the hard- 

 earned yearly fortnight's rest from business. Under present con- 

 ditions either student or teacher is the loser; generally the unfortunate 

 teacher. The Department, in their syllabus, are emphatic, and rightly 

 so, in insisting on a practical knowledge, but, at the same time, are in 

 many points extremely dilatory in its practical encouragement. 

 Classes must be held between October and May, but the best time 

 for practical work, at any rate in geology and botany, is between May 

 and October. As our correspondent asks, could not some encourage- 

 ment be given to field classes in the summer months ? Doubtless they 

 are held here and there by enterprising teachers, but students are so 

 generally well aware that they " don't count," that they are not nearly 

 so well supported as they would be were they a recognised part of the 

 course. 



In the Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester Literary and Philo- 

 sophical Society (ser. 4, vol. ix., p. 179) Mr. Thomas Hick describes the 

 internal structure of Calamite leaves. While the anatomy of the root, 

 stem, and fruit of these old-world Equisetums has been worked out 

 in considerable detail, little or nothing was known of that of the leaf. 

 Hence Mr. Hick's memoir forms a valuable supplement to our 

 previous knowledge of these fossil plants. The leaves examined were 

 very small, being those borne by the delicate ultimate branchlets, 

 and recalling in appearance and habit those of a well-grown Chara, 

 The observations recorded show that they were simple uni-nerved 

 structures, with a central, delicate, vascular bundle arranged on the 

 collateral type, and surrounded by a cortex in which can be 

 distinguished an inner layer of long cells with black contents 

 continuous with a similar layer in the twig, and styled " melasmatic " 

 tissue, and an outer, thicker layer of assimilating tissue. Surrounding 

 the whole is a single-layered epidermis, consisting of cells of uniform 

 size, with thickened outer walls. A transverse section of a leaf 

 recalls in general outline that of a pine-needle, being rounded on the 

 under surface and more or less flattened above, with a large median 

 protrusion above the vascular strand. 



We print this month an article by Mr. R. D. Oldham, of the Indian 

 Geological Survey, upon the alleged occurrence of traces of Miocene 

 man in Burma. In common with other journals, we inserted a notice 

 of this supposed discovery. The flakes in question showed such 

 indisputable evidence of human workmanship that, had the claim that 

 they had been collected from actual Miocene deposits been verified^ 

 we must have accepted this date for the age of man. We are glad 

 to be able to publish such an authoritative correction of this report as 

 that by Mr. Oldham. 



