HARD WICKE ' S S CIENCE - G O SSI P. 



223 



dweller) ; and that man, in Devonshire at least, was 

 of inter- if not of /r^-glacial antiquity. A capital 

 paper read in the Geological Section was that by Mr. ! 

 R. N. Worth, on the " Palaeontology of Plymouth"; ' 

 whilst Mr. Champernowne presented one on ' ' The [ 

 Succession of Paleozoic Deposits of South Devon," 

 and Mr. H. B. Woodward another on "The De- 

 vonian Rocks near Newton Abbott and Torquay," 

 with remarks on the subject of their classification . Mr. 

 R. PI. Tiddeman presented the Fifth Annual Report 

 of the Committee for assisting in the Exploration of 

 the Settle Caves ("Victoria " Cave), and still insisted 

 on the inter-glacial age of the deposits. Another im- 

 portant geological report was that by Mr. C. De Ranee, 

 on the Investigation of the Circulation of Underground 

 Waters in the New Red Sandstone and Permian 

 Formations. The Report by Professors A. S. 

 Ilerschel and G. A. Lebour, on " The Thermal 

 Conductivity of Rocks," was received with merited 

 attention. Perhaps the most important papers in 

 the Geological Section were the following: "On 

 the Post-Tertiary Fossils procured in the late Arctic 

 Expedition," with notes of some of the recent or 

 living Mollusca from the same expedition, which was 

 read by Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys ; and another by Mr. C. 

 De Ranee, on "The Correlation of Certain Post- 

 Glacial Deposits in West Lancashire." Mr. Moly- 

 neux's paper on the occuiTcnce of Avicido-pecten, 

 and other mai-ine shells, in deposits associated with 

 seams of coal containing salt-water, in the Ashby-de- 

 la-Zouche coal-field, wherein he contended that these 

 salt-water reservoirs were the remnants of the ancient 

 carboniferous seas, was productive of much discussion, 

 although not generally in favour of the author's 

 views. Mr. Morton's paper on the Carboniferous 

 Limestone and Millstone Grit in the country around 

 Llangollen, North Wales, was full of personal labour 

 and investigation, and was very properly regarded as a 

 valuable contribution to stratigraphical geology. Such 

 was also the conclusion respecting Mr. W. Gunn's 

 contribution announcing the discovery of Silurian 

 rocks in Teesdale. On the last day of the meeting 

 there were papers by Professor Heer, of Zurich, on 

 the Fossil Flora of the Aixtic Regions, and a very 

 important one by that most accurate and diligent of 

 obsen-ers, Mr. H. C. Sorby, F.R.S., on a "New 

 Method for Studying the Optical Characters of Mine- 

 rals." Mr. Henry Woodward, F.R.S., announced 

 the discovery of BrancJiippits, in a fossil state, in the 

 freshwater Eocene limestone of Gurnet Bay, in the 

 Isle of Wight. Mr. R. A. C. God win- Austen then 

 showed the geological significance of the well-boring 

 at Messrs. Meux's brewer}', Tottenham-court-road, 

 an account of which we published in a short article 

 in our July number. 



Some excellent, thoughtful, and suggestive papers 

 were read in the Biological Sections. Noticeable 

 among these were the following : " On Anticipatory 

 Inheritance in Plants, especially with reference to the 



Embryology of Parasites." Another was by Mr. A. 

 S. Wilson, B. Sc, "On Structural Characters in 

 Relation to Habitat in Plants." Professor McNab, 

 of Dublin, read fwo most important communications, 

 one on the Classification of the Vegetable Kingdom, 

 and the other on "The Classification of Flowering 

 Plants considered Phylogcnetically''^ ; that is, accord- 

 ing to their descent. Professor Rolleston's address 

 on " New Points in the Zoology of New Guinea," of 

 which we give a short abstract elsewhere, was lis- 

 tened to with great attention, as was also Mr. W. 

 Ackroyd's paper on the Colours of Animals. Of 

 course the Colorado Beetle turned up, and indeed this 

 ubiquitous insect and the Telephone, or sounding 

 telegraph, were the " lions " of this year's meeting. 

 But the Beetle was in good hands, for Mr. R. 

 McLachlan, F.R.S., the celebrated entomologist, 

 introduced the subject, and spoke strongly against 

 the panic existing in this country regarding its ap- 

 pearance. Mr. McLachlan's remarks were most 

 timely, and we have been pleased to see they have 

 not been without due influence in the country. 

 Among other papers of interest to naturalists, . we 

 may mention that by Dr. G. Bennett, on the Habits 

 of the Pearly Nautilus {Naiitilns povipilid) ; another 

 by Mr. W. Thomson, on a "Method for excluding 

 Germs from Rooms used for Surgical Operations " ; 

 an important communication by the Rev. W. H. 

 Dallinger, entitled " Researches on the Life History 

 of the Simplest Organisms," a short account of which 

 will be found elsewhere in our columns ; on "Trans- 

 cendental Anatomy, or a geometrical Investigation of 

 the best possible Number of Hints for Terrestrial and 

 Aquatic Animals," by the Rev. Professor Haughton, 

 F.R.S., of Dublin ; and one on "The Possibility of 

 Life on a Meteoric Stone falling on the Earth," by 

 Sir W. Thomson, wherein the author repeated the 

 absurd idea that life could be brought to our planet 

 by a meteor, although the latter had been fused by the 

 heat attending its passage through the atmosphere ! 

 Professor Haughton also read a paper in the Me- 

 chanical Section, on a -"New Method of Calculating 

 the Absolute Duration of Geological Periods." 



The excursions were all of them very satisfactory, 

 and to places famed for geological, zoological, or 

 arch ecological interest. Indeed, the excursions 

 formed perhaps a more important element of this 

 yeai-'s meetings than heretofore. Another fact of 

 significance was the prominent place which the local 

 scientific men took in the readings of papers and 

 discussions thereon. 



COLIAS Edusa. — Post after post has continued to 

 bring us in letters from observant and obliging 

 correspondents in every part of the countiy announc- 

 ing the special abundance of this pretty butterfly this 

 summer. We mention this because it would be im- 

 possible to publish a tithe of the communications we 

 have thus received. 



