HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



65 



of the epicoracoid bone, the as innominatutn and the 

 form of the tarsus and humerus, all show the remark- 

 able affinity of these reptiles to the Monotremata, and 

 convinced Professor Cope that they ought to be con- 1 

 sidered the ancestors of the mammals. Yet there is 

 no question but that they should be classed on the 

 reptilian side of the dividing line. 



Preserving Bones. — In answer to your corres- 

 pondent, " W. G.," I beg to state that a very simple 

 method of preserving post-tertiary bones, is to paint 

 them with thin gum, which should be as clear and 

 colourless as possible. This is an easy and inexpensive, 

 and, as I know from experience, an effectual way of 

 preserving them. It makes them very strong, and 

 enables them to bear any reasonable amount of 

 handling. The gum must be thin, or it will give the 

 bones a shiny, varnished appearance. All fossils 

 which are liable to crumble and fall to pieces, maybe 

 preserved in the same way. — J. W. Carr, Cambridge. 



New Carnivorous Reptiles. — Professor Owen 

 has just identified the remains of a new and gigantic 

 kind of carnivorous reptile among the collection of 

 South African fossils collected by Mr. T. Bain. The 

 name of Titanosanriis ferox has been given to this 

 creature, which Professor Owen regards as of a more 

 carnassial type than any existing carnivorous mammal. 



The Geology of Arran. — At a meeting of the 

 Glasgow Geological Society on January 16, James 

 Thomson, F.G.S., read a paper on the " Geology of the 

 North End of Arran." He first gave a description of 

 the brecciated conglomerate of the Carriegills shore, 

 and round Brodick Bay, extending eastwards to the 

 shore below Masldon, pointing out that the views ad- 

 vanced by Sedgwick, Murchison, Ramsay, and Bryce, 

 could, as regards these rocks, no longer be adhered to. 

 He showed that the basement rocks of the carboniferous 

 system rested upon the underlying breccias, and 

 referred to sections exposed in Glencoly, Glensharg, 

 and Cnocken Burn, &c, where the order of succession 

 of these beds may be studied, and stated that beds of 

 the same stratigraphical position could be examined in 

 the following localities, viz. : Askoig, Bute ; Millport, 

 Cumbrae ; the valley of the Griom ; the Garple and 

 Greenock waters, Muirkirk, Ayrshire ; Logan Water, 

 Lesmahagow ; Lanarkshire ; and Todholes, near Stir- 

 ling, Stirlingshire. He then described the stratified 

 rocks of the shore eastwards to Corrie, and referred to 

 the limestone of that locality being charged with 

 Productus giganteus and found with the ventral 

 valve downwards, the reverse being the case in other 

 localities for this fossil shell. 



Mr. Thomson then reviewed the old red sandstone 

 beds from Corrie to the Fallen Rocks, and described 

 the nature of the fragments of rocks found in the 

 breccias, near Corrie, which all were agreed was of un- 

 doubted upper old red sandstone age, and referred to the 

 similarity of these beds to those found on the Corriegills 

 shore. He referred to the desirability of further in- 



vestigation of the Fallen Rocks before a satisfactory 

 explanation of that extraordinary mass could be given. 

 About fifty yards to the north of the Fallen Rocks 

 he had some years ago discovered remains of fossil 

 fish in great abundance in volcanic ash beds, and there 

 also, in company with Sir Charles Lyell, discovered 

 a tooth of Cladodus. The coast line was [next traced 

 to the section where Mr. E. A. Wimsch, F.G.S., 

 made his discovery of fossil trees in the volcanic ash 

 beds, and described in the Society's " Transactions." 

 Proceeding northwards, a great fault is seen, produced 

 by a broad igneous dyke, which can be traced up the 

 hillside to the chasms seen in the breccias, on the top of 

 the hill above the Cock of Arran. Mr. Thomson then 

 referred to the physical features, and the fossil remains 

 of the limestone found on the north-east shore, lists of 

 which he had prepared to accompany his communica- 

 tion. Mr. Thomson then dwelt on the correlation 

 of these marine deposits with the rocks of the same 

 stratigraphical position throughout the central valley 

 of Scotland. He also referred to the breccias at the 

 Cock of Arran, and stated that they resembled those 

 he had examined at St. Bees Head, Northumberland, 

 and at Ballochmyle, on the banks of the Water of 

 Ayr. Mr. Thomson then described his hunt through- 

 out the range of rocks in the hills above the shore for 

 fossil evidence of their age ; and in these breccias he 

 was at last rewarded by the discovery of no less than 

 twenty-seven species of characteristic carboniferous 

 fossils, a list of which he had prepared to accompany 

 his paper. He was thus able definitely to confirm 

 the conclusions of Sedgwick, Murchison, and Ramsay, 

 as to the age of these rocks, at least to the extent 

 that they are posterior to the carboniferous age ; and 

 at the same time to show clearly that the classification 

 of these rocks adopted by Professor Geikie in his last 

 published "Geological Map of Scotland" was er- 

 roneous, while the same may be said as to that of 

 Professor von Lasaula in his work upon his studies 

 and sketches of the Geology of Ireland and Scotland 

 lately published. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Fermentation. — Professor F. R. Eaton Lowe, in 

 an article entitled "A Glass of Wine" in " Science 

 for All," says, the operations connected with wine- 

 making differ from those connected with beer-making 

 in so far as it is necessary for the beer-maker to in- 

 troduce a ferment into his wort, while the wine-maker 

 has not to do this, because the grapes "contain suf- 

 ficient nitrogenous matter in the shape of gluten, 

 which speedily undergoes decomposition, and com- 

 municates its state of change to the associated sugar." 

 It is certainly unnecessary for the wine-maker to 

 introduce a ferment; but does fermentation take 

 place in the way Professor Lowe says ? I am under 

 the impression that the wine-maker introduces his 

 ferment unconsciously, just as sure as the beer-maker 

 introduces his consciously. How does the Professor 

 account for the presence in the liquid of the living 



