252 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



of glass, broken the cage, and killed the occupant. It liad Leen 

 trapped a considerable time before, and had entirely lost one of 

 its legs, so that the mischievous act showed an extraordinary 

 amount of daring in a bird with only one foot to deal the blow. 



PAPER READ. 



The Life of the Boulder Clay Period, as represented in Strata near 

 Crofthead. By Mr James A. Mahony. 



In the course of his remarks he described the geological features 

 of the deposit, and referred to the species of the organic remains 

 found in it, and wound up by stating some conclusions deducible 

 from the subject. The strata, which have partly been laid bare 

 in the cutting of the Kilmarnock and Crofthead Extension Rail- 

 way, consist of about thirty feet of stratified clay, mud, and sand, 

 resting on boulder clay, and also overlaid by it. The reasons for 

 regarding them as intercalated with the Till, and therefore as 

 being of glacial age, were stated at some length, Mr Mahony's 

 views agreeing with those expressed by Mr James Geikie, by 

 whom the deposit was first described in the Geological Magazine* 

 The animal and plant remains were found in two layers of vege- 

 table debris, seven feet apart, which occurred in the stratified beds. 

 One remarkable feature about these remains was the exceeding 

 abundance of diatoms, which were found to constitute a con- 

 siderable i^ortion of the upper leaf bed (twelve inches thick), and 

 to represent ten genera and thirty species. There were also 

 described three species of desmids (one in the sporangial state), 

 eleven mosses, seven flowering plants; and, as representatives of 

 the animal kingdom, one sjionge {SpongiUa JluviatiUs), three infu- 

 soria, several species of entomostraca (some in the larval state), 

 one of the jaws of a leech, and many fragments of bettles, 

 indicating the presence of at least tliree species. 



In his concluding remarks, Mr Mahony showed that the data 

 pointed to the former existence of a lake, and suggested that we 

 had here confirmatory evidence of the occurrence of an interval 

 of ameliorated temperature during the ice epoch. 



In the discussion which followed the reading of this paper, 

 which was illustrated by numerous specimens and drawings, Mr 

 John Young referred to the very great care with which Mr 

 Mahony had worked out and determined the various minute 



* Geol. Mag., vol. v., p. 393, 



