HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



23; 



readers of Science-Gossip to know, should they 

 be visiting this place, what ferns are to be found 

 here, I append the following list. Among the 

 most common are, Lastrea filix-mas, Polystichitm 

 annulare, Pteris aqidliua, and Asplenium adiantum- 

 nigrum ; the latter fern growing thickly in every 

 hedgerow. There are plenty of Athjr'mm filial- 

 fosmina, and an entire lane lined on either side 

 with Scolopendt'mm mlga/re. Asplenium Buta-muraria 

 grows on the old church at Sopley, where it thrives 

 well. Osmuuda regalls is to be found in a hedge 

 near Heme station, about two miles from Sopley. 

 Poly podium vulgare and Blechium spicant are also 

 plentifully distributed throughout. Ophioglossu.n 

 vulgalum is said to be found in the meadows near 

 Christ Church Priory, three miles from Sopley, 

 though I was never fortunate enough myself to 

 obtain a specimen. — F. B., Shepherd's Bush, IF. 



GEOLOGY. 



Notes from the British Association. — The 

 section devoted to geology was very ably presided 

 over by Professor Young. Among the specimens ex- 

 hibited were Dr. Sliinon's tine collection of the great 

 Silurian crustacean named Slimonia. There were 

 several so-called species of this creature ; and when 

 Dr. Slimon had exhibited them, Mr. J. E. Taylor 

 suggested the species might be only larval stages in 

 the life-history of the huger forms. The Duke of 

 Argyll's paper on the Physical Geology of the 

 Highlands was very popular and interesting. Mr. 

 James Thomson's magnificent collection of Laby- 

 rinthodont remains, as well as his prepared sections 

 of Carboniferous Corals, illustrated every stage in 

 the life-history of each species, and, showing how 

 even so-called genera shaded off into each 

 other, were most interesting, and proved a " nut " 

 for the evolutionists. Not less interesting were the 

 Labyrinthodont remains brought by Dr. Fritsch 

 from Bohemia, and about which he read a paper. 

 These Labyrinthodonts are supposed to be of 

 Permian age, and are so abundant and well pre- 

 served that they will throw great light on an 

 obscure but important group of animals. Dr. 

 Roemer sent some specimens of fossils found 

 in the carboniferous limestone of Sumatra, which 

 were striking like those met with in this country. 

 Mr. Charles W. Peach exhibited fine specimens 

 of Sphenopleris offinis, showing the complete cir- 

 culate vernation from the earliest to the latest 

 stages. It was proved that several so-called species 

 had been manufactured from one or another of these 

 transitory stages. Dr. Leith Adam's paper on 

 gigantic Tortoises and Elephant remains from the 

 Maltese caverns excited great interest. Some of the 

 fossil elephants, of Miocene age, were not bigger 

 than large dogs, whilst the tortoises were gigantic 



as compared to the present forms. Dr. J. E. 

 Taylor, F.G.S., read a paper on the "Age, Fauna, 

 and Mode of Occurrence of the Phosphate Deposits 

 in the South of France," in which he described the 

 physical geology of the departments of Lot and 

 Aveyron. The deposits occur on the oolitic lime- 

 stone in pockets. These pockets, he contended, 

 were open caverns during the early Tertiary epoch, 

 and the phosphates of lime were deposited as 

 stalactites and stalagmites along the walls and 

 floors of the caverns ; the rest was filled in with 

 red cave-earth, in which were numerous bones and 

 teeth of eocene and miocene animals, sometimes in 

 great abundance. These, he contended, stamped 

 the age of the deposits, and he thought the phos- 

 phates were due to organic agencies. In these 

 deposits a great many " missing links " had been 

 found, especially those of Lemuridse, and when the 

 animal remains had been thoroughly worked out 

 they would greatly increase our knowledge of the 

 early tertiary animals. Dr. James Croll's paper on 

 the Age of the Earth, as made out from the tidal 

 retardation, was listened to with much atten- 

 tion. Dr. Croll showed that there was a tendency 

 from subaerial denudation to lower the dry land 

 surface at the equator one foot in six thousand 

 years. 



The Discovery of Plants in the Lower Old 

 Red Sandstone of the Neighbourhood of 

 Callander. — This is the title of a paper recently 

 read before the Geological Society, by R. L. Jack, 

 Esq., F.G.S., and R. Etheridge, Jun., Esq., F.G.S., 

 of the Geological Survey of Scotland. The authors 

 give an abstract of the various previous references 

 to the existence of remains of land- plants in de- 

 posits of Old Red Sandstone age, and mention the 

 following localities in Scotland, in which such re- 

 mains have recently been discovered by them : — 

 1. Buchanan Castle Quarry, near Drymen ; 2. Old 

 Quarry at small reservoir at Kilmahew ; 3. Green 

 Burn, Keltie Water; 4. Keltie Water, above 

 Chapelrock; 5. Keltie Water, below Bracklaud 

 Linns; G. Quarry at Kames Farm, near Callander; 

 7. Quarry at Easterhill, near Gartmore ; 8. Quarry 

 in Cameron plantation, near Alexandria ; 9. Turn- 

 pike road at Overballoch, Loch Lomond ;— and the 

 localities from which the specimens noticed in this 

 paper were obtained; namely, a quarry 2i miles from 

 Braendam House, and the south-west corner of 

 Muir plantation, near Callander. The plant-remains 

 are described as being of a very fragmentary nature, 

 and as occurring in the two last-named localities in 

 a deposit consisting of greenish-grey flags and thin- 

 bedded sandstones about 500 feet in thickness, the 

 best specimens being in the sandstone. They 

 present the appearance of elongated flattened stems, 

 about 1 inch wide on the average, sometimes repre- 

 sented only by casts, sometimes by black carbon- 



