310 Additional Observations on the 



them more doubtful, and that they will require to Illustrate it 

 by new observations. ^ 



One thing, however, is certain, viz. that the fact of the oc- 

 currence of human bones and objects of industry in caverns, is 

 not new ; for it had been previously pointed out in the caverns 

 of Franconia, by MM. Rossenmiiller and Scimmering ; and in 

 those of England by Mr Buckland, who, indeed, has made it the 

 subject of a separate chapter in his Reliquiae Diluvianae ; 

 but not one of these learned men has, any more than Cuvier, 

 concluded, that man and the large species of extinct animals 

 were contemporaneous, — that is, regarded them as antediluvian ; 

 so much has the loose and gravelly soil at the bottom of these 

 caverns been exposed to alterations posterior to the original de- 

 posit, and caused by the action of repeated currents of water. 



ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE STRUCTURE OF RECENT 



AND FOSSIL CONIFERS. By WiLLiAM NicOL, Esq., Lec^- 

 turer on Natural Philosophy. With a Plate. Communicated 

 by the Author. 



Since the publication of my paper on the structure of Recent 

 and Fossil Coniferae, in the last Number of the Edinburgh New 

 Philosophical Journal, I have received small pieces of the Arau- 

 caria, excelsa, of the Dammara australis, of a species of Callitris, 

 and of the Pinus lanceolata, and shall now subjoin a short: no- 

 tice on the structure of each. 



First, then, with regard to the Araucaria excelsa, or Norfolk 

 Island pine, it is to be observed that it differs from the arau- 

 caria from Moreton Bay in New Holland, in having regular 

 annual layers. These, however, have not the distinct linear 

 boundaries observable in those of the pines of cold and temper- 

 ate regions. They are indicated merely by one or two concen- 

 tric rows of meshes, a little smaller than those occurring either 

 without or within, and by their partitions being a shade darker 

 than the rest. ^,^^^^^,3 . , , ,.;. ^,.,^ _; ^.^;.,,,,'^ Joic^i-ifK) 



The first figure of Plate V. represents a small portion of a 

 transverse section, chiefly with a view to shew the state of the 

 boundaries of the annual layer?. It was taken from a part of 

 the section in which the reticulated texture had the most regu- 



