S4'4' Zoological Society. 



Following the strike of the Dipple beds into Banffshire, the 

 author and the Rev. G. Gordon discovered, at the Burn of Tynas, 

 4 miles E. of Fochabers, a similar series of shales and sandstones 

 containing Ichthyolites, enclosed, as usual, in flattened nodules. 

 Many fine specimens of species common to Lethen, Cromarty, &c,, 

 were procured in the highest stratum. At Buckie, the inferior 

 conglomerate is partially covered by patches of a red schistose sand- 

 stone, in which a tuberculated bone, similar to those in the Burn of 

 Tynat, was found. The shore near this point is said to exhibit fine 

 examples of a raised beach. 



From the facts contained in the paper, the author concludes, 



1 . The primary strata were thrown into highly-inclined positions 

 before the deposition of the old red sandstone. The elevation of 

 the secondary strata to their present position, he conceives may have 

 been produced by elevation in the line of the Grampians, or of the 

 Great Caledonian Canal, subsequent to the accumulation of the 

 Purbeck beds at Linksfield. 



2. The great conglomerate and red sandstones containing Dipteri, 

 Cheiracanthi, &c., represent the Orkney, Caithness, and Gamrie 

 strata in Scotland, and the inferior beds of the old red sandstone 

 of England. 



3. The superimposed marly conglomerates, sandstones, and marl- 

 stones, with a distinct series of fossils, are equivalents of the central 

 division of the old red sandstone system to the south of the Gram- 

 pians, and in England. 



Lastly, That there are no indications of the coal strata. 



Dr. Malcolmson terminates his memoir by stating, that the Gam- 

 rie Ichthyolites clearly belong to the old red sandstone, and not to 

 the coal measures. 



This being the last evening of the Session, the Society adjoui-ned, 

 at the conclusion of its business, to Wednesday, the 6th of No- 

 vember, 1839. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 

 June 11,1 839 . — Mr, Bucknell exhibited his Eccaleohion, or machine 

 for hatching eggs ; and having broken eggs in every stage of incuba- 

 tion, explained the nature and incidents of the process. Mr. Bucknell 

 stated that the period of incubation in the common fowl, which was, 

 on an average, 21 days, sometimes varied from 18 to 24 days, and that 

 he attributed this variation to the mode of keeping, and previous treat- 

 ment, by which the embryo was injured, either from the heat of the 

 weather, exposure to variety of temperature, jolting in carriage, &c. 

 The young bird was occasionally known to emit a faint chirp even 

 so long as 24 hours before being excluded ; and he believed that if this 

 noise was heard on the 18th day the chicken would j)robably appear 

 on the 19th. From this and other circumstances, such as the common 

 mode of preparing eggs by varnishing, &c., the porosity of the shell, 

 and other similar causes, he concluded that the small globule of air 

 constantly found in eggs, and which he had observed to increase ac- 

 cording to the age of the gq^, was produced by the air penetrating 

 the substance of the shell and its lining membrane. 



