1896.] Some Recent Nattiral History Papers. 163 



Mr. H. H. Dixon contributes two papers on the histology of the vege- 

 table cell. The first, " On the Chromosomes of Lilmni lotigijlorum,'' 

 deals with the number of those bodies formed by the nuclear thread in 

 mitosis. Investigations into the division of the pollen mother- and 

 daughter-cells and of the cells of the embryo-sac are described. Varia- 

 tions in the number of the chromosomes were noticed, a phenomenon 

 which the author believes not to have been hitherto described as 

 occurring in the gametophyte of flowering-plants, prior to the differen- 

 tiation of the sexual cells. Mr. Dixon's second paper is a " Note on the 

 Nuclei of the Endosperm oiFritillaria imperialis.'" Nuclear division, as ob- 

 served here, was found to be extremely variable, and forms intermediate 

 between normal karyokinesis and direct division are referred to as of 

 special interest. 



In the Ttansaciions of the Manchester Geological Society^ vol. xxiv., pt. 7, 

 appears a paper b}^ Mr. G. H. Kinahan, " On possible lyand-Connections 

 in Recent Geological Times between Ireland and Great Britain." This 

 communication seems to have been suggested by Dr. Scharfi's prelimin- 

 ar}^ report " On the Origin of the Irish Land and Freshwater Fauna" 

 {Proc. R./.A-iT)), vol. iii.,p.479,/r?i-/^A^a/.,vol.iii., p. 260). Mr. Kinahan main- 

 tains that all the Irish plants and animals passed into the country in late 

 Pleistocene times. Apparently he has not taken the trouble to read Dr. 

 ScharfTs paper, as in each of the first two paragraphs he attributes to 

 that naturalist the use of the term " Pliocene " in connections where 

 " Pleistocene ' was really used, while, a little further on. Dr. ScharfF is 

 credited with the statement never made by him that all the lakes inhab- 

 ited by varieties of the " pollen " [sic) communicate directly with the Irish 

 Sea. Mr. Kinahan asks why Dr. Scharff should found his argument on ten 

 mammals only, and *' eliminate specially the rat, rabbit, bat, roebuck, 

 and wild cat." Dr. Scharff in his paper plainly said why, because the 

 ten only are undoubtedly indigenous. What naturalist ever included the 

 Roebuck among native Irish mammals } Mr. Kinahan suggests that 

 the land-connections across which the Irish animals and plants came 

 consisted of shoals formed by tide-action, one at the north-east and the 

 other at the south-east corner of Ireland, and adds that such frail bridges 

 would be rapidly washed away. He brings forward, in evidence of the 

 southern drift, the startling statement that the Killiney gravels are largely 

 composed of fragments of Wexford rocks. There is no attempt to answer 

 Dr. Scharft's argument for the Pliocene age of the Irish Fauna, from the 

 existence in Great Britain in Pleistocene times of those animals which 

 are British but not Irish, but which should have found their way to 

 Ireland had Pleistocene land-connections existed. 



