January 2jrd, igiy.'] PROCEEDINGS. XV. 



paratively inactive in cold, damp weather," but Lydekker states 

 that " durino; the hardest weather they fall into uninterrupted 

 hibernation," rousing at the return of milder condition. Which 

 of these contradictory statements is correct Mrt Coward could 

 not say, but he has frequently seen and captured voles in snow 

 and during severe frosts, and has never, until this winter, come 

 across anything suggestive of hibernation. 



The osier-bed in which the first nest was found is frequently 

 fliooded, and underground burrows would be death-traps for the 

 voles, but it is only occasionally that the water rises so high as 

 to flood the base of the boundary hedge. 



Towards the end of December, 191 6, the weather was 

 severe, but changeable, and the snow, thawing and freezing again, 

 would have made the ground unsafe for a burrowmg mammal. 

 This probably explains why the voles had constructed nests as 

 retreats in elevated positions, but whe'thei: this above-ground 

 nesting habit is usual m similar situations remains to be proved". 

 The cause of death of the three voles is difficult to explain, for 

 the weather was not more severe than obtained when the mice 

 have been met with abroad. Possibly in dryer situations they 

 would be protected iix underground nests, but the elevated nests 

 were too much exposed, and the mice had not had time or chance 

 to giather sufificient material in wihich to protect themselves. 



The matter requires further investigation, and Mr. Coward 

 hoipfes to make further observations under varying weather con- 

 ditions. 



Oi^dinary Meeting, January 23rd, 191 7. 



The President, Professor Sydney J. Hickson, M.A., D.Sc, 

 F.R.S., in the Chair. 



Professor G. Elliot Smith, M.A., M.D., F.R.S., read a 

 paper entitled " The Endocranial Cast of the Boskop Skull." 



Professor Elliot Smith stated that Dr. Peringxiey, Director 

 of the 'South African Museum, has submitted for examination 

 and report an endocranial cast obtained from the fossil human 

 skull found near Boskop, in the Transvaal, in 191 3. Apart 

 from ithe right temporal bone, the| base of the skull is missing; 

 but sufficient of the calvaria has been recovered to show that 

 the capacity of the cranial cavity must have been well above 

 1800 c.c, perhaps even as much as 1900 cc. — greater than that 

 of the philosopher Kant's skull, and alm^ost as large as 

 Bismarck's. 



Ulnfortunately it reveals only the slightest indications of 

 the positions of the cer'ebral sulci ; but a very definite idea is 



