Geological Society. 237 



air is exposed; gaseous diiFusion; the unequal specific gravity of 

 air and vapour; and the subtle operations of temperature at all 

 times, the author is fully conscious that he has not ascertained their 

 respective values. . . 



He is also conscious that the phenomena themselves are the chiet 

 ground on which he can rest a claim for originality, and that the 

 explanation of them may be better treated by those who are more 

 accustomed to deal with similar researches. 



In the course of these experiments the author has been especially 

 indebted for many valuable suggestions to the Rev. Dr. Booth, 

 Dr. Roget, Professor Sharpey, and Mr. Bishop ; and he is also under 

 obligations to Professor Stokes and to Mr. Brooke. 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



December 19, 1855.— W. J. Hamilton, Esq., President, in the 

 Chair. 



The following communications were read : — 



1 " Description of a fossil cranium of the Musk-buffalo (JBm- 

 balus moschatus, Owen; Bos Pallasii, DeKay ; Ovibos Pallash. 

 H. Smith and Bl.). from the Gravel at Maidenhead, Berks. By 

 Prof. Owen, F.G.S. 



This specimen was discovered by the Rev. Mr. Kingsley and 

 Mr. J. Lubbock in a gravel-pit close to the engine-house at the 

 Maidenhead station last summer, and is the first example of the 

 subgenus Bubalus yet recognized as fossil in Britain. It consists 

 of the cranial part of the skull, with the horn-cores, nearly perfect. 

 The Professor, in describing this fossil, first offered his reasons for 

 regarding the so-called " Musk-ox " as having been unnecessarily 

 separated from the Buffaloes, and then gave an account of the few 

 fossil skulls of the Musk-buffalo yet known, viz. those figured by 

 Pallas, Ozeretskowsky, and Cuvier. A comparison was then made 

 of the fossil remains with recent crania ; and, although the skulls 

 somewhat differ in a few points, especially in the relative curvatures 

 of the horn-cores, yet the author was led to conclude that, as far as 

 the materials for comparison at his command would serve, the dif- 

 ferences between the fossil and recent Musk-buffaloes are not of 

 specific value ; that the Bubalus moschatus of the Arctic regions, 

 with its now restricted range, is the slightly modified descendant of 

 the old companion of the Mammoth and the Tichorine Rhinoceros, 

 which with them enjoyed a much wider range, both in latitude 

 and longitude, over lands that now form three divisions or con- 

 tinents of the northern hemisphere; and that the circumstances 

 which have brought about the probably gradual extinction of the 

 northern Rhinoceros and Elephant have not yet effected that of the 

 contemporary species of arctic Buffalo. 



2. " Note on the Gravel near Maidenhead, in which the remains 

 of the Musk-buffalo were found." By Joseph Prestwich, Esq., 

 Sec. G.S. 



From Maidenhead to the sea, a distance of 50 miles, the valley of 



