22 PROFESSOR T. MCKENNY HUGHES, M.A. 



had, and especially so as placing the drifts of Wales more closely in relation 

 with those so widely distributed in Canada, than heretofore. In the present 

 paper he has very clearly illustrated, in the case of Ingleborough Cave, the 

 fact that true uniformitarianism in geology includes local and occasional 

 catastrophic action. This I regard as of the most vital importance to 

 geological reasoning, and especially in the explanation of cavern deposits 

 and river gravels, which, more than most other formations, are liable to be 

 affected by violent and paroxysmal local debacles, as well as by appar- 

 ently capricious accidental changes. The utmost caution and the most 

 careful and minute observation are necessary in dealing with these 

 deposits, and in estimating their ages and their relation to the human 

 period. 



" With kind regards, 



" I remain, yours truly, 



" J. WILLIAM DAWSOX." 

 " Captain Francis Petrie." 



The Eev. J. Magens Mello, M.A., F.G.S. writes : 



" I am very sorry that I am unable to be present at the reading 

 of Professor Me Kenny Hughes's paper this evening. To the greater 

 part of it I have nothing that I could add save in the way of corro- 

 boration from personal observations of similar instances. But I have 

 the very strongest doubts whether there can be any trace whatever left 

 in our caves of the Noachian Deluge, even granting that catastrophe 

 involved our islands, which I am hardly prepared to admit. My own 

 experience of British caves, both from observation and from reading, tends 

 to show that the contents of, at any rate, most of them have been the gradual 

 accumulation of a long series of years, during which they were occupied 

 partly by beasts, partly by men, and that there is no evidence whatever to 

 be found in them of so sudden a cataclysm as the Great Flood, the historical 

 character of which is, however, abundantly confirmed by overwhelming 

 proofs of various kinds." 



The Rev. Dr. Walker, F.L.S., says : 



" Dun Mallard, Cricklewood, 

 "February 19. 



"On p. 21, Professor McKenny Hughes speaks of the appearance of 'the 

 wingless, colourless grasshopper in the mammoth cave.' I should be glad 

 to be informed whether or not the same species, winged and coloured, 

 is found outside the caves in broad daylight ! If not, the infer- 

 ence would seem to be that the grasshopper in question had originally 

 been created sightless, to fit it for its natural surroundings, and not have 

 gradually become so through the unused organ being atrophied and lost. 

 As it is inconceivable that any particular species would survive in the dark 

 cave, and have disappeared long years since in the open air, where all the 

 conditions for supporting and prolonging existence are so much more favour- 

 able. Lastly, short antenme and the possession of wings are not the 

 characteristics of all grasshoppers living in the light, as I can prove by 

 species captured by myself and in my own collection." 



