236 Annals of the Philosophical Club 



and French Senegal to justify any confident statement, 

 but, apart from species extending to other regions, we know 

 only of about a dozen common to North-west Africa and the 

 Canaries, and there are three African genera (excluding the 

 groups already mentioned) which are represented in the 

 latter by species peculiar to the islands. On the other 

 hand, we find, besides the genera and species strictly confined 

 to the Canarian archipelago, three distinct genera, known 

 only in the Azores and Madeira, and the above-named 

 50 species, several of which extend also to the Azores. 

 This extension is the only fact which lends any support 

 to the theory of an ancient Atlantis, advanced by the late 

 Edward Forbes. 



June I4th, 37ist meeting. Captain Noble described the 

 effect of shells charged with explosives of great power. 

 The pebbles of the shingle near the spot were in some cases 

 reduced to powder, a result apparently of the violent com- 

 pression of the surrounding air. 



Nov. ist, 372nd meeting. Mr. Galton gave an account 

 of his recent visit to the Bureau des Signalement at Paris 

 to study M. Alphonse Bertillon's system of identifying 

 criminals by measurements of different parts of the body. 

 Doubts had been expressed, which to some extent he also 

 had felt, whether the method would succeed, but his 

 experience had been convincing. The measurements were 

 made and recorded quickly, the system of storing and 

 classifying the descriptions was simple, admitting of easy 

 reference, and the results, as he saw from examples, were 

 most successful. The system was now adopted in France. 



Dec. I3th, 374th meeting. Dr. Sclater described a mound 

 composed of angular blocks in an earthy matrix resembling 

 a moraine which he had seen, during a recent visit to Algeria, 

 at the entrance of the gorge of the Chifa, where it debouches 

 from the Atlas. Also he had noticed another mound like 

 a moraine on the road between Algiers and Constantine. 

 Some members doubted if these could be moraines, as they 

 were only a few hundred feet above sea-level. 



1889. May i6th, 379th meeting. Dr. Sclater exhibited 



