y%ne 9, i887j 



NATURE 



^11 



History Department ; the rest are in the possession of Mr. 

 Robert Damon, of Weymouth. In addition to Prof. Lewis's 

 collection; Mr. Davis has availed himself of the material 

 already existing in the British Museum, chiefly from the 

 fine collections of the late Sir Philip Egerton and the 

 Earl of Enniskillen, the latter of whom, we notice, com- 

 municated this memoir to the Royal Dublin Society, of 

 which he was a very old member. 



The two principal localities in which fish remains are 

 found in the Lebanon are at Hakel and at Sahel Alma. 

 In order to reach Hakel, it is necessary to go to Djcbail, 

 the ancient Byblos, a small village situated on the coast, 

 about seventeen miles north of Beyrout. Hakel is about 

 six miles and a quarter from Djebail, in a north-easterly 

 direction. M. Botta describes the locahty as being in a 

 deep valley, situated at a great height above the sea- 

 level. The beds containing the fish remains are upon 

 the slope of the hill on the right, in ascending towards 

 the village of Hakel. The beds are considerably dis- 

 placed, and vary much in their direction and inclination ; 

 the sides of the mountain are covered with debris, and it 

 is in this debris that the fishes are found. The debris is 

 in the form of thin foliated slabs, exhaling when struck a 

 strong odour of sulphureted hydrogen ; these contain 

 irregular beds of flint, or siliceous limestone, which 

 inclose the fossils. The Sahel Alma locality is situated 

 below the convent of this name, which is about eleven 

 miles from Beyrout. The convent is built on ground 

 sloping rapidly towards the sea, the surface soil is covered 

 with mulberry-trees, and beneath this is the marly chalk 

 containingthe fish remains. It is an argilo-calcareous stone, 

 sometimes laminated, soft, and without appreciable odour. 

 There are parts of a deep gray colour, almost resembling 

 a plastic clay. The fish impressions occur in considerable 

 numbers, both of species and individuals, mixed with 

 some species of Crustacea. The species of fish found in 

 the two localities are very seldom the same. The opinions 

 of authors vary as to the geological age of these fish beds. 

 Agassiz hesitated as to whether they should be considered 

 as pertaining to the Jurassic epoch or to that of the chalk ; 

 whilst Haeckel was doubtful whether to place them between 

 the chalk and the Tertiary formations. Pictet considered 

 that the large number of extinct forms, and the great 

 differences between the fauna of the fish beds and that 

 existing in the sea at the present time, made it impossible 

 to attribute the remains to a Tertiary period ; on the 

 other hand, the entire absence of ganoid fishes appeared 

 to indicate that they are of a period anterior to the 

 Jurassic, and that they must consequently have belonged 

 to that of the Cretaceous period. Dr. Oscar Fraas places 

 the beds as the upper ones of the Turonian group, corre- 

 sponding to the chalk marl, and below the white chalk 

 and the Maestricht beds. 



No less than sixty-three new species are described by 

 Mr. Davis, and a number of species of other authors 

 are re-described. Extremely beautiful drawings of most 

 of these, from the original specimens, by Miss E. C. 

 Woodward, accompany the memoir, which will be received 

 with interest by all paleeontologists. 



The printing and paper of this volume well deserve 

 our praise, and are fully up to the style of the recent 

 memoirs published by the Royal Dublin Society. 



COMPLIMENTARY DINNER TO PROFESSOR 



TYNDALL. 

 "Vl/'E are glad to be able to announce that a compli- 

 * ' mentary dinner is to be given to Prof. Tyndall on 

 the occasion of his retirement from the Chair of Physics in 

 the Royal Institution. Prof. Tyndall has still before him, 

 we hope, many a long year of fruitful research, but it would 

 have been strange if the present opportunity had been 

 allowed to pass without an adequate expression of the grati- 



tude which is felt by large classes of his countrymen for the 

 services he has already rendered to science. His 

 great reputation he has won by severe and long- 

 continued labour, the value of which is most highly 

 estimated by those who are most capable of forming 

 a judgment on its worth. Prof, Tyndall has not only 

 made additions to the sum of human knowledge ; 

 he has done much to aid the process by which the 

 English public are acquiring a new conception of the 

 place that properly belongs to science in modern life, 

 and of the need for applying scientific method to de- 

 partments of thought and work from which it has 

 hitherto been too often rigidly excluded. Moreover, by 

 his popular expositions of the results of inquiry in 

 various branches of physics, he has shown that science, 

 so far from being in any sense hostile to hterature, can 

 receive full justice only when it is handled by writers who 

 are masters of literary expression. The books in which 

 Prof. Tyndall has appealed to the general public have 

 marked an era in the intellectual development of many of 

 his readers, and his works will always serve to remind 

 men of science of the possibility of presenting profound 

 and accurate thought in luminous and attractive forms. 



We print the letter which the Honorary Secretaries 

 are now sending to the members of scientific Societies 

 and to various representative men. 



Science Schools, Soicth Kensington, 

 June 6, 1887. 



Dear Sir, — The retirement of Prof. Tyndall from the 

 Chair of Natural Philosophy in the Royal Institution affords 

 a fitting occasion for a formal recognition of the great services 

 which fie has rendered to the cause of scientific progress. 



Prof. Tyndall has therefore been invited to a complimentary 

 dinner which will take place at Willis's Rooms on Wednesday, 

 June 29, at 7 o'clock. 



The chair will be taken by the President of the Royal Society, 

 who, it is hoped, will be supported by a large and representa- 

 tive body both of scientific men and of others who appreciate 

 the importance to the nation of scientific instruction and of the 

 promotion of natural knowledge. 



The Committee hope that you will be able to attend, and in 

 this case we shall be glad if you will kindly fill up the accom- 

 panying form and return it to us at your earliest convenience. 



Tickets will be 30J. each, and the Committee request us to 

 state that it will be necessary to hold gentlemen who receive 

 tickets responsible for that sum, even if they should unfortu- 

 nately be prevented from attending the dinner. 



The early return of the accompanying form is desirable, as it 

 will be impossible to find room for more than 280 persons. 

 Should more than that number apply, the Committee will, as 

 far as possible, distribute the tickets in the order of application. 

 In any case, a further communication will be addressed to you. 



We are, dear Sir, 



Faithfully yours, 



J. Norman Lockyer \ 

 Arthur W. Rucker / 



Hon. Sees. 



The following is a list of those who have up to the 

 present consented to serve on the Committee : — 



Chairman, Prof G. G, Stokes, President of the Royal Society. 



The Marquis of Salisbury, K.G., F.R.S., Chancellor of the 



University of Oxford. 

 The Duke of Devonshire, K.G., F.R.S., Chancellor of the 



University of Cambridge, and of the Victoria University. 

 The Duke of Argyll, K.G., F.R.S., Chancellor of the 



University of St. Andrews, 

 The Right Hon. John Inglis, D.C.L., LL.D., Chancellor of 



the University of Edinburgh. 

 The Earl of Rosse, F.R.S., Chancellor of the University of 



Dublin. 

 The Earl Granville, K.G., F.R.S., Chancellor of the 



University of London. 

 Sir F. Abel, C.B., F.R.S., ex-President of the Chemical 



Society. 



