10 PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



stand, though I have not seen them, that flints are found in 

 the Egyptian desert, brilliantly polished by the slight and 

 continuous friction of the dry sand, but such conditions 

 could hardly have been the cause either at Dewlish or Port- 

 land. It has been found that the observed epicentres of 

 earthquakes lie chiefly on two great circles cutting each 

 other at right angles. Some slight earthquakes have taken 

 place in this country, one in the Cumberland District on 

 Oct. 2, one in the neighbourhood of Loch Lomond on Dec. 19, 

 and one, the widest in area, on Jan. 14 last, the latter being 

 felt all over England, except in the extreme North and South. 

 Two much more serious ones took place, the one on June 22, 

 in California, the other on Jan. 14, 1916, in Australia and New 

 Guinea, but whether this had any connection with the English 

 earthquake of the same date is not clear, and also one on 

 Sept. 6, 1915, in Western America. Another severe one in 

 Nevada on Oct. 2, 1915, was recorded in England. On 

 Dec. 19, 1915, a great fall of chalk took place in the cliffs 

 over Folkestone Warren, burying the railway line and doing 

 considerable damage. " The Crust of the Earth " formed 

 the subject of the President's Address in the Geological 

 section of the British Association, and much of the evidence 

 available as to its formation and alteration was brought 

 forward. It was recently stated that the rare and valuable 

 metal platinum, the world's supply of which nearly all came 

 from Russia, had been found in the Lower Rhine district of 

 Germany ; but this requires confirmation. 



To turn to fossils. Fossil Bacteria resembling Micrococci 

 have been discovered in the ancient Newland limestone of 

 Montana in association with algae, which are the earliest 

 plant remains known. In the same district have been found, 

 in a higher bed, the remains of crayfish-like animals, which 

 are the earliest known animal remains. It is thought that 

 these bacteria may have been an important factor in the 

 formation of this deposit. A small camel (Stenomylus hitch- 

 cocki) from the Lower Miocene of Nebraska has been placed 

 in the British Museum of Natural History. It is slender and 



