7S 



NATURE 



[March 22, 19 17 



cal facies of the jgrtoous rocks themselves. The 

 ■cause of such relation was sought in the existence of 

 extensive inter-crustal regions in a partially molten 

 state : that is, with some interstitial fluid magma, 

 which must normally be rich in alkaline silicates. 

 There will be a continual displacement of the inter- I 

 stitlal magma from places of greater stress to places 

 •of less stress, and certain broad differences in chemical 

 composition are therefore to be expected between the 

 igneous rocks of orogenic belts and those erupted in 

 -connection with gentle subsidence. 



February 28. — Dr. Alfred Harker, president, in 

 the chair. — Dr. A. Smith Woodward : Fourth note 

 on the Piltdown gravel, with evidence of a second 

 skull of Eoanthropus dawsoni. With an appendix 

 on the form of the frontal pole of an endo- 

 cranial cast of Eoanthropus dawsoni by Prof. G. Elliot 

 Smith.; — Excavations last summer round the margin 

 of the gravel-pit at Piltdown (Sussex) supported the 

 conclusion that the deposit is a varied shingle-bank, 

 ■and that the three layers containing Palaeolithic re- 

 mains and derived Pliocene fossils are approximately 

 of the same a^e. Many elongated flints and pieces of 

 Wealden sandstone were observed in the bottom sandy 

 clay with their long axis more or less nearly vertical. 

 No teeth or bones were found, but one nodular flint 

 obtained from the same layer as Eoanthropus seems 

 to have been used by man as a hammer-stone. This 

 3s not purposely shaped, but merely battered along 

 faces that happened to be useful when the stone was 

 conveniently held in the hand. In the winter of iqi-; 

 the late Mr. Charles Dawson discovered in a ploup-hed 

 field, about a mile distant from the original spot, the 

 inner supraorbital part of a frontal bone, the middle 

 of an occipital bone, and a left lower first molar tooth. 

 all evidently human. These are rolled fragments, and 

 the first and third may be referred with certainty to 

 Eoanthropus dawsoni; but it is doubtful whether 

 they represent more than one individual. In miner- 

 alised condition they agree with the remains of the 

 type-specimen. The piece of frontal bone exhibits the 

 characteristic texture and thickness, with only a very 

 slight supraciliary ridge, and a small development of 

 nir-sinuses. The occipital bone is somewhat less 

 thickened tlfan that of the original specimen of 

 Eoanthropus, and bears the impression of a less un- 

 Bvmmetrical brain. In an appendix Prof. G. Elliot 

 Smith expresses the ooinion that the endocranial cast 

 of the fragment of frontal bone presents features 

 more primitive and more ape-like than those of any 

 other known member of the human family. 



Zoological Society, Februarv 20. — Dr. .\. Smith 

 Woodward, vice-president, in the chair. — C. J. C. 

 Pool : Insects reared in the insect house during 1916. 

 Experiments showed that melanic variations of the 

 magpie moth (Abraxas grossulariata) were not con- 

 nected with melanic variations in the lar\'a. In the 

 case of dragonflies, although the larvae of several 

 British species had been reared to maturity, it was 

 found impossible under the conditions to feed the 

 full-grown insects, which survived only a few days 

 after emergence from the water. Similarly, it was 

 found impossible to feed various species of Longicorn 

 Coleoptera, altboucrh other beetles, differing as widely 

 in diet as Carabidae and Lamellicorns, fed readil}' on 

 banana. Experimental feeding with beetles of the 

 genus Necrophorus showed that while these insects 

 were refused bv meerkats (Suricata) they were eaten 

 by a monfroose and Capuchin monkeys. — A. de C. 

 Sowerbv : Heude's types of artiodactyle ungulates in 

 the Sikawei Museum, China. In the case of the 

 species of Sus, Cervus, Capricornis, and Nemorhaedus 

 it was shown that Heude had disregarded variations 



NO. 2473, VOL. 99"1 



due to age, season, and other causes, and that in 

 each of these genera the number of species must bi> 

 greatly reduced.— G. A. Boulenger : The lizards of the 

 genus Philochortus. Matschie. 



March 6.— Dr. S. F. Harmer, vice-president, in the 

 chair. — Dr. F. E. Beddard : The scolex in the Cestode 

 genus Duthiersia, and the species of that genus. ^ — 

 Capt. S. R. Douglas : Results of an experimental in- 

 vestigation of the migration of woodcock breeding in 

 the West of Ireland. The^ paper, among other 

 interesting points, showed an."increase in the number 

 of woodcock breeding in the West of Ireland. 



Linnean Society, March i.— Sir David Prain, presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — J. C. Mottram : Observations upon 

 the feeding-habits of fish, more especially of Salmo 

 fario, and of riverside birds. These observations, ex- 

 tending over a period of eight years and supplemented 

 by from between 500 and 600 autopsies, show that 

 the liability to attack of any species depends upon 

 many factors, such as the general and special hunger 

 of the preyer, the total and relative abundance of the 

 food-supply, the abundance and ease of capture of the 

 preyed upon, and its relative palatability. It follows 

 that in order to estimate the palatability value of a 

 species, it is necessary to take into account all these 

 factors. The observations indicate that species can- 

 not be sharply divided into palatable and unpalatable. 

 Observations are also recorded which show that both 

 fish and birds are deluded by rough resemblances to 

 insects on which they may be feeding, and that 

 therefore a rough mimicry may be of some value in 

 the struggle to exist.— Dr. J. C. McWalter : A note 

 on botany in Malta. The note began with remarks 

 on the prevalence of Oxalis cernua, Thunb., in Malta, 

 still as universal as it was more than twenty-five 

 years ago, when Prof. George Henslow wrote about 

 'it (Proc. Linn. Soc., 1S90-92, pp. 31-36), which is 

 still quoted as the most recent contribution to its 

 study. Seasons at Malta are numerous, uncertain, 

 and erratic, but the Cape sorrel seems most prevalent 

 in March and April; it is now called "The English 

 Weed." Dr. McWalter next suggested the cultivation 

 of certain medicinal plants, of which the present 

 supply is short, but well adapted in his view for 

 growth in Malta. " Labour is, as a rule, cheap, and 

 though an era of prosperity now prevails on account 

 of the war, it is thought that great distress will pre- 

 vail afterwards unless useful work be provided for 

 the people." 



Cambridge. 



Philosophical Society, February 5. — Dr. Marr, presi- 

 dent, in the chair.— Dr. Marr : Submergence and Glacial 

 climates during the accumulation of the Cambridge- 

 shire Pleistocene deposits. Near Narborough, at 

 March and elsewhere in the fens marine deposits 

 occurred from below fen-level to a height of at least 

 fifty feet above present sea-level, indicating a sub- 

 mergence followed by re-emer^ence. Evidence was 

 given to show that the later Pleistocene deposits of 

 the neighbourhood of Cambridge indicated the same 

 two movements, and that the encroachment of the 

 sea took place in Lower Palaeolithic times, and the 

 recession in Upper Palaeolithic times. The climate in 

 T.ovver Palaeolithic times was apparently warm, and 

 there is some evidence of a cold period at the end of 

 these times. Warmer conditions probably followed, 

 and towards the end of Upper Palaeolithic times a 

 second period of cold is marked by the presence of 

 the reindeer and an arctic flora in the pit near Barn- 

 well Station. Prior to the Lower Palaeolithic time 

 the chalky Boulder Clay was accumulated ; we there- 

 fore seerri to have evidence of three cold Pleistocene 



