NOTES AND EXHIBITS. 183 



suggesting the collection of films of mud upon thawing ice, which 

 are dispersed through the Sandstone at all angles of inclination, 

 and quite uninjured by attrition, as though they had been gently 

 deposited in the sand as the ice which supported them melted 

 away. The bed of stone in which these phenomena occur contains 

 less iron than usual, and while free from the false bedding so 

 common in the series, has the aspect of an artificially stirred up 

 or mixed mass of stuff . There are many other circumstances in 

 the immediate neighbourhood which argue strongly in favour of 

 the hypothesis, and I hope at no distant date to lay these before 

 the Society. It would however, be unreasonable to do this at 

 present, without the specimens to which reference must be made. 

 But, in the interim, we must remind ourselves that the formation 

 is, so far as we know, not at all marine, but entirely from fresh 

 water. If glaciers existed, they must have debouched on rivers 

 or lakes, and not on the sea. But without assuming the existence 

 of actual glaciers, we may suppose that there may have been heavy 

 ice on these rivers and lakes, packing at times, and perhaps 

 occasionally forming dams, whose disruption may have led to the 

 sudden floods of which we have many indications in our Hawkes- 

 bury Rocks, which are so very difii cult, problematical and obscure 

 to the observer. 



Note on a Japanese Drawing of an Octopus, by W. J. Stephens 

 M.A. I have brought for the inspection of members a Japanese 

 work, consisting of a series of illustrations printed in colours, 

 and representing various forms of Japanese industry. Fishing, 

 hunting, weaving, bronze-working, mining, tea gathering, the 

 management of horses and cattle, and many other rural operations 

 are depicted with considerable spirit and apparent accuracy. It 

 is quite evident that the pictures are intended to be realistic, and 

 in no degree imaginary. One cannot, therefore, but feel an 

 unusual interest in the eighth figure, in which we observe an 

 enormous Octopus, with eyes not less than two feet in diameter, 

 a body not less than twelve in length, and arms which may fairly 



