N'ov. 1 6, 1 87 1 



NATURE 



55 



ancient land, and the corals and shells of a former ocean. Every- 

 where the scarred and wasted rocks tell of the degradation of the 

 solid land, and show us how the waste goes on. Let us then 

 cany into our task some share of the enthusiasm which these 

 daily exemplars called forth in earlier days. Let us turn from 

 the lessons of the lecture room to the lessons of the crags and 

 ravines, appealing constantly to Nature for the explanation and 

 verification of what is taught. And thus, whatsoever may be 

 your career in future, you will in the meantime cultiv.ate habits 

 of observation and communion with the free fresh world around 

 jou — habits which will give a zest to every jouniey, which will 

 enable you to add to the sura of human knowledge, and which 

 will assuredly make you wiser and better men. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



London 



Zoological Society, November 7. — Prof. Newton, F. R.S., 

 vice-president, in the chair. The secretary read a report on the 

 additions that had been made to the society's menageiie during 

 the months of June, July, August, and September 1871, amongst 

 which were specimens of the Tamandua Ant-eater ( Tainanjna 

 tclmdaiiyla), I3aird's Tapir {Tapirus Imirdi), and several other 

 animals of special interest. — A communication was read from 

 Mr. Gerard Krefft, Curator of the Australian Museum, Sydney, 

 N. S. W., containing notes on a rare Ziphioid Whale, which had 

 been stranded near Sydney, and which appeared to be referable 

 to Ziphiiis layardi. — Mr. Gould exhibited and characterised a 

 small but lovely Fruit Pigeon from the Fiji Islands, which he 

 proposed to name Ckrysana x'ictor. — Mr. Sclater called attention 

 to the supposed existence of an undescribed animal, of about the 

 size of a Dingo, in the Rockingham Bay district of Queensland, 

 and read a letter addressed to liim by Mr. Brinsley G. Sheridan, 

 containing particulars on this subject. — Dr. John Anderson, of 

 Calcutta, communicated a description of a short tailed Macaque 

 from Upper Burmah, supposed to be new, which he proposed 

 to call Macaciis bnuutcns. — A communication was read from the 

 Viscount Walden on a new and interesting Falconine Bird, of 

 the genus Polikkrax, recently obtained by Major Lloyd, in the 

 vicinity of Tongoo, Upper Burmah, and proposed to be called 

 Polihicyax insignis. — Mr. W. H. Flower, F.R.S., reada memoir 

 on the recent Ziphioid Whales, among which he proposed to 

 recognise the following generic types : — Hyp^roodon, Ziphius, 

 Mcsoplodoii, and Bcrardiiis. This was followed by a description 

 of the skeleton of Bcrardins arnoiixii, founded on a specimen 

 lately transmitted to the Museum of the Royal College of 

 Surgeons from New Zealand by Dr. J. Haast, F. R.S. — Mr. 

 Herbert Taylor Usher read some notes on the habits of the 

 Horned Viper ( Vipfi-a nasiioriiis), as observed by him in the 

 vicinity of Cape Coast Castle, Western Africa. — Prof. Newton 

 read a notice of a remarkable peculiarity which he had recently 

 discovered in an Australian duck. Anas punctata, viz., that in 

 this species the osseous development of the lower trachea was 

 common to both sexes. — A paper by Dr. J. C. Cox, of Sydney, 

 was read, describing a new Volute and twelve new species of 

 Land Shells from Australia and the Solomon Islands. — A com- 

 munication was read from Surgeon Francis Day, Inspector- 

 General of Fisheries of British India, containing some remarks on 

 the identification of certain species of Indian Fishes. — Mr. P. L. 

 Sclater, F .R. S. , read some notes on Pelicans, being supplementary 

 to a previous paper on the same subject read at a meeting of the 

 society in May, 186S. — A communication was read from Mr. 

 J. Brazier, of Sydney, containing descriptions of eight new 

 Australian Land Shells. — Prof Newton communicated a paper 

 by Dr. J. Murie, containing supplementary notes concerning the 

 powder-down patches of Rhinochctus jubatns. 



Anthropological Institute, November 6.— Sir 'John Lub- 

 bock, Bart, F.R. S., president, in the chair. Mr. M. Allport, 

 F.R.S., waselected acorrespondingmemberfor Tasmania. — Mr. J. 

 W. Flower, F. G. .S., treasurer, read a paper " On the relative ages 

 of the Flint and Stone Implement Periods in England." In 

 this paper, which was illustrated by the exhibition of a series of 

 various kinds of flint implements, the author proposed to show, 

 tliat having regard to recent discoveries, the arrangement hitherto 

 adopted regarding the Prehistoric Stone period in England as 

 divisible into the Palaeolithic and Neolithic was altogether inade- 

 quate, and that as well on Geological as on Palaeontological 

 grounds the drift period was separable by a vast interval from 

 that of the bone Caves, as the cave period was separable from 



the Tumulus or Barrow period. The author adduced various 

 reasons for believing that the implements were made and tha 

 drift gravel was thrown down long before this island was severed 

 from the Continent, and that thus before that event both coun- 

 tries were inhabited. Pie also contended, on this and other 

 grounds founded upon recent discoveries, that the implements 

 could not have been tr.ansported (if transported at all by lluviatile 

 action) to the places in which they are found by any rivers 

 flowing in the same channels and draining the same areas as now ; 

 and he also expressed doubts whether the gravels were transported 

 by river action, and also whether the makers of the implements 

 were contemporary with the Mammalia with whose remains they 

 were associated ; the gravel and the fossils having been evidently 

 carried from considerable distances, whereas the implements 

 were made on the spot from stones taken from the gi-avel. Mr. 

 Flower then pointed out that the works of art found in the 

 caves, as well as the animal remains, differed in many important 

 particulars from those found in the drift, and that those of the 

 Tumulus period differed entirely from those in the caves ; that in 

 truth the cave fauna had then quite disappeared, and had been 

 succeeded by one entirely different, including most of our domestic 

 animals, and that for effecting such a change an interval of long 

 duration must be allowed. He also pointed out that the use of 

 bronze was common to both what were known as the Pala;olithic 

 and Neolithic periods, and could not be regarded therefore as it 

 usually has been, as distinct from and posterior to both ; and, in 

 conclusion, he suggested that the drift period might properly be 

 termed Palaeolithic, that of the caves as Archaic, that of the 

 Tumuli as Prehistoric, whilst that of the polished stones might 

 still be known as Neolithic. 



Geologists' Association, November 3.^The Rev. Thomas 

 Wiltshire, M.A., F.G.S., president, in the chair. "On the 

 old Land Surfaces of the Globe," by Prof. Morris, F.G.S. 

 The indications of land surfaces to be found in Palajozoic, 

 Mesozoic, and Cainozoic strata were recapitulated. Con- 

 glomerates and ripple marks, as well as the great thickness of 

 the oldest sedimentary rocks, the result of denudation, clearly 

 show the existence of land during Cambrian and Silurian times. 

 Though there are indications of vegetable life in Cambrian rocks, 

 the earliest remains of vegetable organisms allied to our present 

 land plants occur in the uppermost Silurian Strata, or passage 

 beds. The Old Red sandstone of Scotland affords evidence of 

 fresh-water origin, and consequently of lakes and land. But in 

 carboniferous rocks we have in the vast accumulations of vegetable 

 remains forming the gi'eat coal beds of the world, perhaps the 

 most striking and conclusive proof of land and terrestrial con- 

 ditions to be found in the geologic record. After noticing the 

 indications of land in the Permian rocks, the Mesozoic reptilia 

 and mammalia, as well as the many other evidences of land sur- 

 faces to be met with in the Secondary rocks, were dwelt upon ; 

 and a similar review of Cainozoic, or Tertiary, terrestrial indi- 

 cations was followed by an exposition of the upward and onward 

 proga'ess of life, culminating in the present conditions of the globe 

 with a flora and a fauna admirably adapted to the wants of the 

 latest addition to the marvels of the universe, man, whose duty it 

 is, and whose pleasure it ought to be, to study those successive 

 changes, thegrand result of which he now enjoys. — A note ' ' On re- 

 cent exposure of the Glacial Drift at Finchley " was read by Mr. 

 H. Walker. This was a brief notice, and intended as an intro- 

 duction of the subject, which will be more fully elucidated in a 

 paper by the same author to be read at the next meeting of the 

 association. 



Society of Biblical Archaeology, November 7. — Dr. 

 S. Birch, president, in the chair. Dr. Richard Cull, F. S.A. 

 reada paper contributed by Mr. Henry Fox Talbot, F. R. S., 

 "On the Kehgious Beliefs of tlie Assyrians." — Mr. R. 

 Hamilton Lang, H. B. M. Consul at Cyprus, read a paper 

 "On the Discovery of some Cypriote Inscriptions." After 

 stating that the credit was due to Due de Luynes of 

 having proved the existence of a Cypriote alphabet, he 

 enumerated the various inscriptions which he had himself dis- 

 covered, and drew especial attention to one, a bi-lingual inscrip- 

 tion in Phccnician and Cypriote, which he first discovered during 

 the excavation of a temple at Idalion. The alphabet, which had 

 been compiled by the Due de Luynes, consisted of 80 letters, but 

 Mr. Lang felt justified in reducing that number to 51, and ex- 

 hibited an alphabet which he believed to contain all the Cypriote 

 characters of which we are at present certain. In proceeding 

 he dwelt at some length upon an apparent resemblance between 



