55Q 



NA TURE 



[Oct. 4, 1883 



in which the Typical Features of the Three Principal Races 

 in the British Isles are compare! 



Forehead 

 Supra-orbital 

 ridges 



.■ Cheeks 

 d Nose 



Mouth 



Chin 



liars 



Jaw 

 Eyes 

 Hair 



Skull 



Vertical 

 Oblique ' 



Tapering to chin 

 Straight, long 



Lips thick, un- 

 formed 

 Small, fine 

 Rounded 



Narrow 



Dark 



Very dark, crisp 



■ nrling 



Receding 



Prominent, con- 1 

 tinuous across 

 brows 



Long 



High-bridged, pro- 

 jecting 



Lips thin, straight, 

 long 



Pointed, projecting 



Pear-shaped, chan- 

 nelled lobules 

 square 



I Blue-grey, sunk 

 Light-brown, 

 slightly waved 



Vertical, rounded 

 Smooth 



Wide, full 

 Short: bulbed 



Lips well formed 



Heavy, rounded 

 Oval 



Heavy 



Blue, prominent 

 Light, limp 



Dolichocephalic Sub-Brachyce- 

 phalic 



Average height. 5 feet 3 inches 



(m. 1 '600) 

 Habit Slight 



5 feet 9 inches 



(m. 1-753) 

 Bony, muscular 



Sub-Dolichoce- 

 phalic 



5 feet 7 inches 

 (m. 1*702) 



Stout, well-covered 



In the mass of the population one or other type of features is 

 found to predominate. The prevalent type differs in different 

 localities ; and the principal cause of the difference appears to 

 lie ancestral. Progress has been made in the identification of 

 several sub-types, especially the Gaels, Picts, Angles, and Jutes. 

 Hut the definitions are not at present complete. The Committee 

 trust that whenever ancient remains are discovered which there 

 may be reason to believe belong to the above people, or to the 

 Long-barrow race, they may be carefully preserved, and infor- 

 mation forwarded to the Secretary. The long bones, which are 

 often put away, are specially required for the purpose of ascer- 

 taining -tature. They request also to he informed of the exist- 

 ence of any skulls in local museums or private collections, that 

 would assist in the identification of the above types. Negatives 

 have been taken of very pure examples of the Cymric type in 

 North Wales, and several photographs have been purchased. 



Report of the Ravoill Fissure Exploration Committee, consist- 

 ing of Prof. A. H. Green, M.A., F.G.S., Prof. L. C. Miall, 

 F.G.S., Jno. Brigg, F.G.S., and James IV. Davis, F.S.A., 

 F.G.S. (Reporter). — The fissure occurs in an anticlinal of lime- 

 stone in Lothersdale, near Skipton. The limestone is exten- 

 sively quarried, and whilst removing the limestone, the fissure, 

 which descends almost perpendicularly, has repeatedly exhibited 

 new sections during several years past. It was decided by the 

 Yorkshire Geological and Polytechnic Society to investigate its 

 contents in 1879, and a grant was made by the British Associa- 

 tion to assist in this object. Il was found that the fis ure con- 

 tained, besides laminated clay and layers of sand and stones, a 

 brown, sandy clay with rounded boulders of sandstone and 

 limestone derived from the immediate locality, and numerous 

 bmes of animals. The latter comprise the bone-, teeth, and 

 tusks of elephant, teeth of rhinoceros, hippopotamus, hytEna, 

 bear, and others, broken horns of the roebuck, and bones of 

 birds. The bones are, when found, soft and friable ; and, being 

 cemented to the matrix, are frequently difficult to extricate and 

 individualise. The Committee express their indebtedness to 

 Mr. Spencer, the proprietor of the quarry, and to Mr. Todd, 

 fir the kind manner in which they have assisted in the 

 operations. 



Report of Committee on Erratic Blocks, presented by Dr. 

 Crosskey.— Additional facts were reported respecting the distribu- 

 tion of erratic blocks. A remarkable group occurs at Cross- 

 pool, near Sheffield, at a height of 730 feet above the sea. It 

 consists of slate rocks and tuff from the Borrowdale Volcanic 

 series of the Lake District, Carboniferous limestone and chert 

 from North Lancashire and North-West Yorkshire, New Red 

 Sandstone from North Lancashire, and specimens also occur 

 which were probably derived from the East Lowlands of Scot- 

 land, with magnesian limestone from the northeast of England. 

 Near Clun, Shropshire, boulders from Rhayader and Machyn- 

 lleth and neighbourhood are recorded. The highest boulder is 

 upon Black Hill. It travelled from Rhayader, twenty-three 

 miles west-south-west, and has an elevation of about 1400 feet. 

 The Report included a description of an enormous number of 



In place of "prominent brows." as in the report for 1882. 



boulders spread over an area of about two miles long by half a 

 mile wide, the longer direction being south-east of Markfield, 

 Leicestershire, from whence they were derived. It also gives 

 an account of the erratics of the north of Hertfordshire. At 

 Kelsall, on the ridge dividing the district draining into the 

 Thames from that draining north and north east into the Cam, 

 are two boulders lying about 500 feet above sea-level. The 

 boulders noted point generally to a derivation from the Midland 

 oolites and coal-measures, and from crystalline rocks further 

 north. The po-ition of many boulders in the Midland Counties 

 and the Isle of Anglesea was also recorded. 



Report on the Fossil Plants of Halifax, by Prof. W. C. 

 Williamson, LL.D., and IV. Cash. — Clear evidence of the ex- 

 istence of at least two new types of Rachcopteris, which are 

 most probably stems or petioles of ferns. A third is a curious 

 stem in which the vascular bundle approaches that of a Lepid'- 

 dendron in its defined cylindrical form surrounding a cellular 

 pith, a condition rarely seen among the ferns. 



Report of the Committee to Explore Caverns in the Carboni- 

 ferous Limes/one in Ii eland, consisting of Prof. Valentine Ball, 

 Prof. Dawkins, and Richard J. Ussher. — The Shandon Cave, 

 near l'ungarvan, which yielded remains of extinct Post-Pliocene 

 mammalia in 1S59 and in 1S75, has been explored during the 

 past year. So far the work has imply been removing the loose 

 material overlying the bone-bearing bed. 



Fourth Report of the Committee, consisting of Dr. H. C. Sorby 



and Mr. G. R. Vine, appointed for the purpose of reporting on 

 Fossil Polyzoa.— Tabulate- the Cretaceous Polyzoa of the British 

 aieaonly. Gives the classification of Cyclosi .matous Polyzoa, 

 &C., from the Silurian to the Cretaceous epochs. Describes 

 pseudo-polyzoan forms, and gives the bibliography of the 

 subject. 



Repoit of the Committee, consisting of Mr. R. Ether idge, Dr. 

 H. Woodward, and Prof. T. Rupert Jones, on the Fossil 

 Phyllopoda of the Pabeozoic Rocks. — Gives a classified synopsis 

 of the genera of this group and detailed descriptions of certain 

 genera. 



Report on Seismic Investigations in 'Japan during the Years 

 1882-83, h Prof 7 ol,n MUne.— When in England, arrange- 

 ments were made with Mr. James White of Glasgow for the 

 con-truction of a seismometer which will give a complete diagram 

 of all the sensible vibrations of an earthquake in conjunction 

 with the time of occurrence of these vibrations. The results of 

 observations on earth-tremors are given, which show- that the 

 pendulum is seldom completely at rest, that a vertical motion is 

 occasionally observed in the pendulum, the style of which oscil- 

 lates up and down with a rapid, tremulous movement. With 

 sudden changes in the barometer, the motions of the pendulum 

 are relatively very great. A second set of observations has been 

 recorded, which are the motions of the delicate leveL placed 

 beneath glass covers. 



The Reports prepared by the Chemical Committees appointed at 

 Southampton last year were read at the opening of the Chemical 

 Section. The Committee on Chemical Nomenclature presented 

 an interim Report, and asked to be reappointed t.> complete their 

 l;i i lours. Prof. Hartley read the Rlepoi t on the Ultra- Violet Spark 

 Spectra, which dealt especially with the disappearance of short 

 lines, the lengthening of short lines, and alterations in the spec- 

 trum of carbon. 



SECTION l;— Chemical Science 

 Sunspots ana the Chemical Elements in the Sun, by Profs. 

 1 lewar and Liveing. —The authors, having made an examination 

 of the spectroscopic observations of sunspots made at Greenwich, 

 point out that the dark lines peculiar to spots ate not necessarily 

 due to new elements, for cerium and titanium in the arc give a 

 great number of new lines, of which some show coincidences with 

 dark lines seen in sunspots too striking to be merely accidental. 

 Although a spot is less luminous than the photosphere it does 

 u.i follow that its temperature must lie less, inasmuch as the 

 radiation of short wave-length generally increases very rapidly 

 with the temperature, and the spectra of some of the metals most 

 abundant in the sun, such as magnesium and iron, are stronger 

 in the ultra-violet lhan in the visible part of the spectrum. The 

 unequal widening of the Fraunhofer lines in spots has an ana- 

 logy in the unequal widening of the lines of some of our element- 

 when the density of their vapour is increased. The disappear- 



