Dec. 1 1, 18S4J 



NA TURE 



135 



p. 38), which he regards as intermediate between Reptilia 

 and Mammalia. He says : — " The order Theromorpha 

 approximates to the Mammalia more closelythan anyother 

 division of Reptilia. This approximation is seen in the 

 scapular arch and humerus, which nearly resemble those 

 of the Monotremata, especially Echidna ; and in the 

 pelvic arch, which Owen has shown in the sub-order 

 Anomodontia to resemble that of the mammals, and, as 

 I have shown, especially that of Echidna. The tarsus is 

 also more mammalian than in any other division of 

 reptiles. In the genus Dimetrodon the coracoid is smaller 

 than the epicoracoid, as in Monotremes. The pubis has 

 the foramen for the internal femoral artery." Cope also 

 appears to have found in the Theromorpha a spur 

 attached to the hind foot, just as in the males of 

 Monotremata. 



In the skeletons of the latter, on the other hand, we find 

 several prominent features in which, whilst they differ 

 from the typical mammalian forms, they approximate 

 more or less closely to the reptiles, whilst finally Mr. 

 Caldwell's discover) 7 with regard to the nature of the ovum 

 has shown that Mammalia and Sauropsida are closely 

 allied to each other — more intimately than has generally 

 been allowed by naturalists. 



In Monotremes we find, as it were, intermediate 

 animals possessing the attributes of two classes : whilst 

 on the one hand they have developed mammary glands, 

 the distinctive feature of the higher group, on the other 

 they lack that structure whereby the typical mammalian 

 embryo receives nourishment before birth ; and in corre- 

 lation with this we find them agreeing with the lower 

 class in the possession of a yelk-sac, whilst the contained 

 food-yelk causes the ovum to assume the meroblastic 



type- ' 



We may thus trace the line of descent through the 

 Sauropsida directly to the Monotremes (doubtless through 

 forms now extinct, as the Theromorpha of Cope) ; from 

 these to Marsupials, which are indeed viviparous, but 

 whose ova still possess a large yelk-sac, and whose embryos, 

 as Mr. Caldwell Q.f.M.S. ( ctober 1884) has just shown, 

 enter into no close vascular connection with the maternal 

 tissues ; and from these to the higher mammals, whose 

 much specialised structures for fcetal development differ 

 now so widely from those of the lower vertebrates. 



W. Baldwin Spencer 



NOTES 

 LAST -Thursday (December 4) the Chemical and Physical 

 Society of University College, London, gave a scientific soirh in 

 connection with the University College Society. Prof. T. G. 

 Bonney delivered the annual address, and took as his subject 

 "Serpentine Rock and its Origin." The lecture was illustrated 

 by Wright and Newton's new oxy-hydrogen microscope. During 

 the evening demonstrations were given on " Radiant .'. 

 by Mr. Rose Innes, "Absorption Spectra" by Mr. Schunck, 

 and " Ozone " by Mr. E. E. Craves, in various parts of the 

 In the library were exhibited by several gentlemen 

 and manufacturers new scientific apparatus and chemical com- 

 pounds. The physical and chemical laboratories were thrown 

 open to visitors, and in them were shown new forms of appa- 

 ratus for research. The meeting was numerously attended, and 

 the committee are to be congratulated on the success of the 

 evening. 



The ordinary general meeting of the members of the Parkes 

 Museum was held on Thursday, December 4, Capt. Douglas 

 Galton, CPj., F.R.S., in the chair. The meeting was held to 

 consider the report of the Council for the tenth year and to 

 elect officers. The report set forth the work done in connection 

 with the Museum during the past year, which had included 

 lectures by the Council of the Sanitary Assurance Association in 



addition to those arranged by the Council of the Museum. The 

 accounts showed that there was urgent need for increased sub- 

 scriptions if the Museum was to be continued, for the small 

 invested capital had had to be made use of this year to meet the 

 current expenses. The report was adopted on the motion of 

 the Chairman, seconded by Mr. Rogers Field. Mr. Mark H. 

 Judge, then proposed ' ' That the report be printed for circula- 

 tion, with a detailed statement of the financial position of the 

 Museum, and that a special meeting of the members be convened 

 within two months to consider the same." Thisjwas seconded 

 by Mr. E. C. Robins, and carried unanimously. Sir R. Lloyd 

 Lindsay, Prof. J. Marshall, F.R.S., and Mr. Alfred Waterhouse, 

 A.R.A., were elected Vice-Presidents. Six new Members of 

 Council were elected, and the meeting closed with a vote of 

 thanks to the Chairman, proposed by Dr. J. C. Steele of Guy's 

 Hospital. 



We have before us a most satisfactory report of the Manchester 

 Public Free Libraries for 1883-84, showing increase everywhere. 

 More than one and a quarter million of issues have been made 

 to two and a half million of visitors to the libraries. Of these 

 the boys have been provided with additional reading-rooms to 

 themselves, which are reported as crowded every evening ; the 

 increased Sunday issues of books also are noted as being 

 specially made to boys, and it cannot be doubted that a taste for 

 reading thus early implanted will save them from half the 

 temptations to which idle youth is subjected. While nearly 

 10,000 new books have been purchased, more than 10,000 have 

 I h ,11 i .11 1 ed in new harness for fresh toil by the bookbinder ; and 

 few items can speak better of "something accomplished, some- 

 thing done," than 3325 volumes withdrawn from circulation, 

 simply worn out. At one branch a new catalogue published, at 

 another one preparing, and at a third two supplementary lists 

 issued, keep the value and the availability of the books at the 

 highest point. 



At the meeting of the Geologists' Association last Friday, 

 Mr. R. Meldola gave a preliminary account of his investigation 

 of the East Anglian earthquake of April 22, 1SS4, with special 

 reference to the geology of the question. The extreme limits of 

 the recorded disturbance were Brigg in Lincolnshire, Altrincham 

 in Cheshire, Worcester, Bristol, Street (Somersetshire), Boulogne, 

 and Ostend, giving in round numbers an area of 50,000 square 

 miles. The focus of the disturbance appears to have been 

 beneath the earth near the villages of Abberton and Peldon, 

 between Colchester and Mersea Island, and there seems to have 

 been total reflection of the shock at Wivenhoe on the River 

 Colne, the tract of country to the north-east of this village, 

 where great damage was sustained, being in "seismic shadow. 

 The area of structural damage comprised about fifty or sixty 

 square miles, the main axis being along a line five miles in 

 length and extending in a S.W.-N.E. direction from Peldon 

 to Wivenhoe. The evidence showing the propagation of the 

 shock along the older rocks had been carefully considered, 

 and the conclusion had been arrived at that such a spreading 

 of the shock towards the west, north-west, south-west, and 

 south-east had actually taken place, an additional argument in 

 favour of the extension of the Palseozoic rocks beneath the south- 

 east of England, as first suggested by the late Godwin-Austen in 

 185S. being thus furnished. It was pointed out that this exten- 

 sion of the disturbance along the older rocks was of a purely 

 dynamical character, depending simply upon the superior elas- 

 ticity of these formations. One phase of earthquake movement 

 which the present disturbance appears to have revealed with 

 special distinctness was the tendency of the shock to make itself 

 felt along free margins such as coast-lines, river-valleys, lines of 

 outcrop, &c. The general conclusion respecting the distribution 

 of earthquakes in this country which the present investigation 



