s an. 26, 1882 | e 
NATURE 
397 
Geological Society, January 11.—Mr. R. Etheridge, F.R.S., 
president, in the chair.—Messrs, W. J. Clunies Ross, Joseph 
William Brown, William Hunter, Henry Tomlinson, and Charles 
Otto Trechmann, were elected Fellows of the Society.—The 
following communications were read :—On the chalk masses or 
boulders included in the contorted drift of Cromer, their origin 
and mode of transport, by T. Mellard Reade, F.G.S.—Observa- 
tions on the two types of Cambrian beds of the British Isles (the 
Caledonian and Hiberno-Cambrian), and the conditions under 
which they were respectively deposited, by Prof. Edward Hull, 
LL.D., F.R.S. In this paper the author pointed out the dis- 
tinctions in mineral character between the Cambrian beds of the 
North-West Highlands of Scotland and their assumed repre- 
sentatives in the east of Ireland and in North Wales. In the 
former case, which included the beds belonging to the ‘‘ Cale- 
donian type,” the formation consists of red or pur; le sandstones 
and conglomerates ; in the latter, which included the beds 
belonging to the ‘‘ Hiberno-Cambrian type,” the formation con- 
sists of hard green and purple grits and slates contrasting strongly 
with the former in structure and appearance. These differences 
the author considered, were due to deposition in distinct basins 
lying on either side of an Archzean ridge of crystalline rocks 
which ranged probably from Scandinavia through the central 
highlands of Scotland, and included the north and west of Ire- 
land, with the counties of Donegal, Derry, Mayo, Sligo, and 
Galway—in all of which the Cambrian beds were absent—so 
that the Lower Silurians repose directly and unconformably on 
the crystalline rocks of Laurentian age. As additional evidence 
of the existence of this old ridge, the author showed that when 
the Lower Silurian beds were in course of formation, the 
Archzan floor along the west of Scotland must have sloped up- 
wards towards the east ; but he agreed with Prof. Ramsay that 
the crystalline rocks of the Outer Hebrides formed the western 
limit of the Cambrian area of deposition, and tbat the basin was 
in the form of an inland lake. On the other hand, looking at 
the fossil evidence both of the Irish and Welsh Cambrian beds, 
he was of opinion that the beds of this basin were in the main, 
if not altogether, of marine origin, and that the basin itself had 
a greatly wider range eastward and southward—the old Archzan 
ridge of the British Isles forming but a small portion of the 
original margin.—The Devono-Silurian formation, by Prof. E. 
Hull, LL.D., F.R.S. The beds which the author proposed to 
group under the above designation are found at various parts of 
the British Isles, and to a slight extent on the Continent. The 
formation is, however, eminently British, and occurs under 
various local names, of which the following are the principal :— 
England and Wales—Devonshire: The Foreland Grits and 
Slates lying below the Lower Devonian beds (“‘ Lynton Beds’). 
Welsh Borders: ‘* The passage-beds”” of Murchison, above the 
Upper Ludlow Bone-bed, and including the Downton Sandstone, 
and rocks of the Ridge of the Trichrug. These beds form the 
connecting link between the Estuarine Devonian beds of Here- 
ford (generally, but erroneously, called the ‘‘Old Red Sand- 
stone”) and the Upper Silurian Series. South-east of England 
(Sub-Cretaceous district) : The author assumed, from the borings 
at Ware, Turnford, and Tottenham Court Road described by 
Mr. Etheridge, that the Devono-Silurian beds lie concealed 
between Turnford and Tottenham Court Road on the south and 
Hereford on the north. Ireland—South: ‘* The Dingle beds,” 
or ‘‘Glengariff Grits and Slates,” lying conformably on the 
Upper Silurian beds, as seen in the coast of the Dingle promon- 
tory, and overlain uncouformably by either Old Red Sandstone 
or Lower Carboniferous beds, 10,000 to 12,000 feet. North: 
‘The Fintona beds,” occupying large tracts of Londonderry, 
Monaghan, and Tyrone, resting unconformably on the Lower 
Silurian beds of Pomeroy, and overlain unconformably by the 
Old Red Sandstone or Lower Carboniferous beds, 5000 to 6000 
feet in thickness. Scotland: Beds of the so-called ‘‘ Lower 
Old Red Sandstone,” with fish and crustaceans, included in 
Prof. Geikie’s ‘‘ Lake Orcadie, Lake Caledonia, and Lake 
Cheviot,” underlying unconformably the Old Red Sandstone 
and Lower Calciferous Sandstone, and resting unconformably 
on older crystalline rocks, Thickness in Caithness about 16,200 
feet. The author considered that all these beds were representa- 
tive of one another in time, deposited under Lacustrine or 
Estuarine conditions, and as their name indicated, forming a 
great group intermediate between the Silurian on the one hand 
and the Devonian on the other. He also submitted that their 
importance, as indicated by their great development in Ireland 
and Scotland, entitled them to a distinctive name such as that 
proposed. 
Zoological Society, January 17.—Prof. W. H. Flower, 
F.R.S., president, in the chair.—Prof. A. Newton, F.R.S., 
exhibited (by favour of Messrs. Hallett and Co.) the skin and 
bones of the trunk of an example of Mofornis mantelli recently 
received from New Zealand. ‘This was stated to be the third 
example of this almost extinct bird which had been yet obtained. 
—Mr. W. K. Parker, F.R-S., read a memoir on the structure 
and development of the skull in the Crocodilia,—Mr. Oldfield 
Thomas gave an account of a series of Rodents lately collected 
by Mr. Stolzmann in Northern Peru. The chief interest in the 
collection was stated to lie in the fine series of Mice of the genera 
Hesperomys and Holochilus contained in it.—A communication 
was read from Mr, T. E. Buckley on the variability of 
plumage exhibited by the Red Grouse.—A communication 
was read from Mr, G. B. Sowerby, jun., containing descriptions 
of some new species of shells in the collection of Mr. J. Cosmo 
Melvill.—Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell read descriptions of several new 
or rare species of Asteroidea contained in the collection of the 
British Museum.—A communication was read from Mr. W. L. 
Distant, containing the characters of some undescribed species of 
Cicadide from the Australian and Pacific regions. 
Meteorological Society, January 18.—Mr. G. J. Symons, 
F.R.S., president, in the chair.—The Secretary read the Report 
of Council for the past year, which showed the Society to be in 
a very flourishing condition, for while in 1871 the Society con- 
tinued its work without an office, accessible library, or an 
assistant secretary, and the number of the Fellows was 314; the 
staff at present very fully employed consists of an assistant secre- 
tary and three computers with 555 Fellows on the roll. The 
receipts and expenditure in 1871 show a marked contrast to the 
year just past ; the receipts amounted to only 244/. against more 
than 840/. in 1881, The expenditure was only 197/. against 
780/. in 1881. The Society also now receives Second Order 
and Climatological Observations from eighty-three stations, the 
results of which are published quarterly in the Meteorological 
Record. In addition to the Quarterly Fournal, two publications 
have been prepared and issued under the direction of the Council, 
viz. “ Hints to Meteorological Observers, with Instructions for 
taking Observations and Tables for their Reduction,” and 
“*Tndex to the Publications of the English Meteorological So- 
cieties, 1839 to 1881.”—The President then delivered his address, 
which was devoted to the consideration of the present state and 
future prospects of Meteorology. He began by asking in what 
respects is our present system of observation capable of improve- 
ment? Should it be extended, either as regards distribution of 
stations, additional instruments, or additional hours of obserya- 
tion? Can any of the millions of entries at present made annu- 
ally be safely dispensed with? These questions can only be 
properly answered after considering two others—What observa- 
tions are being made? and for what object? After referring to 
the different patterns of barometer and the number of obserya- 
tions made, Mr. Symons said that he is aware there are several 
grounds upon which the maintenance of numbers of stations in 
excess of all possible requirements can be defended. In the first 
place there is the constant difficulty which arises from the re- 
movals and deaths of the observers, and from the extension of 
buildings and growth of trees, &c. This renders it necessary 
that we should have two'or three stations wherever we desire to 
make sure of a continuous record. But a far better and more 
scientific plan would be to choose a few unexceptional localities 
remote from towns, purchase the freehold of a few surrounding 
acres, erect thereon stations, identical in design and in every 
respect, and endow them with moderate funds so that the obser- 
vations may, humanly speaking, be established on an unalterable 
basis. That would be the way to detect secular changes. For 
climatic purposes the numerous climatological stations started by 
the Society are of great value. After speaking of hygrometers, 
anemometers, and ozonometers the President referred to daily 
maps of Atlantic weather, which should be on a scale of not less 
than 1 inch for 100 miles. A compilation of such charts is 
essentially national work, and falls wholly within the domain of 
the Government Office. After referring to weather forecasts, 
the lack of original workers in discussing meteorological obser- 
vations, the absence of academical encouragement, and the 
little prospect of those who devote themselves to meteorology 
obtaining more than a bare livelihood, the President concluded 
as follows :—‘“‘ It is just possible that the severe manner in which 
I have criticised a few of our existing arrangements may have 
led some one to consider that meteorology is languishing, feeble, 
ormoribund. I believe that the yery contrary is the fact ; when 
