194 



NATURE 



\ytily 4, 1872 



translation ;" but the facts are quite easily explained by an ice- 

 sheet. Other observations of Mr. Cumming upon the drifts of 

 the Isle of Man were taken by the author as confirmatory of his 

 views. Mr. Morton's observations on the glaciation of the 

 Mersey basin were touched upon ; and it was suggested that the 

 glaciation of that district was produced by an ice-sheet, not 

 coming from the south-east, as iVIr. Morton holds, but working 

 to the south-east from the Lake-country, and across a part of 

 what is now the Irish Sea. Prof. Ramsay's observations on the 

 glaciation of Anglesey being to the S.S.W. instead of from the 

 Snowdon group, as might be expected, were considered by 

 the author to l.e confirmatory of his views of a great ice-sheet 

 having filled wliat is now the Irish Sea, and emptied itself by 

 St. George's Channel on the one hand, and by the Cheshiie 

 plain on tlie other, as well as by some of the passes in the Pen- 

 nine Chain. — 5. " On the Mammalia of the Drift of Paris and 

 its Outskirts." By Prof. Albert Gaudry, K.C.G.S. In this 

 paper the author brielly indicated those mammals the remains of 

 which have been discovered in the Pleistocene or Quaternary 

 deposits of Paris and its vicinity. His list includes flint imple- 

 ments as evidences of the existence of man, and bones of the 

 following species : — Caiiis lupus, Hyccna crociita (spelica), Felis 

 lio (s/>e/ui!), Caslvr In'gonthciiiun. and fiber, Klcphas priinii^cniiis 

 and aniiqitiis, IlippopoUtintis ampliibius, Hhiiioccros ticlwrlinms 

 (a Rhinoceros of doubtful species), Siis scrofa, Eqtius asiiiiis and 

 iiiballus. Bos printigeitiiis, hiurusi^), and indicusC!), Bismi pris- 

 ms and eiuoptcus, and Ccnnis taraiuius, Bcl^amii, megaceros, 

 canadensis (?), ilaplius, and a small species. 



Zoological Society, June iS. — Mr. John Gould, T'.R.S., 

 vice-presititnt, in the chair. — The .Secretary read a report on the 

 additions that had been made to the Society's Menagerie during 

 the month of May, 1872. The most noticeable ol these were 

 two Argus Pheasants {Argus gigaiitcns), presented to the Society 

 by Mr. J. G. Fanshawe. — Mr. P. L. Sciater exhibited a jiair of 

 Ceylonese birds sent to him for determination by Mr. W. \ incent 

 Legge. These birds Mr. Sciater considered to belong to a new 

 species of the genus Priuiiocliilus, which he proposed to call 

 P. vinceiis, after one of the names of its discoverer. — Mr. lidwin 

 Ward exhibited the horns of a Earasinga Deer (Ccrvns dnvaucd- 

 lii) with twenty points, and a very handsome and peculiarly 

 grown specimen of the Gaur or Indian Bison, from Central India. 

 — Mr. St. George Mivart read a p.aper "On the Axial Skeleton 

 of the Ostrich" (Struthio caindus). — Dr. J. Murie read a paper 

 "On the Cranial Appendages and Wattles of the Horned Tra- 

 gopan" (Ccrioniis satyra). After alluding to the phenomena of 

 display during courtship, he went on to show that rudimentary 

 horns are found in the female. In the male the pseudo-horns 

 are composed of firm fibro-elastic substance, and are not due to 

 vascular erection. The wattle, on the contrary, is a true erectile 

 vascular organ. — A communication was read from Prof. II. H. 

 Gigholi, containing an account of the Cetacea observed during 

 the voyage round the world of the Magenta in the years 1865-6S. 

 In this were contained descriptions of several new or little known 

 species, and of a new genus and species of Fin-backed Whale, 

 proposed to be caWtA .Imp/iiptcra pacifca. — Dr. J. Murie con- 

 tinued the series of his observations on the Macaques, com- 

 menced at the last meeting. The species selected for special 

 notice were M. arctoidcs of Is. Geoff. , which he showed to be 

 identical with M. bruuncns of Anderson : — The Formosan or 

 Round-faced Monkey {M. cyclopis), and the Japanese Monkey 

 (M. speciosus). Points in the anatomy and skeleton of each of 

 these species were described. — A communication was read from 

 Dr. J. E. Gray, containing the description of the younger skull 

 of Steller's Sea Bear (Eumetopias stdlcri). — A communication 

 was read from the Rev. O. P. Cambridge, giving descriptions of 

 twenty-four new species of Spiders ot the genus Erigoui-. — A 

 second communication from Dr. J. E. (iray, F.R.S., contained 

 additional notes on new corals from the Southern and Antarctic 

 Seas. — A further communication from Dr. CIray contained addi- 

 tional notes on .IrcUvepIuilus cincrcus, and on dypsophoca, from 

 the coast of New Zealand. — Mr. A. H. Garrod read a descrip- 

 tion of the tongue oi Ahstor Iiypopolius, which showed that i\<j/i)?- 

 does not belong to the Trichoglossine group of Psittacidie. 



Mathematical Society, June 13. — Mr. W. Spottiswoode, 

 Treas. R. S. , president, in the chair. Prof. Cayley, vice- 

 president, gave an account of his paper, "On the sur- 

 faces divisible into squares by their curves of curvature." 

 Sir W. Thomson, Mr. Merrifield, and Prof. Clifford, aske.l for 

 information on one or two points in the communication. — -Mr. S. 

 Roberts, vice-president, gave some details of his paper, "Prof. 



Cremona's transformation between two planes and tables relating 

 thereto." — Reference was made to a paper by ProT. Cayley. "On 

 the rational transformation between two spaces" (Proceedings 

 Lond. Math. Society, vol. iii. pp. 127, &c.). — Dr. Hirst brielly 

 sketched out a few results arrived at in his communication, en- 

 titled "A manifold correspondence of two planes." Sir W. 

 Thomson explained the object of his short paper "On the 

 simultaneous reduction of two prodynamical quadratics to sums 

 of squares." He referred to papers by Prof Cayley (Camb. and 

 Dub. Math. Jour., Feb. 1S69, and Quarterly Math. Jour. 1858), 

 and to Conaby's problem " Sur I'equation a I'aide de laquelle on 

 determine les inegahtes scculaires des planetes," treated of in 

 vol. iv. of that writer's " Exercises." The Hon. J. W. Strutt 

 referred the author to a memoir bearing on the subject of his 

 paper. 



Anthropological Institute, June 17. — Sir John Lubbock, 

 Bart., president, in the chair. -Mr. A. W. Fianks exhibited and 

 described photographs of the tattooed man from Birmah — The 

 following papers were read : " On the Hill Tribes of North 

 Aracan," by Mr. St. Andrew St. John ; "The Ainos of Yeso," 

 by Commander H. C. St. John, R.N. (communicated by the 

 Admiralty); "Indian Picture Writing in British Guiana," by 

 Mr. Chas. B. Brown; "Report on Australian Langu.iges and 

 Traditions," by the Rev. W. Ridley, M.A. (communicated by 

 the Colonial Office) ; "Report of the Anthropological Section 

 of the Arctic Exploration Committee." ' 



Linnean Society, June 20. — Mr. G. Bentham, president, in 

 the chair. — Mr. A. W. Bennett communicated a short note on 

 the mode of fertilisation in /mp>alieiis pan'ipUi-a, On the stnic- 

 tural peculiarities of the Bell-bird (C/;a.r;«y;'/y'H<v«), by Dr. Murie. 



Geologists' Association, June 7. — Rev. J. Wiltshire, pre- 

 sident, in the chair. — "On the Classification of the Cambrian 

 and .Silurian Rocks," by Ilenry Hicks. The author, after 

 mentioning the groups now kno',\ n to comprise the Cambrian and 

 Silurian rocks, as exhibited in the British Isles, and the usual 

 mode, hitherto, of dividing and subdividing these formations, 

 stated that it was impossible in a science so progressive as geology, 

 where new discoveries were continually being made, to accept at 

 present any of these arrangements, whicli for the most pait had 

 been made some twenty or thirty years ago, unless with consider- 

 able modifications. The classification approved by the author 

 has already been, to a great extent, adopted by Sir :Charles 

 Lyell in his ".Students' Manual, "and by the late Mr. Salter, 

 and the author in papers to the British Association ; and is based 

 on the most recent paboontological and stratigraphical evidence. 

 In a table exhibited for the purpose of illustrating these facts, 

 the classification of Prof. Sedgwick, and of Sir R. Murchison, 

 were placed side by side along with the one proposed. The 

 columns in the table showed (i) the lithological characters of 

 the beds comprising each group ; (2) the thickness of 

 the strata ; (3) the organic remains contained in each 

 group ; (4) the number of genera and species wdiich are 

 known to reach from one group into another ; (5) the order 

 of the appearance of animal life upon the globe, and (6) the 

 localities where the several groups are best seen in England. By 

 means of the evidence set forth in these columns, the author was 

 enabled to show the most natural divisions and subdivisions, so 

 far as recent researches are capable of explaining them. The 

 following are the chief divisions accepted as being the most satis- 

 factoiy at present : — The Lcntvr Cambrian to include the Long- 

 mynd (Harlech grits and Llanberris slates, and the rocks at Bay 

 Head, &c.) and the Menevian groups, which were shown to be 

 intimately connected paLi:ontologically, and to be entirely distinct 

 in their faunas from the overlying rocks. The C 'pper Cainlrian 

 to include the Lingula flags (lower, middle, and upper, called 

 also Maenturog, Festiniog, and Dolgelly or Malvern) and the 

 Tremadoc groups. These were also shown to be connected 

 closely by some of the genera, especially by Olenus, Conocoryphe, 

 and Dikelocephalus. The Lmivr Silurian to comprise the 

 Arenig (Lower and Upper, the former a series only recently 

 known through the researches of the author, and forming a con- 

 necting link between the Tremadoc;. and the true Arenig rocks), 

 the Llandeilo (Upper and Lower, .the former being black shales 

 or slates, and the latter calcareous), and the Bala or Caradoc 

 groups. Ths'il-Pper Silurian to consist of the Llandovery (Upper 

 and Lower), the Wenlock and the Ludlow groups. The whole 

 of the Llandovery group was placed in the Upper Siluri.in in ac- 

 cordance with the evidence cited by Prof. Ramsay in his memoir 

 on North Wales, along with the facts explained by the table, and 

 which went to prove that when it was to be separated enthely 



