18 
NATURE 
[Vov. 3, 1870 

whole value of town excreta. He said that he had shown last 
year that, with either fluid or solid excreta, there was no loss, 
as far as his experiments had then extended; and he had pointed 
out, also, that he expected no loss from oxidation, as both must 
already be regarded as oxidised compounds. His experiments 
since had extended over a long period, and he had included meat 
as one of the nitrogenous matters used ; in all, however, he had 
found no loss of nitrogen, no oxidation, and no formation of 
nitrates. 

SEcTION C.—GEOLOGY 
On a Census of the Marine Invertebrated Fauna of the Lias.— 
Mr. R. Tate. ‘The author g ave an analysis of the fossils, but 
desiderated more precise data before exact results could be 
obtained. 
On the Formation of Boulder Clays and Alternations of Level 
of Land and Water.—Rev. J. Gunn. The author illustrated 
his own opinions, which were completely at variance with the 
generally accepted interpretation of the origin of these beds. 
On Some Cases of the Recent Conversion of Glacial Drifts into 
what Appears tobe Middle Drift.—Mr. G. J. Stoney. 
On the Occurrence of Pebbles and Boulders of Granite in Schis- 
tose Rocks in lay, Scotland.—Mr.. J. Thomson. The author 
described the different rocks exhibited in a section across Islay 
from west to east, and the position of the metamorphic rock 
in which the boulders occurred which underlies a bed of quartzite 
seventy feet thick. Specimens of some of the smaller boulders 
with their interesting matrix still attached to them were exhibited. 
The bed probably indicated one of those recurring glacial epochs 
which had formed the subject of Mr. Wallace’s communication 
to the section. 
Diamonds of South Africa.—Professor Tennant. 
Changes of Climate.—Mr. R. A. Peacock. These were due, ac- 
cording to the author, to rain and rivers, to denudations, to risings 
and sinkings of land, and to the great range of temperature in in- 
terplanetary space and on the various parts of the earth’s surface. 
The warm, genial climate of the Carboniferous period he ascribed 
to the absence of high hills at that time on the globe. 
Sur le terrain Silurien du centre de la Belgique.—Professor 
Malaise. ‘The author described the series of beds with their 
fossil remains, and considered that they represented a portion of 
the Middle Silurians, more extensively developed in Belgium 
than in Britain. 
On the Remains of an Insect discovered in the Carboniferous beds 
at Huyton.—Mr. Clementshaw exhibited the specimen of the 
insect, and pointed out the characters upon which he ventured 
to refer it to the /u/goride. 
Notes on a Meronethshire Gold Quartz Crystal, and some Gola 
found recently in the River Mawddach.—Mx. T. A. Readwin. 

SEcTION D.—B10Locy 
Department of Anatomy and Physiology 
On the Connection of the Hyoid Arch with the Cranium.— 
Prof. W. H. Flower, F.R.S. In the sheep, as is well known, 
the anterior arch or cornu of the hyoidean apparatus is des- 
cribed as consisting of three bones, of which the uppermost 
is by far the largest and most important, and has received 
the name of stylo-hyal. This bone is long, compressed, 
and at the proximal end enlarges and divides into two short 
branches, by the anterior of which it is continued as a car- 
tilaginous band to the cranium. The upper end of this band 
is again ossified in the form of a curved cylindrical plug of bone, 
with a truncated lower extremity, lying in a groove on the side 
of the tympanic bone, the edges of which groove meet around it 
in adult animals, and often become ankylosed with it ; but this 
is only a secondary connection. The primary connection is with 
the periotic or petro-mastoid bone, immediately in front and to 
the inner side of the stylo-mastoid foramen. In embryonic 
specimens it can be traced as a distinct band of cartilage lying 
to the anterior and inner side of the lower end of the Fallopian 
aqueduct, and passing to the upper and back part of the tym- 
panic cavity, near to the spot from which the stapedius muscle 
takes origin. This is then the true proximal extremity of the 
anterior arch of the hyoidian apparatus, if we leave out of con- 
sideration the stapedius and incus which there is reason to believe 
are developed from the same rod of cartilage—a question which 
is not discussed in the present communication. Whatever may 

be the case with regard to the origin of the last-named parts, it 
is a subject of easy demonstration that in the sheep there is an 
ossified portion of the upper end of the hyoid arch, above and 
distinct from the stylo-hyal, which becomes firmly united with 
the periotic, and which may ossify either from a separate centre 
or by extension of bone from the periotic. Whether it should 
be considered as a process of the periotic or as a separate ele- 
ment may still be a matter of opinion ; but the existence of such 
a part as a distinct portion of the hyoid arch requires recognition, 
[t may be conveniently distinguished by the name of tympano- 
Ayal, as it is always in relation with the tympanic bone, and 
continues the hyoid arch up to the wall of the cavity of the 
tympanum, 
This portion of the skull can be distinctly recognised at the 
spotin dicated (#.e, to the anterior and inner side of the stylo- 
mastoid foramen) in alniost all mammals, though in very different 
degrees of development, usually in accordance with the size and 
amount of ossification of the remainder of the anterior arch. 
Thus, in those of the Ungulata, as the ruminants, and especially 
the horse and rhinoceros, in which the stylo-hyal is very largely 
developed, the tympano-hyal is most conspicuous, but where, 
as in the pig, the anterior arch is little ossified, the tympano-hyal 
is comparatively rudimentary. In the cetacea it is quite distinct, 
though small, and a fine band of cartilage can often be traced 
from the upper end of the stylo-hyal into it, embedded in the 
great ligamentous mass which attaches that bone to the exoccipital 
and surrounding parts of the cranium, and which of course is 
only a secondary connection. 
In man, this bone or process is also quite distinct, although it 
seems to have been generally confounded with the stylo-hyal. 
The so-called styloid process of the temporal bone has long been 
known to have a separate centre of ossification, and is also gene- 
rally recognised as the homologue of the stylo-hyal of other 
mammals, one of the main points of difference being, that whereas 
in all others it is an independent bone not connected directly 
with the cranium, in man it is always ankylosed to the ‘‘tem- 
poral,” or forms a process of the skull. 
Ifa human skull at the period of birth is examined, a very 
small round piece of bone surrounded by a deep groove can be 
seen exactly where the tympano-hyal is found in the sheep, just 
behind the posterior limb of the inverted arch formed by the tym- 
panic bone, and in front and to the inner side of the stylo-mastoid 
foramen. This increases somewhat in size as age advances, 
forming a distinct process, supported, and partly embraced in 
front by the vaginal process of the tympanic. The true styloid 
or stylo-hyal at birth isa slender rod of cartilage, often partially 
ossified in the centre, and invested by a strong fibrous sheath, 
from which the stylo-hyoid, stylo-glossus, and stylo-pharyngeus 
muscles take origin. Though it occasionally becomes ankylosed 
in the adult with the tympano-hyal, as is the case with those 
skulls which have very long styloid processes, this does not occur. 
so frequently as is described in most works on anatomy. In the 
large majority of skulls, before middle age, the stylo-hyal is free, 
and is commonly lost in maceration. The short process which 
is always present, and which is commonly considered as a rudi- 
mentary styloid process, is really a distinct portion of the hyoid 
arch, corresponding with the tympano-hyal of the sheep. 
The communication was illustrated by specimens and diagrams. 
On the Correspondence between the Anterior and Posterior Ex-— 
tremity, and the Modifications of the Position of the Limbs in_the 
higher Vertebrata.—Professor W. H. Flower, F.R.S. This 
communication was chiefly devoted to an exposition, by means 
of specimens and diagrams, of the views held by most English 
anatomists of the serial homologies of the different bones of the 
extremities, founded upon comparison of the anterior, cephalic, 
or preaxial border of the one, in the primitive position, with the 
same border of the other, which leads to results opposed to the 
views of Wyman and other American anatomists, founded 
upon the principle of antero-posterior symmetry. 
On Lefthandedness:—Dr. Pye-Smith. The author referred to 
the prevalence of this condition as an occasional variety as far 
back as tradition goes, and in various parts of the world. 
Like righthandedness, it should be regarded as a functional 
specialisation, not a structural transposition. That it does not 
depend on transposition of the viscera is proved by several cases ; 
and also that it does not result from the abnormal origin of the 
subclavian artery, as referred to in a previous number of NATURE. 
Righthandedness is probably the immediate result of some struc- 
t ural difference between the two cerebral hemispheres. Gratiolet’s 
statement, that the left hemisphere is earlier developed, is con-— 
