56 



NATURE 



[September 12, 1912 



of America that the calcareous fauna of Beckmantown 

 migrated to the submarine trough in the typical 

 Champlain region, and through Newfoundland to the 

 north-west Highlands of Scotland. 



The section at St. John, New Brunswick, where the 

 Baltic and Welsh types of the Olcniis fauna occurs, 

 shows that the southern shore line of the trough must 

 then have occupied much the same relative position as 

 in Lower and Middle Cambrian time. In the same 

 region the strata containing this fauna, with Peltura 

 ■icarabaeoides and Diciyonema flabelli forme, are over- 

 lain by dark shales with Arenig graptolites. These 

 graptolite-bearing terrigenous deposits eventually ex- 

 tended across the trough northwards, until, in New- 

 foundland, they catne to rest on the Beekmantown 

 limestones. 



In the Lake Champlain region, in the Chazy lime- 

 stone, which there immediately succeeds the Beek- 

 mantown limestone without the intervention of the 

 Arenig graptolite shale, there is a survival of the 

 Beekmantown molluscan fauna with only such slight 

 modifications as to indicate genetic descent. In the 

 same trough the descendants of this fauna are to be 

 found in the Trenton limestone. 



In this connection it is worthy of note that the 

 molluscan fauna and the corals of the Stinchar and 

 Craighead limestones of Upper Llandcilo age in the 

 Girvan district of the Southern L^plands have an 

 American facies, as first suggested by Nicholson. The 

 appearance of American types in these limestones may 

 be accounted for in the following' manner : attention 

 has already been directed to the divergent types of 

 sedimentation presented by the Tipper Cambrian strata 

 of the north-west Highlands, and of the south-east 

 Highlands, at Stonehaven and Aberfoyle. In the former 

 case there is a continuous sequence of dolomites and 

 limestones, while in the latter we find a group, com- 

 prising radiolarian cherts and black shales, associated 

 with pillowy spilitic lavas and intrusive igneous rocks, 

 indicating conditions of deposition at or near the limit 

 of sedimentation. But, notwithstanding the different 

 tvpes of sedimentation and the divergent faunas in 

 the two areas, I believe that during the Upper Cam- 

 brian period, and probably for some time thereafter, 

 continuous sea extended from the north-west High- 

 lands to beyond the eastern Highland border. The 

 Upper Cambrian terrigenous sediments which we now 

 find at Stonehaven and Aberfoyle must have been 

 derived from land to the south. In Llandeilo time 

 the Arenig and Lower Llandeilo rocks of the Girvan 

 area were elevated and subjected to extensive denuda- 

 tion. On this highly eroded platform, as first proved 

 bv Prof. Lapworth, coarse conglomerates, composed 

 of the underlying materials, were laid down in asso- 

 ciation with the Stinchar and Craighead limestones. 

 In my opinion the appearance of the American forms 

 in these limestones is connected with the movement 

 that produced this vmconformabilitv in the Girvan 

 area. This local elevation was probably associated 

 in some form with the great crustal movements that 

 culminated in the overthrust of the north-west High- 

 lands and caused the intense folding and flaser 

 structure of the rocks along the Highland border. 

 By these movements shore-lines may have been estab- 

 lished between the north side of the old Palseozoic 

 sea and the Girvan area, which permitted the southern 

 mig-ration of the American forms. 



Note. — Since writing the above mv attention has 

 been directed to the recent work of Bassler on "The 

 Earlv Pal.Tpozoic Brvozoa of the Baltic Provinces," 

 published by the Smithsonian Institution in igir. In 

 his introduction (he author has shown that (he Ordo- 

 vician (Lower Silurian) and Gothlandian (I'pper Silu- 

 rian) rocks of the Baltic provinces contain a larger 



NO. 



!237, VOL. 90] 



percentage of bryozoan species, in common with the 

 Black River, Trenton, and Niagara limestones of the 

 same relative age in eastern North America. This 

 fact suggests that during Lower and Upper Silurian 

 time the old lines of migration were still open, and 

 that the Bryozoa, being of clear-water habit, were 

 able to cross the old trough from side to side. 



NOTES. 

 From a Press cutting just received from Sydney 

 we learn that Mr. Fisher, Prime Minister, Australia, 

 referred to the forthcoming visit of the British Asso- 

 ciation in 1914 in his Budget speech on August i. 

 He said: — "We have been advised that about half as 

 many more members of that association are likely 

 to visit the Commonwealth than was anticipated when 

 our invitation was accepted. This will entail an 

 increase in the amount of money which I propose to 

 give toward.s their expenses ; and, speaking for this 

 Parliament and country, I say that no greater compli- 

 ment could be paid to Australia than the fact that our 

 visitors are to be increased in number. It is usual a 

 year or eighteen months before the visit is made to 

 send a representative man of the same class as them- 

 selves to get into communication with them. We pro-' 

 pose to incur that expenditure pending the expendi-, 

 ture of a larger amount to cover their e.xpenses." 



The Chancellor of the Royal Prussian Ordre pour le 

 Merite has, through the German Embassy, informed 

 Sir William Turner, K.C.B., F.R.S., vice-chancellor 

 and principal of the University of Edinburgh, that the 

 German Emperor has appointed him to be knight of 

 the Order in the department of science. The number 

 of those on whom this Order is conferred is strictly 

 limited, and since 1885, when Lord Lister was ap- 

 pointed. Sir John Murray, Sir Joseph D. Hooker, Lord 

 Avebury, Lord Rayleigh, tlie Right Hon. James 

 Bryce, Sir David Gill, and Sir Wm. Ramsay have 

 been its recipients. The death of Lord Lister having 

 caused a vacancy, his Majesty the Emperor has been 

 pleased to confer the Order on Sir Wm. Turner, in 

 recognition of the contributions which he has made to 

 anatomical science. 



The fourteenth meeting of the .Australasian Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of .Science will be held 

 in Melbourne in January, 1913. 



The Royal .\ero Club has decided to award its gold 

 medal to Mr. S. F. Cody in recognition of his victory 

 in the recent War Office aeroplane trials. 



Mr. T. H. Mottr.^m has been appointed to succeed 

 the late Mr. Pickering as divisional inspector of mines 

 in charge of the Yorkshire and North Midlands Dis- 

 trict. Mr. J. R. Wilson, of Leeds, will fill the position 

 vacated by Mr. Mottram. 



We regret to see the announcement of tfie death, 

 on .September 4, of Dr. Stanley Dunkerley, formerly 

 professor of engineering, Manchester University, and 

 the Rojal Naval College, Greenw'ich, and the author 

 of a standard work on "Hydraulics." 



The departmental committee appointed by the Home 

 Office to consider the best methods of testing miners' 

 safety lamps reports that the official tests for flame 



