Sept. 9, 1880] 



NATURE 



451 



The "trail" of the Severn derived from the northern hills is 

 spread over the central flat regions, and forms the Cotsnolds to 

 the east. "Head " is stated to cover all the old beaches of the 

 south of England and of Wales, as at Rottingdean, and Berling 

 Gap, near Worthing, the low cliff behind the South-Eastern station 

 at Dover, both sides of the Bristol Channel, between Calais and 

 Blanc Nez, reaching a thickness of So to 100 feet, the height 

 being limited only by the heights of the ground between. The 

 beach often contains erratic boulders, and he refers the raised beach 

 to a period during the glacial episode, but at a time when the 

 present coast-line had obtained. Sangatte Cliff contains delicate 

 land shells and the remains of the mammoth ; ground paleolithic 

 implements. Others occur at Cherbourg and in the Isle of Re ; 

 between there and Gibraltar none are known to occur, though 

 they possibly may be present. 



Refers to the clay-gravel or head overlying the raised beach of 

 Portslade, between Brighton and Chichester as containing land 

 shells, palaeolithic implements, and bones of land animals ; raised 

 beach and head of Guernsey ; these deposits and others on the 

 French chalk, Belgium, and the Rhine country he considers to 

 be due to causes other than the deposition of fiuviatile material, 

 marine deposits, ice or snow slopes or ice-cap. The aibris is 

 not a talus, for it slope; as a small angle and increases in thick- 

 ness in retreating from the hill and slope. The submei'gence 

 destroyed the palaeolithic man and many of the older animals, 

 and amounted to more than 1,000 feet. 



Prof. W. J. Sollas read papers On a Striated Stone from the 

 Trias of Portishead ; On the Action of a Lichen on Limestone, 

 and On Sponge Spicules from the Chalk of Trimmingham, 

 Norfolk. 



On the Geological Literature of Wales, by Mr. W. Whitaker, 

 who gave a list of all the publications that have referied to 

 Welsh geology from the seventeenth century to 1S73, contai dug 

 more than 500 entries. 



Sketch of the Geology of British Columbia, by Dr. G. M. 

 Dawson, juu. , describes littoral deposits of Miocene age, capped 

 by volcanic rocks in the Queen Charlotte Islands. Cretaceous 

 rocks from the Upper Neocomian to the Upper Chalk, equivalent 

 to the Chico group of California, yield the bituminous cols of 

 Manalmo ; anthracite occurs at a somewhat lower horizon. The 

 pre-Cretaceous rocks are contorted and disturbed, and those of 

 Vancouver Island are probably of Carboniferous age, and are 

 associated with volcanic deposits ; rocks probably liuronian 

 occur in Queen Charlotte Islands. In the Eocky Mountains are 

 Carboniferous and Devonian limestones and Triassic sandstones. 



Notes on the Occurrence of Stone Lmplcments in the Coast 

 Laierite, South of Madras, and in High-tcz'el Gravel and other 

 Formations in the South Mahratta Country, by Mr. R. Bruce 

 Foote. — The author describes high-level (partly laterite) gravels 

 of fluviated and lacustrine origin in the basin of ihe Gatpratha, and 

 Malprabha tributaries of the Kistna in the South Mahratta country 

 yielded large numbers of several types. He then alluded to the 

 occurrence of well-shaped implements, chiefly of the pointed oval 

 type, and made of hard siliceous limestone, in a great talus of 

 limestone and Deccan trap block cemented by calcareous tufa 

 into a great breccia-conglomerate. This occurs along the foot 

 of the hills north of kistna and west of Soorapoor, in the 

 Nijam's territory. The implements were found worked out in 

 gullies. 



On the Pre- Glacial Contour and Post-Glacial Denudation of the 

 North-West of E7igland, by Mr. De Ranee, F.G.S., Assoc. Inst. 

 C.E. — The country described is that lying between the Silurian 

 mountains of North Wales and the Lake District, and bounded 

 east by the Carboniferous hills of the Pennine chain. The 

 plains of Lancashire and Cheshire lying at their feet are deeply 

 covered with glacial drift, reaching in one instance, near Orms- 

 kirk, a thickness of no Ic'S than 230 feet. The deep valleys of 

 the Lake District had attained then- present proportions before 

 the Glacial epoch, during which the Lakes were excavated, in 

 the case of Windermere, to a depth of 230 feet, or deeper than 

 the English Channel between Boulogne and Folkestone, the 

 bottom of the lake being 100 feet beneath the sea-level. In the 

 valleys of the mountain country the marine glacial deposits are 

 not present, having been re-excavated out by later glaciation, 

 where originally present. In Lancashire, Cheshire, and Flint- 

 shire the marine drift occupies an extensive area, and valleys 

 like those of the Ribble and the Irv.ell, nearly 200 feet in 

 depth, have been excavated in and through them ; occasionally 

 the bottom of the valley is beneath the sea-level, pointing to the 

 land being higher in pre-glacial times. A terrace of pjst-glacial 



deposits fringes !the glacial area at, and often below, the sea- 

 level, consisting of peat with a forest at the base, resting on a 

 marine post-glacial deposit ; the peat-beads are found beneath 

 the sea-level to an extent, in one case, of about 70 feet, and it 

 was pointed out that an elevation of this amouni; would connect 

 Lancashire, Cheshire, and much of North Wales with the Isle 

 of Man. 



SECTION D— Biology 



Mr. Gnyn Jefireys moved and Prof. RoUeston seconded a vote 

 of thanks to Dr. Giinther for his address, which was supported 

 by Dr. Sclater. Prof. Rolleston suggested that in every large 

 town a small rate should be levied in favour of a local museum, 

 which is actually done in Liverpool. He also insisted on the 

 importance of a lecture-room in connection with the national 

 natural history collections. 



On the Classification of Cryptogams, by Alfred W. Bennett. — 

 In the most recent classification of cryptogams, that by Sachs, 

 in the fourth edition of his " Lehrbuch," he divides ThaUophytes 

 (including characes) into four classes of equal rank, Protophyta, 

 Zygospores;, Oosporefe, and Carposporere. It is proposed in the 

 present paper to retain Sachs' class of Protophyta for the lowest 

 forms of vegetable life ; but to restore the primary division of 

 the remainder of thallophytes into Fungi and Algas, as being 

 more convenient to the student, and at least as much in accord- 

 ance with prob.able genetic affinities. 



Asre gards minor points the characea; are removed altogether 

 from thallo) bytes, and again constituted into a separate group of 

 the first rank ; the myxomycetes are regarded as presenting a 

 low type of structure, scarcely raised above the protophyta, and 

 not exhibiting true sexual conjugation ; volvox and its allies are 

 remo-ved from the zygospores to the oosporex ; and the phaeo- 

 spore^ are separated off as a distinct order from the fucaceze. 



The thallophytes are therefore first of all divided into three 

 primary classes : — Frotophyt.^, Fungi, and Alg.e. The 

 protophyta are divisible into two sub-classes, Protoniyceles and 

 ProtophycciZ. The protomycetes consist of a single order, the 

 schizomycetes, of which saccharomyces is regarded as an aberrant 

 form. The protophyceoe are composed of the protococcacea: 

 (including palmellacea; and scytoneme.T:), nostocaceo:, oscilli- 

 toriea;, and rivulariea;. The Myxomycetes are treated as a 

 supplement to the protophyta. The fungi are made up of three 

 sub-classes, employing in the main the same characters as Sachs, 

 but, in their terminology, using the syllable "sperm" instead of 

 "spore." The first division, xSxe. Zygomycetes (ox zygospermea: 

 achlorophyllacere), is composed of the mucorini only (including 

 the piptocephalidx). The second, the Oomyceles (or oospermea; 

 achlorophyllacece), comprises the peronosporea; and saprolegniea; 

 (including the chytridiacea;). The third, the Carpoiiiycetes (or 

 carpospermecc achlorophyllacecc), is made up of the uredine^e, 

 ustila^'ineiv, basidiomycetes, and ascomycetes, the lichenes being 

 included in the last as a sub-order. The algce are arranged 

 under three corresponding sub-classes. The Zygophyceee (or 

 zygospermeic chlorophyllacex) is made up of the following 

 orders i—Pandorinete, hydrodictyeje, confervacece (under which 

 the pithophoracea; may possibly come), ulotrichacea;, ulvacea:, 

 botrydie.ie, and conjugatie (the last comprising the desmidierc, 

 diatomaces, zygnemacea;, and mesocarpe.^;). The Oophycece (or 

 oospermea; chlorophyllaceae) includes the' volvocineae, siphonca; 

 (with the nearly allied dasycladea;), sphxropleacese, cedogoniaceae, 

 fucacea;, and phaeosporece. The Carpophyce.e (or carpospermeje 

 chlorophylkacece) is made up of the coleochxtece and iloride.-e. 



The Charace.'E constitute by themselves a group of primary 

 importance. The MusciNE.E are unchanged, comprising the 

 Hepaticic and Musci (including sphagnacece). In Vascul.^R 

 Cryptog.^ms it is proposed to revert to the primary distinction 

 into Isosparia and Heterosporia as most in accordance with 

 probable genetic affinities. The isosporia consist of the filices 

 (including ophioglossacea;), lycopodiacei^, and equisetacea;. The 

 heterosporia comprise the rhizocarpeae and selaginellacece. In the 

 terminology of the heterosporia the inconvenience and incorrect- 

 ness are pointed out of the use of the terms " macrospore " and 

 " macrosporangium ; " and it is proposed to call the two kinds 

 of spores and their receptacles respectively microspore, megaspore, 

 microsporangium, and megasporangium ; or better, in reference 

 to their sexual differentiation, androspore, gynospore, andro- 

 sporani;ium, and gynosporangium. 



A Reformed System of Terminology of the Reproductive Organs 

 of the Cryptogamia, by Alfred W. Bennett and George MuiTay. 



