^4^ REPORTS ON Tilt: STATE OF SCIENCE. • 



superintendence of Mr. C. L. WooUey. This spot when first tested seemed 

 to ofler signs of an old inhabited surface below and previous to the Roman 

 occupation. But the complete trenching showed that the appearance 

 was deceptive or at least insufficient to prove any definite settlement. 

 Between the lowest Roman deposit and the wholly untouched soil were 

 two strata — two at the north or upper end of the long trench and one at 

 the south end near the river. The upper stratum was 3 inches thick at 

 its north end, and there consisted of black or burnt matter. Further 

 south it was composed of sandy clay, through which the stems of 

 plants and reeds ran perpendicularly. The lower stratum was a thin 

 layer of the same sandy clay containing a number of small Hint chip- 

 pings. The upper part of the untouched soil beneath this layer was full 

 of the root-fibres of grass, &c., carbonised or decayed black. A few 

 rough flint-flakes and scrapers also occurred loose in the upper soil on 

 other parts of the site, and one or two were picked up in the excavations 

 of 1906. 



B. Bones. — Many specimens of bones were submitted to Professor 

 A. Meek. He reports the foUowmg : — Dog, pig, sheep, red deer, pony, 

 cattle (including a calf), fox, badger, roe deer, swan, pheasant (13 feet 

 deep), lower jaw of European beaver, partridge, grouse, oyster-shells ironx 

 the sea, shell of mytilus (marine mussel), and many snail-shells found 

 between two concrete floors, Helix aspersa (many), tiemoralis (a few), 

 hortensis (a few), and rotundata (one), all now common at CorVjridge. 

 These snails may, of course, be of recent origin. Professor Meek observe.s 

 that the Bos longifrons was represented by a great variety of sizes ; the 

 majority were about the size of the present Chiliingham cattle ; but some 

 were as large as our shorthorns, while one skull indicates a small, 

 possibly wild, variety allied to the Chillinghanis. One or two jaws had 

 the absence cf the first premolar which characterises the Chiliingham. 



C, Geology. — Various sections were examined by Professor Lebour, 

 and his explanations considerably aided the work; but no results of a 

 new geological kind emerged. 



Arcliceological and UtkiMgrapldcal Researches in Crete. — lleport of the 

 Committee, consisting of Sir -JoHN Evans (Chairman), Professor J. L. 

 Myres (Secretarij), Professor E. C. Bosanquet, Dr. A. J. Evans, 

 Mr. D. G. Hogarth, Professor A. Macalister, and Professor W. 



ElDGEWAY. 



The Committee was reappointed in 1907 without grant ; but it has been 

 in communication with Mr. C. H. Hawes, whose valuable researches on 

 the physical characters of the population of Crete were reported in 1903,^ 

 with the object of inducing him to make another expedition to Crete. 

 There is now every reason to believe that, if a sufficient grant be forth- 

 coming, Mr. Hawes will be in a position to carry out this plan, and 

 complete his investigation under the most favourable conditions. 



> Proo. Brit. Assoc, 1905, South Africa, p. 208. ' 



