Miscellaneous. 519 



species, accompanying them with a reproduction of the original 

 figures ; on these plants Mr. Pontaine makes many notes and cor- 

 rections. 



With the list of North-Carolina plants thus corrected a compari- 

 son is made with those from Virginia, which shows that both areas 

 are of the same age. 



A further comparison of the fossil plants from North Carolina 

 and Virginia is instituted with those from Indian and European 

 Mesozoic rocks, when the author arrives at the conclusion that the 

 Mesozoic floras of North Carolina and Virginia are most probably 

 Rhaetic in age, certainly not older ; he is also inclined to regard the 

 llhastic as forming transition beds, having more affinity with the 

 Lower Lias than with Triassic strata. 



The whole work evinces very careful investigation ; the descrip- 

 tions are full and the value of the monograph is greatly enhanced 

 by the numerous figures which accompany the descriptions. The 

 book cannot fail to prove of the greatest value to those interested 

 in fossil botany. The author has contributed a valuable addition 

 to the ever-increasing monographs of the United-States Geological 

 Survey. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Instinct of Orientation in Helix aspersa. By E. d'A. Fubtado. 



In a house which I inhabited at St. Michael's, one of the Azores, 

 there was a veranda with a flight of steps leading to a little court 

 or garden. Above this was a second veranda supported by a stone 

 column, which rested on the wall of the lower veranda. At the 

 foot of the column had been set a flower-pot with a young banana 

 bearing two or three leaves. 



One morning I noticed a snail {Helix aspersa) lodged between 

 the pot and the column, as if waiting for night to attack the plant. 

 A leaf had already been gnawed, and to stop further depredations I 

 threw the snail into the court. It was not much the worse for the 

 fall, as it chanced to light upon a small manure-heap. 



Next morning I was surprised to find the snail in precisely the 

 same position as before between the pot and the column. I knew 

 it by its size and colour, as well as by a curious covering of spiders' 

 webs which it bore. It was evident that the snail possessed a 

 remarkable sense of direction, which enabled it, after a violent 

 shock, to make its way back over a distance of at least 6 metres in 

 a very short time. In order to get to the bottom of the matter I 

 threw the snail back to the heap and watched the result, which 

 was as follows : — 



June 10, 1884. — At about 9 a.m. the snail was resting, completely 

 retracted within its shell, on the rail of the staircase, having tra- 

 velled nearly 4 metres. In the evening it resumed its march, but 

 60 slowly that by 10 o'clock it had only reached the top of the rail, 

 where it stopped again, having traversed a metre in two hours. 



