338 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— D, E. 



(iv) Verhoeff (1926), ' Fossile Diplopoden,' in his account of Diplopoda in Bronn's 

 Tier-Reichs, deals with the structure of the sternites in Archipolypoda. British 

 specimens of Archipolypoda are exhibited to illustrate various interpretations of the 

 features observed, and preparations of recent Diplopoda are addad for comparison. 



(B) The fossil genus Kampecaris. A series of specimens and preparations for the 

 comparison of this genus with recent Millipedes. 



(C) Brachydesmus and Polydesmus ; lulidce : comparisons illustrating the principles 

 of elongation and contraction in phylogeny and ontogeny. 



(D) The economic status of Millipedes and Centipedes in the British Isles. 

 Diplopoda associated with crops are to be regarded as injurious (e.g. Brachydesmus 



superus, Blaniulus guttulatus). 



Among Chilopoda, Lithobiomoepha are to be ranged with the so-called beneficial 

 insects. How far they are beneficial depends upon the habits of their prey ; while 

 certain Geophtlomorpha, sometimes carnivorous, may on occasion prove to be a 

 pest to crops. 



SECTION E.— GEOGRAPHY. 



(For references to the publication elsewhere of communications entered in the 

 following list of transactions, see p. 432.) 



Thursday, September 1. 



Presidential Address by Dr. R.N.Rudmose Brown, on Some Problems 

 of Polar Geography. (See p. 75.) 



Mr. J. M. Wordie. — Colonisation and Development in East Greenland. 



Attention is directed to the decision of the Danish authorities to establish Eskimo 

 colonies on the east coast of Greenland in Scoresb_y Sound and northward between 

 70° and 75° N. lat. The colonies will be recruited from Angmagsalik (66° N.) ; and 

 the first has already been established. When visited last summer it had just con- 

 cluded a most successful season ; and further developments are now certain. 



The new settlements invite comparison with the story of former habitation shown 

 by tent rings and winter houses found over the entire iength of the east coast even 

 up to 82° N. These remains indicate a flourishing people at a date prior to 1822. 

 In that year Scoresby made the first landings in East Greenland in Scoresby Sound 

 and on Traill Island, and found more than one village site, but all deserted. The 

 next year Clavering, farther north, met a party of twelve in Gael Hamkes Bay. Apart 

 from the latter discovery, no other living Eskimo are recorded on the east coast, until 

 the discovery of Angmagsalik in 1884 ; this centre is much farther south, however, 

 and should be described as on the south-east coast. The Eskimo of the more 

 northern part had practically disappeared in Clavering's time, and their connection, 

 if any, with Angmagsalik is doubtful. 



Investigation of the remains shows a people living in much the same way as the 

 Cape York or Polar Eskimo (Sir John Ross's Arctic Highlanders). No remains 

 definitely assignable to the earlier Thule culture were found by the Cambridge party. 

 Whether the Eskimo arrived on the east coast by a route round the north or round 

 the south of Greenland is still open to question. The reason for their disappearance 

 may be set down to changes in the distribution of game and behaviour of the pack 

 ice — both ultimately due to changes of climate. 



The question is raised whether the modern colonies have a chance to survive 

 when the older natives were unable to do so. In the interval new factors have come 

 in— firearms and the possibility of trading with the outside world — and it is con- 

 fidently expected that the new development will be a success. 



Dr. Vaughan Cornish. — On the Fixing of Linguistic Boundaries by 

 National Adoption of Christianity between the Beginning of the Sixth 

 and the End of the Fourteenth Centuries. 



The readjustment of political boundaries in Continental Europe following on the 

 Great War has been for the most part in linguistic borderlands. In the course of an 



