Professor J. B. Harrison—‘ Laterite’ in British Guiana. 5538 
At Wolvercote, near Oxford, to the south, in an alluvial deposit 
lying over Paleolithic implements and bones of Bison, the following 
were found :—' 
Ranunculus aquatilis. Heracleum sphondylium. 
LK. sceleratus. Potamogeton. 
R. repens. Eleocharis palustris, 
Potentilla tormentilla. Scirpus lacustris. 
Viola. Carex rostrata. 
Hippuris vulgaris. 
Compared with results obtained in Scotlund and East Anglia, the 
record of life in the post-Pleistocene deposits of Central England is 
meagre, and shows what needs yet to be done. The survey of the 
localities where material has been found, in this summary, may have 
the desired effect of stimulating further investigation. 
As regards glacial deposits, it is probable that careful examination 
of accumulations such as the quartzose sand with interstratified 
carbonaceous layers may have good results. 
The occurrence of several species of living land and freshwater 
shells in the mid-Glacial gravels, at Brigstock and at Casewick (not 
certainly of this age at the last locality, but probably), lends support 
to the pre-Glacial origin of the prototypes of our land and fresh- 
water mollusca. The known existence of many of the plants found 
with the mollusca in pre-Glacial times, e.g. Ranunculus aquatihe, 
R. sceleratus, R. repens, Nuphar luteum, Stellaria media, Prunus spinosa, 
Heracleum sphondylium, Atriplex patula, Betula alba, Alnus glutinosa, 
Corylus avellana, Quercus robur, Ceratophyllum demersum, Pinus 
sylvestris, Alisma plantago, Eleocharis palustris, Scirpus lacustris, 
Isoetes lacustris, etc., lends support to this notion. Moreover, the 
universal distribution of certain species of mollusca throughout this 
central region is also evidence of their greater antiquity, viz. :— 
Hyalinia cellaria. Limnea peregra. 
Helix pulchella. LL. auricularia. 
H. hispida. L. stagnalis. 
Cochlicopa lubrica. Ancylus frwiatilis. 
Suceinea putris. Bythinia tentaculata. 
Planorbis spiror bis. Valvata piscinalis. 
P. umbilicatus. Spherium corneum. 
Physa fontinalis. 
To this may be added the homogeneity, in general, of the 
mammalian fauna found in association with both the plants and 
other animals of the post-Pleistocene deposits. 
V.—Txue Resipvat Eartus or British GUIANA COMMONLY TERMED 
‘LATERITE ’. 
By Professor J. B. Harrison, C.M.G., M.A., F.G.8., F.I.C., assisted by 
K. D. Rerp, Assistant Analyst British Guiana. 
(Concluded from the November Number, p. 495.) 
WE losses of their constituents during the decompositions of the rocks.— 
As shown in this paper the analyses of the rocks and of their decom- 
position-products do not indicate the extent of the degradation which 
1 The Origin of the British Flora, Clement Reid, F.R.S., 1899, p. 61. 
