Notices of Memoirs — Dr. M. C. Stapes on Palceobotany. 467 



with many others. Increased cabinet accommodation has been necessary, 

 and this has been, as before, provided at the Natural History Museum 

 by the Keeper of the Geological Department. 



As regards the continuation of the work, the Committee has great 

 pleasure in reporting that the Trustees of the British Museum have 

 included the compilation of the Index Animalium in the General Library 

 Service of the British Museum (Natural History). It has thus become 

 an official undertaking, and Mr. Sherborn will rank as ' Special Assistant ' 

 on the staff. This is most gratifying to all parties concerned, for 

 it ensures the safety and completion of the manuscripts which have 

 accumulated, during the past twenty-two years. There are now some 

 664,000 slips, representing 332,000 entries in duplicate, and a great 

 mass of manuscript notes on the dates of books which have passed or 

 will pass through the compiler's hands. Much of this has been printed 

 separately or been included in the official catalogue of the libraries of 

 the British Museum (Natural History). 



All manuscripts and documents connected with the work have been 

 handed over by the Committee to the Trustees of the British Museum 

 for preservation in the Natural History Museum, where they may be 

 seen, on application during official hours, by those interested. 



In making this final report the Committee desires to express its own 

 and Mr. Sherborn's sincere thanks, not only to the Trustees of the 

 British Museum for their past and present help but also to those Societies 

 that have from time to time aided the work with pecuniary grants — 

 namely, the Royal Society and the Zoological Society of London. 

 Above all, those thanks are due to the British Association for the con- 

 sistent way in which it has supported the undertaking for the past 

 twenty years, support which alone made possible the successful termina- 

 tion of the first part (1758-1800). The Association will doubtless join 

 the Committee in renewing its thanks to the Syndics of the Cambridge 

 University Press for their generosity in printing and publishing this 

 part. It was issued in October, 1902, as a handsome octavo volume of 

 1,255 pages, containing 61,600 entries, at the price of 25s. On the 

 value of that volume to the zoologist there is no need to insist here ; 

 it has spoken for itself to everyone who has taken the trouble to 

 consult it. The manuscript of the second part (1801-50) is well 

 advanced, and will now proceed safely towards completion under new 

 auspices. 



Your Committee cannot cease its connexion with this important work 

 without an expression of gratitude to Mr. Davies Sherborn for his 

 devoted labours in the past, and of confidence in his energy to carry 

 to a conclusion the second part of the Index Animalium. 



V. — Paleobotany versus Steatigeaphy in New Beunswick.^ By 

 Maeie C. Stopes, D.Sc, Ph.D., F.L.S. 



OUTLINE of the controversy, which dates from 1866. The so- 

 called ' Fern Ledges ' near St. John, New Brunswick, have a rich 

 fossil flora, but almost no animal remains. Sir W. Dawson described 

 the plants as Devonian. Confusion still exists owing to the mixture 

 of true Devonian plants from Gaspe, etc., in the same monograph of 

 Dawson's. Recent attempts include the beds in the Silurian, for 

 ' stratigraphic ' reasons. The necessity of field work as well as palseonto- 

 logical determinations. The author's work in the field ; notes on 

 relative dips of the beds, the so-called ' slates ', intrusive rocks, and 

 contortions. Observations indicate existence of considerable overthrust. 

 Palseobotanical data. Re-determination of supposed ' unique ' species. 

 Type-specimens lent by the Canadian museums and brought to London 



^ Abstract of papers read before the British Association, Section C (Geology), 

 Dundee, September, 1912. 



