Reports and Proceedings — Geological Society of London. 327 



stocks has hitherto been sadly neglected, and the failure to 

 recognize this independent acquirement of similar general features 

 has doubtless repeatedly led to confusion. Two of the most striking 

 examples of this phenomenon, described by the author, are furnished 

 by Terebratula imitator and Zeilleria subcornuta, and by Terebraiula 

 subomalogaster and Zeilleria anisoclines. 



Some of the descriptions of new forms in this paper are 

 unfortunately too brief, and might with great advantage have been 

 amplified. The value of generic separations among the Jurassic 

 Terebratuloids is, to some extent, admittedly a matter of personal 

 opinion. But it may seriously be doubted whether any useful 

 purpose is to be attained by the adoption of such a ' genus ' as 

 Fseudoglossothyris, proposed in this paper. It appears, at least, to 

 be hardly justified by the somewhat slender distinctive characters 

 embodied in the definition provided. Abuses of the word ' genus ' 

 are now unfortunately common, and there is a widespread and 

 regrettable tendency to burden an already involved nomenclature 

 by such additions. 



The expression ' date of existence ' scarcely commends itself 

 when employed in relation to fossil shells. Doubt may be enter- 

 tained whether the elaborate ' time-table ' provided by the author 

 can ever have more than a local value, and perhaps this is all that is 

 claimed for it. For his useful and suggestive contribution to our 

 knowledge of homceomorphy, Mr. Buckman is to be congratulated. 



S.E^'OE.TS .A-n^ID :Fie,OG:BE!X)X2NrC3-S. 



Geological Society of London. 



I.— May 8th, 1901.— J. J. H. Teall, Esq., M.A., V.P.E.S., President, 

 in the Chair. The following communication was read : — 



"The Influence of the Winds upon Climate during the Pleistocene 

 Epoch : a Palseo-Meteorological Explanation of some Geological 

 Problems." By F. W. Harmer, Esq., F.G.S. 



Winds are an important factor in determining the distribution of 

 climatic zones. Deviations of the isotherms from the normal are 

 generally connected with the direction of the prevalent winds. The 

 influence of marine currents is indirect rather than direct. Changes 

 of wind cause marked and sudden changes in the weather, though 

 the general direction of ocean-currents remains the same. Permanent 

 alterations in climate during past epochs would have equally resulted 

 from permanent changes in the wind. Anomalous weather is due to 

 some unusual arrangement of high and low-pressure areas. Former 

 cases of anomalous climate can only have occurred when the 

 meteorological conditions were favourable. 



Continental areas tend to be cyclonic in Summer and antioyclonio 

 in Winter, while the reverse is broadly true of the oceans. During 

 the Glacial Period ice-covered areas would have remained more or 

 less anticyclonic throughout the year, while low-pressure areas must 

 have prevailed in regions to the south of them and over the adjoining 



