310 G. H. Kinahan — Devon, Cornivall, and Galway. 



in linear series. Medullary rays in transverse section, elliptical, 

 with the ends produced, composed in the centre of the ellipse of 

 four cells in thickness, thinning out until the ends are composed of a 

 single cell. 



2. Nicolia Owenii, sp. nov., Plate XIV., Figs. 1 and 2. Wood cells in 

 transverse section, large, oval, about one-fifth of the diameter of the 

 large ducts. Ducts oval, singly, or two, or three, united in linear 

 series. Medullary rays in transverse section, linear, doubly acumi- 

 nate, composed of two cells in thickness at their greatest diameter. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE XIV. 



Fig. 1. Transverse section of Nicolia Owenii, (Carr.) showing the large oval ducta, 

 the large wood cells and the narrow medullary rays. 



Fig. 2. The same in longitudinal tangential section. 



Fig. 3. Ix&nsYersQ seciionoi Nicolia ^gyptiaca, (Ung.) showing the roundish ducts, 

 small wood cells, and hroad medullary rays. The narrow rays are cut through the 

 slender termination of the ellipse. 



Fig. 4. The same in longitudinal tangential section. 



AU the figures are drawn from specimens collected near Cairo by Prof. Owen. 



III. — Notes on the Features of Devon, Cornwall, and Galway. 

 By G. H. Kinahan, M.R.I. A., etc. 



DUEING a brief visit in Devonshire, the main outlines of the 

 features of the country appeared due to ice sculpture ; never- 

 theless, the vast amount of denudation observable among the hills, 

 evidently the result of meteoric abrasion, caused me to be cautious in 

 coming to a conclusion too quickly, although Mr. G. W. Ormerod, 

 F.G.S. (whose minute knowledge of the district is well known, and 

 with whom I had the pleasure of examining a part of Devon), 

 pointed out that in various places he had found glacier-formed 

 drift. Having subsequently Adsited both Devon and Cornwall, al- 

 though time did not permit of a minute search for ice-striee, yet 

 seemingly the first-formed impressions were correct, and, apparently, 

 ice was the principal agent employed to carve out the main features 

 of this portion of England. 



Any observer who is acquainted with the country north of Galway 

 Bay, Ireland, must be struck with the great similarity between the 

 general outlines of that country and Cornwall, more especially 

 the parts of the latter about the Land's End and the other granite 

 tracts; both having long undulating hills, with banks of rocky or 

 moraine drift in the valleys and hummocks of drift on the slopes 

 leading from the gaps. Necessarily, both north of Galway Bay and 

 in Cornwall, although dressed and planed rocks are numerous, yet 

 ice etching is rare, as the nature of the rock favours its obliteration. 



It may be asked, if the main features of Cornwall and Devon are 

 due to one and the same agent, why the valleys among the hills 

 formed of the so-called " Devonian rocks" should be so dissimilar 

 to those in the granite and metamorphic rock country ? To show 

 that this is not unnatural, and that somewhat parallel conditions 

 occur in the Co. Galway, is the object of these iiotes. 



