238 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



and also a statement of the general results arrived at. A considera- 

 tion of the distribution of the remains in the cavern and their close 

 juxtaposition to the roof, coupled with the fact that the flint and 

 chert implements discovered were found in much lower positions, 

 led Mr. Dawkins to infer that the bones had been dragged in by 

 hyaenas, and that the cave had been subjected to periodical inunda- 

 tions of waters laden with red mud, whereby the bones had been 

 elevated by degrees until they occupied their present position. 

 After a detailed description of the bones, the author concluded by 

 some general remarks upon the bearing of this cave-fauna upon the 

 ancient physical geography of the district, and the antiquity of the 

 associated implements of human manufacture. 



2. " On the discovery of Paradoxides in Britain." By J. W. 

 Salter, Esq., F.G.S., of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. 



A short sojourn in the neighbourhood of St. David's enabled 

 Mr. Salter to discover, at Porth-rhaw, near Whitchurch, on the St. 

 David's road, a gigantic Trilobite belonging to a genus which has 

 been long sought for in the British Isles. The author gave a short 

 description of the geological features of the locality, and a section 

 showing the succession of beds belonging to the Primordial Zone in 

 Wales, as well as a diagnosis of the newly discovered Trilobite, 

 which he named Paradoxides Davidi. 



3. " On the fossil Echinidce of Malta." By Thomas Wright, 

 M.D., F.G.S. With Notes on the Miocene Beds of the Island, by 

 A. Leith Adams, A.M., M.B. (22nd Regiment). 



The Echinoderms described in this paper by Dr. Wright were 

 discovered by Dr. Leith Adams during a careful examination of the 

 strata and geological features of Malta. A description of the Mio- 

 cene beds was given by the latter gentleman, in which he stated his 

 reasons for not accepting entirely the classification of them proposed 

 by Captain Spratt, and followed by Earl Ducie in his Geological Map 

 of the Maltese Islands. He divided the Miocene strata into the 

 following subdivisions: — 1. The Upper Limestone; 2. The Sand 

 Bed; 3. The Marl ; 4. The Calcareous Sandstone ; 5. The Lower 

 Limestone ; and again subdivided the Upper Limestone into three 

 parts. Dr. Wright gave a diagnosis and detailed description of forty 

 species of Echinidce, eighteen of which are new ; and Dr. Adams 

 added a Table showing their stratigraphical distribution. 



XXXIII. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



DETERMINATION OF THE WAVE-LENGTH OF THE RAY A. 

 BY M. MASCART. 



I HAVE the honour to lay before the Academy the results of some 

 experiments which I have made on the application of coloured 

 flames to the investigation of the lengthsof undulations. By comparing 

 the wave-lengths of the rays corresponding to the different lines of the 

 solar spectrum with the deviations which the same rays undergo in 

 a refracting prism, it is seen that these two quantities vary in oppo- 

 site directions, and that the ratio of the increase of the wave-length 



