178 Meeting of ili e British Association. [Jan., 



In a paper " On the Food of Birds," Mr. C. 0. Groom pointed out 

 that the food varied according to the season of the year ; that it was 

 wise to protect insectivorous birds ; and that the house sparrow only 

 lived upon grain during the winter months, and at other times of the 

 year on insects and vegetables. 



An elaborate paper " On the Pedicellaria of the Echinodermata," 

 was read by Dr. Herapath. He regarded these structures as proper to 

 the animals on which they occur, and not as parasites. Their forms 

 are characteristic of the species on which they are found, so that 

 various of the Echinodermata may be recognized by their Pedicellaria. 



Mr. C. Spence Bate described the contents of an ancient Kitchen- 

 midden, which he had examined, near the church of Constantine, on 

 the north coast of Cornwall. A shell bed containing the limpet, 

 smaller whelk, and mussel shells, was met with, together with bones of 

 the sheep, lamb, and roebuck. A considerable quantity of pottery 

 was also found. 



A very interesting description of an ancient cranium, found in the 

 course of excavations recently made at Gibraltar, by Caj)tain Brome, 

 was communicated by Mr. George Busk. The exact locality in the 

 rock from which the skull was obtained could not be stated with cer- 

 tainty ; but when first received, it was covered with a thick, hard con- 

 cretion, composed in part of siliceous sand, to all appearance like sea- 

 sand agglutinated by a calcareous cement. In general outline the 

 Gibraltar skull resembles the Neanderthal calvarium, except that the 

 supra-orbital projection is not so great ; but it retains, besides the 

 calvarium, the entire face, most of the teeth in the upper jaw, nearly 

 the entire right temporal bone, with the external auditory opening, and 

 the mastoid process, and a small portion of the foramen magnum. 

 Compared with the three lower races of existing man, the Gibraltar 

 skull most nearly resembles the Tasmanian, especially in its lowness. 

 The nasal part of the face is broad and convex, the nasal opening is 

 wide, and from the projection forward of the central part of the face, 

 and the great width and rotundity of the jaw, the skull derives a 

 peculiar and animal-like expression. 



In a notice of some rare Scotch plants Professor Balftmr stated 

 that he had found Sagioa nivalis, a Scandinavian plant, on Benlawers 

 and on Binnain, a mountain near Ben More in Perthshire : also Phyl- 

 lodoce casrulea on the Sow of Athole in Invernesshire. Specimens of 

 several plants confined to single localities in Scotland were exhibited. 



Physiology. (Subsection D.) 



In an important paper " On the Inhalation of Oxygen Gas," Dr. W. B. 

 Bichardson pointed out that the influence of oxygen, when inhaled, was 

 modified, 1st, by dilution of the oxygen; 2nd, by dilution of the 

 blood ; 3rd, by the activity of the oxygen ; 4th, by the presence or 

 absence in the blood of substances which stop combination. It is 

 necessary that the oxygen should be in some measure diluted, for 



