1871.] Geology and Paleontology. 295 



meeting of the British Association, that the species of mollusca dredged up 

 from great depths in the Mediterranean in previous expeditions are identical 

 with Arctic species. An admirable resume of the present condition of the 

 Gulf-stream controversy, by Mr. Keith Johnston, jun., will be found in the 

 " Academy " for Nov. 15th. 



Principal Dawson, of Montreal, in the Bakerian Lecture delivered before the 

 Royal Society, in May, 1870, described, under the name of Prototaxites Logani, 

 what he believed to be the oldest known tree. The remains of this organism 

 are abundant in the Lower Devonian or " Erian " rocks of Canada, and were 

 described by Principal Dawson as "a simplification of the coniferous structure 

 in the cylindrical cells marked only with spiral threads. They sometimes 

 attain to a diameter of five feet, and though of a structure so lax as to be com- 

 parable only with the youngest stems of ordinary conifers, these trees must 

 have been durable, as they are furnished both with medullary rays and rings of 

 annual growth." More recently, however, Mr. Carruthers has made a minute 

 microscopical examination of the structure of specimens of this wood, and 

 has discovered that they are really specimens of hugh Algcs, belonging to 

 at least more than one genus. They are very gigantic when contrasted 

 with the ordinary Algce of our existing seas; but some approach to them in 

 size is made in the huge and tree-like Lessonias which Dr. Hooker found 

 in the Antarctic Seas, and which have stems about 20 feet high, and with a 

 diameter so great that they have been collected by mariners in those regions 

 for fuel, under the belief that they were drift-wood. From a paper published 

 in the October number of the " American Naturalist," it would appear, 

 however, that Principal Dawson still holds to the coniferous character of 

 Prototaxites. 



In the recently published 2nd volume of Schimper's "Traitee" de Palaeon- 

 tologie Vegetale," that eminent palaeontologist divides the order Lycopodiacece ' 

 into two families, Lycopodiece and Lepidodendrece, the latter entirely extinct, 

 the former abounding at the present time and inhabiting all latitudes from the 

 equator to the Arctic regions. Of this family Professor Schimper recognises 

 only seven fossil species, all congeneric with Lycopodhmi itself, and, strange 

 to say, confined, with the exception of one doubtful species, to the coal- 

 measures. Dr. Hooker, on the other hand, considers that, after making every 

 allowance for the imperfection of the geological record, it appears impossible 

 to admit that a group so well represented now-a-days should be absent 

 from all intervening beds, including the most modern Tertiaries ; and is, on 

 the whole, disposed to doubt the fossils being Lycopodiums at all. 



The " Report on the Exploration of Kent's Cavern," presented to the recent 

 meeting of the British Association, showed that during the past year the com- 

 mittee had investigated the only portions of the eastern division of the cave 

 which had remained unexplored, called the North and South Sally Ports, in 

 the belief that they led to external openings. The diggings yielded a large 

 number of bones, including several birds and a few fish, portions of antlers, and 

 about 1400 fragmentary and perfect teeth, some of them still attached to the 

 jaw-bones. The teeth belonged to the following animals : — Horse, hyaena, 

 rhinoceros, bear, sheep, badger, fox, rabbit, elephant, deer, lion, ox, hare, and 

 pig. Agglutinated lumps of wings and elytra of beetles were also found ; 

 and about twenty-one flint implements and flakes. 



The Geological volume of the scientific results of Professor Agassiz's- 

 Thayer Expedition, by Professor Hartt, of the Cornell University, discusses 

 the origin of the layer of clay, or loam, varying in thickness from a few feet to 

 one hundred, and wrapping in its folds the hill's and valleys of Brazil, over vast 

 tracts of country, including the steep slopes and summits of some of the 

 highest mountains. It has been observed as far north as the Amazon valley, 

 covering alike the gneiss and the Tertiary formations. It is of a red colour, 

 evidently formed of the materials of the adjacent and underlying rocks, and 

 without the slightest sign of stratification. Professor Hartt always speaks of 

 this formation as " drift," and agrees with Professor Agassiz that its peculiari- 

 ties are such as unmistakably to indicate its glacial origin. 



