1046 British Association. 



ference of the globe, to be suddenly elevated, we should find the remains of fish scat- 

 tered over it to be everywhere very nearly alike, — the species having a local distribution 

 being comparatively few and unimportant. These spoils of fish would, of course, in 

 accordance with the observation of Prof. E. Forbes, be associated with very various 

 assemblages of mollusks and other marine animals, according to the depth at which 

 the deposit took place. This was an important fact for the science of Geology. 



Mr. W. Thompson expressed his surprize at the number and apparent complete- 

 ness of the lists given by Dr. Richardson. — Mr. Ogilby thought the views of the re- 

 porter of the greatest importance in a geological point of view. It opened up a new 

 field for both zoological and palaeontological inquiry. As far as the geographical dis- 

 tribution of fishes was concerned, those of the freshwater offered the greatest facility 

 for study, as they could not pass from one point to another, on account of the ocean. 

 The Bishop of Norwich related several facts, showing that the spawn of fishes may 

 be conveyed from one country to another over the sea. He knew an instance in which 

 the ova of the pike were deposited in the thatch of a cottage, and after having remain- 

 ed there for years, on the thatch being thrown into a dry ditch, which afterwards be- 

 came filled with rain, young pike appeared. — Dr. Richardson stated that, in many 

 zones of the earth, the same fishes appeared in the same parallels. It was not so over 

 the Atlantic, where a deep sea intervened. The two sides of the Atlantic contained 

 different fishes. 



The Secretary, Mr. Wollaston, read a paper ' On the Periodical Appearance of 

 certain Birds in North Wales.' 



Dr. Macdonald read a paper ' On the Unity of Organization as exhibited in the 

 Skeletons of Animals.' 



The Secretary read a paper from Mr. Bonomi, ' On a gigantic Bird sculptured 

 on the Tomb of an Officer of the Household of Pharaoh.' "In the gallery of organic 

 remains in the British Museum, are two large slabs of the new red sandstone forma- 

 tion, on which are impressed the footsteps or tracks of birds of various sizes, apparently 

 of the stork species. These geological specimens were obtained through the agency of 

 Dr. Mantell from Dr. Deane of Massachusetts, by whom they were discovered in a 

 quarry near Turner's Falls. There have also been discovered by Capt. Flinders, on 

 the south coast of New Holland, in King George's Bay, some very large nests mea- 

 suring twenty-six feet in circumference and thirty-two inches in height ; resembling, 

 in dimensions, some that are described by Capt. Cook, as seen by him on the north- 

 east coast of the same island, about 15° south latitude. It would appear, by some 

 communications made to the editor of the 'Athenaeum,' that Prof. Hitchcock of Mas- 

 sachusetts had suggested that these colossal nests belonged to the Moa, or gigantic 

 bird of New Zealand; of which several species have been determined by Prof. Owen, 

 from bones sent to him from New Zealand, where the race is now extinct, but possibly 

 at the present time inhabiting the warmer climate of New Holland, in which place 

 both Capt. Cook, and recently Capt. Flinders, discovered these large nests. Between 

 the years 1821 and 1823, Mr. James Burton discovered on the west coast or Egyptian 

 side of the Red Sea, opposite the peninsula of Mount Sinai, at a place called the Ge- 

 bcl Ezzeit, where for a considerable distance the margin of the sea is inaccessible from 

 the Desert, three colossal nests within the space of one mile. These nests were not in 

 an equal state of preservation ; but, from one more perfect than the others, he judged 

 tlicni to 1m; about fifteen feet in height, or, as he observed, the height of a camel and 

 its rider. These nests were composed of a mass of heterogeneous materials, piled up 



