254 Scientific Intelligence. 



plications in the mesial sinus. Orthis elegantula and a JRyncho- 

 nella resembling Hynchonella acinus var. convexa were seen. All 

 of the forms mentioned are common anticlinal Clinton forms. 



The finding of the fossil tree, Glyptodendron, in the marine 

 Clinton of Ohio, if authentic, would be only suggestive of the 

 proximity of land, and the fact of its isolated occurrence would 

 make a considerable distance from this land more than probable. 

 Yet even if the existence of shallow water at the anticlinal be 

 conceded, the existence of deep waters off the shore, between the 

 anticlinal and the paleozoic continent on the east, can scarcely be 

 proved at present. Yet for the present we suggest this view as a 

 theory, perhaps to be compelled to withdraw it even ourselves 

 should the proof to the contrary arise. 



2. Presidential Address before the Geological Society of London, 

 Feb., 1890. — Dr. Blanford discusses in his address the subject of 

 the phenomena of ocean-basins. The arguments considered are 

 (1) the supposed higher specific gravity of the earth's crust 

 beneath the ocean, as inferred from pendulum observations, and 

 the further inference that these areas of greater density have 

 been the same since the original consolidation of the earth ; (2) 

 the absence with few exceptions of stratified rocks from the lands 

 over the oceans, and the fact that nearly all these lands are vol- 

 canic; (3) the absence of deep-sea deposits in the rocks of conti- 

 nental areas ; (4) the agreement between the distribution of 

 plant and animal-life and the present arrangement of land-areas. 

 Dr. Blanford's work in India, as Director of the Geological Sur- 

 vey, has supplied him with facts that give great interest to the 

 discussion of the fourth of the above arguments, and the interest 

 is enhanced by the contrast in cotemporaneous life between 

 Europe and America on the one hand and India, Australia and 

 South Africa on the other. We cite a paragraph bearing on this 

 part of the subject : 



" If, however, any geological evidence can be produced in favor 

 of the view that the Indian Ocean, between India and South 

 Africa, was bridged by land before either country was inhabited 

 by placental, or perhaps by any, mammalia, it is, I think, clear 

 that all the peculiar relationships of the Mascarene Islands would 

 be satisfactorily explained. I think that the requisite geological 

 evidence does exist. In the first place, attention must be called 

 to the remarkable flora that extended from Australia to India 

 and South Africa in Upper Palaeozoic times. No doubt until 

 very recently the principal European palaeontologists refused to 

 admit that this flora was Palaeozoic, and even now the statement 

 is occasionally made that the Carboniferous* flora of northern 

 lands had a world-wide range. But the mass of evidence now 

 available to show that the Newcastle flora of Australia and the 

 Damuda Talchir flora of India are really Upper Palaeozoic, despite 

 the absence of European Palaeozoic plants and the presence of 

 what are, in Europe, Mesozoic types, is so clear that I feel sure 



* Dr. Blanford adds, in a note, that in the following remarks, Carboniferous 

 must be understood to include Permian. 



