150 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



they ouglit to liave been. It is not to be disputed that at the junction 

 with granite and basalt, compact limestone and clialk are often converted 

 into marble, as in Paradies-backen, near Drammen, in JN'orway, and near 

 Belfast, in Ireland ; but, in the case of granite, the dry method of conver- 

 sion cannot be any longer tenable, since the experiments of Sorby, Delesse, 

 and others, have altered our conviction of its origin. Such changes, then, 

 cannot be regarded as due to heat alone, and that they were assisted by 

 other agencies is a conclusion arrived at also by Bischof in a diflferent 

 manner. 



In the Anniversary Address to the G-eological Society, the President, 

 Mr. Leonard Horner, commented on these experiments in the following 

 manner : — " With every respect for my friend the Professor, I think that 

 I ma}'' turn round upon him and say that he has been somewhat hasty in 

 considering that his experiments prove that mistakes were made by Hall 

 in his descriptions of the results of his numerous experiments, all agreeing 

 while obtained in so many different ways ; for the Professor states that in 

 both of his experiments the gun-barrel burst (at what stage of the experi- 

 ment, he does not say) and thus one of the essential conditions in Hall's 

 experiments was wanting, viz. continued great pressure. I consider there- 

 f jre that these experiments of Professor Eose in no degree invalidate those 

 of Hall, so long considered to support, in no inconsiderable degree, the 

 hypothesis of Hutton." 



Saukian Eemains in the Lower Lias. — Some remains of Enalio- 

 sauria, recently found in tbe shales at the top of the Ehsetic series, zone 

 of Ammonites jplanorVis (Wright), exposed near Droitwich, are of more 

 than ordinary interest. One, unfortunately much distorted, skeleton of 

 Ichthyosaurus intermedkis still holds, in the space between the ribs, the 

 contents of the stomach, which, however, do not present any different 

 features from the example described and figured by Dr. Bnckland, being 

 chiefly scales of Pholidojoho^'us leptocephalus and some indeterminable 

 fragments of Echinidse, probably of Cidaris JEdtvardsii, the spines of 

 which occur very abundantly in these shales. Jaws of Ichthyosaurus 

 tenuirostris have also been met with in fine condition in this little-known 

 locality. The specimens have been carefully collected, and are now in the 

 cabinet of Eichard Smith, Esq., of Westacre, near Droitwich. 



Fish-remains in these Lower Liassic beds should be more attentively 

 searched for. I have just received a letter from a noted microscopist, 

 relating to the otolithic bone of Pholidophorus, which makes a fine object 

 in the microscope. — George E. Egberts. 



Origin of Species. — At the Zoological Society, on the 28th January, 

 Professor Owen read a paper on the anatomy of the Aye-Aye {Cheiromys 

 3Ia da (J a scan' ens is). The only point of interest to geological and paleon- 

 tological readers was the part of the paper in which Professor Owen en- 

 tered into the evidence afforded by the peculiarities of this animal on 

 the question of the origin of species ; after showing the arguments in 

 favour of the derivative hypothesis, and those against its mode of operation 

 as propounded by Euflbn, Lamarck, and Darwin, became to the conclusion 

 that, wliilst the general evidence on this subject was in favour of creation 

 by hiw, he was conq^elled to acknowledge ignorance as to the mode in which 

 yiieli secondary ca\ises might Jiave operated in the origin of Cheiromys. 

 At the same time Proft^ssor Owen fully admitted that the attempts to dis- 

 sipate the mystery whieh environed the origin of species, whether success- 

 ful or not, could not but be fraught with great collateral advantages to 

 zoological science. 



