105 
of Edinburgh, Session 1869-70. 
and consequently the acids, in which this chlorine is replaced by 
hydroxyl, have this last named group attached to the same carbon 
atom, and are therefore identical. 
It is proper to mention that all the above experiments on 
thebo-lactic acid were repeated with ordinary lactic acid, and with 
uniformly identical results. 
The copper 6alts of thebo-lactic and of ordinary lactic acids were 
prepared side by side, as nearly as possible under the same con- 
ditions, and in similar vessels, and on comparing the two salts, it 
was impossible to detect the slightest difference in their crystalline 
form. The free acid in concentrated solution produced no effect on 
the plane of polarisation of light. 
I am engaged at present on the further comparison of the acids, 
and hope to have the honour of communicating my results to the 
Society on a future occasion. 
In concluding, I take this opportunity of expressing my best 
thanks to the Messrs Smith, who in the most liberal manner placed 
at my disposal a large quantity of perfectly pure thebo-lactate of lime. 
6. On the Bones of a Seal found in Red Clay near Grange- 
mouth, with Remarks on the Species. By Professor 
Turner. 
Towards the end of last autumn, one of my pupils, Mr William 
Stirling, B.Sc., requested me to determine some bones which had 
been found whilst sinking a new shaft for a pit in the Grangemouth 
coal-field. On examination, I found these bones to be the two 
halves of the lower jaw, a fragment of the upper jaw with some loose 
teeth, the right temporal bone, the atlas with fragments of other 
vertebree, the glenoid part of the left scapula, the right astragalus 
and femur, and small fragments of other bones of the skeleton of a 
seal. The animal had not reached the adult state, for the epiphyses 
of the femur were not united to the shaft. The bones were im- 
bedded in a stiff red clay. 
Early in the present year, I Was informed by Mr Stirling, the 
manager of the Grangemouth collieries, that Mr Burns, of Glasgow, 
had obtained some seal’s bones from the same locality, and had ex- 
hibited them at a recent meeting of the Geological Society of Glas- 
