SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
239 
a wonderful fossil lately found in New Zealand. The paragraph states the 
fossil to be that of a gigantic bird, which stood twenty-five feet high. It 
entered into several rude osteological details (among others stating that the 
head was of enormous size) ; and these led to the following remarks, which 
were published in the Times by Professor Owen : — “ Paragraphs like that on 
the ‘ Gigantic Bird ’ usually include elements which the naturalist sees to be 
fatal to the interpretation attached to the facts ; yet these may be well 
deserving attention and inquiry. New Zealand was undoubtedly the land of 
huge birds, but, like their few existing congeners in other parts of the world, 
the head was small ; that of a Dinornis, thrice the bulk of the largest living 
ostrich, does not exceed eight inches in length. The notice of the remains 
found in the province of Nelson assures me that they are those of a saurian 
reptile, and indicate the Jurassic age of the ‘beds of limestone’ in which they 
have been petrified. Parts of a Plesiosaurus were discovered in that province 
by Mr. J. H. Hood, of Cluny-house, Dunkeld, in 1861; but the present are 
of another kind. Should this letter appear, and meet the eyes of any colonist 
able to grant the request, I would ask only for a single vertebra (joint of 
back or tail) and one of the supposed feathers of the ‘ gigantic bird,’ and 
promise to return the name of the animal.” 
Fossils from the Diluvium of the Tiber . — A collection of these has recently 
been obtained by M. He Yerneuil. They consist of teeth of a large hippopo- 
tamus, of rhinosceros, horse, deer, and wild boar. At Ponte Molle the bones 
are most abundant, but they are better preserved at Mont Sacr6 in the 
diluvium of the Aniere. — Bulletin Soc. Geol. Fr., vol. xxii. 
The Glacial Phenomena of Caithness have been very carefully studied by 
Mr. T. F. Jamieson, who has reported the results of his inquiries in a paper 
lately read before the Geological Society. The glacial drift of Caithness 
occurs in sheets, filling up the low troughs and winding hollows which form 
the beds of the streams, the rocks on the higher ground being either bare or 
hidden by a growth of peat and heather. It thins out at altitudes of from 100 
to 150 feet, and its thickness, therefore, is variable, although it seldom exceeds 
a hundred feet. Mr. Jamieson first described the distribution of the drift- 
beds over the area in question, their texture and colour at the different 
localities in which they occur, and the nature and appearance of the stones 
and boulders found in them. He then noticed the broken state of the shells, 
the most common species being Cyprina Islandica , Astarte borealis , A . elliptica , 
Tellina calcarea, T. Balthica , and Turritella ungulina. The direction of the 
glacial markings on the rocks was shown to be pretty uniformly from N.W. 
to S.E. (true); so that it must have been produced by a movement of ice 
proceeding from an external region to the N.W., and not by glacier-action 
proceeding from the interior of the country, as is the case in the midland 
region of Scotland. The glacial drift of Caithness and the old boulder-clay 
of the middle of Scotland resemble one another in their physical arrangement, 
but differ in the prevalence of marine organisms in the former ; the absence 
of tranquilly-deposited glacial marine beds, of moraines, and of gravel hillocks, 
and the deficiency of valley gravel in Caithness, are also points in which the 
glacial series of that area differs from that of Central Scotland ; and Mr. 
J amieson inferred that, of the two series, the Caithness drift was the more 
recent. In conclusion, the author described the deposits of the post-glacial 
