These fossils are especially interesting on account of their having been obtained from a more southerly point than any hitherto recorded. The number of specimens is nine; five of these are referable to the genus Cucullœa, one to Cytherea, one probably to Natica, and two are fragments of Coniferous Wood. With the Cytherea are other small shells which may indicate the presence of Crassatella (?) and Donax (?). Two of the pieces of Cucullœa are entirely free from matrix, while three show in their interiors a fine sandy rock which effervesces when treated with hydrochloric acid. The shells themselves have a calcedonic appearance, but, like the matrix, they effervesce strongly with acid; they are much denuded, having apparently been long exposed to the weather. The matrix within the Cytherea is coarser than that in the Cucullœa, containing, besides fragments of quartz and of a black rock, numerous fragments of shells. The Natica (?) is almost free from matrix, and is much denuded, but in some of the crevices sandy material may be seen very like the matrix of the other shells. All these genera have a wide distribution in time, and are now living, consequently they give but little clue to the age of the rocks in which they were found. Cucullœa is rare at the present day, and the few known species occur in the Mauritius, Nicobar, and China; but as a fossil it is very common and widely distributed.

The genus Bathydoris was created by Bergh in 1884 in his Report on the Nudibranch Mollusca collected by the Challenger. In his account of the anatomy of the new genus Bergh draws attention to the anomalous combination of characters possessed by the animal, and gives it an annectent position between the Dorids and the Tritonids, but places it among the Dorids on account of the predominance of Dorid features. The single specimen of Bathydoris abyssorum was dredged off New South Wales in 2425 fathoms. A second specimen of this peculiar genus was obtained by the Danish Ingolf Expedition and described by Bergh in 1900. This specimen came from 1870 fathoms in Davis Strait, and resembled B. abyssorum, with specific variations. Thus Bathydoris came to be regarded as an isolated genus with the characters of a connecting link, and appropriately a denizen of deep water. Our anatomical knowledge of the animal is derived almost entirely from Bergh's accounts of the two species mentioned, and is moderately extensive, considering the rather imperfect state of preservation of the material and the fact that he was dependent on single specimens in each case.

New three-dimensionally preserved specimens of two euthycarcinoid arthropods, namely Schramixerxes gerem and Sottyxerxes multiplex, allow complete description of both the dorsal and ventral sides of the exoskeleton. The functional morphology is tentatively interpreted for the first time. In S. gerem, the ‘thirteenth somite’, or ‘monosomite’ is fully described and re-interpreted as the main articulatory process of the body, between the cephalic region and the preabdomen. The morphology and arrangement of the two parts of the process clearly indicate that the anterior cephalic region of the body could move laterally and bend ventrally, while posterior somites could only move ventrally. Unlike several other euthycarcinoid species, the ventral side of the head area exhibits one or two plates instead of mandibles; such distinct morphologies are indicative of different feeding mechanisms and behaviours among euthycarcinoid arthropods. Possible homologies with the labrum of Hexapoda support the hypothesis that euthycarcinoids have hexapod affinities.

Low altitude sandy plains (machair) are a common feature of the Atlantic coasts of the Outer Hebrides. They formed as a result of shoreward movement of material consequent upon a rise in Holocene sea levels. A number of earlier, partially inconclusive, investigations into machair evolution proposed that fuller understanding could arise from an examination of inter-tidal organic deposits, in so far as these could provide a fossil proxy record of the processes involved in machair formation. Study of a series of inter-tidal peats sites located on a beach platform at Borve, island of Benbecula, provided both spatial and chronological evidence for sand movement as well as furnishing new data on vegetational and environmental history. The pollen diagrams show a flora in which Calluna vulgaris (heather) and Poaceae (grass) are frequent dominants, while such arbroeal taxa as Betula (birch) and Corylus avellana-type (cf. hazel) are notable. The existence of birch–hazel woodland for the period c. 8855–6190 BP might conceivably have had a retarding effect on sand movement. Later cycles of sand movement would not have met such obstruction with the consequence that sand mobility and machair plain evolution could have been faster. Sand arrival at the seaward site (Borve 3), is dated to c. 6735 BP and it continued until c. 6045 BP, after which it slowed before increasing again from around 5990 BP. This sand incursion produced a machair plain over the Borve sites as part of a continuous, but variously paced, marine and aeolian process. The presence of charcoal from c. 6860 BP, with a major increase in charcoal to pollen ratios by 6190 BP, may suggest that natural or intentional burning of the vegetation cover of the machair occurred in Mesolithic times; if the burning was anthropogenic in origin, then it pushes the possible involvement of humans in machair destabilisation to a time long before the previously proposed Neolithic period. A wet slack deposit, dated to 3400 ± 70 BP, indicates a time when sand movement overwhelmed the area around the landward site (Borve 1) and when the rate of sand movement was likely to have been impeded. The data from Borve suggest that evolution of machair landforms occurs at a slow, variable rate and that there is considerable long-term stability.

Chironomid larvæ for a long time have been known to inhabit the brackish pools around the coast, but there are few published records of their life-histories and habits, and in many cases they cannot be correlated with their imagines. This applies equally to the fresh-water types.

The greater part of the systematic work on the Chironomidæ deals with the imagines, and much confusion exists regarding the nomenclature of species, which most authorities admit cannot be rectified until the early stages have been recorded.

The first description of a marine Chironomid larva was given by Johnston (1830), who described it erroneously as a worm under the name of Campontia erusciformis. Miall and Hammond (1900) give a good account of the life-history and habits of Chironomus dorsalis Mg., and several authors, notably Lenz (1921), Goetghebuer (1927–8–32), Thienemann (1938), and Malloch (1915), have reared some imagines from the larvae, but a very great amount of work has still to be done. Lenz (1921) has attempted to bring some order into the early stages and gives a systematic key to the genera for larvæ and pupæ, but no systematic key exists at present for the distinguishing of species.

In 1790 Goethe (Eng. Trans., 1863) published his doctrine of metamorphosis. Before that only two authors had expressed any fundamental ideas with regard to the flower. Wolff in his Theoria Generationis (1759) said that the plant consisted of nothing but stem and leaf, the root being a modification of the former; parts of the flower were appendages, and the production of floral leaves was due to degeneration of the sap, the richest portion being used up at a lower level by the vigorous first-formed foliage leaves.

Linné (1760) expressed the same idea as Wolff, partly basing his evidence on teratological specimens, in which the various floral organs were sometimes found to be replaced by leaves. He further considered the flower to be a modified shoot, five years' growth being compressed into a single year. Believing that the different floral whorls were developed the one from the other, and observing that they encircled each other, he attributed the various floral envelopes to different tissues of the stem—e.g. the bark gave rise to the calyx, and the carpels arose from the pith.

Probably the commonest type of foliage among the impressions of Carboniferous plants is one which simulates that of our living ferns. These palæozoic fronds were originally believed to belong to the true ferns, but recently some of them have been taken from this group and included in the Pteridospermeæ. There remain, however, a large number of fronds the true affinities of which are yet doubtful. Thus, though there are still a considerable number of species which belong to the ferns, the number of doubtful examples and of those now definitely known to be pteridospermous far exceeds the number of those attributed to the Filices. Indeed, we cannot now consider the latter group to have been dominant during the Carboniferous epoch.

Forty-one specimens of acanthodians and actinopterygians were examined from Units 26 to 38 of the Geikie Tuff, Little Cliff Shale and East Kirkton Limestone of the Viséan East Kirkton Limestone sequence. The results yielded six actinopterygian species including a platysomid and two probable juveniles of uncertain affinities, and three acanthodians including two acanthodidids and a climatiid-like denticle. Most specimens consist of isolated bones and scales, but articulated remains of an acanthodian and actinopterygians were found in Units 37 and 38 of the East Kirkton Limestone. The faunal composition is characteristically Oil-Shale in aspect and resembles that of Broxburn (Pumpherston). The presence of deep-bodied and juvenile fishes in the same strata combined with the mode of preservation indicate a palaeohabitat with limited current action and a soft substrate.

The East Kirkton Limestone is typically a carbonate/organic laminite characterised at many levels by abundant radial-fibrous calcite (RFC) spherules and by less common larger stromatolite-like accretions of laminated botryoidal RFC. The spherules are mostly c. 1 mm in diameter and have cyanophyte and chlorophyte inclusions. Some spherules enclose parallel bundles of complete cyanophyte fibres and probably grew within a living cyanophyte mat. The botryoidal accretions were commonly seeded upon wood and other exposed organic remains such as bone, and they completely enclose twigs and branches where these were held above the sediment surface. Botryoidal accretions commonly contain the remains of a benthos of cyanophytes, chlorophytes and ostracods.

Both types of calcite have carbon and oxygen stable isotope values similar to those of known fresh-water precipitates. Their stable isotope and trace element geochemistries are consistent with precipitation on the floor of a tropical fresh-water lake within a volcanic setting, but removed from the influence of any hot-spring activity. Spherules and botroids are mineralogically closely similar and, whilst precipitation may have been biogenically mediated, they are regarded as passive lake floor cements.

The carbonate laminae are dominated by rhombohedral calcite. Many of these laminae may have originated as calcite suspensoids which settled to the lake floor during relatively brief precipitation events, blanketing the normally richly organic substrate, smothering the cyanophyte mats, and leading to the preservation of individual organic laminae. Crystals later became enlarged and intergrown within the sediment, but this occurred early and prior to significant compaction, because detail of fragile and degradable organic constituents is commonly preserved. The likely source of the carbonate is through leaching of the local basic volcanic terrain. The precipitation of two types of calcite implies regular fluctuations in the chemistry of the lake waters, or in the factors controlling precipitation, which may have been a biogenic and/or seasonal effect.

Since Graf V. Spee's admirable work Die Implantation des Meerschweincheneies in die Uteruswand, published in 1901, little has been done to add to our knowledge of the implantation of the embryo of Cavia. His deductions seemed conclusive and passed almost unchallenged into the general literature as an essential part of our knowledge of mammalian embryology.

The migmatitic gneiss complex of Lylyvaara in the eastern part of Finnish Presvecokarelides of the Baltic Shield shows evidence of a polyphase deformational and metamorphic history and of the emplacement of a number of mafic and felsic igneous intrusions at various stages during this history. Sequential structural development has been established on the bases of refolding and cross-cutting relationships. U–Pb zircon and sphene isotopic data combined with structural studies indicate that the first six deformational phases took place in late Archaean (=Presvecokarelian) times. The seventh deformational phase is constrained as being early Proterozoic (=Svecokarelian) from regional considerations.

The gneissic foliation in the dominant tonalitic to trondhjemitic palaeosome is parallel to lithological layering (So). Mostly it is composite S1–S2; only in F2 fold hinges can separate S1 and S2 be unequivocally distinguished. There, both of these fabrics, which were formed in amphibolite facies conditions of metamorphism during D1 and D2 have retained their identity despite extensive tectonic overprinting. Further tonalitic or granodioritic material was intruded during D3 or between D2 and D3. Effects of the third deformational phase (D3) ar6e expressed only locally as asymmetrical and polyclinal folds, which deform S1–S2 and F2. These folds now have a northeasterly axial trend and they show considerable variations in the style of their parasitic structures. F4 folds are common. They are dextral and asymmetrical, have NW—NNW-trending axes and show complex interference patterns with F2 and F3 folds. During D4, much aplogranitic neosome material was emplaced in NW—SE-trending movement zones, which correspond to the axial planes of F4 folds. Superimposition of F5 and F6 structures on previously formed patterns add to the structural complexity although they only result in minor modifications. Both are open and upright and locally have associated cleavages or healed fractures (S5, S6). D7 is expressed throughout the migmatitic complex as narrow NW—SE-trending shear zones which reactivate the S4 trend.

U–Pb zircon isotopic data indicate that the metamorphism associated with gneiss formation took place 2843 ± 18 Ma ago. U–Pb sphene ages of c. 2660 Ma and 2620 Ma indicate that metamorphic conditions prevailed for a very considerable time. An aplogranitic neosome related to F4 axial planes gave a 2657 ± 32 Ma U–Pb zircon age, while granodiorite and pegmatite dykes related to D6 yielded U–Pb zircon ages of c 2670 Ma and 2640 Ma, respectively.

In the summer of 1925 I paid a visit to Møen, a Danish island situated about 50 miles south of Copenhagen, for the purpose of studying the cliff sections.

The particular object of the investigation was to ascertain how far the structure of the disturbed deposits of Møens Klint corresponded with that of the disturbed deposits of the Hadleigh Road Area, Ipswich (17, 20, 23), where the structure is strikingly analogous to that seen in Arctic glaciers; and, further, to ascertain whether the laws of structure formulated from the combined study of Arctic glaciers and disturbed glacial deposits were applicable to the Danish sections (21).

During a preliminary traverse of the area I was accompanied by Mr V. Hintze, Inspector of the Geological and Mineralogical Museum, Copenhagen, and Mrs E. Mertz of the Danish Geological Survey, thanks to the courtesy of the Director, Dr V. Madsen.

Understanding the controls on the evolution of natural feldspars is greatly assisted by coupling experimental determinations of feldspar/melt equilibria with thermodynamic modelling and the calculation of crystallisation paths. Such a combined approach permits the evaluation of the influence of intensive and extensive variables on feldspar compositions. Feldspar compositional paths are influenced only to a minor degree by pressure. The presence of H2O or other melt component incompatible in feldspar has a more major effect, not only in increasing the temperature interval over which feldspar crystallises, but also in decreasing the amount of Ab enrichment of the feldspar which occurs during crystallisation. The amount and behaviour of H2O in the magma has a pronounced influence on feldspar compositions when two feldspars are stable. Under conditions of high bulk H2O content or constant activity of H2O, plagioclase and alkali feldspar compositions evolve by increasing Ab content similar to the behaviour manifested in the simple binary systems. If the bulk H2O content is low, however, and the H2O content increases during crystallisation, plagioclase evolves by increasing Ab content until alkali feldspar is stabilised. From that point on, plagioclase compositions change mainly by decreasing Or content, while alkali feldspar evolves mainly by increasing Or content.

Late Devensian ice-sheet movement in the western Southern Uplands of Scotland is demonstrated by the distribution of erratics from four different bedrock sources and by glacial striae and ice-moulded landforms. This evidence shows an almost radial movement of ice from an ice-divide zone. The control of relief over ice flow and the distribution of erratics is emphasised. The distribution of erratics from two of the sources, however, shows that debris in the ice was transported only a very short distance in certain places. Abundant deposits of lodgement till occur in the vicinity of the former ice-divide. Although it is generally considered that glacial erosion, and therefore deposition, are insignificant at the centre of ice-sheets, this study suggests otherwise. It is inferred that till and erratics may be emplaced during ice-sheet build-up when conditions for erosion obtained, these deposits being protected from subsequent removal by the establishment of an ice-divide across the area. The implications for high rates of erosion in ice-sheet source areas are examined.

It is now generally accepted that British Tertiary granites contain crustal and mantle components. Genesis principally by differentiation of crustally contaminated basaltic magmas is widely held and silicic melts with some remarkable trace element similarities were generated within different upper crust along the St Kilda/Skye - Carlingford zone.

New whole-rock (and mineral) O isotope data for the southern sector of the province (N Arran, Ailsa Craig, Mourne Mountains, Slieve Gullion, etc) reveal that δ18O lies in the range +5·1 to +9·7‰ for most of the analysed granites, meteoric water-rock interaction having been in general less intensive than at Skye and Mull. Nevertheless, highly 18O-depleted country rocks (with δ18O<0) exist adjacent to the N Arran and Mourne Mountains granite plutons. There is as yet no evidence for the existence of low -18O granitic melts in this southern sector where magmatic δ18O compositions (up to c. + 9·5‰) can be inferred for some of the intrusions.

New Nd (and Sr) isotope data indicate that although there is some similarity in initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios between the northern and southern sector granites, in northeastern Ireland initial εNd values for the analysed Tertiary acid major intrusions range from −3·9 to −4·5. This is in marked contrast to the Skye granites, some of which have values below −20, reflecting the involvement of different lithosphere.

There is an atmospherical appearance which is not explained by the known laws of heat and cold. It is the breath of animals becoming visible, in being expired into an atmosphere which is cold or moist; and the transformation of transparent steam into the state of mist, when mixed with air which is of a colder temperature. Natural philosophers have certainly considered these appearances as being explained in the general law by which heat and cold are communicated among contiguous bodies, otherwise they would have endeavoured to point out this particular law, which seems to depart from a more general rule, or does not follow the natural course of things observed on other occasions. The subject of this paper is to investigate a certain rule which, in the case now mentioned, may be discovered as directing the action and effects of heat and cold; and to form a theory of rain upon that investigated rule, concerning the evaporation and condensation of water.

These openings, which are also present in numbers on the region of the cheek, indicate the ducts of numerous mucous glands which lie immediately underneath the mucous membrane. The tongue of Beluga does not appear to differ much from that of other toothed whales. In Globiocephalus intermedius, according to Macalister, not only the tip, but also the margins of the organ are free, whereas in Beluga the latter are attached along nearly their whole length. Dr Murie refers to the presence of a distinct froenum in Globiocephalus melas, but this structure is not recognisable in Beluga.

The Diptera fauna from the late Eocene of the Isle of Wight (Bembridge Marls) is studied including redescriptions of formerly described material. The fauna includes the following taxa: Anisopodidae – one species; Bibionidae – 11 species; Ceratopogonidae – one described and two unidentified species; Chironomidae – undetermined species of three subfamilies; Culicidae – four species; Cylindrotomidae – one species; Dixidae – one species; Keroplatidae – one described and four unidentified species; Limoniidae – 31 species; Mycetophilidae – 14 species; Psychodidae – two species; Scatopsidae – two species; Sciaridae – three species; Simuliidae – an unnamed species; Tipulidae – nine species. Diptera Brachycera: Agromyzidae – unidentified species; Anthomyzidae – two species; Asilidae – two species; Bombyliidae – one species; Chloropidae – one species; Dolichopodidae – unidentified species; Empididae – unidentified species; Ephydridae – two species; Heleomyzidae – unidentified species; Lauxaniidae – unidentified species; Otitidae – one species; Phoridae – unidentified species; Rhagionidae – two species; Stratiomyidae – two species; Syrphidae – unidentified species; Tabanidae – one species. Following new taxa are described: Leptotarsus (Longurio) fragmentatus Krzemiński, n. sp., Leptotarsus (Longurio) wegiereki Krzemiński, n. sp., Tipula (s. lato) anglicana Krzemiński, n. sp. (Tipulidae); Cyttaromyiarossi Krzemiński, n. sp. (Cylindrotomidae); Gurnardia corami Krzemiński, n. gen, n. sp., Pilaria hooleyi Krzemiński, n. sp., Pilaria volodii Krzemiński, n. sp., Cheilotrichia (Cheilotrichia) duplicata Krzemiński, n. sp., Cheilotrichia (Empeda) szwedoi Krzemiński, n. sp., Symplecta (Psiloconopa) gurnetensis Krzemiński, n. sp., Orimarga (Orimarga) lenae Krzemiński, n. sp., Dicranomyia (Dicranomyia) azari Krzemiński, n. sp., Dicranomyia (Dicranomyia) fasciata Krzemiński, n. sp., Helius (Helius) edmundi Krzemiński, n. sp., Helius (Helius) popovi Krzemiński, n. sp., Dicranoptycha staryi Krzemiński, n. sp. (Limoniidae); Wightipsychoda Azar, n. gen. (Psychodidae); Dilophus andrewrossi Nel, Colomb & Waller, n. sp., Bibiodes massiliensis Nel, Colomb & Waller, n. sp. (Bibionidae); Azana cockerelli Blagoderov, n. sp., Aglaomyia vectis Blagoderov, n. sp., Dziedzickia oligocenica Blagoderov, n. sp., Palaeoempalia saxea Blagoderov, n. sp., Mycomyahoolei Blagoderov, n. sp., Leia gurnardensis Blagoderov, n. sp. (Mycetophilidae); Regmocleminahaennii Krzemiński, n. sp. (Scatopsidae); Sylvicola problematica Krzemiński, n. sp. (Anisopodidae); Palaeoberidops barkeri Nicholson, n. gen., n. sp. (Stratiomyidae). The Diptera fauna and palaeohabitat of the Insect Bed is discussed.

The following communication is an attempt to eliminate the geological history of our Scottish Peat Mosses. So much, however, has already been done in this matter, that the reconsideration of phenomena, for the most part well known, may appear almost a superfluous task. But, notwithstanding the essays of Walker, Rennie, Anderson, and others, in this department of geological inquiry, there is still probably much to be gathered from the same source, which shall greatly increase our knowledge of the condition of these latitudes in the ages that followed upon the close of the glacial epoch. At present, I mean to give only an outline of the subject, reserving for some future occasion a fuller statement of the facts on which the conclusions arrived at are based.

As part of the joint British-Scandinavian Surface Waters Acidification Programme, the Institute of Hydrology is establishing catchment studies in Scotland. Data from these catchment studies are being used to develop a range of models for investigating short-term and long-term changes in catchment acidity. Information on the modelling techniques available at the Institute of Hydrology is presented together with applications of the models to catchments in Scotland.