The specimens which form the subject of this paper were collected on voyages to and from Australia on board the s.s. Orsova and Otway of the Orient Line. Sea-water was being constantly pumped on each ship, by a rotary pump, from an inlet about 18 feet below the water-line to a large tank on the boat deck, and I was allowed to run off, through a plankton net, as much of the water as I desired in order to collect the organisms contained therein. For this privilege, of which I availed myself to a liberal extent, I beg to thank Captain J. F. Healey and Captain F. S. Symons. The small organisms suffered comparatively little by their passage through the pump and pipes, and were, for the most part, in a living and active condition when examined.

1. The experiments to which I shall have to refer in this paper were all made above ten years ago. A brief report of the general results, so far as they were then obtained, was made to the British Association in 1852, at whose expense the instrumental apparatus had been provided. The causes of the delay which has occurred in the publication of the numerical results will be presently explained.

The four stem-group neopterygians from Foulden are redescribed: Carboveles ovensi White, Aetheretmon valentiacum White, Strepheoschema fouldenensis White and Fouldenia ottadinica White. Carboveles is shown to be a junior synonym of Phanerosteon Traquair, Fouldenia ottadinica White is synonymised with Styracopterus fulcratus (Traquair), Strepheoschema rhodesi Moy-Thomas with S. fouldenensis White and Aetheretmon whitei Moy-Thomas with A. valentiacum White. The family Strepheoschemidae is erected to comprise Strepheoschema and Aetheretmon, characterised by paired ventral ridge scales in front of the pelvic fins. Cosmoptychius striatus (Agassiz), recorded here from Foulden for the first time, is widespread in the geologically younger Oil Shale Group. The Foulden actinopterygian fauna is identical to that of the Cementstone Group at Coomsdon Burn, Northumberland, although with two additional taxa. Styracopterus fulcratus occurs also at a further two Cementstone Group localities in Scotland.

Haller (1888), one of the first to publish an account of the alimentary tract in the Gastropoda, was followed by Amaudrut (1898) who produced a detailed comparative account of “La partie anteriéure du tube digestif” in a number of gastropods. Later workers have either studied the complete alimentary system in one or two gastropods (Herrick 1906; Dakin 1912) or have been concerned with the functional morphology of particular organs, such as the oesophagus, stomach, (Graham 1941; 1949), and proboscis (Alpers 1931; Carriker 1943). Much of this scattered work has been collected by Fretter and Graham (1962). Effectively nothing is known about the functional morphology of the alimentary tract in many groups, including the neogastropod families Turridae, Terebridae, and Volutidae. This account of the proboscis and oesophagus forms part of a general study of the functional morphology of the Turridae.

The material for this work was obtained from the stock of Axolotls which breed in the Zoology Department of Glasgow University. The objection to using captive specimens for cytological work is overridden by the fact that the Axolotl, unlike some other urodeles, breeds readily in captivity, so that the germ-cell cycle can be taken as normal.

The reasons for wishing to add yet another account of urodele spermatogenesis to the considerable number already existing are twofold. First, widely different interpretations of a similar process in different species have been put forward, and one of the most recent accounts (Stieve, 1920, on Proteus) is entirely at variance with the usual course of spermatogenesis in urodeles. Second, there has been great discrepancy in the number of chromosomes assigned to this species.

The collection of Actiniaria and Zoantharia made by the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition contains nineteen species, one of which, Porponia antarctica Carlgren, I described as a new species in 1914. In all there were six species from the Antarctic, three from the Falkland Islands, six from the west coast of Cape Province, three from the Cape Verde Islands, and one, not specifically determined, from Gough Island. The new species here described are Epiactis vincentina, Epiactis brucei, Sicyonis antarctica, and Palythoa vincentina. I have not thought it necessary to compile a complete list of the literature and synonyms of the species, since in the papers cited full information is given.

The current underlying assumption in most geochemical studies of granitic rocks is that granitic magmas reflect their source regions. However, the mechanisms by which source rocks control the intensive and compositional parameters of the magmas remain poorly known. Recent experimental data are used to evaluate the ‘source rock model’ and to discuss controls of (1) redox states and (2) the Sr isotopic compositions of granitic magmas.

Experimental studies have been performed in parallel on biotite-muscovite and tourmaline-muscovite leucogranites from the High Himalayas. Results under reducing conditions ( = FMQ – 0·5) at 4 kbar and variable suggest that the tourmaline-muscovite granite evolved under progressively more oxidising conditions during crystallisation, up to values more than four log units above the FMQ buffer. Leucogranite magmas thus provide an example of the control of redox conditions by post-segregation rather than by partial melting processes.

Other experiments designed to test the mechanisms of isotopic equilibration of Sr during partial melting of a model crustal assemblage show that kinetic factors can dominate the isotopic signature in the case of source rocks not previously homogenised during an earlier metamorphic event. The possibility is therefore raised that partial melts may not necessarily reflect the Sr isotopic composition of their sources, weakening in a fundamental way the source rock model.

Fossil tree resins preserve a wide range of animals, plants, fungi and microorganisms in microscopic fidelity. Fossil organisms preserved in an individual piece of amber lived at the same time in Earth history and mostly even in the same habitat, but they were not necessarily parts of the same interacting community. Here, we report on an in situ preserved corticolous community from a piece of Miocene Dominican amber which is composed of a lichen, a moss and three species of leafy liverworts. The lichen is assigned to the extant genus Phyllopsora (Ramalinaceae, Lecanoromycetes) and is described as P.magna Kaasalainen, Rikkinen & A. R. Schmidt sp. nov. The moss, Aptychellites fossilis Schäf.-Verw., Hedenäs, Ignatov & Heinrichs gen. & sp. nov., closely resembles the extant genus Aptychella of the family Pylaisiadelphaceae. The three leafy liverworts comprise the extinct Lejeuneaceae species Cheilolejeunea antiqua (Grolle) Ye & Zhu, 2010 and Lejeunea miocenica Heinrichs, Schäf.-Verw., M. A. M. Renner & G. E. Lee sp. nov. and the extinct Radulaceae species Radula intecta M. A. M. Renner, Schäf.-Verw. & Heinrichs sp. nov. The presence of five associated extinct cryptogam species, four of which belong to extant genera, further substantiates the notion of a stasis in morphotype diversity, but a certain turnover of species, in the Caribbean since the early Miocene.

This paper evaluates the taxonomy, biostratigraphy, and palaeogeographical significance of the Cambrian bradoriid arthropods of China, the majority of which occur in the lower Cambrian of SW China. Of bradoriid faunas world-wide, Chinese occurrences yield the greatest number of specimens and a comparatively high diversity at all taxonomic levels. Nevertheless, taxonomic diversity is much less than previously supposed. Some 80 bradoriid genera and nearly 300 species have been proposed on the basis of Chinese material. By contrast, in our study, which encompasses all of the important Chinese bradoriid faunas, we recognise only 16 genera and 21 species, including those treated under open nomenclature. Interpretation of deformed specimens as discrete species and lack of application of the rules of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature resulted in taxonomic splitting and a proliferation of names. There are an additional 12 poorly known monotypic genera of uncertain systematic status that are listed but not treated further herein. One phosphatocopid species, a group originally thought closely related to the Bradoriida, is also described.

Most Chinese bradoriid material is known from Yunnan Province; the group also occurs in Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Liaoning, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang and Zhejiang provinces. The first bradoriids occur just below the Abadiella trilobite Biozone. They are most prolific and diverse in the Qiongzhusian Stage, constituting the most abundant animal group; the succeeding Canglangpuian Stage contains fewer individuals and species. A previously proposed bradoriid biozonal scheme lacks rigour and is of little practical value: of the five supposed biozones, two correspond to trilobite zones and three are based on taxa that herein are considered to belong to a single species.

Palaeogeographically the bradoriids occur in the Middle and especially the Western subprovinces of the Cambrian of the SW China (Yangtze) Platform. Almost all of the bradoriid genera and species are endemic to that region. The palaeogeographical links with other bradoriid faunas are mostly within the Redlichiid trilobite Realm, with areas such as N China, Australia and parts of central Asia.

The hind limbs of birds have long been considered a key feature in the conquest of different environments. However, the high level of morphological diversity encountered complicates the foundation of a good theoretical correlation between morphology, locomotor habits and substrate preference and this, in turn, complicates palaeobiological interpretations. Phorusrhacids (Aves, Cariamiformes) are a good example, since they have been unequivocally categorised as terrestrial birds due to their reduced forelimbs; and as apex predators with the ability to pursue prey based only on their hind limb morphology. Multivariate techniques (PCA and discriminant analysis), based on traditional metrics and geomorphometrics of the hind limb and pelvis, were applied in order to explore terrestriality and cursoriality in phorusrhacids. Although several groups of birds could be identified, when looking solely at hind limb metrics, some phorusrhacids appear to be associated with walking birds, while others are associated with cursorial birds. However, the pelvis separates cursorial birds and phorusrhacids from walking and wading birds. This scenario is complicated further by a lack of clear definition of the different locomotor modes and substrate preferences in extant birds, and this makes it difficult to confirm phorusrhacid cursoriality based solely on morphometrics. However, some qualitative features of the pelvis and foot make the picture a little clearer. To study limb adaptations in fossil birds, a more holistic study, with an emphasis on qualitative features of the whole posterior locomotor module, is necessary, since morphometrics leaves some issues unresolved. A comparison with the wings is also needed, in order to make a more complete analysis of locomotor behaviour.

Elements of the Ordovician conodont genus Protopanderodus have been investigated in order to provide a model of reconstruction for its oral apparatus. In total, 4,202 elements from the five named species representing this genus in the Swedish Middle Ordovician are included in this study: P. rectus, P. parvibasis, P. graeai, P. robustus and P. calceatus. The well-preserved specimens were studied in detail for identification of distinct element types and calculations were made to determine element ratios and minimum number of elements in a single apparatus. Three element groups, M, S and P, were recognised for all five species and their relative ratio is indicative of apparatuses consisting of at least 21 elements. However, the number of element types and their distribution varies between the species. The four bicostate species, P. rectus, P. parvibasis, P. graeai and P. robustus, have similar morphological characters and are believed to belong to the same evolutionary lineage. They possessed apparatuses consisting of M, Sa, Sb1, Sb2, Sc, Pa and Pb elements. By contrast, the multicostate species P. calceatus is morphologically different and had an apparatus consisting of M1, M2, Sa, Sb, Sc, “Sd”, Pa, Pb1 and Pb2 elements. These differences indicate that P. calceatus is not so closely related to the other species, possibly representing a separate evolutionary lineage, and may warrant an exclusive generic assignment.

The postcranial skeleton of the seymouriamorph Utegenia shpinari (?Upper Carboniferous–Lower Permian, Kurgalin Formation, Kazakhstan) is redescribed. Features that distinguish it from other Lower Permian seymouriamorphs (Discosauriscus, Ariekanerpeton, Seymouria) are: broad anterior portion of the interclavicle stem, merging indistinctly into the interclavicle plate; absence of a bulge in the anterior half of such a stem; presence of at least 28 presacral vertebrae; gastralia. The poorly ossified limbs of the largest Utegenia specimens are similar in degree of development to those of larval Discosauriscus, but the almost cylindrical, anterior trunk pleurocentra recall the condition of early juvenile Discosauriscus. A phylogeny of the best known seymouriamorphs, using a small but diverse exemplar from other early tetrapod groups, places Utegenia within seymouriamorphs as sister taxon to discosauriscids (Ariekanerpeton plus Discosauriscus). This conclusion affects origin and dispersal scenarios for seymouriamorphs, and supports the hypothesis of a widespread geographical record of Lower Permian taxa spanning across western Euramerica and eastern Asia.

This study explores the implications of different decisions about taxon sampling in studies of phylogeny and macroevolution – how would phylogenetic results differ as decisions about inclusion of taxa differed? The focus is on investigating phylogenetic relationships among families of Devonian terebratulides, and include all 71 named genera in our analyses. Subsets of taxa were experimented with the most complete morphologically from fossil specimens; those that occur earliest in the stratigraphic record; those that include only the name-bearing genera from each family. Including only the most completely known genera produces a result essentially similar to one including all genera, even those for which less than half the characters can be coded. Including only the stratigraphically earliest genera produces a result at odds with the other analyses. Including only name-bearers, representing 13% of all genera, produces a result generally similar to the analysis including all taxa. None of the results of these phylogenetic experiments involving subsets of genera corresponds strongly with the recently revised classification in the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, but general similarities can be discerned. The lack of strong correspondence between classification and several different experimental phylogenetic hypotheses could be ascribed to their different overall goals, and highlights the potential dangers of ascribing evolutionary significance to simple counts of taxa, particularly families, as warned by Alwyn Williams 50 years ago.

A diverse, previously undescribed trilobite fauna from northwest Iran sheds new light on the Early Palaeozoic geography of the Alborz terrane. The structural history of the Alborz region is well known, though faunal data for the area are sparse, especially for the Ordovician. Trilobites, brachiopods, conodonts, bryozoans and echinoderms occur in a red grainstone/packstone near the village of Tatavrud, 35 km southwest of Bandar-e-Anzali. The fossils indicate a Late Ordovician age, although lithologically similar outcrops in northern Iran have previously been considered Silurian. Trilobite genera occurring include Trinodus, Geragnostus, Illaenus, Panderia, Phorocephala, Ovalocephalus, Dicranopeltis, Symphysops, Cyclopyge, and Sphaerexochus. Similar assemblages have been reported from the Late Ordovician of Ireland, Spain, Poland, Norway, northwest China, Kazakhstan and the Turkistan–Alai Ridge (Uzbekistan–Kyrgyzstan border). Reconstructions of Late Ordovician geography place the Alborz terrane near the eastern margin of Gondwana, but there is doubt as to its precise location. Some workers have considered it part of the margin while others have considered it a separate terrane. Several species present, including Mezzaluna tatavrudensis n. sp. and Phorocephala cf. ulugtana (Petrunina, 1975) are very similar to taxa described from the Turkistan–Alai Ridge. In addition, the isocolid genus Paratiresias has only been reported from Iran, the Turkistan–Alai Ridge and northwest China. The presence of these taxa indicates that the Alborz terrane was in close proximity to the eastern margin of Gondwana at this time.

Osteohistological characteristics of the large temnospondyl amphibian Metoposaurus diagnosticus from the Upper Triassic of Poland (Krasiejów locality) were determined using vertebral intercentra thin-sections from different regions and growth stages. The intercentra showed a trabecular structure in both the endochondral and periosteal domains. Endochondral ossification developed first, and the primary bone occurs near the periphery with a higher degree of remodelling in the centre. Periosteal bone deposition begins later; first on the ventral side, continuing laterally and finally onto the dorsal side. Periosteal growth rate was initially very rapid, and then subsequently decreased in rate. In all sections, numerous remains of calcified cartilage are visible, which may indicate a juvenile, paedomorphic or plesiomorphic character. The four histologic ontogenetic stages (HOS) of sampled vertebrae were determined based on growth marks. Most of the sampled bones belong to juvenile individuals (HOS 1 to 3), apart from one atlas and the largest anterior dorsal intercentrum, which represent the oldest described stage (HOS 4). Sharpey's fibres are preserved in ventro-lateral cortical regions, around parapophyses and on the posterior side of the neural arch.

Self-organised criticality of the crust appears to make deterministic earthquake prediction of time, place and magnitude of individual large earthquakes inherently impossible. This closes one line of approach to mitigating earthquake hazards. This paper suggests that a viable alternative to earthquake prediction is monitoring the build-up of stress before a large earthquake can occur. A new understanding of rock deformation allows stress changes to be monitored with seismic shear-wave splitting (seismic birefringence). With a suitable monitoring installation, this would allow the stochastic proximity of impending earthquakes to be recognised so that earthquakes could be forecast in the sense of recognising that crustal deformation was preparing for a large earthquake. Such stress-forecasting is not prediction, but, in many circumstances, a possible forecast crescendo of increasing urgency is exactly what is needed to best mitigate hazard to life and property.

The arctolepid fish “Phlyctœnaspis” germanica is redescribed as Stuertzaspis n.gen. An interpretation of the head shield is attempted and it is suggested on this evidence that the fish is a relatively unspecialized member of Denison's subfamily Actinolepinæ. On the ventral surface of the fossil is preserved the postethmo-occipital ossification of the neural endocranium, a structure previously satisfactorily known only in Kujdanowiaspis among the Arctolepida. Generally the endocranium of Stuertzaspis is similar to that of Kujdanowiaspis, although it shows some interesting differences, particularly in the orbital and occipital regions.

The careful study of the products of destructive distillation has enriched organic chemistry with an extensive series of results of unexpected interest and importance. These results have affected, in no inconsiderable degree, the recent progress of the science; and their influence has been of a twofold character, both general and particular, exerted in the former case in the development of some of the more remarkable general doctrines of organic chemistry; in the latter, in the important light thrown by their investigation on the constitution of the substances from which they are derived, and the facilities they have afforded of following out connections, which the examination of the original substance either does not at all present to our view, or, at least, indicates only in an imperfect or dubious manner. Added to this, we have the remarkable fact of the appearance among these products of substances in some cases identical with those occurring in organised beings; and in others, presenting analogies of the very closest character with the actual products of vital affinity, which, taken together, afford abundant reason for pursuing the investigation of substances which have already afforded results of so remarkable a character.

The Western or Toro-Ankole volcanic province of Uganda consists of several areas of tuffs, explosion craters, and rare lava flows situated to the east and south-east of Ruwenzori (text-fig. 1). From north to south these volcanic fields are distinguished under the names (a) Rusekere; (b) Fort Portal; (c) Ndale, formerly known as the “Kyatwa area”; (d) Katwe-Kikorongo; (e) Bunyaruguru, formerly known as the “Kichwamba area”; and (f) Katunga. The Bunyaruguru field extends southwards from Lake George in and adjacent to the north-eastern portion of the Lake Edward section of the western rift. The Kabirenge and Lyakauli lavas (text-fig. 2) occur on the eastern edge of the rift depression immediately north-west of Nyondo crater (E. 30° 04′ 25″; S. 0° 14′ 30″). As a group, they constitute one of the four lava occurrences now known in Bunyaruguru, the other three being those of Chamengo, Mafuru, and Kazimiro (text-fig. 2). Otherwise, lava occurs only as fragments and lumps in the tuffs and as bombs and ejected blocks. The Kabirenge-Lyakauli lavas are also of special interest because, as described later by Professor Holmes, they consist of various members of the mafurite series, characterised by the presence of the recently discovered mineral kalsilite, a polymorph of KAlSiO4.

Raasay, one of the major islands of the Inner Hebrides, lies between the Isle of Skye, from which it is separated by the Sound of Raasay, on the west, and the mainland district of Applecross on the east. From Rudha na Cloiche, the southernmost promontory, to Rudha nan Sgarbh in the extreme north, the island has a length of over 13 miles, while the breadth from west to east varies from 3 miles near Ósgaig to a ½ mile just south of Arnish or at An Caol. The total surface area is about 27 square miles. The island is separated from Rona on the north by Caol Rònach, studded with islets and submerged rocks, a little more than a mile wide.