In a former memoir (1934) the author described the early development of the ferret from fertilisation to the formation of the prochordal plate. The following is a continuation of that work and describes the development of the mesoblast and notochord from their incipient phases to a stage with seven somites when the definitive notochord begins to separate from the notochordal plate. As far as can be ascertained these phases have not been previously described in the case of the ferret, although the literature on gastrulation and the formation of the notochord and mesoblast is voluminous. A résumé of the descriptions and theories of gastrulation has already been fully summarised by Rabl (1915), and later by Van Oordt (1921). Opinions concerning notochord and mesoblast formation will be referred to in the following pages, and as there is great confusion of nomenclature in it I have appended a Glossary of the terms which I have used and the meanings that I attach to them (p. 188).

The Late Carboniferous whip spider Graeophonus anglicus Pocock, 1911 (Arachnida: Amblypygi), is redescribed on the basis of the holotype and nine other specimens all preserved in sideritic nodules from the British Middle Coal Measures of Coseley, Staffordshire, UK. This species is clearly basal with respect to most living whip spiders, expressing numerous plesiomorphic character states and can be referred to both the suborder Paleoamblypygi and the ‘living fossil’ family Paracharontidae (with one Recent species), the latter based on an explict character of dorsal spination on the pedipalp femur. This suggests that crown-group Amblypygi originated by at least the mid-Palaeozoic.

The main phase (∼400 Ma) emplacement of the central and northern part of the reversely zoned Galway Granite was incremental by progressive northward marginal dyke injection and stoping of the 470–467 Ma Connemara metagabbro-gneiss country rock. The space was provided by the synchronous ESE-opening, along the strike of the country rocks, of extensional fractures generated successively northward by a releasing bend in the sinistrally moving Skird Rocks Fault or an equivalent Galway Bay Fault. This fault is a prolongation of the Antrim–Galway (a splay off the Highland Boundary Fault) and Southern Upland Faults. The ESE-strike of the spalled-off rocks controlled the resultant ESE-elongated shape of the batholith. The magma pulses (∼5–30 m in thickness) were progressively more fractionated towards the northern margin so that the coarse Porphyritic (or Megacrystic) Granite (GP; technically granodiorite) in the centre was followed outwards by finer grained, drier and more siliceous granite, until the movements opening the fractures ceased and the magma became too viscous to intrude. ‘Out-of-sequence’ pulses of more basic diorite-granodiorite (including the Mingling–Mixing Zone) and late main phase, more acid, coarse but Aphyric Granite, into the centre of the batholith, complicated the outward fractionation scheme. The outward expansion, caused by the intrusions into the centre, caused a foliation and flattening of cognate xenoliths within the partly crystallised northern marginal granite and in the Mingling–Mixing Zone to the south.

Late phase (∼380 Ma) central intrusions of the newly-discovered aphyric Shannapheasteen Finegrained Granite (technically granodiorite), the Knock, the Lurgan and the Costello Murvey Granites, all more siliceous and less dense than the GP, were emplaced by pushing up the already solid and jointed GP along marginal faults. This concentration of lighter granites plus compression shown in thrusting, caused overall fault uplift of the Central Block of the Galway batholith so that the originally deepest part of the GP is exposed where there is the most late phase granite. Chemical analyses show the main and late phase magmas, including late dykes, were very similar, with repetition of the same fractionation except that the late phase magmas were drier and more quickly cooled, giving finer grained rocks.

Through the kindness of Dr. A. Geikie, Director-General of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, I have had the pleasure of examining the fossil plants collected by the Scottish Geological Survey from the Calciferous Sandstones of Eskdale and Liddesdale.

Since its discovery by Dumas and Péligot in 1834, methyl-alcohol has been the subject of a great many researches, and as a result we have long had a perfectly certain knowledge of its atomic composition, and a very accurate knowledge of a great many of its reactions. Yet the physical properties of the substance CH4O have not yet been determined with a satisfactory degree of precision. At this we need not wonder. For the study of the transmutations of a species a very impure specimen may suffice, and a series of such studies may leave no doubt about the correct atomic formula of the species in question, and consequently also, if it is a volatile substance, about its perfect gas density. But no other physical properties can be determined otherwise than by direct experiments on a pure specimen. And pure methyl-alcohol is very difficult to obtain. In whatever reasonable sense we may take the word “pure,” as attached to the name of a chemical preparation, “pure” methyl-alcohol must be admitted to have been little more than a chemical fiction until Wöhler in 1852 discovered his well-known (oxalate) process for its extraction from wood-spirit.

The special interest of South Georgia depends on its evidence regarding the geology of the part of the Southern Ocean which lies south of the South Atlantic. According to Professor Suess, the island is an extension of the Andes, which, at the southern end of South America, turn eastward, and by a great horse-shoe-shaped curve pass through South Georgia to the South Orkneys and Graham Land.

The geology of South Georgia is but little known. Thürach † described the island as consisting of metamorphic rocks, ranging from granular gneiss to clay-slate, and of diabase tuff.

In the specimen under consideration there were fifteen pairs of ribs, of which nine pairs were vertebro-sternal. The costal cartilage associated with each of these was long and very flexible. The articulation of the first pair of costal cartilages with the sternum was effected by means of a short but strong band of fibrous tissue, which permitted considerable freedom of movement and did not form a junction of the more or less rigid character seen in man.

The Lower Permian of the Haushi basin, Interior Oman (Al Khlata Formation to Saiwan Formation/lower Gharif member) records climate change from glaciation, through marine sedimentation in the Haushi sea, to subtropical desert. To investigate the palaeoclimatic evolution of the Haushi Sea we used O, C, and Sr isotopes from 31 brachiopod shells of eight species collected bed by bed within the type-section of the Saiwan Formation. We assessed diagenesis by scanning electron microscopy of ultrastructure, cathodoluminescence, and geochemistry, and rejected fifteen shells not meeting specific preservation criteria. Spiriferids and spiriferinids show better preservation of the fibrous secondary layer than do orthotetids and productids and are therefore more suitable for isotopic analysis. δ18O of −3·7 to −3·1℅ from brachiopods at the base of the Saiwan Formation are probably related to glacial meltwater. Above this, an increase in δ18O may indicate ice accumulation elsewhere in Gondwana or more probably that the Haushi sea was an evaporating embayment of the Neotethys Ocean. δ13C varies little and is within the range of published data: its trend towards heavier values is consistent with increasing aridity and oligotrophy. Saiwan Sr isotope signatures are less radiogenic than those of the Sakmarian LOWESS seawater curve, which is based on extrapolation between few data points. In the scenario of evaporation in a restricted Haushi basin, the variation in Sr isotope composition may reflect a fluvial component.

A new flower preserved in amber in sediments of Simojovel de Allende, México, is identified as an extinct member of Staphyleaceae, a family of angiosperms consisting of only three genera (Staphylea, Turpinia and Euscaphis), which has a large and abundant fossil record and is today distributed over the Northern Hemisphere. Staphylea ochoterenae sp. nov. is the first record of a flower for this group, which is small, pedicelled, pentamer, bisexual, with sepals and petals with similar size, dorsifixed anthers and superior ovary. Furthermore, the presence of stamens with pubescent filaments allows close comparison with extant flowers of Staphylea bulmada and S. forresti, species currently growing in Asia. However, their different number of style (one vs. three) and the apparent lack of a floral disc distinguish them from S. ochoterenae. The presence of Staphyleaceae in southern Mexico ca. 23 to 15My ago is evidence of the long history of integration of vegetation in low-latitude North America, in which some lineages, such as Staphylea, could move southwards from high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, as part of the Boreotropical Flora. In Mexico it grew in association with tropical elements, as suggested by the fossil record of the area.

Regional scale biotite and cordierite-bearing granites (s.l.) in the Variscan of the Central Iberian Zone (CIZ) are spatially closely associated with cordierite-rich nebulites and cordierite-bearing two-mica granites, and with cordierite-rich high grade hornfelses and cordieritites (>60% cordierite) that are relatively common in the aureoles of these granites. Building on published field evidence, petrological data are presented which, combined with new chemical and isotopic (Sr–Nd) modelling, indicate that the cordierite-bearing granites cannot be derived by simple anatexis of regional sedimentary protoliths; but the data are consistent with a process of reactive assimilation that involves the interaction of biotite granite magma with high-grade host rocks ranging from cordierite nebulites to andalusite-bearing cordieritites. The contribution of the postulated cordierite-rich contaminants to the diversity of cordierite granite compositions is modelled using the compositions of regional Lower Cambrian–Upper Neoproterozoic metasedimentary rocks that are generally chemically mature (CaO very rarely exceeds 1·4%). These rocks include specific horizons in which extreme chemical alteration is attributable to sediment reworking during eustatic falls in sea level. Such compositions may account for the presence of the high concentrations in Al that later produced cordieritites. Fractional crystallisation is also important, particularly in generating the more evolved cordierite granite and cordierite biotite muscovite granite compositions. Although assimilation in situ is normally regarded as a minor contributor volumetrically to evolving plutons, in this instance the emplacement of large volumes of granite magma into a high-T–low-P environment significantly increased the potential for reactive assimilation.

The size of the protegulum on the valves of Early Palaeozoic rhynchonelliform brachiopods has previously been used as a criterion to assign various taxa to either a planktotrophic or a lecithotrophic larval mode. A more reliable quantitative character is evaluated in juvenile samples of two genera from the Ordovician Mifflin Formation, the presumed planktotrophic orthid Doleroides pervetus and the presumed lecithotrophic atrypid Protozyga nicolleti, using the coefficient of variation in measurements of protegular size. The Doleroides sample has a significantly higher coefficient of variation than does the Protozyga sample. The results are in accord with observations on living marine invertebrates which indicate that at settlement (when mineralisation of the protegular mantle in brachiopods occurs), planktotrophic larval size is more variable than larval size in lecithotrophs because of fluctuations in food availability and duration of the planktonic phase. This result confirms that protegular size variance can be used to make inferences about larval trophic mode.

The distinguished French naturalist, Professor H. Milne Edwards, in the ninth volume of his valuable Lectures on Comparative Anatomy and Physiology, published only last year, when referring to the fœtal membranes in the Cetacea, states, that much information is still required to complete our knowledge of that subject.

It may perhaps be advisable, before I commence to describe the results arrived at by my recent dissections, to give a brief account of the observations made by previous inquirers into this department of anatomy, so that we may more clearly recognise wherein our deficiencies lie, and the direction in which our researches ought to be conducted, in order to render our information as complete as possible.

The Kenmore inlier exposes the most intensely deformed part of a major Laxfordian shear zone whose NE margin occurs at Diabaig, N of Loch Torridon. The Laxfordian (post-Scourie dyke) deformation commences with two very intense deformations D1 and D2, producing LS fabrics in dykes and gneisses associated with heterogeneous, locally very large, and typically prolate strains under amphibolite-facies metamorphism. D2 also produced widespread mesoscopic folds. The finite strain was measured at 135 localities using grain-aggregate shapes in Scourie dykes. The combined D1-D2 elongation lineation plunges gently to NW or SE, and the planar fabric appears to have been sub-horizontal before the D3 deformation, which produced NW-SE upright folds under retrogressive metamorphism.

The D1-D2 structure is attributed to a major sub-horizontal shear zone with a top-to-NW movement, a minimum vertical width of 2·5 km and estimated minimum displacement of c. 19 km. The upper (NE) wall of the shear zone at Diabaig exhibits dextral-normal (NE-down) D1 movements. The D2 structures are attributed to superimposition of sub-horizontal movements on earlier inclined D1 fabrics as the shear zone evolves. The D3 refolding reflects a change to a dextral transpressive regime.

The following account deals with investigations pursued by the authors during the years 1931 and 1932. Pressure of other and later work precluded the possibility of the results of the investigations being published until this year. It is believed that no recent account of the cuticular-scale pattern of monotreme hairs has been published, and the authors are convinced of the desirability of such a detailed description. When this work was commenced it was intended to be the first of a series of investigations into the scale- pattern of mammalian hairs. Hitherto work in this direction has only taken the form of either a consideration of one species only, or generalisations upon the scale-pattern of a group of mammals. Such generalisations would appear to be often unjustified for the following reasons: In many instances they are based first upon an insufficient number of observations along the length of each fibre, and secondly upon a technique of preparing the fibres for examination which would seem to be inadequate for accurate vision of all the delicate lines marking the boundaries of the scales. Although notable attempts to indicate these boundaries have been made (Hausman, 1920; Glaister, 1931), in the authors' opinion the results have not been satisfactory. Moreover, until Manby's methods, described in previous papers and also in this account, were perfected, there has been no really satisfactory method of photographing cuticular-scale patterns accurately.

Mass balance equations are derived which link the ratios Ts/ (suspended load/dissolved load from chemical weathering) and Tb/Ts (bed load/suspended load), with any two geochemical components present in the source rock and the alluvial system. If the dissolved load is unknown the ratios can be estimated from the relatively insoluble silica and alumina. The ratio Ts/, which for large river basins depends on climate and relief, can thus potentially be determined from ancient alluvial sequences.

The equations help define the source composition of a group of 13 modern rivers for which Ts, and alluvial geochemistry are known. These rivers together drain 27% of the continental surface. For a source area with the average continental sandstone to shale ratio of 0·6 the observed average value of Ts/ is obtained when limestone, sandstone and shale are present in the proportions 6·7:21·6:35·7. The figure of 64% sediment in the source area is very similar to the 66% determined by Blatt and Jones (1975) from geological maps of the continents. The equations also show that average bed load transport rate into these 13 basins is about 27% of total transport, and into the Amazon basin about 37%. Bed load transport rates out of the basins, into the sea, are relatively very small.

The thermodynamic relations embodied in the Quasicrystalline Model of Burnham and Nekvasil (1986), as recently extended by the author, have been used to quantitatively assess the feldspar-quartz liquidus relations in two I-type (Jindabyne and Moruya) and two S-type (Bullenbalong and Dalgety) suites of Australian granites, using analytical data provided by B. W. Chappell and co-workers. Among the more notable results obtained from these calculations at a constant pressure of 5·0kbar and = 0·30 (≍2·8 wt% H2O), for purposes of comparison, are that: (1) felsic melts of remarkably uniform, but distinctive composition can be extracted from each suite, leaving solid residues in amounts up to 65 mol%; (2) all melts from both S-type suites have two feldspars plus quartz on their liquidii, whereas both I-type suites have only plagioclase plus quartz on their liquidii; (3) the total solid residue ranges from 27-63% in the Jindabyne suite, from 15–62% in the Moruya suite, from 30–65% in the Bullenbalong suite, and from 27–65% in the Dalgety suite; (4) liquidus temperatures of the S-type Bullenbalong and Dalgety melts are similar (856° and 860°C), reflecting similar feldspar compositions of An53, Or75 and An60, Or77, respectively; (5) liquidus temperatures of the I-type Jindabyne and Moruya melts, however, are distinctly different (950° and 894°C), reflecting correspondingly different plagioclase compositions of An80 and An52; (6) the calculated liquidus plagioclase composition throughout a given suite is very uniform (±1%) and amounts to as much as 46% of the total rock; and (7) these calculated liquidus and residual plagioclase compositions are also the same, within the uncertainty of measurement, as those of the plagioclase crystal-cores determined optically by A. J. R. White. The only plausible explanation for this remarkable consanguinity in plagioclase liquidus, residue, and crystal-core compositions, hence liquidus temperatures, is that the bulk of the residue is restite, in accordance with the model of White and Chappell (1977). This explanation is corroborated by the very systematic variations in the amounts of individual restite minerals with respect to total restite contents. Accordingly, those members of each suite that contain more than 60% total restite probably closely represent the bulk composition of the source rock, which is dioritic or andesitic for the Jindabyne suite, tonalitic or dacitic for the Moruya suite, pelitic metagreywacke for the Bullenbalong suite, and feldspathic metagreywacke for the Dalgety suite. As a corollary, those members with less than 60% restite must have undergone melt-restite segregation (unmixing), probably during ascent and emplacement.

Although many European cities use urban aquifers for water supply, groundwater from shallow urban aquifers is not widely exploited. Nevertheless, shallow urban groundwater is a key environmental resource – for example, in maintaining healthy urban river flows and attenuating some pollutants – and it can also be a threat, such as through groundwater flooding. However, shallow urban groundwater is frequently overlooked or ineffectively managed, in large part because it is often poorly understood. This paper demonstrates the need to improve understanding of the shallow groundwater system in a city where shallow groundwater is not widely abstracted and, consequently, relatively little groundwater data exist. Like many UK cities, Glasgow is underlain by complex unconsolidated Quaternary deposits, which form a heterogeneous shallow aquifer system that has been extensively impacted by urban activities, typical of a former industrial city. Balancing the potential benefits and risks of shallow groundwater in Glasgow requires a better understanding of Quaternary hydrogeology in order to support the transition to a more sustainable city. This paper presents an improved conceptual model of Glasgow's shallow groundwater system within a sequence of Quaternary deposits in the Clyde valley, drawing heavily on data collected during major site investigations for land development in the city. Postglacial Quaternary sediments in Glasgow form an elongate, variably thick (up to 30m) and variably permeable aquifer system. Aquifer units with high permeability and high storage capacity are partially separated by lower permeability, but still hydrogeologically active, units. Groundwater in the system is hydraulically connected with the River Clyde. Groundwater flow occurs both longitudinally down-valley and convergent from the edge of the valley aquifer towards the river. There has been extensive anthropogenic alteration to the urban surface and shallow subsurface, which has modified the natural physical and chemical groundwater system. Pollution associated with historical industry has also extensively impacted the quality of Quaternary groundwater.

Recent advances in marine acoustic survey and land-based topographic monitoring technologies have resulted in increasingly cost-effective data acquisition in coastal areas. The DEFRA-funded National Network of Regional Coastal Monitoring Programmes of England are, for example, utilising swath bathymetry and airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology more routinely to survey the coastal zone around the coastline of England. The demand for data processing, visualisation and interpretation techniques to keep pace with such advances in data acquisition is clear. This study discusses collection and processing techniques for such data on the south coast of Dorset, England, which have enabled the production of a seamless, high spatial resolution digital elevation model across the coastal zone. Case studies demonstrate how this elevation model can be viewed and analysed using state-of-the-art digital techniques to allow geological mapping to be extended from onshore to offshore in unprecedented detail, effectively eliminating what is known as the ‘White Ribbon’ for coastal geological mapping. The potential for rolling out such techniques for wider surveying programmes across many environmental disciplines is significant, which could contribute towards improving the multi-disciplinary scientific evidence base in the complex coastal zone.

A Summary is given of the field relations, geographical distribution and petrography of twenty-nine dolerite plugs associated with the Tertiary lava plateau of north-east Ireland. All but two of the plugs are composed of olivine dolerite. The exceptions are a pyroxene-rich dolerite and a tholeiitic type containing abundant chlorophæite. Trace-element determinations have been made on specimens from thirteen of the plugs.

Slight but definite chemical differences are shown to exist between the olivine-dolerites and the average Tertiary olivine-basalt lava of the area. The petrogenetic relationships of the two are briefly considered.

Sediments of Carboniferous age occur in Kintyre in the district between the high ground of Southern Kintyre and the ridge of Northern Kintyre. The low ground stretching from Machrihanish to near Campbeltown is known as the Laggan of Kintyre. The Laggan runs in a series of terraces from the Atlantic to within a mile of Campbeltown, where the terraces give place to higher rounded knolls rising to a general height of 200 feet, and separated from each other by the highest raised beach. The chief platform in this plain is formed by the Machrihanish Water and its tributaries, the Backs and Chiscan Waters, and on both sides of this platform are the three terraces separating the 25-foot, 50-foot, and 100-foot raised beaches from each other and from the alluvial plain of the rivers. The 100-foot beach runs a considerable distance up the valleys leading to the higher ground to the north and south of the Laggan. To the extreme west, 3½ miles of sand dunes, higher than the plain behind them, give slight protection to the greatest stretch of cultivated land in Kintyre. Near the centre of the plain is a circular peat moss known as the Durry Moss.