Benguella is a province of Angola, the chief Portuguese colony in western Africa. From the chief town, Benguella (lat. 12·35° S.) and from Catumbella (lat. 12·25° S.) old-established trade routes go inland on to the Benguella plateau, and across it along the watershed between the Congo and the Zambesi to Katanga and the Upper Congo. The geographical pioneers in this part of Africa showed that the land rises in steps from the coast to a high plateau, which consists of a foundation, of ancient crystalline and sedimentary rocks, and is flanked by younger marine beds along the coast.

The value of the Chronometer for finding the Longitude at Sea, being, by the experience of many years trial, fully established, I am induced to offer to the Royal Society some remarks on the change of rate observed in this instrument, when on ship-board. This change of rate, that had usually been supposed to arise from the motion of the ship, has recently heen attributed, by Mr Fisher, who accompanied Captain Buchan in his Voyage towards the North Pole in the year 1818, ‘to the magnetic action exerted by the iron in the ship upon ‘the inner rim of the Chronometer's balance, which is composed of steel.’ I apprehend, however, that it will be very easy to show, that although the alteration of rate may be, and most probably is, owing to magnetism, yet the magnetic action of the iron in the ship, excepting in cases where chronometers are placed in immediate contact with large masses of iron, can contribute but in a very small degree to the error in question.

The earliest tetrapodomorph fishes appear in Chinese deposits of Early Devonian age, and by the Middle Devonian they were widespread globally. Evidence for the earliest digitated tetrapods comes from largely uncontested Middle Devonian trackways and Late Devonian body fossils. The East Gondwana Provence (Australasia, Antarctica) fills vital gaps in the phylogenetic and biogeographic history of the tetrapods, with the Gondwanan clade Canowindididae exhibiting a high degree of endemism within the early part of the stem tetrapod radiation. New anatomical details of Koharalepis, from the Middle Devonian Aztec Siltstone of Antarctica, are elucidated from synchrotron scan data. These include the position of the orbit, the condition of the hyomandibular, the shape of the palate and arrangement of the vomerine fangs. Biogeographical and phylogenetic models of stem tetrapod origins and radiations are discussed.

Study of the residues of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) can assist with the assessment of the contamination level, distribution, sources, transportation and trends in these selected OCPs. We investigated the concentration levels of hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), chlordane, which is currently used, and the never-used aldrin and dieldrin in the Ningbo region – a heavily industrialised and urbanised area in East China. OCPs were found in all soil samples and were predominantly composed of HCHs, DDT and its metabolites. The concentration of DDTs in the soil ranged from 2.2 to 566.6ngg–1, with a mean value of 55.6±94.8ngg–1, while the concentration of HCHs ranged from 2.7 to 28.2ngg–1, with an average of 4.6±2.9ngg–1. Aldrin, dieldrin, endrin and heptachlor were detected at much lower concentrations. The wide distribution of these never-used OCPs indicates that they have been input via long-range atmospheric processes. The results from analysis suggest that HCHs and DDTs were mainly derived from use in historical times.

Stan Wood had a gift for finding exceptional Early Carboniferous fossils. Among them are 32 type specimens. His discoveries significantly changed our understanding of the history of life on Earth. Many of the fossils he collected are on display in museums across the UK and the localities he discovered continue to yield important new material. Here we briefly review some of Stan Wood's key achievements and describe the legacy he left.

The lower Meitan Formation (Floian, upper Lower Ordovician) at the Dajiaosi section, Zunyi District, northern Guizhou Province of South China, contains a moderately rich and diverse Sinorthis Fauna, with 22 species attributable separately to 15 families and seven orders of brachiopods. The fauna can be differentiated into three associations: the Paralenorthis serica, the Sinorthis typica, and the Tarfaya intercalare associations. These occupied a relatively wide palaeoecological range from lower BA3 to upper BA2 settings and from silty to clay substrate conditions. In South China, the Early Ordovician brachiopod radiation was marked by the diversification of the orthide-dominated Sinorthis Fauna, which first appeared and diversified in the middle part (relatively deep water) of the Upper Yangtze Platform in the Didymograptellus eobifidus Biozone, but rapidly declined in the succeeding Corymbograptus deflexus and basal Azygograptus suecicus biozones. During the latest Floian and early Dapingian, it expanded into comparatively shallow-water settings in the onshore direction (Changning area, southern Sichuan), offshore carbonate platform (Yichang, Hubei), and areas adjacent to the submergent Qianzhong Arch (such as the Zunyi area). The first appearance datum of the Sinorthis Fauna in shallower-water settings generally postdates that in the deeper-water environment in the central Upper Yangtze Platform, probably as a result of the fauna tracking a favoured BA3 setting during a gradual marine transgression.

The recovery of a new partial cranium of Decennatherium rex Ríos et al. 2017 bearing two anterior and two posterior ossicones from the Late Miocene deposits of the site Batallones-10 (MN-10, Cerro de los Batallones, Madrid Basin) sheds light on the complex variability of the cranial appendages of these extinct giraffids. The special features of the anterior ossicones of BAT10’18-C6-40, each formed by two bosses and separated by a septum increase the range of morphological variability found in the anterior ossicones of giraffids. Posterior ossicone variability has already been described in several sivatherine taxa as Sivatherium maurusium (Harris, 1974) but anterior ossicone variability has never been discussed for four-ossicone taxa. This new specimen accounts for the third morphotype found in D. rex anterior ossicones. BAT10’18-C6-40 is identified as an adult D. rex male on the basis of the development of the posterior ossicones. These are large and already show the first large bump which in this taxon is always located on the middle of the dorsal surface at a similar height on the right and left ossicones which agrees with Solounias (1988) who stated that these small irregular protuberances have a somewhat fixed position, suggesting a genetic basis. This new specimen represents a new example of cranial variability in D. rex, and makes it the extinct giraffid with the largest anterior ossicone variability found so far.

La Mina is one of three sites, along with Cueva Millán and La Ermita, located in the middle course of the Arlanza river. La Mina was excavated for the first time in 2006 and three test pits were carried out. In one of them, evidence of two Palaeolithic occupations was identified and several remains of woolly rhinoceros were recovered. Amino acid racemisation dating yielded an age of 52.5 ka BP, the earliest Upper Pleistocene date for Coelodonta antiquitatis on the Iberian Peninsula. This new record may have several implications for understanding the access routes to the Castilian Plateau, together with the definition of a new migratory wave of this species at the end of the Pleistocene. The location of La Mina on the Castilian Plateau may help researchers to complete the movements of this species through the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic on the Iberian Peninsula.

In this paper, on page 375, we published an Arenig palaeogeography in Figure 6 which showed the subduction zone off Laurentia as dipping northwards. This was a drafting error. The subduction zone should have dipped southward away from Laurentia. We apologise for this error and publish here a revised Figure 6 for the Arenig.

The Family Orthophlebiidae ranges from the Middle Triassic to the Early Cretaceous. The Wealden Mecoptera have added to our knowledge of the Mecoptera from the Early Cretaceous of southern England, but have been comparatively little studied. Here we present the description of the first orthophlebiid from the Wealden of England. Mesopanorpa brooksorum sp. nov. from England is the earliest Cretaceous representative of this genus.

The family Austropanorpidae (Mecoptera) was described by Willmann in 1977 from the Eocene of Australia, based on one genus and species, Austropanorpa australis Riek, 1952. During a restudy of the collection of the Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, a second and much older representative of this family was found. This specimen, described as Orthophlebia martynovae Sukatsheva, 1985 from Siberia (Russia), was considered until now to be a member of family Orthophlebiidae. We transfer this species to the Austropanorpidae, extending the age of this family back to the Early Jurassic. An updated diagnoses of the family Austropanorpidae and genus Austropanorpa are presented here.

During the Upper Ordovician–Lower Silurian, chert was widely distributed in the Zhongbao Formation in the eastern part of the North Qilian Orogen. The origin and the tectonic setting of these chert were largely unknown. In order to analyse the material provenance, sedimentary environment, their formation and the tectonic setting, we present petrology and geochemical research on chert samples collected from Shihuigou Section. The evidence provided by radiolarite occurrences, Aluminium (Al)–iron (Fe)–manganese diagram and the silicon(Si)/Si + Al + Fe + calcium ratios suggesting a non-hydrothermal input and the biogenic origin chert. The geochemical features and the petrographic signatures have shown that the chert was also influenced by a terrigenous origin. It is considered that the deposition of the Late Ordovician chert is mainly affected by tectonic collision and volcanic ash events. During the Late Ordovician–Early Silurian transition, huge amounts of volcanic ash were released by massive volcanic activity that fell into the ocean, triggering the proliferation of radiolarians. Finally, in the Late Ordovician–Lower Silurian the tectonic setting of the North Qilian Orogen was not a typical deep-water basin, nor a typical continental margin, but a multi-island deep-water basin, which is closed to the mainland.

Evidence of herbivory on Laurasian Nymphaeaceae leaves from Lower Cretaceous (Upper Albian) deposits is presented for the first time. The types of damage on leaves consist of both hole feeding and margin feeding, which were found on foliar remains of the taxa Ploufolia cerciforme and Aquatifolia cf. fluitans. Within the first category of damage, the Damage Type 78 (DT78) type on Ploufolia leaves and type DT02 on Aquatifolia foliar lamina were recorded. The second category of damage has only been identified in Ploufolia leaves, and it corresponds to type DT12. The subsequent palaeoichnologic interpretation made it possible to compare these records with damage caused by the extant water lily pest to make a possible palaeoecological interpretation.

New fossils of the families Nemopteridae and Chrysopidae are recorded and a new species of Hemerobiidae, Sympherobius yulei sp. nov., is described from the late Eocene Insect Bed of the Isle of Wight. The new nemopterid belongs to the tribe Stenonemiini and is very similar to a specimen already recorded from the Early Oligocene of Alsace (France), suggesting that these warm-climate insects were not affected by the ‘Oi-1 Glaciation' cooling.

The Pentland Hills sponge fauna (Llandovery, Telychian) consists of an unusual, aberrant assemblage, but of low diversity. A new specimen of a unique sponge, Eoghanospongia carlinslowpensis gen. et sp. nov., is described from the classic locality of R82. The mushroom-shaped, probably stalked body (peduncle attachment to body not exposed) resembles that of some living rossellids, especially Caulophacus. The sponge also shows prominent projecting pentactins and monaxon derivatives – a spicule type diagnostic of the Rossellidae among living taxa, albeit in a robust form not described from extant sponges, including Caulophacus or other pedunculate lyssacinosidans. Certain attribution to the Rossellidae is not possible from the single specimen, largely because of weak preservation of the primary spicule skeleton, but no other fossil or modern sponges show any significant similarity to it. Although similarly early relatives of the Rossellidae have recently been described from elsewhere, the new sponge is even more unexpected in being from a shallow-water environment, making the absence of rossellids through the rest of the Palaeozoic much more problematic.

New 10Be exposure age dating and geomorphological mapping of emerged shoreline features in W Jura and NE Islay throw new light on the regional pattern of ice sheet deglaciation and late-glacial relative sea level change. We conclude that the oldest and highest emerged shorelines in this area were produced ~15.7–16.3 ka, shortly after ice sheet deglaciation ~16.5 ka. It is envisaged that the first incursion of marine waters into coastal areas took place close to a former ice sheet margin that oscillated in position across this part of the Scottish Inner Hebrides. The first evidence of late-glacial marine sedimentation following deglaciation consists of emerged marine terrace fragments and unvegetated gravel beach ridges, the former represented by a prominent glacio-isostatically tilted shoreline that declines in altitude NE to SW, from ~40 m above ordnance datum (OD) in NW Jura to ~19 m OD in central Islay. In W Jura, north of Loch Tarbert, spectacular staircases of up to 55 unvegetated gravel beach ridges were formed shortly after regional deglaciation, possibly within 1 ka. A preliminary estimate of the average rate of relative sea level lowering across W Jura between deglaciation and the Younger Dryas is in the order of ~7 mmyr−1. Geomorphological evidence from Shian Bay, W Jura, indicates a truncation of the late-glacial beach ridge staircases by a large 480-m-long beach ridge (the Colonsay Ridge) at ~14.9 ka, when former relative sea level was at ~18 m OD. This ridge may represent the product of either a stillstand in the progressive lowering of relative sea level during the late-glacial or a reversal. This raises the intriguing possibility of an association between ridge formation and the timing of the well-established global meltwater pulse 1A between ~14.65 and ~14.8 ka.

This is a report upon the Medusæ collected by the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition during the voyage of the Scotia in the years 1902, 1903, and 1904, under the leadership of Dr W. S. Bruce, to whom I am indebted for the opportunity of examining the specimens.

The collection is a small one containing twelve species, but five more species would have probably been added if only the specimens had been in a recognisable condition. Some of the specimens are in excellent condition, and these were mostly taken at the surface, but others are very much damaged. Unfortunately, the damaged specimens are just the ones wanted in good condition, as they mostly come from the Antarctic region and from the stations where the nets were sent down to a great depth. The damage is done in the nets, and other collections which have passed through my hands tell the same tale. It is the rubbing together of the sides of the net that tears the medusæ to pieces. All deep-sea nets should be so constructed that the sides of the nets cannot come together, and also provided with a large can at the end.

Present-day organisms have colonised two distinct high pressure environments: the deep sea and oil well and other crustal fluids. In the former, pressures attain 100 MPa and temperatures are generally less than 4°C. In the latter, the temperatures are high, up to 150°C, and occur in combination with pressures of up to 50 MPa. The high temperature is close to the limit of thermal stability of the macromolecules essential for life. The adaptation of present-day marine organisms to high pressure is known to involve modifications to their cell membrane lipids and subtle changes in both structural proteins and enzymes. There is no reason to suppose that they are close to the maximum pressure to which they could adapt and higher pressures could have been colonised in the geological past. The existence of “marker” compounds, characteristic of high pressure organisms, is discussed, and the possibility that isotope ratios are distorted by metabolic processes at high pressure is raised.

The Naididæ are a family of small fresh-water Oligochæta, in which the usual mode of reproduction is the asexual, by fission; sexual forms are, in general, rare, and in the majority of species, and in some whole genera (e.g. Slavina), they have not so far been observed at all. Records of the genital organs are therefore of interest; and if they were available throughout the group it can hardly be doubted that we should be able to judge better of the affinities of genera and species, and consequently to improve our classification; since the diagnoses of species and genera, and the scheme of classification, depend at present to an unduly large extent on one single set of characters, the form and distribution of the setæ.

The study of sexual individuals of the genus Dero has resulted also in the discovery of the curious phenomenon of the atrophy of the alimentary canal at sexual maturity; this occurs also in Hæmonais (v. ant.); it has not hitherto been found elsewhere in the Oligochæta, though it is known to occur (apparently in a less extreme form) in a number of Polychætes.