During a visit to the Isle of Bute in the summer of 1920 I took the opportunity of collecting a number of the smaller Oligochæta on the shore at Ascog, and in a pond on the hill just above the village. An account of this collection is given in the present paper; I have also added notes on a few species I have met with since then near Edinburgh. For laboratory accommodation at Ascog I have to thank Prof. L. P. W. Renouf, at that time Superintendent of the Biological Station, who very kindly placed the resources of the institution at my disposal.

The district examined in the course of the research embodied in this paper is the south-eastern part of the county of Fife, lying between the coast-towns of Aberdour and Kirkcaldy, and stretching inland to a roughly semicircular boundary enclosing Auchtertool, Raith and Chapel. The area within these limits, amounting to approximately 30 square miles, was mapped on a scale of 6 inches to a mile, and the chief results of the field-work are shown in the map on Plate III.

In a former memoir published in these Transactions (20) the developmental study of floral characters has been reopened. It has there been shown that by this study, which for long has received little attention, the investigator, aided by modern technical methods, may gain a fuller understanding of the value of the characters by which his judgment in systematic matters is guided. The subject then dealt with was the initiation of staminal zygomorphy in certain dicotyledonous plants. It was there shown that in the history of a stamen from its initiation as a primordium until its anther is dehisced and its pollen shed there are three more or less distinct consecutive phases. In the first, or phase of initiation, the stamen-primordium is defined. From this primordium an undifferentiated multicellular body arises by rapid cell-division. In the second phase this body undergoes differentiation into the component parts of a stamen ; an anther and frequently a filament and connective are defined, and their cellular construction is completed. In the third and final phase the stamen is extended and functionates forthwith as a disseminator of pollen-grains. In this phase the extensible and elastic walls of the cells of the filament are distended by internal hydraulic pressure, and the anther-walls are dried and finally rupture by inequalities in their rate of shrinkage and by the agency of fibrous devices. These steps form the prelude to the actual functionating of the stamen, and since the final enlargement of the stamen-filament is due to water-pressure, this phase is known as the phase of extension.

In his Presidential Address to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in October 1920, Professor Bower (2) called attention to the question of Size in relation to stelar morphology, and advanced evidence (with particular reference to the Filicales) to show how the principle of similar structures has affected the internal morphology of the vascular system of plants. In dealing with the application of this principle he remarks that “the stems and roots of most plants are approximately cylindrical. The same is the case as a rule for their conducting tracts also. The cylinder is one of those solid forms in which the proportion of external surface to bulk is exceptionally low. Any deviation from the cylindrical form, either by external projections or by involutions, necessarily leads to an increase in the proportion of surface to bulk. The surface varies only as the square of the linear dimensions, but the bulk as the cube. It follows, therefore, that in carrying out any of those physiological functions of a living organism which depend on surface, as do all those of the acquisition and inter change of material, the actual size of the part which exercises that function is a matter of the greatest moment. The larger the plant is, the more dependent will it then be upon its form and detailed structure, not only for its stability, but also for the performance of its functions of absorption and transit of liquids and gases. This will apply not only to the external surface, but also to those internal surfaces which limit one tissue tract from another.” In illustration of this, examples were taken from the stems, tubers, and petioles of the Filicales, and the size-factor was also found applicable to the large prop-roots of palms, such as Areca and Verschaffeltia.

In the early spring of 1922 I was working with my friend Mr R. A. Staig at the rearing of larvæ and eggs of Stomoxys calcitrans in horse dung from a farm. Some of the manure had been left in the incubator (which was maintained at 24° C.) after all larvæ had been raised from it. On examining the surface of the material, which had been kept damp, it was found to be swarming with small Oligochætes and a rich culture of a testaceous Rhizopod (fig. 1). This latter is 35μ × 17μ in size, and appears to be identical with the organism figured by Leidy (10) as Trinema enchelys. It seems certain that Leidy had placed different species under this one name, and Cash and Waite (2) have placed in the species lineare those forms which differ from T. enchelys in being of smaller size and in having a test very thin and composed of ill-defined plates, which can hardly be seen in most of the specimens mounted in balsam. The present organism then can be placed in this species, Trinema lineare, Penard.

The original, plan of the Shackleton Expedition, had it been realised, would have yielded geological results of no little value. The base would have been on Coats Land, and next in importance to crossing the Antarctic continent was the projected geological sledging trip across the Wilhelm Barrier, westwards from the head of the Weddell Sea to the southern. continuation of Graham Land. Had it been carried out, it would of course have settled finally the relationship of Graham Land to the rest of Antarctica. The besetment and destruction of the Endurance, however, put an end to the original plan, and no landing was ever made either on the eastern or on the southern side of the Weddell Sea.

The following observations were made during a prospecting expedition which left the Falkland Islands in the late spring of 1913 for the South Shetlands, the Palmer Archipelago, and Graham Land. The cost of the expedition was provided by Messrs Salvesen of Leith, the well-known shipping and whaling firm, who are lessees from the Colonial Office of the minerals in these remote areas. Arrangements were made to prospect as large an area as possible during the whaling season 1913–14. The steamer Hanka, a modern whaler, proved very suitable for prospecting work, owing to its light draught, small size, and fairly high speed. It could, however, owing to its small capacity, operate only within a limited radius of a supply base, and Messrs Salvesen's big whaling factory ships in King George Island; Leith Harbour, Belgica Strait, Graham Land; and Fournier Bay, Schollaert Channel, Anvers Island, formed effective bases of supply.

1. The investigation has been carried out on fresh and well preserved material obtained over a period of more than four years from a native of Cochin, now a graduate in medicine, who, while pursuing his medical studies in Edinburgh, had recurrences of Rhinosporidial polypi on his nasal septum (pp. 307, 308).

2. Rhinosporidium is a spherical or oval non-motile Protistan, usually lying between the connective tissue cells of the polypi, but occasionally found within a cell forming part of a cell-group cut off from the base of the epidermis or in a mononuclear, probably phagocytic, cell (pp. 309, 321).

This memoir is based upon the study of three normal human embryos belonging to the period of development preceding the cleavage of the paraxial mesoderm into the primitive segments, as well as of certain abnormal specimens of the same early period which have yielded valuable corroborative data, but will not be described in detail. Well-preserved specimens belonging to these early stages are very rare, and our knowledge has been, and can only be, built up from the detailed descriptions of isolated cases by the individual observers into whose hands they happen to fall.

During the last few years attention has been focussed somewhat sharply upon the Marine Algæ, partly on account of the recently investigated life-histories of some of the larger Phæophyceæ, and partly because of a recent suggestion that the Marine Algæ may represent the stock from which all higher land-plants have originated. Interest has naturally centred on the problem of the origin of an alternation of generations among the seaweeds, comparable to that which has become a characteristic feature in the life-histories of higher terrestrial plants.

The following work is based upon the magnificent collection of rock specimens made by Mr D. Ferguson during the expedition described in the foregoing paper. The number of these specimens is 210; and as many were collected in quadruplicate, it has been found possible to make up sets which have been presented to the British Museum (Natural History), the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh, and the Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge. The most complete set is retained in the Hunterian Museum of the University of Glasgow.

During the last few years Dr R. Kidston, F.R.S., has kindly entrusted to me for investigation certain specimens of fossil plants, showing structure, mostly from Lower Carboniferous horizons in Southern Scotland.

Four of these plants are dealt with in the present communication, namely:

Calamopitys radiata, sp. nov.

Calamopitys zonata Kidston, in MS. (now Endoxylon zonatum).

Bilignea solida Kidston.

Bilignea resinosa, sp. nov.

It will be understood that all the specimens were in Dr Kidston's hands in the first instance; the sections were cut under his direction, and he himself had determined the chief points in the structure of each before I began my observations. It only remained for me to work out the details, and to form my own views as to the probable affinities of the plants.

Topography.—The extent of the area dealt with in this paper and the position in that area of the various igneous masses under consideration are indicated in the sketch-map (fig. 1). On both sides of the Firth of Forth the ground considered consists of low-lying, undulating, arable land intersected by numerous steep ridges. These ridges, which form conspicuous features in the landscape, indicate the outcrops of doleritic sills. They are often tree-clad, and frequently show lines of cliffs on one side. The ridge known as Mons Hill attains a height of 387 ft., which is the maximum for the district. Other conspicuous ridges occur at Craigie, Dundas, West Craigs, Lindsay's Craigs, and north of the Forth at Braefoot and Aberdour. Where the larger igneous masses reach the shore they tend to form rocky promontories, as, for instance, at Hound Point, Snab Point, and Braefoot. Rocky islets a short distance off shore may also be formed, a good example of which is seen at Hound Point.

Mr J. Innes Wilson of Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, during the whaling-season of 1916–17 paid a visit to the South Shetland Islands and Palmer Archipelago. He collected specimens of rocks and minerals from Deception Island, Roberts Island, Trinity Island, and the coast bordering the Gerlache Channel, which were transmitted to the Colonial Office by the Governor, Sir William Douglas Young. It is with the kind permission of the Undersecretary of State for the Colonies that I am allowed to submit some account of Mr Innes Wilson's interesting and important collection.

The deposits of the Devonian period over a large area in the interior of North America to the south of the great lakes are known to be wholly of marine type and to have continued those of the Silurian period. They were formed in a great gulf open to the south. Along the western border of this gulf shore-deposits and, during Upper Devonian times, deposits of Old Red Sandstone type were accumulated, while in the middle of the gulf the resulting rocks were limestones and shales. In Ohio, following on a narrow band of what is regarded as Oriskany Sandstone (Lower Devonian), the Corniferous limestone and some local representatives of the Hamilton formation represent the Middle Devonian. Above this comes a great mass of black shale, which here represents the whole Upper Devonian and may continue up into black shales of the Lower Carboniferous. A black shale at the base of the Upper Devonian rocks has an extensive range in the central region of North America, being represented by the Huron shale in Canada and the Genessee shale in New York. Drifted land plants from the coast of the gulf, or from islands in it, have been found in the black shale and also in the underlying Corniferous limestone, and some other fossils are commonly spoken of as Algæ but have afforded little or no botanical information.

In 1897, a description was given of a silicified specimen from the Old Red Sandstone of Reswallie near Forfar which was named Cryptoxylon Forfarense. In this note evidence is brought forward for placing the plant in the genus Nematophyton.

For an account of the specimen and of its structure reference may be made to the original description and the figures, which are based on photographs. The stem was shown to consist of an apparently parenchymatous tissue, in which groups of smaller cells occurred. These isolated groups form dark spots, which are arranged concentrically in the transverse section and are slightly elongated in the longitudinal direction. In discussing the affinities of the plant it was noted that it appeared to be essentially distinct from Nematophyton, since in that plant the tissue is entirely composed of long tubes.

Physiographic investigation was undertaken in the coastal belt of the Moray Firth between Golspie and Port Gordon in the hope that it would serve a double purpose. So far as was known no detailed morphological study of any large section of the British coasts had been made, and it appeared that such an investigation upon a varied coast-line would increase our knowledge of marine processes and the work they accomplish. Furthermore, since the area selected includes some of the finest and most complex examples of raised beach at several levels, it was possible by careful attention to heights, absolute and relative, to contribute evidence that may serve in future geological studies of a broader character. The exceptional wealth and variety of features of marine abrasion and deposit in these 250 miles of coast is due largely to the fact that they have been produced on a rising land margin, and so have been preserved.

The Ammonoids described in the present paper were placed first of all, for study, in the hands of Mr J. M. Wordie, whose departure, however, as geologist with Sir E. Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition prevented the completion of the work. A preliminary list of identifications by Mr Wordie included a number of forms of “Schloenbachia” especially “S.” inflata, J. Sowerby sp., this form alone being quoted from ten localities. Professor Gregory, in his “Contributions to the Geology of Benguella,” * referred to these identifications, and in his correlation-table classed the beds with “Schloenbachia inflata” as “Vraconnian,” following the prevailing custom. It may be well, however, to remark here already that A. inflatus, J. Sowerby, will be shown to be an exclusively Albian, and not even uppermost Albian, form, and that there is no evidence of any Cenomanian admixture in the typically Albian fauna of the so-called “zone of A. inflatus” in Angola, so that the term Vraconnian is here rejected. Moreover, Renevier's “Vraconnian” was meant for post-inflata beds, and, in the writer's opinion, Sowerby's species is not represented at all in the Angola collection.

The papers on the Geology of Benguella published in the Transactions (vol. li, part iii, No. 13, 1916, pp. 495–536) had to be issued without the report on the Cephalopods, an omission the more disappointing as they formed the largest and most instructive part of the Cretaceous collection.

The unique specimen on which this description is based is in the Geological Department of the Manchester University Museum (No. L. 8549). It is on a slab of dark grey flagstone measuring 26 × 21 cm. from the Hill of Forss, Waas, Caithness, the plant being spread out on the surface of the stone like a very complete herbarium specimen (Plate fig. 1). It was referred to and briefly described, but not named, in 1888 by Mr G. Edward, who discovered it, and from whom it passed with other Old Red Sandstone fossils into the Manchester collections. In his paper, Mr Edward called attention to “three of the largest and most perfect Old Red Fossil Plants that may be seen in any museum in the kingdom,” which he had found during his collecting expeditions extending over some thirty years. Two of the fossil plants he refers to can be identified in the Manchester University Museum. The one we are concerned with here is described as “a lovely bush-like plant with hundreds of ribbon or grass-like leaves that have pod, or pocket, or flower-like terminations.”