Calcareous nannofossils from mid-Cretaceous (Albian-Cenomanian) sections at Pont du Fahs (northern Tunisia) allow the recognition of three nannofossil zones-the Prediscosphaera cretacea Zone, the Hayesites albiensis Zone, and the Eiffellithus turriseffeli Zone. A comparative study has been made of the nannofossil assemblages from Pont du Fahs and 14 other sites in North Africa, Western Europe, the North Atlantic and United States.

That curious fossil organism, long known as the ‘Dragon-tree’, has been a puzzle to palæobotanists for almost three-quarters of a century. Bandied about among various monocotyledonous genera, then thought to be possibly related to the Cycads, and finally given a non-committal name that was without implication of kinship, though placed among the Cycads, it has at last, through the admirable research of Dr. M. C. Stopes, been definitely allocated among the Conifers, and even among the higher members of that group. Dr. Stopes is certainly to be congratulated for having worked out its affinities in such a conclusive and convincing manner. It is to be regretted, however, that the scientific name she has finally adopted for the ‘Dragon-tree’ is not the one that is likely to meet the requirements of nomenclatorial permanency. The nomenclature of systematic palæobotany does not differ essentially from that of livmg plants, and must abide by the same rules.

To the west of the London and North-Western Eailway, after it has surmounted the incline of Shap Fells, lies the valley of the Eiver Lowther, which eventually flows into the Eamont, whichinturn drains into the Eden. The Lowther, flowing in a general northerly direction, receives the drainage of three important streams, coming from the south-west. The first of these flows through the valley of Wet Sleddale, just north of the Fells, which exhibit the exposures of the Shap Granite. It is lettered W.S.inFig. 1. The second, Swindale (S. Fig. 1), the subject of this paper, joins the Lowther stream at Kossgill Hamlet, about two miles north of Shap Village, whilst the third, Haweswater Beck (H.B. Fig. 1), flows out of Haweswater (H. Fig. 1) and joins the Lowther at Bampton.

Proceeding up Swindale from Eossgill, we follow the road over Eossgill Moor, a barren tract of country occupied by Skiddaw Slates, to Swindale Foot, near which the Borrowdale Volcanic Group appears, and causes the fine cliff scenery which marks the upper part of Swindale.

THE speeds of the currents employed in the elutriation process in sorting diversely sized material bear no relation whatever to the speeds of the currents, which are competent to transport the same material. The elutriation process in no way imitates the natural processes whereby sediments are transported, sorted, and deposited. The determination of competent velocities in relation to size of material transported is quite a distinct investigation, and one which still calls for much study in spite of the time and attention given to it by numerous workers.

William Boyd Dawkins, who has recently resigned the Professorship of Geology and Palæontology at the Manchester University, belongs to the comparatively rare, and now dwindling, group of naturalists who have extended their energies across the borderlands of their main subjects, and have become recognized as authorities also in neighbouring territories. If Boyd Dawkins had not been famous in the realm of Geology, he would still have been a prominent figure among anthropologists and archæologists; and if he had not established for himself a name among those whose researches have enriched the data and philosophy of science, he would still have been prominent as a teacher, an organizer, and a public-spirited citizen. Forty years ago, when there were two small collections of natural-history objects in Manchester, the late Professor Huxley nominated young Dawkins as the man with the requisite amount of energy, business capacity, and scientific knowledge to organize a central institution, which, now, under the control of the new University of Manchester, is an institution of importance as much to the student who requires reference materials as to the general public. Although the Manchester Museum has now attained dimensions requiring the superintendence by specialists in the three main branches of Natural History, the organization is the direct outcome of its first Curator, through whose influence mainly the money required for buildings has been obtained, and through whose attraction unique collections of materials have been secured.

A description is given of nodules of copper-ore (ferruginous chalcocite) occurring in the Lower Torridonian rocks (Diabaig beds) at Clachtoll, N.W. of Lochinver, Sutherland.

When Darwin stated in the first edition of the “Descent of Man,” “as probable that horns of all kinds, even when they are equally developed in the two sexes, were primarily acquired by the male in order to conquer other males, and have been transferred more or less completely to the female,” the “various facts” from which he drew this inference did not include any palæontological evidence. At the present day we are familiar with the notion that, as regards the deer family, the oldest members known, from the Oligocene, were absolutely devoid of antlers, and that the subsequent phylogenetic evolution of the latter has a close parallel in their ontogenetic development.

In plates lxii. lxvii. lxviii. of part 7 of the “Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis” (1847) a large number of remains of Merycopotamus (nearly all of which are in the collection of the British Museum) are figured under the name of M. dissimilis, although some of them are distinguished as var. major and others as var. minor; and it thus appears that at that date the authors of the work quoted referred all the remains to one species. It is stated, however, in Falconer's “Palæontological Memoirs,” vol. ii. p. 407, note 4, that in 1846 Falconer considered that there were two species, which he proposed to call M. dissimilis and M. nanus; and some of the smaller specimens figured in the “F. A. S.” under the former name, bear upon them the latter name in Falconer's handwriting. In some manuscript notes of Falconer's, written at a much later date, the name M. nanus is once again employed (although the tooth to which it was applied does not belong to Merycopotamus at all); and it would therefore seem that Falconer had by that time reverted to his original view.

In a collection of Cretaceous fossils from Sinai obtained by Mr. T. Barron, F.G.S., which has been entrusted to me for determination by the Geological Survey of Egypt, I found several specimens of Linthia oblonga, a form of Echinoid which appears to have escaped the attention of modern writers on the palæontology of the Sinai Peninsula. In tracing the history of this species it is ascertained that d'Orbigny first figured and described it under the genus periaster during the year 1856 in the Pal. Française Terr. Crétacés Échinodermes, pl. 900, pp. 275, 276, where it is referred to as having been collected by M. Lefébvre at Mount Garèbe, near Suez, from rocks regarded as of Turonian age, in association with Radiolites.

The Lower Lias in Leicestershire commences with clays and limestones (Strenshain Series), succeeded by clays and shales. In its palasontological characters, as well as in its petrological features, it agrees in the main with the Lias of contiguous districts. The following life-zones are apparently represented, viz. zones of Ammonites planorbis, angulatus, Bucklandi, semicostatus, oxynotus, armatus, Jamesoni and capricornus.

The rock fragments described herein were obtained during a cruise of investigation into the fishery possibilities of the Lousy Bank. This Bank, as defined by the 200 fathom line, is some 34 miles long, by 18 miles broad, and lies in a direction E.N.E.–W.S.W. (mag.), being situated between Faroe Bank and Rockall, and having its shallowest portion centred around the position, Lat. 60° 25′ N., Long. 12° 37′ W.

I have just read the abstract of Mr. Clement Reid's paper to the Geological Society (April 29, 1896) upon the Eocene deposits of Dorset. Many years ago I paid a good deal of attention to these beds, and have many notes upon what I saw. The section which I now send is reduced from my notebook, a section which in my belief has never been seen by any geologist except myself. It was taken when a large pit was open, and the section clear and unmistakable. I copy the words I wrote on the spot. “December 24, 1855. Examined the large gravel-pit recently opened in the Tertiary Eocene beds at Bincombe. A section is given on the last leaf [of the notebook]. The deep cuttings lately made show the beds to be vertical, following the dip of the chalk. The beds have much the character of those at Bournemouth, except that they are much coarser. The place of the large flints with fossils is shown in the section. The manner in which the ends of the vertical beds are bent over, and dragged down the slope of the hill, is particularly well shown.”