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PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

ROYAL PHYSICAL SOCIETY.

ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTH SESSION, 1874-75.

Wednesday, 17th November 1874.—Dr JAMES M‘Batn, R.N., President,
in the Chair.

In accordance with a recommendation of the Council, it was resolved to
change the date of the Society’s meetings from the fourth to the third
Wednesday of each month, for this Session at least. It was also resolved
that in future the Society’s proceedings should be issued monthly.

Robert Gray, Esq., 13 Inverleith Row, was elected a Resident Member.

The following Donations to the Library were received, and thanks voted to
the Donors:

1. Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, Vol. VIII., Parts
7 and 8.—From the Society. 2. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association,
Vol. IlI., Nos. 6, 7, and 8.—From the Association. 3. Proceedings of the
Royal Society, Vol. XXII., Part 154.—From the Society. 4. (1.) Proceedings
of the Linnean Society, Session 1873-74. (2.) Journal of the Linnean Society
(Botany), Vol. XIV., No. 77. (3.) Do. (Zoology), Vol. XII., No. 58.—From
the Society. 5. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Session
1872-73.—From the Society. 6. Transactions of the Edinburgh Geological
Society, Vol. II., Part 3.—From the Society. 7. Proceedings of the Philo-
sophical Society of Glasgow, 1873-74, Vol. IX., No. 1.—From the Society.
8. Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall, No. XV., April 1874.—From
the Institute. 9. The Canadian Journal of Science, Literature, and History,
Vol. XIV., Nos. 2 and 3.—From the Canadian Institute. 10. Porter and
Coulter’s Synopsis of the Flora of Colorado. 11. Proceedings of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1868-1873. 12. Memoirs of the Boston Society
of Natural History, Vol. II., Part 111, Nos. 1 and 2. 13. Bulletin de
V’Academie Royale des Sciences, &c., de Belgique, 1873, 2 Vols.—From the
Academy.

I. Dr M‘Bary, R.N,, retiring President, then delivered the
following address: _

GENTLEMEN,—Eleven years have elapsed since I had the
pleasure and privilege of addressing you from this chair.

We were then congratulating ourselves upon the satisfac-
VOL. IV. A

2 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Soctety.

tory state of the Society—seeing that we had a goodly array
of scientific contributors, the constant accession of new
members, and a respectable balance at the command of the
Treasurer. The papers then read at our meetings were pub-
lished under the title of “ Proceedings of the Royal Physical
Society,” and three volumes, extending over a period of twelve
years, from 1854 to 1866, contain new and important facts in
the various branches of science to which the Society has
devoted itself, that will stand comparison with the contribu-
tions of other societies instituted for a similar purpose. But
like the crust of our globe, societies are liable to depressions
and elevations. Since 1866, we. have had no further “ Pro-
ceedings of the Royal Physical Society” published in an
independent form, although the papers read at our meetings
have been of equal interest and importance. Abstracts of
these papers, indeed, have been published in the public
journals; and it is now the most agreeable part of my duty
on this occasion, to be able to state that arrangements have
been made to resume the publication of our “ Proceedings,”
or, at least, of abstracts of our “ Proceedings,” in a more
suitable and permanent form. We are indebted to the zeal
and able management of our excellent Treasurer for the
financial state of the Society being now on a more secure and
firm footing. We are out of debt, and have a small balance
im hand, and every means have been adopted to lessen
expense, and to secure the success, and to increase the pro-
sperity of the Society.

Papers of the past Session—Upwards of thirty contributions
on various branches of the sciences which it is our privilege
to study, were read at our meetings last Session. We had
first a communication “On a Deposit of Magnetic Iron Ore
on the Shores of Bute,” by Dr James Middleton. This able
and active naturalist is now engaged in the practice of his
profession at Strathpeffer, in Ross-shire. He has succeeded
in starting a Field Naturalists’ Club in that locality, and there
is every reason to anticipate useful and valuable additions to
the natural history of that part of the country, from the
united exertions of its members.

President's Address. 3

We had several interesting and important papers on Geo-
’ logy and Palzontology, communicated by our indefatigable
Members, Mr Charles Peach, Dr James C. Howden, Mr David
J. Brown, Dr Robert Brown; and a most original one “On
Fused Stones showing Columnar Structure from a Pictish
Tower,’ by the Rev. James M. Joass; and, as bearing on
some of the unsolved problems in Geology, I would draw
especial attention to the valuable and original series of “ Ex-
periments regarding the rate of Deposition of Sediment from
Fresh and Salt Water,’ made by Mr David Robertson, Mr
Joseph Somerville, and Mr William Durham. It is highly
desirable that these experiments should be continued, as
it is in this direction that more definite expressions
in regard to geological time may be hopefully looked for.
Two papers of considerable public interest were brought
forward by Mr John Falconer King; the first, “On a New
Method of estimating the amount of Colouring Matter in
Water;” the second, “Recent Modes of determining the
Impurity of Milk;” and we had an able resumé of our present
knowledge of “ Meteoric Chemistry,” by Mr Andrew Taylor.
Zoological papers of interest were communicated by Mr
Charles Peach, Mr Archibald F. Grieve, Dr John A. Smith,
Dr James C. Howden, Dr F. W. Lyon, and Dr James
M ‘Bain.

It is thus evident that we are well supplied with work-
ing Members, and there is every reason to anticipate for
the Royal Physical Society a long continued and useful
career.

Obituary Notices—A melancholy duty in connection with
the President’s address, is that of having to announce the
deaths of Members of the Society, who have fallen from our
ranks, and who, while in life, promoted its prosperity.

I cannot allow this opportunity to pass without a brief
notice of the loss the Society has sustained by the death of
two of our Ordinary Members, viz., Mr Robert M. Stark, and
Mr Thomas Edmonston, of Buness, in Unst, the northernmost
of the Zetland Islands.

Mr STARK was one of our old Members, who, some years

a Proceedings of the Royal Physical Soctety.

ago, attended our meetings regularly; and whose kind, un-
assuming, and amiable character, endeared him to all his
friends and associates. He was born on the 17th June 1815,
at Dirleton, East Lothian, of which parish his father, the
Rev. William Stark, was for thirty years the minister; and
from whom he inherited a love of botanical pursuits, and, it
may be added, his very retiring disposition. After finishing
his education, Mr Stark entered the firm of Lawson & Sons,
to learn the business of a nursery and seeds man. He then
became a partner with Dickson & Sons; and ultimately
having acquired a lease of the Dean Nursery, he set up in
business on his own account, and was famed for his choice
collection of rare herbaceous and Alpine plants, to the culti-
vation of which he more especially devoted his attention. A
few years ago he gave up this business, and took up his
residence at Trinity, where he still continued to cultivate his
favourite plants in a small nursery there, to which he was
constantly adding new and rare specimens.

In the summer and autumn of 1865, Mr Stark made a
botanical excursion to Canada and the Northern States of
America; the results of which he afterwards published in a
series of papers of much botanical and horticultural interest,
in the Parmer’s Journal. The next summer he paid a visit
to Switzerland, and brought home a large collection of Alpine
plants, which were added to his select and valuable stock at
Trinity. In the spring of 1870, Mr Stark removed to London,
where he intended to carry on the business to which he had
latterly restricted himself—that of the cultivation and dis-
posal of rare Alpine and herbaceous plants. His health,
however, about this time began to fail, and during the last
three years of his life he was entirely laid aside from business,
and from his favourite botanical excursions. He died in
London on the 29th September 1873.

Mr Stark was twice married; his first wife was a daughter
of the Rev. Dr David Landsborough, well known for his
admirable writings on natural history. His second wife, Miss
Henderson, belonged to London, and watched over him in
his long and trying illness with the utmost care and devoted
affection.

President's Address. 5

Mr Stark was a man of sincere and earnest purpose, and
strictly honourable in all the relations of life. His habits
were simple and unostentatious, and he was ardently fond of
botanical pursuits. He paid particular attention to crypto-
gamic botany, and some years ago published a work “On
Mosses.” He also published a book “ On Rock Plants,” with
the aim of popularising those interesting branches of botanical
study. I may add, that there are few during the last genera-
tion who have done more to incite a popular taste for the cul-
ture of rare plants, and especially those of an Alpine character,
than Mr Robert M. Stark; and hence he is justly and well
entitled to a biographical notice in the annals of our Society.

Mr THoMAS EpMONSTON was born on the 7th September
1825. He was the son of Mr Charles Edmonston, and was
educated and passed the early years of his life in South
Carolina, U.S.A. After a visit to the gold mines of California,
he came to this country in 1854, and took up his residence
in Zetland.

Mr Edmonston, by marriage with his cousin, became one
of the landed proprietors in Zetland. He was a Commissioner
of Supply and Justice of the Peace, and fulfilled his public
duties with such remarkable zeal and ability, that a few
months before his death he was appointed a Deputy Lord-
Lieutenant. As a landlord he was greatly esteemed and
respected by his tenantry, and he took a deep and warm
interest in promoting the moral and social improvement of
the people. He was famed for his hospitality and attention
to strangers who visited the northern islands of Zetland, and
especially to those who were engaged in the pursuit of science.
To the latter he never failed to render the most friendly aid
and assistance, and many warm and lasting friendships were
made, the memory of which will not fail to be held and
deeply cherished by the survivors. He was the author of
“ A Glossary of the Shetland and Orkney Dialect,” published
in 1866, which has proved highly acceptable and useful to
those engaged in etymological studies. His constitution was
injured by the hardships he endured in his visit to California,
and since 1862 his health was most precarious. He died at

6 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

his residence, Buness, in Unst, on the 1st of August (1874)
this present year.

Mr Edmonston belonged to a family celebrated for their
literary tastes and scientific attainments. He was nephew to
Dr Arthur Edmonston, the author of “ View of the Zetland
Islands,” published in two volumes, as far back as the year
1809. His predecessor and uncle, Mr Thomas Edmonston of
Buness, was well known as a corresponding member and
contributor to several of our scientific Societies and Journals ;
and as an excellent and an improving landlord. It was on
his property that Dr Hibbert, when investigating the geolo-
gical structure of the Zetland Islands in 1817, made the
interesting and valuable discovery of chromate of iron, and of
a rare mineral, the hydrate of magnesia, imbedded in the
serpentine rocks of the island of Unst.

Dr Lawrence Edmonston has done much to promote the
knowledge of the natural history of the Zetland Islands; and
many of his contributions are to be found in the memoirs of
the Wernerian Society.

His talented son, Mr Thomas Edmonston, and cousin to our
deceased member, when only a student, by patient and well-
_ directed labour, produced a “ Flora of Shetland,” so careful
and exact, that only a few additions have been made to it,
since it was’ published in 1846. This young and promising
botanist, from whom so much good work was expected, met
with an untimely death, by the accidental discharge of a gun,
when serving in the capacity of naturalist, on board H.MLS.
“Herald,” employed on a survey of the Pacific coast of
America. His “Flora of Shetland” will always be referred
to by. his successors, who may have occasion to labour in the
same direction, and will serve to keep his name and memory
in grateful remembrance.

Mr Thomas Edmonston of Buness was elected a Fellow of
the Royal Physical Society in April 1870. The graphic and
delightful description which he gave us at that meeting, of
certain animals under domestication, as the seal, the sea
otter, the tame Shetland pony, and sea gulls, under the
title of “Our Pets in Unst,’ will be in the recollection of
many here present. A cordial vote of thanks was awarded to

President's Address. 7

him for his highly interesting communication, and it was
remarked by Mr Scot-Skirving, that the thanks of all natur-
alists were justly due to Mr Edmonston, as the preserver on
his estate in Shetland, of one of the few breeding places still
remaining in Britain, of the skua gull or Bonxie, the Cata-
ractes vulgaris of Fleming.

Early History of the Society—The Royal Physical Society
now enters on the 104th year of its existence. It was founded
in 1771, under the auspices and with the aid of a number of
celebrated men, many of whom were Professors in the
- University of Edinburgh, among which appear the distin-
guished names of Black, Cullen, Monro, Hope, Gregory,
Home, ete.

The object of the Society was for the cultivation of the
Natural and Physical Sciences, and to promote and inspire a
taste for Natural History amongst the advanced students of
the University, under whose fostering wing it continued to
flourish for more than half-a-century. The number of mem-
bers admitted during the first year appears to have been only
eighteen, and the average number admitted during the next
ten years about the same in each year. During the first
decade many eminent men, Professors of home and foreign
Universities, statesmen, and others (one name being more
especially notable, viz. Benjamin Franklin), were elected
honorary members. It seems, indeed, to have been the —
practice from time to time to inscribe on the honorary roll
of membership the names of most men of the age who had
especially devoted themselves to science. Thus, we have the
names of Sir Joseph Banks, John Hunter, Lavoisier, Berthollet,
Fourcroy, Zimmerman, Cline, Sir Astley Cooper, Spurzheim,
Pallas, Thunberg, Earl of Bute, Earl of Buchan, Lord Garden-
stone, Dawson Turner, Humphrey Davy, and many others.
In 1782, the Society received an accession of strength by its
union with the Chirurgo-Medical Society. On 5th of May
1778, a Royal Charter was obtained, which gave a status and
importance to the Society most desirable and flattering to its
members, and whose learning is therein lauded, the fame of
which (says the Charter) extended over Europe and America.

8 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

In 1796, the American Physical Society cast in its lot with the
newly chartered Society. Afterwards in 1799, it was also joimed
by the Hibernian Society, and in 1802, by the Chemical Society.
The Natural History Society joimed in 1812, and on this
union, James Edward Smith (the father of English Botany),
Henry Brougham (afterwards Lord Brougham), and James
Macintosh (afterwards Sir James Macintosh), were elected
honorary members of the Royal Physical, having been formerly
ordinary of the Natural History Society. And it may be here
mentioned that amongst the manuscript dissertations of the
latter Society still extant, there will be found one or more of
the juvenile performances of the late learned and versatile
Lord Chancellor Brougham. Another amalgamation or rather
absorption was with the Didactic Society in 1813, and the
last took place with the Wernerian in 1858.

During the first half-century of its existence, the Society
seems to have had a strong medical complexion, or rather
constitution, its chair being filled exclusively by graduates in
medicine, and its literary shelves loaded with medical treatises
and theses. Thus constituted, the Society was in its member-
ship always more of an erratic than of a local character, and
every new session showed a remarkable succession of new
faces and the absence of old and familiar ones. This is easily
accounted for, because the members being mostly medical
students, and who having finished their studies and taken
their degrees or licences, as the case might be, left the
metropolis for the provinces, or to go abroad, in order to pro-
secute the real business of life. After the year 1827, how-
ever, an improvement in every way more favourable to the
best interests of the Society began to take place by the
gradual introduction of resident members of cultivated and
confirmed scientific tastes, and which is characteristic of its
aspect at the present day.

For this interesting description of the origin and subse-
quent history of the Royal Physical Society, I am indebted
to my esteemed friend, Mr David Grieve, who joined the
Society in the year 1828, when a student attending the law
and philosophy classes at the University of Edinburgh. In
a MS. essay which he kindly placed at my disposal, he de-

President's Address. 9

scribes the hall in North Richmond Street belonging to the
Society at that time, and the character of the meetings therein
held, with graphic notices of its members. The essay deserves
to be printed.

Zoology, its Rise and Progress—The remaining part of this
address will be occupied in tracing briefly the rise and pro-
oress of Zoological Science.

In the present day, when great unsolved problems are
agitating the republic of the science, it may be a relief to
glance back on the lives of some of those grand old pioneers
who laid the foundation on which the vast superstructure
now rests. The sketch must be brief, and therefore imperfect ;
but as the aim is retrospection, and not novelty, the imper-
fection will be of little importance.

Until the sixteenth century there are only two names
whose writings on Zoology have been preserved to us from
ancient times, and who deserve to be held in grateful remem-
brance.

Zoology dates from the time of Aristotle, and as a science
lay buried with him for more than eighteen centuries. His
“ History of Animals” was written at a time when our country,
with the greater part of modern Europe, was in a state of
barbarism, and only emerging out of the stone age. There is
not a name in all antiquity that stands more prominently in
the foreground for science and learning than that of Aristotle.
It has been said that Plato and Aristotle represent all the
speculative philosophy and scientific knowledge of ancient
Greece, and that whoever is acquainted with their writings
knows all that Greece had to teach.

Plato was the teacher of Aristotle, and the restless and
active disposition of the pupil was characterised by the master
in the well-known epithet, “ Aristotle is the mind of my
school.”

The rise of Zoology as a science dates from the time when
Aristotle directed his attention to the animal kingdom, and
it is chiefly in his capacity as the historian and interpreter of
nature, that he claims our allegiance, gratitude, and admira-

tion.
VOL. IV. Cc

10 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

His “ History of Animals” is the oldest and most celebrated
contribution to zoological science that has come down to us
from ancient times. The multitude of important and well-
ascertained facts he relates are reduced to a systematic ar-
rangement, and based on true physiological principles, that
subsequent discoveries, with all the aid of modern science,
have, with a few modifications, only tended to confirm.

His “ History of Animals” consists of nine books. The
opening chapter of the first book gives a general outline of
the animal kingdom, and offers suggestions for a natural
classification of animals, in accordance with their external
form and manner of life. He compares animals among them-
selves, and enumerates with surprising accuracy the agree-
ments, and differences, and analogies that prevail throughout
their form and structure. He shows himself acquainted with
the intimate relation that exists between the blood and the
life of an animal, and he makes use of the colour of the blood
for the primary division of the whole animal kingdom, which
he divides into animals possessing warm and red blood, and
those without blood-proper. This division is essentially
founded upon physiological principles, and the positive and
negative distinctions here indicated, under various forms and
modifications, still constitute the foundation of all our scien-
tific systems and classifications.

The only constant and formal terms of classification em-
ployed by Aristotle are species (eidos) and genus (genus) ; and
he gives a remarkably clear and precise definition of species,
which he says is “an assemblage of individuals, in which not
only the whole form of any one resembles the whole form of
any other, but each part in any one resembles the correspond-
ing part in any other.” His use of the term genus is more
vague, and sometimes extends to what is now understood by
tribe, family, order, or even class. With respect to animal
life in general, he notices in Book VIII, that “nature passes
so gradually from inanimate matter to animated beings, that
from their continuity, their boundary, and the mean between
them is indistinct. The race of plants succeeds immediately
that of inanimate objects, and these differ from each other in

the proportion of life in which they participate ; for, compared

President's Address. es

with other bodies, plants appear to possess life, though, when
compared with animals, they appear inanimate.”

With the death of Aristotle, Natural History expired in
the Grecian era. He left no worthy successors among his
countrymen to follow in his footsteps, far less to add to the
science he had done so much to establish; and it was not
until after the lapse of nearly four hundred years that a
solitary naturalist, the elder Pliny, again took up the study
of Natural History.

Pliny is said to have written 160 volumes, of which, however,
only thirty-seven books on Natural History have been preserved.
Of this work, Cuvier says, “It is one of the most precious
monuments that have come down to us from ancient times,
and affords proof of an astonishing amount of erudition in one
who was a warrior and a statesman.” Other writers have
compared Pliny to Aristotle, but beyond an ardent thirst for
knowledge, they had few characteristics in common. Pliny
made no attempt at a scientific mode of classification, further
than commencing’ with the largest group, and ending with
the smallest. His Natural History has been called the
Encyclopedia of ancient knowledge, as it existed among the
Romans, and the depository of all that was known in science
and the arts from the earliest ages of the human race. He
has been greatly extolled as a classical writer, and it has been
remarked that had his writings perished, it would have been
impossible to restore the language of Virgil and Tacitus. His
romantic and heroic death, dtring an eruption of Mount
Vesuvius in the year 79 of the Christian era, is touchingly told
by his nephew in a letter to Tacitus.

After the death of Pliny, Natural History, as a science
continued in the state in which he left it for upwards of
fourteen hundred years. The writers during the “ dark ages”
were fettered by authority, and limited in their scientific
inquiries, and amused themselves in building up what they
imagined to be systems of the universe. Instead of seeking
out by patient observation and original research, the facts of
nature, and reasoning upon them, they occupied themselves
in reducing to their own theories, every fact which seemed to
contradict what they considered to be a law of nature. A

12 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

notable instance of this prejudiced explanation has been often
quoted in the theories advanced, to explain the existence of
organic remains in the crust of the earth. Marine organ-
isms, fishes, shells, corals, were found embedded in the rocks,
far removed from the existing sea, and at considerable heights
above its level. It was contrary to their theories to believe
that the sea had ever occupied the position in which the
marine fossils were found. If not, how came they to get
there. The reply was a resolute denial, that the fossils were
the relics of marine animals, and the phenomena were really
explained by supposing a “plastic power” in nature, which
exerted itself in moulding the living rock into mimic repre-
sentations of plants and animals.

In the sixteenth century, with the revival of learning, a
better era dawned upon the study of Natural History. This
originated with Belon of Mans, who was born in 1517, and
seems to have devoted himself to the study of birds, fishes,
and botany, In the year 1554, two works on fishes appeared
—one by Rondelet, Professor of Medicine at Montpellier, the
other by Salviani, a physician at Rome. These were soon

followed by two writers on General Zoology—Conrad Gesner,

and Ulysses Aldrovandi, the former a physician at Zurich, the
latter a Professor of Philosophy and Natural History in the
University of Bologna. Gesner, in his history of animals,
classifies them into two great divisions—those that reside on
land, and those that live in the water. The viviparous quad-
rupeds are subdivided into six orders, into which families are
disposed according to the accident of their being wild or tame.
Aldrovandi adopts Plato’s division of the animal kingdom, cor-
responding to the four elements of the ancients—viz., fire, air,
earth, and water. He begins with birds, “that division,” as
he says, “ seeming to offer itself first in order ; for as to those
corresponding to fire,’ he observes, “I consider none such
exist.” There are many important anatomical and physio-
logical details in the works of those authors. For example,
Aldrovandi describes the process of incubation in the egg for
each day, the “punctum saliens” having been seen on the
third, with the “truncus venosus” arising from it.

The small band of active naturalists who flourished during

President's Address. 13

the sixteenth century, deserve to be held inremembrance, and
are entitled to our gratitude and esteem. It was by their
labour and exertion that Natural History was enabled to
emerge from the obscurity in which it was sunk, in common
with every department of science, throughout the unillumined
ages. After a long night of darkness the light of science had
again sprang up, and was now above the horizon. The
inductive method, so clearly indicated by Aristotle, was
adopted and rigidly enforced in the writings of Bacon; and
it was by its application that Galileo, Kepler, and Newton
were enabled to achieve their immortal discoveries in Physical
Science.

Men now appeared in various countries making observa-
tions for themselves in the Natural Sciences, collecting,
appropriating, and verifying the knowledge which had been
handed down in the writings of ancient authors. Facts were
no longer tried by traditional authority, but tradition was
subjected to the close scrutiny of newly observed facts.

Naturalists found that, so far from the Book of Nature
being exhausted by the labour of their predecessors, Natural
History was full to overflowing of rich and varied interest ;
and that notwithstanding the united efforts of human research
for thousands of years, there was not a single department
whose history could be said to be complete.

The first British zoological work appeared in 1634, under
the title of “ Theatrum Insectorum,” by Dr Mouffet, physician
to the Earl of Pembroke. The next original work was pub-
lished in the year 1667, entitled, “ Pinax Rerum Naturalium
Brittanicarum,’ by Dr Christopher Merrett, and is deserving
of notice as the first of our local faunas and floras, being
entirely devoted to British plants and animals.

It was at this time that the illustrious names of Willoughby,
Ray, Lister, and Sibbald, began to spread the fame of Great
Britain. The vertebrate animals occupied the attention of
Ray and Willoughby. The Cetacea captured in our seas, or
thrown on our shores, were examined and described by Sib-
bald, and the results published in his “ Phalainologia Nova”
(Edin. 1692). The Mollusca were carefully investigated by
Martin Lister, and great service rendered to this branch of

~

14 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

Natural History from the publication in 1685 of his “Historia
sive Synopsis Methodica Conchyliorum.” ‘The plates exceed a
thousand in number,and are executed with great skill and accu-
racy. In the class Arachnide, the spiders had early attracted
the attention of Lister; and his description of the species, as
published in the first part of his “ Historia Animaliwm
Anglie,’ is still unrivalled. The “ Historia Insectorum” of
Ray (London 1710), to which Lister furnished a valuable
contribution, is the work to which Entomology is chiefly
indebted for its early success, and to the great popularity it
still maintains among Naturalists.

The science of Insect Anatomy, however, is justly due to
Swammerdam, whose great work entitled, “The Book of
Nature,” or “History of Insects,” is a perfect treasury of
original and important facts in the physiology and minute
anatomical structure of this class of animals, and will always
be referred to as one of the highest authorities that can be
adduced on Entomological Science.

The true spirit of science had now sprung up in the study
of Natural History. Anatomy and Physiology were hence-
forth to form the basis of the science, and aided by the appli-
cation of the microscope, which had just been invented by a
countryman of Swammerdam’s, Natural History passed from
simple observation and description to that of an experimental
science. The works of Goedart on the Metamorphoses, and
Redi, on the Generation of Insects; Leeuwenhoek’s “ Arcana
Nature,” the writings of Malpighi, Ruysch, Grew, and the
immortal discovery of the circulation of the blood by Harvey,
justify the proud appellation that has been conferred on the
seventeenth century, as the physiological era or golden age of
Natural History.

Time will only admit of the briefest allusion to Zoological
Science in the eighteenth century. A few brilliant names
stand out conspicuously,—those of Linnzus, John Ellis, John
Hunter, Lamarck, and Cuvier. Ray’s system of classification
of animals, although based on physiological principles, was
soon superseded by the more simple and effective one of
Linnezus. As has been stated, the system of Linneus was
scarcely equal to that of Aristotle; but by the introduction of

President's Address. 15

an exact and precise nomenclature, known as the “ Binomial
System,” he contributed more perhaps than any other naturalist
to give a general and popular taste for the study of the natural
sciences.

It was when Linneus had attained to the height of his
fame, that the memorable discoveries and experiments of
Trembly on fresh-water polyps, and those of Ellis on the
marine corallines, established the animal nature of those
organisms, and rescued a large assemblage of the lower forms
of life from the doubtful position they had long occupied in
Natural History. ,

Before their time, Zoophytes, as they had been named, were
generally considered to belong to the vegetable kingdom,
although some mineralogists were opposed to the vegetable
theory of marine corals, and maintained that they were simply
rocks and stones formed by a sub-marine deposit of calcareous
and argillaceous sediment, moulded into representations of
trees and mosses by the motion of the waves, by crystallisation,
or by some inherent vegetative power in mineral matter.
Ellis published his “Essay towards a Natural History of the
Corallines, and other marine productions of a like kind, com-
monly found on the Coasts of Great Britain and Ireland,” in
1755, a work that enriched science with a mass of important
facts, entirely and absolutely new, and so complete and satis-
factory in support of the animal nature of zoophytes and
sponges, that although at first it met with considerable opposi-
tion, it soon came to be generally accepted, and the discoveries
of Ellis form an epoch in the history of Zoological Science in
the last century. The nullipore corallines only now remain
in the vegetable kingdom.

Towards the end of the last and beginning of the present
century, the science of Zoology is greatly indebted to the
labours of Lamarck. The term “invertebrate animals” origi-
nated with Lamarck, and it expresses, as Cuvier remarks,
perhaps the only circumstance in their organisation which is
common to them all. They were previously known as white-
blooded animals, a designation proved to be erroneous by
the discovery of an entire class—the Annelides—possessing
coloured blood. The work on which Lamarck’s fame princi-

16 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

pally rests, and which has conferred a most important service
to Zoology, is his “Natural History of the Invertebrate
Animals, presenting the general and particular characters of
these Animals, their Distribution, Classes, Families, Genera,
and the principal Species referable thereto.” It contains the
most valuable system that has ever appeared of the inverte-
brate division of animals, and has formed the guide to most
authors who have since written or occupied themselves in the
study of this department of the animal kingdom.

The science of Comparative Anatomy in its higher and
philosophical sense belongs to the eighteenth century. It
was by the application of Comparative Anatomy that John
Hunter was enabled to erect for himself a lasting monument
in the magnificent museum which bears his name, and repre-
sents in no small degree the whole range of Zoological
Science. Comparative Anatomy in the hands of Cuvier
produced the “Regne Animal” and “ Ossemens Fossiles,”
thus founding a new science—Paleontology—and an im-
proved classification of the entire animal kingdom.

The small band of Naturalists that signalised the dawn of

Natural History in the sixteenth century had now increased
to a large army, and were still on the increase everywhere.
During the first half of the present century, there is no
name more worthy to be associated with the increase and
progress of Zoological Science in Great Britain than that of
Fleming. His “Philosophy of Zoology ” was published in
1822. Of this work the celebrated anatomist, Dr John
Barclay, in a letter to Dr Fleming, dated 8th October 1822,
says—“ Your work is excellent, and will be of much advan-
tage in conveying to naturalists not only interesting, but very
comprehensive views. Your observations on the faculties of
the mind are not only excellent, in my opinion, but in some
particulars even superexcellent, especially on instinct and
reason, on liberty and necessity, and the degrees of the intel-
lectual powers possessed by the lower animals. The observa-
tions on these subjects, I think, are new, and, as you state
them, so obviously just, that it is a matter of surprise how
they have not occurred to some hundreds of zoologists before
your time. But philosophers, like others, have a partiality

————ee ee

President's Address. Fi

for far-off fowls and fair feathers, and, like young fishers, are
apt to cast their lines on the opposite side of the river, though
most of the fish which they labour to catch be on the side
next themselves. Men in general are too fond of dwelling
on their own superiority over the lower animals. They have
neither wings to fly, nor fins to swim; nay, in comparing
themselves with insects and quadrupeds, they feel a pride in
having only two feet to walk upon; and as for the reason of
which they boast, it leads a few of them, it must be confessed,
to a knowledge of God and to the cultivation of arts and
sciences, but not a small number to poverty and wretched-
ness, to prison, exile, and the gibbet.”

Fleming’s “ History of British Animals” was published in
1828, and its author was perhaps the only naturalist in
Britain at that time capable of producing a work on Zoology,
including almost every branch of the science. So rapid has
been the progress of Zoological Science, however, in the pre-
sent century, that the “ History of British Animals,” unlike
the “Systema Nature” of Linneus, which passed through
thirteen editions in the lifetime of the author, has had no
new edition. It has, however, formed the groundwork for
many of the admirable monographs on British Zoology which
the increase of the science imperatively demanded, and will
ever be a monument of the patient research and of the great
and varied scientific attainments of its highly-gifted author.

Conclusion.—Our work in the future, as it has been in the
past, is to render still more perfect those splendid mono-
graphs, which confer lustre and honour on our country. As
students of Nature, and guided by the same truthful spirit as
those illustrious names so briefly and imperfectly alluded to,
there are many highly important questions in science as yet
undecided. The boundary line betwixt the vegetable and
animal kingdom is as invisible to us as it was to Aristotle;
and even the doctrine of spontaneous generation is held to be
an open question in science.

Materials for ample investigation, however, lie nearer at
hand. The remarkable transformations that occur in large

groups among the lower forms of animal and vegetable life,
VOL. IV. Cc

18 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

demand further research and elucidation; and the recent and
surprising discoveries of Darwin in the dimorphic and other
unions, exhibited by means of insect agency in many of our
common plants, have opened up new and apparently endless
fields for investigation.

By the aid of Comparative Anatomy, the myriads of
“organic forms” of past life, buried deep in the crust of the
earth, have been brought within the domain of Natural His-
tory. And Chemistry, risen from Alchemy, by the discoveries
of Lavoisier, Priestly, Black, Dalton, and others, resulting in
the law of definite proportions, has connected the three great
kingdoms of Nature, the mineral, vegetable, and animal, into
one science, co-equal and interacting with Physical Science.

Compared with the solar and stellar systems, which occupy
the student of Physical Science, the objects of Natural His-
tory may appear small and insignificant. But we must bear
in mind that size and weight ought to have no place in our
estimation of the great and the little in Nature, for they
appear to have none in the plan of Nature. The same per-
fection and adaptation of structure and function to surround-
ing conditions is shown in the smallest animal or plant, as in
that of the largest; and the same law that presides over the
formation of a rain-drop, regulates not only that of our own —
world, but extends throughout the infinite regions of space.

Recent experiments on the light emitted from distant
luminaries, show that their material constituents are similar
to those of our own planet; and analogy would lead to the
inference that life and organisation may co-exist with those
materials in the solar and stellar systems; thus leading to
the great generalisation that the whole system of the universe
is governed by the same laws that manifest the wisdom and
power of the Supreme Lawgiver, who planted the tree of life
on our own globe, with all its marvellous forms, modes, and
adaptations.

On the motion of the Rev. Professor Duns, D.D., a vote
of thanks was unanimously passed to Dr M‘Bain for his
valuable address, and conduct in the chair during his term of
office.

Early History of the Society. 19

On the motion of the Secretary, it was agreed that the
address be printed in full in the Proceedings.

Il. Mr Davin GRIEVE contributed an interesting letter,
descriptive of the Society's meetings between the years
1828-29 and 1836-57, in continuation of Dr M‘Bain’s re-
marks. The following are extracts: “ In 1828 the meetings
were held in the Society’s Hall, North Richmond Street. It
was a circular building of two stories or floors—the ground
being occupied as the Library, with a Council Room and
Housekeeper’s apartments. The upper floor was entirely
devoted to the public meetings. The Hall was large, fitted
with backed and cushioned seats, and capable of accommo-
dating 200 persons or so. In the centre of the room opposite
the door of entrance was placed the President’s throne or
pulpit, on a raised dais, with a canopy surmounted by the
royal arms richly gilt. In front of this was a large table,
where sat the Secretary, and the member who had disserta-
tions or communications to read. The room was carpeted, well
lighted, and there were blazing fires always on meeting
nights, lighted at each end of the room, so that altogether the
apartment presented on winter nights a cheery, comfortable,
and somewhat dignified appearance.* The building has been
removed, and its site is now occupied by a United Presby-
terian Church. While the Society occupied this building, the
meetings were held weekly, commencing on the first Tuesday
of November, and continuing till the last Tuesday of the
July following. During this time the Society had a paid
Secretary, a Janitor or Officer, and a Housekeeper. Mr
Nicolson Bain, Librarian to the University, held the former
office for many years, and was much esteemed for his urbanity,
obliging character, and gentlemanly deportment. For several
years prior to 1828, the Society was in a languid state, but
an appeal having been made to the Members in session
1827-28 to beat up for recruits, the result was successful,
and no less than 72 new members were added to the roll in
the summer of 1828. In the course of the succeeding session,
68 gentlemen were also added to the Roll. This was about

* The Society had also at that time a good museum.

20 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Socvety.

the time the writer of these memoranda entered the Society.
He was much impressed with the liveliness and energy, not to
say eloquence, of the debates, and although, as a youth, he
relished this much, he is bound to admit that science was often
forgotten in the struggle for victory, and much valuable time
wasted. There were two parties, generally pitted against each
other about this period—the one represented by Dr John
Murray, Lecturer on Chemistry, the other by Henry Hulme
Cheek. These two, with their respective backers, were gene-
rally opposed to each other, irrespective of the merits of the
question at issue. In fact one would have supposed that
they were disputing for fun, rather than to arrive at the truth,
because jokes, repartees, and sarcasms were unsparingly, and
to all appearances irrelevantly, bandied about. In fact at that
time the Royal Physical was simply a debating Society. |
The writer has a distinct recollection of both Murray and
Cheek. They generally took up positions facing each other
at the opposite ends of the room, and standing with their
backs to the fire. Here they would unintermittingly assail
each other, talking against time, and often against sense.
This, however, more frequently took place during the discus-
sion of private business, which was often so prolonged as to
cause occasionally visitors to retire from the waiting before
the public business commenced. This sort of thing was
found to be a nuisance, and was ultimately put down before
the Society left its old hall. Cheek, notwithstanding the
defects hinted at, was a man of considerable ability, and, in —
conjunction with William Ainsworth, edited in 1830 the
‘Edinburgh Journal of Science, a monthly periodical, which,
however, did not live beyond the year. In this journal will
be found many of the papers read before the Society, and
which are a very fair sample of the dissertations and notices
of this period.” Mr Cheek afterwards received a medal from
the Society. The rest of Mr Grieve’s letter was occupied by
a description of some of the more prominent members of the
Society at that period, such as Kenneth Kemp, a rising
chemist (who received one of the Society’s medals), James
Y. Simpson, who joined in 1829, Edward Forbes, who joined
in 1831, and others. Kenneth Kemp was an accomplished

Early History of the Society. 21

chemist and electrician, and had he lived would doubtless
have gained for himself a great name in science. In those
days electrical science had not made the rapid advances it
has since done, and accordingly great interest was excited in
the minds of the members, by the brilliant experiments which
Kemp week after week demonstrated before the Society. All
of his discoveries were given to us before being published to
the world. The Society most properly awarded to him a
medal for his services to it, and to science generally. When
Simpson joined the Society, he had just newly arrived from
the country. His cheeks were ruddy with health, and his
appearance rustic in the extreme, in comparison with the
dandy medicos, who in those days monopolised the most
prominent places in the Society. He was a rough diamond,
which was afterwards to be polished and scintillate brightly
in the world of science. His eye, always a marked feature in
Sir James’ face, was distinguished by that happy intelligent
merry sparkle so noted in after-years. Edward Forbes was,
as has been truly said, a “born naturalist,” and early showed
signs of his future greatness. The Royal Physical was his
stronghold, and as soon as he became a member, he took an
active part in the business of the Society, and showed himself
in no way backward to impart his stores of knowledge. This
was always done in a pleasant agreeable fashion, though in
that peculiar drawling manner, so characteristic of the after-
wards famous naturalist. One of the first papers he read to
the Society, was on some shells from the Nor’ Loch, now the
site of the Princes Street Gardens, but at that time a vile,
fetid swamp. When more than twenty years afterwards, he
returned to Edinburgh, he again renewed his interest in the
Society, and had not death cut him short, would doubtless
have been our foremost member as of old. The leading
- members of the Society during that period seem from the
minute-book to have been—James Chapman, president, D.
Macaskell, J. Murray, David Grieve, Edward Forbes, James
Haig, William Stanger, Robert J. Hay Cunningham, John W.
Hay, and William Dick. Forbes, with Mr Grieve, who was in
1834 Secretary and unpaid Law Agent of the Society, together
with William Oliphant, the late Professor Dick, the late

22 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Socvety.

Professor John Reid, Donald Macaskell, and one or two
others, may be said to have kept the Society afloat, and ob-
tained for it an asylum in the University, when, owing to the
foreclosing of a mortgage, it was (in 1834) turned out of doors.
Owing to this financial calamity, the Society for some time
had great trouble in weathering the storm, and could scarcely
have done so had not our late President—Professor Dick—
most generously given by way of loan, without bill or bond,
timely pecuniary aid. In 1834-35, there was an excellent
turn-out of members; and in 1837, when the writer left
Edinburgh for England, the Society seemed to have acquired
new life and vigour. Mr Grieve’s diploma as President was
signed by twenty-one regular attenders, including, among
others (and they may be taken as types of the leading men
in the Society about that period), the well-known names of
“William B. Carpenter, John Hughes Bennett, John Reid,
M.D., James Y. Simpson, M.D., and Edward Forbes.”

Ill. Dr J. A. Smiru exhibited the following rare birds:
1. Circus ceruginosus (the marsh harrier), shot near Seacliff,
East Lothian, by J. W. Laidlay, Esq., on the 7th October.
2. Scolpax major (the great or solitary snipe), shot by Mr
M‘Haffie, Torhousemuir, Wigtonshire, on the 5th September.
3. Coracias garrula (the garrulous roller), shot by Mr Dick-
son, gamekeeper at Dalhousie, near Edinburgh, on the 15th
October. 4. Anser lewcopsis (bernicle goose), shot near’
Gifford, Haddingtonshire, on the 15th October. Another was
shot by Dr Crombie, near North Berwick, on the 29th Sep-
tember last. These birds were sent by Mr Small, taxider-
mist, George Street, who notes that Lestris Kichardsonia
(Richardson’s skua) is apparently not uncommon in the Firth
of Forth this autumn or early winter.

IV. Mr R. Scot-Sxrrvine exhibited a specimen of the grey
phalarope (Zringa lobata), which was floated in by the sea,
dead, after the storm of the 21st October; and the shoveler
duck (Anas clypeata), a young male, in immature plumage.
Both birds were obtained by him at Gullane, and are, espe-
cially the last, among the rare visitants of Scotland.

Mr Taylor on Hall’s New Theory of Chemistry. 23

Wednesday, 16th December 1874.—RosertT Scor SkiRVING, Esq., President,
in the Chair.

The following gentlemen were balloted for and elected Office-Bearers of the
Society for the Session :

Presidents.—Robert Scot Skirving, Esq.; John Alexander Smith, M.D. ;
David Grieve, Esq.

Council.—J. Falconer King, Esq.; Principal Walley ; E. W. Dallas, Esq. ;
A. B. Herbert, Esq. ; Ramsay H. Traquair, M.D.; James M‘Bain, M.D., R.N.

Secretary.—Dr Robert Brown.

Treasurer.—John Macdonald, Esq., 8.S.C.

Assistant-Secretary.—John Gibson, Esq.

Honorary Librarian.—John Macdonald, Esq., 8.S.C.

Library Committee.—James M‘Bain, M.D.; Thomas Robertson, Esq. ;
R. F. Logan, Esq.; D. Grieve, Esq.; J. Falconer King, Esq.; William
Durham, Esq.

The following gentlemen were balloted for and elected Resident Members :

William Ferguson, Esq. of Kinmundy, 1 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh ;
Robert Thomson, Esq., LL.B., Rutland Square; John Hunter, Esq., City
Analyst’s Laboratory; D. R. Murray, Esq., Eastwood, Ferry Road ; John
Walcot, Esq., 20 Drummond Place. ;

The following donations were laid on the table, and thanks voted to the
donors :

1. Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester,
1874 (pp. 35-50).—From the Society. 2. Transactions of the Berwickshire
Naturalists’ Club, 1873.—From the Club. 3. Annuaire de l’Academie Royale
des Sciences, des Lettres, et des Beaux Arts de Belgique, 1874.—From the
Academy. 4. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Nos. 145, 149, 152,
153.—From the Society. 5. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh,
1873-74.—From the Society. 6. Fifty-fourth Annual Report of the Board of
Public Education of the First School District of Pennsylvania for 1872.—
From the Board. 7. Jubilee Chronicon of the Medico-Chirurgical Society of
Edinburgh, 1874.—From Dr Handyside.

The following communications were read :

I. On Dr Hall’s New Theory of Chemistry. By
ANDREW TAYLOR, Esq.

Mr Taylor gave a synopsis of Dr Hall’s theory, referring
the curious to “The Sun and the Earth,” published by
Triibner & Co.

1. The main factor in terrene Chemistry is the sun diffus-
ing heat everywhere on our globe.

2. The individual actions of the chemical elements are
dominated and modified by a like action from the earth itself;
which, on this theory, is held to have unique properties like
a chemical element.

3. Dr Hall postulates every chemical element to have the
power of conducting or making heat “latent” within definite

numerical limits. This power of thus taking and giving heat
VOL. IV. D

24 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

either from adjoining elements, whether simple or in combina-
tion, or from the sun, is just chemical affinity and combina-
tion.

4. The forms and states of matter thus depend on this
action.

The sun is thus striving to force or keep matter in the
gaseous and liquid form. So those elements found only in
such conditions have the most receptivity for sun-heat. The
earth’s action is to contract and solidify gaseous and liquid
matter. A whole group of elements will thus be specified.

The behaviour of oxygen, carbon, and gold, under this
hypothesis will serve to illustrate it.

The first two typify elements of low atomic weight, which,
therefore, readily take heat from the sun, and consequently
prefer the gaseous form, when nearly isolated. So soon,
however, as they are influenced by metals, or the unique
power of the earth (both of which have a greater capacity for
taking heat from such elements though not from the sun,
neither do they retain it), liquid or solid compounds, such as
some of the acids or metallic oxides, may be formed.

Carbon assumes the gaseous or liquid form only when
united with the sun-heat loving oxygen; as the diamond,
graphite, or charcoal, it is solid; in company with oxygen it
becomes gaseous as carbonic oxide or di-oxide.

Gold is heavy, non-heat capacious, and has thus an almost
neutral force to the antagonistic heat forces. It forms few
compounds, and is an inactive element. So, too, of the allied
heavy metals.

In tabular form, this theory stands thus:

Sun, source of positive electricity, Earth, source of negative electricity;
gaseity, latent heat, capacity, mechani- resistance to mechanical motion; so-
cal motion ; has affinity to elements lidity; contraction; latent coldness;

with small atomicity, and of gaseous has affinity te heavy metallic elements
or liquid form. or compounds.

Mr Taylor objected to the theory, because it contradicted
the new dynamical theory of heat, it confounded mechanical |
attraction or cohesion with chemical affinity, and no solid basis
of experimental proof had been given for it.. Sir Isaac Newton
and James Watt had both anticipated the idea of an element
deriving essential properties from some external source.

Mr Walley on Nematode Worms from a Chicken, etc. 25

II. On some Nematode Worms from a Chicken, with Remarks
on the Causes of recent Epizootic Parasitic Diseases
(with Exhibition of Specimens). By Principal WALLEY,
Veterinary College.

Professor Walley exhibited (microscopically) specimens of
a nematode worm removed by him from the cecum and
colon of several chickens, amongst a number of which, at
Trinity, a verminous enzootic had made its appearance during
the past summer. The female worms measured from one-
fourth to one-half of an inch, the males from one-fourth to
one-third, and were found, some free in the bowel, others
buried partially or wholly in the mucous.membrane of the
ceecum or colon. The symptoms induced by these entozoa,
were lassitude, prostration, loss of appetite, emaciation, droop-
ing of head and wings, and fetid diarrhcea; the post-mortem
revealed diffuse inflammation of the intestinal mucous mem-
brane, and in each case the contents of the ceecum were pasty
in consistence, and of a very fetid odour. The treatment
adopted, which was successful in curing some cases, and
preventing the spread of the enzootic, was the administration
of purgations followed by vermifuges, as sulphate of iron, and
an entire change of food. One remarkable circumstance in
connection with this attack lay in the fact that a number of
young turkeys, which were associated with the chickens,
enjoyed perfect immunity from the visits of the unwelcome
guests. 3

‘Professor Walley attributed the increase of verminous
diseases to the mild winters and wet springs which have been ©
experienced within the last few years, and stated that great
as had been the loss amongst the ponies of the Welsh hills
during the past year, it was nothing in comparison with that
which had taken place, and which had come under his own
notice, in- a different class of the same animals. As to
preventative measures, Professor Walley observed that all
animals should be kept in as perfect a state of health as
possible, avoiding debilitating influences ; that pastures should

26 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

not be fouled by overstocking, and where practicable should
be broken up, drained, manured with such agents as salt, lime,
soot, and sulphate of iron, and stocked for upwards of two
years with animals of a different species; and that “feg” or
rough grass should be destroyed by burning.

III. Process for the Estimation of Colour in Water. By
J. FALCONER KinG, Esq., City Analyst, Edinburgh.

During the later months of the year 1873 and the spring
of 1874, I had occasion to examine and report upon many
samples of water, chiefly in connection with the water supply
of Edinburgh.

As is well known, there were several schemes proposed for
the supply of the city, and samples of water from most of
them were submitted to me for examination.

The analyses, as usually performed, showed all these waters
to be very much alike, because the main and almost only
difference between them was the extent to which they were —
coloured. By the ordinary mode of analysis hitherto in
general use, this most important feature would either not
have been described at all, or would have been described in
language so vague as to be totally unintelligible. We find,
for instance, in many reports of analyses of water, the colour
stated as being much or little, or by some meaningless or
incomparable terms, as yellowish or brownish, which are
altogether without significance, as no one can tell with pre-
cision what is wished to be indicated by such vague expres-
sions, and which preclude the possibility of comparison, or of
the character of the water being accurately recorded, as that
tint which one observer would consider as fairly characterised
by one name, might quite possibly, and would indeed most
probably, be in the opinion of another, deserving of quite a
different appellation. In addition, therefore, to the usual
details set forth in reports of water analyses, I found that in
order to permit of the merits and demerits of these different
waters being properly discussed, compared, and recorded, it
would be necessary to have the depth of colour of each exactly

Mr King on the Estimation of Colour in Water. 27

and definitely stated. To enable me to do this, I elaborated
a process for the estimation of colour in water, which I will
now have the pleasure of describing to the Society, and
which, I may add, has lately been employed both by myself
and others, and has been found in every way satisfactory.

The process, which is extremely simple, consists in adding
to a known quantity of pure distilled water contained in a
glass tube, an aqueous solution of caramel, of a certain
strength, from a burette, until the tint communicated to the
distilled water is found to equal that of the water under
- examination. ;

The tubes I employ are made of glass as free from colour
as possible; they should be 15 inches long, and of such
diameter that when filled to within 3 inches of the top, they
will contain 8 ounces of water exactly.

Preparing the standard solution of caramel is the only part
of the operation attended with any difficulty. It is done by
adding caramel to distilled water until the proper depth of
tint has been attained. The depth of colour which it should
possess is ascertained as follows: To 8 ounces of pure water,
perfectly free from ammonia, contained in a glass tube, and
forming a column 12 inches long, add 10 grains by volume of
solution of ammonium chloride, containing 3:17 grains of the
salt in 10,000 grains of water (or 0:0001 grain of ammonia in
1 grain of solution). To this mixture, after proper agitation,
add 25 grains by volume of Nessler’s solution, of the usual
strength ; allow this, after mixing, to repose for 10 minutes,
at a temperature of 60° F., when the colour produced will
equal 30° degrees on my scale. Thatis, 300 grains by volume,
or 30° (a degree being equal to 10 grains by volume) of
caramel solution, if of proper strength, will produce exactly
the same depth of colour when added to the same amount
of distilled water (8 ounces) in a column 12 inches long.

The caramel solution, which I should state can be kept
unchanged for a considerable length of time, being thus pre-
pared, all that is necessary to do to estimate the colour of a
water, is to fill two tubes, of the dimensions stated above, to
within 3 inches of the top, one with distilled water, and the
other with the water to be tested; and having placed them

28 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

side by side on a white slab, in a good light, to add the
caramel solution from a burette to the distilled water, until
that is found to equal in colour the water contained in the
other tube. The burette being graduated in grains, every 10
grains consumed will represent one degree of colour. The
intensity of the colour is ascertained by looking down through
the length of the column.

This process I have found very efficacious, which fact, with
its extreme simplicity, will, I believe, recommend it to all
who, like myself, have occasion to examine numerous samples
of water.

IV. Principal WaLLey exhibited a specimen of a membrano-
ossific cyst. This cyst, which was obtained from a mare
(having formed an obstruction to parturition, and being
attached by an elastic pedicle to the internal surface of the
uterus), he looked upon as an instance of a perverted ovum,
inasmuch as the mare did not become pregnant until she had
been allowed the horse for two successive seasons, the cyst
thus being the result of the first impregnation.

V. Dr Ropert Brown exhibited specimens of ferruginous
sand from the shores of Lochfyne. The iron was magnetic,
and similar to the specimens shown last session by Dr James
Middleton, only much less rich in iron. Similar sands are
found in various portions of the world, including many spots
on the Scottish shores. Dr Middleton’s specimens were ob-
tained from Bogamy Point, at the entrance to Rothesay Bay,
where it forms a very considerable deposit. It also occurs
at Kilmichael in the Kyles of Bute, and there seems to be a
deposit of a similar kind at Ettrick Bay. An interesting
circumstance, probably connected with this deposit, is that
captains of small coasters in the neighbourhood say that they
have noticed a divergence of the compass near the point
where the principal deposit les. The physical properties of
magnetic iron ore are that it is not only attracted by the
magnet, but possesses magnetic properties itself. In the case
of the deposits on the Scottish shores, it might be applied to
economic purposes.

Mr King on Recent Modes of Water Analysis. 29

Wednesday, 20th January 1875.—Dr Joun ALEXANDER SMITH, President,
in the Chair.

The following gentlemen were balloted for and elected Members:

As Corresponding Member—Millen Coughtrey, M.B., Professor of Ana-
tomy and Physiology in the University of Otago, New Zealand. As
Resident Member—James Bennie, Esq., Geological Survey of Scotland.

The following donations were laid on the table, and thanks voted to the
donors :

1. Proceedings of the Royal Society, Vol. XXIII., No. 156.—From_ the
Society. 2. Transactions, etc., of the Edinburgh Botanical Society, Vol.
XII., Part I.—From the Society. 3. Annuaire de L’Académie Royale des
Sciences, etc., de Belgique, 1874.—From the Academy. 4. Geological Notes
on the Noursoak Peninsula and Disco Island, North Greenland, 1875, by Dr
Robert Brown.—From the Author.

The following communications were read :

I.—Recent Modes of Water Analysis, with special reference
to the examination of Water as to suitability for Do-
mestic purposes. By J, FALCONER KING, Esq., City
Analyst, Edinburgh.

TABLE A.—ANALYSIS OF WATER.

Carbonate of Lime, . : i ; . 10°42
Carbonate of Magnesia, : : .- mee
Sulphate of Lime, . ; , ; o** Ga
Sulphate of Magnesia, : . : . 2°48
Chloride of Magnesium,” F . ates sl
Chloride of Sodium, ; t P awe. y>
Chloride of Potassium, : : i Pare Ke
Silica, ‘ 2 E , ; .” “O20
Organic matter, ; : , ALAR GCS See

TABLE B.—ANALYSIS OF WATER.

Total residue, F : ig : . 20:00
Comprising Volatile residue, : ; . Sue nO
And Fixed residue, : ; : 1) oe

Consisting mainly of Lime and Magnesia Salts.

Albuminoid Ammonia, ; : : . 0°004

Saline Ammonia, . ; y : . 0°002

Nitric Acid, : ._ a E he

Chlorine, . : . : . 4°60

Iron, ; ‘ : : ; . None.

Lead, ; P , AIT Aki}, . None.

Hardness, . ; ‘ ; 4 ee

Colour, . 5 : : hy Pee a

One of the most important, if not the most important ap-

plication of Chemistry to technical purposes is in the exami-
VOL. Iv. E

30 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

nation of articles of food and drink, to which subject, it is
pleasing to notice, there has been a considerable amount of
attention given in late years, resulting, as was highly neces-
sary in many cases, in greatly improved methods of analysis.
As might have been expected, water being an article in
common use, and being very liable to contamination, has
received at least a fair amount of attention, the modes of
analysis in the last few years having been very much altered
and improved. Formerly, either from mistaken ideas as to
the nature of the substances which influenced the character
of waters intended for domestic use, or from inability to
estimate correctly certain ingredients, the presence or absence
of these peculiar constituents, which are by far the most
potent causes of bad water, was seldom or never determined.

The results of an analysis of water, as reported by chemists
a few years ago, and even by some chemists still, show with
great minuteness the amounts of the different salts present,
a matter the determination of which is a tedious, a trouble-
some, and withal a totally useless operation. Besides this,
there was introduced at the end of the statement of analysis
an undefined and undefinable something known as organic
matter, which, however, whatever it was, was certainly not
organic matter, as it simply showed the loss after certain
allowances and corrections which the water residue suffered
on being exposed to a red heat. There could not be a greater
fallacy than reckoning this loss as organic matter, and it
would be difficult to make a greater mistake than to rely
upon this, even if it did show the amount of organic matter,
as an indication of the suitability or unsuitability of a water
for domestic use. In the accompanying table (A) I show
the mode in general use in former years, and still used in
some instances in reporting results of an analysis of water.
Before referring further to this table, I should remind the
meeting that in this paper I am referring to analysis of water
intended for domestic use alone, and not for trade purposes,
as brewing, distilling, tanning, and the like. From this table
it will be seen that in the analysis pursued in eliciting these
results, the whole, or the greater part by far of the analyst’s
care has been lavished in ascertaining the precise number of

Mr King on Recent Modes of Water Analysis. 31

grains of carbonate of lime, etc., which the water contained—
an exceedingly futile operation—while the item with which
he should have been almost solely concerned is pushed in at
the end; as if he was ashamed of it, he puts it as a sort of
addendum, its peculiar position indicating but too truly the
amount of consideration it has received. Now every one
knows that it is in no way a desirable thing to swallow daily
in the water one drinks, large quantities of carbonate of lime
_or other earthy salt ; but what difference does it make whether
the water we use contains four or six grains to the gallon of
carbonate of lime or chloride of sodium ? and yet this is really
the main, I had almost said the only, information we have from
such an analysis as this. The item known as organic matter,
and obtained in the way I have already indicated, is nothing
short of a burlesque. It is absurd, in the first place, as it
does not show in any way whatever the amount of organic
matter present. A great many changes other than simply
driving off organic matter, it is quite well known, may, and
almost invariably do, take place when a water residue 1s
exposed to a red heat. In the second place, it is absurd,
because even if this was a correct measurement of, or if it
even was an approximation to, the real amount of organic
matter, it tells nothing whatever of the nature of the organic
matter, it takes cognisance of quantity only, and says nothing
of quality. Now we are well aware that certain kinds of
organic matter are perfectly harmless, while others, there is
not the slightest doubt, are exceedingly pernicious. For
example, one water, let us suppose, is mixed to a slight
extent with some starch or gum, and another is contaminated
with some deleterious decomposing animal matter: by this
mode of analysis, both these things would be described as
organic matter, and if the former water contained twice as
much as the latter, it would be described as the worst;
whereas exactly the reverse of this would be true, as water
containing even very small quantities of certain animal con-
taminations is known to be very prejudicial to health, which
is what could not be said of a water containing small quan-
tities (as a half or quarter of a grain per gallon) of such
things as gum or starch.

52 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

The peculiarity of the mode of water analysis which I have
adopted is, that while it gives a sufficiently correct indication
of the quantity and quality of the saline matter present, it
has for its special object the determination of the nature and
amount of deleterious organic matter with which a water may
be contaminated. It is not my wish nor do I attempt to
show in an analysis of water the total amount of organic
matter present ; what I give my almost undivided attention
to is, the determination of the amount of deleterious organic
matter together with other objectionable constituents, as nitric
acid, iron, lead, eopper, arsenic, ete.

My analysis when finished is reported in the form indaeate
in table B. There it will be seen I set forth the total amount
of solid matter which the water contains, and that is divided
into (1.) Volatile Residue, and (2.) Fixed or Saline Residue,
which latter is generally examined to ascertain which salt or
salts it is mainly composed of. Then I estimate by means of
the beautiful process, first proposed I believe by Wanklyn,
the amount of ammonia existing as such in the water, which,
together with the amount of ammonia obtainable from organic
sources by the action of an alkaline solution of potassium
permanganate at a boiling heat, gives a very correct indication
along with other things of the amount of deleterious organic
matter present, and therefore a good basis for the foundation
of an opinion as to the suitability of the water for dietetie
purposes.

The next ingredient mentioned in the table, viz., nitric acid,
I test for with great care, as I believe this is a good guide so
far as to the purity of water. Nitric acid, it is well known,
arises from the decomposition of peculiar kinds of organic
matter under certain circumstances, and as nitrates are very
soluble, they generally find their way into the water along
with part of the organic matter from which they have arisen,
and so their presence becomes an indication of contamination.
As water, however, may contain nitric acid and yet be perfectly
free from organic contamination, I do not place implicit
reliance on this test. The next ingredient is chlorine; this
substance is found in considerable quantity in water which
has been contaminated with sewage. As it may, however,

Te SS

}

Mr King on Recent Modes of Water Analysis. 33

and indeed often does, occur in considerable quantity in water
which is quite free from sewage, it must not by itself be taken
as an indication of impurity. Iron and lead are the constitu-
ents next mentioned. The former of these rarely, and the
latter never, occurs in natural water. They are both, however,
liable to be communicated to certain waters during passage or
storage in leaden or iron pipes and cisterns, and as they are
both, especially the former, objectionable ingredients in pot-
able waters, they should always in an analysis be carefully
searched for. We then come to the property known as
“hardness.” The amount of this may to a certain extent be
inferred from the amount of saline matter present; but as we
have a very ready and reliable method of determining its
amount, it should always be accurately ascertained. The
peculiar properties and disadvantages of a hard water are so
well known that I need not take up time enlarging upon the
subject, further than stating that these degrees of hardness
simply express grains of carbonate of lime. If we say, for
example, that a water has 10° hardness, we mean that it has
the same power of destroying soap as would be possessed by
a water containing ten grains of carbonate of lime in the
gallon, or at all events lime and magnesia salts equal to that.
Of the next ingredient, the colour, I require to say very little.
At the last meeting of the Society I read a note on my pro-
cess for determining the amount of this, which will be found
printed at length in the Proceedings (p. 26).

Having thus considered, though somewhat imperfectly, I
am afraid, the different ingredients which I think should be
estimated in making an analysis of a potable water, it remains
for me to illustrate by a very few examples how I have found
this process to serve the purpose required of it. One of the
best examples I can give is one drawn from our own city.

Not very long ago a sample of water was sent to me for
examination. It was, I may remark, stated to be Crawley
water obtained from an ordinary cistern; it was all right to
look at, and if it had been analysed in the ordinary way it
would have showed little or none of the so-called organic
matter, and would therefore have been reported as pure.
By the mode of working which I have adopted, however, I

34 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

found it to be very bad; it was in fact one of the worst samples
of water I have had occasion to examine. I accordingly,
though not without a little suspicion that some trick had
been tried, reported the water as being very bad and quite
unfit for use. On making inquiries some days afterwards as
to where such a specimen of water could have come from, I
was informed that a small leak had been discovered in the
soil pipe leading from the water-closet situated above the cis-
tern from which this sample was drawn, and that the various
matters which should have been removed by that pipe were
soaking through the flooring, and draining into the water in-
tended for the supply of the house immediately beneath.
Besides numerous other samples of water from the city, I
have been called upon to examine many waters from country
towns. Which waters, as they were generally bright and
sparkling, were believed and maintained by many people in
the habit of using them to be perfectly good and wholesome,
although disease was prevalent of such a nature as, together
with other circumstances, pointed most undoubtedly to impure
water supply.

These waters contained in many cases the ordinary saline
ingredients, in the same proportions as are found in good
wholesome waters, and the so-called organic matter was some-
times high, but frequently, even in very bad waters, was ex-
ceedingly low. Nor is this at all to be wondered at, when we
remember what this organic matter is, or rather what it is
not, and how its amount is ascertained.

I have quite recently finished a very extensive investiga-
tion into the quality of the water supplied to an important
town in Ayrshire, and I have found, in one case at least, that
the water, though really very bad, did not contain by any
means a large amount of “organic matter,’ while one or two
other specimens, much purer, contained far more. I am at
present engaged in a series of water analysis for another town
in the west, and these samples, so far as the analyses have

been proceeded with, show similar results to those last named.

I have also had lately the water supply of a town in Kirk-
cudbrightshire to investigate, and some interesting results
were obtained in the course of that examination. The soil

ee ae _

ee

we a2 Te me

Mr King on Recent Modes of Water Analysis. 30

upon which the town is built is very light and sandy, and as
far as I could learn, the system of drainage is by no means
perfect. The town being supplied with water from wells
situated in the streets, often in close proximity, I imagine, to
the sewers, there was every reason to suspect bad water, as in
point of fact most of the samples proved to be. They almost
all showed, on being properly analysed, distinct signs of being
most seriously contaminated, and still some of them might
have been considered as ordinary good waters, by any one
who in examining them confined his attention solely to the
estimation of the saline matter, and the amount of “ organic
matter,’ as ascertained by noting the loss suffered by the
residue on ignition. I might cite many more instances from
my own experience, giving further proof of what I have said,
but I think those I have given are sufficient. I pass over
some very curious and well marked cases of water pollution
which I had in a town in Aberdeenshire, where in the light
open soil on which the town was built, the wells for the
supply of water for domestic purposes, and the cesspools con-
taining all the refuse and sewage matter, seemed to be placed
pretty frequently in the most favourable circumstances for
an interchange of contents; also one from Wigtonshire where
a like arrangement seemed to have prevailed; to mention
specially, and in conclusion, a case which occurred in Fife,
where the water of a well which had been used for years, had
suddenly been suspected of being bad. This water I analysed,
and finding signs of serious contamination, I reported that it
was impure. I was told, however, with tolerable plainness,
that I must be wrong, as the water had been used for many
years, and had never been found wanting, and, moreover, that
it was beautiful water, and had not been changed nor inter-
fered with in any way whatever. On making inquiry, I
found that the conclusion I had come to was perfectly correct,
for though the water had for long been of excellent quality,
and even then exhibited outwardly no appearance of being
contaminated, I found that a small dungstead had been
erected, a considerable distance from the pump whence the
water was procured, but nearly or directly over the well, and
the drainings from which heap filtering down, clear and bright

36 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

enough, into the water accounted at once for its bad qualities,
and the results. of my analysis, although it is quite possible
that if it had been tested by the other process I have indicated,
it would have been in all probability reported as being excel-
lent water.

IIl.—Notice of an Account of the Great Eruption of Mount
Vesuvius, of April 1872. By W. T. Brack, Esq.

Mr W. T. Black contributed a communication of an account
of the great eruption of Vesuvius of April 26th, 1872, compiled
from the journal of his brother, then staying at Naples, and
from information collected from letters in the journals of the
time. ?

It was illustrated by numerous photographs and views
obtained by his brother, and by a collection of volcanic
minerals, by charts and diagrams of the mountain, drafted
from original sources, showing the course of the streams of
lava, the formation of the crater, and the structure of the
pillar of cloud.

This eruption is called a paroxysmal one, in contradis-
tinction to ordinary ones, because it was accompanied by all
the three physical manifestations, viz., by the pillar of cloud,
the showers of ashes, and the streams of lava, with their con-
comitant phenomena.

Ordinary eruptions, on the other hand, may have only the
steam cloud, and this may have either ash showers with it
alone, or lava streams alone coincident with it.

Date and Duwration.—The eruption began on Tuesday, April
23d, 1872, reached its climax on Friday the 26th, and ceased
about Thursday, May 2d, thus lasting about a week.

Lava Streams.—These began to flow from the top of the
cone on Tuesday the 23d, and did not cease before Saturday
27th. There were two great streams of lava that flowed
down from the cone; one smaller on the south side towards
Camaldoli, about two miles long, which did not cause much
mischief to life or property. The larger one, on the north
side, flowed out of the great fissure of the cone, filled up the

os aad Rae ae

Mr Black on the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius. 37

Atrio del Cavallo, and then overflowed its basin, and divided
into two streams; the north-western one ran through the
Fossa Vetrana to the villages of Massa di Somma and Sebas-
tiano, and overwhelmed them, and passed on towards Circola
and Ponticelli, and was about four miles long, and stopped
on Saturday the 27th. The other branch, smaller, flowed
down the Fossa Grande, and filled up the ravine, for about a
mile, in the direction of Resina, but did not do any damage.

Showers of Ashes—This phenomenon was of as great im-
portance as that of the streams of lava, on account of the
darkness occasioned for several days, and submersion of the
country by their fall like that of snow, for several square
miles round Vesuvius, including Naples itself. They began
to fall about Friday the 26th, reached their maximum of
density on Sunday the 28th, and did not finally cease before
Friday, May 3d. |

Their composition was found to be chiefly silicates of the
alkalies and earths, with soluble chlorides of sodium and iron,
and they were collected for use as mortar for buildings, and
for tooth powder.

Pillar of Cloud.—This sight was the grandest and most
enchanting of the phenomena of the eruption, and consisted
of a large cauliflower-shaped cloud of white vapour, shining
brilliantly white in the clear blue sky in the daytime, and
illuminated with a gorgeous red tint at night.

Its dimensions were vast, 16,000 to 20,000 feet in height,
or four to five miles (as high as Gay Lussac rose in his balloon),
with a capping four to five miles in diameter, or twice as long
when floating out before the wind, the borders of which were
in perpetual gyration in the regions of perpetual frost.

It began imperceptibly on Monday the 22d, reached its
grandest on Friday the 26th, and Saturday the 27th, and its
glories finally paled as the dust clouds began to prevail
more and more. |

Dust Clouds.—These began after Friday the 26th, and soiled
and overpowered the fleecy pillar of vapour, but scarcely
reached half its height, and extended themselves all over
the country, darkened the sky, shed down rain mixed with
dust, and did not end before May 5d.

38 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

Observatory.—This is situated on Monte Canteroni, which
divided the two streams of the northern lava, and was conse-
quently exposed the whole time to the scorching heat and
mephitic vapours of the slag running red-hot past it on each
side, as well as to the showers of ashes and scoria on its roof,
which also rattled with the fall of the bombs and splinters of
rock.

Professor Palmieri and his assistant were therefore entitled
to every meed of praise for their heroic resolution to abide by
their instruments, and watch the progress of one of nature’s
erandest exhibitions. |

Vegetation.—Everything organic was of course destroyed
under the huge banks of the lava streams, but much more
serious and more extensive destruction to agriculture and
horticulture was effected by the dust showers.

Most of the vineyards and market gardens round Vesuvius
for several miles were buried, and immolated by the acrid
dust, especially when the rains came and washed it down
afterwards into mud.

Cone and Crater—The Great Cone was splt open all along
its north side from the top to the bottom, and let out of the
fissure the great flood of lava into the Atrio del Cavallo, and
was likewise cracked on the south side, to let out the south
stream of lava.

The Crater was wholly altered from what it had been
before, and was now converted into a pit 600 feet deep,
divided into two halves, east and west, by a wall of rock,
that had fallen across during the throes of the volcano.

A new crater was formed in the Atrio del Cavallo, and
poured out extra supplies of ashes and vapours between the
cliffs of Monte Somma, and Monte Canteroni.

Meteorological Phenomena.—The weather, prior to and during
the first half of the eruption, was fine and clear, but subse-
quently thunderstorms and showers of rain prevailed un-
interruptedly for several days.

These rains washed the country all round of the deposit of
ashes, cleansed the streets and houses of Naples, and the
roads and trees in the country, but occasioned damage in low
lying parts from the accumulation of débris.

Mr Black on the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius. 39

There was a splendid display of electric flashes in the
pillar of cloud and in the dust clouds, besides the lightning
of the thunderstorms, and it was beautifully seen at night
and was of a very dazzling description.

Sea.—The Bay of Naples continued calm throughout the
whole period of the eruption, though the ships in the harbour
were somewhat affected by the inland earthquakes.

Acoustic Phenomena.—These were of the most extraordinary
and violent description, and frightened the inhabitants, and
were called the roaring and bellowing of the volcano, and
were most terrible during Saturday 27th, Sunday 28th, and
Monday 29th, and must be distinguished altogether from the
thunder of the storm-cloud.

Property and Life-—Two very distressing events happened
to the populations—one was the appalling loss of life to
excursionists from Naples on Friday morning 26th, when
the floor of the Atrio burst open, and a deluge of lava over-
whelmed and destroyed them; the other was the destruction
and submergence of the villages of Massa di Somma and
Sebastiano on Friday by the north-west stream of lava, and
these were really towns of several thousand inhabitants each,
and had good houses. |

General Flight of the Population—AIl the towns round the
base of Vésuvius were early deserted by their inhabitants,
who fled in thousands into Naples and to the further country,
and left their property unprotected—such was the intensity
of the panic.

Products of the Eruption—The chemical products distilled
and sublimated from the volcano this time were steam,
muriatic acid, sulphur, chlorides of sodium, iron, copper,
and ammonium, which became afterwards condensed on the
sides and lavas of the mountain.

The quantity and character of the solid projectiles were
very remarkable, and consisted of bombs or globular masses,
great pieces of rock and fragments of scoria, and many of
these were seen red-hot in the pillar of vapour, and were
projected the height of a mile above the crater itself
frequently. .

Earthquakes.—Local ones occurred in isolated spots round

40 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

the base of the volcano, and were especially noticed by the
inhabitants of the various villages, whose houses experienced
their topical effects, chiefly on the north side of the moun-
tain.

IIl.—Zoological Notes. By Professor DUNS.

(1.) On Aphrodite hystric—The specimen shown was
dredged in Oban Bay, August 1874, at a depth of four
fathoms. The attention of the Society was specially called
to the fact that, when touched, the animal threw out several
of its sharp spines, which stuck firmly in the hand, causing
pain and slight inflammation. Dr Duns had been stung by
Aphrodite aculeata, but this species did not shoot its spines
free from the body. When removed from its sheath the spine
of A. hystrix presents the appearance of an exquisitely shaped
spear, sharp at the point and armed at the side with five, not
four, as often stated, barbs—one straight, four recurved, the
one farthest from the point being the largest and most bent.
The barbs are placed on small cushions in a groove imme-
diately below the upper edge. MM. Audouin and Milne
Edwards in their work on the “Shores of France,” regard
these barbed spines as weapons of offence. Mr Gosse, remark-
ing on this opinion, says he “ thinks they are in error, misled
by the resemblance which they bear to weapons of human
construction.” But the experience in the instance now noticed
leaves no doubt as to their being formidable weapons of offence.

(2.) On Phyllodice laminosa.—The magnificent specimen of
this beautiful annelid, exhibited by Dr Duns, was taken in
the Firth of Forth, and sent to the New College Museum by
the Rev. Walter Wood, Elie, Fife. It is 2 feet 4 inches in
leneth. Its girth, a few inches from the head, exclusive of
its lateral appendages, is 2 inches. The flattened styles of
the tail—the homotypes of the leaf paddles—are awanting,
and the end of the posterior part of the body has a truncated
appearance, a considerable portion having been broken off.
At three different places the rings are imperfect and un-
symmetrical, as if at these truncation and subsequent. re-
newal had occurred. The number of segments is about two
hundred—the first, or neck, being twice the breadth of the

SS A “ry =

Professor Duns’ Zoological Notes. 41

others. The lateral paddles are leaf-like and irregularly
heart-shaped, placed on a cushion, and associated with two
bundles of bristles on the same ring. The head is small,
with two pairs of minute terminal antennz, behind which,
at the edge of the first ring, are four pairs of well marked
tentacular cirrhi. A deep groove runs from the head along
the middle of the ventral surface of the body.

(3.) On the spawning of the Hermit Crab (Pagurus Bern-
hardus)—Three specimens were exhibited, one 64 inches
long, another 6 inches, and a third not more than ;%ths of
an inch in length. All have layers of light brown round
eggs attached to the left side of the soft abdomen. The tiny
specimen when taken was clinging to the under surface of
one of the mature forms. Its slenderness and size seem to
indicate that it could not long have completed the stages of
its metamorphosis—a curious example of sexual maturity in
a comparatively high invertebrate at a very early age, the
parent continuing to live, unlike some insecta by which ova
are produced at an equally early period. It is generally stated
that April is the spawning time of the hermit crab, but these
specimens, with their egg-clusters attached, were taken in Oban
Bay, August 1874. Many more were captured in the same
condition, and in every case the egg-bearing forms came up in
the dredge uncovered, having left their borrowed shells before
getting entangled in the dredge, as no empty shells fitted to
lodge them were found in it.

(4.) On. a species of Phasma (Palophus centaurus, Westw.)
—This large and finely preserved specimen was forwarded by
Dr Robertson, Old Calabar, to the New College Museum. It
differs both in size and in some of its markings from a
specimen from the same locality, described by Westwood
in the British Museum Catalogue of Phasmide. The length
of the body is 103 inches, and the wing-expanse 7 inches, as
compared with Westwood’s specimen, which is 9 inches long,
and the wing-expanse 5? inches. There is a corresponding
increase of size in the various parts of the body. The central
oblong tubercle on the tegmina, or winglet covers, is rough
above and smooth below. Four dark spots, irregular in size
and position, occur on the thorax.

42 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Socvety.

(5.) Empusa gougyloides (Fabr.)—This Mantis was re-
cently received, alone with many other Orthoptera, from |
India. Ceylon is the habitat usually assigned to it. The
peculiarities of its form, compared with that of Mantis
religiosa, were pointed out, and specimens of BSlepharis
mendica, Harpax ocellaria, and Mantis bicornis, were associ-
ated with it to show the eradual differentiations of the
flattened projections on the body and limbs of these forms.

(6.) Tryzalis nasuta (Fabr.)—Two beautiful specimens of
this wide spread species were shown. ‘They had been re-
ceived a few days ago from Alexander Fraser, Esq., Batavia.
This being another locality added to the list of places
mentioned as habitats of this graceful locust. The position
of the eyes, the contrast between the depressed ensiform
antennee of this genus and the antenne of most other Orthop-.
tera, etc., were pointed out.

(7.) Teratodes monticollis India)—Was shown with the view
of pointing out the specialisations of the thorax in the Locustide.

(8.) Schizodactylus monstrosus (Brullé) (India).—The length
of this specimen is about 1} inches, while its antenne are
more than 4 inches long, with 240 joints on each. The struc-
ture of the tarsi, the form of the mouth organs, and the
beautiful spiral folding of the wing covers and wings, when
the insect is at rest, were pointed to as outstanding features
in this remarkable looking grasshopper.

(9.) Kallima wmachis (India).—Four specimens of the so-
called withered leaf butterfly, were shown with the view of
indicating the perfect character of the disguise possessed by
these insects. The prevailing tint of the under side of the
wings is a light ash-brown, having the very closest resemblance
to withered leaves. The midrib and venation of the decay-
ing leaf are also closely imitated. In one of the specimens
_ the wing has been broken at the edge, but the rupture has
taken place after a fashion characteristic of the break in
many leaves. It is not clean, but consists of a saw-like
irregular edge, which, as it lies on the dark part of the upper
surface, forms a perfect resemblance to a broken leaf lying on
a bit of bark, or on another leaf not so far gone in decay.
The markings on the wings, as round or irregular dots, ragged

—_— —

Professor Duns’ Zoological Notes. 43

streaks, and yellowish, greenish, or black patches, are just
such as our own microfungi make on withered leaves.

(10.) A small Lnzard (Tachydromus sex-lineatus) from
Batavia—The specimen was recently forwarded to the New
College Museum, by Alexander Fraser, Esq. This pretty
little lizard is noted for the great length of its verticillate
tail, compared with the length of the body, which is not more
than 1; inch from the back of the head to the vent,
while the tail is 83 inches long. The head is acute, measur-
ing ;°;ths ofan inch. The body scales are carinate, largest on
the back. The palate is destitute of teeth. Toes long and
slender, terminated by a minute claw. Two of the toes of
the hind feet very long, comparatively; the first, second, and
fifth moderate ; the other two ;5,ths of an inch.

IV. Professor Duns exhibited—(1.) A Cream-coloured variety
of the Skylark (Alauda arvensis), shot some time ago near
Stranraer, and forwarded to him by the Rev. George Wilson,
Glenluce. (2.) Specimens of the Surmullet (Wullus surmuletus),
and the Norway Haddock (Serranus Norvegicus, Flem.), taken
on the Wigtonshire coast. The fact that the Wigtonshire
fishermen by whom they were taken, regarded them as rare
fishes, shows that they are not of frequent occurrence on their
coast. They are not mentioned by Parnell in his list of the
Fishes of the Forth. Fleming gives one instance of the occur-
rence of S. Norvegicus on the Aberdeen coast, and says, “In
Zetland, where I have found it, it is termed Bergylt, or Nor-
way Haddock.”

V. Mr Ropert GRay sent a note on living specimens of
Loligo media, which he had found while walking along the
shore of the Firth of Forth, between Granton and the Quarry.
“The first one met with measured about 1 foot 8 inches in
length from the caudal extremity to the tip of the longest
arms. It was of a deep purplish red, the outer skin being
finely grained. On touching it with my walking-cane, I
observed that this outer skin peeled off readily, leaving white
patches, or narrow lines just as the point of the cane was
applied. The suckers were very tenacious, and instead of

44 Proceedings. of the Royal Physical Society.

relaxing their hold on being forcibly pulled, they came away
adhering to the point of the cane. On placing the animal in
a pool of water, it discharged the contents of its inkbag, and I
left it completely obscured.

“ About half-a-mile farther west, I encountered a much
larger specimen, measuring 2 feet 4 inches in length, also cast
up by the receding tide. It, too, was alive, but in a dying state,
and in colour it was precisely the same as the smaller specimen.

“On referring to Fleming’s ‘ British Animals, I find that
he speaks of this species as being rare. I have never myself
seen it but on one occasion—a specimen much smaller than
the least of the two whose occurrence I now record—having
been cast on shore, three or four years ago, in the Kyles of
Bute, on the west coast.

“A characteristic figure of this animal, under the name of
Octopodia media, 18 given in Pennant’s ‘ British Zoology,’
edition 1812, and it may not be out of place to quote here
the following short description which that author gives:

“fe . . . . long, slender cylindric ‘body ; tail amined
pointed, and carinated on each side; two long tentacula ; the
body almost transparent; green, but convertible into a dirty
brown, confirming the remark of Pliny that they change
their colour through fear, adapting it, chameleon like, to that
of the place they are in. The eyes are large and smaragdine.’

“ Dr Fleming’s later description is as follows: ‘LZ. media.—

Body long, fins elliptical, tail pomted. . . . Rare.
Body slender, almost transparent, cylindrical; arms with a
double row of suckers. Eyes large, blue. No dimensions
are given by either of these writers. The discrepancy in
describing the colour of the eyes may be accounted for by
assuming that after death the emerald green changes to blue;
indeed in the two specimens found by myself I observed that
after am hour’s interval the eyes had acquired a dark bluish
green tint, which is probably more noticeable and of a deeper
hue in preserved specimens.

“Compared with the common calamary (L. vulgaris), this
species has a longer and more strictly cylindrical body, and a
more pointed tail, the fins attached to which are elliptical in
place of being rhomboidal in shape.”

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wer ey oe a et ee eee ein) oe ab oe eee oe

oe ae oe? ee.

Professor Nicholson on the Guelph Limestones. 45

Wednesday, 17th February 1875.—DaAvip GRIEVE, Esq., President,
in the Chair.

The following gentleman was balloted for and elected a Resident Member:
John Goldie, Esq., H.M. Register House.

The following donations were laid on the table, and thanks voted to the
donors :

1. Proceedings of the Royal Society, Vol. XXIII., No. 157.—From the
Society. 2. Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Vol. XIV., No. 78.—From
the Society. 3. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, Vol. II., No. 1.
—From the Association, 4. Transactions of the Manchester Geological
Society, Vol. XIII., Parts 6 and 7.—From the Society.

The following communications were read :

I1—On the Guelph Limestones of North America, and theor
Organic Remains. By H. ALLEYNE NicHo soy, M.D.,
D.Sc., F.R.S.E., Professor of Biology in the Durham
University College of Physical Science, Newcastle-on-
Tyne, Corresponding Member.

In this communication the author described the deposits
which form the uppermost portion of the Niagara Formation

_ (Wenlock Series) of North America. The deposits in ques-

tion are typically developed in western Ontario, where they
are known as the “Guelph Formation,” from their occurrence
in full force near the little town of Guelph. Lithologically,
the Guelph Formation consists of magnesian limestones,
usually of a buff or yellow colour, sometimes highly crystal-
line, but very commonly of an exceedingly porous texture,
owing partly to the existence of drusy cavities, and partly to
the numerous vacant spaces left by the weathering out of
organic remains. In the State of Ohio, all the limestones of
the Niagara Formation, with the exception of the celebrated
“Dayton Stone,” are magnesian, and the Guelph limestones
are therefore not marked off from the lower beds by any dis-
tinctive peculiarity of a lithological nature. The summit of
the Niagara Formation in Ohio is, however, formed by a
group of dolomites, which can be unhesitatingly identified
with the Guelph Formation of Canada, not only by the pre-
cise similarity in mineral characters, but also by the identity

of organic remains. The Ohio geologists term these beds the
VOL. IV. BF

46 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

“ Cedarville Limestone,” or “ Pentamerus Limestone.” Dolo-
mites of the same age, and containing the same fossils, have
also been described as occurring at Leclaire in Iowa, at Port
Byron and near Chicago in Illinois, and at Racine in Wis-
consin.

The remainder of the paper was occupied with a general
account of the organic remains of the Guelph limestones.
Fossils are numerous in the beds of this formation, but are
poorly preserved, and are for the most part in the form of
casts. The most highly characteristic forms are the Zrimerel-
lide and Pentamert amongst the Brachiopoda, the Megalomt
amongst the Lamellibranchiata, and the numerous species of
Murchisonia, Pleurotomaria, and Holopea amongst the Gastero-
poda. Upon the whole, it may be concluded that the Guelph
dolomites constitute a distinct series of deposits, which, how-
ever, clearly are to be regarded as merely a subordinate stage
in the great Niagara Formation.

II.— Suspension of Clayin Water. By WILLIAM DuRHAM, Esq.,
F.RS.E.

On January 28, 1874, I read a paper on this subject before
this Society. This paper was afterwards published in the
Chemical News of August 7, vol. xxx., No. 767. The following
were the results then noted :

(1.) The clay rapidly separated into two portions; the
greater part quickly settling down to the bottom of the jars,
the lesser part remaining suspended in the liquid consider-
ably longer.

(2.) The power which water possesses of sustaining clay
is gradually destroyed by the addition of an acid or salt.

(3.) In solutions of sulphuric acid and sodium chloride, of
varying strengths, the greater part of the clay sunk to the
bottom of the jar, and the liquid became clear in the order of the
specific gravitves of the solution, so that the densest liquid settled
and cleared last. This effect was more decided in the acid
than in the salt solutions. :

(4.) In solutions of sodium carbonate of varying strengths

Mr Durham on the Suspension of Clay in Water. 47

(and most probably in all alkaline solutions) the greater part
of the clay sunk to the bottom, and the liquid cleared in the
inverse order of the specific gravities of the solutions, so that the
densest liquid settled and cleared first.

(5.) The power which water possesses of sustaining clay is
gradually increased by the addition of small quantities of the
alkalies or their carbonates and lime.

(6.) Water, whose power of sustaining clay had been
destroyed by an acid, had this power restored in great measure
to it, by the addition of any of the alkalies. The following
examples will make the foregoing clear:

Time of Clearing.

Density. Hours. Minutes.
Water only, - 1000 7) ROU oe
», With two drop Sulphuric 4 sia i 1000 ‘ 0 30
>, with Acid, : 1024 : 1 30
ms os ; ; , . 1048 P ae
”» ” . : s ‘ 1093 ‘ ye
Rs 4 : : . 1440 eae o
» with 1-gr. Sodium Carbonate, : ; i 88 /f8
- 5 a bi ’ A112) BD
” 9 , 93 6
” 20 » 46 0
< 30 “ ~e yr eH
% 200 3 9 4 .0

Curiously enough, about three weeks after I read the fore-
going paper, Dr Sterry Hunt, read a paper on the same sub-
ject, before the Society of Natural History, Boston, US.

His results are much the same as mine, only he did not
notice the peculiar action of small quantities of alkalies. He
thinks an explanation is to be found in the researches of
Guthrie on the formation of drops. Studying the size of
drops of water, falling from a small sphere of ivory, he found
that the cohesion of the water was diminished when it held
saline matter in solution, as was shown by the smaller size of
the drops.

I have since made a variety of experiments, to find out if
possible the true cause, as Dr Hunt’s explanation does not seem
to me satisfactory. The probable explanation that I gave in
the paper referred to above, was, that the clay in falling through

48 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

the liquid developed frictional electricity, the quantity and
duration of which determined the time the clay was held in
suspension. Before proceeding, however, to consider this
question, I will mention two or three experiments interesting
in themselves.

(1.) Sea Water—lI obtained from the end of Leith Pier, a
sample of water; its density was 1009, showing it was consider-
ably mixed with the Water of Leith. On shaking it up with
clay, in the usual manner, I found it just about the best
mixture that could be made to precipitate quickly. It cleared
in about two hours. This fact throws considerable light on the
silting up of harbours, etc., at the mouths of rivers. Through
the kindness of Mr Brown, I got a specimen of strong sea
water from Dunbar, and found that it took about twelve hours
to clear, but on mixing it with an equal bulk of rain water, it
cleared in six hours. I next tried the effect of lime carbonate
in place of clay, and found that both rain water and strong
sea water cleared in about the same time, viz., two to three
hours, and this too although I put four times the weight in,
to bring up the opacity of the liquid to the same point.

(2.) In order to test the sensitiveness of the clay to any-
thing held in solution by the water, I took four glass bottles
(light green glass), and filled them with rain water. To one
I added a few pieces of lead, to another some copper filings,
and to a third a few pieces of zinc, while the fourth remained
with water only. In that state they remained for a week,
when clay was added to each, and shaken up as usual. The
result was

Water only took 96 hours to clear.
3, with copper, 72 ,, es
ee PEGs izinen ge 2 ee. a
shes Abe lead; 42. ,, a

It appeared to me that the water had acted on the glass in
the first case, and extracted a little soda. With the lead the
action was evident. With the copper and zinc the action was
doubtful; but possibly there might have been a little oxide
dissolved by the water; but this experiment shows the sen-
sitiveness of the reaction.

It occurred to me that possibly there might be some con-
nection between these phenomena, and the solubility of the

—— ee ee

—— a)

u----

Mr Durham on the Suspension of Clay in Water. 49

salts, etc. used, so I made several experiments for the purpose
of testing this idea. Taking quantities of the salts propor-
tional to their solubilities to see if they cleared in equal times,
and equal quantities of salt, to see if they cleared in times
bearing any relation to their solubilities; but I could not
trace any relation whatever between the two phenomena.
As an example, I may mention Barium Nitrate, and Potas-
sium Sulphate, which, at the temperature of the experiment,
are equally soluble. With equal quantities of the salts
Barium Nitrate cleared in 2 hours 45 minutes.
Potassium Sulphate, ,, 4G 83,; a
I now turned to my original idea of electricity. I cannot
say that I have been successful, as yet, in proving this to be
the true cause of the phenomena; but will state my experi-
ments on the subject so far as they have gone. Through the
kindness of Professor Tait, I have been enabled to make some
experiments in his laboratory (in conjunction with his assist-
ant, Mr Scott Lang), on the electric conductivity of saline
solutions of various strength.
We used distilled water, which I find much more sensitive

than rain water to the action of salts in precipitating the

clay. We have as yet only made a few experiments on
common salt, and find that the electric resistance (which of
course is inversely as the conductivity) diminishes in a very
rapid manner with each addition of small quantity of salt.
Thus, suppose with the hundredth part of a grain of salt, the
resistance is about 30,000 B A Units; with the fiftieth part
the resistance will be, say 20,000 B A Units. I am not at
present giving strictly accurate results, but only general.
This rapid diminution of resistance agrees very well with my
experiments of the rapid diminution of the time of clearing
with addition of salt. The turning point, however, that is
the point when the liquid began to take longer to clear, is
very soon reached, although the resistance is still diminish-
ing. This may be accounted for by the increase of specific
gravity.

I got from Professor Tait the results of some former ex-
periments by two of his students on the electric resistance of
Zine Sulphate, Copper Sulphate, and Potassium Sulphate.

50 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Soctety.

Unfortunately, the solutions experimented on were too strong
for my experiments. I did try, however, if there was any
general agreement between the conductivity of the solution
and their power of sustaining clay. Potassium Sulphate was
the best conductor, but it turned out, contrary to my expecta-
tion, that it kept the clay up longest. This may be explained
by the fact that the action of the Potassium as an alkali to
support the clay was scarcely overcome by the Sulphuric
Acid. Zine Sulphate and Copper Sulphate may be supposed
a fairer comparison. Copper Sulphate is the better conductor
of the two, and I found it also cleared faster and very nearly
in the same proportion as its conductive power. In the whole
three, the rate of diminution of time of clearing corresponds
pretty well with the rate of increase of conductivity.

These experiments, though very general and far from con-
clusive, still point hopefully in the direction I have indicated
for a solution of the problem.

III.—WNote on Fossil Corals from the Conglomerate of
Habbie’s Howe, Pentland Hills. By Ropert ETHE-
RIDGE, Esq., Jun., F.G.S. Communicated by CHARLES
W. PEACH, Esq., A.LS.

At a meeting of the Edinburgh Geological Society during
the last session, Mr John Henderson* read a paper on some
fossils obtained by Mr D. J. Brown and himself from the
conglomerate of Habbie’s Howe. They consisted of a few
Brachiopoda and some fragmentary specimens of Corals, from
the rounded and semiangular limestone boulders and pebbles
contained in the upper part of the bed.

The conglomerate unconformably overlies the Silurian
rocks of the Pentland hills, and is considered by Professor
Geikie to be of Old Red Sandstone age.

The pebbles enclosing the specimens consist of a dark-
coloured limestone, with numerous fragments of small encrinite
stems. The Corals, with one exception, belong to the Tabulata,
the exception being a portion of a small Rugose Coral, in too
fragmentary a condition to be determined with certainty.

* Transactions, I1., pt. 8, p. 389.

ees. 8 eens oe ae eee a). ee

Mr Etheridge on Fossil Corals from Habbie’s Howe. 51

(1.) The first specimen is that of a species of the Silurian
genus Halysites, with smaller and more circular corallites and
intercalicular spaces than either of the two British forms #.
catenularia, Linn., and H. escharoides, Lam. The tabule are
very regular and apparently more concave than in the fore-
going species. So far as we can judge from the number of
specimens collected by Messrs Henderson and Brown, this
is the commonest but one of the Corals in the conglomerate.

(2.) The next specimen to which I would draw your attention,
is a single fragment of a small and fine species, apparently of
the genus Heliolites, allied to the Silurian species HZ. inter-
stincta, Linn.; but with smaller calices, and a less developed
ccenenchyma. |

(3.) The third Coral is perhaps the most interesting of all,
from the very fine nature of its structure. It occurs as
numerous pink or flesh-coloured irregular fragments scattered
through the pebbles, and presenting to the naked eye a per-
fectly dense and homogeneous appearance. When thin sections
are prepared, which has been accomplished by my friend, Mr
C. W. Peach,* the most minute and beautiful coral structure
is perceptible, but which unfortunately will not bear the
application of any but a very low power lens. I am under
the impression that this is a species of Alveolites; but a further
set of microscopic sections are necessary before this point can
be settled. If it is an Alveolite, it is even finer in texture
than the very fine Carboniferous species, A. depressa, Flem-
ing. ,

(4.) The fourth and last specimen appears to be the remains
of a Coral of the genus Favosites, nearly related to the Silurian
form, Ff. Gothlandica, Linn. I have not succeeded in detect-
ing the nature of the mural pores, and do not therefore care
to speak positively on this point.

I hope to be able, on some future occasion, to return to
this subject, and to offer more detailed notes on the Corals of
the Habbie’s Howe Conglomerate, than can be done from the
few specimens at present known. Whence the limestone
pebbles and blocks containing the corals were derived, is a

* Mr C. W. Peach was the first to detect the minute coral structure of
these specimens.

52 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

question still open to discussion. The species appear to be
distinct from any yet described. from British rocks. I am
indebted to the kindness of Mr Brown and Mr Henderson, for
the loan of the specimens exhibited.

IV. Mr Joun Gipson exhibited specimens of the Colorado
or potato beetle (Doryphora decemlineata), from Ontario,
Canada.

V. Professor Duns exhibited two heads of roe deer (Cervus
capreolus), whose horns present striking divergences from the
normal form. One of them, killed at Airds, Argyleshire, has
the left beam shaped like a highly-developed second year’s
“ pricket,” while the right resembles the regular antler of the
third year. At the root of the left a second beam or “ pricket”
has sprung up a little behind the large one; and another, more
to the front, rises at the side of the right beam. But these
are not mere tynes. They have an independent place on the
frontals, and possess well-developed “burrs.” The chief
“purrs” are unusually large—one of them even partially
shading the eye. In the second the horns, instead of rising
perpendicularly from the head, are divergent, like those of
the fallow deer (Cervus dama) and the red deer (Cervus
elaphus). Some remarks were made by Professor Duns on
the physiological explanation of such abnormal forms of
horns among the Cervide. The normal conditions of growth
were contrasted with the highly marked variations in the
specimens exhibited. The horns of the roe spring at once
upward from the frontals. They have no curved forward |
direction, as in the Airds specimen, and no lateral divergence,
as in the other. The fawn is hornless during the first year;
in the second, simple stems, or “prickets,” appear; in the
third, the first tyne is formed extending to the front; the
fourth is marked by the growth of another tyne standing to
the back. The antlers are not fully developed till the sixth
year.

Mimicry and Protective Resemblances among Animals. 53

Wednesday, 17th March 1875.—Ropert Scot Sxkirvinc, Esq., President,
: in the Chair.

The following gentleman was balloted for and elected a Resident Member :
Dr Robert Saundby, Saughtonhall.

5 The following donations were laid on the table, and thanks voted to the
onors :

1. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Vol. XXVII., Pt. 11,
Session 1873-74. 2. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Session
1873-74.—From the Society. 3. Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical
Society of Liverpool, Session 1873-74, Vol. XXVIII.—From the Society.
4, Nova Acta Regi Societatis Scientiarum Upsaliensis, ser. tertia, Vol. 1X.,
Fase. 1, 1874.—From the Society. 5. Bulletin Metereologique Mensuel de
L’Observatoire de L’Université D’Upsal, Nos. 7-13, Juin—Decembre 1873.—
From the University.

The following communications were read :

I.—WNotes on Mimicry and Protective Resemblances among
Animals. By JOHN GIBSON, Esq.

In this communication the author stated that, although the
term “mimicry,” in so far as it implied a theory, was objec-
tionable; still, premising that its adoption did not commit one
to the “conscious volition” implied in the usual acceptation
of the term, it was the single word in our language which
came nearest to describing the phenomena under considera-
tion.

This subject was first brought into notice by Mr Bates, in
a paper read before the Linnean Society, shortly after the
publication of Darwin’s “ Origin of Species.” Since that time
cases of mimicry have been observed in all quarters of the
globe, by such travellers as Bates, Wallace, and Belt; and
notices of these are to be found scattered throughout books of
travel and scientific journals. These the author had collected,
and now brought before the Society arranged in three groups:

(1.) Mimicry of Backgrounds generally.

(2.) Particular Mimicry of the Vegetable Kingdom.

(3.) Particular Mimicry of the Animal Kingdom.

Among instances of the latter, he referred to the following
as probable cases of mimicry, but which had not hitherto been
noticed as such:

(1.) The cobra (Naja tripudians) is the most deadly of
VOL. IV. G

54 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

Indian snakes, and being comparatively abundant, its mark-
ings and attitudes are well known, yet there is an innocuous
colubrine snake—Tvropidonotus macrophthalmus—found side
by side with the cobra, which is frequently mistaken for it.
It has the neck dilatable, as in the cobra—a feature almost
peculiar to the latter; while the arrangement of the scales is
~ nearly similar in both.

(2.) The Ophiophagus elaps is an exceedingly poisonous
Indian snake. Major Beddome says the young of O. elaps is
very like the Dipsas dendrophila, an innocent snake—so like
that it may very well be mistaken for it. Next to the cobra,
the krait (Bungarus ceruleus) is the snake that kills most
people in India. “The krait,’ Dr Fayrer says, “ may be mis-
taken for Lycodon aulicus, an innocent snake, the colouring
and general appearance being in many cases very similar.
The least examination of the mouth would detect the differ-
ence, but at first sight they are very much alike, and are often
mistaken; the lycodon suffering for its resemblance to its
poisonous fac-simile.” The injury, however, which it suffers in
this way must be much more than compensated for in the
immunity from the attacks of snake-eating animals which it
no doubt shares with its poisonous model.

The author, in conclusion, criticised the theories advanced by
Murray, Bates, and A. W. Bennett, to explain the phenomena of
mimicry.

IIl.—On some Fishes and Reptiles from Old Calabar. By

Professor Duns, D.D.

The specimens on the table, and several others, were sent
more than a year ago to the New College Museum, by Dr
Robertson, Old Calabar. They were received in a weak solu-
tion of carbolic acid, and are in a perfect state of preservation.
The colours are fresh and bright. Various shades of green,
blue, brown, and yellow, are unaltered from their natural
tints. When the specimens were removed from the carbolic
acid, they were freely washed, and then put into methylated
spirit, sixty-one over proof, in which they have been for two
months without any change having taken place in the tints.

Professor Duns on Fishes and Reptiles from Old Calabar. 55

Dr Duns pointed out the advantages of using carbolic acid for
the preservation of specimens. In its crystallized form it is
much more portable than methylated spirit, and not more
than about one-fifth of the price. An ounce will saturate
two gallons of water at least, rendering it strong enough for
this purpose.

Among the fishes were two large specimens of Calamoichthys
Calabaricus, originally described by the Society’s president,
Dr J. A. Smith. They are larger, and in a better state of
preservation than those characterised by Dr Smith.

Dr Duns exhibited three specimens of the West African
electric fish (Malapterurus Beninensis) one of the Siluride ;
and pointed out a characteristic mark of age in these forms.
The first, which is large and full grown, has lost the black
blotches, usually held to belong to this species. The second,
which is not mature, is marked by these; and, in addition to
them, has a band of dim white passing round the extremity,
between the dorsal and caudal fins. The third, a young
specimen, has the band of a pure and distinctly marked
white, and the black spots not so well marked as in the
second.

Two large and beautiful specimens of the new boa (Cala-
baria fusca) were shown to the Society, and described. This
form was first characterised by Dr J. E. Gray, in 1858. Having
noticed the form of the labial, rostral, and frontal shields, Dr
Gray says that the three pairs of frontals are followed by a
band-like shield from side to side, that is, between the eyes.
He afterwards adds, “I think it is probable, when some
other specimens have been examined, that the band-like
shield, extending across from the upper edge of each eye, will
be found to be composed of three shields, like the band behind
it” (Proc. Zool. Soc., 1858, p. 154). He afterwards adds, in
a note, that he had found a young specimen of this boa, in
which the number and order of the shields were as he had
anticipated. In the largest specimen shown to the Society,
the shields have most distinctly this form; but this specimen
has all the appearance of age about it. It is nearly a foot
larger than that originally described by Dr Gray. It is 3
feet 9 inches in length, and 7 inches in girth. In the other

56 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

specimen, which is manifestly immature, the band consists of
two shields—one small, the other twice its length; looking
from the back of the head, it is seen reaching across the crown
to the margin of the right eye.

Clotho nasicoriis was the next specimen noticed. It was
stated that this differed so much from those described by
Dumeril and Bibron, Shaw, Reinhardt of Copenhagen, Wagler,
and Hallowell, that it was thought to be a new species, but
Dr Giinther had informed Dr Duns that it is the species
now named. It corresponds with Vipera hexacera of the
French erpetologists, Coluber nasicornis of Shaw, Vipera nasi-
cornis of Reinhardt, Cerastes nasicornis of Wagler, and
Echidua Gaboonica of Hallowell. In all these cases there
is considerable difference as regards subordinate marks. That
now exhibited differs even more widely from these than they
do among themselves. In length it is 1 foot 10 inches; tail
13 inch. The head is comparatively flat; twice as broad
behind as at the muzzle; gape wide; fangs large, recurved ;
eyes round and prominent. In colour the difference is even
more marked. A leaf-like mass of light brown covers the
muzzle up to the eyes, where it narrows, passes between them,
then gradually widens, till it reaches the hind head. Here it
narrows again, by a sharp curve, and terminates In a point
about an inch down the neck. A row of black circular
dots mark the scales on its edge behind the eyes, and at a
little distance from the edge at its widest part; on the hind
head an irregular black blotch occurs at each side. From
the front of the eyes to the angles of the gape, the edge
- of the upper lips is dark brown, divided at each side by a
narrow band of white passing diagonally from the under part
of the eyes to the edge of the lips. A rich dark brown line,
like the midrib of a leaf, passes up the centre of the head,
from between the prominent nostrils to the termination of the
light brown mark on the neck. The dark brown upper labial
band is formed of thick quadrangular scales (shields); the
light brown covering of the head and part of the neck consists
of scales distinctly keeled, convex at the outer edge, and
closely imbricated. Those on the under side of the head pre-
sent a thickened, rounded appearance; colour, dirty white

Fossils Found in the South Esk. 57

mottled with brown. A deep zigzag white line, commencing
at the back of the head, runs down each side, enclosing between
them the soft amber brown of the back, on which occur, about
half an inch apart, sharply-defined oblong white patches, of
different sizes, connected by twe narrow lines of the same
colour, in the form of a St Andrew’s cross. The whole orna-
mentation of this specimen is exceedingly pretty. This is one
of the most deadly of poisonous snakes.

A fine example of Dendraspis angusticeps was next referred
to; and along with it a rodent, about the size of a small rat
(Rhinomus soricoides, Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc., 1859, p. 159),
which had been taken from its stomach in a perfect state of
preservation.

Dr Duns then called the attention of the Society to three
specimens of a beautiful species of lizard, not identified, from
the same locality, with the view of pointing out the abnormal
character of the tail in two of the specimens, which were con-
trasted with the other, in which the tail is in its normal con-
dition—rounded ; white spotted ; indistinctly marked by light
brown rings, and 62 inches in length; the whole length of the
lizard being 133 inches. Of the other two, one has had the tail
twice broken. The wounds have afterwards healed, and growth
to the extent of 53 inches has taken place. In the second
abnormal specimen, the tail has been broken off close to the
body, and two sprouts have been put out, which have grown
about 2 inches. The one is placed above the other, but dis-
tinct from it, forming a bifurcated tail. The forks are rounded,
thickest at the base, and gradually tapering to a point, and
presenting a perfectly symmetrical appearance.

Il. —Wote relative to the Bed of the South Esk River at
Newbattle, in connection with Fossils found there. By
DAVID GRIEVE, Esq., F.R.S.E.

The South Esk river, the second of the same name in Scot-
land (the first being in Forfarshire), rises in the county of
Peebles, and runs a sinuous course till it joins its sister river,
the North Esk, in the grounds of Dalkeith Palace, whence
they unitedly flow to the sea at Musselburgh. After entering

58 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

the county of Edinburgh its meanderings are very beautiful
and romantic, particularly where it passes through the grounds
of Arniston, Dalhousie, Newbattle, and Dalkeith. It skirts
and intersects the chief coal measures of the county, and its
bed—at least in the locality I am about to indicate—is rich in
fossiliferous deposits of the Lower Carboniferous formation,
and which crop up in many places very near the surface. The
portion of the river to which I recently directed my attention,
and which has led to this notice, extends only a short way,
barely half a mile, viz., between Newbattle and Lothian
bridges, and which being within the enclosed grounds of
Newbattle Abbey is not accessible, without permission, to the
public.

Except where it cuts through walls of red sandstone, the
bed of the river is here composed of a micaceous sandstone of
various degrees of grain (and which probably alternates with
fire-clay), lying horizontally and being generally of a more or
less schistose character. In this sandstone the ferns after
enumerated are mostly found and in situ. Some of the other
plants are not so, but are found in carbonaceous rolled masses,
rectangular or approaching that shape, and of a few inches in
thickness. Many of these have no doubt been carried down
from a higher portion of the fluvial bed.

I was led to investigate this part of the river bed from
information kindly given to me by Mr Blackie, the intelligent
Clerk of Works on the Newbattle Estate, who mentioned to
me that some time ago while making a cutting for a mill lade
near the bank of the river at Newbattle Bridge, the work-
men, at about five or six feet from the surface, came upon
quantities of sandstone (barrow loads in fact) covered, or
rather, I should say, intermixed, with fine impressions of
ferns of various kinds, but which stones had now all got
scattered, except one large slab placed in a niche of the
screen wall of Newhbattle Abbey. An inspection of this
slab led me greatly to regret that I had not been
present at the scattering of such a splendid find of fossil
treasure.

Lord Lothian, on being made aware of the interest I took
in geological research, kindly offered me, through Mr Blackie,

:
|
:
|
:
|

Fossils Found in the South Esk. 59

a piece of the slab mentioned; an offer I should have hesitated
to accept in case of injuring the specimen, but on examination
I found that the stone could be split with advantage rather
than otherwise to the remanent part; and so it happens that
this separated portion, with its beautifully preserved foliage,
comes to be exhibited to the Society this evening. It would
be wrong should I not take this opportunity of thanking the
noble Marquis for his kind and considerate gift in the interest
of Science.

To return to the bed of the river, the specimens of fossils
in the following list have been either gathered by me while
exploring it in the very dry weather of last summer, or
obtained in the manner above mentioned :

Asterophyllites longifolia ; Antholithes Piteairnia (Cardio-
carpon of Carruthers) ; Calamites nodosus ; Calanvites (species .
not identified); Cordaites (Flabellaria) borrassifolia ; Lepido-
dendron (Knorria condition); Lepidodendron (species not iden-
tified) ; Newropteris (species not identified) ; Pecopteris Serlii ;
P. nervosa ; P. marginata ; Poacites (with numerous stems of
ferns) ; Sigillaria flexuosa ; Sphenopterts Hibberti ; Sporangia
(spores or seeds in great variety); Stigmaria; Strobilus (ander
which head I place a small fruit or cone with well marked
scales).

I may remark that in the specimens of Flabellaria the
beautiful fan-like leaves so characteristic of this plant occur
in great abundance.

The chief interest in the specimens exhibited, however,
centres in the size and beauty of the Pecopteris Serlii on the
large slab, and which is not very unlike the familiar living
fern Polypodiwm vulgare. It is very rarely that this species
is found in this country except in a very fragmentary condi-
tion. M. Ad. Brogniart, in his description of the species
represented in his tableaux, mentions in regard to this one,
that it is chiefly found in America, and there only in a
similar incomplete condition, rarely with well developed
fronds.

The only representative of fossil mollusca I met with in
the Esk bed was a very fine specimen of Lingula squami-
forms.

60 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Socvety.

In conclusion, I beg to express my best acknowledgments
to my friends Messrs Peach and Etheridge, for kind assistance
rendered to me in the identification of species.

TV. Mr PeacHexhibited drawings of twenty-six species of the
animals of mollusks, dredged in 1864 by Mr Jeffreys off Shet-
land. Heshortly commented on them, but more fully described
Stilifer Turtoni, a pair having been got in deep water living
amongst the spines of Hchinus neglectus of Forbes, on which
they had deposited about forty clusters of spawn. Large
drawings were shown of them and their spawn cn the Echinus
and of the fry. Some of the ova were taken out of one of the
masses, from these they escaped and immediately whirled
about by the long cilia on the three lobes protruding from the
nautiloid shells they were contained in. They were very
much like the young of the Nudibranchie. Although this
interesting shell is far from common, it is pretty generally
found in our seas. He also mentioned Tvrochus helicinus for
its beauty, the animal having long, slender, flexible, and con-
tractile ciliated tentacles, six appendages on each side all
ciliated, its lobed mouth, two pairs of eyes, and minute, pretty
formed shell, as making it altogether a beautiful object for the
microscope. He added to the interest of the exhibition by
introducing two species of Dentaliwm like shells, both new to
the British seas, which Mr Jeffreys had dredged off Shetland,
viz., Siphonodentaliwm Lofotense and Cadulus subfusiforme.
Both were previously known in Norway.

V. Mr THomas Hope exhibited a female specimen of the
Iceland gull (Larus Islandicus), shot between Leith and Porto-
bello, on March 1, 1875.

;
a
2
&

Mr John Hunter on Analysis of Feeding Stuffs. 61

Wednesday, 21st April 1875.—Davip Grigve, Esq., President, in the Chair.

The following donations were laid on the table, and thanks voted to the
donors :

1. Proceedings of the Royal Society, No. 159, Vol. XXIII.—From the
Society. 2. Arinnal Report of the Geologists’ Association, 1874.—From the
Association. 3. Eighth Annual Report of the Perthshire Society of Natural
Science.—From the Society. 4. Report of the St Petersburg Botanic Garden
(in Russian).—From the Director.

The following Committees were appointed for the summer:

Entomology: Messrs George Logan, W.S., R. Scot-Skirving, Andrew Wilson,
J. Gibson, and Dr F. W. Lyon; Convener: Mr R. F. Logan. Marine Zoology:
Dr M‘Bain, R.N., Professor Turner, Dr Traquair, the Rev. Professor Duns, D.D.,
Dr Strethill-Wright, Dr Lyon, and Messrs R. F. Logan, A. Wilson, C. W.
Peach, James Anderson, Andrew S. Melville, and Robert Gray; Convener: Dr
Robert Brown. Geology: Dr M‘Bain, R.N., Professor Duns, Dr R. Brown,
and Messrs David Grieve and Andrew Taylor; Convener: Mr C. W. Peach;
Vice-Convener: Mr D. J. Brown.

The following communications were made:

I. Notes on the Analysis of Feeding Stuffs, with special refer-
ence to an improvement upon the Method in general use
for Separation of Indigestible (or Woody) Fibre. By
JOHN Hunter, Esq., City Analyst’s Laboratory.

In these notes which I now lay before the Society, I will
first briefly describe the process I use for the estimation of
woody or indigestible fibre; after which I will give a few
of the reasons which have actuated me in so doing.

The process which, so far as I am aware, has been com-
monly adopted for this purpose, consists in alternately treating
a known quantity of the substance being examined, with sodium
or potassium hydrate, and sulphuric acid (with, of course, the
requisite washings after each), first in a cold solution, and
next in a warm solution, necessitating in all at least twelve
different digestions and washings. The obstinacy attending

the subsidation of the undissolved matter (subsidation and

decantation being of course the means adopted for the re-
moval of the dissolved matter) was so great in most cases as
to render it impossible to obtain anything like a correct result
within a week. In the analysis of feeding material, one of
the most important operations is the determination of the

amount of oil present ; and it is in the taking advantage of

this operation that my improvement consists, 7.¢., that portion
VOL. IV. H

62 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

of the substance under examination from which the oil has
been removed in its estimation, I at once treat with a hot
solution of sodium or potassium hydrate, and then with hot
sulphuric acid (with the necessary washings after each), thus
obviating entirely the digestion in the cold, which, as will
be easily understood with a material containing consider-
able proportions of oil and albumen, was a tedious operation
indeed.

By this process the determination of oil and fibre in a
linseed or cotton cake, or any such substance, can be easily
accomplished in one day, and, as I have already said, it was
wont to occupy at least six; thus a great saving of time is
effected, and, what is of still greater value, more trustworthy
results are, in my opinion, obtainable.

The following observations are made in the hope that they

may be brought under the notice of some of our agriculturists,
because there are a few points in regard to feeding stuffs on
which many farmers are at present misled. It is not un-
common for some chemists to “slump together” in their
reports starch, sugar, woody fibre, etc., which is a very con-
venient mode indeed; but why not indicate by name merely
all of the supposed constituents, and then state the 100 ?
Such a system is simply absurd, and ought not to be tolerated.
If all the constituents of a feeding cake are in normal pro-
portion, all is well; but if, on the other hand, the woody fibre
present be excessive, then, however rich the material may
otherwise be, the feeding and fattening ingredients are more
than neutralised by the indigestible matter. I might give
numerous instances in proof of this statement, but suffice it
to say I have known of death resulting to young cattle from
their having been fed upon a material such as I have indicated.

I came in contact recently with an agriculturist (a man of
considerable intelligence), who, in common with many others,
had been taught to believe that in forming an opinion of a
feeding stuff from an analysis (such as he until recently was
accustomed seeing), the only things of importance to be ob-
served were the percentages of oil and albuminous compounds.
Whether it be the getting over the woody-fibre difficulty, or
one still less excusable, there is not the least doubt that there

ss Sh ee eee ee a

ts — eee ee ee

0 ee

Geological Notes. 63

are some establishments where analyses have been manu-
factured wholesale without any apparent regard for accuracy
save in the mechanical operation of writing the report. But
great as has been the extent to which these conditions have
obtained, they have at last received a check, not perhaps so
much from any great strides chemical science may have re-
cently made, as, I believe, from the higher education of the
rising generation of farmers.

II. Mr Rosert ETHERIDGE, Jun., F.G.S., Paleontologist to
the Geological Survey of Scotland, exhibited specimens of
bitumen from the Bathgate limestone at Galabraes Quarry,
near Bathgate, consisting of—(1.) Fragments of white lme-
stone, containing small cavities filled with bitumen; (2.) Speci-
mens of the carbonifercus coral (Lithostrotion basaltiforme,
Con. and Phil.), showing the various cavities of the coral filled
with a bituminous substance. The specimens were collected
by Mr James Bennie.

IiI. Mr Peacu exhibited bitumen enclosed in shattered
masses of rock, from a quarry of old red sandstone, near
Thurso East, Caithness, N.B. He remarked that the fissure
in the specimen was six inches in length, two and a half in
depth, and one inch across, and completely filled with bitumen,
which had cemented the shattered pieces together, and looked
like dirty pitch. It burns freely, and gives out black smoke,
with heavy, unpleasant fish-like smell. He also stated that
although bitumen was far from rare in Caithness rocks, he
had never before seen it in such abundance as at Thurso East.

IV. Dr Ropert Browy, Secretary, concluded the business of
the session with some remarks on the scientific aims of the new
Arctic Expedition, which is expected to sail from Portsmouth
towards the end of May. Its main scientific aims were not
merely to discover that point of the globe known as the
North Pole—a spot in no way differing from the world of
waters or the dreary wastes around, and only remarkable in
so far that it is here that the sun’s altitude is equal to its de-
clination. What the expedition will endeavour to accomplish

64 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

is the exploration of part of the nearly 24 millions of square
miles of unknown lands and waters surrounding the Pole,
and to add to our knowledge of the animals, plants, geology,
and meteorological, maegnetical, and other physical phenomena
of that unexplored region of the Northern Seas. Some parti-
culars were given regarding the blanks in our knowledge,
which the researches of the scientific men attached to the
expedition might be expected to fill up. We could not,
however, be too careful to moderate our expectations of. the
ereatness of these results; for though everything would be
done that skill, courage, and forethought could devise, yet
the best arranged plans were checked and controlled by a
thousand circumstances which could not be foreseen or pro-
vided against in seas so unknown, and where navigation was
so much at the beck of the ice-floes. In the Arctic regions
the navigator learned, by the schooling of many disappoint-
ments, how most truly “On earth there is nothing certain
unless that nothing is certain.” On the motion of Professor
Duns, the meeting recorded-its thanks to Dr Brown for his
address ; and after a few observations by the President on the
work of the past session, the Society adjourned to the third
Wednesday in November.

el a ae) ae ae ed

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

ROYAL PHYSICAL SOCIETY.

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTH SESSION, 1875-76.

Wednesday, 17th November 1875.—Dr Joun ALEX. Smiru, President,
in the Chair.

The following donations to the Library were received, and thanks voted to
the donors :

1. Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, Vol. IX., Parts 1, 2,
3, and 4. 2. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1874, 1875.
3. Revised List of the Animals in the Gardens of the Zoological Society, 1875.
—From the Society. 4. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Nos.
160, 161, 162, and 163.—From the Society. 5. Journal of the Linnean
Society : Botany, Vol. XV., Nos. 77, 80, and 81; Zoology, Vol. XII., No.
64.—From the Society. 6. Proceedings of the Philosophical Society of
Glasgow, 1874-1875.—From the Society. 7. Transactions of the Manchester
Geological Society, Vol. XIII., Parts 9 and 10. 8. Catalogue of the Library

of the Society.—From the Society. 9. Memoirs of the Boston Society of

Natural History, Nos. 1, 3, 4, and 5. 10. Proceedings of the Boston Society
of Natural History, Vol. XV., Parts1 and 2. 11. Jeffries Wyman Memorial
Meeting.—From the Society. 12. Proceedings of the Academy of the Phila-
delphia Academy of Natural Sciences, Parts 1, 2, and 3. 13. United States
Geological and Geographical Survey of Colorado, 1873.—From Professor
Hayden. 14. Report of the United States Geological Survey of the Territories,
Vol. VI.—From Professor Hayden. 15. Smithsonian Institution Report for
1873.—From the Institution. 16. Verhandlungen der K. K. Zool.-bot. Gesells-
chaft in Wien Band, XXIV., 1874.—From the Society. 17. Oversigt over
det Kongl. Danske Vidensk. Selskab., 1874, No. 2.—¥rom the Academy.
18. Verhand. der Verein fiir Erdkunde zu Dresden, 1875.—From the Society.
19. Canadian Journal, Vol. XIV., No. 5.—From the Canadian Institute.
20. La Spia Sismica, 1875.—From the Author (Jacopo Mensini). 21. Pro-
ceedings of the Geologists’ Association, Vol. 1V., Nos. 2 and 3.—From the
Association. 22. Report of the Visitors to the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh.
—From Professor Piazzi Smyth. 28. Sixty-fourth Report of the Swedenbor-
gian Society, 1875.—From the Society. 24. ‘‘ Since I was a Student,” by
Charles Scott, Advocate, 1875.—From the Author ; various Natural History
Book Catalogues from the Publishers.

I. Dr Ropert Browy, in the absence of Mr Scor-SKIRvING,

the retiring President, then gave an address on the Arctic
VOL. IV. I

~

66 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

Explorations of the past summer, explaining by maps and
diagrams: (1.) The Course of Proceedings of the “Alert” and
“Discovery,” up to the last news received from the ships; (2.)
The Voyage of H.M.S. “Valorous;” (3.) The- Voyage of
Captain Allen Young’s yacht “Pandora;” (4.) The Voyage
of the Swedish Expedition in the “ Proven,” under the com-
-mand of M. Nordenskjéld, to the Yenesei River; (5.) The
Cruises of some of the Walrus Hunters in the Spitzbergen and
Kara Seas; (6.) The Route of the English Whalers.

. On the motion of the President, the thanks of the Meeting
were awarded to Dr Brown for his address.

II. Dr J. A. Suite exhibited, in illustration of Dr Brown's
address, a number of rocks (sandstone, syenite, basalt, etc.)
from the Arctic regions, and minerals (mica slate, with
garnets, felspar and quartz crystals, white zeolite, aptatite,
Healandite, amber-coloured carbonate of lime, etc.), brought
in 1866, from Godhavn, Disco Island, North Greenland, by
Dr T. Graham Kerr, now of Ballarat, Australia.

IIl.—Ornithological Notes. By JouN ALEX. SmitH, M.D.

(SPECIMENS EXHIBITED.)

1. Pernis apivorus—Honey Buzzard.—A fine specimen
of an old male, shot at Kilberry, Argyleshire, on the 20th
September. The proventriculus and stomach contained a
number of wasps, not the larve, but the perfect insect. This
season has been especially a fine one in the West Highlands,
fruit abundant, and wasps have indeed been abundant
everywhere. In this old bird shows the lighter tints of the
head, and especially of the neck (which is light buff), are
very distinct. The young birds are darker in colour. Mr J.
Keddie informs me he had once an opportunity of examining
some young birds almost from the nest, and they were of a
nearly uniform dark-brown colour. The bird is one of our
well-known, rather rare, occasional summer or autumn visitors.

2. Buteo lagopus—Rough-legged Buzzard.—This bird is
also one of our occasional autumn or winter visitors, oc-
curring, however, much more frequently than the Honey

hee Un) ee thee
7 “+

Dr Smnith’s Ornithological Notes. 67

Buzzard. This autumn, numerous specimens have been
taken in the eastern districts of Scotland. Through the
kindness of Mr Sanderson, bird-stuffer, who has also sent the
Honey Buzzard, I am able to exhibit a fine specimen of a
male bird, shot at Coldingham on the 29th October, the
property of Mr Mason; and also an old female, which is always
slightly larger than the male, the property of the Earl of
Strathmore, shot near Glammis Castle on the 1st November.
The male bird is rather lghter in colour than the female,
the white at the root of the tail being brighter in plumage than
in the female ; each of course have the dark-brown abdomen.

Mr Small, bird-stuffer, has kindly sent, at my request,
several specimens of the Rough-legged Buzzard—a fine male
killed near Largo, on the 27th October; a female got near
Selkirk, also on the 27th October; a female taken near
Haddington, on the 8th November, the property of Lord
Walden, and another, a male also, killed on the 9th Novem-
ber, near Lockerbie. Three specimens of the Rough-legged
Buzzard were also taken about the same time, in the
Pentland range of hills, and other two were stated to have
been seen in the same district, but were not captured.

Mr D. Carfrae has sent a Rough-legged Buzzard, shot
about the 29th October, by Mr Cochrane, gamekeeper at Lud-
gate, near Stow, Edinburghshire. I am sorry to say many of
these birds were taken in traps baited with rabbits.

We have thus had a most unusual abundance of this bird
this season, due, I believe, to the prevalence of easterly gales
at the time of their southerly migration on the Continent,
carrying the birds over to our eastern shores.

Mr M. Sanderson sends for comparison, a fine specimen of
the Buteo vulgaris, the Common Buzzard, killed in the island
of Mull, in the middle of October, and Mr M. S. Keddie has,
at my request, sent the bones of the sternum of each of
these three different Buzzards, which are interesting for com-
parison, and show the differences between the species.

_ 3. Falco peregrinus—Perecrine Falcon—Mr Small has
also sent a very fine specimen of this beautiful bird, a female,
recently killed near Inveraray.

4, Otus brachyotus—Short-eared Owl.—F rom asimilar cause,

68 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

I believe, the prevalence of easterly gales, we have also had an
unusual number of captures of the Short-eared Owl

It is one of our resident birds, but a great addition to its
numbers occasionally takes place in autumn, and this year
especially so. Mr Small tells me he has had no fewer than-
fifteen specimens recently sent to him, both males and females,
in the month of October and the beginning of November. Two
were from North Berwick, one from near Heriot, another from
Liberton, one from Humbie, and others from Saughton-
mains, near Edinburgh, Lasswade and Stranraer: these are
a few of the instances, to show the localities where they were
got. Mr Small exhibits one or two specimens. Messrs
Sanderson and J. Keddie also send a pair of these owls, a male
shot near Musselburgh on the 6th October, and a female near
Edinburgh on the 21st October. These birds show well the
general lighter colour of the old male, and the darker and
more yellow colour of the larger female bird.

Mr D. Carfrae tells me he has also had some four speci-
mens of these Short-eared Owls from this neighbourhood in
the end of October and beginning of November.

6. Podiceps awritus—The Eared Grebe.—The last birds I
have to notice are a pair of the Eared Grebes, sent for inspec-
tion by Mr D. Carfrae. They were- shot by Mr Taylor, in
Donnibristle Bay on the Firth, in the beginning of last De-
cember. These birds have been generally considered very
rare in this neighbourhood—Mr Macgillivray indeed in his
“British Birds,” says, he has very seldom met with it in
Scotland. JI had the pleasure of exhibiting to the Society
one got near Cramond some thirteen years ago, and I find our
esteemed member, Mr Robert Gray, in his very valuable work
on the “Birds of the West of Scotland”—which, however,
includes a great deal of important information on the birds
of the whole of Scotland—has pointed out that this bird is not
so very uncommon a visitant on the shores of East Lothian.

It has been overlooked by collectors, who have not noticed
the difference between it and the other small species of Grebe;
though it is easily distinguished by its small size, and the
upturned character of its bill.

My Scot-Skirving on the Natural History of Islay. 69

Wednesday, 15th December 1875.—Davip GRIEVE, Esq., President, in the
Chair.

The following gentlemen were balloted for, and elected Office-Bearers of the
Society, the names in J¢talics being those of the Office-Bearers elected in room
of those who retire this Session :

Presidents.—John Alexander Smith, M.D.; David Grieve, Esq.; John
Falconer King, Esq.

Counciit.—A. B. Herbert, Esq.; Ramsay H. Traquair, M.D.; Jas. M‘Bain,
M.D., R.N.; Wm. Durham, Esq.; Professor Duns, D.D.; R. Scot-Skirving,
Esq. .

Treasurer.—E. W. Dallas, Esq.

Assistant-Secretary.—John Gibson, Esq.

Library Committee.—James M‘Bain, M.D.; Thomas Robertson, Esq.;
R. F. Logan, Esq.; Robert Gray, Esg.; F. W. Lyon, M.D.; James Anderson,
Esq.

The following gentlemen were balloted for, and elected Members of the
Society :

Resident Members.—Dr Andrew Wilson, Lecturer on Zoology in the School
of Arts, and in the Extra-Academical Medical School; and James Pryde, Esq.,
Lecturer on Mathematics, in the School of Arts. Corresponding Member.—
John Macdonald, Esq., S.S.C., H.M. Register House.

The following donations were laid on the table, and thanks voted to the
donors :

1. Proceedings of the Linnean Society, for Session 1874-75. 2. Presidential
Address of the Linnean Society, and Obituary Notices. 3. List of the
Linnean Society, 1875. 4. Additions to the Library of the Linnean Society,
from 20th June 1874 to 19th June 1875.— From the Society. 5. Transactions
of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts, Vol. VIII., Part V., Vol. IX., Parts I.
and II.—From the Society. 6. Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical
Society of Liverpool, Session 1874-75, No. XXIX.—From the Society.

The following communications were read :

1—The Natural History of Islay. By R. Scot-SK1RvVING, Esq.

In the commencement of his paper, which was the address
he proposed to have delivered at last meeting, as retiring
President, could he have been present, Mr Scot-Skirving
began by remarking that the first thing that struck a stranger
on landing in Islay, in spring or early summer, was its extreme
greenness, and that, even more than Ireland, it might merit
the appellation of the “Emerald Isle.” It was only, he said,
after people had travelled in warmer countries that they
learned fully to appreciate the charm of the bright, green,
fresh turf of the British Isles. Many persons held erroneous
ideas as to the nature of the climate of Islay and other members
of the Hebridean group, as they attributed the excessive rain-

fall of some of them to the whole. They. thought that as
VOL. IV. 4 K

70 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

Glasgow was wetter than Edinburgh, and that unfortunate
place Greenock was worse off than Glasgow, things got worse
and worse, till they reached a climax in the Hebrides. But
the fact was they counted too much on longitude and latitude,
and too little on the topographical configuration of the ground,
and thus it was that while some portions of Skye, for example,
were deluged by a rainfall of no less than 148 inches, another
island (Tyree) had only 36 inches of rain. As regarded
Islay, the rainfall on an average of eight years was 483 inches,
which was 14 inches less than Greenock. But this gave no
idea of the dryness of Islay during midsummer, as in June
there was only 1°86 inches of rain, against 2°49 in Edinburgh.
October, however, was a bad month in Islay, the equinoctial
gales being strong and the rainfall excessive. After giving a
general sketch of the geological structure of Islay, which
consisted chiefly of gneiss, micaceous schists, trap, and mica-
slate, traversed by several very remarkable greenstone dykes,
Mr Skirving, in touching on the botany of the island, recom-
mended a large increase of plantation, as the existing trees
proved that it was quite possible to grow timber.

Speaking of plants and shrubs, he showed that several of
these, both wild and cultivated, attained extraordinary dimen-
sions. As regards the former, the common whin, the honey-
suckle, and the blackberry were developed in a manner
unknown on the mainland, the whin having burst into
brilliant bloom in October, and was only checked by a
sharp frost on the 9th November. In the gardens, all ever-
greens attained stately proportions, especially the rhododendron
and the hydrangea—the great blossoms of the latter remaining
in full beauty till the frost of 9th November. The fuchsia
also was gigantic, one plant being 66 feet in circumference
and 18 feet high. This plant was covered with blossom,
which quite withstood the November frost. Among ferns,
which were numerous, the Royal (Osmunda regalis) attracts
chief notice.

Taking man as the foremost of the animals, Mr Skirving
said he saw no cause to join in the jeremiads that were con-
stantly raised by sentimental persons on account of the de-
population of the Western Highlands. Islay once contained

‘weenie hd

Mr Scot-Skirving on the Natural History of Islay. 71

20,000 inhabitants; it now contains only 8000; while every-
where one sees the traces of tillage where the plough has now
given place to the sheep-walk. But if corn could be got
cheaper from our own colonies, why should it not be brought
from thence? The people, on going to our towns at home, or
colonies abroad, at once rise in the social scale. At home,
they lived in dark, dismal, ruinous hovels, standing in the
midst of lakes of sewage and filth unutterable. They seemed
lazy, listless, hopeless, and helpless in their native sties—for
he could not call them houses—but transplant them, and
teach them to speak a civilised language, and they quickly
showed they were every whit as good in sinew and brain as
any of their fellow-subjects. Let sentimentalists say what
they liked, the Gaelic language was mainly responsible for
this state of matters, and its extinction as a spoken tongue

- was a consummation devoutly to be wished. With all

deference to Professor Blackie, and without any reference to
the establishment of a Celtic chair, as.an aid to philological
research, we had here a people speaking nothing but Gaelic,
and whom we could not instruct, because we could not speak
their language.

As regarded animals in general, cies were naturally few
species in a small island, and the fox, badger, wild-cat, martin,
polecat, hedgehog, mole, and squirrel were all wanting.
Neither were there any weasels, which was the more remark-
able as the stoat was only too abundant. Most of the other
quadrupeds of Britain were present in Islay.

As regarded birds, all the varieties of game were plentiful
except the capercailzie and the ptarmigan. It had been said
that the pheasant could not really exist in a thoroughly wild
state in Scotland, as it required grain in continued winter
storms; but in Islay the pheasant throve without grain, and
was found on the wildest moors and mosses, living on wild
seeds and insects. There had never been grouse disease in
Islay, and it was to be remarked that the heather, which
forms almost the entire food of the grouse, is also most healthy
and vigorous. The birds were very tame and not given to
packing; they are also rarely seen in stubble. Mr Skirving
ridiculed as absurd the idea that grouse disease had been

72 Proceedings- of the Royal Physical Society.

caused by overstocking. Mr Skirving next noticed as a re-
markable fact the absence of several species of birds, though
the soil and climate seemed peculiarly adapted for them,
which was proved by their congeners, the rest of the families,
being abundantly present. Thus, every variety of the thrush
was found in extraordinary numbers, with the single excep-
tion of the ring ouzel (Twrdus torquatus), which was totally
absent. The common sparrow and green linnet were also
scarce. The merlin and kestrel occur, the former being
somewhat plentiful, and the latter scarce. The hen-harrier,
a rare hawk on the mainland, came in considerable numbers
to Islay in August as a migrant—the males appearing in
August, and the females in September. Mr Skirving believed
that the hen-harrier, like most hawks, preferred small birds,
rats, and mice, to game; he had seen it hunt over stubbles
that were dotted with black-game, pheasants, and partridges,
and take not the slightest notice of any of them. Among
other Islay birds which occasionally oceur were the snowy owl
(Surnia nyctea), osprey (Pandion halicetus), and the bittern
(Botaurus stellaris). The sparrow-hawk is resident. The
chough is still found in some numbers, though subjected to
much persecution on account of an increasing demand for
the skins by dealers in natural history specimens. The
rook is also a common permanent resident. The hooded crow
is migratory. The house swallow is common. The land-rail
is very common. White-fronted geese, bernicle and brent
geese, are abundant; of wild swans 7 to 70 having been seen
in separate flocks during the present winter; teal ducks (resi-
dent and breeding), etc., are also to be classed in the Islay
avi-fauna. Mr Robert Gray, to whom the author acknow-
ledged his obligations for notes on the birds not observed by
him, also remarked that eagles were still occasionally seen in
Islay, and that among other interesting birds the Greenland
falcon has occurred in the island.

Professor BLACKIE made some remarks, in which he vigor-

ously defended the Highlanders from the strictures of Mr _

Scot-Skirving, attributing their present condition chiefly to—
(1.) The geographical remoteness of the Gaelic-speaking

Mr Herbert on the Nesting of the Tufted Duck. 73

countries; (2.) The badness of their climate; and (3.) The
want of social and economic wisdom in the upper and
middle classes, the former owners of the soil, and their
immediate dependants ; and not to the Gaelic language, the
possession of the latter tongue in addition to English being,
in his opinion, to the advantage rather than otherwise of the
people.

The thanks of the Society were, on the motion of Professor
Duns, awarded to Mr Scot-Skirving for his able and sug-
gestive address, and for his services during the term he had
occupied the office of President.

Il.—WNote on the Nesting of the Tufted Duck (Fuligula cristata)
in Scotland. By A. B. HERBERT, Esq.

(SPECIMEN EXHIBITED.)

On the 29th May last a duck’s nest was discovered by
some Members of this Society on a rocky island in an inland
lake in Fifeshire. It contained ten eggs, and the duck was
seen rising from the nest as the party approached the island.
The eggs and nest, the latter composed of coarse grass, were
brought to me the same evening, and I immediately placed
them under a hen. From the fact of the nest containing
very little down, and the eggs being of a dirty cream colour,
I at once concluded that the nest was not that of a common
wild duck (Anas boschas). The young birds were hatched in
exactly twenty-one days, and were almost black. Every care
was taken of the brood, but the weather at the time being
cold and wet, five of the ducklings died very soon. The re-
maining five lived, and were strong and healthy. They were
fed chiefly upon greaves and soaked bread, which, however,
they would only take when thrown into the water. In about
three weeks they were able to devour worms which I occa-
sionally gave them; they then became exceedingly tame,
came to my call, and followed me about the garden when
they saw me with a spade. Their progress was watched with
much interest by Dr M‘Bain and myself; and as they acquired

74 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Soctety.

their plumage we were soon able to identify them as Tufted
Ducks.

Of the five reared, two were drakes and three were ducks;
one of the five died when about three months old, and
the others gradually acquired the use of their wings, and
would fly after me along the garden when called, until

one stormy day two of them rose in the air and were, I

believe, carried out to sea, as I saw them no more. Another,
a drake, afterwards wandered away and was lost; and the
only remaining one, a female, I now exhibit alive to the
Society. I much regret the loss of the drake, as I hoped to
have had them to breed in confinement, and I have a strong
impression that they might be perfectly domesticated. I
am now endeavouring to procure from the London dealers
a live drake, if possible. Some years ago I reared wild
ducks from eggs, and the third generation were as tame as
ordinary ducks; they would occasionally take a long flight,
but always retained the animus revertendi and well knew
their home.

Bewick, in speaking of the Tufted Duck, states that the
female has no crest, and that the flesh is excellent as an
article of food. Yarrell, on the contrary, states, that he has
seen an old female having some elongation of the occipital
feathers, but from the specimen before us, you see that Yarrell
is right, as the tuft is quite apparent, though not much
developed.

Yarrell also remarks that they have bred in the Zoological
Gardens, London. Our late member, Dr Saxby, says, that in
Shetland they are never common, and so shy that they are
seldom shot; while Thompson speaks of them in Ireland as
only known as winter visitants.

I may mention that in the [bis for October last, Mr A. B.
Brooke has recorded the occurrence of two fine broods—eight
birds in each—in Butterston Loch, Perthshire, in July 1875,
so that in addition to the instance given by Yarrell (B. B.,
3d ed., vol. iii., p. 354), the present is the third authentic
record of the Tufted Duck having bred in this country.

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Mr King on Spontaneous Combustion.

Wednesduy, 19th January 1876.—JoHN FALooner Kine, Esq., President,
in the Chair.

The following gentlemen were balloted for, and duly elected:

Librarian.—The Rev. James Kennedy, M.A., B.D., 17 Melville Terrace ;
Resident Member.—W. P. Bruce, Esq., 18 Athole Crescent ; Non-Resident
Member.—John A. Harvie-Brown, Esq., Dunipace House, Falkirk.

The following donations to the Library were laid on the table, and thanks
voted to the donors:

1. Transactions of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club, 1874.—From the
Club. 2. Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Glasgow, Vol. II.,
Part I., 1875.—From the Society. 3. Proceedings of the Philosophical Society
of Glasgow, 1875, pp. 1-24. 4. ‘‘Trude” of the Botanical Garden of St
Petersburg, December 1875.—From the Director. 5. Nova Acta Regie So-
cietatis Scientiarum Upsaliensis Ser. tert., Vol. IX., Fas. II., 1875. 6.
Bulletin Meteorologique Mensuel de l’Observatoire de l’Université de Upsal,
Vol. VI., Année 1874.—From the Academy. 7. Oversigt over det Kongelige
Danske Vidensk. Selskabs Forhandlinger, 1875, Nos. I. and III.—From the
Academy. 8. Videnskabelige Meddelelser fra Naturhistoriske Forening 1
Kjébenhavn for Aaret, 1874.—From the Society. 9. XII. Jahresbericht des
Vereins fiir Erdkunde zu Dresden, 1875.—From the Society. 10. Report of
the Medical and Surgical Registrars of the Middlesex Hospital, 1874.—From
the Council of the Hospital. 11. Proceedings of the Royal Society, Vol.
XXIV., No. 164.—From the Society. 12. Proceedings of the Geologists’
Association, Vol. IV., Nos. 4 and 5.—From the Association. 13. Canadian
Journal, Dec., 1875.—From the Canadian Institute.

The following communications were read :

I— Note on Spontaneous Combustion. By J. FALCONER KING,
Esq., City Analyst, Lecturer on Chemistry in the Extra-
Academical Medical School.

The first case of what is generally known as spontaneous
combustion to which my attention was called (in the course
of last summer) was one in which an immense heap—of
many thousand tons—of a waste material from an ironstone
pit had caught fire, and at the time of my investigation—now
some months ago—was burning fiercely, and is, 1 believe,
still in an active state of combustion, all attempts to extin-
guish the fire having proved fruitless. This mineral had been
allowed to accumulate for some years, and for a considerable
period it evinced no sign of any change taking place till one
day (somewhere about two years ago) smoke was seen to
issue from near the centre of the mass. From that time the
fire made great progress, all efforts, as I have said, to ex-

tinguish it having proved ineffectual. The interesting feature
VOL. TV. L

76 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Soctety.

in this instance of spontaneous combustion is the uninflam-
mable nature of this mineral. I put a piece of it in the
midst of a strong furnace in full blast, and yet it would
hardly inflame. Following up my investigations, I made an
analysis of the mineral, which showed that it contained a
considerable proportion of iron sulphide, with some carbona-
ceous matter, which substances becoming oxidised by the in-
fluence of air and moisture, had produced heat sufficient to
inflame the mass. I produce a small portion of the mineral
which has been subjected to the heat of the furnace, from
the appearance of which you may form an estimate of the
amount of heat which would be necessary to set the mineral
on fire.

The second instance occurred in a railway waggon, and the
material which inflamed was woollen yarn. I am aware that
cotton waste, etc., has been known to catch fire, and in fact
is an easily ignitible substance, but this woollen yarn is by
no means of this nature. I put a piece of red-hot iron into
a bundle of it, and this caused a slight singeing, but nothing
more; and even when the yarn was set on fire by being held
in the centre of a flame, it did not, as a rule, continue to
burn—all signs of burning disappearing shortly after the
source of heat was removed, and yet there is no doubt this
material ignited spontaneously. When I first saw it, it was
lying in a railway truck deluged with water. It had ignited
some hours previous to my visit, and in order to extinguish
the fire the contents of the truck had been subjected to a
flood of water obtained from the hydrants used for replenish-
ing the water cisterns of the locomotives. After carefully
mspecting the half-burned bales, I ordered them to be covered
up again until I got an analytical examination of the yarn
made. In the course of the next day or two, although de-
luged with water, it again threatened to ignite. The chemical
examination of this material revealed the presence of a small
proportion of fatty matter, which, by becoming oxidised, had
produced, I have little doubt, the heat—ereat as it must have
been—which caused the conflagration.

I hope again to renew my experiments on this subject, the
result of which will be communicated to the Society. Espe-

.
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replat se caliente wate et a OR NANA

Mr Pryde on the Motion of the Sea. 77

cially I intend to turn my attention to the investigation of —
the liability of different kinds of oil to ignite spontaneously,
and also to the behaviour of the same oil under different
circumstances. Insurance companies, I believe, at present
make a different charge for insuring premises in which one
kind of oil is used from that which they make in the case
of certain others, this difference in rate being regulated, I
understand, by the supposed greater facility with which cer-
tain kinds of oil will ignite spontaneously. Whether these
peculiar rates are merely arbitrary, or are founded on some
proper basis, I am not aware; but it appears to me—if my
information as to their charges is correct—that they are at
present rating exactly in an opposite way from what they
should do. Until my investigations are further advanced, I
cannot, however, speak with confidence on this subject.

Il.—On the Motion of the Sea, arising from the rotation of the
Earth on its axis, and the difference of the force of gravity,
on particles of equal ntagnitude, at the surface and at the
bottom of the Sea... By JAMES PryDE, Esq., Lecturer on
Mathematics in the Watt Institution and School of Arts.

Mr Pryde stated, that on reading the various theories which
endeavour to account for these motions, he had been led to
ask the following questions: Is there any reason to suppose
that the under-currents of water which are known to flow at
the bottom of the sea towards the equator, and the surface

currents such as the Gulf Stream, which flow from the equator

to the poles, have anything to do with the rotation of the
earth on its axis, combined with the difference of the force of
eravity at the surface and bottom of the sea, caused by the
mass of the earth being much greater than a globe of water of
equal bulk, and the additional density of water at great depths
caused by its compressibility ?

After performing many calculations founded on known
physical laws, tabulating the results, and applying these to
the subject of inquiry, he became satisfied that these motions
of the sea are as necessary consequences of the physical con-
stitution of the earth as the tides or any other physical phe-

78 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

nomenon; and was thus led to investigate the three following
physical problems: /%rst, What is the density of the remaining
globe, after a shell of water of given thickness is taken away ?
Second, What is the force of gravity at the surface of this
remaining sphere? Third, What is the force tending to the
equator at the surfaces of each of these remaining spheres ?
Having obtained these results, he showed that their necessary
consequence was a continuous flow of the waters at the bottom
of the sea towards the equator, and of those at the surface to
the poles.

To find the density of the remaining globe after a shell of
water of given thickness is taken away, he assumed the
following as established facts, the specific gravity of water is
1, and that of the whole earth including the water on its
surface is 5°67. Then assuming 7 = the mean radius of the
earth and z = the thickness of the shell, r and « being both
expressed in fathoms, or both in miles, he deduced the follow-
ing formula:

Density of remainder = r* x $7 x 5°67 — {r?—(r—a)®} $7X1
(r—“)> x $a
=r? x 467 +(r —a)®

(na e)*
1 as al

i x 467 +1 (4)

The results from this formula give for v = 2000 fathoms
dz = 5°678056, for <= 4000 fathoms d,= 5686134, and for
x = '7000 fathoms d, = 5698283; thus showing that at 7000
fathoms the density has increased by a 200th part of itself.

He next showed that if gy, represent the force of gravity at
x fathoms or miles below the surface, its force can be calcu-
lated from the formula :

92 =~, (r—2) dz = 000001631214 (r—z) d, for r and @ in

fathoms. The results of this formula, for « = 2000 fathoms
gives gy = 32°22723, for « = 4000 gives g, = 3225451, and
for « = '7000 fathoms gives g, = 32°29554—which shows that
at the depth of 7000 fathoms the force of gravity nie in-
creased by one 337th part of itself.

Mr Pryde on the Motion of the Sea. 79

In order to find the pressure at the surface of each of the
remaining spheres, from the poles towards the equator, he
proved that we must use the formula:
oa TED x 7 (000793) = the force sought where 7 must
be = the feet in the radius of the sphere, / = the latitude of
the place, and f = the hundreds of fathoms in the depth of
the sea. From this formula he deduced that at the depth of
2000 fathoms the force = ‘0564412 sin 2/ at 4000 fathoms
the force = °0573588 sin 2/7, and at 7000 fathoms the force
= 0587636 sin 21, while at the surface of the earth it =
0555381 sin 21. This shows that at a depth of 7000 fathoms
the force had increased by about a 17th part of itself.

Having thus proved that the pressures towards the equator
were greater at the bottom of the sea than at the surface, and
the greater the depth the pressure increased the more rapidly,
he supposed a column of water reaching from the surface to
the bottom of the sea, and represented it by the line A B,
where

A is the surface and B the bottom of the sea; he supposed
forces applied at A and B each equal to the force acting
at C, the middle of the column; then since the force at A
would be too great, and that at B too small, he applied a force
x in the opposite direction, at A, to reduce it to the true force ;
and also a force x at B in the same direction to increase it to
the true force acting there; then applying two forces at C,
each equal to the former forces, he found that the four forces
marked 1 were in equilibrium, and might therefore be re-
moved, and there only remained the two forces marked z
acting in opposite directions, forming a couple, which must
therefore cause the point B to approach towards the equator,
and the point A to approach towards the pole; thus proving

80 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

the necessity for the water at the bottom of the sea to move
towards the equator, and that at the surface towards the pole.
He also illustrated the subject by supposing pipes of equal
bore lying along the bottom and surface of the sea, and
joined by vertical pipes at the poles and the equator, and
showed that the forces formerly proved would cause the water
to descend at the pole and ascend at the equator, and thus,
with the motion formerly proved, would constitute a continu-
ous circular motion.

He then calculated the amount of velocity the water would
acquire towards the equator at a depth of 4000 fathoms,
acting without interruption from 46° to 44° of latitude, and
found it would acquire a velocity of 15 miles per hour at the
bottom, or 74 miles per hour of the lower half of the water ;
then allowing all the forces at other parts to be destroyed by
resistances, he concluded that the two forces from opposite
poles would produce a westward motion of the waters along
the equator of about 84 miles a day, two-thirds of which
would be driven into the Gulf of Mexico, from which they
could only escape by the Straits of Florida, from which they
rush out, forming the origin of the Gulf Stream. This stream
would then proceed towards the north by virtue of its original
inertia, and the force « acting upon it, and towards the east
by means of the decreasing distance between the meridians,
and would thus ultimately have a north-easterly direction,
which causes it to pass along the west coast of Northern
Europe. |

He then ventured to predict that should the North Polar
Expedition ever reach the pole, they will find it land, a mass
of ice, or a whirlpool. Mr Pryde concluded by saying: “I
have purposely avoided any direct attack on any of the
theories formerly advanced. I have simply endeavoured to
establish my own position by applying well-known physical
and mathematical principles to an important problem which
has been until now overlooked by physicists ; and should it
be the means of settling this much-vexed question, I shall
consider myself richly rewarded for my labour.”

Mr Harvie-Brown on the Ornithology of the Petschora. 81

Wednesday, 16th February 1876.—Dr JOHN ALEXANDER SMITH, President,
in the Chair.

The following donations to the Library were laid on the table, and thanks
voted to the donors:

1. Transactions and Proceedings of the Botanical Society, Vol. XII., Part
II. 2. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association (London), Vol. IV., No. 4
(October 1875). “3. Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society,
Session 1875-76, Vol. XIV., Part I. 4. Proceedings of the Royal Society,
Vol. XXIV., No. 165. 5. Proceedings of the Philosophical Society of Glas-
gow, Sheet C (pp. 25-52 inclusive). 6. The Medical Examiner, Vol. I., Nos.
3, 4, 5, 6

The following communications were read :

I—WNoites of a Journey to, and Ornithological Observations on
the Lower Petschora, Siberia in Europe, in 1875. By
Joun A. Harviz-Brown, Esq. (with exhibition of speci-
mens).

The author and his friend, Mr Seebohm, of Sheffield, left
London on the 2d March, and reached Archangel on the 15th
of the month. They remained at Archangel until 6th April,
and travelled by sledge to Ust Zylma, which they reached
on the 15th of the same month. At Ust Zylma they re-
mained until the ice broke up, and the river was clear, and
left it on the 10th June. They arrived at Alexievka on the
19th June, having accomplished a journey from Archangel of
1400 versts in all, roughly speaking, or about 950 miles.

From the time they arrived on the banks of the Petschora
up to the 19th June, they had identified just 100 species of
birds, and between that date and the time of their departure
for England on the 2d August, they added 16 more to their
list—a very limited fauna, but one rich in interest, as will
be seen from the following notes on the more remarkable
forms :

“1. (in point of rarity), Anthus Seebohmi of Dresser, sp.
nov. (‘Birds of Europe, part xlv., just published; dvs,
January 1876, also just published).—Of this bird we obtained
only five specimens, and several nests of eggs. These five
type specimens are distributed as follows: Professor A. New-

ton, of Cambridge, 1; Mr Howard Saunders, 1; Mr H. E.
VOL. IV. M

82 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

Dresser, 1; Mr Seebohm, 1; and the fifth in my own collec-
tion, and which I have brought to-night for exhibition.

“9. Phylloscopus neglectus of Hume (Jbis, 1870, p. 143).—
First described from India. Of this species we only obtained
one specimen, the only record of its occurrence in Europe
- (vide Ibis, April number, 1876; MS. sent in to press).

“3. Phylloscopus tristis of Blythe—Added by us to the
European fauna. Not uncommon on the banks of the Pets-
chora in summer. One set of eggs obtained for the first time
on record. Hitherto only recorded as a winter visitant to
India. Said to breed in Ladak, but no authority quoted
(Brooks, Jbis, 1872, p. 31).

“4 Phylloscopus eversmanni (Bon.).—One specimen only
obtained. A rare northern warbler; the eggs not yet known
to naturalists. Also procured on the banks of the river
Dvina in 1872, by Mr Alston and myself (Jdis, 1878,
p.01):

“5, Budytes citreolus (Pall.).—Not supposed to breed fur-
ther north than 562° N. lat., nor had the eggs been taken
in Europe prior to our trip, when we found it abundant in
682° N. lat., and obtained a series of their eggs. Bird
figured and described in Dresser’s ‘Birds of Europe,’ part
Xxxviii.; and in an Appendix in No. 45, Mr Dresser
gives the results of our notes on the habits. Interesting
notes on migration of this species may be found in a Russian
work, entitled ‘ Descriptive Catalogues of the High School of
the Imperial University of Kasan,’ vol. 1, part 1, chaps. 11,
iii, iv—for full title, etc., vide Ibis, January 1876, where
a short account of the birds’ habits, etc., appears in a general
paper ‘On the Ornithology of the Lower Petchora, by See-
bohm and myself.

“6. Parus kamschatkensis (Midd.).—This is the eastern cli-

matal form of the northern race (Parus borealis) of our British

Marsh Tit (Parus palustris). Not hitherto recorded from
Europe (vide ‘ Birds of Europe, part xlvi., at present going to
press, and Jdzs, April number, 1876).

“7 Parus cinctus—A variety, intermediate in size and
coloration between type, P. cictus from Lapland, and the
eastern large pale race, P. grisescens of Dresser (vide ‘ Birds of

—

PEE ae ee ee Se ee

‘
:
q
;
4

Mr Harvie-Brown on the Ornithology of the Petschora. 83

Europe, temporary volume, 1871-72; bis, April number,
1876). ;

“8. Sawicola rubicola.—The white-rumped eastern form of
our Stonechat—not before recorded (?) from Europe. The
Stonechat obtained at Archangel is similar to ours.

“9. Sguatarola helvetica—tThe first authentic eggs brought
to this country, with the exception of a few collected
by Herr A. von Middendorff, on the Boganida and Taimyr
Rivers in Siberia (vide ‘Birds of Europe, temp. vol. 1,
1871-72). Our account and plates of eggs will appear in
Ibis, for April 1876.

“10. Tringa minuta.— Also the first authentic eggs brought
to this country, or existing in collections, except those ob-
tained by Herr A. von Middendorff at the above-mentioned
localities. Our account and plates of eggs will appear in the
Ibis, July 1876. Dresser will probably figure the young in
down, which we also brought home for the first time (vide alse
‘Birds of Europe,’ temp. vol. i. 1871-72). Said to breed in
Novaja Zemlia (Von Heuglin, Js, p. 63).

“11. Calidris arenaria—Shot several in breeding plumage

or beginning to change for the autumn moult. Had we not
been unfortunately pressed for time, we believe we might
also have procured the rare eggs, or at all events, discovered
the breeding haunts. Professor Newton describes the only |
egos which have reached this country (P.Z.S., 1871, p. 56 and
pp. 546, 547: described, ‘Zweite deutsche Nordpolanfahrt,’
i, pp. 240-242).

“12. Tringa subarquata.—We also obtained this species in
full summer plumage. The same remarks apply to this as to
the last, but the present species appeared to be scarcer.

“13. Cygnus bewickit— Birds and eggs obtained by us, the
latter the first authentic specimens on record (wide Ibis,
October number, 1876, where a full account will appear).

“14. Mergus albellus—LEggs and down from the nest pro-
cured. Extremely rare in collections. Nesting haunts in
Finland, first discovered by the late Mr John Wolley, in
1858 (Ibis, 1859, p. 69).

“15. A gull differing from Larus leucopheus, the Medi-
terranean Herring Gull, in having the first primary only

84 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Socvety. :

with a white spot, and in the coloration of the soft parts.
This is constant in all the examples we obtained. We also
procured the eggs. Before naming this species, if species it
be, it will be necessary to compare a larger series of specimens
than we at present possess.”

IL—Partridges (Francolinus) in South Africa: Notes on that
Game in the Winterberg District. By W. T. BLACK, Esq.,
Surgeon-Major.

Many sportsmen estimate the pursuit of this kind of small
game as a much more agreeable pastime than hunting the
larger quadrupedal animals, and it approaches nearly in
character what grouse shooting is on Scottish and English
moors and mountains.

The Cape Partridge is different from the English one, and
is called a Francolin, of which there are two species known
to sport, the Francolinus Afer, or Greywing Partridge, and F.
Levaillantit, or Redwing Partridge, and the genus is distin-
euished by the birds having longer and stouter beaks and
more developed tail than the others have, and generally by
the stout spwrs or tubercles on their legs.

They may be found over most parts of South Africa, fre-
quenting the grassy undulating, or scrubby plains, and moun-
tain summits, and intervening valleys, and dells, the Redwing .
Partridge preferring the more sheltered and grassy localities,
and the Greywing the more bleak and rugged country.

The pursuit of the Partridge shooting is carried out most plea-
santly by a small party, moving about the open country with
waggon, and tents, and servants, and being mounted on good
shooting ponies, with a brace and half of dogs, etc. A great
extent of the wilderness has to be traversed, so that walking
is out of the question, till the covies are found, when the
sportsman jumps off his horse, leaves him to graze, and follows
the dogs on the scent of the game. As may be imagined, there
can be no better shooting, and the quantity bagged can never
be colossal, but the enjoyment is greater in proportion as the
sportsmen revel in mountain breezes, and magnificent scenery.

The Redwing. Partridge is larger and heavier than the
Greywing, more handsomely ornamented in plumage, and has

oe
« 7 :

Dr Black on South African Partridges. 8d

white flesh, but the Jatter is the more gamy, though less
showy bird, and has dark flesh, and is most delicious eating.
Anatomically the chief difference between the two varieties
consists in the testis of the Greywing being much larger than
in the Redwing, which may be coincident with greater
numbers, and more gregarious habits; and the inferior larynx
is present in both to answer for their vigorous screaming.

Domestication—The Redwing Partridge is strongly recom-
mended as a suitable bird for conversion into farm poultry, as
its habits seem to point it out for use by man for domestication.

The Greywing bird, on the other hand, from its more migra-
tory habits, wilder and unsettled disposition, would be much
less suitable for this purpose.

The Redwing birds would look well in a paddock or farm-
steading, as they are handsome and plump in appearance, and
erect in bearing, and would make as substantial a repast as
any of the best bred poultry in this country both as to quality
and quantity.

The Winterberg District is generally considered the best
shooting ground for partridge in the eastern provinces of the
Cape of Good Hope, and is much frequented by the old
sportsmen of the frontier, who make up expeditions there for
the winter season during May, June, and July. The writer
had frequent opportunities of accompanying parties of officers
from the border posts on these trips, when serving in South
Africa, and kept a journal of their proceedings, from which
the present account is extracted.

Retief Valley—tThe first excursion detailed is one up this

valley, lying between the Little Winterberg on the west, and

the Didima Mountain on the east, and comprised an undulat-
ing grassy country with numerous rills trickling down to join
the main stream, a spruit of the Koonap River.

Several covies of Redwing Partridge frequented this piece
of country, some of which were duly hunted, with more or
less success, on different trips, which were here easier, owing
to the place being accessible and sheltered.

Boucher’s Kloof—rThis excursion went up to the valley

lying between the Middle Winterberg and the Reed Flats,

which was quite of Alpine appearance, with heights rising on

86 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

each side to two thousand feet and more, and then it ascended
into Redman’s Flats, on the plateau above. |

This was a grassy undulating piece of country, with many
fine little dells and rills of water in it, and was well stocked
with Redwing Partridge, whose covies afforded capital sport
on more than one occasion.

Duwwal’'s Kloof.—This trip was made into a still wilder part
of the district, and it lay at the east end of Smith’s Valley,
through which runs a spruit of the Koonap River, and which
is bounded on the south by the Kabergen, and on the north
by the Reed Flats mountains.

Finally, the summit of the Kabergen chain was reached
after a heavy ascent of 2500 feet, and a rugged plateau
appeared to view, diversified by scrubby bush, grass, and
stony peaks and koppies.

Here some good covies of Greywing Partridge were found,
which, however, were with difficulty hunted or bagged, owing
to the natural fastnesses they had selected, which stood them
in as good stead as the Alps were to the Swiss mountaineers.

Shooting Seasons—As the seasons are reversed in the
southern hemisphere to what they are in Britain, so is the
shooting season altered to the winter months of April, May,
and June, when the birds are full grown and strong in covey.

The Breeding Season commences in August, when the birds
begin to pair off and scatter, and the shooting to completely
terminate everywhere; but the game licence, of value 7s. 6d.,
only sanctions shooting from December 1 to June 30 of the
following year.

TI. —Bird-life in the City of Hdinburgh and wuts Viewty dur-
ing the Frosts of December and January 1874-75. By
Rosert Gray, Esq., F.R.S.E.

The author of this paper stated that he had been accus-
tomed for a long series of years to make almost daily observa-
tions on bird-life, and that since coming to reside in Edinburgh
he had been much interested in the movements of many of
the birds he had found living within and without its bound-
aries. Some of the species, indeed, had revealed facts of more

Mr Gray on Bird-Life in Edinburgh. 87

than usual interest in the investigation of what might be
called “Suburban Ornithology.”

It was stated that during the month of December 1874 the
thermometer in the neighbourhood of Inverleith Row was on
twenty-seven mornings at or below the freezing point, and
indicating collectively 277 degrees—the lowest markings
extending from the 15th till the close of the month. Through-
out the interval the intense frost had pressed heavily on bird-
life in general, but particularly on thrushes of various species,
and other soft-billed birds, hundreds of which had succumbed
to the severity of the season. Among the birds which had
been driven from their usual haunts into the centre of the
city, the snipe, kingfisher, and blackheaded gull were the
most noteworthy. They were found frequenting drains, to
which they had been doubtless attracted by the moisture
caused by heated water. Flocks of larks, pipits, redwings,
and fieldfares had been seen in the public streets and squares,
perching disconsolately on trees and shrubs, or cowering on
the roadway; and numbers of blackheaded gulls had for two
days been observed crowding together and feeding on the
surface of refuse heaps near the Railway Station. The writer
of the paper also stated that at his own residence in Inverleith
Row he had caused a space in the snow to be cleared and
quantities of food to be laid down for the starving birds. The
experiment had resulted in an odd assemblage of species—as
many as seventy-four birds having been counted at one time
struggling together for a mouthful—starlings, magpies (three
in number), rooks, thrushes, redbreasts, blue tits, hedge spar-
rows, blackbirds, missel thrushes, fieldfares, and sea gulls
being of the number.

Early in January a rapid thaw set in, accompanied by
heavy blasts of rain, and this had brought utter ruin to many
of the feathered visitants who fell prostrate under the bluster-
ing power of the storm, and it had then been noticed that the
poor creatures whose movements had afforded so much inter-
est during the previous week were unfit for flight. Many, in
consequence, perished at a time when it had been supposed
their hardships were over.

In the outskirts of the city certain birds were notably

88 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

abundant—golden plovers, bramblings, and snow buntings.
Along shore mixed flocks of the two last named species,
accompanied by starlings, redwings, and fieldfares, had
dropped into the sea through exhaustion and become the
prey of hooded crows, numbers of which were hovering in the
vicinity on the look-out for the perishing birds. In several
instances blackbirds and thrushes had been found perched on
palings in the stiffness of death, and coots and other water
birds frozen in corners of ponds which had suddenly closed up
when the frost was at its greatest intensity. Similar occur-
rences- had been recorded in the winter of 1860-61, which
was one of unusual severity.

IV.—(1.) Hybrid between Golden (Phasianus pictus, Lin.) and
Common Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) ; (2.) Goosander
(Mergus merganser) ; (3.) Bohemian Waxwing (Bomby-
cilla garrula). By JoHN ALEX. Situ, M.D., ete.

(SPECIMENS EXHIBITED.)

1. Hybrid Pheasant.—This bird shared some of the charac-
ters of both its parents. It has the bill dark brown and
large, the large crest light reddish brown, and the tippet of the
golden pheasant, but of a reddish brown colour; the front of
neck showed the greenish iridescent feathers Py the common |
pheasant; body ee uniform deep salmon colour; belly
darker red; wing coverts dark reddish brown ; tail late and
very long, like golden pheasant, middle feathers uniform
light brown or fawn colour, some of the outer feathers
mottled with dark brown, the pointed coverts dark reddish
brown; spurs small, but sharp. The bird was shot by mis-
take in December last by Captain Kinloch, younger of Gil-
merton, at Gilmerton, Haddingtonshire. It had been seen on
the estate for about four seasons. About five years ago
several golden pheasant cocks had escaped or been let loose
in the preserves, but this was the only hybrid that had been
noticed. Dr Smith was indebted to Mr John Dickson, jun.,
our well-known gunmaker, for being able to exhibit this very
eurious bird. Mr J. Keddie, bird-stuffer, informed Dr Smith

Dr Smitl’s Ornithological Notes, ete. 89

that in 1845 he had seen three hybrid pheasants of this kind,
two males and one female, which were hatched at Cambo
House, Fife, under a common hen, the parent birds being,
as in this instance, the golden pheasant cock and common
pheasant hen; and two of these birds were unfortunately de-
stroyed when young, and the third was killed by accident
when eighteen months old. It was a male; the colour of the
pretty large crest was a buff yellow; the breast a light brown ;
wings dark brown; upper tail coverts buff; tail large, blotched
with buff and brown. The golden pheasant is believed to be
three years old before it acquires the mature plumage. This
hybrid, therefore, showed the plumage of the immature bird.

2. Goosander—Dr Smith exhibited a fine male specimen
_ shot near Biggar on the 10th of February. It was remarkable
as showing the commencement of the summer or breeding
plumage in the pure white colour of the top of the breast.
Mr Small, bird-stuffer, from whom he got the specimen, in-
formed him that an unusual number of these birds had been
killed this season between December and February, some
sixteen birds, males and females, having come into his pos-
session, shot in Midlothian and the neighbouring counties.
It has been once recorded as breeding in Perthshire, by Mr
Harvie-Brown.

3. Bohemian Waxwing.—This bird, a young male, was
shot near Bannockburn on the 14th December. Several
specimens of this occasional visitor had been killed in the
neighbourhood of Edinburgh during the winter months.

V.—WNote of Plaster Casts destroyed by Weevils. By JOHN
ALEXANDER SMITH, M.D.

Dr Smith stated that Mr R. Carfrae (of Messrs Bonnar and
Carfrae, George Street) had called his attention to the fact of
some beautifully-modelled plaster casts of little children in
his possession, which had been brought from Italy, being
entirely pierced through and honeycombed with holes made
by insects, so as to be almost destroyed, and requiring careful
handling and repair. Dr Smith had never heard of plaster
casts being destroyed in this way, and on getting them for

90 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Socvety.

examination he asked Dr Stevenson Macadam to analyse
the plaster to see if any organic matter had been added to it.
Dr Macadam made a chemical examination, and found that
“the stucco was impregnated with organic matter of a fatty
or resinous nature. When heated the stucco blackened,
burned with minute scintillations, and evolved an aromatic
odour.” This sufficiently accounted for the attacks made on
it by the beetles. Dr Smith asked Mr R. F. Logan to ex-
amine the insects, and he stated that they belong to the
family Tenebrionide, of which the meal-worm is the most
familiar example; but he did not know the species, which
was probably not a British one.

Vi.—WNote of Bulimus acutus and Helix ericetorum found
in Iona. By JoHn ALEX. Situ, M.D.

(SPECIMENS EXHIBITED.)

Dr Smith stated that in the end of last July he spent
some time in Iona, and on the sandy downs on the north-west
coast by the sea he found a great abundance of both of these
species of land shells. They are weil-known species of the
south and west of England, and have, he believed, been
noticed on various parts of the west coast, as well as by
Mr Charles W. Peach in Sutherlandshire. It is interesting
to notice in reference to this distribution of these apparently
local shells, that, as shown by Mr Alexander Buchan,
although the isothermal lines of summer in Britain are nearly
parallel with the lines of latitude, in winter they change
their course, and run somewhat obliquely south and north
through Britain. So that the January isothermals of 38° and
39° run from the south coast through the middle and west of
England, the west and Hebrides of Scotland, and then through
the very north of Scotland to the Orkney and Shetland
Islands, beyond which they run westwards to the Atlantic
Ocean; and have undoubtedly a relation to the somewhat
corresponding animal life of these different localities.

Mr Falconer King on River Purification. 91

Wednesday, 15th March 1876.—DAvib GRIEVE, Esq., President,
in the Chair.

The following donations to the Library were laid on the table, and thanks
voted to the donors:

1. Journal of the Linnean Society (Botany), Vol. XV., No. 82; Do.
(Zoology), Vol. XII., Nos. 60-62.—From the Society. 2. Proceedings of the
Royal Society, Vol. XXIV., No. 166.—From the Society. 3. Transactions of the
Royal Scottish Society of Arts, Vol. [X., Part 3.—From the Society. 4.
Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool, Title-page,
Index, etc.—From the Society. 5. Catalogue of Plants for distribution by
the Botanical Society of Copenhagen.—From the Society. 6. Medical
Examiner, Nos. 7, 8, 9, 10.—From the Editor.

The following communications were read :

I.—On some Proposed Processes for River Purification.
By J. FALCONER KING, Esq.

At the present time the subject of River Purification is
one of very great interest to many people in this country.
Those who offend,and those who are offended against in this
matter, are alike interested, although on different sides of the
question. The peculiar interest which is at present evoked
is of course caused by the action which the Government seem
likely to take in the matter. Regulations of too strict a
nature in regard to river pollution, would no doubt to a
certain extent affect injuriously the trade of the country ;
while on the other hand by having regulations too lax, or by
having no regulations at all, as seems to be the case at
present, a gigantic nuisance which is becoming worse every
year, is allowed to go on unchecked. That something must
be done by legislation to have the evil abated is pretty
generally agreed. What form the legislation should take is
the difficulty. I think it is a mistake to fix upon manu-
facturers and, without any previous inquiry, say to them, you
shall not on any account put such and such things into
rivers. To many a manufacturer such a command strictly
enforced simply means ruin. A much better plan, I imagine,
would be to appoint a body of scientific men to inquire fairly
into the matter, and to ascertain and report as to the pollu-
tions existing in each large river, and also to suggest means
for the amelioration or removal of such pollutions.

In the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, many of the streams
VOL. IV. N

92 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

are still comparatively pure, while others again are certainly
foul enough. The River Esk, which, as every one knows, has
been the source of much contention, occupies a sort of mid-
way position. By the time it passes Lasswade, it is not
exactly so pure as we lke to see a river, but it is certainly
nothing lke the Water of Leith, as it is seen passing
Canonmills. The chief manufacture existing on the banks of
the Esk is paper-making, and when one remembers that
there are on this river no less than eight large paper mills,
the marvel is that the water is not more filthy than itis. A
great deal has been done of late years with the view of im-
proving the condition of the Esk, much of which has been
very successful. It is wished, however, to introduce if
possible, still less foreign matter into the river; and with the
object of rendering the effluent water from the mills purer
than it is at present, I have lately been making some experi-
ments on the large scale with different processes ; and as many
of our trials were fairly successful, I thought it might be
interesting to the members of the Society to have an oppor-
tunity of witnessing these processes in operation.

In No. 1 Process, iron is the active ingredient, Mr Mackay
of Leith, who has proposed this process for the purification of
effluent water from paper mills, uses the iron in the state of
per-chloride, but for a reason which will be obvious when
you see the process performed, I prefer to use the iron as
per-sulphate. This process, as all these processes should be,
is very simple, and consists in adding to the dirty water, Ist,
a small quantity of an acid persalt of iron, and 2d, a
sufficient quantity of lime to render the mixture strongly
alkaline. In a few minutes all suspended matter settles to
the bottom leaving the water as clear as if it had been filtered.
By using ferric-chloride, alarge quantity of calcium chloride
is produced, which being readily soluble in water, is carried
into the river, whereas by using ferric-sulphate, as I recom-
mend, calcium sulphate is formed and this being a difficultly
soluble compound, it is in great part precipitated, and so kept
out of the river. The sludge or precipitate which is thus
produced, I should mention, has been worked up with great
success in the manufacture of coarse paper.

. ‘e . < .
Mr Grieve on the Somersetshire Coal Formation. 93

In No. 2 Process, aluminium sulphate is used instead of
iron chloride, but otherwise the processes are similar.

In No. 3 Process, the effluent water is first treated with acid
aluminium sulphate, and then excess of finely-ground barium
carbonate. The great beauty of this process, which I should
say was first proposed by my friend Mr Wiliam Durham, is
that in consequence of the barium carbonate being insoluble
in water, any excess of it which may be used separates along
with the other insoluble matter, and does not find its way to the
river, as much of the lime used in the iron process must
necessarily do. As aluminium salts do not appear to form a
precipitate quite so fast as iron salts seem to do, I have pro-
posed a modification of this process, in which I use iron sul-
phate and barium carbonate. In this combination very little
matter indeed is left in the water.

[These processes were all carried out at the meeting, and

were very successful—the dirty water becoming in a
very few minutes almost as clear as spring water. |

Il —WNotes on the Coal Formation of Somersetshire.
By Davip GRIEVE, Esq., F.R.S.E.

Having last autumn spent a month at Clifton, near Bristol,
the author was much interested in the geology of its neigh-
bourhood. There is probably no place in England where,
within a very limited area, typical examples of so many
different formations occur as round this city. Bristol being
the centre of an extensive coalfield, the author considered it
necessary, as preliminary to his subsequent remarks, to give
some account of the subjacent and superjacent strata.

Twelve distinct formations may be counted within a radius
of ten miles from the centre of the city of Bristol; in short,
there may be readily and easily investigated the Silurian,
Devonian, Carboniferous, Triassic, Liassic, Oolitic, and Cre-
taceous formations, with igneous rocks of the paleozoic age.
The juxtaposition of the rocks is curiously and often very
eccentrically arranged, evincing the result of great disturb-
ance. In many of the strata fossils abound. The coal
measures are interlaced and modified in various ways by the

94 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

over and under conterminous strata, which abounds in faults
often of a very perplexing kind.

The author, in describing the boundaries of the Bristol, other-
wise the Gloucestershire and Somersetshire coalfield, stated
that it comprised an area of 338 square miles, which included
150 in Somerset, and the Radstock portion of Somerset, -
commonly called the Radstock coal basin, of 45 square miles.

The Report of the Royal Coal Commission, drawn up by
Professor Prestwich, estimates the Bristol coalfield at 6104
millions of tons of coal, calculated to last for upwards of 4000
years at an actual “consumpt” per annum of 1,000,000 tons.
This should tend somewhat to allay the fears of alarmists.

The portion of this great coalfield which Mr Grieve more
particularly described was the Radstock basin above referred
to. He spoke of its stratigraphical arrangement, and men-
tioned that the thickness of the coal measures here are esti-
mated at 8000 feet. There are three series of coal—the
upper, second, and lower. The coal rests in the upper series
(which Mr Grieve only examined) on a base of mountain
limestone, and is overlaid by the inferior oolite, lias, new red
sandstone, magnesian conglomerate, and lower new red sand-
stone—these strata in a descending scale, and all which require
to be pierced before the coal can be reached. The seams of coal
vary from fourteen to thirty inches in thickness. Mr Grieve
gave, further, some statistical particulars—for instance, as to
depth of pit workings (averaging one hundred and forty-five
fathoms), output of coal (exceeding 600,000 tons annually),
described the old and new methods of working coal in this
district.* A singularity peculiar to the old and very clumsy
method may be noticed. The pit mouths and shafts generally
till within the last twenty-five years or so were only four and
a half feet in diameter, and the miners attached themselves by
hooks to the pit chain, one over the other, in parties of ten or
twelve, sticking together like so many onions on a string, and
were thus lowered and raised through this narrow hole (often
over a thousand feet deep), showing how much habit can render
one callous to a sense of danger. An account was then given

* The present method being what is known to miners as the ‘‘ longwall
system.”

— Tee

Mr Grieve on the Somersetshire Coal Formation. 95

of some curious faults in the strata, called: locally “ overlap
vaults,” by reason of which the same seam of coal is pierced
twice through vertically in the course of working.

It was also observed that through the same disturbing
agency, seams of coal from being horizontal had become
vertical, appearing to have been tilted up much in the same
way as the seams called Edge Coals have been in our own
county of Midlothian.

Alluding to the antiquity of the coal workings in this
quarter, Mr Grieve said that in the neighbouring Mendip Hills
lead mining had been extensively carried on as early as the
reign of Edward IV., and that the working of coal in the
Radstock district was supposed to be coeval with that period.
He parenthetically suggested that it is perhaps not very
generally known that Dysart was the first place in Scotland
where coal was wrought, and about the very same time as in
Somersetshire, viz., four hundred years ago. Perhaps it was
not much later, if tradition be correct, that the monks of
Newbattle opened coalpits at Newmilns, a village near Dal-
keith, where traces of the old workings are still to be seen.

The author then proceeded to give some account of the fossil
botany of the Radstock coalfield. As regards this flora, he
remarked that it is simply exquisite. The great abundance
of large acrogenous trees, such as Sigillariz, Lepidodendra,
lofty plumose arborescent ferns, and a variety of other crypto-
gamous plants of tender and beautiful form, proclaim this

_ carboniferous region to be perhaps the best type of a bygone

tropical vegetation which our island can produce.

The specimens to be found here are abundant and excel-.
lently illustrative of their kind, although some of them,
especially the Neuropteri, are perhaps somewhat rather frag-
mentary. The fossils are always found in a dark, heavy,
indurated clay, which becomes rapidly decomposed on ex-
posure to the weather. With very few exceptions, the re-
mains of the plants have perished, and casts only remain.
These casts, however, are generally of a very perfect descrip-
tion. The lineaments of the plants, more especially the form
and venation of the leaves, so important in regard to classi-
fication, are beautifully sharp and well-defined. Another

96 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Socrety.

particular may be noticed, which is, that a greater number
of genera and species of small dimensions are often found
clustered together than in any other locality the author had
visited. Thus in a small specimen (3} inches by 3) exhibited
were to be counted no less than three genera and eight dis-
tinct species of plants. Of ferns, the genus Pecopteris seemed
to be the most plentiful; the Neuropteris next; Sphenopteris
the most rare. Of the last, Mr Grieve only obtained one
specimen, Sphenopteris multifida of Lindley and Hutton, and
which, so far as he knew, had not been recorded as having
been found in Scotland.

It was mentioned that there is nearly the entire absence
of the carboniferous mollusca and of corals in the Radstock
coalfield, and which.are so abundant in other parts, more
particularly in the vicinity of Bristol. It was also pointed
out that this ground might be almost called classic in its
way, for here, at Camerton, Radstock, Paulton, and some
other places in the neighbourhood, M. Adolphe Brogniart got
many of the specimens which are figured in his admirable
work, the “ Histoire des Vegetaux Fossiles;” and here also
Messrs Lindley and Hutton got some specimens, also referred
to in their similar work.

Mr Grieve concluded his paper by describing many fine
specimens on the table, and by giving an enumeration of
fossil plants collected by him at Radstock, in all thirty-two
species. The list is as follows:

Pecopteris sinuata, . Br. Neuropteris acuminata, L. & H.
e Nailtomays 7) -¢3 m cordata, a
oe “Sb RRP ct ty attenuata, ts
FA Cyathea, . .,, | i tenuifolia, Br.
5§ marginata, 3 ¥ angustifolia, ,,
iv: abbreviata, ,, 3 heterophylla, ,,
Eg dentata, fs ns elegans, . L. &
a adiantoides, L. & H. si CiStil, :.; <a. ae
6 aspidoides, Br. Sphenopteris multifida, L. & H.
es Bucklandi, __,, Sphenophyllum Schlotheimi, ,,
arborescens, ,, Annularia (undetermined).
vs oreopterides, L. & H. Calamites canneformis.
- aquilina, . “i Sigillaria tesselata, L. & H.
53 Devreuxi, . 4 Lepidodendron selaginoides.
Ag helmiteloides, ,, Lepidophylla (various).
Neuropteris aculeata, re Trigonocarpum (undetermined).

For many of the measurements given, Mr Grieve acknow-
ledged his obligations to the papers of the able resident
mining engineers, Messrs Greenwell & M‘Murtrie of Radstock.

=o. ee” eee

i

Mr Taylor on the Origin of the Serpentine of Shetland. 97

Wednesday, 19th April 1876.—JoHN FALCONER Kine, Esq., President,
in the Chair.

The following gentleman was elected a Resident Member: Francis W.
Moinet, M.D., Alva Street.

The following donations were laid on the table, and thanks voted to the
donors :

1. (a.) Proceedings of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science, Vols. IX.
(Part 2), X., XII. (XI. to be sent afterwards), z.e., for 1870, 1871, 1873 ;
(6.) Supplement I., 1 and 2, II., 1 and 2; (c.) Bulletin, Parts 28 to 31; (d.)
Meteorological Observations, Vols. 12 to 14 ; (e.) Biographies of the Members,
Vol. I., Part 3. 2. New York State Museum of Natural History, 24th, 25th,
and 26th Annual Reports (1870, 1871, 1872). 3. New York State Library,
56th and 57th Annual Reports (1873, 1874). 4. New York State Cabinet of
Natural History, 23d Annual Report (1869). 5. Proceedings of the Royal
Society, Vol. XXIV., No. 167. 6. (a.) Proceedings of the Zoological Society
of London, 1875, Part 4 (viz., papers for November and December) ; (0.) Trans-
actions, Vol. IX., Parts 5, 6, 7. 7. Proceedings of the Berwickshire
Naturalists’ Club, Vol. VII., No. 2. 8. Transactions of Watford Natural
History Society and Hertfordshire Field Club, Vol. I., Parts 1, 2,3. 9.
Geologists’ Association : (1.) Annual Report, etc., for 1875 ; (2.) Proceedings,
Vol. IV., No. 6. 10. Medical Examiner, Vol. I., Nos. 11 to 15 inclusive.

The following Committees were appointed for the summer :

Entomology: Messrs George Logan, W.S., R. Scot-Skirving, Andrew Wilson,
J. Gibson, and Dr F. W. Lyon; Convener—Mr R. F. Logan. Marine Zoology :
Dr M‘Bain, R.N., Dr Traquair, the Rev. Professor Duns, D.D., Dr Strethill-
Wright, Dr Lyon, and Messrs R. F. Logan, A. Wilson, C. W. Peach, James
Anderson, and Robert Gray; Convener—Mr Andrew S. Melville. Geology:
Dr M‘Bain, R.N., Professor Duns, Dr R. Brown, and Mr Andrew Taylor ;
Convener—Mr C. W. Peach; Vice-Convener—Mr D. Grieve. Chemical Science :
Messrs W. Durham, J. Hunter, and W. C. Crawford; Convener—Mr J. F. King.

The following communications were read :

I—On the Origin of the Serpentine of Shetland. By ANDREW
TAYLOR, Esq.

The scientific journals of this month give prominence to
the question of the origin of Serpentine. Dr Hann, in the
“ Annals of Natural History,” pronounces a decisive non est
as to the entity of the Hozoon Canadense ; microscopists, he
affirms, have mistaken the minute appearances of varied
mineral metheloyses in the same bed of rock for organic
appearances. Again, Professors King and Rowney, the well-
known combatants of Dr Carpenter in this special arena,
announce in the current Philosophical Magazine, the discovery
in the Serpentine of the Lizard, under a power of 373
diameters, of strange bodies like Rotalaria, Globigerina, or the
fossil coral Stenepora. Their argument is that such bodies
are due only to the varied crystalline shapes of minute
microscopic minerals, taking different directions in the same
bed of rock. A sufficient cause, at all events, has been shown

for a minute microscopic study of Serpentine.
VOL. IV. O

‘98 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

Dr Sterry Hunt stands almost alone in maintaining Serpen-
tine to have been at once deposited in its present state. Others
hold it as an example of that slow yet sufficient pseudomor-
phous action, which attacking the individual constituents of
rock masses, has changed arenaceous and argillaceous beds into
hornblende, gneiss, or mica schist. The relative position to
other beds of the rock we are now specially studying, becomes
important. Professors King and Rowney state that their
examination of the Lizard Serpentine leads them to believe
that it occurs both as a stratified rock and as intrusive masses.
They were also able to trace the gradual change from both
diorite, dolerite, and hornblende rock into that in question.

Having had occasion two autumns ago to examine very
carefully the Serpentine which constitutes nearly the easterly
half of the island of Unst in Shetland, I wish to call attention
to its stratified character. This is particularly manifest at
the Loch of Cliff, and near the Free church. At either
of these points, as well as at several points on the road
from Balta Sound to Uyea Sound,—and this indeed is the
western boundary of the Serpentine formation,—a section
may be traced on which the Serpentine rests conformably
on a bed of black talcose schist, then on limestone, to which
again succeed the talcose gneiss and mica schists forming
the high western cliffs of this northernmost isle of Britain.
Standing in the little land-locked Balta Sound, the tourist is
attracted by the varied physiography of the surrounding hills.
In front a background of serried eneissose peaks protected
in their immediate front by the swelling ground so character-_
istic of the rapidly weathering Serpentine. Huge boulders
with accompanying water pools and great sterility further
‘define this region. I made out the Heogs, Cruci-field, and
the peaks of the western side to be dioritic—aphanite in
part. Balta Island shows the superior resisting power of the
diallage rock to Serpentine. The scenic peculiarities of the
Vord Hill, the southern boundary of Balta Sound, are owing,
I think, to bands of diallage intersecting the Serpentine. This
is the only correction I would make on Dr Hibbert’s map.

I am inclined then (1st) to think the Serpentine beds of
Unst and Fetlar a continuous stratified mass; (2d), the recent
microscopic examinations of Drs Rowney and King bespeak
a similar scrutiny for this special bed and its congeners,

_— |

Mr Gibson on the Grampus caught near Granton. 99

Should undoubted organisms be found in it, they might also
be discovered in that bed of limestone which runs through
the length of the Shetlands.

IlL—WNote on the Grampus (Orca gladiator, Lacep.) recently
caught near Granton. By JOHN GIBSON, Esq.

On Saturday, March 18th, a Grampus (Orca gladiator, Lacep.)
was captured about one mile west of Granton. On being
dragged ashore, while still alive, it gave forth shrill piercing
cries, somewhat resembling in their sharpness a woman’s
voice. The specimen was an adult male having the following
dimensions :

Total length along curve of back, 21 ft. 10 in. Girth of body, 13 ft. Height
of dorsal fin, 3 ft. 10 in. Length of flipper, 3 ft. 16 in. Breadth of dorsal
fin, 2 ft. 8in. Length from snout to origin of flipper, 3 ft. 11 in. ; to origin

of dorsal fin, 8 ft. 1 in. ; to blow-hole, 2 ft. 5in. Dentition, 73.

Colour on the upper surface, a uniform deep black, with the
exception of a patch of light blue situated at the posterior
base of the dorsal fin. Right over the eye, and extending
posteriorly for 25 inches, was a narrow white blotch about 5
inches broad at the broadest part; the lower surface of a creamy
white colour, the white of the anal region sending off a broad
branch on each side. The front tooth on each side of the
lower jaw was exceedingly small and almost hidden by the
overlapping of the gum. The two teeth immediately succeed-
ing these on each side were worn down almost to the level of
the gum.

III. —WNote on the Occurrence of Helix arbustorum, Jinn., var.

alpestris, Zeigler, at a height of 1730 feet in the Ochils.
By J. C. Purves, M.D.

Although Helix arbustorum, Linn., is a widely distributed
species, ranging as it does throughout the temperate parts of
Europe, it is by no means a common form, its occurrence
being decidedly local. The shell is very little variable in
colour and the pattern of its markings; but its form and
dimensions are considerably affected by its vertical range. At
great elevations it undergoes a marked diminution in size,
the spire, at the same time, becoming relatively more elevated.
Its usual habitat is in osier beds or clumps of Lpilobiwm

hirsutum, etc., by river sides, or in damp, shrubby places in

%

100 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

woods. In the former localities, on the banks of the Meuse
near Dinant in Belgium, I have found it attaining the
dimensions of an average-sized Helix nemoralis. The speci-
mens which I now submit to the Society do not reach half
that size, are of a much lighter colour than that of the
typical shell, and have the spire more raised and almost
subconoidal. This is, I believe, the Helix alpestris of
Zeigler. The animal, in most of the examples observed,
instead of being of the usual leaden or greyish-green colour,
was light-brown or drab.

I found this well-marked variety during a geological ex-
cursion in company with Mr R. L. Jack, of the Geological
Survey, in Glen Shirrup, a little below the 1750 feet contour
line of the Ordnance Map, feeding, in considerable numbers,
in nettle beds on the bank of the stream, one of the affluents
of the Devon. All the adult individuals were of the same
form and dimensions.

As H. arbustorum is known to be one of the most Alpine
of our Helices on the Continent, extending its range nearly
to the summits of the Vosges and Jura, and even passing the
snow-line in the Swiss Alps, there is nothing remarkable in
the fact of its being found at the above-mentioned altitude ;
but not having found mention made of its occurrence in the
Ochils, the communication of the foregoing observations may
be of interest to the Society.

IV.—On the Employment of Arsenic in the manufacture of
Wall Papers. By J. FALCONER Kine, Esq., City Analyst.
As the result of certain experiments, Mr King found that

not only expensive papers, and those which contained green,

but the great bulk of cheap papers and those of the duller
colours without a trace of green, contained arsenic in an ap-
preciable degree.

V. Mr Herpert exhibited a series of Bird Skins from

Transvaal and Natal, on which some remarks were made by

Mr Gray.

The Society then adjourned to the third Wednesday in
November.

Mimi... tala 2

EEE

PROCEEDINGS

ROYAL PHYSICAL SOCIETY.

ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTH SESSION, 1876-77.

Wednesday, 15th November 1876.—Dr JoHN ALEXANDER Situ, President,
in the Chair.

James Bryce, Esq., LL.D., F.G.S., etc., 18 Morningside Place, was elected
a Resident Member.

The following Donations to the Library were received, and thanks voted to
the Donors:

1. Proceedings of the Royal Society [of London] Vol. XXIV., Nos. 166,
167.—From the Society. 2. Journal of the Linnean Society, (Botany)
Vol. XV., No. 82; (Zoology) Vol. XII., Nos. 60-62.—From the Society.
3. Transactions of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts, Vol. [X., Part 3.—From
the Society. 4. Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of
Manchester, Vol. XIV., Nos. 11-13.—From the Society. 5. The Medical
Examiner, Vol. I., Nos. 7-10.

I. Dr J. A. Smiru, the retiring President, then delivered
the following opening address :-—

GENTLEMEN,—In meeting here to open this new session of
the Royal Physical Society, the first thing that strikes us all
is, that our well-known and highly-valued Secretary, Dr
Robert Brown, is not present this evening to welcome us,
and, as usual, conduct the preliminary part of our business.
I am glad to say that it is not from ill health or any such
evil cause that we have not his well-known presence with us,
but that he has thought proper to migrate to the great metro-
polis, where he thinks and feels he will have more scope for
his talents and acquirements. Iam sure we wish him all

success in his new sphere of life, and in the literary labours -
VOL. IV. P

102 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

to which he is now devoting himself. We shall not soon
forget the debt of gratitude the Society owes to him for the
care and attention he has given to its business, and for the
valuable communications he has made to us from time to
time. |

I have now to refer to another loss the Society has recently
suffered, in the removal from among us of one well known
to us all—at least, to the older Members of the Society—
whose pleasant face we shall see here no more. I refer to
Thomas Strethill Wright, M.D., who died, after a long illness,
on the 13th day of October last. Dr Wright was an old
Member of the Society, having been elected in January 1851.
He was also one of the Presidents from November 1858 to
November 1861, when he delivered an opening address, the
science, the poetry, and the beauty of which were all alike
remarkable.

The delicate state of Dr Wright’s health in later years pre-
vented him from coming often to the meetings of the Society;
but we shall long miss him, as one of our leading scientific
naturalists, specially great in his own departments of the
Protozoa and the Celenterata. Personally I mourn for him
as a long-known and talented man, and a highly-valued,
warm-hearted friend. I have thought it right—to give you
some idea of the amount of work done by the late Dr Wright
in his active days in our Society—to make out a list of the
communications he brought before us. I shall not refer here
to his valuable observations on Electricity, and to the impor-
tant papers brought by him before the Royal Scottish Society
of Arts, and other scientific societies, nor to his more recent
astronomical studies, which, while they expanded his ideas
and knowledge of the heavenly bodies, at the same time
deeply touched his heart, he told me, at the greatness and
glory of the Almighty Creator of them all.

I shall simply confine myself to the communications he
has made to our Society. It will at least let some of our
younger Members see the kind of work done in this Society
in by-past years. These communications are upwards of
fifty in number, and all the results of his original observa-
tions. They are published in our Proceedings, and time

hy ay wpe a

pe aee ss

President's Address. 103

will not permit me to go into details. J merely mention
the titles of some of them, with the dates when he brought
them before the Society :—

February 28, 1856.—I. On the Reproduction of Cydippe pomiformis.
II. On two new Actinias from Arran (with plate).

March 26, 1856.—On Gemmiparous Reproduction (multiplication) in
Actinia dianthus (living specimens were exhibited).

April 23, 1856.—I. Description of two Tubicolar Animals (with plate)—
Phoronis hippocrepia, Phoronis ovalis, n. gen. and sps. II. Note on Indica-
tions of the Existence of Bilateral Symmetry, and of a Longitudinal Axis in
Actinia, as shown in living specimens. III. Specimens of living Madrepores
(Caryophyllia Smithii) from Ilfracombe, Devonshire, were exhibited. IV.
On the Existence of Thread-Cells in the Tentacles of Cydippe.

November 26, 1856.—On Hydractinia echinata (2 plates).

January 28, 1857.—I. Observations on British Zoophytes—Clava and
Eudendrium (2 plates). II. On the Prehensile Apparatus of Spio seticornis
(plate).

March 25, 1857.—I. Observations on British Zoophytes: (1.) Laomedea
acuminata ; (2.) Trichydra pudica ; (3.) Tubularia indivisa (3 plates). II.
Description of New Protozoa: (1.) Lagotia viridis, n. gen. and sp.; (2.)
Vaginicola valvata, n. gen. and sp. (2 plates).

April 22, 1857.—Observations on British Zoophytes: (1.) Coryne gravata,
n. sp.; (2.) Stauridia producta, n. sp. (plate).

_ November 25, 1857.—1. On Reproduction by Ova from the Medusoid of Cam-
panularia Johnstoni. II. On Epehelota coronata, anew protozoan Animalcule.
Dr Wright also exhibited specimens of the new Laomedea acuminata (Alder)
with its Medusoids.

March 24, 1858.—On Moneecious Reproduction in Tubularialarynx. Dr
Wright exhibited a specimen of the Hydra tuba (Dalyell) throwing off Me-
duse ; and also the Myrothela artica, Sars.

April 28, 1858.—Observations on British Zoophytes: (1.) On Atractylis
(n. gen.); (2.) On the fixed Medusoids of Laomedea dichotoma (living speci-
mens exhibited); (3.) On the Reproductive Organs of the Medusoid Laomedea
geniculata ; (4.) On the Reproductive Organs of Laomedea lacerata (2 plates).

November 24, 1858.—I. On new Protozoa: (1.) Lagotia producta ; (2.) Zooteirea
religata ; (3.) Corethria sertularia; (4.) Stentor Miilleri, Stentor castancus
(plate). II. Observations on British Zoophytes: (1.) On the Reproduction of
Turris neglecta ; (2.) On the Development of Hippoerene Britannica (?) from
Atractylis ramosa ; (8.) On the Development of Hydra tuba from Chrysaora

(plate).
December 22, 1858.—On the Cnide or Thread-cells of the Holide.

January 26, 1859.—Observations on British Zoophytes: (1.) Coryne im-
plexa; (2.) Coryne (Margarica, St. Wright) implexa; (3.) Bimeria vestita ;
(4.) Garveia nutans (2 plates).

104 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

February 23, 1859.—On Goodsirea mirabilis, an undescribed Gymnopthal-
matous Medusa. Dr Wright also exhibited specimens of Gromia oviformis.

March 23, 1859.—Observations on British Zoophytes : Kionistes retiformis
(with figures).

April 27, 1859.—On a Method of Constructing Polarising Prisms of Nitrate
of Potash.

January 25, 1860.—Note on an instantaneous method of finding Micro-
scopic Objects under High Powers.

May 9, 1860.—Observations on British Zoophytes: Halcampa fultont, a
parasitic Actinia (two figures). 5

November 28, 1860.—Observations on British Zoophytes and Protozoa: (1.)
Notice of Ophryodendron abietina (Corethria sertularia); (2.) On the Repro-
ductive System of Chrysaora (plate).

February 27, 1861.—Observations on British Zoophytes and Protozoa: (1.)
Atractylis palliata, n. sp. (plate); (2.) Atractylis coccinia, n. sp.; (3.) On
Rhizopod Structure. —

April 24, 1861.—Observations on British Zoophytes and Protozoa: (1.) On
the Reproductive Elements of the Rhizopoda (plate); (2.) On the Reproduction
of Ophryodendron ; (3.) On Dendrophyra radiata and D. erecta (n. gen. and
sps.); (4.)-On Lecythia elegans (n. gen. and sp.). Appendix to Cionistes
reticularis (Kionistes retiformis), with figure. Appendix to Hydractinia.

November 27, 1861.—I. President’s Opening Address. II. On Reproduction
in Aquoria vitrina (plate).

February 26, 1862.—Observations on British Zoophytes: (1.) Atractylis
arenosa; (2.) Atractylis miniata; (3.) Laomedea decipiens (with plate).

March 26, 1862.—Observations on British Zoophytes and Protozoa: (1.)
Clava nodosa, n. sp.; (2.) Acharadria larynx ; (3.) Zooteirea religata, n. sp.
(4.) Freya (Lagotia) obstetrica; (5.) Freya stylifer ; (6.) Chetospira maritima ;
(7.) Oxytricha longicaudata (3 plates).

May 7, 1862.—I. On the Pigmental System of the Aiquoreal Pipe-fish
(Sygnathus equorius). II. Observations on British Zoophytes: (1.) Vorticlava
proteus; (2.) Trichydra pudica ; (3.) On the Development of Pycnogon Larvee
within the Polypes of Hydractinia echinata (2 plates).

February 26, 1863.—Observations on British Zoophytes : (1.) On a supple-
mentary Canal System in Stomobrachium octocostatum (with plate); (2.) On
Acanthobrachia inconspicua, n. gen. and sp.; (3.) Atractylis bitentaculata,
n. gen. and sp.; (4.) Atractylis quadritentaculata, n. sp.; (5.) Coryne ferox,
n. Sp.

January 27, 1864.—Remarks on Dr Stevenson Macadam’s ‘‘Spheroidal
Theory ” of the Interior of the Earth.

March 23, 1864.—Observations on British Zoophytes and Protozoa: (1.)
On the Structure and Reproduction of Boderia Turneri, a new Rhizopod
(plate). (2.) On the Prehensile Apparatus and Sting-cells of Cydippe ; (3.)
On the Stem-Canals of Tubularia indivisa,

President's Address. 105
February 22, 1865.—On the Natural History of Huglena.

November 27, 1867.—Opening Address : a general view of the Infusoria and
Fhizopoda. (Beautiful drawings, after nature, engraved by Dr Wright on the
glass slides, were exhibited by aid of the lime-light and lantern).

November 25, 1868.—An Opening Address, with numerous illustrations of
the Lower Forms of Animal Life. In continuation of the Opening Address
of the previous year (illustrated by beautifully-detailed drawings by Dr Wright
on the slides of lantern, shown by the oxy-hydrogen light.

These numerous papers show that good work was done in
those days in our Society by Dr Wright. His powers of ob-
servation were great, and great also was the care and skill
with which in his various small aquaria he watched the
development and progress from youth to age of many of these
marvellously beautiful, though minute denizens of the great
sea. The ease also with which he could bring them under
the examination of his powerful microscopes, and describe
what was to be seen, was to me always a matter of astonish-
ment and admiration, as was also the skilful way in which,
with some simple broken needles fixed in pens or pencils, or
other like tools of his own manufacture, he could engrave
delicately on the lithographic stone the beautiful and most
correct figures of these various wondrous creatures of such
marvellous beauty, and thus prepare the plates to be printed
for our Proceedings. The naturalist and the artist being one
person gave a correctness and beauty to the figures which
would otherwise have been quite unattainable. I may truly
say, Gentlemen, in regard to Dr Wright, that I fear we shall
not soon look upon his like again.

The Society has also to mourn the death of another member,
who has been taken from us in his early manhood—Mr
Andrew Smith Melville, Lecturer on Botany, Geology, etc., to
the Watt Institution, and also to the Royal High School.
He was the son of an old Member of the Society—Professor
Melville, of Galway University. Mr Melville was apparently
entering on a long course of usefulness and promise. I pre-
sume, however, from the abundance of his public labours, he
had but little leisure to favour us with many communications
at our meetings.

106 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

Another respected member—Mr George Meldrum, C.A.—
has also, more recently, been removed from us by death. He
was a good man, and well known in Edinburgh. As a lover
of science, however, he was one who took the part of an
interested listener more than a sharer in the public business
of our ordinary meetings. I long had the pleasure of his
acquaintance, and I know that both in his private and public
position in the church and in the community he leaves a sad
blank.

The mention of these recent losses makes me naturally
turn my thoughts back to the many eminent men who have
filled this presidential chair, and who have now passed away
from us. Happily, some distinguished men still remain—of
whom we are justly proud—to cheer and encourage us as a
society, by their occasional presence with us; taking part in
our meetings, and giving us the advantage of their age and
experience, and drawing for us on their large stores of know-
ledge in the varied and extensive fields of Natural Science.
I cannot, however, help recalling some of the many great
men who stood as towers of strength around this Society
when I first entered it, some six-and-twenty years ago. The
Secretary at that time was the generous and amiable William
Oliphant, the publisher; whowas then succeeded by C. Wyville
Thomson, now our distinguished Professor of Natural History
in the University ; we rejoice in his recent success, and trust
he may be long spared to add to our knowledge of Nature and
her laws, and to enjoy the honours he has so happily and justly
won. Sir C. Wyville Thomson, having held the office of Secre-
tary for a couple of years, was then succeeded by myself, and
the office remained in my hands for twenty-one years; but
I shall not go into any detailed account of the varying cir-
cumstances of the Society during that long period. Iam glad,
however, to have been able to edit and put on permanent
record some at least of the work done in part of that time, in
the three goodly octavo volumes of the printed Proceedings of
the Society, which include many papers of both interest and
value, and many illustrations of great beauty, especially, let
me say, the series of papers with their illustrative drawings,
by the late Dr T. Strethill Wright. The Proceedings were a

President's Address. 107

credit to the Society, and we only regretted that the limited
funds at our disposal obliged us at that time to bring them to
a close. The Society, I have said, was poor in money, in
those days, but it was then rich in men—men whose names
will be long remembered and referred to by all cultivators
of the Natural Sciences. At the time of my admission, I
looked up with much respect to the learned Presidents
of the Society—Robert K. Greville, LL.D., the accomplished
botanist, conchologist, and artist, and the pleasant, polished
gentleman; Professor John Goodsir, the careful, learned,
and philosophical anatomist; Dr John Coldstream, zoologist,
ethnologist, and kind-hearted, philanthropic man, whose
richly-illustrated lectures on Ethnology many will remember
with pleasure—each and all of them high authorities in
various branches of Natural Science. In the Council at
that time were the previous President, John Fleming, D.D.,
Professor of Natural Science in the New College, a genial,
cheerful, original, and many-sided man, full of knowledge
on every branch of Natural History—the well-known author
of the excellent “British Animals” (an early favourite of
mine) and the “ Philosophy of Zoology,” somewhat different
in its tone, perhaps, from some of our later treatises on
similar subjects, and more in accordance, in some respects,
with the religious feelings and instincts of, at least, our
Scottish people; Hugh Miller, the wonder-working geologist,
historian, and poet of the “Old Red Sandstone,” and many
more works besides; Alexander Bryson, the geologist, the
mineralogist, the ingenious mechanician, the social, warm-
hearted friend, and the fearless searcher after truth, giving
and taking hearty blows on its behalf, with the joy of a
strong man rejoicing in his strength; Robert Chambers, LL.D.,
who to varied stores of antiquarian lore added a knowledge
and a love for geology, in relation to which he published
various works, and also of zoology, his keen, inquiring mind
making him especially take an interest in the older and
somewhat fanciful theories and hypotheses of Oken and
Lamarck, and at last in what its Author thought fit at that
day to designate as the “ Vestiges of the Natural History of
Creation.” Subjects of that debatable kind, I may, however,

108 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

say, never came up for discussion at our pleasant little meet-
ings, where facts, and not fancies, more usefully occupied our
time. The potent literary authority, Charles Maclaren, of the
Scotsman newspaper, classical antiquary and geologist, was
also added to our list of office-bearers; and James Wilson of
Woodville, brother of the professor, a pleasant man and
writer alike on science and on sport; also Alexander Rose,
the quiet, unobtrusive, but learned mineralogist and practical
geologist, who for many long years taught these sciences in
his well-known corner tenement, close by the University,
where he had for pupils many men who afterwards became
famous as geologists, mineralogists, and engineers.

These have all passed away, but their services to science
and to humanity still abide.

Among the living who did good service to us in by-past
years, or who stood in relation more or less close to “The
Physical,” I shall only name as old Presidents and other
office-bearers, Andrew Murray, a distinguished naturalist, and
author of several works in various branches, especially in
Entomology; Dr W. H. Lowe, an entomologist—both now
living in the neighbourhood of London; Dr J. H. Balfour, our
well-known Professor of Botany; Dr M. Forster Heddle,
Professor of Chemistry, University of St Andrews; Dr Cleland,
Professor of Anatomy, Queen’s College, Galway ; David Page,
LL.D., Professor of Geology in the College of Science at
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in connection with Durham University;
and Professor Turner, the accomplished anatomist, of our own
University. There are many other names I could mention, of
men who have done good work with us, but I have confined
myself principally to some of the old office-bearers of the
Society, who have now mostly left us.

Looking back, then, on the men and the work done by
this Society for a series of years past, it has been almost
entirely one of observing and recording facts, and describing
structure, and exhibiting, with accompanying notes of more
or less interest, objects of rarity and specimens in all the
various departments of Natural History. With the occasional
exception, perhaps, of a passing reference in the opening
addresses of some of our later Presidents, I may almost

President's Address. 109

quote, as still true of the business at our meetings, the
words of Dr T. Strethill Wright, in his remarkable opening
address, to which I have already referred. Dr Wright says:
“We are men of work, not of talk. We have given forth
no voice on the grand hypothetical questions which are now
troubling the Commonwealth of Natural Science. We have
been singularly apathetic as to whether or no the stock of
our first parent struggled upwards through innumerable
adversities, from a monad toa man. _ I fear, indeed, that we
are a prejudiced people, and would rather leave the question
as we found it settled many a year ago at our mother’s
knee.”

Since the day when these wise words were spoken there
has, however, been a wonderful development of these theories
and hypotheses to which Dr Wright referred. Works, filled
with much curious and valuable information, but associated,
at the same time, with some of the most startling hypotheses,
have been published from time to time in England, and have
gone through many editions. I allude, of course, specially
to works on the principles of biology, as it is called, and on
such subjects as the Origin of Species, the Descent of Man,
the Variations of Plants and Animals under domestication,
Man’s place in Nature, etc., etc. Some of these works have
been hailed by great naturalists as introducing a new era
of progress and expanded thought, in connection with the
investigation of the history of the vegetable and animal
kingdoms. Indeed, of late years we have had all these new
views and principles propounded by some of their most
distinguished supporters, who have occasionally occupied
academic chairs; so that they have in this way been very
forcibly brought to our very doors. I therefore feel some-
what constrained to take at least a passing notice of them
now ; to try and see to what they are endeavouring to lead
us, as the natural result and outcome of all their teaching,
which, I regret to say, seems to me to be something very
different indeed from what, in our younger days, we would
have thought likely to have met with any favour, at least
in Scotland. I have no need, however, now to attempt
to show where these theories lead, for they have been more

110 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

recently taken up by learned Germans and others on the
Continent, and carried forward by them to what appears
to be their legitimate outcome and conclusion ; as in recently
published works on the history of creation, or the develop-
ment of the earth and its inhabitants by the action of na-
tural causes—in short, a non-miraculous history of creation.
Here we learn of the probable eternity of matter—plastic
matter, I should say—evolving forces, starting thus into
life, and going on to self-evolve and develop all creatures,
vegetable and animal alike—running thus upwards in various
ascending lines of development (I should say, by a series of
miracles), to form all the so-called species, genera, orders,
families, and classes of animated nature. Everywhere,
however, among these newly-formed creatures, from their
very abundance, we are told there is over-crowding, there is
not room for all, the strong choke out the weak, and then
many of these stronger ones, not content with more room,
struggle and strive by natural selection, as it is termed, and
otherwise, after something unknown, but different from what
they are, to which they are impelled by some force or other.
Thus stretching and straining after some unknown capacities,
and powers, and structures, these, somehow or other, become
evolved within them, and their life thus progresses to higher
and still higher forms, until one line of development, more
fortunate in some of its circumstances than all the others,
culminates in rational man. The links between the irrational
brute and him—(the ape, being not his father, but his great-
ereat-oreat-great-grandfather perhaps;) these links, lke
many other much-wanted intervening and connecting links
in the many-evolving chains of both vegetable and animal
life—have unfortunately not been as yet discovered, though
doubtless they must have existed, if the theory be true.
A wondrous parentage, truly, requiring, it seems to me,
a still more wondrous faith in these modern interpreters
of Nature, and of Nature’s laws! Here, then, we seem to
find ourselves face to face with a system of theories which
appears to leave all creatures, high and low alike, in a
world without a God, either as a Creator at the first, or as still
ruling over all by His superintending providence. Need I

President's Address. . 111

say that these theories, thus carried out, strike absolutely at
the root of all revelation, and, therefore, at all the aspirations
and hopes of man, either for time or for eternity.

Cowper sketches a somewhat similar but perhaps less ad-
vanced class of scientific theorists of his day so well, that I must
quote part of his description here, as his bold declaration of the
opposing truth applies to all, doubtless, of every kind and
degree :—

** Some say that, in the origin of things,
When all creation started into birth,

The infant elements received a law,
From which they swerve not since.

Thus dream they, and contrive to save a God,

The Lord of all, Himself through all diffused,
Sustains, and is the life of all that lives;
Nature is but a name for an effect

Whose cause is God.”

As a believer in the Holy Scriptures as the inspired and
revealed word and will of God to man, I agree with what our
old President, Professor Fleming, D.D., said long ago, but
which is still as true now as when it was written :—

“ Without controversy, the works and the words of God
must give consistent indications of His government, provided
they be interpreted truly. The talent, sagacity, learning, and
industry occupied for ages with the Book of Revelation have
produced a mass of evidence by which its moral authority has
been established. But unfortunately for the interpreters
of the Book of Nature, they have been few in number, their
field of observation too limited, and their prejudices too
obvious to permit any high value to be attached to their
theoretical deductions.” =

Personally, I cannot put aside the most ancient history we
possess of creation, as given us in the books of Moses, which
have, I believe, been intended for the information of the
human race in every state of civilisation, and in every land,
though I may not be able to understand or explain it in all
its details. Indeed, I do not expect or ask to understand the
deep mysteries of the creation, and all the relations of matter

112 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

and of life, or to be able to catalogue and classify the
march and order of creation; except in a very general way
indeed. There are truths, however, announced in this old
account which I cannot but believe, viz.: the original creation
of matter—the worlds—by the Almighty Maker; a pro-
eress of creation, after light and order had been evolved from
an apparent state of disorder; the sequence or succession of
vegetable and animal life, each in its turn declared by its
Creator to be perfect, “good, very good;” and the special cir-
cumstances mentioned at the creation of man sufficiently
mark him out, to my mind at least, however closely allied his
physical frame may be to the lower animals, as a creature very
different indeed from them.

Then let me remind you that the Bible history of man is
not one of development by slow degrees in the course of un-
told ages, from a state of degradation allied to the brute
creation. On the contrary, we are told that man was created
at the first upright, and lord of all the lower creation. From
this state he soon fell, but doubtless he still retained at least
his lordship over the creatures, and very early took some of
them specially under his protecting care; one of the first
family being, we are told, a keeper of domesticated cattle. It
would almost appear, as, indeed, I have elsewhere stated, as
if the Creator had stamped a peculiarly plastic or mobile
character on the whole group of these very domestic animals
which man has brought under his sway, to suit them, shall
I say, in their varied descendants, under man’s superintending
care, for accompanying him as he spreads abroad over almost
all the regions of the earth. It is this very peculiarity, indeed,
which has been taken by some learned writers to attempt to
prove the mobile characters, not of these domesticated animals
alone, but of the whole animal kingdom. The after-history of
the human race, instead of being one of regular progress and
advancement, seems rather to have been one of fall and degrada-
tion; again of rise and progress, at least in some of its
branches; and again of fall and degradation, followed again by
rise and progress; the modern barbarism thus covering in some
places and concealing the older civilisation. But into this wide
though tempting subject I cannot at present enter; only I

President's Address. Tis

believe, as we are told in Scripture,—* Righteousness exalteth
a nation,” and that we have here the preserving salt, the pos-
session of which alone will in the end prevent a nation from
relapsing again into barbarism. . . . Truths such as these
taught so plainly in Holy Scripture, bearing on the relation of
all living creatures, and the world itself, to their Great Creator,
have, to me, at least, a sublimity, a beauty, an order, a fulness,
adapted to the nature of man, infinitely surpassing any or all
of the theories of the sad, struggling, and evolving creation
of man’s devising.

And now, gentlemen, a word in conclusion on the present
state and prospects of our Society itself. I have already said
we are still fortunate enough to have among us some of our
old Presidents, men like Mr C. W. Peach, who can enlighten
and charm us on many branches of Natural History; James
M‘Bain, M.D., R.N.; Professor John Duns, D.D.; Mr R. F.
Logan; Dr Stevenson Macadam; also Dr Traquair, Mr
Andrew Taylor, Mr Robert Gray, and many others, whose
names occur to us all, and are amply sufficient to show
what power and energy still remain in this old Society,
now entering on the one hundred and sixth year of its
age. J am sure, by the active support of our Members
bringing everything of interest under our notice that may
come in their way, the Society, led by the well-known
naturalists among our office-bearers, and by the accom-
‘plished men whom the Council expect to fill the vacant
places among our officials, the Royal Physical Society will
hold on the even tenor of its quiet pleasant way, with
perhaps greater vigour and activity, zeal and success, than
before; in the examination and pursuit of all the varied
branches of Natural, ay, Physical Science; for the old and
happy name and constitution of our Society makes it right
and proper to include among its workers all the lovers
and cultivators of the many branches of science.

And now, gentlemen, in leaving this chair, it falls to me
to resign my office of President, the term of which has now
come to a close. You were good enough to appoint me one
of your Presidents, when failing health and strength admon-
ished me to retire from the office of the Secretary, which I

114 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

had the honour and the pleasure to fill for so many years.
Unfortunately, however, I could not but feel that this state
of matters by no means fitted me the better for filling the
more prominent and important office of the President; and
in now resigning that office, I have warmly to thank my
fellow office-bearers for their constant courtesy and kindness
to myself, and, indeed, gentlemen, my hearty thanks are due
to all the Members of the Society, in these by-past years,
for the invariably pleasant intercourse I have had with them
on all and every occasion.

On the motion of Professor Duns, D.D., a vote of thanks
was unanimously awarded to Dr Smith for his able
address, and for his valuable services while President of
the Society.

II. Ornithological Notes: (1.) Buteo lagopus, Rough-legged
Buzzard ; (2.) Pernis apivorus, Honey Buzzard; (3.)
Otus brachyotos, Short-eared Owl; (4.) Lanius ex-
cubitor, Great Grey Shrike ; (5.) Upupa epops, Hoopoe ;
(6.) Charadrius morinellus, Dotterel. (Specimens ex-
hibited.) By JoHN ALEXANDER Situ, M.D.

(1.) Buteo lagopus, Rough-legged Buzzard—tThis fine
female specimen of this bird was shot near Roslin on the
23d October.

(2.) Pernis apivorus, Honey Buzzard.—This bird is also
a female, and its plumage is remarkably dark in colour. It
was shot near Pencaitland, Haddingtonshire, on the 22d
September last. Another fine specimen of this bird was
shot last year on the 20th September at Kilberry, Argyle-
shire. It was an adult male, and its stomach on being
opened was found to be filled with full-grown specimens of
the common wasp.

(3.) Otus brachyotos, Short-eared Owl.—Various speci-—

mens were exhibited; this bird having been recently un-
usually common this season in various parts of Scotland, the
native birds being probably supplemented by many from the
Continent, owing to the great prevalence of easterly gales.

Dr Smith’s Ornithological Notes. 115

(4.) Lanius excubitor, Great Grey Shrike.—A male specimen
of this occasional visitor. It was shot by one of the Duke
of Buccleuch’s keepers, on the 9th of March, at Bowhill,
Selkirkshire.

(5.) Upupa epops, Hoopoe.—A fine male bird, and rare
visitor, was killed at Burntisland, Fife, on the 25th April
' of this year. The specimen exhibited, was purchased, on
the 6th October, by Mr Stavert, 18 Royal Terrace, from a
railway surface-man at the Innerwick station (Haddington-
shire) of the North British Railway, who had recently caught
it there alive, and it was brought by Mr Stavert alive to Mr
William Hope, taxidermist, George Street. The bird was a
female.

(6.) Charadrius morinellus, Dotterel—Two young males
and two females, also young birds. These birds were brought
to Mr William Hope, taxidermist; they had been shot at
Dalnaspidal, Perthshire, on the 17th August; also a female,
shot in the same neighbourhood, on the 8th September 1876.
Other birds of the same kind had been noticed on the tops
of the hills of this high district for several years past, about
the same time of the year, but the species had not before been
determined. The bird is one of our local summer visitors,
and its rare breeding-places occur only on the very tops of
high mountains. Mr T. C. Heysham first described their
breeding-places near Carlisle, in Cumberland, and Westmore-
land; and Mr Robert Gray, in his valuable “ Birds of the
West of Scotland,’ has gathered together for us, various
notices of its rare occurrence and supposed breeding-places ;
in Sutherlandshire, Inverness-shire, Aberdeenshire, and the
adjoining counties, and also in Dumfriesshire; they appear,
however, to occur only in small flocks; and some of these
localities may perhaps need further confirmation. This, then,
appears to be an addition to the localities where these birds
have been observed; and from the time of the year when they
were killed, and the immature state of the plumage of some
of them, it may, probably, be considered an addition also to
the breeding-places of these very locally-distributed birds.
I may mention that two of these specimens were secured for
our “Museum of Science and Art;” another pair by Mr

116 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Socvety.

Robert Gray, for his own collection ; and a single bird for
the Berwick Museum.

(I have to thank Mr William Hope, taxidermist, George
Street, for enabling me to examine and exhibit these speci-
mens, and the Hoopoe, Shrike, etc.; and also Mr Small, taxi-
dermist, George Street, for being able to bring some of the
other birds under the notice of the Society.)

Wednesday, 20th December 1876.—Davip GRIEVE, Esq., President,
in the Chair.

The following gentlemen were elected Office-Bearers for the Session :

Presidents. —David Grieve, Esq.; John Falconer King, Esq.; Ramsay H.
Traquair, M.D.

Council.—James M‘Bain, M.D., R.N.; William Durham, Esq.; Professor
Duns, D.D.; R. Scot-Skirving, Esq.; John Alex. Smith, M.D.; James
Pryde, Esq.

Secretary.—Robert Gray, Esq.

Treasurer.—K. W. Dallas, Esq.

Honorary Librarian.—Rev. James Kennedy, M.A., B.D.

Assistant Secretary.—John Gibson, Esq.

Library Committee. —James M‘Bain, M.D., R.N.; Thomas Robertson, Esq. ;
R. F. Logan, Esq.; Robert Gray, Esq.; F. W. Lyon, M.D.; James Anderson,
Esq.

The following gentlemen were balloted for and elected Resident Members
of the Society :

John Thomson, Esq., Student of Natural Science, 26 Queen Street ; Andrew
Thomson, Esq., 13 Inverleith Place; T. D. Gibson Carmichael, Esq., All
Saints’ Parsonage, Newton-Stewart; Andrew Moffat, Esq., 8 Kirk Street,
Leith; Thos. W. Drinkwater, Esq., 47 Forrest Road.

The President, in referring to the much regretted retire-
ment of Dr Robert Brown from the office of Secretary in
consequence of his removal to London, spoke in high terms
of the manner in which he had conducted the business of
the Society, and the zeal and ability with which he had pro-
moted its best interests. He, therefore, proposed a cordial
vote of thanks to Dr Brown, and that the same should be
recorded in the Minutes, and the extract thereof forwarded
to him by the Secretary, with the best wishes of the Society.

The proposal was most cordially received, and unanimously
agreed to.

Professor Duns on the Elements of Organisms. 117

The following communications were read :

I, The Elements of Organisms. By Professor Duns.

The author had seen, with much regret, naturalists leaving
the old starting-point of observation and research, and, instead
of allowing living forms to record their own history, making
a history for them. The older and, as he thought, the wiser
observers began with mature organisms, finding in them per-
manent specific marks, and from that point of view they
studied their developmental history. It is only in poetry that
the child is “father of the man.” The apparently common-
place remark could not be too earnestly repeated, namely, that
they could have no true and definite knowledge of the embryo
apart from the parent, or of the seed apart from the plant
which bore it. The whole tendency, however, of recent
research in biology was to assign uncertainty to specific marks
in mature forms, and to magnify the importance of a know-
ledge of constituents and beginnings; in a word, to subject
biology, in which there was the all-important factor “life,”
whose nature was still unknown, to the methods of chemistry,
in which uncertainty has no place. After criticising the
introductory positions laid down by Herbert Spencer in his
book on the “ Principles of Biology,” the general conclusions
of the paper were given as follows: (1.) That ultimate ele-
ments being sub-sensible, the biologist is indebted to belief
where observation is impossible for a starting-point in order
to observe; (2.) That thus the leading principle of positivism
is absurd, because while it claims to limit itself to observation,
it is forced to assume as a starting-point that which no man
has ever observed; (3.) While it is granted that the elements
of organisms carry with them their essential qualities into
compounds, there is nothing to show that these are not modi-
fied by ‘this association; (4.) That, truly interpreted, the
behaviour of these elements in compounds affords no favour
to the theory of organic evolution; (5.) That life neutralises
tendencies to specific change in organisms when these ten-
dencies come into play, and ever acts in directions antagonistic

to evolution.
VOL, IV. Q

118 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Socvety.

II. Note on the Shoaling of the Califorman Rivers. By HENRY
T. TROWBRIDGE, in a letter to Dr RoBerT Brown.

Having recently had occasion to inquire into the effect of
certain human agencies in physical geography, I was curious
to ascertain how far hydraulic mining had affected the rivers
of California. When I was in that state, this form of gold-
washing was then in its infancy. But even at that date
(1863-66), the Californian rivers, once clear as crystal, were
turbid with the mud washed into them by the operations of
the miners in the ordinary placer or shallow diggings, in
separating the gold from the mud, sand, and gravel with
which it is mixed. The hydraulic method, being on an in-
finitely more extensive scale, could not fail to have greatly
intensified these appearances. Accordingly, I presented cer-
tain queries to my friend, Mr Trowbridge, who is well
acquainted with such matters, and it may be interesting if I
communicate the substance of his note to the Society. Before
doing so, however, I may briefly describe what hydraulic
mining is, since the term must be a novel one to most of the
members. _

After the shallow diggings in California were all but ex-
hausted, it was necessary to reach the deeper-deposited gold
lying on “the bed rock,’ and covered or mixed with deep
deposits of gravel and the débris of the rocks, in which it was
originally contained. Todo so by the mechanical process of
shovelling off the superficial déb77s would be a slow and in-
effective process. Besides, the earth, etc., would require to be
washed, in order to obtain the gold. Now, if both processes
could be effected by the same agent, then, undoubtedly, “two
birds would be killed by one stone.” Accordingly, the
“hydraulic” process was invented; and, without going into
details, it may be described as one of the most ingeniously
simple and yet effective of the many engineering schemes
which the auri sacra fames has devised. The water is con-
veyed from a reservoir at a considerable height, so as to give
force to the stream which is to be directed against the bank.
The stream is conveyed in a canvas hose, which, when full,

at eee es

Note on the Shoaling of the Califorman Rivers. 119

will bear a perpendicular column of water fifty feet high.
Sometimes the pipe will be eight inches in diameter where
it connects with the hose, and not more than two inches at
the mouth; and the force with which the stream rushes from
it is so great, that it will kill a man instantly, and tear down
a hill more rapidly than could a hundred men with shovels.
One or two men are required to hold the pipe. They usually
turn the stream upon the bank near its bottom, until a
large mass of dirt tumbles down ; and then they wash this all
away into the “sluice,” or plank or stone paved ditch; when

_they commence at the bottom of the bank again, and so on.

If the bank is 150 feet high, the mass of earth that tumbles
down is, of course, immense; and the “pipe-men” must
stand far off, lest they should be caught in the avalanche.
Such accidents are of daily occurrence, and the deaths from
this cause probably are not less than seventy or eighty every
year. Often legs are broken. When they are buried in the
falling dirt, the water is used to wash them out. The gold
contained in the earth is washed into the “sluice,” or long
ditch. Being heavier than the earth and gravel, it sinks, and
is caught by the “riffles” (cross-bars or obstructions) placed
here and there. At convenient intervals this auriferous mud
is washed, and the gold sifted out, or, if fine, combined with
mercury ; after which the resulting amalgam is “retorted” —
in other words, the mercury is vaporised by heat, when the
spongy gold remains behind. Of course, some escapes; and
in future times, when labour is cheaper in California than at
present, this mud, which forms great dreary flats in the vicinity
of hydraulic diggings, will be profitably rewashed.*

The various processes of gold-mining have all greatly
altered the physical features of California; but none of them
have had such an effect as “hydraulic” mining. Hills melt
away and disappear under its influence, every winter’s
freshets carrying to lower and yet lower points portions of the
débris, while whole valleys are filled with clean, fresh-washed
boulders of quartz and other rocks.. Meantime, the Sacra-
mento and the San Joaquin flow turbid with mud. Bars are
formed where none existed before; and the hydrography of

* Hittel: ‘‘ Resources of California,” p. 254.

120 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

the Bay of San Francisco is changing under the influence of
the same cause. The desolation which remains after the
eround, thus washed, is abandoned, is remediless and appal-
ling. The rounded surface of the “bed rock,” torn with
picks and strewn with huge boulders too large to be removed,
shows here and there islands of the poorer gravel, rising in
vertical cliffs with red and blue stains, serving to mark the
former levels, and astounding the stranger who first sees
them at the changes, geological in their nature and extent,
which the hand of man has wrought.

Mr Trowbridge informs me that unless dredging is re-
sorted to, it is questionable if the Sacramento ten years
hence will be navigable. The bed of the river has been
gradually and sometimes even rapidly rising. It is affirmed
by some experienced pilots that the bed of the lower river is
twenty feet higher than it was twenty-five years ago. The
farms on the banks have been seriously injured. “ Injunc-
tions,” even could they have been obtained, would be useless,
for gold-mining is too important an industry of California to be
checked by any process of law. In some cases, to save them-
selves trouble, the miners have bought up the farms, and so
their work of digging and washing for gold goes on. The colour
of the river water shows that vast amounts of earth are sus-
pended in it; and this is being continually deposited in the
beds of rivers, and the current is insufficient to remove it
from the channel. Some considerable time since, it was
found necessary to withdraw the large steamers from the
Sacramento trade, and substitute boats of less draught. In
time, the river will become shoaled up, as the San Juan, and
other Central American rivers have been, by the natural pro-
cess of silting, within the last few years. The shallow bays
off San Francisco Bay are also getting shoaled. Suisun Bay
is already shallow, and in course of time may be converted
into cultivatable land, unless the bed of the river should rise
faster than the bottom of the bay.

The shoaling of the Sacramento is only one example
of many others which could be cited. Meanwhile, the
Californian engineers are devising expedients to meet the
numerous difficulties which the case calls for just now,

al ONE AR NS

—

“

ahora) ote a terre

Mr Black's Remarks on the Chessil Bank, Weymouth. 123

and is likely to present still more obtrusively in the
future.

Two photographs were exhibited, one showing the stream
of water playing on the bank; the other, the flats of mud
formed by the operation. The accompanying illustration,
showing hydraulic mining, is reduced from an illustration in
Dr Brown’s “Countries of the World,” vol. i., p. 5 (by per-
mission of Messrs Cassell, Petter, & Galpin).

ILI. Ornithological Notes: (1.) Buteo lagopus, Rough-legged
Buzzard; (2.) Anas clypeata, Shoveller. (Specimens
exhibited.) By JoHN ALEXANDER SmiTH, M.D.

(1.) Buteo lagopus, Rough-legged Buzzard.—A_ beautiful
female specimen. It was caught on the 30th November in a
rabbit-trap, at the Glen, Mr Tennant’s property, near Inner-
leithen, in Peeblesshire.

(2.) Anas clypeata, Shoveller—A young male, shot near
Kineardine-on-Forth on the 13th of November. I have be-
fore exhibited to the Society other specimens from the same
neighbourhood.

Wednesday, 17th January 1877.—J. Fauconer Kine, Esq., President,
in the Chair.

The following communications were read :

I. Remarks on the Chessil Bank, Weymouth.
By W. T. Buack, Esq.

The Chessil Bank of pebbles is one of the great sights for
visitors to Weymouth. It stretches in an unbroken line
north-west from Portland to Bradstock, for about ten miles
along the sea-coast of Dorsetshire. It appears like a huge
railway embankment, varying from thirty feet high at the
north-west end, to fifty feet at the south-east end, and is
from three hundred to six hundred feet broad at the same
bases at low-water mark. It is composed of a mass of

124 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

rounded pebbles and stones, the larger of which appear at the
top and back of the mound, and the smaller lie in front,
towards the sea; and the south-east end of the bank has larger
stones in it than the north-west end, where sand even exists
superficially. The base of the bank is conjectured to have a
layer of sand, resulting from the débris of the trituration of
the pebbles above, and lying on a stratum of mud or clay,
which may also be sounded in the bottoms of Lyme Bay,
a considerable distance out. The bigger base, or larger end,
rests on the north end of the Isle of Portland at Chessil
Town, thence it stretches across the sea to the ferry at Wyke,
dividing Lyme Bay from Portland Bay, and afterwards courses
along the sea-coast. The sea face of the land inside it is low,
till the cliffs at Bradstock are reached, and between the land
and the bank hes a water lagoon, ranging from three-quarters
to one quarter mile broad, called the Fleet Water, emptying
itself into Portland Bay.

The Chessil Bank has been amply described by numerous
writers for some time, and has formed the subject of long
controversies regarding its formation and constitution, which
are not yet satisfactorily concluded. Amongst them may be
mentioned the paper of Sir J. Coode, contributed to the Proceed-
ings of the Institute of Civil Engineers (vol. xii, May 1853),
as the most valuable; and the debate on the question that fol-
lowed in the meeting of the Society is extremely interesting,
supported as it was by eminent scientific and professional men.
Next follows Professor Prestwich’s communication to the Insti-
tute of Civil Engineers, and the report of the discussion there-
on at the meeting of February 2, 1875, recorded in the Proceed-
ings of the Institute of Civil Engineers (vol. xl., 1874-75).
Professor Prestwich has further discussed the Chessil Bank
in a paper in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society
(No. 121, February 1, 1875), and in the Geological Magazine
(vol. xii, 1875). Messrs Bristow and Whitaker have also
written articles in the Geological Magazine (vol. vi. 1869),
on the same. The chief points of discussion entered into
are those stated in the papers of Coode and Prestwich,
round whose rival arguments range the rest of the writers
on either side of the controversy.

—

Mr Black's Remarks on the Chessil Bank, Weymouth. 125

The following remarks are chiefly founded upon reductions
to diagrammatic representation of the geological and mechani-
cal features of the bank, according to natural scale, taken from
the surveys of Sir J. Coode and the Ordnance Survey, supple-
mented by personal inspection of the site:

1st, That the pebbles are assumed to be driven from the
west, at Bridport, by west-south-west waves running along
the beach obliquely, and also another set from the south, at
Portland, by south-south-west waves, according to the respec-
tive prevalence and force of these winds.

2d, That the highest poimt of the bank on the Isthmus of
Portland may probably mark the meeting of these two sets
of wind waves’ actions from west and south, and the respective
lengths of the bank west and south of this may be commen-
surate with the greater or less prevalence and force of each
of these winds.

3d, That the pebbles are not driven by the tides from the
bottom of Lyme Bay, as there is nothing there but mud and
sand in the soundings, but that they are derived from the
disintegration of the chalk, greensand, and red sandstone cliffs
of the coast farther west from Exmouth, and from the marl
cliffs at Chessil Town at Portland.

4th, That a line drawn perpendicular to the axis of the
bank hes in a south-west direction, and that lines drawn
perpendicular to the two ends of the bank will meet together
about forty-five nautical miles out in the channel to the south-
west, so that the bank may represent the arc of a great circle
of that radius.

5th, That a line drawn parallel to the Portland perpen-
dicular will be found to lie between Start Point and Bridport,
and that the intervening space may be supposed to represent
the area of the west-south-west waves, driving the pebbles
along the bank, to the south-east, to Portland.

6th, That a line drawn parallel to the Bridport perpen-
dicular will be found to correspond to one drawn between
Downend Point and Otterton Point, and the area between
them may be taken to represent the S.S.W. waves, driving
the pebbles from the west along the Dorsetshire coast.

7th, That by the aid of the latter forces the pebbles are

126 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

driven from Exmouth to Bridport, and by the former they are
carried along the bank itself towards Portland, where their
further progress is arrested by the counter-wave forces that
then take action under the influence of the south-south-west
winds prevailing at other periods.

8th, Much argument has taken place regarding the dis-
tribution of the pebbles on the bank, to account for the pre-
sence of the larger stones on the crest, and at the south-east
or larger end, and the smaller at the north-west end, and
at the base, and views on this point are to be found fully
stated in the communications previously quoted.

9th, It may, however, be mentioned that the storm waves,
which are the builders of the embankment, have a tendency
to urge upwards a mass of pebbles by their forward surge,
containing the larger ones foremost, and the smaller ones
behind; and that the backwash leaves them stranded in the
order of its inability to drag them back.

10th, This may be due to the velocity of the surge being
ereatest on its margins to the land side when rising, and
least there when beginning to fall back again down the slope,
where it is further spent by sinking down between the stones
into the interior of the bank.

11th, An explanation of the transportation of the larger
pebbles from the smaller north-west end of the bank to the
larger south-east end, may be offered by supposing that the
storm waves, when surging obliquely against the slopes in
west-south-west winds, drive the pebbles up the bank ob-
liquely, and leave them there to be projected still further
obliquely by the next following surges, as they rose higher
and overtook them towards the eastward.

12th, Why does the Chessil Bank lie in a north-west and
south-east direction? The reply may be that the south-west
storm waves, which surge in parallel lines to its length, over-
come by their superior force the migratory actions of the
west-south-west and south-south-west wind waves, exerted at
other times, and drive the stones then left behind perpen-
dicularly up the bank to its crest, which the other weaker
wind waves are unable to reach afterwards.

13th, The seaward face of the bank is terraced by the

ig Th a hee aia

Mr Black's Remarks on the Chessil Bank, Weymouth. 127

plunging action of the surf breaking on it, and has a steeper
slope than the landward face, which is more level in confor-
mation, so that the crest of the bank is seen to lie nearer the
sea half than the land half.

14th, This would lead to the inference that the bank might
be gradually advancing inwards on the land, and that it
formerly existed much more out to sea than it does now, but
of this there is no historical evidence yet forthcoming ; but
Professor Prestwich’s discovery of the existence of raised
beaches on Portland and the Devonshire coast gives a geo-
logical support to the idea.

15th, This conjecture may derive some further confirma-
tion from the fact of the twenty-fathom line of soundings in
Lyme Bay, stretching in an unbroken curve from Portland
Ledges to Start Point, indicating that the bay might formerly
have been dry land, and had since been scooped out by the
denuding action of the sea, and had left these stones and

\ pebbles as the remains and records of its action.

If a straight line be drawn between Portland Point and
Charmouth, representing the chord of the are of Chessil Bay,
the perpendicular raised upon this to the circumference of
the are at the pebble bank may be assumed to be proportional
to the effects of the storm waves at each spot. These lines
will be seen to be larger in the middle of the bank, and re-
present therefore the greater force in driving back the shingle,
and shorter at the sides, where the effect of the wind waves
would be less. Again, if a tangent line be drawn on the
outside of the arc of the bay perpendicular to the middle of
the bank, then the perpendiculars erected on this may be
taken to represent the landward resistance to the invasion of
the sea. This will then be seen to be strongest at the sides,
where the bank rests on rocky cliffs, and weaker in the
middle, where the cliffs are absent, and the superficial strata
and deposits reach the level of the sea.

128 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

II. Conchological Notes made at Elie, Fife, during the
Summer of 1876. By RoBert ETHERIDGE, Jun., Esq.,
F.G.S. Communicated by JoHN GIBson, Esq.

The notes from which the following remarks are drawn up
were collected during a short visit to Elie, on the coast of
Fife, during the past summer (1876).

(1.) Serobicularia piperata (Bellon.) ; Mya arenaria (Linn.) ;
and Tellina Balthica (Linn.), in the Cocklemill Burn.

For two or three hundred yards above its mouth ino
Largo Bay the Cocklemill Burn has formed small alluvial
flats, twenty to thirty feet below the general level of the
St Ford Links, through which it winds its course, locally
called “Inks.” These small flats are, as a rule, dry at
low water; but at the rise of the tide they become pretty
generally flooded, or, at all events, sufficiently so to fill up
and replenish a number of small irregular holes or depres-
sions a few yards in circumference, which are scattered here
and there. A visit was paid to the locality in the company
of Dr M‘Bain, R.N., and Mr Howie of Upper Largo, to obtain
specimens of Scerobicularia piperata, which were known to
occur in the before-mentioned holes by both these gentle-
men. During the recession of the tide, we succeeded in
digging out a quantity of the black mud forming the bottom
of the holes, and from which we extracted many specimens
of Mya arenaria, S. piperata, Tellina Balthica, all living, and,
as regards numbers, the first named in greatest abundance,
and the second predominating over the third. The shells
were all much stained in parts by the black material in
which they were found, although the molluscs appeared in a
perfectly healthy condition. When placed in clean water,
the long siphons of S. piperata were displayed to advantage,
and the tube of JZ arenaria was extended to its full length.

Dr Gywn Jeffreys remarks on the capabilities Mya
arenaria possesses of living in brackish or fresh water, and
mentions a list of shells, chiefly fresh-water, which are found
in company with it in the Baltic. Amongst these is Teldina
Balthica. The individuals of IZ arenaria from the Cockle-
mill Burn are a somewhat more transversely elongated

Mr Etheridge’s Conchological Notes. 129

variety, in proportion to the height of the shell, than the
examples figured either by Forbes and Hanley, or Jeffreys.
Many of the Scrobicularie are strong thick shells. ’

The mud in which these species were living was black,
stinking, and offensive in the extreme, and contained a
quantity of partially-decayed vegetable matter, and the shells
are all much stained with a ferruginous and blackish tinge,
arising from this.

The occurrence of Scrobicularia piperata in the fossil
state in beds forming the banks of the Cocklemill Burn has
already been pointed out by the Rev. T. Brown, M.A.,* the indi-
viduals, in every case, being found in their natural position
with the posterior or siphonal end of the shell uppermost.
It is quite unnecessary for me to dilate on the importance,
from a geological point of view, of the occurrence of this
species in the fossil and living state so close together at one
locality.

(2.) On varieties in colour and banding in Helix aspersa
(Miller); H. nemoralis (Linn.) ; H. arbustorum (Linn.); and
Hf, ericetorum (Lister).

I have next to draw the attention of the Society to the
unusually large number of the foregoing species of Helix in-
habiting the links around Elie during last summer. On the
links east of Elie, H. aspersa and H. nemoralis occur in
thousands, especially the latter species, with a few H. erice-
torum. The two former are also equally plentiful on the
links west of Earlsferry, and along the cliff-edge above Kin-
craig. It was, however, on the St Ford Links, west of Kin-
craig, around the Cocklemill Burn, that the greatest profusion
was met with of all except H. aspersa, which was compara-
tively scarce. When walking across the links, the observer
could not avoid crushing under his feet hundreds of ZH.
nemoralis, and thousands of H. ericetorwm; indeed, I do not
recollect ever seeing any shell, recent or fossil, in such over-
whelming abundance as the last named. Along the hedge-
row leading to Kincraig farmhouse, a locality pointed out to
me by Mr Howie, H. arbustorwm was found in abundance,
and I also found the same species feeding amongst the long

* Transactions, Edinburgh Royal Society, xxiv., p. 624. |

130 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Socrety.

herbage on the banks of the Cocklemill Burn, and again
amongst bushes in hollows of the links towards Largo.

The author then exhibited and described specimens of the
foregoing species: Of 4. aspersa, 4 vars.; H. nemoralis, 50
vars., differing from one another either in the arrangement
- of the bands on the whorls or in the colour of the shell;
H. arbustorum, 3 vars-; H. ericetorwm, 2 well-marked varie-
ties, with intermediate forms.

III. Zhe Influence of Recent Gales on some Marine Forms of
Infe. By Professor Duns, D.D.

Shortly after the strong easterly gales that marked the
close of 1876 and the opening of 1877, I walked along the
shore from Leith to Portobello, with the view of picking up

any of the less common marine forms that might have been ~

washed ashore in that locality. On many occasions I had
found that part of the coast very productive after a storm.
In the present instance, I was struck with the unwonted
numbers of some of the forms left a little below the high-
water mark. While mollusca prevailed, they were associated
with other classes, which told how very general the influence
of the storm had been. There were rays and fragments of
discs here and there of the common sand-star (Ophiura tex-
twrata), the same in greater numbers of the lesser sand-
star (0. albida), in greater numbers still the same of the
common brittle-star (Ophiocoma rosula), the arms of the com-
mon crossfish (Uraster rubens) and of the sun-star (Solaster pap-
posa), limbs of crustacea—Carcinas, Lithodes, Galathea—and,
in pretty large numbers, dead hermit crabs (Pagurus Bern-
hardus) either in their naked condition, or connected with the
easteropodous shells in which they had found a home. At
the high-water mark, on the shore near Leith, the common
sea-mouse (Aphrodita aculeata) might have been picked up in
dozens.

But I wish to refer chiefly to certain species of mollusca,
specimens of which are on the table in the condition in

which they were gathered. Looking at them from the point

ay gt at Si
eS ep be

Influence of Recent Gales on Marine Forms of Life. 131

of view of the numbers in which they occurred, they may be
set down as follows :—Buccinum undatum, Lutraria elliptica,
Pecten opercularis, Cyprina Islandica, Mytilus edulis, and Car-
dium echinatum. The number of Buceinum undatum was
very great. One could hardly have imagined the existence
of so many of this species in the Forth. In an area less than
three feet square I counted 256, and they were quite as
plentiful for about a mile along the coast in a line some feet
below that of high-water mark. In nineteen cases out of
every twenty the shell contained the dead animal, with the
anterior part of the body and the operculum hanging out
about half-an-inch in length. In like proportion the body
whorl, or first turn of the shell, was broken in the fashion
now shown by the specimens on the table. I have not seen
this part of the shore for more than ten days, but if it presents
the same appearance as when last seen, these large whelks
might, literally, be gathered in cart-loads.

The condition of Lutraria elliptica is in marked contrast
with that of Buccinwm uwndatum. The former rarely occurs
attached to the shell. Only after considerable search, I
obtained two or three specimens in which animal and shell
were united. The vast majority of specimens were naked.
Indeed, comparatively few shells are to be seen, but the débris
on the shore, and every shore pool, contained the naked forms,
and especially the peculiar-looking elongated flattened tube
formed by the united siphons. I counted thirty of these in a
pool formed around one of the boulders, which occur in
ereat numbers at several parts of this shore.

The other species named above are much fewer than the
two now specially noticed. Pecten opercularis, while well
represented by single shells, when compared with the re-
mains of the waved whelk, might be said to be few in
number. but it is very uncommon to find the broken shells
of this species with the dead animals attached scattered
along the shore. It is, moreover, far less common to meet
with the strong shell of Cyprina Islandica so shattered while
the animal clings to some of the fragments, as is seen in
the specimen now on the table. In very many cases the
common mussel, animal and shell, is met with in a like con-

132 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

dition. The Cardiadw, which are, curiously, not so numerous
as any of these now mentioned, have as a rule the shells
entire, their hinges complete and fastened, open in front,
with the highly-marked sickle-like foot of the animal pro-
truding.

Looking at the distribution of these forms in depth,
Buccinum is met with from low water to a hundred fathoms,
Lutraria from low water to twelve fathoms, Cyprina from
five to eighty fathoms, Pecten from fifteen to twenty-five
fathoms. The other two are low-water forms.

Certain species one might have expected to find in con-
siderable numbers, were represented only by broken shells
here and there, as Solen siliqua, Fusus antiquus, and Chiton
Jascicularis.

From the facts now narrated, I infer (1.) That the destruc-
tion of certain forms of molluscan life has been unusually
great during the recent gales; (2.) that the four species first
mentioned must have been brought from a distance, having
evidently been dashed by a tempestuous sea on a rocky shore
before they were cast on the gently sloping sandy beach,
where they were left by the tide at the cessation of the gales;
(5.) that the condition of the shore as now referred to is
highly suggestive as shedding light on some geological pheno-
mena. More than twenty years ago, when passing along the
Bathgate hills, I was attracted to a limestone quarry by an
unusually loud report in connection with blasting operations.
The workmen had arranged to fire several heavy shots almost
simultaneously, and great masses of rock were torn from their
bed, revealing in them great numbers of Productide, Spiri-
feride, Huomphali, here and there fragments of Orthoceros, all
of them, one might almost say, “pounded” together, in associa-
tion with Favosites, Cyathophyllum, etc. For few, if any, of
the molluscan remains had been embedded entire. It might
be asked, “ Were these laid down in connection with the action
of forces analogous to those which sorted the forms on the
shore now described ?”

Notice of some Remarkable Remains of Rhizodus. 133

IV. Notice of some Remarkable Remains of Rhizodus (bones,
scales, and teeth), recently discovered at Gilmerton by Mr
Robert Tervet. By DAviD GRIEVE, Esq., F.G.S. (Speci-
mens exhibited.)

These fossil remains were found by Mr Robert Tervet at
West Edge, near Gilmerton, on 7th July last. The large
plate bone was in numerous pieces, and afterwards patiently
and carefully cemented together.

Mr Tervet has taken considerable trouble in making an
analysis of a portion of one of these bones (Spec. 16), and
has sent me an elaborate statement of his formule in arriving
at his conclusions. I consider it only necessary, however, to
eive the latter as under:

PERCENTAGE OF Fossit Bone.

Fluoride of Calcium (not estimated, but appreci-
able, inasmuch as it etched words on glass),

Phosphate of Lime, : : : ; 50°15
Carbonate of Lime, : : : : 28°85
Animal matter, . ; ; 3 : 1°25
Constitutional water, ; ‘ F - 1°70
Silica, ‘ ; ; ; : : 10°35
Alkalies, ‘ : é : ; 6°00

98°30

I apprehend that the constituents of the bones of all or
most of those large fossil fishes whose bones approximate to
the solid form and substance of the bones of the mammalia
are very much alike. I intended to have compared the
above analysis with that given by Dr Hibbert as the con-
stituents of the so-called Holoptichius included in his paper,
which is to be found in the Z7’ransactions of the Royal Society,
vol. xiii., but in consequence of being confined by illness have
been unable to do so. This fish, subsequently named
Rhizodus Hibberti by Agassiz, is presumably the same to
which belong the remains now exhibited, so that the analysis
should be similar.

The fossils have been under examination by my learned

colleague in the presidency, Dr Traquair, who has kindly
VOL, IV. R

134 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Socrety.

undertaken to describe their anatomical features to the
Society.

Dr TRAQUAIR, in the absence of Mr Grieve, gave a short
description of some of the specimens which had been for-
warded for exhibition.

V. Dr Traquair exhibited a tooth of Archichthys sulcidens
(Hancock and Atthey), from the roof shale of the splint
coal seam at Smeaton, near Dalkeith. Archichthys, of which
only one species is as yet known, is a characteristic fish of
the true coal measures, and is allied to Rhzzodus, differing
from it, however, in the absence of cutting edges in the
laniary teeth. It is abundant in Northumberland, occurring
also in Lancashire; but is now, for the first time, recorded
from one of the Scottish coal-fields.

VI. Ornithological Notes : (1.) Buteo lagopus, Rough-leqged Buz-
zard; (2.) Mergulus melanoleucos, Little Auk; (3.)
Larus glaucus, Glaucous Gull. (Specimens exhibited.)
By Joun ALEXANDER SMITH, M.D.

(1.) Buteo lagopus, Rough-legged Buzzard.—A male bird
shot in the Pentland Hills, also a female from the same
locality, another from Yester, Haddingtonshire, in the months
of November and December.

(2.) Mergulus melanoleucos, Little Auk—One specimen
recently shot near North Berwick, another at Tyninghame,
and another from the Fife coast. The birds are winter visitors,
and have been probably driven inland by the easterly winds.

(3.) Larus glaucus, Glaucous Gull—Another of our winter

- visitors. One was shot near Newhaven, and another near
North Berwick.

Structure of the Lower Jaw in Rhizodopsis and Rhizodus. 135

Wednesday, 21st February 1877.—Dr Ramsay H. Traquair, F.G.S.,
President, in the Chair.

The following donations to the Library were laid on the table, and thanks
voted to the donors :

1. Videnskabelige Meddelser fra Naturhistorisk Forening i Kjobenhavn,
for Aaret 1875.—From the Society. 2. Oversigt over det Kongelige Danske
Videnskabernes Selskabs Forhandlinger og dets Medlemmers Arbijder—
1875, Nos. 2,3; 1876, No. 1.—From the Society. 38. Acta Horti Petro-
politani, Tomus IV., Fasciculi 1, 2; cum Suppl. ad. [V.—From the Imperial
Botanic Garden, St Petersburg. 4. The Canadian Journal of Science,
Literature, and History, Vol. 15, No. 4; January 1877.—From the Canadian
Institute, Toronto. 5. Proceedings of the Koyal Society (of London), Vol.
25, No. 175 (Nov. 1876).—From the Society. 6. Journal of the Linnean
Society—Botany, Vol. 15, No. 87; Zoology, Vol. 13, No. 66.—From the
Society. 7. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association (London), Vol. 4, No. 9
(Oct. 1876).—From the Society.

The following communications were read :

I. On the Structure of the Lower Jaw in Rhizodopsis and
Rhizodus. By Ramsay H. Traquair, M.D.

Among the detached and broken-up remains of the Coal-
measure fish known as Rhizodopsis sawroides, one of the most
frequently observed is a bone of a somewhat narrow and
elongated form, truncated and somewhat expanded at one
extremity, which may be assumed to be the anterior, and
pointed at the other or posterior. One margin, nearly straight,
save just in front, where it shows a slight convexity, is set
with a single row of small pointed teeth of nearly uniform
size; but the anterior extremity bears in addition a single
more or less incurved laniary tooth, much larger than the
others, and also more internal in its position; the opposite
margin, thin and sharp, displays a gently flexuous contour.
Seen from the inner aspect, the anterior extremity of the bone
presents a conspicuous thickening, in which the large laniary
is socketed, and which at the dental margin passes into a
delicate ledge, which runs back for some distance along the
roots of the smaller teeth.

This bone, whose external form has been well described by
Messrs Hancock and Atthey,* was considered by them to be
the premazila of Rhizodopsis, being obviously distinct from

* Ann. & Mag. Nag. Hist. 1868, ser. 4, vol. 1., pp. 350, 351.

136 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

another well-known dentigerous bone, which is indisput-
ably the maxilla, and closely resembles in form the maxilla
of Magalichthys. To all appearance it would also seem to be
distinct from the mandible, the margins of which “are nearly
parallel,” and which displays, besides a large laniary tooth in
front, “three or four others placed along the ramus, in a line
within the small teeth.”

With the bones described by Messrs Hancock and Atthey
as the premaxilla, maxilla, and mandible of Rhizodopsis,
every student of carboniferous ichthyology must be familiar.
The interpretation of the first of these as “preemaxilla” has
been accepted by the Messrs Barkas,* and, so far as I am
aware, has remained hitherto unquestioned. Nevertheless
the accuracy of its determination as such was to me a matter
of doubt from the first. It is true the bone in question does
in some measure remind us of the elongated premaxilla of
Teleostei of the most specialised type, in which that element,
loosely articulated with the front of the skull, extends back-
wards so as to shut out the now edentulous maxilla from the
edge of the mouth (Perca, Gadus, etc.). But as Rhizodopsis
is a Crossopterygian ganoid of the type possessing two dorsal
fins and subacutely lobate pectorals, one would naturally
expect that its premaxillary bones would resemble in form
and relations those of its natural allies, whether rhombiferous
or cycliferous, in all of which, whose cranial osteology is
sufficiently known, each preemaxilla is comparatively small
and short, firmly fixed to the front of the cranial shield, and,
in fact, very unlike the bone of Rhizodopsis which has been
so interpreted. How to fit this bone into the premaxillary
region was to me somewhat puzzling; and, accordingly, to
find it am situ in the head of the fish was an object to be
attained, before giving in adherence to the views usually
maintained regarding it.

A short time ago my friend Mr Ward of Longton, to whose
liberality in lending specimens from his magnificent collection
I am on this, as on other occasions, so largely indebted, sent

* “Manual of Coal-measure Paleontology,” by T. P. Barkas (London,
1873), p. 24, pl. ii, fig. 61; W. J. Barkas in Monthly Review of Dental
Surgery.

iy

Structure of the Lower Jaw in Rhizodopsis and Rhizodus. 137

me a number of unusually good examples of the head of
Rhizodopsis preserved in nodules of hard ironstone from the
Coal-measures of Fenton in Staffordshire. One of these dis-
plays the entire extent of the gape on both sides of the head.
Each maxilla measures here 145 inch in length; the upper
margin is injured; but the lower, bearing one row of small
teeth, is quite intact; the anterior extremity shows the little
articular process projecting upwards and forwards as in the
similarly shaped maxilla of Megalichthys. Now, placed between
and articulating with the anterior extremities of the right and
left maxillee, while they are joined with each other in the
middle line, are two small dentigerous bones forming the front
edge of the mouth below the snout. Each of these two bones is
nearly as high as long, these measurements being respectively
74; and ,3; inch; they are firmly fixed to each other and
apparently also to the front of the cranial shield: the teeth,
which in this specimen are seen attached to them, resemble
those of the maxilla; but in another example there are traces
of others somewhat larger. That we have here the true
premaxille is beyond all doubt; some other signification
must therefore be found for the bones hitherto considered
such. Turning now to the mandible, both rami of which are
displayed in the specimen under description, we find that
over a considerable area the bony matter of the outer aspect
has flaked off, leaving behind it a pretty sharp cast with
sutural lines. On close examination a suture is now seen
commencing near the posterior extremity of the upper margin
of the jaw, and, passing gradually downwards and forwards,
marks off as dentary an element precisely the counterpart in
shape of the reputed premaxilla. The pointed extremity is
placed backwards, the enlarged one forwards, the toothed
margin upwards. The rest of the outer surface of the mandi-
ble is composed of at least three additional bony plates, sepa-
rated from each other by sutures which pass obliquely for-
wards and upwards. The posterior and largest of these,
covering over the articular region of the jaw, may be perhaps
equivalent to the angular element, though it also occupies
very much the place of a swpra-angular; the other two, in
front of the latter and below the dentary, may be called

138 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

infradentary; and there is also some evidence of a fourth
small plate on the lower margin of the jaw, separating here
the angular from the first infradentary for a little distance.*

In another specimen, compressed vertically and showing
the top of the head, both maxille are seen, forming the upper
margin of the mouth, while, forming its lower margin, both
dentaries are seen on the edge of the nodule, here retaining
their bony substance and external sculpture. Their contour
proves beyond a doubt that the dentary element of the mandi-
ble of Rhizodopsis is undistinguishable from the bone hitherto
reckoned as premaxilla, but which I have already shown
cannot possibly be so. The very same thing is most clearly
shown in a shale specimen belonging to Mr Plant of Salford,
in which a vertically compressed head is seen from below; so
that I have no hesitation in affirming the identity of the bones
in question.

Here, however, an objection to this view may be raised.
The mandible of Rhizodopsis when perfect, as in most of the
specimens from Fenton now before me, shows not merely one
large tooth in front, but two or three additional ones behind it
and internal to the series of small teeth, though, as stated by
Messrs Hancock and Atthey, these additional larger teeth “are
seldom present.” What has become of these in the detached
dentary, if such be the real nature of the reputed preemaxilla?

A ready explanation of this is found in the structure of the
lower jaw of certain Old Red Sandstone “ Dendrodonts,” in
which the laniary teeth are not attached to the dentary bone
proper, but to a series of accessory “internal dentary ” pieces
articulated to its inner side.- Should this be also the case
with the posterior laniaries of the mandible of Rhizodopsis,
then, in cases where its elements are broken up and separated,

* That these sutures on the outer surface of the mandible in Rhizodopsis
have not been previously observed is fully accounted for by the difficulty of
tracing the line of demarcation between constituent and closely united osseous
elements, in cases where*we have to deal with a granulated or otherwise orna-
mented external bony surface. Such lines of demarcation are more easily
determined where the bones are seen from the inner surface, or where a sharp
cast in hard ironstone of that inner surface has been preserved.

+ See Pander’s ‘‘Saurodipterinen, Dendrodonten, etc., des devonischen
Systems,” pp. 41-43, tab. x., figs. 2, 3, 4, 14, 22.

OI OO EEE EEE — eee ee

Structure of the Lower Jaw in Rhizodopsis and Rhizodus. 139

these additional pieces will also get detached, and the absence
of all but the anterior laniary in the isolated dentary bone
will thus be amply accounted for.

The material at hand not furnishing me with absolute
proofs of this condition in Rhizodopsis, 1 now turned to its
gigantic ally, the Rhizodus of the Scottish Lower Carboni-
ferous strata. I had previously observed the not uncommon
occurrence of detached dentigerous bones belonging to A&.
HMibberti, which had exactly the same shape as the so-called
premaxille of Rhizodopsis, and, like them, frequently bear
only one laniary, the large one in front. On now carefully
examining the exterior of several more or less perfect mandi-
bles, it became at once evident that the bone in question was
nothing more or less than the dentary element, the rest of the
outer surface of the jaw being formed by several additional
bony plates quite analogous to those occurring also in &hizo-
dopsis. In Rhizodus there are four such additional plates: of
these the posterior one, covering up the articular region, is
probably equivalent to the angular element, though, indeed,
occupying also the position of a supra-angular ; while in front
of it, below the dentary, and forming the lower margin of the
jaw, are three others, diminishing in size from behind forwards,
and separated from each other by sutures passing obliquely
forwards and upwards, and to which, as in Rhizodopsis, the
name of infradentary may be applied.

Several detached specimens of the dentary bone of Rhizodus
in the Edinburgh Museum exhibit its inner surface, which is
also conformed just as in the corresponding element, the. so-
called premaxilla, of Rhizodopsis. The upper margin, com-
paratively thin, is set with one row of small teeth; but at the
symphysial extremity the bone shows’a great thickening, the
anterior part of which is marked by a very rough area for
articulation with the bone of the opposite side. In this
thickening is implanted the anterior great laniary, behind and
close to which is another socket, usually empty, sometimes
occupied by a “twin” tooth.* There are also in the Mu-
seum several jaws seen from the internal aspect and in which

* The more posteriorly situated laniaries of Rhizodus occur also occasionally
double. 7

140 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

the posterior laniaries are present; but being imbedded in
hard ironstone, the surface of the bone is so injured as
to render recognition of sutures a matter of difficulty ; they
show, however, very clearly that these posterior laniaries
are implanted in a thickened ledge, somewhat nodulously
enlarged round the base of each, and continuing backwards
the symphysial thickening of the dentary proper—this ledge
with its teeth being totally absent in the detached den-
taries above alluded to. I now selected for special prepa-
ration two jaws, seen from the outer surface, and fortunately
imbedded in a rather soft laminated clay. ‘The first of
these was a portion of a comparatively small jaw, 3+ inches
in length, and broken across 2 inch behind the stump of
the second laniary; and by softening the matrix with water, I
succeeded in completely detaching it and cleaning its inner
surface. The surface of the bone being here quite intact, I
obtained a clear proof of the fact which I had anticipated, viz.,
that the second laniary tooth is attached to a separate piece of
bone articulated by a distinct suture to the anterior thickening
of the dentary, and having its outer surfice in apposition
with the flat inner surface of the dentary behind that thicken-
ing. The next jaw was a larger one, measuring 14 inches in
length, showing three entire laniaries and the stump of a
fourth, the articular extremity being, however, unfortunately
broken off. Having covered up the outer surface of the speci-
men with a sufficient mass of Portland cement, I turned it
over and worked down upon it from the other side, the prepa-
ration thus obtained entirely corroborating the conclusions pre-
viously arrived at. The large teeth are seen to be borne upon
a thickened ledge, diminishing in strength from before back-
wards, the anterior part of which is the previously described
symphysial thickening of the dentary proper, and carries the
first great laniary; the suture between that and the anterior
of the accessory internal dentary pieces bearing the second
laniary is distinctly seen; but posteriorly the separation of the
others is obscured by the obstinate adherence to the bone of a
thin layer of the matrix, which cannot be thoroughly cleared
off without iujuring the surface. My attention was next
directed to a block of the same laminated clay containing

ili

‘
a

Oe

—- a

Structure of the Lower Jaw in Rhizodopsis and Rhizodus. 141

several bones of Lthizodus. From this I succeeded first in
extracting the anterior half of an isolated dentary bone, that of
the right side, showing the stump of the symphysial laniary
with the adjoining empty socket. Then, lying about 2 inches
from it in the same block, I observed a piece of bone bearing a
large tooth, which on being in like manner extracted entire
proved to be nothing more or less than the detached accessory
piece carrying the second laniary of the same jaw, and would
have fitted perfectly on to the dentary found beside it, had
not the latter been a little distorted by crushing. Finally,
several vertical sections through another mandible led to the
very same result—namely, that the laniary teeth behind the
great anterior one are attached to bone which is quite distinct
from that of the dentary proper; and as the piece to which the
second laniary is attached has occurred quite isolated, we may
very safely assume that the third and fourth had also each a
piece for themselves.

Summary.

The general results of the researches briefly detailed above
may be summed up as follows:

The mandible has, as far as ascertained, essentially the
same structure in Fhizodopsis as in Rhizodus. In both, the
dentary element is narrow and pointed posteriorly, its upper
margin bears one row of small teeth, while at the symphysis
it is peculiarly thickened where it bears the first or anterior
laniary. This bone, turned upside down, has, in Rhizodopsis,
been previously considered to be the premaxillary; the last-
named element of the skull of that fish has now, however,
been ascertained to be a different bone, which is quite similar
in form and relations to the preemaxilla in other Crossopterygii.

The laniary teeth behind the anterior one are borne upon
separate internal dentary ossicles, which, when the constituent
elements of the lower jaw are broken up and separated, will
also become disarticulated and dispersed. This is absolutely
proved in Lhizodus, and may be considered morally certain
in Lhizodopsis, though a clear view of the inner aspect of the
complete mandible of the latter, with the posterior laniary
teeth in situ, has not yet been obtained.

142 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

Below the dentary the inferior margin of the jaw is formed
by a series of infradentary plates, while posteriorly the arti-
cular region is covered by a plate corresponding in position
apparently both with the angular and supra- -angular elements.
I may add that in one specimen of Rhizodopsis, 1 have seen
very distinct evidence of a splenial,

The great complexity of the structure of the mandible in
these forms and in the allied “Dendrodonts” of the Old Red
Sandstone need not astonish us when we take into account the
remarkably segmented splenial of the recent Ama, or the
similarly segmented maxilla of Lepidosteus.

II. On the Occurrence of the Black Redstart (Ruticilla tithys)
in Stirlingshire. By Joun A. Harviz-Browy, Esq.
(Specimen exhibited.)

This specimen of Ruticilla tithys, the fourth occurrence of
the species in Scotland, as far as I am aware (for the three
previous records see Mr Gray’s “ Birds of the West of Scot-
land,” p. 84), and which was shot at Higginsneuk, in
Stirlingshire, opposite Kincardine-on-Forth, by myself, on
the 10th November 1875, I took to be an immature female ;
it is a female by dissection. |

The distinctions between females of this species and those
of the common redstart (R. phwnicurus) are not always
easily diagnosed, but one distinction pointed out by various
authors is, I understand, sufficient to distinguish them in all
stages and phases of plumage, viz., in 2. phenicurus the tail
feathers are uniformly rufous throughout (except at the base),
except the two centre feathers, which are brown in both
species. In R&R. tithys, the tips of the tail feathers are
brown as in this specimen.* The faintness of the brown in
this specimen points to immaturity. The absence of decided

* Mr Cecil Smith, ‘‘ Birds of Somersetshire,”’ p. 89, says the female black
redstart has ‘‘the tips of all the tail feathers reddish brown like the two
centre feathers.” Shelly, ‘‘ Birds of Egypt,” p. 84, says, ‘‘ Tail bright rufous
tipped with brown.” Professor Newton (‘‘ Yarrell,” fourth edition, p. 338)
says, ‘The outer pair of feathers with the outer web brown.”

.

ee

On the Occurrence of the Black Redstart in Stirlingshire. 143

alar patch is also a symptom of immaturity. Although seen
in old birds (and in adult males in winter occasionally), the
alar patch is absent or very faint, as pointed out by several
authors.*

A further distinction may be found in the generally
lighter colour of the under parts of Ruticilla phenicurus as
compared with the same parts of Ruticilla tithys, which, as in
this specimen, are uniform, or almost uniform, with the upper
plumage. |

Although so rare in Scotland, this species may be con-
sidered as a regular winter visitant to the coasts of Eng-
land. It has occurred in Faroe (Yarrell), Norway, and
at its farthest northern point in the middle districts of
Sweden. I find no record of it in North Russia, north of
60° N.E. Although its occurrence in Scotland must be con-
sidered exceptional, still, I think we can hardly class it as
purely accidental, as I believe it will be found there is a
natural law accounting for many occurrences of Continental
species as far north in Great Britain as the present example.
Indeed, I think the suggestion may be hazarded that if
certain species extend their northerly breeding limit on the
Continent, we may safely calculate upon their occasionally
alighting on their autumn migration farther to the north in
the British Isles than they would otherwise do. What we
have for a long time considered as accidental (purely
accidental) occurrences of Continental species ought, I think,
in many instances rather be held as indications of extension,
towards the north, of breeding limits on the Continent. This
supposition would seem to be borne out by what we know of
the regular occurrence of many rare eastern species in the
island of Heligoland, where almost every autumn such species
as Phylloscopus superciliosus and P. borealis occur on migra-
tion, species which have their breeding quarters, so far as is at
present known, in the Eastern Palearctic Region, and at
Archangel and in North-East Russia. The present species has
also ocurred in Heligoland in autumn on migration sparingly,
and I am inclined to think that the specimens so occurring

* Mr Gatcombe, quoted by Mr Dresser, “ Birds of Europe,” double part,
Nos. xxix, xxx. J. H. Gurney, Jun., ‘‘ Rambles of a Naturalist,” p. 162.

144 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Socvety.

were not necessarily driven there by unusual winds, but were
birds passing from their summer quarters at some locality
farther to the north and east of their usual limit on a regular
migration. Such of the black redstarts, therefore, that
reach Scotland may, it is true, in so far be considered
accidental, that they may have overshot their turning-point
or usual north-west limit on migration, which turning-point
would appear, in the case of many other species, to be some-
where in the neighbourhood of Heligoland. That such a
turning-point does exist there would seem to be good reason
to believe, for how otherwise can we account for species
which breed far to the east in Siberia or North-East Russia, -
and winter nowhere in Europe or Africa (the above-named
Phylloscopi, for instance), how can we otherwise account for
their almost regular appearance in that one little spot of
some 150 acres, viz., Heligoland, and nowhere else in Europe?
I will not pursue this subject here further, but I think I have ~
shown some reason for not always considering the occurrences
of Continental species in Scotland as purely accidental, but
rather, as before stated, as indications of a gradual northerly
extension on the Continent of their breeding range, and as
resulting from a natural law and a regular migration.
Ornithologists are now looking forward with some expectancy
to the clearing up of much that has hitherto been mysterious
in the matter of migration, and many believe, myself
amongst the number, that a key will ere long be found in the
fauna of this curious, isolated fragment of Europe, above
mentioned, as elucidated by the able hand of its native natural-
ist, Herr Gaetke.

III. Notes on the Ornithology of Yedo. By Coun A. M‘Vzan,
Esq. Communicated by the Secretary.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

I purpose giving in this paper a short account of the birds
observed by myself frequenting Yedo, the capital of Japan.
During a residence of some years in that city I was much
struck with the extraordinary number of birds of various

Notes on the Ornithology of Yedo. 145

kinds to be seen within its boundaries. The profusion of
bird life indeed appeared to me to be specially worthy of
remark, bearing in mind the great extent and population of
Yedo, and the traffic and noise of its busy streets. In the
midst of this, and often within reach of the cast of a trout-rod
from the sides of crowded streets, wild fowl of all descriptions,
from a snipe to a swan, floated quietly at their ease or fed on
land, without heeding the bustle around them, or being dis-
turbed by the passing crowds. They were, indeed, very rarely
molested, owing, I believe, to the shadow of the old law, which
made it death to kill a duck in the moats and waters within
the town. The law still protects them, though the death
penalty has been removed, and I was therefore obliged to con-
tent myself by watching their movements with a field-glass,
from the roadways and lanes, at a convenient distance.

In order properly to understand how such numbers and
varieties of wild birds can take up their quarters in the very
heart of a large city (and this is perhaps the chief feature I
have to communicate), a short description of Yedo will be
necessary.

Yedo, the present capital of Japan,* is situated at the head
of the gulf that bears its name, on the east coast of the island
of Nipon, in lat. 35° 42’ N., and long. 139° 50’ E. approx.
The city was founded about three hundred years ago, has a
strong castle, and, until 1868, was the chief stronghold of the
Tycoons, or commanders-in-chief of the imperial forces, who
for some centuries had usurped the chief executive power—a
power which belonged alone to the Mikado, who was kept
like a state prisoner in his palace in Kioto, the ancient capital
of the country. Since the revolution of 1868, which abolished
the Tycoonate and restored the emperor to full power, the
Mikado has resided in Yedo.

The rivers, or branches of one river—Sumida and Nakagawa
—fall into the Gulf of Yedo; one branch passing through the
city, and the other just outside its bounds. Between the
mouths of these rivers there is a considerable extent of
marshy ground, with patches of tall reeds and open water.

* Yedo has been renamed since the revolution of 1868. It is now called
Tokio.

146 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

The waters at the head of the gulf and round its shores are
very shallow, and the country for some miles inland is gene-
rally low and flat, and cut up by streams and canals, with
here and there ridges of higher ground often thickly wooded.
The greater part of Yedo is built on low land, hardly more
than ten feet above the level of high water. It covers an
area of about twenty-five square miles, and has a population
of 700,000. :

The castle occupies the end of a spur of higher ground,
that runs through one side of the town from south-west to
north-east, and is surrounded by three moats, besides branches,
from one to two or three hundred feet in width, the extent
of the outer moat being fully five miles round. Besides the
main river and moats, several small rivers run through the
city ; also numerous canals which are generally bordered by
firs and pine-trees. Like cities in other parts of the world, Yedo
has its aristocratic quarter, business quarter, and poorer locali-
ties. In the aristocratic quarter the houses and yashikis of the
ex-Daimios have generally a considerable extent of garden
ground around them, beautifully laid out, and always in imi-
tation of the natural landscape, there being invariably a small
lake or pond, with rushes, in corners, surrounded with bamboo
and other trees. Even in the most crowded business centres
gardens are found so arranged and laid out that, sitting under
the verandah overlooking the indispensable pond, it is hard to
realise that outside the belt of bamboo there are streets as
crowded and busy, without exaggeration, as Princes Street or
the North Bridge in Edinburgh, at the busiest time of the
day. Within the inner moat of the castle are some very
beautiful grounds, with fine old trees and miniature lakes,
streams, and waterfalls, and even rice-fields. The same are
to be found on a smaller scale within temple and yashiki or
palace grounds of all the ex-Daimios. These grounds, and
‘the numerous streams, moats, and canals, with their wooded
margins, give room and shelter to the birds.

The following authorities have been consulted in preparing
the catalogue of species: (1.) Temminck and Schlegel—

“ Fauna Japonica: Aves.” (2.) Captain Blakiston—* On the

Ornithology of Northern Japan,” Jbis, 1862, p.309. (3.) Do.—

Notes on the Ornithology of Yedo. 147

“ Corrections and Additions” to the foregoing paper, Jbis, 1863,
p. 97. (4. Henry Whitely, jun.—* Notes on Birds collected
near Hakodadi, in Northern Japan,” Jbis, 1867, p. 193. (5.)
Robert Swinhoe —“ Notes on the Ornithology of Northern
Japan,” Jbis, 1863, p. 442. (6.) John Cassim—Paper on “ Birds
Collected in Japan,” in vol. i. of Commodore M. C. Perry’s
“Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the
Chinese Seas and Japan in 1852-54;” Washington, 1856.

LIST OF SPECIES.

SEA-EAGLE (Haliaétus pelagicus), Faun. Jap., pl. 4, p. 11
(1850).—I have once or twice seen this very handsome white-
tailed sea-eagle fly over the bay. I was not, however, able
to procure a specimen.

Osprey (Pandion haliaétus), Linn.—The osprey is very
common in Japan. Two or three may be seen almost any
day circling over the shores of the bay of Yedo, seemingly
indifferent to the boats and crafts of all kinds that crowd the
bay, or the bustle and noise on the wharves.

GosHAWK (Astur palumbarius)—Is occasionally met with
in the capital. Shortly before I left, one was caught alive in
a trap specially set for him, in the grounds of the ex-Prince of
Chikusen. It was probably attracted by the tame birds of its
own species kept by the prince.

KESTREL (Falco tinnunculus).—Is not uncommon.

PEREGRINE (Falco peregrinus).—I have several times seen a
falcon which I took to be this species. I was never, however,
able to identify it in the hand.

BLACK-WINGED Kite (Milvus melanotis)—This is perhaps
the commonest bird to be found in the towns and villages of
Japan, especially those on the sea-coast. On the wing it is
rather an elegant bird, as it wheels in graceful circles over the
streets, swooping down now and then perhaps to seize a fish
from the basket of the unwary pedlar, and at times even
attacking the stalls of the street vendors of food. It acts as
town scavenger, and hardly anything comes amiss to it.

JAPANESE OWL (Scops Japonicus), Faun. Jap. pl. 9.—I
have often seen a large brown owl, which, I presume, to
have been this species, about my house at night; but not

148 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

having been able to trap him, or get a specimen caught in
town, I am unable to name the bird with certainty.

Turusu (Zurdus fuscatus), Pallas—This noisy bird is com-
mon in all the town gardens.

NAuMANN’S Turusu (Turdus Naumanne), Faun. Jap., p. 61.
—As common as the preceding species, but quiet and shy
in its habits.

RED-BACKED SHRIKE (Lanius bucephalus?), Faun. Jap., p. 39.
—The red-backed shrike is often seen perched on the top of
a fir or other pointed tree. I once caught one that followed
a young sparrow into a room in which I was seated.

NIGHTINGALE (Philomela ?).—The nightingale is not un-
common. In the early summer nights its note is to be heard
in Yedo wherever there is a garden or shrubbery of any
extent.

CoLe Tit (Parus ater), Linn.

Marsu Tir (Parus palustris).

These two tits, besides other species which I have been
unable to identify, are found in the town in winter. They
seem to go out into the woods in summer.

WactaiL (Motacila lugens), Faun. Jap., p. 60, pl. 25.—
This bird, which strongly resembles the pied wagtail of this
country, but with more white about the head and neck, is
very common.

TREE SPARROW (Passer montanus).—This species is simply
swarming everywhere, and builds in every corner about the
outside of a house where a nest can be constructed.

STARLING (Sturnus cineraceus), Faun. Jap., p. 85. — This
bird is as common in Yedo as the common starling is at
home. |

JAPANESE Crow (Corvus Japonensis), Bp— As an inhabi-
tant of the towns, this crow rivals the kite in numbers and
boldness. When assembled together, they will even enter
the houses and carry off anything they can seize. They are
very lively active birds, keeping up a continual croak and
caw, and making a variety of other noises as they chase one
another in strings round the corners, over the house-tops, and
through the trees.

GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER (Picus major), Linn.—This

=e ee ee

Notes on the Ornithology of Yedo. 149

bird is found wherever there is a clump of trees of sufficient
height and size to tempt a visit.

Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), Linn.—Although this
species is mentioned by Temminck and Schlegel in the
“ Fauna Japonica,” I am by no means certain of having met
with it. The cuckoo which I have seen in the temple
grounds of Shiba in Yedo seemed to be a shy bird, never
feeding in the town, and flying very high on its visits to the
country, uttering a peculiar sharp cry three or four times in
quick succession at intervals as it flew. One passed over my
house daily in summer, but always at too great a height to
admit of correct identification.

KINGFISHER (Alcedo Bengalensis), Gmelin.—This pretty
little bird is often seen flitting about the miniature lakes in
the gardens of Yedo, flashing in the sunlight as it darts from
one side of a pond to the other, or perching upon twigs over-
hanging the water.

SwaLLtow (Hirundo Javanica), Sparrman.—Not distin-
guished from the common chimney swallow by Temminck
and Schlegel in the “Fauna Japonica.” A very common
bird, building in the rooms within the houses, where boards
are specially put up for them to rest on. They are shut into
the house at night with the family.

SPINETAILED Swift (Cypselus caudacutus), Latham.—lI have
frequently seen swifts and spinetailed swallows flying above the
city, but at too great a distance to make sure of the species.

TuRTLE-DovE (Turtur rupicola), Pall.; Bp. Consp., i,
p. 60.—Very common everywhere, and not at all shy, being
easily approached within shot. In the days when shooting
was allowed, this dove could always be counted on to sup-
plement a badly-filled bag. It is, however, rather dry eating.

S@EMMERING’S PHEASANT (Phasianus Semmeringi), Temm.
—Very common all over Japan.

D1arv’s PHEASANT (Phasianus versicolor), Vieillot.—This
species makes its home in Yedo, where, in every garden of
any size, at least one pair may be found. They even breed
within the town. I have often, while sitting under the
verandah, watched them walking about my garden. They

are wonderfully tame, but always ready to run under cover
YOu. Fy; S)

150 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

on the least movement or unusual noise. It is a curious fact,
which I have myself often noted, that just before earthquake
shocks, which are very frequent in Japan, the pheasants call
as if frightened. In this way they may almost always be
counted on, if within earshot, to give warning of a coming
shock a few seconds before it is felt.

JAPANESE QUAIL (Coturnia Japonica), Temm. and Schl,
Faun. Jap., p. 103.—Is not rare, though far from being so
common as it is in some other countries—Turkey in Europe,
for example.

KENTISH DoTTEREL (4gialites Cantianus), Lath—Is met
with in small flocks.

MANTCHURIAN CRANE (Grus montignesia), Bp.—This elegant
bird—called by the Japanese ¢swru—is frequently seen on the
marshes between the mouths of the Samida and Nakagawa. It
is held sacred in Japan, and is considered emblematic of long
life and good fortune. It is never molested except by the
nobles, who sometimes take it while hawking. A hawk that
has killed a ¢swru, is specially prized, and receives a sort of title
by which it is ever afterwards called. The Japanese often
make coloured drawings of this bird, and it is to be seen
beautifully carved in wood over the entrance gate of nearly
every Buddhist temple. They are often to be found tame in
the gardens of the nobles.

WHITE-NAPED CRANE (@rus leucachen).—Is also abundant,
considerable numbers being at times seen together. This bird
is more shy, however, than the ¢swrwu, and is not so large and
striking looking.

Common Heron (Ardea cinerea), Linn.—This species is also
met with, but is somewhatrare, being shy and retired inits habits.

GREAT WHITE Henon (Herodias alba), Linn.—Not so rare as
the preceding. I have also seen a bird resembling at a distance
the great white heron, but of a beautiful roseate hue all over.

LittLeE Earet (Herodias garzetta)—Very common. It is
easily tamed, and becomes bold and familiar after a few days’
confinement.

Nicut Heron (Ardea goisaga).—Equally common. I have
seen a perfect cloud of them rise from a favourite clump of
trees when disturbed,

ae ne ee eee

Notes on the Ornithology of Yedo. 151

BITTERN (BLotaurus stellaris), Linn—The bittern is com-
monly found among the reeds or the margins of ponds. It
is very shy, although when in good cover it allows one to
approach very near before taking wing:

SPOONBILL (Platalea major), Faun. Jap., p. 119, pl. 75.—
Has been recognised, but is rarely met with.

JAPANESE IBIS (Geronticus Nippon).—Is frequently met with
in the marshes and paddy fields.

CURLEW (probably Numenius australis), Gould.—I have
repeatedly seen a bird which appeared to me to be of this
species, but it is not common. It seemed to be smaller than
the European bird.

Avocet (Recurvirostra avocetta), Linn—I have only once
seen the avocet in Yedo.

Woopcock (Scolopax rusticola), Linn.; Temm. and Schl,
Faun. Jap., p. 112.—Is very plentiful in winter.

SNIPE (Gallinago media, Leach; and Gallingo stenura),
Temm.—Plentiful in the market. They are snared and
caught by bird-lime, along with the preceding species. In
fact, all birds found in the market, including ducks, etc., have
either been netted or taken by bird-lime.

PAINTED SNIPE,(Rynchea capensis), Linn.—This species is
common just outside the city, and I have no doubt is to be found
within its bounds also, though I have never seen it there.

TEMMINCK’S SANDPIPER (Tringa Temminckii), Leister.

DUNLIN SANDPIPER (Tringa alpina), Linn.

THICK-BILLED SANDPIPER (Z'ringa crassirostris), Faun. Jap.,
p- 107, pl. 64. |

I believe I have seen these three species; but from the
difficulty of obtaining specimens, it is not easy to pronounce
definitely.

BAILLON’S CRAKE (Crex Baillont), Vieillot.—I have met with
one or two specimens of this bird in Yedo.

WATER-RAIL (Lallus aquaticus), Temm. and Schl., Faun. Jap.,
p. 112.—Is not uncommon. It seems, however, larger than the
European bird.

MoorHEN (Gallinula chloropus), Linn.—I have several times
seen the moorhen, but it is far from common.

PINK-FOOTED GOOSE (Anser brachyrhyncus), Baillon.

152 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

GREY-LAG GOOSE (Anser ferus), Steph.

BEAN GOOSE (Anser segetum), Steph.

WHITE-FRONTED GoosE (Anser albifrons), Gmelin.

These four species are very common.

Snow Goose (Chen hyperborea), Boie-—I have also seen
the snow goose, though rarely. It was my fortune to have
my office—a branch of the Board of Works—situated on the
banks of a lake formed by a break in the outer moat, a
favourite resting-place for crowds of ducks and geese of all
descriptions. The noise made by the birds was at times
distracting, and I was often tempted to stroll out in the
garden to watch them at play, when they would allow me to
approach within thirty or forty yards without showing the
slightest signs of uneasiness.

Hooper SWAN (Cygnus musicus ?)—The most conspicuous
bird to be seen on the moats in winter is the swan, but of
what species I am not able to say with certainty, as the laws
forbidding the killing or capture of birds within the bounds
of the city are rigidly enforced, and I was consequently
unable to obtain a specimen. I remarked, however, that the
bird is not common in this part of Japan, and that I have
never seen one in the market. Nearly every winter two or
three pairs took up their quarters on the moats, always in
the same place each year, and I may here remark that the
different kinds of water-fowl seemed to attach themselves to
particular haunts.

SHOVELLER (Anas clypeata), Linn.; Faun. Jap., p. 128.—
Common in the winter season.

GADWALL (Anas strepera), Linn.—Common in the winter
season.

PintalL (Dafila acuta), Linn.; Faun. Jap., p. 128.—Common
in the winter season.

MALLARD (Anas pei icdviaty distributed, occurring
in considerable numbers.

GARGANEY (Querquedula circia), Linn.—Frequently met
with.

ComMon TEAL (Querquedula crecca), Temm. and Schl,
Faun. Jap., p. 127.—Only a winter visitor to the city, but at
that season it is extremely abundant. Flocks of teal are

— ae

oii a at —y

Notes on the Ornithology of Yedo. 15a

literally swarming everywhere. Some idea of their numbers
may be formed from the fact, that on a pond in the grounds
of the ex-Prince of Chikusen, situated only a few hundred
yards from my own house, where they are preserved for sport,
the estimated number on the water any day during the season
is 10,000. I have every reason to believe that the estimate is
correct. At night these flocks go out of town, but are always
back in the pond before sunrise.

Manparin Duck (Anas galericulata), Linn.; Temm. and
Schl., Faun. Jap., p. 127.—This beautiful little bird is gener-
ally found in pairs, the male and female keeping together the
whole year. They roost in the trees in many of the gardens
and temple grounds.

Summer Duck (Anas sponsa).—Is often found in company
with the mandarin duck,

Wicr0n (Mareca penelope), Linn. ; Temm. and Schl, Faun.
Jap., p. 127.

Gotpen Eve (Anas clangula), Linn. ; Temm. and Schl., Faun.
Jap., p. 128.

TuFreD Duck (Fuligula cristata), Leach.

Scamp Duck (Fuligula marila), Linn.

HARLEQUIN (Anas histrionica), Linn.; Temm. and Schl,
Faun. Jap., p. 129.

AMERICAN WIGEON (Anas Americana), Gmelin.

MERGANSER (Mergus serrator), Linn.

The foregoing seven species are all found in the private
ponds, often swimming in mixed companies.

GreEsE (Podiceps Phillippensis ?) —This little grebe is to be
seen everywhere. I have not observed any other species,
unless a bird I once saw in a quiet corner within the private
erounds of the castle was a grebe. I never saw it again, nor
had I previously noticed it. I once, however, saw a painting
of it on a Japanese screen. It was a curious-looking bird,
and I exhibit a small copy, from memory, of the sketch on
the screen. :

CormoRANT (Carbo cormoranus), Temm. and Schl., Faun.
Jap., p. 129—The common cormorant ranks first amongst
the birds of Yedo as to numbers and permanent habitation.
A very large breeding station is situated in a fine grove of

154 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

fir-trees at an angle of the second moat. ‘The birds are in
thousands, and the noise of their croaking can be heard a
quarter of a mile off as they come in crowds in the evening
to roost. The greater number go. out to sea daily to fish.
They are not at all early birds, as I noticed that they gener-
ally left the town for the fishing grounds between eight and
nine o’clock in the morning, returning about sunset, always
flying in a string, or wedge, like geese. I imagine, however,
that the state of the tide influences in some measure their
time of leaving and returning. Several smaller colonies exist
in various situations within the city, and numbers of the
birds remain fishing in the moats and canals all day, being
probably too lazy to accompany the crowd on the longer
excursion to the sea. I have often seen them diving and
coming up within reach of a stick from the bank of a canal
where a stream of vehicles and people was passing. The
natives tame them and use them for fishing.

SEA-GULL (Larus melanurus), Temm. and Schl. Faun.
Jap., p. 103, pl. 61.

SEA-GULL (Larus wchthyaétus), Pall.

SEA-GULL (Larus brunneicephalus).

SEA-GULL (Larus occidentalis), Aud.

SEA-GULL (Larus niveus), Pall.

I have seen numbers of sea-gulls of the foregoing species
frequenting the bay of Yedo. Though not actually in posses-
sion of specimens, they could be sufficiently recognised by
the description of the various authors who have recorded the
occurrence of these gulls in Japanese waters.

IV. Ormthologral Notes: (1.) Astur palumbarius, Goshawk ;
(2.) Sitta Kuropeea, Nuthatch; (8.) Hybrid: Pheasant (?)
between Golden and Common Pheasants ; (4.) Mergus
albellus, Smew; (5.) Larus Glaucus, Glaucous Gull.
(Specimens exhibited.) By JoHN ALEXANDER SMITH,
M.D.

(1.) Astur palumbarius, the Goshawk.—This very fine
specimen of a large adult female was shot on the 26th of

Dr Smith’s Ornithological Notes. 155

January near Elie, Fifeshire. This rare bird, though belong-
ing to the short-winged hawks, was much in favour with
the falconers in days long gone by; and as it is almost
the only large hawk that generally breeds in trees, our
Secretary, Mr Robert Gray, in his “Birds of the West of
Scotland,” has suggested that the hawks referred to in some
of our old charters where grants of land have been given
to churches, and the right of preserving the hawks and
their nests, and even the trees in which they have nested,
has also been reserved by the donor, were probably gos-
hawks, and though this bird is now very rare, it was pro-
bably much more common in Scotland when it was thus
so carefully preserved and protected. In one of these
charters, granted by Roger Avenel, of lands in Eskdale, to
the Abbey and Monastery of Melrose, in the time of Alex-
ander II. (A.D. 1235), it is stated that if the hawk had
nested in any tree, that tree shall not be cut down in the
following year until it is seen whether the bird may make its
nest in it again. Reference is made to the subject of these
and many other reservations in the preface to the “ Liber de
Melros,” published in 1827 by the Bannatyne Club, where
these charters are printed at length.

(2.) Sitta Europea, the Nuthatch.—This bird has been very
rarely observed in Scotland. In March 1856 I exhibited to
the Society one that had been shot near Dunse, and indeed
only one or two instances of its occurrence in Scotland have
been recorded altogether, although it is not impossible it may
have passed unnoticed in the woody districts, which it speci-
ally frequents. The bird is common in England, but gets less
abundant towards the northern counties. It is said, however,
to be well known both in Denmark and Sweden. ‘The
specimen is a female, and was shot on the 18th of January
near Jedburgh.

(3.) Hybrid Pheasant, between Thaumalia picta, the Golden
Pheasant, and Phasianus Colchicus, the Common Pheasant.—
This beautiful bird was shot by William M‘Inroy, Esq., on
the 27th January, at North Meols, in Lancashire, within two
miles of Southport. The bird was a male, and measured
about half an inch less in length of body than the common

156 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Socvety.

male pheasant. The yellowish crest of the head was about
half the length of that of the adult golden pheasant, and
more of a buff colour, but, as the spurs of this bird were
of a considerable size, I consider it to be full-grown. The
red and black tipped feathers spring from the nape of the
neck, the tippet is also shorter and duller in colour, the
dark-green feathers of the back are less in bulk, the feathers
covering the lower part of back and root of the tail are
also of a yellowish buff like the crest, and the tail feathers are
very long and broad, of the same shape and colour as the
golden pheasant, but had dark bars crossing them like the
common pheasant, the long tail coverts being of a brownish
red colour. The breast is not so bright a red as that of the
golden pheasant, but more of the reddish-brown colour of the
coverts of shoulder of wing. Legs stouter and longer than
golden pheasant, and it had a spur about half an inch long
on one of the legs. The bill is also of a dark colour like the
common pheasant.

Some thirty years ago several birds of this description were
noticed at Cambo, Fifeshire, after several golden pheasants
had escaped from the aviaries there; and when eggs of the
common pheasant were collected for hatching, it was found
that various young birds were hatched which gradually
showed a plumage like that described, and were therefore
believed to be hybrids. One of them was preserved by
Captain Fielding. I also exhibited to the Society, in February
1875, another and beautiful bird of very similar character to
the one now exhibited, which was shot by Capt. Kinloch, yr.
of Gilmerton, at Gilmerton, near Drem, Haddingtonshire.
The bird had been observed for four seasons, and about five
years before one or two golden pheasant cocks were let loose
on the estate.

(4.) Mergus albellus, the Smew.—A beautiful male bird
shot on the 25th January at Bowhill, the seat of his Grace
the Duke of Buccleuch, in Selkirkshire. The bird is one of
our winter visitors.

(5.) Larus glaucus, the Glaucous Gull.—aA female shot on
the 20th January at Musselburgh. Various specimens of
this gull, and also of Buteo /agopus, to which I referred at last

Notes on some Recent Experiments in Water Analysis. 157

meeting, still continue to be captured in unusual abundance
in various localities in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh.

I may again express my indebtedness to Mr Small, Mr
W. Hope, and Mr Keddie, our well-known taxidermists, for
being able to exhibit these interesting birds.

Wednesday, 21st March 1877.—Davip Grieve, Esq., F.G.S., President,
in the Chair.

The following gentleman was balloted for, and duly elected a Resident
Member: John Philip, Esq., Head-Master of St Leonard’s Public School.

Tho following communications were read :

I. Notes on some Recent Experiments in Water Analysis.
By T. W. DriInkwaTER, Esq.

The object of these notes is not to refute the now very
generally received theory that vegetable contamination in
drinking water is as hurtful as animal, but merely to show
that we have means by which we can distinguish between
these two impurities, and thus be in a position to give valu-
able information regarding the origin and removal of the
source of impurity.

It has been urged that if a water give over ‘009 grs. per
gallon of albuminoid ammonia, it matters not whether it be
derived from animal or vegetable matter, it is just as hurtful
to health.

If the impurity arises from decomposing vegetable matter,
I admit the truth of this statement, but if, as in the case of a
peaty water, the vegetable matter is not in a decomposing
state, then we have no right to condemn‘a water as unfit for
drinking purposes, though it gives as much as ‘01 grs. per
gallon of albuminoid ammonia.

In Lincolnshire the well water is strongly impregnated
both with the peaty colour and flavour; this water is drunk
without any bad effects following, yet on analysis it yields
albuminoid ammonia to the extent of ‘01 to ‘05 grs. per
gallon, and would be condemned by many analysts as unfit
for dietetic uses.

It was with the view of clearing up some disputed differ-

158 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Socrety.

ences between these two contaminations that led me to
conduct the following experiments, the result of which I now
lay before the Society. The first experiment related to
animal contamination.

A pint of Crawley water was rendered impure by the
addition of 0-1 grs. of dried blood, and distilled in the usual
manner.

The 1st distillate of albuminoid ammonia gave 0°024 grs. per gal.
8

99 99 39 99 >?

99 3d 9? 99 99 0°004 9?

Total, : 036

In this experiment it will be observed that the principal
portion of the ammonia came over with the first distillate,
the second and third containing comparatively small quantities.

Eaperiment 2.—A small portion of powdered peat was
digested in half a gallon of distilled water for three days,
and then filtered through ordinary filtering paper, and one
pint distilled in the usual manner.

The 1st distillate yielded albuminoid ammonia, ‘0084 grs. per gal.
"0056

39 2d 99 99 99 a

9) 3d 99 99 99 0056 99

99 4th 9) 93 3? ~ 0028 99
Total, . ‘0224

In this experiment it will be seen that instead of the yield
being chiefly with the first distillate it came over in the first,
second, and third, in very much the same quantity, even a
fourth distillate contained a very appreciable quantity of ©
ammonia.

The third experiment was made on the same artificially
prepared peaty water, only this time it was unfiltered. The
results, though somewhat higher than the filtered sample,
were the same as regards the manner in which the ammonia
distilled over.

For verification a fourth experiment was tried with
animal contamination.

A small quantity of putrefying butcher’s meat was digested
for some hours in a pint of distilled water; the yield of
albuminoid ammonia was as follows:

Phenomena connected with Insect Metamorphosis. 159

Ist distillate, ; ; "0266 grs. per gal.

7h es . 4. 10098 $

oT ead theo s99gs és
Total, 0392

This experiment verified the first. I next treated the arti-
ficially prepared water used in experiment No. 2 with animal
charcoal. It was filtered through small lumps of pure animal
charcoal in an ordinary funnel, being passed through twice.

On distillation the albuminoid ammonia was decreased from
‘0224 ors. per gal. to 004, the yield, however, still coming
over slowly.

On treating the water contaminated with animal matter
in the same way, the ammonia was only decreased from ‘0392
to ‘0194 grs. per gal. the yield being principally in the first
distillate.

The conclusion to be drawn from these results is this : That
with a water contaminated with animal matter, the first and
second distillate of the albuminoid ammonia contain the prin-
cipal portion of the yield, whilst if the contamination be of a
vegetable nature, the ammonia is more evenly distributed
between the distillates.

Il. On certain Phenomena connected with Insect Metamor-
phosis. By T. D. Gipson CarMIcHAEL, Esq.

The two features in the metamorphosis of insects to which
the author draws attention are: (1.) the influence which
external conditions have on the form of insect larve, and (2.)
the quiescence of the pupz of certain insects. In treating of
the first he shows how in an order so homogeneous as the
Hymenoptera in the perfect form a large amount of difference
prevails among the larvee, these being divisible into three
groups—(1.) the vermiform and apodal, (2.) those with shghtly-
developed thoracic legs, and (3.) those with well-developed
thoracic legs, and abdominal prolegs. Such differences in the
larval forms of the same order he attributes to differences in the
habits of the grubs. The principal object of the author under
the first head is to draw attention to the influence of external

160 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Soctety.

conditions in modifying the form and colour of the larva for
protective purposes. He says: Lepidopterous larvee are those
best suited for an inquiry into the subject; because besides
living exposed to all the attacks of birds and predatory
insects, it is frequently found that individuals of the same
genus, or even of the same species, feed on different plants,
and so become subject to the influence of different conditions.
In these larvee the ground colour is usually some shade of
ereen, grey, or brown. It is easy to understand the way in
which a green ground colour helps to protect a caterpillar, by
its resemblance to the colour of the leaves of the food plant.
It is a peculiar fact, however, that many larve are born with
a ereen ground colour, but eventually change this for some
shade of brown. In some species, indeed, we find two varieties,
as it were, the first composed of individuals retaining the
ereen colour throughout the whole larval state, and the second
of others which become brown after their second or third
moult; this phenomenon occurs most commonly in larve
which feed on low herbs, and which attain a large size when
full grown. The reason for this change undoubtedly is that
the larva, so long as it was young, passed the whole of its
time among the leaves (as do also those individuals which
remain green), but when larger it changes its habits and only
feeds at night, hiding during the day amid the soil and dead
leaves at the roots of the plant, where, of course, some shade
of a brownish or yellowish colour is the most adapted to con-
ceal it. There are other caterpillars, however, which are brown
or grey in colour through life, and which pass their time among
the leaves and branches of their food plant: in some of these,
as in the Geometers generally, the colouring greatly resembles
that of a young shoot or a dry twig, and this resemblance is
further strengthened by the attitudes they assume when at rest ;
others, however, being of a grey hue, rest at full length on
the larger limbs, where it is almost impossible to see them
amongst the lichens which they so strongly resemble in colour.
With regard to markings occurring on this ground colour, those
on grey and brown tree-feeding caterpillars often resemble
the slight roughnesses and other marks found on twigs
and shoots, and are often accompanied by excrescences and

Phenomena connected with Insect Metamorphosis. 161

roughnesses on the body of the larva itself; or they resemble
the patches of lichens and crevices in the bark of the larger
branches, as also do the thick bunches of hair on certain
larvee. In those brown larve again, which hide about the
roots of plants, the markings harmonise with the tints of the
earth and dead leaves. At first sight it is not quite so easy
to account for the markings found on larve having a green
ground colour, but this difficulty disappears on a little con-
sideration. Those marks usually take the form of longi-
tudinal or diagonal lines. Now suppose we have a green
larva, so long as it is small, it is sufficiently well concealed
by the resemblance of its colouring to that of the leaves of
its food plant, but when it increases in size, there arises the
necessity, if it is to escape notice, of some means being pro-
vided whereby the attention may be drawn from the outline
of the larva, and it is in these markings that we find this
means: first, with regard to longitudinal lines, these are
most common in caterpillars feeding on narrow-leaved plants,
and when they occur in those feeding on large leaves it is
only in medium-sized individuals; the reason for this being
that these lines mimic the lines found on grasses, etc., and
the streaks of light occurring in masses of foliage. In a
small larva such lines would be comparatively useless, and it
is for this reason that they seldom make their appearance
till after the third moult. Again, in broad-leaved plants
there are of course no lines on the leaves corresponding to
these longitudinal lines, nor do we commonly find long narrow
streaks of light let in among such foliage; so that in larve
feeding on those leaves, it is obviously most beneficial that such
lines should only occur on those of a medium size, or, when
on a large larva, should be broken and not continuous. On
the other hand, in grass-feeding caterpillars, as the Satyride,
we find this arrangement strongly developed, as also among
many pine-feeders, in some of which, as Fidonia piniaria, the
green is striped with white; in others, as Anceryx, with
brown, thus resembling the glimpses of the brown twigs seen
among the green spikes. This arrangement, I may mention,
exists also in certain saw-fly larve, while in Dendrobinus
pint, in addition to this, there are tufts of hair closely imitat-

162 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

ing the green spikes of the pine. Second, with regard to
diagonal lines, they mostly occur on larvee feeding on broad-
leaved plants, and among these more especially on such as
attain a large size. Some larve possess both longitudinal
and diagonal lines, and in these, so far as I recollect, the
longitudinal always appear before the diagonal; and on the
appearance of the latter, the former either disappear alto-
gether, or leave those segments on which diagonal lines are now
formed. Those lines mimic the diagonal ribs of leaves,
so if the resemblance is to be complete, they must also
be distant from each other in the same proportion as
the ribs on the leaves, and for this reason they appear
on large larvee only. Now, it may be asked, why should
the longitudinal lines disappear on the appearance of
‘the diagonal lines? Simply because if they did not, there
would be coloured or white lines crossing each other at an
angle, and this would be like nothing found among the leaves,
and so would merely render. the larva more conspicuous.
There is one other fact connected with these lines worthy of
notice, namely, that they are often white, edged with colour ;
this at first sight would seem to render the larva more con-
spicuous, but in reality the contrary is the case, for now both
the rib and the shadow thrown by it are represented, and

unless the eye is directly focussed on the larva, it is all the
harder to perceive. After briefly noticing those cases in
which colour and form protects unpalatable insects, not by
concealing but by rendering them more conspicuous and so
leading insect-eating birds to avoid them, the author passes
to the consideration of the quiescence of the pupa in some in-
sects. He says: Although insects are popularly supposed to
pass through four stages—the egg, larva, pupa, and imago—
still in most insects it is impossible to distinguish the two
intermediate stages from each other. A clue to the difference
between insects possessing an inactive pupa and those which
do not lies in the structure of the mouth. Quiescence, it must
be remembered, is not a state peculiar to this stage in the
insect’s life, for after every change of skin the larva remains
inactive for a longer or shorter period of time in proportion
to the extent of the changes going on in it. Thus, the ex-

Occurrence of a South American Butterfly in Britain. 163

treme quiescence of the pupa is in reality only a prolongation
of the quiescence accompanying every change of skin, and this
prolongation is due to the great amount and rapidity of the
changes going on in it. In those insects whose metamor-
phosis consists principally of a mere increase of size and the
acquirement of wings, there is no stage corresponding to the
pupa of butterflies and moths. In others whose changes are
more extensive, the pupa, though at first inactive, gradually
acquires activity. On the other hand, in those insects, as
Lepidoptera, in which not only does the external form but also
the whole internal organisation undergo change, there is an
inactive pupa; still even these pupe have some power of
motion, and this power is greatest shortly before they make
their final change. A great clue to this difference is to be
found in the structure of the mouth. In those insects in
which the mouth and digestive organs are the same through-
out life, the changes which occur are slight and very gradual,
so that there is no marked period of quiescence. On the other
hand, in those insects, as Lepidoptera, in which the insect has
an entirely different method of feeding when a larva from
what it has when perfect, the changes, if gradual, would
necessitate the death of the larva; so they are compressed, as
it were, into one stage, which stage is therefore necessarily
inactive.

Ill. On the Occurrence of a South American Butterfly in
Britain, (Specimen exhibited.) By Joun Gizsoy, Esq.

In July 1871 Mr Gibson Carmichael observed a butterfly
on the roof of one of the carriages of the London and South-
Western Railway shortly after leaving Wokingham station.
He captured it and placed it in his cabinet as a variety of the
Painted Lady (Pyrameis cardui), but subsequently he was led
to think that it agreed more closely with a North American
species nearly allied to our Painted Lady, viz., the Pyrameis
Huntera. On sending it to an entomologist in London, it was
found, on comparing it with the specimens in the British
Museum, to be the Brazilian variety of the Pyrameis Huntera

164 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

—a fact which renders its occurrence in England all the more
wonderful. Although it is several years since this specimen
was taken, and Mr Carmichael has in the interval formed a
considerable collection of British and foreign butterflies, he
assures me that by no chance could he have made any mistake
as to the exact specimen caught on the railway carriage. It
has been suggested as a possible explanation of the appearance
among us of this South American stranger, that it may have
been brought by one of the Brazilian mail packets, which
come to Southampton, a station on the London and South-
Western Railway.

IV. Notes on a few Silurian Fossils from the Neighbourhood
of Girvan, Ayrshire, in the collection of Mrs Robert
Gray, Edinburgh. By RoBpert ETHERIDGE, Jun., Esq.,
F.G.8., etc. [Plate IT] |

It affords me much pleasure to offer the following notes on
and descriptions of a few of the more interesting fossils in
the cabinet of Mrs R. Gray. The collection, gathered from
the rich fossiliferous deposits of Silurian age in the neighbour-
hood of Girvan, has been wholly brought together through
the energy and zeal of the lady in question. We are already
indebted to her hammer for several Silurian Brachiopoda new
to science, which have been from time to time described by
Mr T. Davidson, F.R.S., and a few Crustacea described by
Professor John Young, M.D., F.G.S., etc.

CLASS CRUSTACEA—SUB-CLASS CIRRIPEDIA.
GENUS TURRILEPAS— Woodward, 1865.

Plumulites, Barr. Reuss, Sitz. Berichte d. K. Akad. d.
Wissen, Sch. 1864, xlix., p. 215 (note 2).

Turrilepas, H. Woodward, 1865. Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc.,
XxL, p. 486.

Plumulites, Barrande, 1872. Systéme Sil. Bohéme, i., supp.
p. 565.

Oploscolex, Salter, 1873. Cambridge Cat. Camb. Sil. Foss.,
p. 129.

Notes on a Few Silurian Fossils from Ayrshire. 165

Turrilepas, H. Woodward. Cat. Brit. Foss. Crustacea, 1877,
p. 143.

Obs—The genus Turrilepas was established by Dr H.
Woodward, F.R.S., from certain pecular ovate triangular
plates from the Dudley limestone, previously known under the
name of Chiton Wrightianus, De Koninck. Dr Woodward
satisfactorily showed that these plates were more properly
referable to a form of Cirripedia allied to the recent Loricula,
and for which he proposed the name Twrrilepas, than to
Chiton, or any other mollusc. Priority is claimed by M. Bar-
rande for his term, on the plea of previous publication. For
my own part, I hardly think the facts support M. Barrande’s
claim. Dr Woodward’s name was both proposed and pub-
lished in 1865; and although the genus was certainly not
defined in so many words, it was, nevertheless, founded on a
well-known and perfectly-defined fossil, and what is more,
was copiously illustrated. I take this to be satisfactory
publication. It appears that M. Barrande had discovered
similar plates in the Silurian rocks of Bohemia, and applied
to them the name Plumulites, a fact which was communicated
by Professor Reuss to the Imperial Academy of Science of
Vienna at their meeting of 18th February 1864, and was
published in a paper of the latter,* but unaccompanied
either by description or figure. The plates in question were
referred by M. Barrande to the Cirripedia, and their alliance
to Loricula pointed out; but so far as I understand the
question, no description or figure was furnished by the latter
until the appearance in 1872 of the supplement to the first
volume of his magnificent work on the “Silurian System of
Bohemia.”+ I think, under these circumstances, that strict
impartiality requires the adoption of Dr Woodward’s Z'urr-
lepas. Again, Messrs Hall and Whitfield} adopt Plumulites
in preference to Turrilepas, on the ground that the latter was
never characterised, but my previous remarks equally apply
in this case.

There are certainly two, and perhaps three variations in

* Sitz. Berichte d. K. Akad. d. Wissensch, xlix., p. 215.
+ Systéme Silurien du Centre de la Bohéme, Supp. vol. i., 1872, p. 565.
~ Ohio Geol. Report, ii., pt. 2, p. 106.

VOL. IV. T

166 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

form amongst Mrs Gray’s Zwrrilepas from Girvan. One of
these I propose to call

Turrilepas Scoticea, sp. nov., Figs. 1 and 2.

Sp. Chars.—General form elongately kite-shaped, curved ;
superior end curved and much attenuated, produced into a
fine needle-point ; inferior margin slightly convex, and a little
concave in the middle; lateral margins, one convex through-
out the whole of its length, the other and opposite convex
in the lower part gradually becoming concave towards the
finely drawn out superior end; lobation very indistinct, only
traceable through the curvature of the transverse striz; a
median, ridge-like, sharp, and narrow keel, dividing the plate
into two sub-equal parts, passes from the central concavity of
the inferior margin to the sharp superior extremity ; the latter
is, in fact, formed by the extension of this central keel, the
plate on each side of it becoming abortive ; surface ornamented
with a very large number of transverse imbricating striz,
which in the central lobe are parallel to the inferior margin,
and on the lateral lobes are bent down parallel to the lateral
margins.

Ubs.—T. Scotica differs from the Dudley 7. Wright, De
Koninck, in form, proportion, breadth of the central keel, in
the much augmented number of concentric striz, and par-
ticularly in the extended superior extremity. The same
characters also appear to separate it from all the species
described by M. Barrande. I feel confident that the present
form is a distinct type from any of the above, more especially
as one of Mrs Gray’s specimens exhibits several of the plates
in close proximity to one another, all with the characteristic
attenuation of the superior extremity, and evidently belong-
ing to one individual. Unfortunately the state of preserva-
tion in this specimen is not sufficiently good to be worth
figuring. The other plates in the collection differ much from
7. Scotica in form, but notwithstanding the variation found
in the plates of any species of this genus, they will, I think,
prove to be different from 7. Scotzca.

Loc. and Horizon —Balcletchie, south-east of Girvan, in
rocks of Silurian age; exact horizon not yet determined.

Notes on a Few Silurian Fossils from Ayrshire. 167

ORDER PHYLLOPODA.
GENUS SOLENOCARIS—/J. Young, 1868.
(Proc. Nat. Hist. Soc. Glasgow, i., p. 171.)
Solenocaris solenoides, J. Young.

S. solenoides, J. Young ; loc. ctt., pp. 171-178, t.1, £7, aand d.

Obs.—Several fragments of this peculiar crustacean are in
the cabinet of Mrs Gray, by whom it was originally dis-
covered. They do not, however, throw any additional light
upon its structure.

Loc. and Horizon.—Balcletchie, south-east of Girvan, in
rocks of Silurian age; exact horizon not yet determined.

GENUS PINNOCARIS, gen. nov.

Gen. Chars.—Carapace bivalve, bent along the middle line ;
each half is pinnaform, much attenuated towards one ex-
tremity ; dorsal margin almost straight, but rising at a little less
than a third from the rounded end into a kind of false umbo ;
ventral (? lateral) margin elongately sigmoidal ; the expanded
end of the carapace is broadly but gradually rounded; attenu-
ated end produced into a long, narrow rostrum or beak,
truncated at its extremity; substance probably very thin;
surface striated parallel to the curved margins.

Obs.—I have given the above name to a very peculiar fossil
in Mrs Gray’s collection, from the resemblance each half
bears to the genus Pinna. The general outline is that of a
small Pinna, so much so, indeed, that I hesitated whether to
regard them as a species of Pelecypoda (Lamellibranchiata)
near the genera Pinna, Pteronites, or Aviculopinna, or as
the carapace of a phyllopodous crustacean, allied to Ceratio-
caris, Discinocaris, and other like forms. In their present
state the specimens appear as black, flattened, shining bodies,
the produced and truncated end retaining more of the original
convexity than the other portions. On analysing the various
characters of these fossils, for, or against their crustacean
nature, we find that in support of the latter view we have the
absence of any definite separation into anterior and posterior
ends, as in a bivalve shell ; secondly, the nature of the project-
- ing part of the dorsal margin, here called the false umbo, which

168 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

in no way appears to partake of the characters of the umbo
in the Pelecypoda; thirdly, the presence of the object, indi-
cated at a, Fig. 3, which, although without organic connection
with the carapace near it, is, I believe, one of the telson
spines, similar to those of Ceratiocaris, and other genera;
fourthly, the lines of growth instead of graduating outwards
from the projecting point of the dorsal margin, as the similar
strize do on the valve of a shell (bearing in mind that the
umbo of a bivalve is its “initial point”), appear to me to be
much more regularly concentric (or as we see them, semi-con-
centric) round a central point or apex, as would be the case
if both valves were spread out, similar to the genera Discino-
caris or Peltocaris. On the other hand, in support of the
molluscan affinities of these fossils, we have the general pinna
or pteronites-like form,although the larger end is more obliquely
rounded than is usually met with in these genera, and the
entire absence of the characteristic punctate ornamentation
seen on the carapace of many crustacea, combined with the
absence of all trace of the eye-spot. It appears to me that
the balance of evidence is at present in favour of the crusta-
cean affinities of these fossils, and that they cannot be placed
in any of the genera known to me, such as Ceratiocaris, M‘Coy;
Hymenocaris (Saccocaris), Salter; Physocaris, Salter; Pelto-
caris, Salter; Dictyocaris, Salter; Dithyrocaris, Scouler ; AMyo-
caris, Salter; Discinocaris, Woodward; Solenocaris, Young ;
Lingulocaris, Salter; Caryocaris, Salter; -Aptychopsis, Bar-
rande ; Anatifopsis, Barrande ; Solenocaris, Meek (non Young);
Colpocaris, Meek; <Archeocaris, Meek; Cryptocaris, Bar-
rande; and Pterocaris, Barr. I have therefore, as above stated,
proposed for them the name Pinnocaris. As none of the
specimens to which I have access have the valves spread out,
it is impossible to say with certainty whether Pinnocaris had
a dorsal furrow along the back, like Peltocaris, or was devoid
of one, as in Discinocaris.

I desire that my remarks on these fossils may be taken as
purely of a provisional character, and I shall look with much
interest for the discovery of further and more complete
examples, with the view of definitely ascertaining their syste-
matic position. Upon the production of further evidence of

Notes on a Few Silurian Fossils from Ayrshire. 169

molluscan affinity, I shall be perfectly willing to abandon
the view here advanced, which, however, I am convinced, is
at present the more satisfactory of the two. The body repre-
sented in Fig. 3 may possibly be a small Zheca which occurs
in the same beds.

Pinnocaris Lapworthi, sp. nov., Figs. 3-5.

Sp. Chars.—Identical with those of the genus ; the greatest
breadth is at a little less than the middle of the valve; con-
centric lines fine and close.

Obs.—I have much pleasure in naming this species after
Mr C. Lapworth, F.G.S., who, I am informed, on looking
through Mrs Gray’s cabinet, also regarded it as a crustacean.
Tam also indebted to Professor T. C. Archer, Director, Edinb.
Mus. Science and Art, for the loan of a well-preserved
Girvan specimen, from the “Hugh Miller Collection,” deposited
in that institution.

Loc. and Horizon—Balcletchie, south-east of Girvan, in
rocks of Silurian age; exact horizon not yet determined.

- ORDER TRILOBITA.
GeENuS LicHAs—Dalman, 1826.
Lichas sp.

(Compare LZ. avus, Barrande, Syst. Sil. Bohéme, i., Supp.,
p. 40. Atlas, pls. 5, 6, and 10.)

Obs.—There is a portion of the head of a large Lichas (the
glabella and fixed cheeks), which Mrs Gray refers to the
above species. It is larger than most of the British species
of the genus, with the exception of Z. obscwrus, Portlock ; *
L. Hibernicus, Portlock; and L. patriarchus, Edgell.t The
ornamentation closely resembles that of Z. avus, but the form
of the glabella is somewhat different.

Loc. and Horizon.—Craighead, near Girvan; Lower Llan-
dovery, according to the map of the Geological Survey of
Scotland (sheet 14, 1 inch Scotland),

* Geol. Report, Londonderry, p. 274, t. 24, f. 4.

+ Ibid., p. 274, t. 4, f. 1.
+ Geol. Mag., iii., p. 162, f. 1-6,

170 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Socvety.

Genus SALTERIA— Wy. Thomson, 1864.
(Mems. Geol. Survey, Decade xi., No. 6.)
Salteria primeva,. Wy. Thomson.

S. primeva.—W. Thomson, loc. cit., pl. 6.

Obs.—So far as I am aware little or nothing has been done
towards the elucidation of this peculiar trilobite since the
original description in 1864. Two of Mrs Gray’s specimens
represent portions of the head, neither of which, strange to
say, afford any further details. Both, as in the original
specimens, are devoid of the free cheeks, but one of them
is larger than either of the latter. A third specimen exhibits
the body segments and pygidium in union, a feature which
is not represented in any of Professor Thomson's figures.
There are certainly seven body rings, and perhaps one or two
more, whilst on the central lobe of the pygidium ten divisions
are discernible.

Loc. and Horizon—Balcletchie, south-east of Girvan, in
rocks of Silurian age; exact horizon uncertain. Sir Wyville
Thomson’s specimens were found in “schists forming the
base of the Graptolite and Orthoceratite flags, Penwhapple
Glen, in the Girvan district—the equivalents of the Upper
Bala or Caradoc Rocks.”

Genus Acipaspis—AMurchison, 1839.
(Sil. Syst., p. 658.)
Acidaspis Graye, sp. nov., Figs. 6-8.

Sp. Chars.—The head is not in a good state of preserva-
tion, and little can be said about the characters of the
elabella, its lobes and furrows, the facial suture, and the
fixed and movable cheeks, except that the glabella and lobes
appear to have been convex and prominent. The front
margins of the free cheeks are produced into a series of close
non-denticulated spines, which gradually decrease in length
forwards; posterior angles produced into genal spines which
extend backwards for about half the length of the thorax, and
appear to be but little bent or curved; neck segment promi-
nent and apparently non-spinous; surface of the glabella and
lobes covered with scattered tubercles or granules, Thoracic

Notes on a Few Silurian Fossils from Ayrshire. 171

somites, nine or ten, probably the latter, with a narrow pro-
minent convex axis, gradually decreasing in width towards the
pygidium ; lateral portions or pleure, horizontal, traversed by
a nearly central groove, and produced laterally into long,
recurved, denticulated spines, those of the last segment (that
next the pygidium) bent down almost in a parallel direction
with the limb spines of that division of the body—no
trace of surface ornamentation preserved. Pygidium short,
semi-circular, surface reticulate ; axis of two segments; limb
produced into fifteen sub-equal radiating denticulated spines;
the anterior axis segment gives off a ridge on each side, con-
tinuous with the anti-penultimate spines on each side the
central one of the pygidium; the denticles are sub-alternate
on each side of contiguous spines.

Obs.— All the specimens of this species contained in
Mrs Gray’s cabinet are more or less. fragmentary, with the
exception of that represented by Fig. 6, a cast, and even
here the specimen is a good deal crushed, and the characters
of the carapace obliterated. So far as present observation
has enabled me to judge, the spines projecting from the
anterior part of the carapace are simple, whilst those of the
thorax and pygidium are unquestionably denticulated.

Amongst British species, A. Grayw must be first compared
with three species of Aczdaspis from Girvan, described by Sir
Wyville Thomson, F.R.S.* The form and general proportions
of the thorax and pygidium closely resemble those of two of
these, A. lalage, and <A. hystrix, but the characters of the
carapace, so far as they can be made out, do not correspond
particularly in the absence of any cervical spines in A. Graye.
The form of the carapace much more closely approximates to
that of Sir Wyville Thomson’s third species, A. callipareus, of
which, unfortunately, the thorax and pygidium are unknown.
A, Graye undoubtedly differs from A. lalage in its denticu-
lated spines, those of the latter being quite simple and plain,
both on the pygidium and thorax. Similarly it is also dis-
tinguished from A. hystriz, Wy. Thomson, and A. Caractact,
Salter; in the first of these each pleura terminates in two
reflected spines, one passing under the other, and in the latter
* Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc., 1857, xiii., pp. 206-209,

172 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

is bispinose, one spine being much longer than the other, but
in neither case are the spines denticulated. Again, A. Graye
does not appear to agree with any other described British
species with which I am acquainted, either by specimens or
figures, such as A. Barrandei, Fletcher; A. bispinosa, M‘Coy ;
A. Brightii, Murchison; A. coronatus, Salter; A. Jamesii,
Salter; or A. Hughesit, Salter. In fact, the increased number
of spines round the pygidium separates A. Gray from all the
foregoing forms, to say nothing of their denticulated char-
acter, except A. lalage and A. hystrix, where the spines are
twelve to fourteen in the one case, and twelve in the other,
and apparently all simple. All the specimens of pygidia
which I refer to A. Gray, have constantly fifteen denticulated
spines.

Leaving British species and passing to Bohemian Silurian
trilobites, we find there are several with which a comparison
may be made. M. Barrande has figured two species with the
pleural spines denticulated—Acidaspis Keyserlingi, Barr.,* and
A. mira, Barr.t In the first of these the spines in question
are of a totally different form to those of A. Gray, and the
thoracic axis is very much broader in proportion to the
general size of the trilobite. In A. mira the pleural spines
are of two kinds, one denticulated and the other not, both
attached to the same pleura. In neither are the spines of the
pygidium denticulated, but M. Barrande also figures at least
five species in which these particular spines are so, viz. :

1. A. Verneuilii, Barr., loc. cit., t. 38, f. 1-9.

9. A; Portlockiis: 145 sis gb: phlO-2e:
3. A. vesiculosa, ,, oh s5? lhe See
4, A. tricornis, > J; SUPP. 5 <b. ie, eels
5. A. rara, 25 5 “a t. 12; 5.°38:

In the first three of these the form of the pygidium, and
the number, form, and arrangement of the spines into which
the limb of each is produced, are so different as to necessitate
little or no comparison. The ornamentation of these trilobites
consists of small granules or tubercles, both on the thorax
and pygidium; on the other hand, on the only part of A.
Graye where the ornamentation is preserved, it is seen to be

* Systéme Sil. Boh., i, t. 36, f. 10-22. + Loid., t089, £- 1-10

Notes on a Few Silurian Fossils from Ayrshire. 178
reticulate, as in A. lalage and A. hystrix. In A. tricornis,
Barr., the pygidium spines are only eight in number; finally,
there are eight also in A. mira, but the arrangement of them
is again different from any of the preceding.

So far as I have been able to ascertain this is an un-
described form, with which I have much pleasure in associat-
ing the name of Mrs Gray.

Loe. and Horizon.—Balcletchie, south-east of Girvan, in
rocks of Silurian age; exact horizon not yet determined.

GENUS CHEIRURUS—Beyrich, 1845.
(Uber. Bohm. Trilob., p. 5.)

Cheirurus trispinosus—J. Young.

C. trispinosus, Young. Proc. Nat. Hist. Soc. Glas., i, pt. 1,
pp. 169-171, t. 1, f. 4-6.

Obs.—This species was established by Dr John Young for
a peculiar form with the cervical fold prolonged backward
into a spine, and curved in a similar manner to the genal
spines. Mrs Gray now has in her cabinet a more perfect
specimen than that figured by Dr Young, with the three
spines or remains of them in position. That on the left
(when looking down on the head from behind forwards) is
perfect, but of the right one only about a third is preserved,
whilst the middle spine is broken off close to its attachment
to the cervical fold. The entire head, as far as preserved, is
densely covered with small unequal tubercles or papille.

Loe. and Horizon—FPenkill, south-east of Girvan, in rocks
of Silurian age; exact horizon uncertain.

GENUS AGNosTtus—Brongniart.
Agnostus trinodus, Salter.

A. trinodus, Salter, Mems. Geol. Survey, 1848, ii, pt. 1, p.
351, t. 8, f.12 and 13. A. trinodus, Salter, Mems. Geol.
Survey, 1864, Dec. xi, No. 1, p. 8, t. 1, f. 8-10.

Obs.—The specimens of this species found by Mrs Gray
consist of disconnected heads and pygidia. In the former
the slight lateral indentation of the glabella is visible, and in

174 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

some of the latter the minute lateral spines are well pre-
served.

Loc. and Horizon.—Balcletchie, south-east of Girvan, in
- rocks of Silurian age; position uncertain.

CLASS BRACHIOPODA—TRETENTERATA.

GeENuS Disctna—Lamarck, 1819.
(Hist. Anim. sans Verteb., vi., pt. 1, p. 236.)

Discina Portlocki, Geinitz (2).

Orbicula Portlocki, Geinitz. Dei Graptolithen, etc, 1852,
p. 26, t. 1, f. 31 and 32.

Obs—Mrs Gray informs me that these little shells were so
named by Mr C. Lapworth, F.G.8. They certainly bear a con-
siderable resemblance to Geinitz’s figure, especially his Fig. 31.
They have the almost marginal umbo, and behind it the “ last-
shaped” elevation mentioned by Geinitz. They are oval-
circular, and the lines of growth are both close and well
marked. Geinitz considered his shell identical with Orbicula
levigata, Portlock (Geol. Report on Londonderry, p. 445,
t. 32, f. 11 and 12), but not of Minster. Now, 0. levigata,
Portlock, is a much larger and more circular shell, and is
placed by Mr Davidson as a synonym of Discina oblongata,
Portlock (Mon. Brit. Sil. Brachiop., p. 66). The whole subject
requires investigation.

Loc.—Balcletchie, south-east of Girvan, in rocks of Silurian
age ; position uncertain.

GENUS ACROTRETA—Kutorga.
Acrotreta (?) Nicholsonit, Davidson (?).

A.(?) Nicholson, Dav. Mon. Brit. Sil. Brachiopoda, p. 348,
t. 49, f. 36-40.

Obs.—This little shell has been noticed hitherto from the
Upper Llandeilo Graptolite shales near Moffat. Mrs Gray has
three specimens bearing this name, which appear to possess
the peculiar hinge structure described by Mr Davidson,
although they are more conical than represented in the figures
quoted above,

~I
ie |

Notes on a Few Silurian Fossils from Ayrshire. 1

CLASS GASTEROPODA.

GENUS BELLEROPHON—De Montfort, 1808.
(Conch. Systematique, i., p. 51.)
Lellerophon expansus, J. de C. Sowerby.

Lb. expansus, Sow. Sil. Syst., 1839, p, 613, t. 5, f 32.

B. expansus, Sow. “ Siluria,” 4th ed. 1867, t. 25, f. 8.

Obs.—There is a shell in Mrs Gray’s collection possessing
all the characters of the above species, except that it is more
arched along the median line; but this, I think, arises some-
what from distortion. The general outline, sinus and concen-
tric strize are well and distinctly marked.

Loc. and Horizon.— Balcletchie, south-east of Girvan, in
rocks of Silurian age; exact horizon uncertain.

Bellerophon, sp. nov. (2).

(Compare B. subdecussatus, M‘Coy. Brit. Pal. Foss., p.
a11, t. 1, L. f 25).

Obs.—In describing his B. subdecussatus, Professor M‘Coy
called attention to its close resemblance to the carboniferous
B. decussatus, Flem. I would on the present occasion follow
Professor M‘Coy’s example by pointing out the similarity of
the present form to another carboniferous species, B. Urei,Flem.,
in the large, well-defined band and spiral striez; the latter,
however, are finer and more numerous than is usually seen in
B. Urei, and there are indications of transverse striz, which
do not exist in the carboniferous species. Amongst Silu-
rian forms, the Drummuck examples are perhaps nearest to
B: subdecussatus, M‘Coy, but they differ in the much larger
size, well-defined band, and stronger spiral striz ; both speci-
mens are only casts, and somewhat compressed downwards, so
their exact form is not to be altogether determined. There are
a few strong transverse and oblique fluctuations or undulations
on one of the specimens, in addition to the remains of the
transverse striz. In all probability the discovery of perfect
specimens will prove their form to be a new species. As the
specimens are only casts, and not good ones, I refrain from
giving them a name,

176 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

Loc. and Horizon.—Drummuck, near Girvan, in rocks
of Llandeilo age, according to the map of the Geological
Survey of Scotland.

Note.—In addition to the fossils here described, there were
exhibited at the meeting of the Royal Physical Society, at
which the paper was read, the following :

1. Trinucleus, sp.—A fine form nearly allied to, but distinct
from, 7. Bucklandi, Barr. (Syst. Sil. Bohéme, 1852, 1, p. 621.
Atlas, p. 629, f. 10-17.) Drummuck, near Girvan.

2. Trinucleus, sp—Closely allied to, if not identical with,
T. seticormis, His. Drummuck, near Girvan.

3. Lingula Canadensis, Billings. Balcletchie, near Girvan.

4, Lingula quadrata, Eichwald.

5. Siphonotreta Scotica, Davidson. Craighead, near Girvan.

6. Strophomena corrugatella, Davidson. Balcletchie, near
Girvan.

(Nos. 3, 4, and 5 have lately been described by Mr T.
Davidson, F.R.S., as new to British Silurian rocks, from speci-
mens obtained by Mrs Gray at the localities mentioned.)

I have, in conclusion, to express my thanks to Mrs Robert
Gray for her kindness in giving me access to the valuable
contents of her cabinet.

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE.

Fig. 1. Turrilepas Scotica, R. Eth., jun.—Twice the natural size, show-
ing the finely drawn out superior end. Balcletchie.

Fig. 2. Another specimen, nearly twice enlarged. Balcletchie.

Fig. 3. Pinnocaris Lapworthi, R. Eth., jun.—Natural size, showing the
rounded larger end of one-half the carapace, the attenuated and truncated
end, and the tail spine (?) displaced. Balecletchie.

Fig. 4. Another specimen of the same, natural size, showing the false umbo
and two halves of the carapace in apposition. Balcletchie.

Fig. 5. A third example of the same, natural size, showing one-half of the
carapace slightly displaced from the other half, at the attenuated end, and
the concentric strie. Balcletchie.

Fig. 6. Acidaspis Gray, R. Eth., jun.—A mould about twice the natural ~

size, with the head, thorax, and pygidium, so far as preserved, united
together. Around the frontal margin of the head may be seen the non-
denticulated spines, whilst those projecting from the pleure of the thorax
are SO.

Fig. 7. Another pygidium and a few thoracic somites of the same, some-

ro

cnet **ye.. ~

AS

ee

ee ee

On the Occurrence of the Hobby in Forfarshire. 177

what enlarged. The fifteen terminal spines, with the denticles, are also
shown.

Fig. 8. Mould of a third specimen of the same, showing a part of the
thorax attached to the pygidium, with the denticulated spines projecting from
both, nearly twice the natural size.

Fig. 9. Bellerophon, sp. nov. (?), a cast, natural size: compare B. subdecus-
satus, M‘Coy. (Brit. Pal. Foss., t. 1, L. f. 25.)

Fig. 10. Another specimen of the same, partly a cast, and partly retaining
the original shelly matter; natural size.

Figs. 11 and 12. Discina Portlocki, Geinitz?—Two specimens twice the
natural size. The ridge from the umbo to the margin is shown.

V. On the Occurrence of the Hobby (Falco subbuteo) in
Forfarshire. By RoBert GRAY, F.R.S.E.

About eighteen months ago Mr Henderson of Dundee sent
me word that he had shot a falcon near that town, which he
took to be the Orange-legged Hobby. On describing the bird
minutely at my request, I found he had mistaken the bird,
and that it was but the commoner species, Falco subbuteo.
When in Dundee a few weeks ago, he kindly offered me the
falcon for my collection, and I have thought it of sufficient
rarity as a straggler into North Britain to justify me in
laying it before the Society.

In the West of Scotland the hobby has occurred in the
island of Arran, but in no other locality so far as I am aware of.
In the eastern counties, however, it has been found repeatedly.
In the records of this Society there is mention made of one
which was shot near Portobello in July 1863. It has like-
wise been met with in Roxburghshire, Kirkcudbrightshire,
and Dumfriesshire. In the north-eastern counties, it has
occurred in Banff, Caithness, Aberdeen, Kincardine, and
Forfar. The earliest authentic record of its having been
met with in Scotland, is perhaps that of Mr George Don,
who mentions it as having been “rather rare” in Forfarshire
in the beginning of the present century. Subsequent writers,
notably Selby, Jardine, and Macgillivray, speak of it as
being totally unknown in Scotland. I give these particulars,
therefore, as a contribution to a more exact knowledge of its
range in the British Islands.

178 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

I believe this bird, which is a well-known, though some-
what rare summer migrant in England, will yet be found
breeding in Kincardineshire. Glen Dye is one of the most
likely places where it will be met with. The specimen
which I now exhibit was killed as I have said near Dundee
in October 1875, and I have no doubt that when shot, it was
on its way south from that quarter.

VI. Note on the Occurrence of the Whimbrel (Numenius
pheopus) in Greenland. By Ropert Gray, F.R.S.E.

For some years past I have been much interested with the
specimens of birds brought home by the masters of the
Dundee whaling ships, who have been induced to collect
and preserve all that comes in their way, and I was lately
pleased to find that a pair of whimbrels had been captured
on board the “ Polynia” when passing Cape Farewell on the
20th of May last year. The master of the ship informed me
that the two birds had followed the vessel for some days, and
that they had at length fallen upon deck quite exhausted.
The birds were in full breeding plumage, and it is highly
probable that they would have landed to the north of the
locality off which they were captured. Professor Reinhardt
of Copenhagen, in a paper contributed by him to the Jbis for
1861, mentions that five or six had been seen by himself, all
sent from Greenland, and that six others had been sent to
his father from that quarter in the years 1831 and 1835.
This is really all the information we possess regarding the
occurrence of this bird in that part of the world, for al-
though an exhaustive list was published three years ago for
the use of the officers of the recent Arctic Expedition, by
Professor Newton of Cambridge, he had nothing to add from
the observations of other writers during the last sixteen
years.

The specimen which I now exhibit is the male—the female
being now, as I am informed, in the collection of Mr Harvie-
Brown.

vee Oe

'
1 tiie aS —_—

Mr Hunter on Various Methods of Water Analysis. 179

Wednesday, 18th April 1877.—J. FALCONER Kine, Esq., President,
in the Chair.

The following gentlemen were balloted for, and duly elected as Resident
Members :

_ John J. Dalgleish, Esq. of West Grange, 8 Atholl Crescent; Sir William
Gibson-Carmichael, Bart., Castle Craig, Dolphinton.

The following donations to the Library were laid on the table, and thanks
voted to the donors: ’

1. Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, Vol. IX., Part 10.—
From the Society. 2. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1874-75,
and 1875-76. Transactions, Vol. XXVII., Parts 3 and 4.—From the Society.
3. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Vol. XXV., No. 176 (Dec.
1876), and No. 177.—From the Society. 4. Transactions of the Manchester
Geological Society, Vol. XIV., Parts 6 and 7 (session 1876-77).—From the
Society. 5. (a.) Catalogue of Western Scottish Fossils; (b.) Some Leading
Industries of Glasgow, ete.; (c.) Fauna and Flora of the West of Scotland.—
From the British Association for the Advancement of Science. 6. Buckton’s
Monograph of British Aphides, Vol. I.—Ray Society. 7. Kongliga Svenska
Vetenskaps—Akademiens (a.) Handlingar, Vol. XI.; (d.) Bihang, Vol. IIL,
1; (c.) Oefversigt, for 1875; (d.) Meteorologiska Jakttagelser, Vol. XV.— -
From the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. 8. (a.) Windrosen des siid-
lichen Norwegens, von C. de Sene; (0.) Jaettegryder og gamle Strandlinier i
fast Klippe, by S. A. Sexe; (c.) Beretning om den internationale Meterkom-
missions méde i Paris, 24th Sept.—12th Oct. 1872; (d.) Seven treatises by H.
Mohn, reprinted from the Transactions of the Christiania Academy of Sciences
for 1872-74; (¢.) Etudes sur les Mouvements de l’Atmosphére, par Guldberg et
Mohn, premiére partie; (7) Two treatises by C. M. Guldberg, reprinted from
the Transactions of the Christiania Academy of Sciences for 1872; (g.) Four
treatises by Sophus Lie, reprinted from the Transactions of the Christiania
Academy of Sciences for 1873.—From the Royal University of Norway at
Christiania. 9. Journal of the Linnean Society: (a.) Zoology, Vol. XIII,
No. 67; (0.) Botany, Vol. XV., No. 88.—From the Society. 10. Annual
Report of the Geologists’ Association, for 1876.—From the Association.
11. Compte rendu de Société Nationale des Sciences Naturelles de Cherbourg,
1877.—From the Society.

The following communications were then read :

I. Notes on the Various Methods of Water Analysis. By
JOHN HUNTER, Esq.

My intention was to have laid before the Society to-night a
note explaining the different methods at present employed of
analysing water, and to have criticised these processes; and
further, to have diagramatically shown the various ways in
which analyses are formulated on being reported.

As this, however, is the last meeting of the session, I pre-
sume there will be a considerable amount of work to be got
through, and consequently I have cut my task down to a mere

180 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

fraction of what I had undertaken; and moreover, my duties
of late have been so numerous that my time has been more
than duly occupied, in consequence of which I have been
unable to overtake the work which was necessary to enable me
to make perfectly clear the many points I intended grasping.

There are, as is well known, the two great and rival pro-
cesses for examination of water, namely, the Frankland and
the Ammonia process; but as to give my experiences of, and
to criticise fairly these two processes, would occupy the whole
evening, I will confine my remarks mainly to the latter sys-
tem, which is the now well-known process of my friend,
Professor Wanklyn, of London.

Many scientists are of opinion that there are but two
methods of water analysis, but in thinking so they are in
error, because waters have been for many years analysed, and.
analysed correctly too—at least by some chemists—so far as
their analysis went; but there is another and a greater pro-
cess, superlatively great in its primitiveness and in its being
absurdly erroneous, which I shall designate the X process.

This process, or rather the mode of stating results obtained
by it, I will first bring under your notice, after which I shall,
as I have already promised, make a few observations upon the
Wanklyn process, and the balance of my water experiences I
will carry forward to session 1877-78.

First, then, the mineral constituents of a water residue, as
ascertained by this X process, are stated with an almost
mathematical constancy as regards relationship of acids to
bases, the calcium present being invariably delegated to car-
bonic acid and to sulphuric acid. Now, thus associating the
metals is, under certain circumstances, pardonable; but there
is always in the reports to which I refer the parenthetical
explanation that “carbonate of lime” is “chalk,” and that
“sulphate of lime” is “stucco,” while we know perfectly well
that in 90 per cent. of the water residues that are examined
there is neither chalk nor stucco in their composition. The
next item in this X process formule to which I must take
exception is “chloride of potassium;” this salt is not only
invariably found by the process of which I am now speaking,
but it is so in such minute proportion as to be beyond the

Mr Hunter on Various Methods of Water Analysis, 181

power of chemistry, as at present known, to estimate; indeed,
to my knowledge, “ chloride of potassium” invariably appears
in the report as a constituent of the residue, and that whether
or not such a compound exists therein. There are other items
to which I could with equally good grace take exception, but
all of these I will pass over, save the last, which is that of
organic matter and nitrates. I may explain this item is the
loss which a water residue suffers on being exposed to a red
heat. Now, such a method of stating a result obtained in
such a way may not only be misleading, but may, indeed will
most probably be, quite erroneous, because it is quite well
known that when nitrates are simply ignited, they are not by
any means all volatilised; and if, as is almost certain to be
the case, the nitric acid which is present is combined with
such a base as sodium, then; although the acid be decomposed,
the base still remains, but, be it granted, in another relation ;
thus it is clear that the loss on ignition of a water residue
can be no measure of the amount of nitrates present. The
same objection holds good as regards organic matter; and I
may sum this part of the subject up by stating that a water
residue may suffer considerable loss by being exposed to a red
heat without even a trace of organic matter or nitrates being
present. :

The determining the organic constituents of a water is,
however, a most important point—in fact is the most import-
ant, and in the hands of analysts who are abreast of the times,
receives by far the most attention. As can easily be under-
stood, the guality rather than the quantity of organic matter
in water is the great question to settle; and, thanks to Pro-
fessor Wanklyn, chemists are now in possession of a process
by which they can readily and very certainly determine that ;
and to this process I will now direct my remarks.

The ammonia existing in water, whether in the saline or
albuminoid form, can be estimated with beautiful exactness ;
and not only can the amount of these nitrogen compounds
be ascertained, but also, as was very clearly shown by that
excellent paper read at our last meeting, the origin or nature
of these can be also made known.

This part of the process, viz., determining whether the

VOL, IY. U

182 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

nitrogen which is present in a water is of animal or of vege-
table origin, has been taken exception to, because it does not
show whether the organic nitrogen is in a decomposing state ;
this objection is quite untenable, because if the nitrogen is
undergoing oxidation, there will be present in the water the
products of the change, and these will exist either as a mtro-
compound or as ammonia.

There are a few, but so far as is known very few, compounds
of nitrogen which do not yield the whole of their nitrogen to
potassium permanganate, and there are one or two that yield
a distillate which, on being nesslerised, gives a white preci-
pitate instead of a brown colour; but this reaction, instead of
condemning the process, in my opinion recommends it; be-
cause the abnormal reaction suggests at once that there is
present something even more objectionable than sewage con-
tamination. I have experienced such a case, and, so far as I
am aware, the reaction which I somewhat accidentally dis-
covered has not before been noted, wherein a water supply
had been polluted with carbolic acid ; the distillate from this
water was slightly opalescent, and on being nesslerised
yielded a white precipitate which, of course, masked the am-
monia reaction ; but at the same time, this very unusual oceur-

erence necessitated an inquiry as to the cause, with the result,
as I have just indicated, that carbolic acid was ascertained to
be present.

Another objection which has been made to the ammonia
process is, that the distillates, after being nesslerised, are
lable to be affected by ammonia in the atmosphere, and in
consequence thereof too high results obtained; this objection
is, I am perfectly satisfied, quite groundless; for if the
merest trace of ammonia be introduced after the nessler solu-
tion has been added, the whole contents of the nesslerising
tube become almost instantly opalescent; indeed, I may say
I have had nesslerised distillates standing in an atmosphere
which was by no means free from ammonia for sixteen hours,
without any notable change in the depth of colour taking
place. Just a few words regarding this opalescence, and I
have done. In preparing standard solutions with which to
compare distillates obtained from. this ammonia process,

Mr Hunter on Various Methods of Water Analysis. 183

very frequently difficulty is experienced in obtaining these
standards perfectly clear. This point I have investigated
most carefully, and as the result of my observations I am
satisfied that the only cause beyond that from washing the
apparatus employed with other than perfectly pure distilled
water is, that in delivering the standard ammonia into the tube
a small quantity of the ammonia gets on the glass and drains
into the tube after the nessler reagent has been added. As a
preventative against such a result being obtained, I would
recommend adding first the standard ammonium chloride to
the tube by means of a pipette, then filling up to the graduation
with water—I mean, of course, chemically pure water—taking
care to pour it over that point which has been touched by the
pipette, to remove the drop. With these precautions ammonia
standards can invariably be prepared with their colour perfectly
bright, and free from any trace of opalescence.

II. On some Sections in the North-West Highlands, Examined
during the last Summer (1876). By JAMES BRYCE,
Esq., LL.D., F.G.S.

(Owing to the death of the lamented author, who read the
above paper from short notes, a detailed account of his most
recent views on this subject cannot now be furnished.)

Ill. On Certain Birds collected by the late Captain (Rear-
Admiral) P. P. King in the Straits of Magellan between
the years 1826-27. By Joun Gissoy, Esq.

A survey of the Straits of Magellan was made in the years
1826-27 by Captain Philip P. King in the ships “ Adventure ”
and “ Beagle,” belonging to the Royal Navy, and that officer
collected specimens to illustrate the zoology of this hitherto
little known region. He made a list of the birds thus col-
lected, briefly describing and naming those he considered,
with the lights he had on board the “ Adventure,” as new to

184 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. .

science. This list, along with the birds, was sent to Mr
Vigors, at that time facile princeps among ornithologists, who
published Captain King’s paper in vols. i. and iv. of the
Zoological Journal. A considerable proportion of the birds
described as new were found to be actually so, and these
have retained the names given them by their first describer.
During a recent re-arrangement of the general collection of
birds in the Museum of Science and Art, I had occasion to
consult Sclater and Salvin’s splendid work on “ Exotic Orni-
thology ” regarding the species of South American coots, and
found the following passage by way of preface to the descrip-
tion of one of these species: “In a letter addressed to Mr
Vigors, and subsequently published in the fourth volume of
the Zoological Journal, the late Captain King gave some very
short and insufficient descriptions of supposed new species of
birds discovered during his survey of the Magellan Straits in
1826. Amongst the birds thus characterised as new to science
were two coots, named by Captain King Ff. chloropoides and
F, gallinuloides. In order to ascertain positively what species
were designated by these names, it would be necessary to
inspect the typical specimens which, if ever sent home to
this country, have unfortunately disappeared. It is only
therefore by a process of guess-work that we can refer /. gal-
linuloides of King to F. armillata, and his F£. chloropovdes to.
the present bird, &. lewcopyga.” Now it so happened that the
coot, whose specific name I was in search of, had an old parch-
ment label attached to one of its legs, with “Captain King,
Straits of Magellan,” written on it; and on consulting the
register of the old College Museum it appeared that a collec-.
tion of birds from the Straits of Magellan had been presented
to the Museum by Captain King in 1831. It occurred to me
very naturally that the unnamed coot might prove to be one
of the two typical specimens which, according to Messrs
Sclater and Salvin, had “unfortunately disappeared ;” and on
comparing it with the certainly brief and insufficient descrip-
tion given in the Zoological Jowrnal, I became convinced that
it was King’s type of Fulica gallinuloides. He states that in
his specimen “the throat is partially marked with white,
which character, however, may be but temporary, the bird

Birds Collected in the Straits of Magellan, 1826-27. 185

being evidently a young individual.” This mark, though pro-
- bably useless as a means of identifying a species, is manifestly
of importance in seeking to identify an individual specimen,
and the museum specimen agrees in possessing this white
marking on the throat. Premising that in this specimen we
have the F. gallinuloides of King, an examination of it leads
me to the conclusion that it cannot be referred to the F. armi-
lata of Vieillot, as suggested by Messrs Sclater and Salvin. It
is, in my opinion, an immature specimen of Strickland’s coot
(Fulica leucoptera), a figure of which is given in the “ Exotic
Ornithology.” According to Messrs Sclater and Salvin, “ this
species is readily distinguished from all its South American
congeners by having the ends of the first five or six second-
aries next adjoining the primaries tipped with white, and in
the museum specimen six of these feathers are thus tipped.
In the British Museum hand-list of birds, F. gallinuloides
appears as a synonym of F. armillata, with a query attached ;
if the view here taken be correct, it should now appear as a
synonym of F. leucoptera. The latter appears to be a rare
species, as at the time of the publication of the hand-list
already referred to there was no specimen of it in the British
Museum, and the authors of the “ Exotic Ornithology ” were in-
debted to Dr Hartland of the Bremen Museum for the loan of
the specimen from which their figure was taken. The number of
specimens presented by Captain King to the College Museum
appears to have been about twenty, at least that is the
number of stuffed birds now exhibited as from him, and many,
if not the most of these, appear to me to be the individual
specimens referred to, briefly described by Captain King in
his letter published in the Zoological Journal. Of those
named by him as new, and which were found to be so, the
following occur in the collection presented by him to the
museum: Athene nana, King; Syrniwm rufipes, King; Pocus
Magellanicus, King.

Captain King also described as new the Steamer duck,
under the name Oidemia Patachonica. It had, however, been
previously described, so that O. Patachonica is now a synonym.
The individual on which he founded his description was
stated by him to measure forty inches in length. Referring

186 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

to this, Dr Cunningham, who lately visited the straits as

naturalist on board H.M.S. “ Nassau,” and who made a special

study of the Steamer duck, says, “ The average length of the

adult bird may be stated as about thirty inches, and I do not
think that I ever met with specimens measuring more than
three feet from the unguis to the tip of the tail, so that I am
‘inclined to believe that the specimen mentioned by King as
forty inches in length was of exceptional size.” The museum
specimen is from King’s collection, and agrees very closely with
his description both as regards colour, markings, and measure-

ment, with the single exception of the length, which, instead
of forty, is exactly thirty inches. This remarkable difference
of ten inches in the length, while the other measurements
agree, suggests the probability of some mistake—a slip of the
pen or a printer’s error—by which forty may have been sub-
stituted for thirty, and of course this view would be put
beyond doubt if the museum specimen is the individual on
which King founded his Oidemia Patachonica. King further
describes what he considered a new species of duck under the
name Anas specularoides, and his description agrees in every
particular with the specimen which he presented to the

College Museum, and which was labelled by the late Pro-

fessor Jameson as the Anas specularoides of King. In the

British Museum hand-list of birds, A. specularoides is given

as a synonym of Anas chalcoptera, Kittl.; but if our specimen

be the actual individual described by King, it appears to me

to belong to the species A. evistata—a bird which, according to

Cunningham, is the duck most commonly met with in the

Magellan Straits, always excepting the Steamer duck already

referred to. The specimen has a slight crest, which is not’
mentioned in King’s description, and which, from its insigni-

ficance, may have been overlooked by him, and this crest is a

feature in the male of Anas cristata, Gm. I have not, how-

ever, been able to procure either a figure or description of
Anas chalcoptera, of which A. specularoides is said, in the

British Museum hand-list, to be a synonym; but if my

surmise should, on further investigation, prove to be correct,

then King’s name would become a synonym of A. cristata,

Gm.

On a Species of Lepisma, supposed to be Undescribed. 187

IV. On a Species of Lepisma, supposed to be Undescribed. By
JAMES SIMPSON, Esq. Communicated by JoHN Gipson, Esq.

About two months ago I happened to be in the engine-
room of a large baking establishment in this city, when I
observed a rather strange insect move in somewhat spider-
like fashion from one crevice in the wall of the building to
another. I had not seen anything like it before, and felt
anxious to know what it was. Accordingly I set to work to
hunt it out, and was successful in capturing the object of my
curiosity. The engineer was summoned, and shown the
specimen. He informed me that he had seen a great many
of the same kind, and for the first time about six months
previously. This encouraged me to look further, and on
examining a corner close beside the large chimney stalk,
where the fuel was piled up, I was delighted to behold about
two or three dozen more of the insects. I accidentally dis-
turbed the “nest,” and in a moment they set off in all
directions. Fortunately, I succeeded in obtaining half-a-
dozen before they all got out of the way. These I despatched
to Dr Buchanan White of Perth for identification.

Dr White now informs me that they belong to the genus
Lepisma, and are much larger than the common “sugar fish”
(Lepisma saccharina). He has not yet been able to determine
the species, but there can be no doubt of it being an imported
one, and probably may be undescribed. The following is his
description :

‘*Tepisma, sp.? Candida, supra brunneo, fusco et nigro variegata ; oculis
nigris, antennis appendicibusque pallide rubro-fuscis; pedibus albis. An-
tennis corpore plus quam duplo longioribus ; appendice anali centrali corpore
} longiore ; appendicibus analibus lateralibus corpore equilongis. Corpore
(prcipue lateribus) setis erectis pallide rufescente-fuscis vestito, Long. Corp.
64—8 mm.”

I have to add that the establishment referred to receives
supplies of goods for manufacturing purposes from France,
Germany, Holland, Spain, Denmark, U.S. America, Canada,
and Australia, so that if the species be hitherto undeter-
mined, and an imported one, it will be no easy matter to

188 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Soctety.

trace the origin of it here. However, I am trying to gather
all the information I possibly can; besides, I have constructed
an apparatus whereby I shall be enabled to closely observe
its habits, etc., and, with your permission, I may possibly be
able to communicate to the Society something more interest-
ing respecting this very curious animal, and at no very distant
date.

V. Zoological Notes: (1.) Hippocampus abdominalis, from
Tasmania; (2.) Lestris Buffonii, Buffon’s Skua. (Speci-
mens exhibited.) By JoHN ALEXANDER SMITH, M.D.

Hippocampus major.—A fine specimen of this very large
species of Hippocampus was exhibited, for which Dr Smith
was indebted to Richard Bell, Esq.

Lestris Buffoni, Buffon’s Skua—This rare bird was in the
plumage of the first year. The central tail-feathers, which
afterwards become very long, were only projecting slightly
beyond the rest of the feathers of the tail. It was shot on
Rule Water, Roxburghshire, in the beginning of September
1875, and was fully described by Mr Robert Gray in the
Proceedings of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club.

The Society then adjourned to the third Wednesday in
November.

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

ROYAL PHYSICAL SOCIETY.

ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH SESSION, 1877-78.

Wednesday, 21st November 1877.—DaAvip GRIEVE, Esq., F.R.S.E., F.G.S.,
President, in the Chair.

The following gentlemen were balloted for, and duly elected as Resident
Members: Alexander Galletly, Esq., Curator, Museum of Science and Art,
Edinburgh; Robert Etheridge, jun., Esq., F.G.S., Geological Survey of
Scotland, Edinburgh; Edward C. Joass, Esq., 1 Rankeillor Street; James
A. J. Smith, Esq., Surgeon, 494 Albany Street, Leith.

The following donations to the Library were laid on the table, and thanks
voted to the donors : .

1. Zoological Society of London: Transactions, Vol. IX., Part 11; Vol. X.,
Parts 1, 2. Proceedings, 1876, Part 4; 1877, Parts 1, 2.—From the Society.
2. Proceedings of the Royal Society (of London), Vol. XXVI., Nos. 179-181
(March 1 to May 31, 1877).—From the Society. 38. Journal of the Linnean
Society—Zoology, Vol. XIII., Nos. 68-70 ; Botany, Vol. XVI., Nos. 89-91.—
From the Society. 4. Proceedings of the (London) Geologists’ Association,
Volt. V., Nos. 1, 2 (Jan. and Ap. 1877).—From the Association. 5. Pro-
ceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1876, Parts 1-3.
—From the Academy. 6. Oversigt over det Kongilige Danske Videnska-
bernes Selskabs Forhandlinger, 1876, No. 2, and 1877, No. 1. Also, Tyge
Brahes Meterologiske Dagbog, 1582-97: udgiven af det Kgl. Danske Viden-
skabernes Selskab.—From the Society. 7. The Canadian Journal of Science,
Literature, and History, Vol. XV., Nos. 5, 6.—From the Canadian Institute.
8. Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society, Vol. XIV., Parts 9-13.
—¥rom the Society. 9. Transactions of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts,
Vol. [X., Part 4.—From the Society. 10. Transactions of the Edinburgh
Geological Society, Vol. III., Part 1.—From the Society. 11. Proceedings
of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, Vol. X., No. 2 (1876-77).—From
the Society. 12. Proceedings of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club, Vol.
VIII., No. 1.—From the Club. 13. Registro Meteorologico del Observatorio
Central del Palacio Nacional de Mexico, May and June, 1877.—From the
Ministry of the Interior, Mexico. 14. Report of the Smithsonian Institu-
tion, Washington, for 1876.—From the Institution. 15. U.S. Survey of the
Territories, under F, V. Hayden: (1.) Survey for 1867-69 ; (2.) Survey of
Wyoming, 1870; (3.) Survey of Montana, 1871; (4.) Survey of Colorado,
1874—in all, 5 vols., 8vo. (a.) Cretaceous Vertebrata, Vol. II., by E. D.

VOL, IV. Xx

190 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

Cope, 1875; (b.) Invertebrate Paleontology, by F. B. Meek, 1876; (c.) Geo-
metria Moths, by A. S. Packard. Also, Miscellaneous Publications, Nos.
1, 4, 5, 6.—Presented by the Department of the Interior, through F. V.
Hayden.

The following address, by DAvip GRIEVE, Esq., the retiring
President, was then delivered : *

GENTLEMEN,—In opening to-night the one hundred and
seventh session of this Society, 1 may be permitted to say
that it is also the fiftieth year of my connection with it,
during which long period I have seen it under various phases
of prosperity and adversity. I do not know of any older
living member than myself, and thus cannot help looking
upon this Society with somewhat paternal tenderness. Such
being my position, I am strongly tempted to touch a little on
its past history; but having already pretty fully exhausted
this subject in a letter written to my friend Dr M‘Bain, and
published not long ago in the Society’s Transactions, I shall
not at present trespass on your time in regard thereto, further
than to observe that the Royal Physical Society has done
good service in its day to science, and has numbered amongst
its Fellows many of the most distinguished scientists of our
country.

Before proceeding with some very general remarks, I have
an obituarial duty to perform. It is usual for the President
to notice in his address such prominent members who may |
have died during the recess. On the present occasion two
names only occur to me as having departed since we last
met; these names are, Mr George Logan, Writer to the
Signet, and Dr James Bryce, F.G:S.

Mr Logan held an important office in the General Register
House of this city. In his earlier life he was a well-known
legal practitioner of Edinburgh, and took a very active part
in general politics on the Liberal side. Some years after-
wards, and when he had entered upon the legal office to
which he had been appointed, having then more leisure, he
gave himself more to the cultivation of science. He joined
this Society, I believe, about the year 1848, and subsequently

* Since the delivery of this address it has been considerably curtailed by
the author for the sake of brevity.

President's Address. 191

was chosen its Treasurer, which office he filled for many years,
and took an active part in the Society’s business. For the
last few years, however, owing to feeble health, he has but
seldom attended our meetings, and now he has passed away
ripe in years, to the regret of his family and numerous friends.

Dr Bryce’s death occurred under very melancholy circum-
stances. In the month of July last he had gone to the
Highlands on a geological excursion. Passing through
Inverness, he had reached: Foyers, a place well known for its
waterfall, and started early in the day, walking to the Pass
of Inverfarigaig for the purpose of examining the rocks there.
He was not seen again until his dead body was found much
mutilated at the foot of a precipice at that place, from the
top of which he had evidently fallen. Dr Bryce was a
native of Belfast, but went early in life to Glasgow, where he
was occupied as one of the teachers in the High School of
that city. About three years ago he retired from his pro-
fession and came to reside in Edinburgh. The doctor, besides
taking an interest in, and being versed in other sciences, was
an advanced and talented geologist, and since he joined our
Society, which was only recently, he has contributed to its
Transactions, or at least he read a paper last session which I
recollect led to much friendly and animated discussion. Had
he lived, there was every promise that he would have taken
an active and lively share in its business meetings. On that
account alone we have much cause to regret his untimely
death, but our deep sympathy with his family, on whom such
a great and unexpected calamity has fallen, must here be
feelingly expressed and recorded.

The subject of the following address is a sketch or general
inquiry and review of the progress of science during the
last fifty years, with a hasty and comparative glance back-
wards at the work of the preceding half-century. Consider-
ing the large field to be gone over, this review must necessarily
be very superficial and incomplete, but still, with all the
brevity and incompleteness of the sketch, I have considered
that it might not be unprofitable to occupy an hour or so in
looking at the present through the light of the past.

192 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

Progress of Science—Few persons, I think, will refuse to
assent to the remark that science and art have made great
progress within the last fifty years—far more rapid progress,
indeed, than during the preceding half-century. If I speak
of physical science alone, to which my observations will
chiefly apply, on inquiry we shall find, that the army of workers
and writers have multiplied since the earlier period of time at
least tenfold; and if we examine their works and the 7’ransac-
tions of the various scientific societies, and consult the numer-
ous science journals, it will be seen that the quantity and
quality of the work done is highly creditable to the workers,
and, with few exceptions, the papers form permanent records
of science conquered. Tens of thousands of facts have been
laid down, scientific stones, if I may so call them, wherewith
to build scientific edifices in all time. And what it is gratify-
ing to know is, that the supply of such facts, instead of dim-
inishing, is daily increasing. Lest it may be thought I speak
too generally, I shall give in detail some particulars regarding
the statistics of publication in the science department in
which I am myself more immediately interested, viz., Geology,
under its various headings during the year 1874:

Works and papers on stratigraphical and descriptive geolocy,. 800

Do. on volcanic phenomena, . é J : ; «ae
Do. on denudation and glacial peer f i ; «ee
Do. on rock formation, . 4 : ; : ; ; yl
Do. on cosmogony, ‘ ; ; 3 “one ae
Do. on applied and economic Peale ; : : : . 84
Do. on petrology, . : f : ; ; : ; . 108
Do. on meteorites, . ‘ ; ; : : ? : . he
Do. on mineralogy, ; 4 é ? ' : : . 262
Do. on paleontology, . : : ; ; : . 407
Maps and miscellaneous, : ; : ; ‘ ‘ . 248

Making atotalof . : . 2051

treatises and papers published in the year mentioned. This
list comprises works printed in various parts of the globe, but
chiefly in Germany, France, America, and this country.

I am indebted for the information here given to a most
useful annual, viz., the Geological Record, a work first pub-
lished in 1875.

If this be the result in one branch of natural history only,

President’s Address. 193

who can estimate the present extent of authorship, not only
over the wide range of general science, but over the still wider
area of art and the economic history of the world.

Period 1777 to 1827.—It would be interesting as well as
profitable could we contrast the number and quality of the
works on science published a hundred years ago with those of
the present age, but the materials for decision are scanty, and
only warrant a very limited judgment.

The great leading reviews, the Edinburgh and Quarterly
notably, which gave such an impulse to learning, were not in
existence at the first-mentioned period, and so we are left to
turn for information to the volumes of the Annual Register and
the magazines of the day, to glean what we can on the sub-
ject, and we, indeed, can gather but very little grain to reward
our research. A few names of authors stand out boldly like
giants among pigmies. As a rule the minor authors were
heavy, unimpressive, and dull, abounding in generalities, and
wanting in that breadth and incisiveness which characterise
most works of later years.

In 1777 the text-books of what is now termed the science
of biology were the works of Linnzeus and Buffon. Cuvier
forty years later gave to the world his “ Regne Animal,” which
superseded Buffon, and which, to a certain extent, is still an
authority. Later still, in 1825, Cuvier published his work,
“Ossemens Fossiles,” the introductory essay to which work,
under the title of ‘‘Discours sur les Revolutions de la Surface
du Globe,” was translated by the late Professor Jamieson of
Edinburgh, under the title of “Theory of the Earth.” In this
“we have the grand outline given of a history of the earth,
and, with a few modifications, it is that which is held by the
most distinguished geologists of the present day. To Cuvier,
says a writer, is due the credit of having brought together the
scattered facts of mineralogy, chemistry, botany, and zoology,
in such a manner as to make them tell the history of the
world.” Before this, however (1795), our own illustrious
countryman, Dr Hutton, published his celebrated work, the
“Theory of the Earth.” His object was to show that the
great number of the phenomena, which, by Werner, were
supposed to be produced by the action of- water, were, on the

194 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

contrary, produced by the action of fire. He supposes the
globe to have experienced such a degree of heat as to have
been reduced to a state of igneous fusion or liquefaction, and
that, as the mass cooled, each mineral substance became
crystallised, either regularly or in a more confused manner,
according to the laws of affinities.

The names of three other famous writers and discoverers of
this period occur to me as right to be mentioned. I mean
La Place, the voluminous writer on the Cosmos; Lavoisier,
the chemist; and Sir William Herschel, the astronomer.

In 1796 La Place gave a popular account of his numerous
discoveries in physical astronomy in his “ Exposition du
Systeme du Monde,” written with much taste and eloquence.
This work “made a sensation in Europe, and widely extended
the reputation of its author.” This prolific writer and pro-
found thinker died in 1827.

Lavoisier was, perhaps, the greatest chemical philosopher
France ever produced. He succeeded in exploding the then
fanciful doctrine of phlogiston, and by the combustion of the
diamond demonstrated its true nature. This talented man
perished at a comparatively early age on the scaffold, a victim
of the reign of terror during the French Revolution.

Sir Wiliam Herschel, a native of Hanover, originally a
musician of some note, was employed in this country as such,
but having after a while discarded music for astronomy, he
first became famous in this last science by the construction of
admirable and powerful telescopes and specula, whereby he
made many remarkable discoveries in the heavens. In 1781
he discovered the planet Uranus, first called the Georgium
Sidus. “His researches on double, triple, and multiple stars,
on nebule and clusters of stars, on the motion of the solar
system in space, were vast accessions to sidereal astronomy.”
- His death occurred in 1822.

Dr Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen, and of various other
forms of gases, must be mentioned as an author of mark of
the period under review, together with Dr Black, the dis-
coverer of latent heat, also Henry Cavendish, who determined
by experiments the mean density of the earth, and who is
also considered by some to be the discoverer of the composi-

President's Address. 195

tion of water. Dr Benjamin Franklin’s name should also
not be forgotten, by reason of his many learned and ingenious
works, and his curious experiments in electricity at this time.

Lamarck, Jussieu, and Geoffrey St Hilaire, are names of
well-known French writers who deserve notice. Count
Rumford, an American by birth, should also receive a few
words. His experiments chiefly related to heat. He estab-
lished, for the first time, the fact of the unlimited production
of heat from a limited quantity of matter, by the expenditure
of mechanical power in friction, a fact subversive of the long
prevalent hypothesis of a subtle fluid as the cause of heat.
This fact seems to have given the first idea for the develop-
ment of the comparatively recent but now pretty generally
received doctrine of the “ CONSERVATION OF ENERGY.” Count
Rumford died in 1814.

Many other distinguished names might be cited as having
flourished during the earlier period of this review, but the
foregoing representative men in physical science I think
sufficiently illustrative.

If, as I have said, the chief writers at this time were not
numerous, they were, at least, profound thinkers, were willing,
earnest workers, and their discoveries were all more or less of
an important and salient nature.

The small number of works published may in some manner
be accounted for when it is taken into consideration that
little encouragement was given to writers by publishers, who
were then a very limited class. Most frequently authors
themselves had to undertake the expense of their books, and
thus run the entire risk of sometimes heavy loss. The truth
is, the people had not then acquired a taste for science. The
works, too, were often published in ponderous and conse-
quently repulsive volumes. In those days there were no
little handy text-books nicely and profusely illustrated with
diagrams or pictures to tempt the uninitiated to drink at the
fountain of science. These little books now-a-days sown broad-
cast are seed producing abundant fruit, whetting the appetite
and gradually enabling the mind to appreciate and digest
treatises of a more abstruse and solid character.

A word on the earlier metaphysicians. Descartes, Male-

196 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Socrety.

branche, Spinoza, Leibnitz, and Locke lived a century before
the time of which I speak, but their doctrines were still con-
tinuing to prevail, and to be discussed. David Hume was
dead only one year, and Emanuel Kant, Thomas Reid, Dugald
Stewart, and Thomas Brown, were all alive after 1777, the
last three having filled chairs in our Scottish universities, and
whose fame as metaphysicians spread over all Europe.

Period 1827 to 1877.—Three celebratad names occur to us
as bridging over the union of the two half-centuries, these
men having lived and flourished in both. I refer to William
Hyde Wollaston, Sir Humphry Davy, and Michael Faraday,
all chemists, but more than that, distinguished philosophers
in a general and extended sense.

Wollaston was the discoverer of the metals Rhodium and
Paladium. His researches were numerous, not merely con-
fined to chemistry, but to electricity and optics. Mineralogy
also felt the benefit of his labours. In electrical science he
showed the identity of galvanism with frictional electricity.
He was besides the inventor of numerous valuable philoso-
phical instruments. Wollaston died in 1829.

Sir Humphry Davy’s name is familiar to all Englishmen
of the present generation. The discoveries which established
his fame were the decomposition of the fixed alkalies by
galvanism and the metallic nature of their bases, to which
he gave the names Sodium and Potassium. Davy died in
1829, at an early age. His fame is identified with the chemi-
cal chair of the Royal Institution, his immediate successor
being

Michael Faraday. He was one of the greatest physical
philosophers of the nineteenth century. In regard to the
following expressive sentence regarding his labours I am
under obligations to a recent biographer, who says: “His
(Faraday’s) researches have had few parallels in the history of
science as regards the magnitude and interests of the results
obtained. They are surpassed by none others as specimens
of pure inductive inquiry, and evince an ardent love of
philosophic truth, wholly free from the jealousy which too
often distorts the search after it. He was an eminent example
of genius submitting itself to the strictest laws of philoso-

President's Address. 197

phical inquiry.” Faraday’s experiments have demonstrated
that electricity, galvanism, and magnetism are but modifica-
tions of the same force under different circumstances. He
discovered magnetic electricity, arrived inductively at its
principles, enumerated the laws of its phenomena, and
elevated it to the dignity of a science. He condensed many
gases, supposed to be permanent, into liquids, and destroyed
the distinction until then received between gases and vapours.
Mr Faraday was the author of a multitude of works on
chemical and physical subjects, all of which subjects are
treated with rare ability.

Two other names which made their mark on the times
must be mentioned; they were chemists also; the one a
Swede, Berzelius, and the other the famous John Dalton.

John Jacob Berzelius was the first who gave modern
analytical chemistry that exactness on which its value
depends. He co-operated with Dalton in establishing the
atomic theory, and determined the equivalents of the elements
with great exactness. He was a voluminous writer, and
acquired great celebrity as a public lecturer. He died in 1848.

John Dalton was the author of the atomic theory, and
which has been found to be invaluable as a precise and brief
exponent of the relations and values of the chemical consti-
tuents, expressed by a simple form of notation, and which is
in general use at the present time. Dalton died much
honoured and lamented in 1844.

The following savans have died within the last few years,
and have left notable works for the benefit of posterity ;
their names are not mentioned in any order: Sir John
Graham Dalyell, Professor John Fleming, Professor Edward
Forbes, Louis Agassiz, and Alex. von Humboldt, naturalists;

Dominic Frangois Arago, physical discoverer; Sir David
_ Brewster, discoverer in optics; Professor James David Forbes,
physicist ; Sir John Herschel (son of Sir William), astrono-
mer; Justus von Liebig, chemist; Sir Jas. Y. Simpson, dis-
coverer in anesthetics; Sir Charles Lyell, Sir Roderick
Murchison, Sir Henry de la Beche, Professor John Phillips,
and Hugh Miller, geologists; Sir William Hamilton and
John Stuart Mill, metaphysicians.

198 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

It may be considered somewhat prolix this enumeration of
names, but the writings of these distinguished men throw
such a flood of light on the history of the period that I can-
not with propriety omit to point to them as strikingly repre-
sentative men of the time. As regards living authors and cul-
tivators of science I name them not. I only say to my hearers,
curcumsprce.

To criticise the works of the authors named, considering
our limited time, would be quite inappropriate, but this is the
less necessary, however, as I take it for granted that every one
here is familiar with current scientific literature, and the
short sketches I have given of the philosophy of the past will
serve to freshen their memory, and be sufficiently indicative to
enable my hearers to form their own opinion as to the com-
parative progress of science during the earlier and the later
periods of the century under review.

I think, from what has been said, we may safely assume
that science has made a rush forward, and that, in the present
day, its annals exhibit an importance and lustre which history
has not chronicled as existing at any previous period of time.
It is a legitimate subject of inquiry, therefore, to ascertain if
by any means sufficient reasons can be shown for so satisfac-
tory a result.

I shall consider the subject under two heads, viz., first,
popular science; and second, advanced science.

Popular Science-—At no time in the history of the world
has the educational machinery been so complete for teaching
and indoctrinating, I had almost said cramming, the masses
of the people with knowledge, as in the present day. To one
who can look back as I can fifty or sixty years to the days
when the miserable chap books (now looked upon only as
curiosities) were the chief circulating literature among the
industrial classes, the transition from comparative darkness to
light is surprising. The change is striking as well as gratify-
ing, and I am continually asking myself if this illumination
will continue to go on steadily increasing, or after a time
subside, have a period of decadence, and resolve itself again
into another dark age. History tells us of a high state of
civilisation and intelligence existing three thousand years ago,

President's Address. 199

which became in time dormant, and finally altogether extinct.
History is said to repeat itself, but however this may be, I
prefer to dwell, not on the gloomy, but on the bright side of
the picture. I shall take up such an imaginary position,
from which I can look forward to a time in the future so
effulgent that, on glancing back to the present age, it would
seem as having been only the Eocene, the dawn of popular
learning.

Let us ask the question, How has this evolution of light
from darkness so pleasingly burst upon us? Are the causes
as evident as the effects? I answer in the affirmative. I do
not hesitate to name what, in my opinion, are some of the
leading causes ; they may be cited as follows: first and foremost
the concession of constitutional, political, and social liberty,
freedom of the press, the action of applied science in per-
fecting art, the reflex action of art in furthering science by its
improved machinery, as, for instance, the steam printing press,
lithographic, photographic, automatic, and other processes ;
appliances of light, heat, electricity, and steam; sanitary 1m-
provements, removal of taxation on newspapers and on paper,
cheap postage, railways, and telegraphs, all these have had their
influence less or more in advancing popular science. The
foundation of normal schools for the training of teachers has
also resulted in the introduction of a better and higher edu-
cated class of public instructors. Philosophical and mechani-
cal institutes, in which popular lectures are delivered by
trained teachers and by amateur lecturers (peers of the
realm as well as commoners taking part), have also greatly
assisted in the advancement of public education, and the out-
come has been a healthy and growing desire and taste on the
part of the people for scientific information, as evinced by the
many cheap periodicals at present current and in increased
demand.

Early in this half-century, about 1830, I think, the Society
for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge was established on a
very broad basis. It had a large and influential committee,
composed of men of all shades of opinion, but which were
recognised by all as occupying the foremost rank in the
world of science. This committee had for its chairman Lord

200 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Socrety.

Brougham, then Lord Chancellor of England, and for its vice-
chairman Lord John Russell (now Earl Russell), a cabinet
minister, thus stamping with Government patronage this
memorable society.

In 1832 it commenced to publish a magazine—the Penny
Magazine—very popular in its day; and although its articles
were of a miscellaneous character, a great many of them had
relation to science. In the preface to the first volume there
are one or two passages worth quoting. These sentences are
as follows: “It was considered by Edmund Burke about
forty years ago, say 1792, that there were 80,000 readers in
this country.” “In the present year, 1832, the sale of the
Penny Magazine was 200,000. It therefore may be fairly
calculated that the number of readers of one single periodical
will amount to a million.” I pause here to remark that this
computation of Edmund Burke gives us a clue to the general
intelligence afloat at the time when this inquiry commences,
viz., 1777. Eighty thousand general readers then, what is
the number in this year of grace, 1877? Who can tell?
Certainly nearly millions must stand for thousands.

The society had been accused of monopoly, which it repudi-
ated. “It is true,” said the society, “that former Governments
had granted monopolies to some individuals, but it was with
the intent, not of cheapening and promoting the circulation of
printed matter, but by keeping up the price to diminish it.
In those days the Government were afraid the people should
learn to think.” In answer to some again who asserted that
general education is an evil, it was said: “The people will
not abuse the power they have acquired to read, and there-
fore to think. Let them be addressed in the spirit of sin-
cerity and respect, and they will prove that they are fully
entitled to the praise which Milton bestowed upon their
forefathers, as being a ‘nation not slow and dull, but of a
quick, ingenious, and piercing spirit, acute to invent, subtle
and sinewy to discourse, not beneath the reach of any point
that human capacity can soar to.’”

During the last few years people have gone more out of
doors and into the fields to study nature. Botanical societies
and field clubs have done much to foster education in natural

President's Address. 201

history. In mechanics’ institutes and some grammar schools
this branch is made part of the curriculum of study, and in
several of the Government departments, a certain amount of
knowledge in geology and botany is required before candi-
dates can pass their examination. This requirement will ere
long probably be extended, and for this and other reasons
it is highly desirable that the elements of natural history
should be taught in all our public seminaries.

Advanced Science-—This branch of the subject must now
for a few minutes occupy our attention.

Have the higher and dogmatic branches of physical science
really advanced within the period of this inquiry? Some
doubt it, at least affect to doubt it. My own opinion is
that great progress has been made in all branches of science.
The numerous ably-conducted periodicals amply bear out
this result. From the voluminous record of facts and
observations continuously being arrayed and discussed in a
thoroughly systematic manner by trained experts in the
various branches of science, we see the advancement in
regular marching order—the precision of details, the breadth
and freedom of speculation, from which the fanciful is care-
fully eliminated, the recorded results, are all admirable in
their way. If we turn from the journals to the floating
treatises, and then to the many able monographs, as for
instance those of the Ray Society, the Paleeontographical
Society, the illustrated works of Louis Agassiz and others,
we must be satisfied that never was there before a regiment
of so able and so highly-qualified writers engaged on genera
and species, or, to speak more ale and properly, on science
at large.

In the course of the last half-century, chemistry has added
some thirty new substances to the list of elementary bodies,
and the greatly-improved methods of analysis have done
much service to other branches of science, as for instance
mineralogy. Tull a comparatively recent period the con-
stituent parts of a mineral were, except in some few in-
stances, entirely unknown, leaving them just to be guessed
at; now all this is changed. No new specimen is ever placed
on the shelf of a public museum at random. The integrity of

202 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

its name may always be depended upon as being guaranteed
by test. In sanitary appliances, and in a hundred other
ways, chemistry has been increasingly improving its pro-
cesses and consequently its usefulness.

Fifty years ago and still more recently, geology was not
recognised as a science. Now it has its endowed chairs in
our universities and is one of the most lively and progressive
of the whole circle of the sciences. In anatomy and physiology,
and in zoology and botany, great improvements have taken
place in physiological as well as morphological treatment.

The higher mathematics, too, have attained an excellence
and completeness never before attained. The formule,
instead of, as in former times, being simply ingenious caleuh,
marks of exalted scholarship, have now become of the highest
practical utility, being, so to speak, the bones and sinews, the
very life blood of most of the sciences.

As regards instruments auxiliary to science, I desire to
say a word in reference to one of them only, viz., the micro-
scope. A hundred years ago the microscope was only a toy,
now it is a most invaluable scientific instrument. Its range
of usefulness comprehends the whole world of matter, organic
and inorganic. In the examination of animal and vegetable
tissues it is indispensable. In chemical testing, in many
cases, it is equally so. The revelations exhibited to us in the
microscopical journals, and the experts themselves who make
the observations, are equally the objects and subjects of our
continual wonderment and admiration. An unseen world, in
all the beauty and glory of minute and perfect development,
has been vouchsafed to human knowledge by the possession
of this instrument. The service rendered and to be rendered
to science by it can never be properly calculated.

As to other kinds of aids to advanced science—co-opera-
tive aids I may call them—lI shall say a few words. I
mention first the British Association for the Advancement
of Science. Many have no kind words to say of it, but
there can be no doubt it is and has been most useful in
many ways. It is a gathering of learned men (and within
a parenthesis also some unlearned) from all parts of the earth
to hold council together on scientific subjects. On the

President's Address. 203

streneth of the proverb which says, “As iron sharpeneth iron,
so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend,” the
association is both a pleasant and useful reunion of philoso-
phers in this sense. The presidential addresses are sometimes
supposed to be a little heretical, and stir up the wrath of our
clerical friends, but these gentlemen after a while mostly
calm down and their anger ceaseth, simply because most
frequently they find that they have been more frightened
than hurt. These addresses are in general masterly discourses,
and are looked forward to by the scientific public with much
interest. Besides the papers which are read in the sections,
interesting reports on scientific subjects are brought up
annually by committees appointed in the previous year.
Many of these reports are exceedingly valuable. But another,
and the last but not least, useful feature of the association I
shall mention is, that it dispenses a great deal of money for
the prosecution of important scientific investigations which
otherwise could not be accomplished for want of private means.

The great societies, such as the Royal, the Linnean, the
Geological, Geographical, Botanical, Chemical, and Zoological,
and some other societies, are all great aids in their way to the
promotion and furtherance of science in its advanced stages,
as their Transactions abundantly testify.

I should have liked, had time permitted, to have made
reference to some of the prevalent speculative doctrines of the
day in relation to matter, and more particularly in regard to
two of them now in great vogue, viz., the CONSERVATION of
ENERGY and the so-called law of ConTINUITY, but, as it is, I
must forego my wish.

A word or two should also be said on the doctrine of Evotu-
TION, and which is so much the subject of discussion at the
present day. It is simply a revival of the doctrine of Descartes,
broached by him in the seventeenth century, afterwards sup-
ported by Buffon, De Maillet,and notably by Lamarck. With the
exception of these writers the subject had dropped out of sight
for nearly two hundred years, when the world was surprised in
1851 by its re-introduction by the author of the “ Vestiges of
Creation.” Latterly Dr Darwin has been the great apostle of
the doctrine. Iam not a convert to Evolution, nor yet to the

204 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

doctrine called Darwinianism, but I cannot help paying a
passing compliment to Dr Darwin when I say that he deserves
the thanks of the scientific public for his indefatigable
industry in collecting and publishing the multitude of
wonderful facts and stories (most of them formerly unknown
or unheeded) with which his many interesting and charming
volumes abound.

This is certainly an age of deep and important inquiry, the
general scope of which I readily admit to be enterprising and
sound, but what I consider to be an exception to this,
although some may think otherwise, I consider it a duty to
point out. :

Some minds seem to be agitated with a restless desire to
penetrate into the unseen mysteries of the inscrutable. For
example, we are gravely, I had almost said grotesquely, told
by some philosophers of the day, that “when we think, that
is, when the mind thinks, there is a vibration given to the
brain, and that that vibration thrills through the whole uni-
verse.” Also, that when a feather or even a grain of sand
falls to the earth, the same thing happens. Able and talented
writers have as well, by mathematical demonstration, endea-
voured to prove the immortality of the soul, and have even
gone the length by the same method of fixing the exact
locality of Paradise, and the Great First Cause.

I do not intend to enter into any argument on such points ;
this is neither the time nor the place to do so. I merely hint
at what I consider to be erratic and exceptional scientific
positions. Neither do I deny the accuracy of such specula-
tions, because it is impossible to do so, as I hold it to be
equally impossible to prove their truth by any manner or
amount of probation, which would be satisfactory to the
matter-of-fact ratiocination of the present day. In short,
such a style of speculation is simply, in my view, a convert-
ible term for conjecture, and can never attain a higher stand-
ing point in true science, notwithstanding the ingenuity of
the gifted authors of the hypotheses. Such hypotheses I
hold to be aberrations from the ¢rwe line of philosophical
treatment, simply because the authors referred to go on the
assumption of the ilimitable power of human reason. Now,

President's Address. 205

human reason, I hold, has its limits, as well as everything
else which is sublunary has its limits.

The mind of man has never yet reached or succeeded in ex-
posing to view the arcana of the spiritual and immaterial world,
nor is it likely to do so, and it is a pity, therefore, that useful
talent should be wasted in attempting what, in my opinion, is
such a Sisyphian-like task.

To conclude, I have given some idea of the means by which
science in these days is being encouraged and promoted.
Every year is fertile in new discoveries and subjects of
inquiry. One year we have the wonders of the spectroscope
displayed ; another year, the motive power of light exhibited,
as illustrated by the radiometer; and betimes again, con-
troversial discussions as to spontaneous and sporadic gene-
ration abound. Sound is discoursed upon, its properties of
transmission and its record, as illustrated by these wonder-
ful instruments, the telephone and phonograph, and so on.
In short, a multitude of new subjects are continually being
evolved to stimulate the mental energies and inquiries of
willing workers in most branches of science. “ Light calleth
unto light for more light,’ and in the excavated mass of
rubbish turned up, brilliants are often seen to scintillate.
In the search for gold gems are displayed, undreamed-of
treasures. To speak without metaphor, in the search
after truth, unsuspected happy results frequently reward the
ingenious and plodding student. Let me say, finally, that
much of the excellent work of the present day is attained by
co-operation, by the sub-division of labour, and not a little by
concentration of thought and labour—say, for example, by the
restriction of inquiry to a single botanical, entomological, or
other genus at a time, and by patiently working it out in
all its specific details. Various other work is thus also
more satisfactorily accomplished. This, of course, infers a
certain amount of enthusiasm and abnegation, but I consider
enthusiasm to be the very primum mobile of all scientific
labour. Nothing can be done well or successfully without

it.

On the motion of Professor Duns, D.D., seconded by Jamzs
VOL. IY. Y

*

206 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

M‘Bain, Esq., M.D., R.N., a cordial vote of thanks was
awarded to Mr Grieve for his able address.

The following Communications were then read :

I. Ornithological Notes: (1.) Surnia nyctea, Snowy Ov ;
(2.) Crex porzana, Spotted Crake; (3.) Rallus aquati-
cus, Water Rail; (4.) Larus Sabini, Sabine’s Cull.
(Specimens exhibited.) By JoHN ALEXANDER SMITH,
M.D.

(1.) Surnia nyctea, the Snowy Owl—This very fine speci-
men of the snowy owl—an adult male—was shot on the
27th October last, at Lochmaddy, North Uist, the property
of Sir John Orde, Bart. of Kilmory. Mr Keddie informs
me that its stomach was quite empty. This large white
owl more or less spotted with brown is well known as an
occasional visitor from the north of Europe or America. Dr
Edmonston believed it might occasionally breed in Shetland,
and thought he had found one reliable instance of its having
done so. It is stated to have bred on the islands of Unst
and Yell, Shetland. It is a rarer bird on the mainland of
Scotland than in the islands to the north and west, where it
has been more frequently captured. Mr Gray informs me that
it may almost be considered a regular spring visitor to the
Hebrides, and it is believed these birds have occasionally come
from North America, like many other occasional visitors, being
carried by gales of wind out of the line of their more ordi-
nary migration. J am not aware of any instance of this bird
being supposed to have bred on the mainland of Scotland.
Indeed the only one recorded, as far as I am aware, was pub-
lished in the Zoologist for 1856, and repeated again in the
natural history appendix to the recently-published, amusing,
and interesting “Life of a Scotch Naturalist,” Thomas
Edward, Banff, by Samuel Smiles; but I fear this soli-
tary case requires a little more confirmation. Perhaps our
Secretary, Mr Gray, may be able to tell us something of the
true state of matters in regard to it.

(2.) Crea porzana, the Spotted Crake-—Two specimens of
this bird are exhibited, the larger, the male; and the smaller, a

Dr Smith’s Ornithological Notes. 207

female. They were shot on the property of Sir George H.
Leith, Bart., at Loch Lomond, towards the end of September
last. The bird is one of our regular summer visitors, and is
not very common, Mr Gray says, especially in the west of
Scotland. It is late in leaving us compared with many
others of our migratory birds. In his “ Birds of the West of
Scotland,” Mr Gray states that he had no authentic instance
of its having been taken in the west, north of Renfrewshire.
These examples may therefore be of interest as having occurred
a little farther to the north.

(3.) Rallus aquaticus, the Water Rail_—I may mention that
an allied bird to this, the water rail, seems to have occurred,
or at least to have been taken, in quite unusual numbers this
autumn (October). Mr Small, birdstuffer, has kindly sent for
exhibition with these spotted crakes,a specimen or two of the
water rail. He has had various water rails sent him from
the neighbourhood of North Berwick, Portobello, etc., etc., and
also from the district round Loch Lomond.

(4.) Larus Sabini, Sabine’s Gull—tThe next bird I have to
exhibit is a very rare visitor to the British Islands, to which
my attention was kindly called by our Secretary, Mr Gray,
who wrote to me that Dr Crombie, of North Berwick, had
asked him to look at a little gull he had sent to Mr Small.
On examining it he found it was an immature specimen of
Sabine’s gull, the only British example he had seen. “ It was,”
Mr Gray writes, “shot by a fisherman on the 2d of October,
about two miles out at sea, off North Berwick ; and Dr Crombie
informs me it was flying in company with a small flock of kitti-
wakes. Judging from “ Harting’s ‘Handbook,’ the present
instance is the twenty-fourth of the occurrence of the species
in Britain, and the third in Scotland.” This bird is so named
after Captain Sabine, R.A., who discovered one of its breeding
places in 1818 in the Arctic regions, which are its true home.
It also occurs in winter along the northern coasts of North
America. Like the snowy owl already mentioned, it may
have come to us from America, being blown out to sea by
gales of wind from the usual course of its winter migration.
It has been described by Mr William Thompson as noticed
in the neighbourhood of Belfast; and one or two have since

208 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

been observed in the north of Ireland, generally in the month
of September. A few specimens have been recorded by
Mr Yarrell as taken in England, and on the Continent
of Europe. Dr Saxby has recorded the capture of two
specimens in Orkney. In the appendix to Mr Edward's
Life, already referred to, he states that he had “an exciting
chase after one, but failed to capture it.” But I fear this
instance must be considered as at least very doubtful.

The bird now exhibited, Mr Small informs me, is a
female, and it is apparently in the immature plumage of a
young or first year’s bird. In the gulls the plumage of
the adult male and female are nearly alike, the female
being smaller in size. It is the only instance of its capture
off the mainland of Scotland, as far as I am aware; and
besides its great rarity, it is of especial interest from its
state of plumage. I may mention that the adult bird in
summer has the head dark ash, nearly black, and the back
dark ash grey, or iead colour, lighter than the head;
with the under parts white. This young specimen -has
the front of the head nearly white; the back of the head
and upper parts blackish grey, mottled with brown, the
feathers edged with lighter; the under parts; with the excep-
tion of the sides of the breast, which are also blackish grey,
being white. The primaries of wing generally black; the
secondaries white; the tail forked a white, with a blak
bar across its eahity.

Mr RoBertT GRay said, as Dr Smith had referred to him in
regard to the statement of the snowy owl having bred in
Banffshire, he might mention that he took the trouble of care-
fully investigating the whole matter at the time, and was con-
vineed that it was a complete mistake, and that the bird
described was really nothing else than the common white
barn owl (Stria flammea); which, he might however say, was,
he believed, a rather rare and little known bird in that —_—
cular district of country.

*
:

’
&
7

a)
=

On the Successful Rearing in Scotland of the Emu. 209

II. Exhibition of Specimens: (1.) Aquila chrysaétos, Golden
Eagle ; (2.) Dromaius Novee-Hollandize, Hmu. (Speci-
mens exhibited.) By R. H. Traquair, Esq., M.D.,
F.GS.

Dr Traquair exhibited two recent additions to the ornitho-
logical collection of the Museum of Science and Art. The
golden eagle, a female, was a remarkably fine specimen, and
had been caught in a trap, a few weeks previously, in Ross-
shire. The emu was a young bird bred in Scotland by Mr
R. Bell of Billholm, Dumfriesshire, and presented by him to
the Museum.

III. On the Successful Rearing in Scotland of the Emu (Dro-
maius Nove-Hollandiz). By JoHN GIBson, Esq.

The emu has been already successfully reared in the
Gardens of the Zoological Society, Regent Park, and also in
one or two private parks in England; but to Mr R. Bell of
Billholm, Dumfriesshire, the credit belongs of having raised
the first Scottish brood. The old birds were purchased by him
from Mr Jamrach, in October 1875, and placed together in a
paddock at Billholm; but owing to the persistent persecution
to which the female was subjected by the male, as it after-
wards proved to be—for it is impossible to distinguish the
sexes in the emu by the plumage or other purely external
character—they were separated, and remained so throughout
the winter of 1875-76. On being brought together again, in
April 1876, they contrived to live on tolerably good terms
with each other; but nothing occurred till February of the
present year to satisfy Mr Bell that the birds were of different
sexes. At that time the gardener found three eggs deposited
in a corner of the field; and shortly after, all doubt on the
question of sex was removed by his observing the pair in covtu.
For about six weeks the hen continued to lay an egg regularly
every third day, then, and for a short time only, at intervals
of four or five days. Altogether there were nineteen eggs

210 Proceedings of the Royal Physveal Socvety.

laid, the first being observed about the middle of February,
the last on the 10th of April. For the most part the
egos were laid during a pretty severe frost, which it was
feared might have destroyed their vitality. Eleven of the
egos were placed in a rude nest, formed for them in the
corner of the field, with a bower of spruce branches placed
over it. Unlike most other birds, it is the male emu alone
which sits upon the eggs. This, in the present instance, it
began to do on April Ist, ten days before the last egg was
laid. During each of the first four days he scattered all the
egos around him outside the nest. On the 5th of that month,
however, he began to sit close, and continued so to do till
the 28th of May, or fifty-eight days in all. During this pro-
tracted period, although closely watched, he was only observed
to leave the eggs three times, and that but for the space of
two or three minutes, which he spent in running round the
paddock. Food and water were kept constantly beside him,
but Mr Bell believes that during these fifty-eight days he
went absolutely without food. He was aiso observed to turn
the eggs regularly in the nest. The male and female re-
mained in the same enclosure during the first few days of
incubation, but as the chief anxiety of the female seemed to
be to get at and to destroy the eggs, it was found necessary to
separate her from her mate during the remainder of the period.
Of the eleven eggs sat upon, one, on the point of being
hatched, was unfortunately broken by the foot of the parent
bird, two were addled, other two disappeared, and six were
successfully hatched. The young were at first covered with
coarse down, arranged in alternate white and blackish-brown
stripes, while the head was prettily mottled. Four of them
were much darker, and the white more tinged with brown,
than the other two, the latter, of which the specimen ex-
hibited is one, were also somewhat smaller, and Mr Bell sug-
gests that these differences may prove to be sexual distinctions.
The down was supplanted by feathers, first on the head, which
by the 2d of August was nearly as black as it now is, and it
eradually disappeared after that date from the other parts of
the body. At the tips of most of the feathers, in the specimen
shown, the remains of the down may yet be seen. Regarding

. .
a

On the Successful Rearing in Scotland of the Emu. 211

the habit and disposition of the young emus, they are, as I
gather from Mr Bell, exceedingly shy and suspicious; when
anything is thrown to them to which they are unaccustomed,
they will advance and retire several times before touching it.
Their curiosity, however, is exceedingly great. They are re-
markably playful, and seem to have considerable powers of
imitation, thus: when some lads got into the paddock, and
began performing somersaults, the young emus were observed
to throw themselves on their backs, in the vain attempt to
imitate the unfeathered bipeds. Dr Bennett, in his “ Gather-
ings of a Naturalist in Australasia,” notices the same faculty
of mimicry in adult emus. At times the young emus form
themselves into a group, and begin what, without any great
stretch of the imagination, might be supposed to be a war-
dance; they then, as if moved by a sudden impulse, take to
running, and career round the paddock at the top of their
speed, only desisting when utterly exhausted and gasping for
breath. The specimen exhibited was supposed to have broken
its leg while rushing headlong through a narrow gap ina
hedge which divides the paddock, having probably come in
collision with one of the hawthorn stumps. It was killed on
October 16th, being then four and a half months old, and
standing two and a half feet high. The others, now nearly
six months old, stand about a foot higher. The male bird
performed the entire labour of hatching and rearing the brood,
the female, as already mentioned, being placed apart from the
male during the period of incubation to prevent the destruc-
tion of the eggs. On admitting the female after the brood
appeared, the young instinctively sought the protection of the
male bird, and not without cause, as the female, actuated pos-
sibly by jealousy, evidently wished to do them injury. The
cock, however, seemed equally anxious to prevent this, and
to punish its mate, and it was again found necessary to
separate the couple, the male, however, twice leapt over the
intervening fence during the ten days succeeding the hatching,
in order to renew the attack on its partner. The affection of
the male emu for its young, its tender solicitude for their
safety, and its boldness in defending them against all comers,
Mr Bell says he has never seen equalled in any other bird.

212 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

The young are equally attached to him, and in the great
difficulty which is consequently found in what may be called
their weaning, lies at present the chief chance of failure in
rearing them to maturity. In order to allow the male and
female to come together for the approaching breeding season,
the young have been separated from their male guardian.
Ever since, they have been inconsolable; they eat little, and
instead of occupying at night the shelter prepared for them,
they remain both day and night at the side of the paddock
nearest the portion occupied by the old male. It is to be
feared that the rigours of winter may prove too much for
them should they continue in their present despondent mood.
The young utter a whistling cry, while both parents, and
not the female only, as has been commonly supposed, utter a
sound not unlike the muffled beating of a drum, known as
booming. They are enormous feeders, but by no means par-
ticular as to kind or quality. The young eat herbage like
their parents, also bread and biscuit, crumbs mixed with
lettuce, and other vegetables. They cannot, however, digest
raw Indian corn or oats, these passing through them un-
changed. With regard to the rearing of the emu in Scotland,
I may also mention that Mr Paterson of Restalrig Park
informs me that he has had four emus in his park for seven
or eight years past. In one season the two females laid
thirty-three eggs in a single nest. No attempt, however, was
made to sit onthem. During other seasons a smaller number
of eggs has been laid with a like result. He has now parted
with one of the pairs, in the hope that the remaining male
may be induced to sit next season.* Regarding the feasi-
bility of introducing the emu into the poultry yards of this
country, it is important to note the exceeding hardiness of
these birds. Mr Paterson, in speaking of his four emus,
says: “They are very hardy, going about in summer and
winter without shelter of any kind, disdaining all artificial
covering, and generally seeking shelter for the night under a
thick thorn tree.” The fact is all the more remarkable when
it is remembered that the emu is a native of the tropical and

* The author has just heard (June 1878) that this season Mr Paterson lias
succeeded in raising a brood.

ee

Mr Gray's Notes on the Manx Shearwater. 213

sub-tropical parts of Australia, and shows that it possesses in
an eminent degree the power of suiting itself to altered
conditions—a power of the highest importance where the
questions of acclimatisation and domestication are being
considered.

IV. Notes on the Manx Shearwater (Puffinus anglorum).
By Rogpert GRAY, Esq., F.R.S.E., ete.

The author, after referring to the various haunts of this
bird in Britain, known to naturalists fifty years ago, but
now entirely deserted, expressed an opinion that some great
breeding place of the species must exist in the island of Eigg.
Early in August of the present year he had taken ample
notes on the bird during a yachting cruise round the
Western Hebrides, and had observed immense flocks in the
neighbourhood of that island. On one occasion, while the sea
was very rough, he had observed a flock of seven or eight
hundred riding on the waves—many of them birds of this year
—which, as the yacht approached, rose in a body, and flew
round the vessel several times in most graceful circles before
again settling on the water. One or two larger and much
darker birds were observed in the flock, which the author took
to be the greater shearwater (Pujinus major). After an in-
terval of ten days he had again seen similar flocks on passing
the island; but although shearwaters had been observed almost
daily during the cruise, from the Sound of Mull to Cape
Wrath, in no other quarter did they occur in such numbers.
The author also adverted to the circumstance that the Manx
shearwater was now a regular visitant to the Firth of Forth
in the autumn months, and that he had seen large flocks
swimining on the sea close to the Bass Rock for two succes-
sive seasons. In these flocks he had observed from fifteen
to twenty specimens of the greater shearwater.

214 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

Wednesday, 19th December 1877.—J. FALCONER KING, Esq., F.C.S.,
President, in the Chair.

The following gentlemen were elected Office-Bearers for the Session :

Presidents.—J. Falconer King, Esq.; Ramsay H. Traquair, M.D., F.G.S.;
Professor Duns, D.D.

Council.—R. Scot-Skirving, Esq.; John Alexander Smith, M.D.; David
Grieve, Esq., F.G.S.; John Hunter, Esq.; W. Drinkwater, Esq.; and Robert
Etheridge, Jun., Esq., F.G.S.

Secretary.—Robert Gray, Esq., F.R.S.E.

Treasurer.—K. W. Dallas, Esq.

Honorary Inbrarian.—Rey. James Kennedy, M.A., B.D.

Assistant Secretary.—John Gibson, Esq.

Lnbrary Commitiee.—James M‘Bain, M.D., R.N.; Thomas Robertson, Esq. ;
kh. F. Logan, Esq.; Robert Gray, Esq.; F. W. Lyon, M.D.; and James Ander-
son, Esq. :

The following gentlemen were balloted for and elected as Resident Members
of the Society :

Philip B. Gibb, M.A., 14 Picardy Place ; Sommerville Grieve, Esq., Salis-
bury View, Dalkeith Road; John Murray, F.R.S.E., ‘‘Challenger” Office,
12 Teviot Row; Dr Jackson, R.A., Leith Fort; Charles Prentice, Esq., C.A.,
55 Castle Street; and Dr J. W. Barry, 23 Duke Street.

As Corresponding Member—Thomas Edward, A.L.S., Banff.

The following donations to the Library were laid on the table, and thanks
voted to the donors:

1. Proceedings of the Royal Society [of London], Vol. XXVI., Nos. 182, 183.
—From the Society. 2. Ethnography of the Hidatsa Indians, by Matthews.
Bulletin of the U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, Vol.
IT., Nos. 2, 3, 4; Vol. III., Nos. 1, 2, 3; Second Series, Nos. 4, 5, 6. Bulletin
of the Entomological Commission, Nos. 1 and 2. Supplement to Fifth Annual
Report of the Survey for 1871 (Report on Fossil Flora). List of Elevations,
by Gannet. Coues’ ‘‘ Birds of the North-West,” 1874.—From the Department
of the Interior, U.S. Government. 3. Journal of the Linnean Society—(1.)
Zoology, Vol. XIII, No. 71, and Vol. XIV, No. 73; (2.) Botany, Vol. XVL.,
No. 92.—From the Society. 4. Videnskabelige Meddelser fra Naturhistorisk
Forening i Kjébenhavn, for Aaret 1876.—From the Society. 5. Proceedings
of the Boston [U.S8.A.] Society of Natural History, Vol. XVIII., Parts 3
and 4.—From the Society. 6. Canadian Journal of Science, Literature, and
History, Vol. XV., No. 7.—From the Canadian Institute, Toronto. 7. Boletin
del Ministerio de Fomento de la Republica Mexicana, Tomo 1, 1877.—From
the Ministry of the Interior, Mexico. 8. Distribution of the Brachiopoda in
the Oolitic Strata of Yorkshire, by W. H. Huddlestone and John F. Walker.
—From the Authors.

The following communications were read :

I. Note on the Occurrence of the Red-breasted Lark (Sturnella
militaris) a Central America. By RoBERT GRAY,
Esq., F.R.S.E., etc. (Specimen exhibited.)

A few months ago I received from my friend, Dr Robert
Macdowall, resident in Panama, the bird which I now exhibit,

¢

@.« =
71S Oh, ae ™ -

Notes on the Ocewrrence of the Red-breasted Lark. 215

and which had been killed in the neighbourhood of his resi-
dence. It was sent to me for identification, and in the
absence of such notes as I had hoped to be able to lay before
the Society from the pen of Dr Macdowall, I merely submit
the specimen for inspection, with a few remarks on the
recorded instances of the supposed occurrence of the species
outside its natural habitat—the coast of Chilii—from which
it has hitherto been known to wander southwards only round
Cape Horn as far as the Falkland Islands.

Mr Baird states in his work on North American birds, that
“a single specimen of the red-breasted lark was obtained in
San Francisco by Mr R. D. Cutts of the Coast Survey from a
collector, who asserted positively that it had been shot by
him in San Francisco county. It is likewise mentioned in the
‘Voyage de Venus’ (Zoologie, I, 1855, 203), as having been
shot at Monterey by Dr Neboux, surgeon of the expedition.
There is still some uncertainty, however, as to whether it be .
really entitled to a place in the fauna of the United States,
as Mr Cutts may have been deceived by his informant, and
the indications of the zoologists of the ‘Venus’ as to the
existence of other species of vertebrata in California are cer-
tainly erroneous, owing, doubtless, to accidental transposition
of labels.” From these remarks by Mr Baird, whose work is
one of the most recent on North American ornithology, it
will be judged that the Sturnella militaris was admitted by
him with great hesitation. It is not included in the late Mr
Cassin’s “ Birds of California and Texas,” and Dr Elliot Coues,
in his “Key to North American Birds,” published in 1872,
disposes of the species by saying, “It does not appear that
the red-breasted lark (Zrupialis militaris) was ever taken in
this country. It is a South American species resembling
ours, but with red in place of yellow.”

Mr Salvin, who has written many important papers in the
Ibis on the ornithology of Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua,
and Costa Rica, the results of close personal research, has
informed me, through Professor Newton of Cambridge, that
this bird is not found in any part of Central America; that
it belongs to the south-west coast—Chili, ete—but goes
round Cape Horn, as has been already said, as far as the

216 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

Falkland Islands. Northwards from the last-named locality
its place is taken, especially in Buenos Ayres, by a nearly-
allied species, Sturnella defilippii of Bonaparte, which differs
from the western species in having black axillaries in place
of white. It is right, however, to state that specimens of
the true S. militaris were obtained by the United States’
Exploring Expedition as far north on the east coast as the
Rio Negro.

The present specimen is interesting, not only as having
occurred on the Isthmus of Panama, but as affording evidence
in favour of the reported occurrences in California, about
which strong doubts have existed; and I have, therefore,
pleasure in bringing it before the meeting as one of those
small facts which enable the naturalist to trace correctly the
distribution of a species.

II. On the Occurrence in Scotland of the Squacco Heron (Ardea
comata, Pallas). By Ropert Gray, Esq., F.R.S.E., ete.

Shortly after the concluding meeting of last session had
taken place, I happened to be in the shop of William Hope,
birdstuffer, George Street, when my attention was drawn to
the bird now on the table. It had been sent in by the
Duchess of Buccleuch with a special message from Her Grace
that particular care was to be taken with the bird, as it was
a Scotch killed specimen, and had been sent to the duke as a
great rarity. As no specimen of the squacco heron had ever
been found in any part of Scotland before, I at once made
inquiry about the bird, and have since been informed that it
was shot at Dalmahoy, in the parish of Ratho, and given to
the duke by the late Lord Morton. It is to be regretted that
the exact date of its occurrence cannot now be ascertained,
His Grace being unable to say in what year he received the
specimen. It, as you will observe, is in beautiful and most
perfect plumage, like many of the specimens that have
already been found in Britain. This bird is the twenty-fourth
that has been killed in the British Islands—all the others,
with a very few exceptions, having been obtained in the

a we ee

On the Occurrence in Scotland of the Squacco Heron. 217

southern counties of England. The first was recorded in the
minutes of the Linnean Society for 1797, as having been shot
at Boyton. A second example was taken in Norfolk in
December 1820. No others would appear to have been met
with until 1834, when two. were procured in the same county.
Subsequently, and at irregular intervals, various specimens
have been obtained in Hampshire, Dorsetshire, Devonshire,
and Cornwall.

The squacco heron seems to be widely distributed in
Africa and Western Asia. It is abundant in Egypt, where it
has been observed of late years by Captain Shelby, who
remarks that many of the specimens which he shot had been
feeding on locusts. It is also mentioned by Dr Tristram
as an inhabitant of the Great Sahara, and by Anderssen
in his “ Birds of Damara Land,” where it abounds in the lake
region, feeding on insects and frogs. It isa well-known bird
on the Zambesi, and is plentiful in the Transvaal, besides
being an inhabitant of Madagascar. On all the shores of the
Mediterranean the species may be said to be common, and it is,
doubtless, from such localities that all the stragglers hitherto
found in Britain have come.

Anderssen describes the iris as pale yellow, the bill of a
transparent whitish horn colour at the tip, the base of the
upper mandible is bright greenish-yellow, and this colour
extends to the base of the nostrils; the under mandible is
also greenish-yellow; the tibia, tarsus, and toes are dusky-
green, lightest on the tibia and the upper part of the tarsus;
the under surface of the toes is yellowish. This description
supplies a correct idea of the colours, which, of course,
cannot be observed in a stuffed specimen.

The natural haunts of the squacco heron are marshes,
margins of seas, lakes, and rivers, and in such localities it
subsists on small fishes, reptiles, crustacea, and insects.

I am indebted to the Duke of Buccleuch for permission to
exhibit the specimen at this meeting.

218 _ Proceedings of the Royal Physical Soctety.

IIL. Note of a Small Lizard, Psammadromus Hispanicus; also
a large species of Sirex; both recently taken alive at
Kinleith, near Currie. By JOHN ALEXANDER SMITH,
M.D. (The specimens were exhibited.)

My friend Mr William Bruce, one of our members, brought
me these interesting specimens; they were got this summer,
at Kinleith Paper Mills, and as this pretty little lizard, with its
two parallel light-coloured stripes along each side of its greyish
back, turns out to be a Spanish species, we may naturally
conclude that both the lizard and the fly were brought to this
country among the esparto erass, great quantities of which
are imported, both from Spain and Africa, by Mr Bruce, to be
used in paper-making. The workman who first noticed the
little lizard running about, and captured it, being familiar only
with our common water-newts, concluded that the best way
to keep the fragile little creature alive was to get a bottle,
fill it with water, and put the lizard into it, and was rather
astonished to find that instead of prolonging its life, he had
actually drowned the poor little land lizard.

Sirex sp.—Mr R. F. Logan informs me this insect belongs
to this genus, but he does not know the species. It is a
large hymenopterous insect which has a long ovipositor, well
seen in this pretty black and yellow ichneumon-like fly,
with which it deposits its eggs in holes in old trees, ete.

Both the lizard and the fly are therefore in all probability
simply species accidentally brought to this country, like many
others, by man in the course of ordinary commerce; few
of which meet with circumstances sufficiently favourable
to prolong their existence here, and in this case, as they were
introduced from a warmer climate, in all probability the cold
of winter would soon have killed them both, could they have
survived the summer. They show one of the ways by which
new species of animals may be introduced into our country,
and this, of course, may on some occasions involve results of
an important character.

We all know the interest and even fear excited throughout
the whole country by the expected chance of the introduc-

ota Sehr? Xo

Dr Smith’s Note of a Small Lizard, ete. 219

tion into it in any way of merely a very small insect—a beetle,
but in this case the fearfully destructive Colorado Beetle,
Doryphora decemlineata, which in countless multitudes has
been traversing the great continent, and laying waste the potato
crops of America. Our Government officials have promptly
taken up the matter, and a watch has been set at every port
to protect us,if possible, from this small but very formidable
invader, an enemy at once to our potato crops, and therefore
really to one of the great food supplies of the country. A
skilled naturalist and entomologist being at once sent to
investigate on the first rumour of the beetle’s appearance, my
old friend our member and former president, Mr Andrew
Murray, was sent from London to Liverpool to examine and
report as to its supposed occurrence there. I regret much to
say Mr Murray has since died in London—a loss at once to
natural and economic science, as the first of his South Ken-
sington Museum Hand-books—*“ Economic Entomology and
Aptera,’ by Andrew Murray, F.L.S.—prepared by the order
of the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education,
amply testifies. Mr Andrew Murray also formed, I believe,
the valuable, interesting, and important collection of economic
entomology in relation to agriculture, preserved and exhibited
in the Bethnal Green Museum, London.

Wednesday, 16th January 1878.—Professor Duns, D.D., President, in the
Chair.

The following gentleman was balloted for, and elected as Resident Member
of the Society: Archibald Gray, Esq., 13 Inverleith Row.

The following donations to the Library were laid on the table, and thanks
voted to the donors :

1. The Journal of the Linnean Society—Botany, Vol. XVI., No. 93.—
From the Society. 2. Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society, Vol.
XIV., Part 14.—From the Society. 3. Bollettino della Societa Adriatica di
Scienze Naturali in Trieste, Vol. III., Nos. 1, 2.—From the Society. 4,
Die Naturgesetze und ihr) Zusammenhang mit den Prinzipien der abstrakten
Wissenschaften. Zwei Theile. von Dr Hermann Scheffler.—Presented by
the Author. 5. Boletin del Ministerio de Fomento de la Reptblica Mexi-
cana, for September and October 1877.—From the Ministry of the Interior,
Mexico. 6. Medical Examiner, Nos. 48-50, Vol. II].—From the Publishers,

220 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.
The following communications were read :

I. On the Power of Rainfall in Denudation, as ulustrated by
the Ravages of the Flood of August 28, 1877, on the
Ochils, from Tillicoultry to Muckhart, beyond Dollar.
By ANDREW TAYLOR, Esq.

The August of 1877 exhibited on the east of Scotland
most of the strange meteorological phehomena of that abnor-
mal year in its weather relations. There were fifty-eight and
a half hours less of sunshine than in average years. The
temperature in Scotland was greatly below the average, and
there was a very large rainfall seen over the width of eastern
Scotland, though local in its manifestations, and extending
in Edinburgh to betwixt 200 and 300 per cent. above the
average. The month closed in the east of Scotland in
showers, and on the 28th the casualty noted in our title
occurred, distracting the attention of the readers of the daily
newspapers from Eastern war complcations by the ruin of
roads and bridges, the temporary blocking of the local rail-
way, and the sad loss of two lives it occasioned. Some
concomitant geologic phenomena attending this flood deserve
a more permanent record. .

Mr Buchan has shown in a paper, read subsequently to
this one, that the observations of rainfall by the observers of
the Scottish Meteorological Society demonstrate the physical
features of Scotland affect its rainfall. The area of flood
ravages was confined to those six or seven miles, from the
pool of Muckhart to Tillicoultry, where the Devon turns

almost at right angles from its eastern windings to join the

Forth. The Ochils here take that steep wall-like aspect
which is their prominent characteristic from the railway
carriage on the way to Stirling. Several small mountain
streams descend the steep gradients almost at right angles to
the course of the Devon, as at Tillicoultry, from 2094 feet
at the Law Hill, to the 200 feet contour line which follows
the course of the Devon from Muckhart, and it was down
these burn courses most of the damage was done. It had
rained all the previous evening, and on the early morning of

Vi OT

. a... ee

On the Power of Rainfall in Denudation. 221

the 28th August, the hills over the eight miles of their flanks
specified appeared covered with foam; it thundered and
lightened the while, and the sleepers along the burnside at
Dollar were awakened by harsh rasping sounds of huge
boulders grating, capsizing, and breaking, and above all the
thundering noise of a head wave rushing down from the hills.
This lasted but a quarter of an hour, though it appears to
have been the agent of change along the line of the flood’s
action.

At Tillcoultry the mountain stream runs down a street
to joi the Dollar at Glenfoot. There are several factories
along its course. The street was covered with good sized
boulders which impeded carts a month after the flood. Here
it was that a manufacturer was swept away, and drowned
in the vain attempt to save two of his workers.

At Harvieston House, about a mile above Tillicoultry, a
small stream descends almost in a straight line from the
King’s Seat, 2111 feet, to the 200 feet contour line; it carried
mud, water, and débris down in its mad course, and, on
reaching the turnpike road, carried off the bridge fording it,
besides knocking down a well-built stone wall, and thus
rendering the turnpike impassable. A little above this the
torrent made a new channel in the well-nigh perpendicular
hill side, making a scarp twenty feet broad, and removing the
surface soil of a depth of five feet down into the valley.

But it was at Dollar where the flood made its most inter-
esting geologic lessons on a large scale with considerable
municipal damage, though happily with no loss of lives. The
Dollar Burn is like the central portion of the letter Y on
the Ordnance map, running into the Devon below the
town. The left fork is the Burn of Sorrow, and the right the
opposite streamlet from Whitewisp Hill; both touch a con-
tour line of 2000 feet. Castle Campbell is situated at the
junction of the two forks of the letter. It was along the
upright stem, beginning at the Gloom Hill, that the flood
effected its ravages. These are delineated in detail in the
accompanying plan on the 26-inch Ordnance Survey map,
prepared at my request by Mr John Cram of Dollar. It

should be premised that the physiography of the Ochils here
VOL, IV. Z

222 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

is not of the steep wall-like character near Harvieston. The
lower beds of the carboniferous system begin to rest on the
hills, giving a shelving character different from the abrupt
scarps of the porphyrites. The surface beds are first the
alluvial soil, then a thick stratum of gravel and boulders. In

the valley of the Devon there are a succession of beds of |

clay, boulders, sand, and gravel extending to a considerable
thickness.

Mr Cram thus refers to the figures on the plan:

“Fioures I. and II. are excavations made by the burn in its
banks. Along the greater part of I. a high mound of earth
had been thrown up as a defence and covering for the pipes
conveying the water to the town. The embankment and
pipes were alike carried off, and the earth scooped out to a
considerable depth.

“III. and IV. are large deposits of shingle and boulders.
The ground was formerly covered with sward, and partially
grown with wild rose-bushes. These have been buried by a
deposit of varying depth, in some places as much as four feet.
This long bank of conglomerate has since been removed.
The boulders had evidently been taken by the flood waters
from the boulder clay. Some were porphyrites found on the
Ochils, but most were boulders of quartz, chlorite, slate, and
other travelled stones. Many were of great size. One was
at least three tons in weight.

« At V.and VL. the stream has carried off parts of its banks,
but not to any considerable depth. The ‘Dam’ set down
here has now been removed, and exactly in its place stood a
bridge in connection with the Glen footpath. The bridge was
borne away by the torrent as were several others farther
up.

“VII. indicates the place where you will remember an
inroad has been made into a potato field. The water-course
as indicated in the map has now been filled up with gravel,
represented by dots, and the water finds its way by a course
in that part indicated in the map as a field.

“At VIII. the footpath has been carried away, as well as
the garden wall, but the damage was kept at a minimum by
roots of trees.

ae [fe

i AN aia

:
i {

On the Power of Rainfall in Denudation. 223

“At IX. and X. the carriage-way on either side of the burn
has been washed away; at X. completely so.

“At XI. the road has been straightened, and two double
villas built since the issue of the map. Here the burn
carried off the carriage-way, and completely demolished the
whole front of the upper double villa. It also partially under-
mined the corner of the adjoining one.

fee CLT. XTIT., XIV. XV. AVL; XVI, and XViTr,
considerable slices have been removed from the banks.

“ At XIX., where the railway crosses Dollar Burn on an iron
bridge, an immense deposit of gravel and large stones com-
pletely gorging the passage under the bridge, and burying it
entirely from sight, was laid down. On making inquiry of the
railway official whose duty it was to superintend the removal
of this heap as to the probable quantity removed, he informed
me that 470 waggon loads were removed to various places
along the line, and that he considered a waggon load might be
estimated at between five and six tons. Reckoned at five tons,
this would give 2550 tons removed at once, but in addition to
this quantity two large heaps were wheeled to a convenient
distance at the side, estimated to contain sixty waggon loads.
These two taken together would thus amount, at this moderate
estimate, to 2650 tons.”

The palpable evidences of the flood shown on the plan are
no longer visible. Roads have been repaired, the conglomer-
ate embankments are now removed from the upper glen;
and the twin villa has been rebuilt with a foundation this
time on the thick clay below the yielding gravels. The burn
is now confined in a regular causeway of dressed stones,
which, though it may add comfort to the dwellers on its
banks, has destroyed its once charming sylvan beauty. The
municipal repairs consequent on this hour’s torrent cost over
£2000 sterling.

The Cowden Burn is the next affluent into the Devon,
about two miles north-east of Dollar. The torrent down it
swept away the bridge carrying the Kinross road across it, as
well as a good part of the neighbouring embankment. It did
damage to the extent of £350 to the mansion-house policies
of Mr Christie, through which it passes.

224 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

The little brooklet of Baldie’s Burn rises almost beneath
the Common Edge Hill, 1500 feet high, which looks down on
the sudden twist to the north-west which the Devon makes in
its course near the Pool of Muckhart. This was the farthest
course of the ravages of the flood; but nowhere were better
evidences seen of its extraordinary power. The brooklet can
be stepped over during most of its course, and but in two
places, its descent partakes of the precipitous. Where it
crosses the Muckhart road is a wright’s workshop with dwell-
ing house, and two labourers’ cottages, and a triangular space
of ground covering about a quarter of an acre. This was
covered by stones and boulders, some placed one above
another, and many a foot and half in longitudinal diameter ;
while the gardens were silted over with gravel and the
houses flooded. The bridge withstood the shock, though with
difficulty. Higher up the hill above Westerhall steading is
another flat, and on it an island of large boulders some twelve
feet long was suddenly formed. The ravages of the flood
occurred at the same hour as the disasters of Tillicoultry and
Dollar.

The peculiarity of this flood was the short space in which
the damages were effected. The head wave which cut out
thirty feet of roadway at Dollar, and made the great embank-
ment, lasted only a quarter of an hour; and the normal state
of things was resumed in about an hour after. The power of
the flood did not depend on the rainfall. Mr Coyne, C.E.,
superintendent of the Edinburgh Waterworks, states that in
1876 a sudden spate at Harperrig reservoir did great damage,
carrying off walls and embankments. It lasted an hour, and
as the rainfall is measured by the resident keeper, it is known
that much heavier falls have since occurred with no damage
to the city property. Given a rain cloud of sufficient height
to strike the Ochils at 1500 to 1000 feet, then there is suffi-
cient hydraulic power to lift thousands of tons of gravel, sand,
and boulders. :

Our records of seasons like that of 1877 are very incom-
plete. Wet seasons may follow those of extreme cold, like
that of 1875, or that of 1831. Very considerable alterations
may thus have been formed at the base of these hills without

PEAS

;
3
=
ts
f

On the Power of Rainfall in Denudation. 225

any change of the present order of things in the historical
period. Thus the ancient deltas at Menstrie, Alva, and Tuilli-
coultry, figured and referred to by Mr Milne Home in his
“Estuary of the Firth of Forth,” as ancient raised beaches,
may have been formed by some such sudden phenomena. Also
many of the upper sands and gravels (the series extends some
seventy feet deep in the Devon valley) may have been caused
by such sudden spates. The phenomena of the Devon and its
affluents are comparable to the mountain torrents on the
Italian rivers flowing from the Alps.

These streams bring down great quantities of débris, but
do not cut out, but fill up. It cuts out the gravel and sand
below boulders before it carries them along, and heaps them
up as in the Dollar conglomerate bing. The largest stones
are carried the least distances, remaining at the summits of
the water-courses; the gravels are-carried farther out, but
sands mark the extremity of the torrential force. The stones
there are turned on their axes with great force and noise.
They thus acquire a centrifugal force, which causes them, to
leap on larger layers, and deposit themselves atop of them, as
at Dollar and Baldie’s Burn. All this stops below the first
limits of the gravel. The force of the torrent, whether real or
effective, is proportionate to the square roots of the heights.
The rivers receiving those mountain torrents do not appear
to increase their contents by their sudden discharge into
them. This may be on account of their increased rapid flow.
The Devon was in no way apart from its ordinary quiet

aspect, either on the morning or throughout the day of the
floods.

Wednesday, 20th February 1878.—Dr R. H. Traquarr, F.G.S., President,
in the Chair.

The following gentlemen were balloted for and elected as Resident Members :

Professor Archibald Geikie, F.R.S., University of Edinburgh; A. B. Brown,
Esq., 1 Rosebery Crescent; John Horne, Esq., F.G.S., Geological Survey
Office, Victoria Street; John Christie Deans, Esq., M.A., S8.S.C., 40 Castle
Street; David John Surenne, Esq., 6 Warriston Crescent; Rev. John Macrae,
Parish Minister of Hawick, Roxburghshire; William Robertson, Esq., Actu-
ary, 55 Castle Street; and as Non-Resident, Norman Prentice, Esq., Civil
Engineer, Otago, New Zealand.

226 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

The following Donations to the Library were laid on the table, and thanks
voted to the donors :

1. Nova Acta Regie Societatis Scientiarum Upsaliensis, 1877.—From the

Society. 2. Coues on Fur-bearing Animals (No. 8 of ‘‘ Miscell. Publications,”
by U.S. Geol. Survey, 1877). Also, U.S. Geol. and Geogr. Survey of Colorado
and adjacent Territories, 1875; and, Preliminary Report of the Field-Work of
the U.S. Geol. and Geogr. Survey of the Territories, 1877.—From the U.S.
Government. 8. Proceedings of Geologists’ Association [London], Vol. V.,
Nos. 8 and 4.—From the Association. 4. Boletin Metecrologico del Observa-
torio Central, Marzo, 1877.—From the Ministry of the Interior, Mexico. _ 5.
Description détaillée des Paratonnerres établis sur 1’Hétel de Ville de Bruxelles
en 1865: exposé par Melseus.—From the Author. 6. Medical Examiner, Vol.
II., Nos. 103-106, inclusive. —From the Publishers.

The following communications were read :

I. Notice of a Recent Visit to the so-called Tropical Forest
Remains of Hampshire, at Bournemouth. By Davin
GRIEVE, Esq., F.G.S.

My attention was first attracted to this Tertiary deposit
while inspecting the Loan Exhibition at Kensington in 1876.
On this occasion several cases of beautifully preserved leaves
from Bournemouth were exhibited by Mr J. 8. Gardner,
F.G.8., a gentleman who has directed much attention to this
subject, and who, in connection with the Loan Exhibition and
the Geologists’ Association, delivered a most interesting lec-
ture on these Hampshire fossils, which is very fully reported
and illustrated in three consecutive numbers of Vatwre for
January 1877.

Having leisure last autumn, I spent two or three days at
Bournemouth, and went over the ground which Mr Gardner
describes as the “Tropical Forests of Hampshire.” I was
successful in gathering upwards of one hundred dicotyledon-
ous leaves, some of which I now exhibit to you. I thought
they might prove interesting, as we have but little of the
Tertiary formation in Scotland ; indeed, the only place I know
where similar leaves have been found is in the island of Mull,
but found under different conditions, the leaf beds there
being intercalated with volcanic rocks, and are attributed
to the Miocene period, and so posterior to the Hampshire
fossils, which, for good reasons, I think are referable to the
Lower Eocene period.

a ee ae se

a2

On the so-called Tropical Forest Remains of Hampshire. 227

Seeing, as I have stated, that the subject has already
assumed a published form of a somewhat exhaustive cbarac-
ter, I shall content myself with referring members who feel
interested in the subject to Mr Gardner’s details and specu-
lations, confining the brief remarks I have to make to a few
general observations.

The whole line of coast, extending to about two miles on
each side of Bournemouth, that is to say, four miles from
Poole Harbour on the one side, to Christchurch on the other,
is encompassed with steep cliffs ‘composed chiefly of fine
and variously coloured clays. The finest kind is that near
Poole, which is a pipe-clay, and is extensively excavated, and
of much mercantile value for making pottery. The clay in
which these leaves are found is considerably coarser than the
last mentioned, and is generally of a cream colour; it is con-
tained in silted pockets, and crops out here and there at
uncertain distances in the cliff, and is evidently of fluviatile
origin. These clays are all overlain by the Bracklesham and
Barton beds of the Eocene period, so that these leaf beds are
necessarily of the same period.

The Bournemouth flora seems to consist principally of trees
or hard-wooded shrubs. There are also ferns, fungi, and coni-
feree, several kinds of palm; also cactus, Stenocarpus, Eucalyp-
tus, ete., which indicate, if not quite a tropical, at least a
much warmer, climate than at present exists.

Many of the trees of our own day, such as the oak, beech,
maple, chestnut, willow, laurel, etc., are plentifully represented
in these beds, and the curious thing is that such trees should
be mixed up with monocotyledons, such as the Pandanus
reed, and fan and feather palms, which too are found in
abundance.

I have not as yet named any of the specimens I have got,
for the reason that I find identification very difficult as
between existing genera and species—doubt in many cases
must always exist in consequence of the similarity of the
leaves of very diverse species. It cannot be even said that
any of these Tertiary leaves are precisely the same as the pre-
sent existent foliage. All that can be admitted is, that there
is a striking resemblance to the leaves of trees now growing

228 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

in our woods and gardens, which any one, on casting their
eye over these two small cases, will at once recognise.

I may remark that a similar deposit of leaves to this one
exists not far from Bournemouth, viz., at Alum Bay, Isle of
Wieht, and it is quite possible that some connection existed
at a remote period of time between the two localities, although
the sea now separates them; but, of course, this can only be a
matter for conjecture.

The clay in which these leaves are found is generally of a
soft and plastic nature, and it requires to be of a certain degree
of hardness before good specimens can successfully be ex-
tracted by splitting. If too hard again, the clay is brittle, and
the specimens are frequently obtained only in a fragmentary

state. Some attention is therefore required in preparing the -

clay for manipulation. Mr Gardner describes this process,
and he, being a regular summer resident at Bournemouth, had
ample opportunity and time for selecting perfect and hand-
some specimens; but a casual visitor of only a day or two,
such as myself, must, generally speaking, be content with
only second-rate specimens.

The casts only of many of the leaves remain, the fibre hav-
ing vanished. In not a few cases, however, the fibre is intact
in a carbonised state, but when exposed to the air, rapidly
crumbles away. The clay itself in which the leaves are held
is, When dry, also inclined to pulverise, so that the only way
of preserving the specimens is to dip them in a weak solution
of isinglass or size.

II. On the Occurrence of Colias edusa in Scotland during the
Summer of 1877. By R. F. Loaan, Esq.

Colias edusa is a remarkable insect in this country, on
account of the occasional superabundance of its individuals,
without our being, hitherto, able to assign any known cause
for the sudden increase in its numbers. During last summer
this beautiful insect appeared in unusual abundance. In
ordinary seasons it is quite unknown in Scotland, while it is
rare even in the south of England; but last year it appcared

——>

ee et ee ee Se eee ee

On the Occurrence of Colias edusa in Scotland in 1877. 229

almost over the length and breadth of the land. As the
editor of the Hntomologist remarks, it was “seen in greater or
less numbers during June all over the kingdom, from central
Scotland to the Land’s End.” He might have said from
Ultima Thule to the Land’s End, as one was seen in Orkney.

About thirty years ago, a specimen of this butterfly was
taken in September near Lamlash, in the Isle of Arran, by
Sir Wyville Thomson, who was then a student in Edinburgh.
Some years afterwards it occurred in considerable numbers
in Annandale, Dumfriesshire. Since then, I believe, no
specimens have been recorded as occurring in Scotland till
the wet summer of 1877. On the 4th of June Mrs Alex-
ander Fraser, the wife of the Royal Scottish Academician,
took a magnificent specimen at the foot of the Hildons, near
Melrose. On the 14th June I saw another flying swiftly
along the edge of the railway at Seafield, near Leith; and on
the 1st July I caught a worn specimen on an azalea at Spy-
law, Colinton. These are the first Edinbureghshire specimens
on record, the insect not being included in the list of Mid-
lothian lepidoptera submitted to this Society, and published
in the Naturalist in 1852 by Dr Lowe and myself. On the
19th June a specimen was seen, as I have already mentioned,
in the island of Harray, Orkney. Numerous specimens
occurred in Dumfriesshire, Kirkcudbrightshire, and Berwick-
shire, and it 1s also recorded from Galloway and Perthshire.
In the first week of October Mrs Fraser caught another fine
specimen on the coast beyond Port Seaton, being, no doubt,
one of the second or autumnal brood, resulting from the eges
of the June specimens. At the same time it occurred again
in Galloway, and numerously in Berwickshire, and on Gullane
Links, East Lothian, as I am informed by Mr Shaw of Eye-
mouth.

It is rather a difficult problem to solve, the sudden and
simultaneous appearance of such a conspicuous insect as Colias
edusa all over the country. Although an insect of strong and
rapid flight, and of somewhat migratory habits, the theory
that they all came over from the Continent is, I think, quite
untenable. It is evident, from the freshness of many of the
specimens, that they were bred in this country, and in the

230 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

districts where they were caught. I have long had an idea
that this insect might be imported with agricultural seeds ;
and I see that Mr W. G. Gibson of Dumfries, in a com-
munication to the Entomological Society of London, suggests
“that its occurrence might be accounted for by the large im-
portation of foreign clover.” Here at first sight is a feasible
solution of the mystery. The larva feeds, among other plants,
on clover. The eges would naturally be deposited by the
butterfly on the flowers and seed heads, and might thus be
imported along with the clover seed which, being always
sown on the surface of the soil, the young larva would
have no difficulty in making its escape from the eggshell, and
would find itself surrounded by appropriate food in the young
sprouting clover. Unfortunately for this theory, however,
the eggs hatch in the autumn, and the young larva hibernates
among its food plant, feeding up in the spring. So we have
no alternative but to believe that it is a genuine native of
this country, but more lable than most species to be influ-
enced by the changes of our variable climate.

III. Note on Extirpation of the Kidney im a Cat, and on
Demodex folliculorum in the Dog. By Principal
WitiiamMs, New Veterinary College. (Specimen
exhibited.)

1. About a fortnight ago I was requested to remove a
tumour, which, it was stated, had appeared on the side of a
cat within the last few weeks, and had been caused by the
bite of a dog. The tumour was loose, and easily movable
under the skin, posterior to the last rib on the right side,
causing no inconvenience to the animal.

I made an incision through the skin, when the supposed
tumour popped out as it were. It had a narrow pedicle, was
removed by torsion, and there was scarcely any hemorrhage.
On examination I found the supposed tumour to be a very
fine healthy kidney, and was consequently afraid the opera-
tion would prove fatal, but, strange to relate, it has not
caused the slightest inconvenience, and the cat is as healthy

(

as

Notes on some Raised Beaches of the West of Scotland. 231

as ever. It will be interesting to watch the progress of the
case, and to find out at a future time whether the kidney
were a supernumary or merely a floating one, and, if the
latter, to discover if the remaining kidney will have become
greatly hypertrophied.*

2. The Demodex folliculorum, of which I now hand round
a drawing, is an entozoon very commonly met with in man,
and causing those pimples on the nose, vulgarly called
“mawks,” but seems to cause no inconvenience beyond
lessening the beauty of “the human face divine,” induces in
the dog an incurable, and finally, a fatal form of skin disease
called “follicular scabies,’ and this it does by burrowing
deeply into the brain follicles with its head looking inwards,
propagates slowly but surely, and is so deeply imbedded as to
be beyond the reach of remedial agents.

IV. Notes on some Raised Beaches of the West of Scotland, with
Illustrations. By Witi1AM Fereusoy, F.LS., F.G.S.,
F.R.S.E., ete.

The following paper touches some of the modern geological
changes exhibited in the neighbourhood of Glasgow, and
embraces some topics which may perhaps be regarded as
belonging more to archeology than natural science, but
which, nevertheless, have some bearing upon the geological
question.

My attention was more specially directed in the year 1850
to the modern changes of surface on the Firth of Clyde. In

digging a drain in Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, in the autumn
— of 1850, at a spot about twenty-five paces to the west of the
Wellington Arcade, the workmen after going down about
four feet came to a bed of pure peat, one foot thick, and below
that they dug four feet through beds of sand containing shells
(Trochus ziziphinus). In one shovel-full of sand thrown out
there were as many as five or six. Here we have a portion of
a deposit plainly showing that the sea, or at least an arm of

* Note.—The cat from which the kidney was extirpated is alive and well at
the time this goes to press, months after the operation. —W. WILLIAMS.

232 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

it, occupied at one time the spot where Sauchiehall Street
now is. From this it is evident that some change has taken
place in the relative levels of the sea and land. |

One or two more proofs of this may be given, confining
ourselves, however, to the Clyde for illustrations.

In Arran the road from Brodick to Corrie, and so onwards
round the north end of the island, occupies a flat and level
but not broad space of ground, a little elevated above the
level of the sea, and backed by a series of cliffs of consider-
able vertical height. These cliffs are full of caves, evidently
formed by the action of waves at one time beating against
them. Furthermore, the flat surface of the level between the
road and the foot of these cliffs is due to the rolling action of
the waves. I once.visited this place (1849), and obtained
from a ditch in what was then a field waving with corn a
series of shells. They were broken and worn, but when it is
remembered that when they were found at some distance
from the sea, and at a much higher level than the sea ever
reaches now, they are not without interest.

The next illustration I refer to is the island of Little
Cumbrae, at one extremity of which (the whole island being
little more than a great rock) an old town of extreme antiquity
is built on the raised beach. Here, as in Arran, the beach is
flat and narrow, very little raised above the present level of
the sea, and immediately flanked by cliffs rising abruptly from
it. I have not landed on this beach, and do not know if it
yields fossil evidence of its pristine character.

The island of Bute presents us with the same physical
confirmation. On entering the Bay of Rothesay we observe
the line of contour of the surface presented against the sky
and water, and representing a long slope from the hills to near
the shore, when it descends abruptly to a flat space, not very
broad, before reaching the water.

To the north of Rothesay again towards Port Bannatyne,
the hills descend much more abruptly, but between their base
and the water the plain is more extended.

Advancing up the Clyde, the same beach is seen on both
sides. All along from Gourock southwards, the road to Largs
is formed upon it. In some places it is a mere shelf, but in

ea

Notes on some Raised Beaches of the West of Scotland. 2338

others it attains to a considerable breadth, and it is backed
by picturesque cavern-hollowed cliffs. These may be seen
very distinctly in the neighbourhood of Wemyss Bay. On
the north bank of the Clyde, between Helensburgh and Dum-
barton, the same sort of beach may be traced, and here, too,
where the soft strata of the Old Red Sandstone stand out in
cliffs on the upper side of the road, they are hollowed out in
water-worn caves.

As we approach Glasgow the high grounds on both sides
of the river recede far inland, leaving spread out between
them a rich alluvial plain, which it needs little imagination to
recognise as the ancient bottom of some old sea or inlet, and
it is curious to meet with names and notices carrying out
this hypothesis. Thus, a little way from the town of Renfrew,
but on the opposite or north side of the Clyde, and a mile
and a half from the river, is a place called Garscadden. In
Gaelic, I am informed, gar means a point, and scadden
a herring ; and Macfarlane, in his “History of Renfrew,” men-
tions this place as “The Herring Yair.” In the “Statistical
Account” I find also some notes mentioning certain ancient
fishings at Renfrew Quay. In various parts of the flat
grounds lying around the town of Renfrew, deposits have been
found containing shells of species not now living in this
estuary. The confirmation of the country is also corroborative
of these traditions of the sea having formerly stood at a mere
level than now.

In and around Glasgow itself these ancient sea-levels are
distinctly traceable. In Glasgow Green may be noticed two
haughs or meadows, one about eleven and the other twenty-
six feet above the level of the sea. The appearance of that
part of Glasgow has been much altered of late years. In
1810 a slight swell in the river, or a heavy shower, laid part
of this park, called the Low Green, under water.

But keeping in view the improvements which have
been made upon the Green, it is yet sufficiently obvious
that the shelf along the river below the High Green and
the Fleshers’ Haugh may have been a beach, and the flat
expanse of King’s Park and the High Green sloping up to
Monteith Row another. The second of these levels gives us

234 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

the line of London Street and the Trongate, and may be
traced in this way a considerable distance.

Mr Robert Chambers has described the terraces of Glasgow
at great length.

In addition to the evidence of these ancient sea-margins we
have the authentic records of the discovery of shells in the
clays and sands of which many of them are composed.

Thus, at various points in the parishes of Paisley and
Renfrew shells have been met with, as at Oakshaw and
Bellahouston.

‘They have been found in some of the brickfields of Ann-
field (east of Glasgow) by Mr John Craig; and by the same
person in various other places at 40, 80, 100, and 360 feet
above the sea-level.

In cutting the Paisley Canal about four miles from Glas-
gow, twenty-two species were observed ; again, on the shores
of Loch Lomond, at Dalmuir on the Clyde, on the shores
of the Kyles of Bute, and in many other places.

The former existence of the sea, or at least of a branch of
it, of greater extent than at present, in the neighbourhood of
Glasgow, is borne out by the discovery of canoes embedded
in the soil at various depths. ?

The first canoe was dug out of the foundations of the
original church of St Enoch’s in 1780. It was lying flat and
filled with sand and shells. In the bottom was sticking a
celt, or stone hatchet, of bloodstone, and in good preservation.
It is highly polished, and the place where the band fastening
it to the handle passed, is marked by being rough.

The second boat was found in 1781, when digging the
foundations of the Tontine Buildings in the Trongate.

The third and fourth in 1825, the former when opening
London Street, and the latter in digging a drain in Stockwell
Street. The position of the London Street boat was vertical,
the prow being uppermost, as if it had sunk stern foremost.
It was also filled with sand and shells.

In 1847 and 1848 no fewer than four (Nos. 5 to 8) of these
canoes were discovered within a few yards of each other at
Springfield on the south side of the Clyde, nearly opposite to
Napier’s Dock. They were lying about 100 feet from the

Notes on some Raised Beaches in the West of Scotland. 235

margin of the river, and rested on a bed of gravel fifteen
inches thick. Above them was a bed of loam, nine or ten
feet thick, surmounted by sand. The entire depth of the
situation of the canoes below the surface was seventeen feet,
being just about the present low-water level.

A ninth canoe was discovered about 1852 at some little
distance down the river opposite Kelvinhaugh.

These canoes are formed generally of one piece of wood,
and are merely trunks of trees hollowed out. Some of them,
however, are fashioned with a little more care, and have a
square stern of separate boards let into grooves in the main
log.

I believe that since 1852 several more of these canoes
have been exhumed, but I have not been able to obtain the
particulars of their discovery.

I must now offer, in conclusion, some remarks on the
period of the changes indicated by these various phenomena,
as well as upon the appearance which the locality of Glasgow
may have presented when such beaches as that of Sauchie-
hall Street were formed.

First of all, I must clearly distinguish between the period
when these raised beaches were formed, and that in which
the canoes came to be embedded. For this latter it seems to
me to be enough to require that both banks of the Clyde at
Glasgow presented somewhat the appearance at the period to
which these canoes refer us, that the same banks from Dum-
barton to Helensburgh do at the present day. We find there
at high tide a noble expanse of water, but when the tide is
low, the inland ocean is converted into a vast plain of mud,
obviously the detritus carried down by the river. Every
flood helps to narrow the fens farthest up, and to add to the
mud-banks below; and time alone, in addition to the causes
now in operation, is all that is required to convert the wide
area of shallow water into rich alluvial soil. The process
has only been a little more rapid on the site of the Green
and the lower parts of Glasgow and neighbourhood. Let us
imagine then that in these early ages the flat lands now
adjacent to the river, much of which has been heightened
artificially, were low plains covered with water at high tide,

236 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

and we have both the occasion for the use of the canoes and
the element on which they floated. Any sudden flood
swamping them is sufficient to account for their being em-
bedded in the mud and gravel which formed the bed of that
ancient estuary.

Wilson, the author of “ Pre-historic Annals,” gives us (pp.
27 and 40) a graphic account of what may be supposed to have
been the early appearance of the country in those parts of
Scotland, and the character of its first inhabitants.

That the great geological changes of the level of the sea
are carried back into an antiquity very much greater than
the period to which authentic history reaches, is very suffi-
ciently proved by the oldest civilised remains of which our
country can boast; I mean those of the Romans. These are
rather numerous in the neighbourhood of Glasgow. There
is a Roman camp at Camphill, near Langside; a pretorium
or station of a pretor at Oakshaw Head, near Paisley; a
Roman bridge at Duntocher; and the site of the last fort
upon the Roman Wall of Antoninus, or Graham’s Dyke as it
is commonly called. This site is now occupied by the ruins
of a modern fort called Dunglass Castle.

What I desire to particularly call attention to is, that,
“when both walls were built, they were erected with refer-
ence to a sea-level at either end corresponding very nearly if
not entirely with that at present existing in both the Scotch
and English estuaries.”

If Dunglass was the site of the terminating fort on the west
coast, its situation almost on the level of the present surface
of the water affords a proof that the level of the sea is not
lower now than it was in the year 140, or 1738 years ago.

If then two thousand years has seen such a slow rise as
merely to convert a swamp into dry ground, without almost
raising it at all, except where that is done through artificial
means adopted by man, how shall we calculate the epochs
necessary for the formation of the numerous beaches found
at so many different heights from the present sea-level up to
360 feet? But even this is not all. There are terraces
covered by the sea. And this introduces us to a new
element in the computation, namely, that the movements

2)

On Species of Rhadinichthys from the Coal Measures. 237

have been downwards as well as upwards, thus increasing
indefinitely the already almost inconceivable vastness of the
time necessary for these processes. And yet, as I have
already stated, this is but the modern period, and in refer-
ence to the preceding eras of geology, may be said to be but
of yesterday.

From the foregoing remarks we may conclude that there
was “a time when the Firth of Clyde was a sea several
miles wide at Glasgow, covering the site of the lower districts
of the city, and receiving the waters of the river not lower
than Bothwell Bridge.” And we may imagine that at the
time when the beds of sand, which I have already referred to,
were being laid down in the hollow of Sauchiehall Street, the
waters of this noble estuary eddied around the various
eminences which mark the physical geography of Glasgow.
_ Garnet Hill would stand out conspicuously, a rounded island
of mud, separated by a narrow and not deep channel from
Blytheswood Hill. A broader and deeper current would
flow on the side towards the hill where Port Dundas now
stands, finding its way into the main channel somewhat
farther westward, while to the south, the wide expanse of
water would sweep on towards the southern hills with per-
haps Camphill and Hillhead, and the other knolls on the
south side of the river, appearing as islets here and there.
The scene would wear more the aspect of a land-locked bay
or inland sea than of an estuary.

V. On Species of Rhadinichthys from the Coal Measures. By
Ramsay H. Traquair, M.D., F.G.S.

In a paper recently communicated to the Geological Society
of London,* I proposed to establish the new genus Rhadin-
ichthys for the Paleoniscus ornatissimus of Agassiz, and those
species which are allied to it in certain points of structure.
The fishes which may be included in this genus are of com-
paratively small size, the largest (A. ornatissimus) attaining a

* “On the Agassizian Genera, Paleoniscus, Amblypterus Gyrolepis, and

Pygopterus” (Qu. Journ. Geol. Soc. London, xxxiii., 1877, pp. 548-578).
VOL. IV. 2A

238 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

length of ten inches, but the others are for the most part much
smaller. The following definition was given in my paper in
the Quarterly Journal: “The body is comparatively slender,
the suspensorium is very oblique, the Jaws are armed with a
row of incurved conical laniaries, outside which there is a
series of smaller teeth; the principal rays of the pectoral fin
are as in Pygopterus and Oxvygnathus, unarticulated till to-
wards their terminations. The dorsal is situated rather far
back, nearly opposite the anal, and the caudal body-prolonga-
tion is comparatively delicate.”

Besides including in Rhadinichthys the Palwoniscus ornatis-
simus and P. carinatus of Agassiz, and the P. Wardi of
Young, I also directed attention, as probably belonging to the
same genus, to the P. Alberti of Jackson, and more especially
to his P. Cairnsit and some of the other smaller Palewoniscidee
figured but not described by the same author from the Car-
boniferous strata of New Brunswick. And in a paper, read a
few weeks later before the Royal Society of Edinburgh,* I
gave descriptions of seven species of Rhadinichthys from the
Lower Carboniferous rocks of the east of Scotland, including,
besides the Agassizian species, A. ornatissimus and FR. carinatus,
five others new to science, namely, Rh. ferox, R. brevis, R.
lepturus, R. Getkiei, and R. tenuicauda.t

Recently also Principal Dawson of Montreal has described
another species from New Brunswick, which he thinks may
probably be the same as that represented in Pl. IL, fig. 5, of
Jackson’s work, { but not named. To this species he gives
the name of “Palewoniscus (Rhadinichthys) modulus,” and
makes the following observation concerning it: “This beauti-
ful and elaborately-ornamented little fish is a perfect model in
miniature of that type of Lower Carboniferous Paleoniscids
to which it belongs, and which has recently been separated by
Dr Traquair in the genus or subgenus Lhadinichthys.” |

Here Principal Dawson seems either to disapprove or to

* «©On New and Little Known Fossil Fishes from the Edinburgh District,
No. III.” (‘‘ Proc. Royal Soc. Edinburgh,” 1876-77).

+ ‘* Lower Carboniferous Fishes of New Brunswick ” (Canadian Naturalist,
vol. viii., No. 6, 1877).

+ Report on the Albert Coal Mine, New Brunswick.

On Species of Rhadinichthys from the Coal Measures. 239

misunderstand the object for which the paper was written,
which he does me the honour to quote. Regarding as I do
the use of subgenera as introducing confusion into the bino-
mial system of nomenclature, which, since the time of its
illustrious founder, has worked so well, nothing was further
from my mind than to establish Rhadinichthys as a “sub-
genus” at all, much less indeed as a subgenus of Palconiscus,
from which it is in fact further removed than from many
other genera of the family, as, for instance, Pygopterus, which,
small though its species be, it strongly resembles in the
structure of the pectoral and in the position of the dorsal fin.
And I think we may pretty safely assert that if the species
of Paleoniscus and Rhadinichthys were at present living in
our waters, no ichthyologist would ever think of considering
the latter to be a “subgenus” of the former.

Dr Dawson has been also a little hasty in characterising the
species of Rhadinichthys as a “Lower Carboniferous” group.
kt. Wardi is a true coal measure species, and, as we shall
presently see, it is not the only representative of its genus
found in the upper division of the Carboniferous rocks of
Great Britain, though as yet the number of species collected
from the coal measures is certainly smaller in comparison
with those which occur below the horizon of the Millstone
Grit. As yet, also, no species has been found to pass from
the one division of the formation into the other.

The special object of the present communication is accord-
ingly the description of such species of Rhadinichthys from
the coal measures of Great Britain as have as yet come under
my notice.

1. Rhadinichthys Wardi, Young.

Paleoniscus Wardi, Young (name only), Proc. Nat. Hist. Soc. Glasgow, vol.
il., pt. 1, p. 66 (Dec. 19, 1870, published 1875).
Me », Ward, North Staffordshire Nat. Field Club, Addresses
and Papers (Hanley, 1875), pp. 239, 240.

I am indebted to Mr Ward of Longton, Staffordshire, for the
loan of a suite of specimens, the best which I have seen of
this species. The most perfect of these measures 43 inches,
but the extremity of the tail being broken off, its original

240 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. -

length may be estimated at } inch more. The form of the

body is rather slender, gradually tapering from the shoulder

to the tail pedicle; the greatest depth of the body is contained
about five times, and the length of the head a little less than
four times in the length of body up-to the bifurcation of the
caudal fin. The head appears large for the slender form of
the fish. The orbit is, as usual, very anteriorly placed, the
suspensorium very oblique, the gape enormous, the jaws
powerful and armed with formidable teeth in two sets. Of
these, the laniaries or teeth of the inner series are slender,
conical, and incurved, 3; to =3; inch in length in a mandible
of 2 inch, set at intervals of considerably less than their own
length, while external to them is a series of closely placed
teeth of very small size. The opercular bones are not well
preserved, but appear to be of moderate size ; eight branchio-
stegal rays may be counted in one specimen, but they are
clearly not all shown. All the external bones of the head,
as well as of the shoulder girdle, are sculptured with fine
sharp flexuous ridges. The pectoral fins are of considerable
expanse, and nearly equal in length the interval between
them and the ventrals. Each consists approximately of
about twenty-five rays, of which the stronger ones on the
pre-axial aspect of the fin are unarticulated for more than
2 of their length. The ventral is seen in one specimen,
and appears small and delicate, though its extremity is not
preserved; its rays are slender, with distant articulations.
The dorsal fin rises far back, being placed nearly opposite
the anal, and commencing only a little in front of the
latter; it is acuminate in shape, and rather deeply cut out
behind; the anal is not so well preserved, but appears similar
in form to the dorsal. It is hardly possible to ascertain the
number of rays in either, but in both they are slender,
bifuracted towards their terminations, and divided by rather
distant articulations. The caudal is large and deeply bifur-
cated, but in no case well preserved; its rays are likewise
slender and distantly jointed, the articulations, however, be-
coming closer in the shorter rays of the upper lobe; the
caudal body-prolongation is slender. The scales are of meder-
ate size; their anterior-covered area is very narrow, the keel

= Ce ie.

On Species of Rhadinichthys from the Coal Measures. 241

of the under surface and the articular spine well marked.
The exposed surface is ornamented with exceedingly well-
marked elevated ridges, passing across the scale from before
backwards with a slight downward obliquity, and ending in
denticulations of the posterior margin. These ridges tend
constantly to become broken up into isolated tubercles, or,
conversely, the ornament may be described as consisting of
raised tubercles, tending constantly to a linear arrangement,
and to coalescence into ridges.

femarks.—Rhadinichthys Wardi may be at once distin-
guished from all the other species of the genus by its peculiar
ridged and tuberculated scale sculpture, a form of scale
ornament which is exceedingly rare in the entire family of
Paleoniscide. Inthe general form and proportions of the body
it resembles &. ornatissimus, though it does not seem to have
attained so large a size as that Lower Carboniferous species.

Geological Position and Localities—Not uncommon in the
coal measures of North Staffordshire, especially in the “ Ash
Coal” shale at Fenton and Longton (collection of Mr J.
Ward, F.G.S.); in the coal measures of the neighbourhood of
Manchester (collection of Mr J. Plant, F.G.S.); in the shales
of the Lanarkshire coal-field (collection of Geological Survey
of Scotland).

2. Rhadinichthys monensis, Egerton sp.
Paleoniscus monensis, Egerton, Qu. Journ. Geol. Soc. Lond., 1850.

This species has hitherto been known only from detached
scales which were figured by Sir Philip de M. Grey-Egerton
in 1850, as Paleoniscus monensis. The general resemblance
which these scales bore to those of Rhadinichthys carinatus,
Ag. sp., and &. brevis, Traq., though their sculpture is much
more marked (the scales of FR. carinatus being in fact nearly
smooth), led me long ago to suspect that they were allied
forms. It was, however, only very lately, while looking over
some fish remains collected by the Geological Survey of Scot-
land, that I obtained what seems to me to be clear evidence
that the place of Sir Philip Grey-Egerton’s fish is in the
genus Lhadinichthys. These specimens, as usual, consist of
disjointed scales ; one of them, however, shows a considerable

242 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

portion of a head and some remains of the rays of the pectoral
fin, the latter consisting of unjointed rods, thus indicating
that the principal rays of this fin were unarticulated till
towards their terminations. A specimen in the collection of
Dr Hunter of Braidwood is more entire, though unfortunately
wanting the head; here, however, the pectoral fin is shown as

well as the dorsal and part of the caudal, the position of the |

dorsal being far back, and the general form of the body
slender and tapering.

Description.—The most perfect example (that belonging to
Dr Hunter) measures 23 inches from the root of the pectoral
fin to the end of the mutilated caudal; allowing for its defi-
cient parts, the length of the fish could not originally have been
less than 34 inches. The scales of the flank are nearly
equilateral, measuring 3%; inch in height by about the same
in breadth; the articular spine is well marked, the covered
area very narrow. The exposed surface is marked in the first
place by four or five longitudinal elevations or ridges com-
mencing in prominent denticulations of the posterior margin,
and running forwards for some distance on the scale parallel
with the superior and inferior margins ; the lower ones, how-
ever, tending toa slight obliquity. In front of these are a
few delicate and closely set grooves parallel with the anterior
margin, and at the anterior-inferior angle turning round, and
running parallel with the inferior one, so far as the slight
upward obliquity of the lowest of the longitudinal ridges
affords them space. The scales on the belly are, as usual,
low and narrow, posteriorly they also get gradually smaller,
and their distinctive sculpture less strongly marked. The
pectoral fin appears moderate in size, though its extremity is
lost; its principal rays are unarticulated, so far as they are
seen. Neither ventral nor anal is visible. The dorsal arises
opposite a point 13 inch behind the root of the pectoral; only
a few of its rays are preserved, these being very delicate, and
divided by distant transverse articulations. The caudal
commences ;'5 inch behind the anterior margin of the dorsal ;
this is proportionally a small interval for Rhadinichthys, but
the very disturbed state of the scales here gives very reason-
able ground for belief that the distance has been shortened by

—— ——

On Species of Rhadinichthys from the Coal Measwres. 243

distortion. What remains of the caudal fin is much twisted,
and only presents us with a portion of its origin, but the rays
are seen to be delicate, and their articulations rather distant.

A specimen from Lanarkshire, in the collection of the Geo-
logical Survey of Scotland, shows, lying in connection with a
heap of the characteristic scales, the impression of a portion
of the cranial buckler, and from this impression it is evident
that its surface was sculptured with tolerably coarse ridges
passing here and there into tubercles. The position of the
orbit is clearly shown, below which is found the left maxilla
seen from its inner surface, together with the impression of
the outer surface of the mandible. The oval margin of the
maxilla is set with conical teeth, small, indeed, in the speci-
men, but large enough considering the small size of the jaw.
The mandible is slender and tapering, sculptured with a few
comparatively coarse ridges, which, as usual, pass forwards,
and also obliquely upwards, meeting the dental margin at
very acute angles; its teeth are not exhibited. Some broken
remains of the opercular bones are visible, but not in a con-
dition for description. Lastly, behind the mandible are
several confused bony rays, the remains of the pectoral fin ;
these are clearly unjointed, and show that we have here the
structure characteristic of Rhadinichthys, Pygopterus, etc., in
which the principal rays of the pectoral are unarticulated till
towards their terminations.

Remarks.—Although the external sculpture of the scales of
Rhadinichthys monensis. resembles in general character that
which also occurs, in various modifications, in other of the
smaller species of the genus, yet it has a facies of its own,
and, once seen, can be easily again recognised. We must,
however, await the discovery of more perfect specimens,
before a complete description of the fish can be given.

Geological Position and Localities—Only from the coal
measures, in which it is widely distributed, but apparently not
very abundant. The original specimens were found by the Earl
of Enniskillen at Rhuabon, in North Wales; it occurs also in
North Staffordshire (collection of Mr J. Ward), and in
Lanarkshire (collection of the Geological Survey of Scotland,
and of Dr Hunter, Braidwood).

244 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

3. Rhadinichthys Grossarti, Traquair, sp. nov.

Description.—The length of this little fish was probably
two inches or thereabout, but as yet no specimen has occurred
absolutely perfect. One specimen, wanting the head, in the
collection of Mr Grossart of Salsburgh, measures 14 inch in
length ; two others in the collection of the Geological Survey
of Scotland, one of which wants the head, the other the tail,
measure each 14 inch. The last-named collection contains
also a few others still more fragmentary, but all indicating a
fish of about the same size. The bones of the head are, judg-
ing from their impressions, marked with irregular ruge ; no
teeth are visible. The form of the body is very slender, its
depth at the ventral fin being, in Mr Grossart’s specimen, not
quite + inch, from which it tapers to a very delicate tail
pedicle. The pectoral is not seen; the ventral is small, and
consists of a few delicate and rather disturbed rays. The
dorsal commences very slightly in front of the anal, and con-
sists of fourteen or fifteen rays, but in the anal I count only
ten. Between the latter and the lower lobe of the caudal
there is a considerable interval, equalling nearly 2 inch. All
these fins are very delicate, with slender, distantly-articulated
rays ; minute fulcra are observable on the anal of one speci-
men; the caudal body-prolongation is very slender and
attenuated. The scales are moderate, may indeed be called
large, in proportion to the minute size of the fish. They are
more strongly marked than in &. monensis, their ornament
consisting of four to six sharply defined straight ridges extend-
ing from before backwards, with a slight obliquity over nearly
the whole exposed surface, and terminating in denticulations
of the posterior margin; in some cases feeble traces of the
delicate vertical grooves seen in &. monensis are visible just
in front of the commencement of the longitudinal ridges.

femarks.—In its small size, and in the general form of the
body, £."Grossarti resembles ZR. tenwicauda from the edge coal
strata of Scotland (middle group of Carboniferous Limestone
series), but it is at once distinguished from it by the sculpture
of the scales, which in FR. tenwicauda are smooth on the flanks,
and only delicately striated on the dorsal and ventral margins.

Mr Etheridge on Adiantites Lindsezformis in Limestone. 245

From R. monensis it differs in the greater prominence, sharp-
ness, and extent of the longitudinal ridges on the scales,
which occupy nearly the whole of the exposed surface, whereas
in R. monensis these are not very prominently elevated, and
a considerable space is occupied by these delicate grooves,
which run parallel with the anterior and inferior margins. I
have much pleasure in dedicating this new and interesting
form to Mr Grossart of Salsburgh, Lanarkshire, to whom I am
indebted for the loan of the first specimen which came under
my notice.

Geological Position and Locality Coal measures of Lanark-
shire.

VI. Note on the Occurrence of Adiantites Lindsezformis, Bun-
bury, in Strata connected with the Main Limestone at
Braidwood, Lanarkshire. By R. ETHERIDGE, Jun.,
F.G.8., etc.

The subject of the present note, Adiantites Lindseeformis,
Bunbury, was originally described by the late Mr J. W.
Salter, from notes supplied by Sir Charles Bunbury, and pub-
lished in “ The Geology of the Neighbourhood of Edinburgh.” *
The type specimens were found by Mr R. Gibbs, collector to
the Survey, in the Lower Carboniferous shales (Calciferous
Sandstone) of Slateford, near Colinton, and the species is
exceedingly characteristic of that division of the Calciferous
Sandstone series, known as the Wardie Shale group; indeed,
until a year or two ago it was thought to be exclusively re-
stricted to that horizon. However, in 1874, amongst a col-
lection of fossils, kindly lent to the Geological Survey by Mr
A. Patton, of East Kilbride, I recognised a specimen of a
variety of this species obtained by Mr Patton from a bed of
shale overlying the Calderwood cement stone, of the Lower
Carboniferous Limestone group, at the Kirktonholm Cement
Works, East Kilbride. About the same time Mr James
Bennie obtained a fragmentary specimen at another locality in
the same district, Burnbrae old quarry. I gave a short account
of these discoveries to the Botanical Society of Edinburgh in

* Mem. Geological Survey Gt. Brit., No. 32, Scotland, 1861, p. 151.

246 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

January 1875.* This completes the history of Adiantztes
Lindseeformis to this date, so far as I am acquainted with it.
In the autumn of 1876 Mr Bennie and myself were en-
gaged working out the fossil contents of an interesting series
of beds exposed along the shore of the Firth of Forth at Abden
to the east of Kinghorn, when we were much gratified at find-
ing one or two small specimens of A. Lindseceformis, in a bed
of shale under the first limestone, east of Kinghorn, in com-
pany with a copious marine fauna, and a few other ferns,
chiefly sphenopterids. As in the previous instance, this
horizon is also in the L. Carboniferous Limestone group.

I now come to the more immediate object of the present
communication, to place on record a second occurrence of the
species in Lanarkshire. A short time back, I paid, in com-
pany with Dr Traquair, a very pleasant visit to Braidwood,
to inspect the Braidwood collection of fossils, brought to-
gether by Drs Hunter and Selkirk, by the former of whom
we were most hospitably entertained. Amongst some fine
plant remains from the Carboniferous Limestone, I was much
pleased to find a specimen of our old friend, A. Lindseeformas,
obtained by Dr Hunter from the shale below the Main
(Hurlet) Limestone, again an horizon in the Lower Carboni-
ferous Limestone group.

All the specimens I have enumerated from the marine
portion of our Carboniferous system appear to be in a much
less satisfactory state of preservation than the generality of

those from the Lower Carboniferous rocks. Although there

is some slight difference displayed in the form of the pinnules
in the series of specimens, yet I think they all belong to the
one species. Ido not see any decided points which can be
seized upon as separating one from the other, at any rate to
no greater extent than that of a variety, certainly not of a
specific nature. The pinnules in the specimens from the
marine beds are apparently more elongated than in examples
from the Wardie shales; but on examining a number of the
latter, I find the form assumed by the pinnules of the former
is to be found in the terminal pinnules of the Wardie shales’
form. It may perhaps be necessary hereafter to distinguish

* Trans. and Proc. Bot. Soc. Edinb., 1875, xii., pt. 2, p. 229.

TRF test RAINE RIES > pinning —

oe tad

>

ta =

On a New Form of Phosphorite found at Kichinev. 247

the form of A. Lindsewformis found in the marine series by
some varietal name. At present, however, I think it best to
retain them all under the one designation, A. Lindseceformis
(Bunbury).

Of the previously-mentioned horizon, at which A. Lindsew-
formis has been found in the strata connected with the
Marine Limestones, that on the shore of the Forth at Abden
appears to be the lowest. The limestone at this locality,
overlying the bed of shale in which the fern occurs, is be-
lieved by Mr Bennie and myself to be still lower than the
Gilmerton or No. 1 Limestone of the Midlothian field, which
is usually considered to be the equivalent of the Main or
Hurlet Limestone. If such is the case, then Dr Hunter’s
discovery at Braidwood will be the next in upward succes-
sion, the shale below the Main Limestone, and that of Mr
Patton at East Kilbride, the highest in the marine series of
our Carboniferous system. Expressed in tabular form in
descending order, thus:

(i. Shale above Calderwood Cement ) Kirktonholm Cement
Stone (Lingula Limestone of ‘ Works, East Kil-

| Carluke), . 4 , .J bride. .
Soo eine 2. Shale below Main Limestone, . Braidwood.
ous LIMESTONE 4
GROUP.

| 3. Shale below a limestone beneath ) '

| the Midlothian No. 1 Lime-| Shore of Firth of
stone (= the Main or Hurlet{ Forth, at Abden,

( Limestone), . ‘ ; _j near Kinghorn.

L. CARBONIFER- }

ous, OR CALCI- feats Sale , Slateford and other
FEROUS SAND- | localities.
STONE SERIES.

VIL. On a New Form of Phosphorite found at Kichinev, with
Analysis. By THomas W. DRINKWATER, Esgq., L.R.C.P.,
F.C.S., Member of the Society of Analysts, etc.,
Lecturer on Chemistry at the Edinburgh School of
Pharmacy. (Specimen exhibited.)

The form of phosphorite I exhibit this evening is an
unusual one, and, I believe, as far as my geological know-

248 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

ledge serves me, has been found in a somewhat unusual
situation.

I am sorry to say I have not been able to furnish myself
with all the information I could desire, as the friend from
whom I received the specimen is again in Turkey, and I have
consequently been prevented from communicating with him.
The specimen was found with others in great abundance in
spherulitic segregated masses in the Lower Silurian rocks,
embedded—and in the opinion of several geologists who
examined specimens in situ, they had either been segregated
from surrounding rocks, or they were metamorphosed coproli-
tic masses. The latter supposition is however improbable, as
I can find no trace of organic structure in them, besides all
the specimens have a spheroidal structure, and are each
distinct from the other.

They were found on the banks of the Dniester. A small band
of Lower Silurian rocks extends for a short distance on either
side of the river, and it is in these rocks they are embedded.

On referring to the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society
for August 1875, I found a paper by Messrs Davies and Hicks,
in which they describe a form of phosphorite found above the
Bala Limestone. This form was also found in concretionary
masses, but was compact and not fibrous as the one is which
I now exhibit. Dr Voelcker’s analysis showed 40-60 % of
tricalcic phosphate. They had fragments of Zingula in their
structure, and are undoubtedly of organic origin.

A short time since Professor Dawson described the occur-
rence of phosphorite in the Cambrian rocks of Canada, but
they differ in several points from the form I show you.

I made an analysis of a piece of the fractured portion, which
was as follows:

Loss on ignition, - : : : ; - RSS
Lime, . . 45°82
(P,0;) Bilbaphinis enhydrde = rica Phosp 78- 3), . 36°18
Oxide of iron, ; 1 02
Magnesia, . : : E : , es
Silica, 3 , ; : ; » 6°68
Alumina (Co,), etc., . . : : : «| “SOT

-

On a New Form of Phosphorite found at Kichinev. 249

- Having such a small portion to work on of course prevented
my taking a good average sample.

The discovery both of a new form and of a new field of
phosphates is interesting both in a scientific and commercial
point of view, as these mineral phosphates are now so largely
used in the manufacture of artificial manures, for which pur-
pose they are treated with sulphuric acid, which transforms
the insoluble tricalcic phosphate into soluble monocalcic
phosphate, and forms what is known in the agricultural
world as superphosphate of lime.

Many of these minerals, although containing a large
quantity of phosphoric acid, are unsuitable for making a
first-class manure, on account of the excessive amount of
iron with which they are contaminated. This, on storing,
causes the manure to “go back,” as it is technically called ;
that is to say, a portion of the soluble phosphoric acid is
acted on by the iron and rendered insoluble.

This specimen, however, contains only a small percentage of
iron, and at the same time the P,O, is in abundance, and
appears in every way suitable for manufacturing purposes.

I have not touched on the geological interest attached to
the specimen, as I must confess my inability to do so. I have
put together all the information I could gather regarding its
chemistry, hoping to elicit some remarks from our geological
members, whom I trust it will interest.

VIII. Mr R. Scor-SxkirvinG read a paper on the so-called
species of Wild Goose, Anser paludosus.

Wednesday, 20th March 1878.—J. FALCONER KiNG, Esq., President,
in the Chair.

The following gentlemen were balloted for and duly elected as Resident
Members:

James Duncan Smith, Esq., S.S.C., 30 Buckingham Terrace; Robert
Carmichael, Esq., Student, University of Edinburgh, 13 Waverley Place,
Leith; William Alexander M‘Laren, Esq., W.S., 12 Chester Street; Rev.
James Stewart, Parish Minister of Wilton, Roxburghshire; Peter Sieve-
wright, Esq., Actuary, 12 Danube Street; Robert Clark, Esq., F.R.S.E., 7
Learmonth Terrace; Alexander Somervail, Esq., 73 George Street; John R.
S. Hunter, Esq., LL.D., Daleville, Braidwood, Lanarkshire; Joseph T.
Gray, Esq., M.A., 14 Findhorn Place; Thomas White, Esq., S.S.C., 114
George Street ; Mitchell Thomson, Esq., 7 Carlton Terrace.

250 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

The following donations to the Library were laid on the table, and thanks
voted to the donors :

1. Acta horti Petropolitani, Tom. V., fasc. 1.—From the Imperial Botanic
Garden of St Petersburg. 2. Kongliga Svenkska Vetenskaps-Akademiens :
(1.) Handlingar, Vols. XIII.-XIV., Part 1; (2.) Bihang, Vol. IIL, Part 2;
(3.) Ofversigt, No. 33; (4.) Meteorologiska Jakttagesler, Vol. XVI.—From
the Swedish Royal Academy, Stockholm. 3. Edinburgh Astronomical
Observations, Vol. XIV., 1870-77.—From the Lords Commissioners of Her
Majesty’s Treasury, through Professor Piazzi Smyth. 4. Boletin del Minis-
terio de Fomento de la Repablica Mexicana, Tomo I., Naum. 76-86, inclusive.
—From the Central Meteorological, Observatory, Mexico. 5. Journal and
Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, Vol. X., 1876. Also,
Annual Report of the Department of Mines, New South Wales, 1876.—From
the Society. 6. (1.) U.S. Geol. Survey of the Territories, 1877, Vol. XI;
Monographs of North American Rodentia, by Coues and Allen; (2.) Bulletin
of the U.S. Survey of the Territories, Vol. III., No. 4.—From the Depart-
ment of the Interior, U.S.A. 7. Proceedings of the Royal Society [London],
Vol. XXVI., No. 184.—From the Society. 8. Transactions of the Royal
Society of Edinburgh, Vol. XXVIII., Part 1.—From the Society. 9. Over-
sigt over det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskabs Forhandlinger,
1877, No. 2.—From the Society. 10. Journal of the Linnean Society—
Botany, Vol. XVI., No. 94.—From the Society. 11. Jahresberichte des
Vereins fiir Erdkunde zu Dresden, Band XIII. and XIV. (1877).—From the
Society. 12. Estudios sobre la Flora y Fauna de Venezuela, por A. Ernst.
—From the Author. 13. Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society,
Vol. XIV., Parts 15, 16.—From the Society. 14. Fifth Supplement to the
Catalogue of the Edinburgh Select Subscription Library.—From the Library.
15. Medical Examiner, Vol. II., Nos. 107-111, inclusive. —From the
Publishers.

The following communications were then read :

I. Some Remarks on the Breeding of the Snowy Owl (Surnia
nyctea) in Norway. By Joun A. HARvIE-Brown, Esq.

In 1871, Mr Alston and myself visited the district of the
Fille Fjeld and Sogne Fjord in Norway for the purpose of
collecting birds and their eggs. We have not published in a
connected form the results of our expedition, but notes upon
various species observed by us will be found in Dresser’s
“Birds of Europe,’ both from Alston’s journals and my
own. Dresser makes mention of the “clutches” of snowy
owls’ eggs hereafter mentioned (v. “ Birds of Europe”); but
I have thought, in absence of a more recent subject to write
upon, that the collector’s detailed notes upon these nests
may not prove uninteresting to members of this Society.
Mr Robert Collet, the ornithologist of Norway, with whom
we had the pleasure of making acquaintance when in
Christiania, has also noticed these specimens in his “ Remarks
on the Ornithology of Northern Norway.” Wel

After we left Norway we engaged our assistant and “tolk”

Mr Harvie-Brown on the Breeding of the Snowy Owl. 251

(interpreter) in that country to collect eggs for us, and he did
so with considerable success, especially during the summer of
1872, obtaining several “good things,” and forwarding them
to us at the end of the season. Before they arrived, we had
various letters from our Norwegian collector concerning his
different successes. The first notice we had of snowy owls
breeding so far south (an unusual occurrence, as a gentleman
to whom we had an introduction, Herr Dr Printz, well
known as a good Norwegian ornithologist, had informed us,
that only once had its nest been found so far south, viz., in
Wang and Waldorsfjeld), was a letter from Lysne merely
including it in a list of collections he had made, and dated
13th June 1872; but in his next letter he supplied us with
full particulars as follows:

“In my letter of the 13th June, I told you that I had got
hold of a nest of the ‘snowy owl’ (S. nyctea). On the 1st of
June old Lars went up to the mountains towards the Suletind,
and met with those birds just below this mountain: in the
evening he brought me four eggs, and told me they were ‘af
den hvide ugle’ (of the white owl). I, who believed all,
took the eggs, and was as pleased as I could be. Next day
I blew them, cleaned them out and inside, but found them
rather similar to those of the Bjerg ulv (ze. eagle owl, Bubo
maximus), particularly one of the eggs; but I could not say
anything, because old Lars had told me what they were.

“On the 16th I was told that the snowy owls were still
below the Suletind, and I took Lars with me in order to try
to shoot them. On the way Lars told me they were the most
difficult birds to get near, which was all true in every respect.
Lars had frightened them almost out of their skin the day
before. I could not get them near, and had given it all up;
told Lars that there was no use, and that I would go home.
Lars seemed anxious to have another shot (he had had already
four), and I sat on a hill to wait for him. Just as I sat look-
ing through my glass, the hen placed herself on the top of a
small hill, and I saw her lie down as if ona nest. This was
new steam, and in less than five minutes I stood by her bed,
in which were seven eggs (sic), quite different from those of
Lars. I think they are the finest eggs I ever saw—very big,

252 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

and as white as snow, while Lars’ eggs are cream-coloured,
with small brown spots all over, and not so big. Lars did
not see me take the nest, and I did not tell him till we got
home, when he was rather put out.”

So much for the first nest obtained by Lysne himself.

The nest above referred to as taken by Lars contained, as
we have seen, four eggs. These are much smaller, more oval,
and apparently stained or speckled with a pinky or purplish
dye, caused, I believe, by the damp reindeer moss or other
lichen on which they were laid. As Lysne describes them,
they are “cream-coloured (or dirty white, J. A. H. B.), with
small brown spots all over, and not so big.”

The spotting is not however caused by true marking, but 1s
simply caused by dirt getting apparently into the grain, or
irregularities of the texture of the egg.

In all, Lysne procured five nests of eggs in 1872. The
situations of these nests were as follows:

1. S. nyctea.—7 eggs, 17.6.72, O. J. L. tpse. ‘Nest on a low hill”
(v. collector’s ‘‘ Note-book”).
2. S. nyctea.—4 eggs, 1.6.72, by L. E. ‘‘ Nest merely a hollow in ground

on top of low hill” (op. cit.).

3. S. nyctea.—b eggs, 9.7.72, O. J. L. ipse. ‘‘The nest was placed on the
top of a low rock, and merely a hollow in the reindeer moss. #3

4. S. nyctea.—4 eggs, 13.7.72, O. J. L. ipse. ‘‘The nest was placed at the

side of a hill on a rock.”
5. S. nyctea.—4 eggs, 23.7.72, O. J. L. ipse. ‘* Nest on a hill.”

Of the third nest Lysne says: “Eggs hard set. Both birds
seen, but they were very wild. Colour of the eggs not so
pure a white as those of 17th June. At the time the
egos were taken out of the nest they were the dirtiest eggs
ever seen.” Of the fourth nest he relates: “Had a shot at
the hen and wounded her. Eggs hard set.” And of the fifth
nest he writes: “By aid of Lars, who had seen the eggs and
nest before, but would not take them before I was present, as
the eggs differ a great deal from any egg of the kind we have
seen! Nest ona hill near the Sule-vand. Both birds flying
about very wildly.” These are also dirty and smaller than
the fresh set of the 17th June, but are undoubtedly of this
species.

Dr Lyon on Hereditary Transmission. 253

Of the above five sets, sets 3, 4, and 5 are in E. R. Alston’s
possession; set 1 in Feilden’s and my collection; set 2 in
collection of Rev. C. M. Jones, Connecticut, U.S. One of
Alston’s sets went to Dr Crowfoot of Beccles, Suffolk. In all
there were twenty-three eggs, one of set 5 having been broken.

The measurements of six of the eggs are as follows:

2 in. 4 lines by 1 in. 8 lines, in mus. Dr Crowfoot.

2 » 2 ” by 1 29 8 29 29 29

mae 4. byl ,, 6k ,, », . R. Alston—almost pyriform.
wae, byl ,, 74 > », Feildenand Harvie-Brown—round oval.
maa yy byl ., 6 ,, » Rev. C. M. Jones—regular oval.
2,,14,, byl ,, 6 ,, same set as second last mentioned. Last laid

egg of the set, smaller, and more oval than
the others of the same set.

I was informed by another party of the unusual numbers of
lemmings (Lemmus Norvegicus) in 1872, it having been a
regular lemming year, which accounted for this unusual
irruption of the snowy owl and of the rough-legged buzzard
(Archibuteo lagopus) so far south as 61° N. lat. Even in 1871,
when Alston and I collected in Norway, lemmings were far
from scarce, and we caught and preserved various specimens.

In the bis, 1865, p. 335, the first nest obtained in the
Scandinavian peninsula, as far as known, with the exception
of those recorded by Herr Lilljeborg Corfvers (K. Vet-Akad,
Forhand, 1844, p. 212), is taken notice of, as having been
obtained by Wheelwright—the old bushman—from some
Lapps.

Il. On Hereditary Transmission. By F. W. Lyon, Esq., M.D.

It is an interesting thing to wander through a picture
gallery hung with portraits of the ancestors of an ancient
family, and seek to trace out among them some resemblance
either to those who lived in a former generation or flourished
ata later age. I was, for several years, the resident physician
in a very old and wealthy family in one of the western
counties of England. The house was built in the time of the
fourth Henry; the estate and it came into the possession
of the present family in the reign of Elizabeth, and they have
lived in it from that time until now. There is a grand old
hall there hung about with arms and armour used by the

VOL. IV. as

254 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

retainers of the old family, and a gallery filled with their
portraits. There is one portrait there—it is that of the inheri-
tor of the property in Elizabeth’s time—on which I used
frequently to look with much interest from the peculiar char-
acter of the eyes. I will not venture to describe them
beyond observing that they not only looked at you, but, as it
were, into you. There is not in that gallery a single portrait
with a similar eye. The portraits of two sons hung by the
side of the father, but they have not the father’s eye. The
portrait of the father of the present proprietor is there also,
but he has not the eye of his ancestor, but curiously enough
the present proprietor has the eye of the ancestor, to whom I
have referred, as distinctly marked as if the eyes in the portrait
had been painted for his eyes. It always appeared strange to
me that a feature so peculiarly and distinctly marked shouid
have slumbered, as it were, through so many generations, and
have cropped up now. There is the portrait of a lady painted
by Sir P. Lely, which, if the dress were altered, would be
an excellent likeness of the eldest daughter of one of the
brothers of the present proprietor ; and one of a gentleman of
the time of George II. resembles most markedly a son of a
sister of the same gentleman—here there are family likenesses
issuing both on the male and female side. I know a family,
the father of which had the lobe of each ear peculiarly formed,
it was quite flat, as if one had taken a ball of putty and
squeezed it flat between two boards; he had a son and three
daughters, the eldest daughter alone had her father’s ears.
The son married, had a daughter, his first-born, then a son;
the son had exactly the ears of his grandfather. A very old
friend of mine, now no more, had at times a very peculiar
expression of the mouth, so singular that no one could fail to
observe it. He had a /éason with a lady, and the result was
ason. The child wasill. I was asked by my friend to see it;
while examining the child, I observed that he had at times
the exact expression of mouth to which I have referred in my
friend. I was not acquainted with the lady before, but she,
doubtless, knew of the friendship between the gentleman and
myself, and as he had had some misgiving of the lady’s good
faith—in other words, he doubted his paternity—which she

>t

Dr Lyon on Hereditary Transmission. 255

might think he had told me also, said to me, “ Who do you
think baby is like?” “Oh,” said I, “I do not know; I always
think all babies are alike.” I saw that boy several months after
in his father’s house, and saw the same expression of mouth,
and said to my friend, “ There is no doubt, in my mind, of that
being your child, he has that occasional remarkable character-
istic expression of your mouth.” I was examining a man in
Guy’s Hospital one day. On feeling his pulse, I found a ridge
_ of bone like the union of an old fracture about the lower fourth
of the radius. I said, “ You have broken your arm some day.”
“No,” said he, “that lump was always there. My daughter
has exactly the same.” She was by the bedside visiting her
father. I found in her arm a repeat of that I had observed
in her father’s. Mr Wordsworth showed, at the Medical
Society of London in January last, six persons belonging to
one family, with an abnormal position of the crystalline lens
in each eye—they were the mother, two of her sons, and three
of their children. The mother stated that her father and her
grandfather were all similarly affected; if this be so, there are
ten cases occurring in five generations. They all complained
of being short-sighted, and on examination by the ophthalmo-
scope the edge of the lens was visible in the pupil.

Aman named Zerah Colburn,anative of Vermont, N. America,
came to London in the early part of the present century, and
was publicly exhibited for an extraordinary power he possessed.
of arithmetical calculation from memory. He had five fingers
and a thumb on each hand, and six toes on each foot. He
was examined by the late Sir Antony Carlisle, and made the
subject of a communication to the Royal Society, and pub-
lished in the Philosophical Transactions for 1813. Sir
Antony has traced there Zerah’s genealogy to his great-
grandfather, adding that they do not possess any knowledge
of ancestors beyond that time.

The genealogy is curious as showing the reproduction of
this redundancy of parts, issuing alike from the male and
female side. The great-grandfather, a normally-formed man,
marries a woman with an excess of fingers and toes on her
hands and feet; they have issue, a daughter, whose feet and
one hand have an excess of toes and fingers. She marries a

256 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

man with the normal number of fingers and toes; they have
four children, each one having more or less an excess of
toes and fingers. One of these, a man with hands and feet
formed exactly like his grandmother (five fingers and a thumb
on each hand, six toes on each foot), marries a woman with
normally-formed hands and feet; they have eight children,
four of whom have hands and feet with a normal number of
fingers and toes; the remaining four have an excess. The
hereditary propagation of peculiarities is a curious subject,
and all family resemblances, however trifling they may
appear to ordinary persons, are interesting to the physiologist.
Whether they may be received at any time in a medico-
legal question as indications of value in assisting to deter-
mine a disputed title, or the possession of an estate, I know
not, but I do think they are valuable. If I found some
peculiarity in a person resembling that of one from whom he
was claiming a descent, and my opinion was asked about the
question, I should have no hesitation in expressing an
opinion, that to my mind there was but small doubt of the
certainty of his descent.

GREEN: KENDALL.
A man normally | She has 5 fingers and a thumb on
formed. each hand, and 6 toes on each foot.
ABIGAIL, daughter. Ten other children, all of them having
One hand natural, the other 5 fingers and a thumb on each hand, and
and both feet like her mother. 6 toes on each foot.
DAVID COLBURN, marries ABIGAIL GREEN.

a man normally formed. |

ABIAH COLBURN. A Son. One Son and one Daughter a
5 fingers and a thumb on One hand normal, the with 5 fingers and a thumb ri
each hand, and 6 toes on other, 5 fingers and a on each hand, and 6 toes
each foot. thumb; one foot normal, on each foot.

the other, 6 toes.

ABIAH COLBURN: a Woman normally formed.

| Twins. | |
|
GREEN CoL-_ Betsy C. ZIBINA DAVID. JONATHAN. ZERAH. Mary C. Engas C.
BURN. Handsand CoLpurN. MHandsand 5 fingers 5 fingers Handsand Handsand
One foot feet nor- 5fingers feet nor- and a and a feet nor- feet nor-
normal, the mal. anda mal. thumb on thumb on mal. . mal.
other with thumb on eachhand, eachhand,
6 toes; 5 each hand, 6 toes on 6 toes on
fingers and 6 toes on each foot. each foot:
a thumb on each foot. the calcu-
each hand. lator.

Mr Gibson on the Skull of a Narwhal. 257

II]. On the Skull of a Narwhal (Monodon monoceros, Linn.),
with two fully-developed Tusks. By JOHN Gipson, Esq.

The author, after referring to the dentition of the Cetacea
in general, and of the narwhal in particular, drew attention
to the occasional presence in the male of two fully-developed
tusks. That these are of rare occurrence may be gathered
from the fewness of the bidental skulls which are known to
exist, notwithstanding the assertions of whaling captains that
they occasionally see such specimens from their ships. The
appearance to which they refer may, as has been suggested, be
due to the presence of two male narwhals in close proximity
to each other, their tusks alone being visible above water.
According to a recent authority, there were in 1871 only nine
authentic specimens known in Continental collections, four of
which were in Copenhagen. In Great Britain there were only -
two—a complete skeleton, with bidental skull, in Cambridge
University Museum, the right tusk of which measured 6 ft. 1 in.
in length, and 8? in. in girth at the outer edge of the socket;
and the left tusk, 6 ft. 7 in. in length, and 9} in. in girth.
The shorter tusk had evidently been broken at the tip, so
that probably the tusks had been originally of about equal
length. The other British specimen was that of a young
narwhal in the Hull Museum, in which the left tusk measured
20 in. in length, and the right tusk 3 in., exclusive of the
portion within the skull. During a recent visit to the
museum in Dundee, the author had his attention drawn to a
splendid bidental skull which had been shortly before pre-
_ sented to that institution by Captain Graville of the “Camper-
down,” who had obtained it in the seal fishery grounds off the
coast of Greenland. The following are the measurements of
this, the only specimen of the kind in Scotland, for which I
am indebted to the kindness of Mr J. Maclauchlan, the
curator of the Dundee Museum :

Total length of skull, exclusive of tusks, . . F oP ft‘ 102 in:

Greatest breadth across squamosals, . | rae: ae
Breadth at narrowest part where the tusks are adil 0 5¥. Be 55
Length of left tusk, : ; ‘ é 3 VOSS PE ie
- right tusk, P ; F : 1p GR. 07
Girth of left tusk at edge of Gee, Oye F353
” right 9 ” 0, 68 ,,

258 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Soctety.

The tusks at their external origin are only 12 in. apart,
but they widen out to nearly a foot at the tips. The right
tusk, which is a few inches shorter than the other, has been
broken at the tip like the Cambridge specimen, so that the two
tusks were probably at one time of equal length. The spiral
markings in both tusks go from right to left. “A drawing of
the skull was exhibited, as also examples of the rudimentary
tooth of the narwhal, kindly lent by Mr C. W. Peach.

IV. Exhibition of Permo-Carboniferous Polyzoa, collected by
Captain H. W. Feilden, R.A., during the late Arctic
Expedition under Captain Sir G. Nares. By ROBERT
ETHERIDGE, Jun., F.G.S.

Mr Etheridge gave a brief outline of the literature of
Arctic Paleozoic Polyzoa, referring in particular to the works
of Count von Keyserling, Mr J. W. Salter, and Dr F. Toula.
The more important characters of the species exhibited were
dwelt on, and their relation to previously-described forms
pointed out. They appeared to be a mixture of Carboni-
ferous and Permian representative forms, such for instance as
Ramipora Hochstettert, Toula, previously found only in the
Permo-Carboniferous rocks of Spitzbergen, with Polypora
grandis, Toula, from the same horizon and locality ; P. biar-
mica, v. Keyserling, from Petchora Land and Nova Zembla,
with lastly a peculiar and interesting species, Penestella Arctica,
Salter, described in Belcher’s “ Last of the Arctic Voyages,”
from Depot Point. Other and less interesting examples were
also exhibited and briefly described.. The locality is Feilden
Isthmus, lat. 8 2 43 N.

V. On the Occurrence of Prismatic Structure in the Stones of
Scottish Vitrified Forts. By Professor Duns, D.D., New
College. |

It is not intended in this paper to enter at large into ques-
tions relative to the age, or the builders of the vitrified forts of
Scotland, or even as to their use and the mode and materials
of their vitrifaction. These topics, still to a great extent

Prismatic Structure in Stones of Scottish Vitrified Forts. 259

speculative, lie rather in the department of archeology than
in the branches embraced by this Society. The object I have
chiefly in view is to direct attention to the phenomena of
prismatic structure, so definitely characteristic of many of
their stones. I bear in mind throughout that this is not the
first time the subject has been under the notice of the Society.
But it seems to me of some importance that a fuller record
should be made of the phenomena there referred to, than the
note given in on that occasion, the more so that a somewhat
full suite of examples are now at hand to illustrate remarks.
In 1777, Mr John Williams, who describes himself as a
“mineral engineer,’ published a pamphlet entitled, “An
Account of some remarkable Ancient Ruins lately Discovered
in the Highlands of Scotland.” Williams, while referring to
some forts of less importance, chiefly describes that of Knock-
farrel, Ross-shire. ‘‘ Wishing a name,” he says, “to add
authority to his paper,” he wrote to Henry Howe, Lord Kames,
very quaintly : “My Lord,—Above a year ago, a copy of my
paper concerning vitrified forts was sent to London to be dis-
posed of to the booksellers, but they looked upon it as a fic-
tion. The subject is both singular and extraordinary. How-
ever, I have advanced nothing in my narrative but what is
strictly true, except such passages as are professedly conjec-
tural. I offer the public this brief specimen of the ruins of
the vitrified forts and drystone conical structures.
As your lordship’s name is so well known in the literary
world, a few lines from your pen will add authority to my
paper, and remove the discouragements to publication, which
arise from my being so little known.” Lord Kames wrote the
next day: “Sir,—I think it is every man’s duty to do justice
to merit, whether he have a name or not in the literary
world. And, as far as my evidence can go, I give you leave
to say to the world that I have long known you to be an
honest man, and that your veracity may be depended on. I
willingly add my opinion that your discovery of buildings
cemented by fire is a curious fact that ought to make a figure
in the history of art. The vitrified forts you mention must
have been erected before mortar was known in Scotland; and
it is a notable instance of the extraordinary shifts people were

260 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

reduced to in the infancy of the arts. This discovery of yours
will serve to detect an error that several ingenious naturalists
have fallen into, of burning mountains found in Scotland,
verified, they say, by the burnt remains still to be traced. I
suspect that these remains are no other than the débris of the
vitrified forts you mention.”

The only remark called for here concerns the opinion that
the forts must have been erected before mortar was known.
Most writers who have referred to these forts, in the course of
the last hundred years, have repeated this opinion of Lord
Kames; but the inference is not warranted. All that the
employment of vitrifaction entitles us to say is, that it was
found most suitable for the locality where the fort was erected.
Mortar may or may not have been used contemporaneously
with this process. The value of Williams’s pamphlet is
enhanced by the publication in the appendix of a description
of “Craig Patrick,” by James Watt, and a letter to Williams
from Black the chemist. Watt says of the materials, that
they “greatly resemble the cinders or clinkers produced in a
lime-kiln, being in some parts a vitrified, spongy mass, with a
glossy surface ; and, in other places, when it has been broke
into for a small depth, you may see calcined, though unvitri-
fied, matters mixed in large pieces among the spongy slag. It
is evidently the native rock vitrified; and the granite parts
seem to be the only ones which have come into fusion, and
have formed the slag.” Black points out the fusible quality
of whinstone and granite, of coarse limestone, of “pudden
stone” and sandstone, when they contain certain proportions
of iron. He adds, “As the whole country was anciently a
forest, and the greater part of it overgrown with wood, it is
easy to understand how those who erected these works got
the materials necessary for their purpose.” Macculloch, in
his “ Western Isles,” describes the vitrified forts, Dun MacSnio-
chain and Dunadeer, as consisting of easily fusible rocks,
the former being built chiefly of conglomerate, the latter
of stones gathered from the plain containing hornblende in a
black variety of granite. Later we are indebted to Dr J.
Jamieson for a paper on the vitrified fort of Finhaven, and to
the late Dr John Stuart for a summary of opinions concerning

*

Prismatic Structure in Stones of Scottish Vitrified Forts. 261

the mode of vitrifaction. These may be held to exhaust the
literature having direct bearing on the vitrified forts of Scot-
land. There is not the slightest reference in any of these
papers to the prismatic structure in the artificially-calcined
stones. About fourteen years ago I was much struck by it
when on a visit to the vitrified fort at Finhaven, Forfarshire,
in company with the late Mr Crichton, writer, Forfar, on
the farm of whose father the fort stood; the Rev. Richard
Waterstone, Free Church minister, Forfar, now of Glasgow ;
and Mr James K. Martin of Bridgehouse, now of Blackburn
Mill, Linlithgowshire. At that time the facts of prismatic
form were so manifest, that I concluded they must be well
known to observers. It was only when a small fragment was
shown to the Society, on the occasion referred to above, that
it was made clear it was very little known. I then showed
some of my Finhaven specimens. So recently, however, as
about ten days ago, I found that the late Professor Fleming,
my predecessor in the New College Natural Science Chair,
had observed the prisms in these stones. When in search of
some minerals which had been misplaced, I found the speci-
mens now shown which had been marked by Fleming.

The occurrence of prismatic structure in rock masses is
well known. For example, in some of the low trap hills near
Torphichen, Linlithgowshire, it can be seen even on the sur-
face of the rock, suggesting a natural kind of mosaic. Almost
every fragment broken off by the hammer, and even minute
pieces dislodged by weathering, present unsymmetrical penta-
gons. It is not uncommon in other volcanic rocks, and I have
seen it even in coal, at points where a trap dyke penetrated the
seam. The correspondence of natural volcanic with recent
lavas might be very fully illustrated. I now show to the
Society a mass of lava from Etna, showing a very distinct
tendency to prismatic structure. If the grain of this, and of
another specimen from Vesuvius, be compared with two
examples of porphyrite from Dunack, near Oban, the close
resemblance will at once appear. And, looking at basalt, it
should be remembered that the prismatic structure is not to
be traced to crystallisation, but to the fact that compound
melted bodies, when cooling, form prisms in a line at right

262 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

angles to the cooling surface. Of course, the walls of vitrified
forts would first be built of rubble without mortar, in the
same manner as dry stone dykes. They would in this way
contain examples of most, if not of all, the stones in the district
where they were erected. Qn the application of heat all the
stones which contain soda, potash, lime, baryta, etc., would
slag or vitrify. I think it can be made good that in the case
of Knockfarrel, the vitrifying process had been applied to the
building at different stages in the rearing of the wall. What,
however, seems to me of most value here is, that these forts
present appearances which shed a good deal of light on
phenomena which every field geologist has to deal with. Thus,
the influence of heat on some sandstones met with in the
walls of these forts is precisely similar to what meets us in
nature. Here is a bit of sandstone from Hailes Quarry in the
neighbourhood, which exhibits, in a most marked way, the
thin layers of which it is composed. Now, place this along-
side of the gneiss from Stonehaven, the specimen from
Muchalls, Kincardine, marked by Fleming “ gneiss passing
into mica schist,’ and the two or three specimens on the
table from the Finhaven vitrified fort, and it will be almost
impossible to miss the meaning of these in connection with
the influence of heat on the altered specimens, or to mistake
the steps of their geognostic history. Again, a close examina-
tion of the examples from the several forts shows how deep
the prism form penetrates. In one part of a Finhaven speci-
men minute prisms lie at right angles to the top of the stone,
in a way to suggest the impress which a ribbed hemlock
stalk, or the parallel venation of the leaf of some low plant,
would leave on soft clay. But in another part of the same
specimen the prisms present a resemblance in miniature to
the deep foliated structure of Psilomelane, one of the ores of
manganese, now on the table. A specimen from Knockfarrel
presents several tiny tiers of prisms, arranged after the manner
of the gigantic columns of Staffa and the Giant’s Causeway.
IT was much interested at Knockfarrel in the occurrence, here
and there, on the stones of small semi-opalesque blisters. It
was difficult to detach a good specimen, but after many careful
attempts the specimen now shown was obtained. Are we to

Dr Traquair on the Structure of Pycnodont Fishes. 263

look for the explanation of these in the meeting of the silica
present in the vegetable matter heaped on the wall in order
to calcination, with the potash or the soda in the stones ?

The specimens illustrative of prismatic structure now shown
to the Society are from Finhaven, Forfar; Knockfarrel, Ross ;
Dun Mac Nisneachan, Argyle; and Craig Phadrick, Inverness.

VI. On the Structure of Pycnodont Fishes. By Dr R. H.
TRAQUAIR.

In this paper the author gave an account of the peculiar
family of ganoid fishes known as Pycnodontide, and also
took occasion to compare their structure in many points with
that of the Platysomide. The latter family, the author
maintained, are not related to the Pycnodonts, but are, on the
other hand, closely allied to the Palwoniscide.

Wednesday, 17th April 1878.—Dr R. H. Traquair, F.G.S., President,
in the Chair.

The following gentlemen were balloted for, and duly elected Resident
Members :

William Hamilton Beattie, Esq., Architect, 68 George Street ; Alexander
Thomson, Esq., Newbank, Trinity; Francis A. Bringloe, Esq., 75 George
Street ; John Cameron, Esq., 8.S.C., 63 George Street ; Hypolite W. Cor-
nillon, Esq., S.S.C., 67 George Street ; George W. Watson, Esq., 4 Stafford
Street ; John Maclauchlan, Esq., Principal Librarian, Free Library, Dundee.

The following donations to the Library were laid on the table, and thanks
voted to the donors :

1. Proceedings of the Royal Society [London], Vol. XX VII., No. 185.—From
the Society. 2. Journal of the Linnean Society—Zoology, Vol. XIII., No. 72;
Botany, Vol. XVI., No. 95.—From the Society. 3. Proceedings of the Literary
and Philosophical Society of Liverpool, for 1876-77.—\-From the Society. 4.
Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow, Vol. V., Part 2.—From the
Society. 5. Annual Report of the Geologists’ Association [London], for
1877.—From the Association. 6. Annual Address to the Chicago Academy
of Sciences by the President {E. W. Blatchford], 1878.—From the Academy.
7. Boletin del Ministerio de Fomento de la Repablica Mexicana. Seccion
Astronomica, Tomo I., Nam, 87, 88; Tomo II., Nam. 1-27.—From the Central
Meteorological Observatory, Mexico. 8. Medical Examiner, Vol. III., Nos.
112-118.—From the Publishers.

The following communications were read :

264 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

I. Notes on the Marine Denudation of the Friesian Islands.
By Dr Ropert Brown.

For some years past I have devoted a few weeks each
autumn to an examination of the action of the sea on the
Continental shores opposite the British Islands. Either on
foot, in row-boats, or by the ordinary conveyances, I have
surveyed from this point of view most parts of the coast-line
from Holland to Denmark. And though my work is not yet
complete, I think that it may possibly be interesting to the
Society to hear some of the results of this examination. For
this purpose I have selected a few particulars from a good
series of notes, some of which I published from time to time
in a series of letters to the editor of the Scotsman, and which
are still lying unprinted in my note-books. This study

rendered it compulsory on me not only to examine the actual .

coast, but to study the numerous records of the different
invasions of the sea, and compare the writings of the chroni-
clers with what we actually see at the present time of the
remains of the catastrophes described by them. This I dis-
covered at an early stage of my work was very necessary, in
so far that the descriptions which are published in the
ordinary works on physical geography—especially English
books, without an exception—are not only incomplete, but
erroneous and misleading. On the low sandy coast of Ger-
many and Holland the action of the sea is unmarked. Hol-
land is indeed, as all the world knows, simply protected from
the inroads of the German Ocean either by dykes or sand-
banks, both of which are sometimes broken through. On
the shores of the Zuyder Zee the fight between sea and land
is especially evident in the ruined ports and “dead cities,”
once most populous centres of commerce in the Middle Ages,
but which are now deserted, owing to the harbours being
shoaled up. But it is on the chain of outlying islands that
we see the deadly action of the sea most marked.

From the Dutch to the Danish coast, off the mainland,
there lies a breastwork of islands. They commence with
Texel, near the northern point of Holland, and are continued

Dry Brown on Marine Denudation of the Friesian Islands. 265

north by means of Vlieland, Noordvaander, Ter Schelling,
Ameland, Scheermounik Oog, Bosch, and Rottum, as the
- connecting links of the chain. Along the German coast lie
in a line, only broken by narrow, intervening straits, Borkum,
Juist, Norderney, Baltrum, Langeoog, Spiekeroog, and Wan-
geroog. Then comes a break in the chain, at the Jahde and
the estuary of the Weser, until seaward, and nearly opposite
the mouth of the Elbe lies one of the smallest of them all,
viz., Heligoland, which flies the English flag. There are no
more of them until we reach the Schleswig coast at Husum.,
Here commences a region of broken islands, the line of con-
tinuity being, however, continued northward in’ Fohr, Sylt,
Rom6, Mano, Sonderhé, and Fano, off the Jutland shores.
North of the Eider and south of Jutland, the islands are
known as the North Friesian group; those off the shores of
East Friesland are the East Friesian Islands, while the Dutch
ones are sometimes called the West Friesian Islands. All are
more or less inhabited by the same race, those ancient Fries-
ians, whose name bulks so largely in early German and
Dutch history, and who seem to have had a peculiar
liking for settling on the wildest, least accessible, and most
maritime regions they could seize. It is only recently that
they were agriculturists to any extent, but they have been
always seafaring men, and at an earlier date pirates, and,
some will even hint yet, when a favourable opportunity
occurs “strandlaiifers ”—7.e. shore-loafers, or wreckers. In-
deed, a brilliant law, passed during the Danish régime, gave a
considerable impetus to knocking the unfortunate castaway
mariners on the head. It was ordained that nobody was to
possess any right in wreck washed ashore, so long as the
owner appeared to claim it. Asa matter of course, the owner
did not often appear on the scene! From time immemorial
these islands have been little by little, and sometimes by
huge pieces, decreasing in size. The sea is daily nibbling at
them, and tossing acre after acre into the ocean from whence
they arose. When the tide goes out, far as the eye can see
there is laid bare extensive mud flats, at high water only
covered by a few inches or at most a foot or two of sea,
These flats, which, roughly speaking, represent the land which

266 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

the sea has overwhelmed, are known as the “ Wattenmeer,”
and figure greatly in Friesian story.

But what the sea takes away from the islands, it is gradu-
ally adding to the mainland. Take, for instance, the main-
land opposite Sylt, the largest of all these islands. At one
time Tondern was a seaport. But it suffered so terribly from
inroads of the sea, that a dyke was built along the line of the
outer coast. The result is, that the town is now six miles
from the sea, and Hoyer is the village nearest the water.
But even Hoyer is getting inland. The land destroyed in the
Friesian Islands is swept up against this great bulwark, so
that when the tide goes out, a marshy, grassy flat, stretching
seaward for half a mile,is laid bare. At high water it is
covered, but so slightly, that, though a canal has been cut
through it, so as to allow boats or light draught vessels to
approach the dyke, yet this canal at full tide has only five
feet of water in it. By-and-by this “ Wattenmeer” will be
laid bare at all states of the tide, and then the land will be
“marsch,” only to be protected from inroads of the sea by
building another dyke farther to the west. Eiderstedt was
at one time composed of three islands. By a process of
dyking, these three are only consolidated into one peninsula.
But this wearing away of the islands, though certain eventu-
ally to sweep those which are undyked into the sea, is as
nothing to the mighty inundations of the past. In addition
to the islands named, there are in the southernmost portion
of the Friesian group, near Eiderstedt—the south-western
peninsula of Schleswig— Oland, Nordmarsch - Langeness,
Appelland, Grode, Habel, Behnshallig, Hamburger Hallig,
Hooge, Norderoog, Siideroog, Siidfall, Nordstrandischmoor,
Pohnshallig (almost disappeared), Nordstrand, and Pellworm.
All of these are inhabited, some of them only by one family ;
but with the exception of Nordstrand and Pellworm, none of
them are dyked, and hence are frequently inundated, and
sometimes covered by the sea. The undyked islets are
locally known as ‘‘Hallige”—the plural of “ Hallig;” and
the inhabitants the “ Halligers.”

Two centuries and a half ago, these Hallige and the other
islets in their vicinity did not exist; or, more strictly speak-

Dr Brown on Marine Denudation of the Friesian Islands. 267

ing, they existed, but not in the form of islets. They formed
portion of a large island lying off the coast of Eiderstedt,
called Nordstrand. At one time it was united to the main-
land, and indeed as late as the thirteenth century was
alternately united and separated according to the whims of
that sea with which it was ever at war. But at the time
when our tale begins, it was a large islet, separated from the
mainland by a strait—thickly populated by Friesians, speak-
ing their own ancient tongue, and exceeding rich in flocks
and herds, mills and farms. They had suffered in times past
from inundations, but at the time we speak of, the island was
protected on its weakest shores by dykes. So the Nord-
stranders ate and drank, fiddled and danced, married and
gave in marriage, as it was before the flood. In 1216, 100,000
cattle had perished in these islands by inroads of the sea. It
was in that year that a great portion of Heligoland was
destroyed. But all danger of such a catastrophe was believed
to be past. The 10th of October 1634 was a day so remark-
ably calm, that a foreboding seized the inhabitants that some-
thing strange was about to happen. Next day was Sunday,
and they were in church. About the middle of the day the
sea, which should have been ebbing, rapidly rose, and attained
a height unprecedented in the annals of the island. Still
they hoped and believed that the dykes would bear the
strain. But almost simultaneously these bulwarks gave way,
and in a few moments the sea broke in. By ten o'clock at
night all was over. The dyke had broken in forty-four
places. The sea had divided Nordstrand into the two largest
islands, known now as Nordstrand and Pellworm, and the
fifteen Hallige which I have already mentioned. Of the
population of old Nordstrand, 6200 were drowned, and in
addition 50,000 head of sheep and cattle, thirteen mills, and
many churches were swept into the sea, leaving in some cases
not a trace behind them. The flood was experienced along
the whole coast, and especially in the neighbouring “ Amt”
of Tondern in Sleswig, where great destruction was caused.
Altogether in the Cymbrian Peninsula, from Holstein to
Skagen in Jutland, it was calculated that upwards of 15,000
human beings perished by this terrible victory of the sea

268 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

over the land. Some of the Nordstrand people managed to
reach Fohr, where their descendants to this day form a con-
siderable portion of the population. But the memory of
their advent is still preserved by the peculiar dialect of
Friesian which they speak, and by the name of “ Wiecklinge”
—or “people who have fled ’””—applied to them by the other
inhabitants of the island. Just now, half of the village of
Wyk and the whole of Nieblum are peopled by these
“Wiecklinge.” After the flood had subsided, some of the
people returned and commenced the world anew. But others
of the new-old islets remained uninhabited until settlers from
Holland lighted on them, and immediately, with their usual
industry, set to work to dyke them, and generally to extract
food out of the sand and mud. Nordstrand and Pellworm
especially were affected by these Hollanders. Hence these
two islands form an exception to the others, in so far that in
them Platt-deutsch, and not Friesian, is the language of the
inhabitants.

About the same time, it may be added, the Lyme-fjord in
Jutland was opened, so that vessels could sail from the
German Ocean into the Kattegat. Husum, which was the
mainland market-town for the Friesians before this great
catastrophe, was at that time a prosperous city, and even
excited the jealousy of Hamburg. It is now a dull enough
place, with none to do it reverence.

The undyked Hallige are exposed to the whole force of the
sea, and are year by year decreasing; and so are necessarily
the inhabitants. In 1847 they numbered, on the fifteen
islets, 672 souls; in 1867 they were only 531.

These Hallige and all the other Friesian Islands were once
much nearer each other than now. Indeed, the larger ones
were at one time a continental mass. Some time in the
thirteenth century—the chroniclers relate, though I will not
vouch for it—the people from some of the Hallige used to go
on foot to church at Fohr when the tide was out. Between
Fohr and Nordmarsh-Langeness, the whole strait was laid
bare at low water except one place, and across this the people
used to pass on a bridge made of a horse’s bones which had
got jammed into the puddle. In these old Friesian chronicles

<<

Dr Brown on Marine Denudation of the Friesian Islands. 269

we find much about the English, though some of the notices
are very mysterious. For instance, about the date I have
mentioned, Christianity got established among the Friesians,
though they were always reverting to the worship of Odin,
and more particularly to that of Fossita or Freya (for Fossita
was only her priestess) on Heligoland. Then arrived an
English architect, or “ Baumeister,’ to erect churches to
accommodate the new converts. This gentleman—name
unknown—is said to have ridden on horseback from one
island to another. All the medieval historians are full of
records of floods—in fact, piracy, floods, and fighting fill the
annals over which I spent the wet days and the lengthening
nights of last autumn. Everything seems to have been
arranged for the future, as in some of the islands is yet the
case, with the proviso of “ barring floods.”

You are often close upon some of these Hallige before they
can be seen, so little are they raised above the sea. None of
them are more than six feet above the “ Wattenmeer” around
them; few are elevated half that height. Every year they
are wearing away on all sides, except on the eastern shores.
Little canals are also being here and there dug into them by
the tide, the end of which generally is that the tiny islet
splits into two smaller ones, and eventually becomes a mere
sandbank, hated by the seamen whose infrequent keels plough
this solitary part of the German Ocean. It is calculated,
judging from a map of 1713, that the Hallige, taken together,
have decreased by one-half in the last 160 years. Two of
that period (Kingstness and Hainshallig) have altogether
disappeared, and Behnshallig is fast going. The soil on all of
them is a rich clayey marsh, except on Nordstrandischmoor.
This Hallig, in days prior to the deluge of 1634, formed part
of the Moor of Nordstrand, and for long after that event it
was covered with blaeberry and heather. But necessity com-
pelled the “ Wiecklinge” who fled to it to bring soil from
the mainland, and now the old heath is almost covered up
with marsh, owing to the sapping of the tide. Under the
peat and sand are, however, traces of ditches and the plough,
pointing to a period regarding which history has left us no

record. Such are the Hallige—strange enough in themselves
VOL. IV. 2¢

270 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

and in their origin. But the houses built on them, and the
people who live in them—a sad race—are still more curious.
“ Frisia non cantat,” writes an old historian ; and, considering
its perilous existence and many misfortunes, it would be
rather remarkable if Friesland did sing.

The history of the inhabitants does not, however, come
within my limits. I may, however, be allowed to say that
these “ Hallige” vary in size. Some of these—very few—are
so large that they comprise a hamlet of fifteen houses, a
church, and even a graveyard. But most of them are so small
that one or two houses, with the grass for a dwarf cow or
a sheep, is about all that they can afford room for. In all of
them the houses are built on “ werfts,” or artificial mounds of
clay, stones, etc., so as to raise the house above the reach of
ordinary tides. This is not, however, always possible, and
not unfrequently the house is swept away, the inhabitants
escaping in their boats when the sea is not too rough. Butif
the “werft” is not destroyed, they will return and rear their
house anew. They are, as might be expected, about the most
primitive people in all Europe, but hospitable to an embar-
rassing degree, and fond of seeing visitors who will risk a voy-
age and a wade to their stray homes in the sea.

The soil of some of the islands is rich, but the people are
afraid to disturb it lest the sea shall thereby gain an advan-
tage. Moreover, the Halliger always lives in terror lest he
should sow what he would never reap. Few of the islets
escape being covered by the sea once or twice a year, but
some of the smaller ones are partially inundated every spring-
tide. These islets are believed to be sinking, not by the
gradual submergence of the land, such as is going on in the
shore of Sweden, but by the sea undermining the sandy
foundations of the islands, and so allowing them to sink.
There is naturally no turf on the Hallige, and if there were,
the people would be afraid to dig it. They could not burn up
their country. Accordingly, the droppings of their cattle,
mixed with clay, and sun dried, constitute their only fuel.
And this, like the fodder of their cattle, is carefully stored up
in the “loft” of their houses, so as to be out of reach of
“Shining Hans,” as they call their sleepless enemy—the sea,

ett ae re Be et

Dr Brown on Marine Denudation of the Friesian Islands, 2'71

After the destruction of Nordstrand, the church of Nord-
strandischmoor, with the neighbouring graveyard, was just
within the destroyed part of that portion of the island.
When the inhabitants returned, they petitioned the Duke of
Gottorp (an extinct twig of the Schleswig-Holstein stock who
then ruled them) for means to erect their church anew. His
Serene Highness graciously gave them permission to have a
church and a parson, and, touching the cost of the ecclesiasti-
cal establishment, suggested that they should sell the ruins of
the old church in order to get funds to build the new one,
and that the parson might be paid by the sale of the old
tombstones! Submerged churchyards are common all over
the destroyed districts. Between the Hamburger Hallig and
the mainland there is an extensive old burial ground, where
a brisk business is done in fishing up the old tombstones—
generally made of sandstone, and of an elaborate description.
Indeed, as the strait between the mainland and this Hallig is
very shallow, it is proposed to dyke off the water and drain
the intervening space, for no other purpose than to allow the
tombstones to be recovered with greater ease. Tombstones
are indeed used in those parts for the most temporal of pur-
poses. I lived for some time in a house where the doorstep
was one of these memorials of the departed islanders. It
might be improving, but was, to say the least of it, not cheer-
ful to be daily reminded that “ Hier ruhet was gewesen, Hen-
ning Eschels, geboren 1623,” his three “frauen” and thirteen
“kinder.” The Friesians, though speaking their own language
whilst living, always insist on being treated to a little Ger-
man when dead. On the western side of Sylt there is also a
sunken land, which got so gradually sanded up, that the last
time the church was used the congregation crept in by the
window, and the parson stood on a sandbank in front of the
altar. This was carrying the joke too far. Accordingly, the
sea stopped all such nonsense, and in the course of the week
took possession of the church and churchyard. For long,
however, the steeple stood above the surface, and the bell
rang dolefully as the waves beat against it, until it was
stolen by some sacrilegious sailors passing by. In the Hallig
of Oland the graveyard is on the same werft as the houses.

272 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

In 1825 the sea dug out all the coffins, and scattered the
bones of the dead. The inhabitants thereupon engaged an
old man to collect them, paying him for his trouble by pre-
senting him with the wood of the old coffins. In Gréde
during a storm the coffins floated in at the windows of the
houses. ;

That many of these islands will eventually disappear can
be hardly doubtful. Indeed, in Friesian tradition, there are
many weird tales of sailors returning to their homes after
long voyages, and failing to find the Hallige and the werft
which they had left.

Heligoland is, perhaps, the most remarkable, and certainly
the best known of the Friesian Islands. Every one who has
sailed up the Elbe must have noticed it as the first land seen
after leaving Scotland. Its red keuper cliffs are very marked,
and in frowning cliffs or rock Heligoland differs from most of
the other islands, which are, from the greater part, made up of
sand. Heligoland is really two islands—the Rock Island and
the Sand one. The Rock Island is the one on which the town
is built. It is 5880 feet in its greatest length, its cireumfer-
ence is 15,000 feet, its average height 198 feet, while the
highest point is 216, and the greatest breadth 1845 feet, the
island sloping from west to east. The Sand Island is about
200 feet above the sea at its highest point, but the drifting
sand and the constant inroads of the sea make this height
rather variable. This “dune” or Sand Island is about a
quarter of a mile east of the rock or main island. It is only
about half a mile in length, and a little less in breadth. Now,
no subject is a more stock one in all books on geology and
physical geography than the destruction of Heligoland. We
have maps of the island in the Middle Ages which certainly
show it very much larger than now. Leaving out of all
account the fact that the ancient chroniclers were not in all
cases to be relied upon, especially when they were natives of
the countries they were describing. I think, after a very care-
ful study of probably everything of any consequence which has
been written on Heligoland, and an exhaustive examination
of the islands during a stay on them of a considerable portion
of an autumn, that there has been an entire misreading of the

Dr Brown on Marine Denudation of the Friesian Islands. 273

old historians. Allowing what they say to have been true,
it does not at all follow that it was the Rock Island which
was so large. On the contrary, I do not think that there
is a tittle of evidence to show that the Rock Island was ever
very much larger than it is just now, at least in historical
periods. It might have extended as far as the rocks under
the water—“ the foundation of the island,” as the natives call
them—which can be seen for a few yards from the shore all
around it, but no more. On the other hand, there is every
ground for believing that the Sand Island was within very
recent periods very much larger than it is at present,
though the Heligoland tradition that in some remote
period it was connected with the Mainland, is very doubtful.
Up to the year 1720 the Sand Island was joined to the Rock
Island by a line of rock and rubbish, known as de waal (the
wall), but in that year it was swept away by the sea, and
ever since, the distance between the two islands has been
increasing. I send a photograph of an old engraving showing
the two islands united by de waal, which formed such a
breakwater against the North Sea, that many ships could
take shelter behind it. There seems little doubt that it was
on this Sand Island that the numerous churches and other
edifices which the old historians, such as Adam of Bremen and
Pontanus, tell us of, and that it is the gradual destruction, still
going on, of this and not of the Rock Island, which has given
rise to the persistent popular, but I think erroneous, impres-
sions on the subject. It must, of course, be acknowleged that
parts of the cliffs are every now and then falling. But these
encroachments of the sea are trifling, and have been kept
a record of from a very early period. Around the shores
are many caves and isolated masses of rocks, which are
remnants of the ocean’s work. But this is what we can
see on any part of the shores of countries exposed to the
fury of the North Sea. In conclusion, I may add that I have
frequently seen it stated that rabbits, by undermining the
cliffs, and thus assisting the marine denudation, are rapidly
destroying Heligoland. In reply, I can only say, firstly, that
Heligoland (proper) is not being destroyed; secondly, that
rabbits are in no way assisting in the work of destruction,

274 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

for the all sufficient reason, that there are not now, and never
were, any rabbits on Heligoland.

II. On the Geology of the Island of Unst. By JoHNn HORNE,
Esq., F.G.S. (of H.M. Geological Survey of Scotland).

The island of Unst is the northmost of the group of the
Shetland Isles, and measures about twelve miles in length,
and about five miles in breadth. It is separated from the
adjacent island of Yell by the narrow Blue Mull Sound.
The western portion of the island consists of a ridge of high
ground called the Vallafield range, running nearly north and
south, and more or less parallel with the strike of the under-
lying rocks; its highest elevation being about 697 feet. As
the ridge is followed southwards to Belmont, it sinks in
height, and rolls with a gently undulating slope towards the
shore. This ridge is planted on the east by a hollow which
crosses the island from Burra Fiord to Belmont, in the line
of which lie several lochs, viz., the Loch of Cliff, Loch Watlea,
and the Belmont Lochs. In the north-eastern portion of the
island lies a group of heathery hills, the highest of which is
the Saxafiord Hill (938 feet). To the south of this mass, and
between Haroldswick Bay and the south end of Loch Cliff,
run the Heog Hills, which are upwards of 400 feet in height
by aneroid measurement. The ground round Balta Sound,
and westwards to Baliasta Kirk, is low lying and cultivated
in part, but southwards towards Uya Sound, a distance of
four miles, the district is moory, and only a thin covering of
turf conceals the underlying rocks. There is a marked con-
trast between the physical features of the island between
Haroldswick Bay and Uya Sound, and those presented in
the more elevated tracts. We shall see presently that this is
due to a corresponding difference in the lithological character
of the rocks in the respective areas. The coast line round
the western and northern portions of the island is rugged,
forming in places precipitous cliffs, the most imposing being
met with in the neighbourhood of the Flugea lighthouse.

(feological Structure.—The Vallafield range, already referred

Mr Horne on the Geology of the Island of Unst. 278

to, consists of different varieties of gneissose rocks, the strike
of the beds varying from 10° to 30° to the east of north and
west of south. This persistent strike has determined the
direction of the ridge of high ground. The same relation
between the trend of the ridge-shaped hills and the strike of
the strata is observable in the island of Yell, and also in the
Mainland; the escarpments of the ridges facing the east,
while the gentler slope is inclined to the west. The gneissose
rocks are admirably seen in the sea-cliffs and in the streams
draining the Vallafield range. The common variety is
micaceous-gneiss, consisting of quartz, felspar, and mica;
the felspar being very abundant. The mica is sometimes
replaced by hornblende to such an extent, that the rock
may be more fitly termed hornblendic-gneiss. These meta-
morphic rocks are intersected with numerous veins of granite
and pink orthoclase felspar and quartz. Along the eastern
slope of the range the beds dip from 10° to 20° to the south
of east, but in many places westerly dips prevail.

The group of hills round Saxafiord, of which the latter hill is
the highest elevation, is composed of different materials. They
are mostly round dome-shaped masses, with a comparatively
smooth contour, and possessing a tolerably thick covering of
peat. The rocks consist of thin flaggy micaceous and talcose
schists, the strike of the beds being identical with that of the
eneissose rocks to the west, viz., from 10° to 20° to the east
of north, while the dip is mostly from 10° to 20° to the south
of east.

Bands of limestone occur at the south-western margin of
these schistose rocks along the line of the Loch of Cliff, while
other calcareous bands are noted by Dr Hibbert as occurring
at the south-west point of Unst, and in the island of Linga.

The long hollow which extends from Belmont northwards
by Loch Watlea to the Loch of Cliff, is approximately the
western boundary line between the gneissose rocks of Valla-
field and the great mass of serpentine of Heog and Gallow
Hills. From thence the line sweeps in a north-easterly
direction round the northern margin of the Heog Hills to the
Norwich Bay. This rock is admirably seen on the Heog
Hills, where it is exposed on the top and flanks of the ridge,

276 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

weathering with a rusty brown crust. The contrast between
the mode of weathering of the serpentine and the gneissose
rocks would strike the most casual observer. The Heog
ridge presents a bare sterile appearance, the scanty nature of
the vegetation being due to the character of the rock. It is
now generally admitted by petrologists that serpentine is a
truly metamorphic rock, which has been developed by the
alteration of some pre-existing mass. It is a hydrated silicate
of magnesia of a fine grained texture, and is usually associated
with steatite, carbonate of lime, diallage, and other substances.
Near the Loch of Cliff, and along the north side of the Heog
Hills, I observed several instances of the talcose schists
gradually assuming a serpentinous character, and eventually
merging into serpentine. It is of importance to note that
talc becomes very abundant in places near the edge of the
serpentine area as at Norwich Bay. Like the well-known
Portsoy serpentine, that of Unst varies in colour from a
green to a reddish brown. This variation in colour has been
attributed to “the proportion and degree of the oxidation of
the iron which it contains.” ‘The serpentine of Unst has long
been famous for the chromate of iron which it contains, which
was first discovered by Dr Hibbert, to whose zealous labours
we are likewise indebted for the first description of the
geological structure of the Shetland Isles. This ore has been
worked in the Heog Hills and near Haroldswick Bay. The
chromate of iron is disseminated through the rock, and in
places it becomes so abundant as to constitute an important
ingredient init. Nevertheless, this ore occurs after the manner
of a vein, the great masses being in the form of what Cornish~
miners call “bunches,” but the name conveys the impression
of amplifications on an elsewhere thinner mass. In Unst the
vein, as actual chromate of iron, cannot be seen to pass from
one “bunch” to the other, but the two sides of the sheathing
mineral can be traced. Near Buness also the vein throws off
at least one continuous offset, which, maintaining a diverse
course, must be held to indicate the vein nature of the larger
mass.

To the south-east of the great mass of serpentine occurs the
diallage rock of the Ford Hill.

Mr Horne on the Geology of the Island of Unst. 277

Glaciation— Abundant proofs are to be found in the island
of the intense abrasion to which it has been subjected by ice-
action. The planed surfaces of the gneissose rocks on the
Vallafield range where the covering of peat has been worn
away, and exposed them to view, the mammillated slopes of
the Heogs, and the numerous roches moutonneés met with in
the low lying parts, point to the same conclusion. From the
appearance of the roches moutonneés in Haroldswick Bay, it
seemed to me that the ice which glaciated Unst must have
crossed the island from east to west. Unfortunately stricz
are not plentiful, which is easily accounted for in the serpen-
tine area, by the rapid disintegration of the rock by the atmo-
spheric waste. In the quarries at Hagdale, near Haroldswick,
however, about a hundred yards from the public road, I
found a capitally striated surface. The ice-markings point
8° south of west; and from their position with reference to
the Heog Hills, it is evident that they must have been pro-
duced by some agent acting independently of the isle. Mr
C. W. Peach has recorded strize from the same neighbour-
hood, running N.N.W. magnetic, which, after deducting 23°
for the magnetic variation, is about due east and west.

Boulder clays, Erratics.—The boulder clays met with in the
isle are spread out chiefly over the low grounds in an irregu-
lar form, and occasionally they assume the drum-shaped
arrangement so characteristic of the low lying districts of the
south of Scotland. The deposit consists of a stiff, gritty clay,
charged with smoothed and subangular stones of various
sizes, and occasionally measuring three feet across. Sections
of this deposit are to be met with along the shore at Balta
Sound, in pits between Buness and the Loch of Cliff, along
the Baliasta Burn, at Loch Watlea, near Belmont, and along
the shores of Uya Sound. My attention was specially
directed to the district between Balta Sound and the Valla-
field ridge, in order to determine the carry of the stones in the
moraine profonde. Fortunately the wide difference between
the serpentine and the gneissose rocks was of the greatest
service in helping to decide the direction of the ice movement.
The evidence from this source fully confirmed the conclusions
already arrived at, from a consideration of the roches moutonneés

278 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

and the ice markings. Along the shores of Balta Sound the
boulder clay is a tough, blue and yellow, stony clay, packed
with stones almost entirely of serpentine. The larger blocks
are beautifully striated. On the low ground from Buness
towards Baliasta Kirk the same deposit is traceable at inter-
vals, occurring in irregular patches, and possessing the same
general character. At the south-east corner of the Loch of
Cliff the limit of the serpentine is reached. In a quarry
at the roadside near the head of the voe, grey decomposing
schistose rocks crop out on the right-hand side of section.
Reposing on these rocks on the left side of section, a thin
deposit of till is met with, crammed with serpentine stones.
Crossing the bridge which spans the Vallafield Burn, a little
way above Loch Cliff, at the road side, grey decomposing schists
are again met with; and at the north end of section there is
an exposure of stiff, stony elay with serpentine stones, while
the clayey matrix is formed of the pounded-up schistose rocks
whichlie underneath. About two hundredyards along the same
road running westwards toward a farmhouse, another quarry
is dug in stony boulder clay. The most of the stones in this
deposit likewise consist of serpentine, with a small proportion
of quartz rock and grey schist. About a hundred yards still
farther west, at the road side, there is a good exposure of
coarse micaceous-gneiss dipping E. 20 S., at an angle of 20°.
There is no drift seen in this quarry, but near this point on
both sides of the road there are small sections of boulder clay
with scratched stones. The small stones, and, in fact, the
clayey matrix, are made up of the underlying schists, but the
larger blocks about six inches long consist of serpentine. I~
could find no serpentine in place in the neighbourhood,
except to the east of the Vallafield Burn, and it is evident,
therefore, that the ice which glaciated Unst must have crossed
the island from east to west, rolling its bottom moraine west-
wards from the area occupied by the serpentine, on to the track
of the gneissose rocks.

We are led to the same conclusion by the evidence fur-
nished by the erratic blocks. In the valley west of Baliasta
Kirk, where the boulder clay sections above described occur,
blocks of serpentine can be traced at intervals westwards to

Mr Horne on the Geology of the Island of Unst. 279

the col at the head of the valley, draining into Woodwick
Bay, on the west side of the island. Near the farmhouse
west of the head of Loch Cliff, a triangular-shaped block of
this rock is met with, five feet long and three feet broad at
the base, and partly concealed. Again, on the hill face, on
the south side of this col, blocks of serpentine are found lying
on the surface. And so also on the hill slope west of Loch
Watlea, and on the ground west of the Belmont Lochs, I
observed similar boulders of serpentine.

Lochs and Voes—The chain of lochs which crosses the
island from Burra Fiord to Belmont has been already referred
to. The two lakes at Belmont and Loch Watlea are drift
dammed lochs, but the Loch of Cliff must have been at one time
connected, and must have formed a part of Burra Fiord. The
Loch of Cliff, which is about two miles long, is separated from
the Burra Fiord, which is about three miles long, by a narrow
patch of alluvium. Two little streams from the east and west
drain their waters from the hill slopes into the little alluvial
flat which has evidently been formed by the sand and gravel
brought down by the streams. The line of the old sea-cliff is
well marked on the east side of the alluvial flat, which tends
to confirm the supposition that Loch Cliff and Burra Voe have
been separated at no distant date.

In the island of Unst we search in vain for the great series
of gravels which attain such a remarkable development in
Scotland. There is likewise no trace of the old sea-beaches
which indicate the rise of the land in recent geological times.
The drift slopes along the sides of the voes or sea-lochs in
Unst and the other Shetland Isles, are admirably adapted for
their preservation. It would appear, therefore, that the
Shetland Isles did not share in the same earth movements as
the mainland of Scotland which gave rise to those marine
terraces.

We have seen that in the island of Unst the ice movement
took place from east to west, as indicated by the roches
moutonneés, striations, the stones in the boulder clay, and
erratic blocks. This seems to be a remarkable confirmation
of the conclusions of my colleague Dr Croll, to which he had
been led by a consideration of the size of the Scandinavian

280 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

ice-sheet, and the origin of the Caithness boulder clay con-
taining marine shells. We have recently been furnished with
an estimate of the thickness of the ice in Sogne Fiord during
the period of extreme cold by Amund Helland. He estimates
the minimum thickness at 6000 feet at that particular point,
and when we remember that the average depth of the German
Ocean is not much more than 240 feet, we can readily under-
- stand how such a mass of ice could never have floated between
Scotland and Norway. The ice-sheet would move westwards
till it found water deep enough to break up the mass, in other
words to the 100 fathom line which lies to the west of the
Shetland Isles. We conclude, therefore, that during their
primary glaciation the Shetland Isles were glaciated by
Norwegian ice.

Further south, in the Mainland, which is by far the largest
of the Shetland Isles, all traces of this ancient glaciation have
been well nigh effaced by a local ice-sheet, which lingered
about the islands long after the Scandinavian glaciers had
retreated to their own fastnesses. And this 1s what might
naturally be expected, in spite of the contour of the land,
when we consider the high latitude of the islands. Palzeonto-
logical evidence assures us that the advent of the ice age was
not abrupt, but more or less gradual, and the retreat of the
glaciers would be marked by the same gradual change. We
may naturally suppose then, that during this recession of the
oreat glaciers, a local sheet clung for centuries to the Main-
land accumulating a moraine profonde peculiarly its own.
Then as the climatic conditions gradually ameliorated, this
local sheet eventually gave place to small valley glaciers with
their heaps of rubbish and perched blocks.

Ill. Notes on Actinia mesembryanthemum, taken from a Rock
Pool at North Berwick by the late Sir John Graham
Dalyell in August 1828. By James M‘Bain, M.D.,
R.N. (The living specimen and young were exhibited.)

The complete life-history of an animal or plant is the
ultimate aim and end of biological science. To attain this
end, however, in its entirety is, perhaps, impossible ; and it

|
;
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Dr M‘Bain’s Notes on Actinia mesembryanthemum. 281

is only by the labour of many observers that a more or less
satisfactory approximation to the solution of this interesting
problem can be hopefully looked for. A general outline of
the life-history of an actinia or sea-anemone, kept in captivity
for a period of fifty years, and still alive, surrounded with its
progeny of the second generation, is in itself noteworthy, and
highly interesting to naturalists. And it occurred to me that
the last meeting of the 107th Session of the Royal Physical
Society would be a fit and convenient opportunity to exhibit
the living specimen, along with several living individuals of
the first and second generation.

My first acquaintance with this Actinia was in 1846. It
was at that time living in Great King Street, and had been
in the possession of Sir John Graham Dalyell for eighteen
years. He had then nearly completed his great work “On
Rare and Remarkable Animals,” and I saw the plates and
figures of the actinia in MS. It was never exhibited in
public, so far as I am aware, during his life-time. It was
shown by Dr Fleming to his class in the New College, with
the significant caution, “ Oculis non manibus.” It went with
me to the meeting of the British Association at Aberdeen,
1859, when the late Prince Consort presided, and was ex-
hibited in the zoological section. It was exhibited at a con-
versazione of the Medico-Chirurgical Society, 1872. And
in this room, four years ago, at a meeting of “ The Edinburgh
Naturalists’ Field Club.” This is the fifth time only, to my
knowledge, the specimen has been exhibited in public. It is
highly sensitive to physical impressions; it may be also, for
anything I know, to moral ones. To give it the benefit of
the doubt, therefore, I hope it will meet a friendly reception.
The few remarks I have to make will consist chiefly of
observations made on this actinia by Sir John Graham
Dalyell, with some additional notes on the birth and number
of its offspring since his time.

This celebrated specimen is well known in the world of
science, as also to a wide circle of non-scientific friends; and
a portion of its domestic life has been recorded by several
eminent writers on natural history both at home and abroad.
The familiar name of “Granny” has been conferred on it, to

282 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

which it has long been well entitled, as the facts about to be
related in reference to the propagation and perpetuation of
the race will sufficiently prove. Its domestic history may be
conveniently divided into three parts, corresponding to the
periods of time it has been in the possession of each of its
three successive custodians.

The first possessor of this actinia was the late Sir John
Graham Dalyell—the modern Spallanzani—a well-deserved
compliment paid to him by Professor Owen for his original
and valuable contributions to the lfe-history of many of the
invertebrate group of the animal kingdom. In Sir John
Graham Dalyell’s great work entitled, “Rare and Remarkable
Animals of Scotland Represented from Living Subjects, with
Practical Observations on their Nature,’ published in 1848,
in two volumes, there will be found in vol. i1., chap. x., under
“Actinia, the Animal-Flower,” an interesting description of
the genus. The chapter contains the life-history of the actinia
now exhibited, extending from 1828 to 1848, the year in
which the work was published. The original observations
and experiments made by Sir John Graham Dalyell on it are
illustrated by numerous plates and figures, in which the facts
observed are faithfully and artistically delineated. Of his
first acquaintance with this now celebrated animal, the
author makes the following statement: “I took a specimen
of Actinia mesembryanthenum in August 1828, at North
Berwick, where the species is abundant among the crevices

of the rocks, and in the pools remaining still replenished

after the recess of the tide. It was originally very fine,
though not of the largest size; and I computed from com-
parison with those bred in my possession, that it must have
been at least seven years old.

“During two months, and afterwards, it continued in great
vigour and of ample dimensions, being at that time delineated
in plate 45, vol. il.

“While considering such animals mature, we must allow
that their organisation receives subsequent accessions, nor
can I say at what period, certainly a distant one, they cease
to grow. Firmly affixed by the spreading base, the dise of
this species is expanded above, and begirt by a triple row of

Dy M‘Bain’s Notes on Actinia mesembryanthemum. 283

tentacula, each extending an inch. Their number augments
with age, and hence at the latest period of observation they
had amounted to about a hundred in twenty years. The
whole are unequally divided among the three rows, the inner
row being composed of fewest, but they are the largest. At
the external root of the tentacula of the outer row, there is a
number of apparently solid tubercles; each, however, is
pierced by an orifice, which opens and ‘dalaken ae
sometime after the animal has fed.”

On the variation of colour he remarks: “The colour of this
‘species might mislead the most experienced observer, nor
shall I speak too positively on the subject. It appears to
me, that, taking the widest latitude, it may possibly range,
through the medium of varieties, from liver-brown to fine
and vivid vermilion, that the former belongs to the ordinary
and more common portion of the tribe, that the specimens so
distinguished have purple tubercles, the base surrounded by
a purple. ring, and that a purple line or patch from the disc
penetrates each of the opposite sides of the mouth. On the
other hand, those characterised by vermilion colour have
- pure white tubercles resembling a row of pearls, and are
without any other distinctive marks. In the first, or more
common variety, the skin of the adult is liver-brown; but in
the earlier stages, the colour is lighter, and the surface of the
animal is sprinkled with fine, oval, green specks in longi-
tudinal rows, which remain conspicuous for three or four
years at least. They are best seen after exuviation; for when
the animal has cast his skin the new surface is clearer,
whereas they become altogether obliterated with age. The
under surface of the base is always green.

Duration of life in this species— This actinia must be
deemed a long-lived animal. Naturalists, indeed, as if desirous
of proportioning the existence of most animals to the tran-
science of their own observations, are too prone to abridge
that to which a longer period is allotted among the humbler
orders. The specimen still surviving, cannot be much
under thirty years old. Another, which must have been of
equal size with it when taken, has lived thirteen or fourteen
years in my possession. Therefore, both being yet in great

284 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

vigour, and likely to survive, the actinia must be judged a
long-lived animal.”

On reproduction he adds, this species is a genuine her-
maphrodite, and also viviparous. It produces its young
by the mouth. The body of the parent is then greatly
compressed, and to judge by appearances, it suffers in
genuine labour. As the half-digested food is disgorged by
the mouth—not without an effort—we may presume that
in consequence, the young are sometimes disgorged along
with it. The specimen having had a copious meal of an
embryo skate, taken from the capsule, retained the food
during twenty-four hours, when it was rejected, together with
a numerous brood of thirty-eight young actiniz, some of them
very large. The period of gestation is long, and apparently
arbitrary. Embryos have appeared in the tentacula five
months preceding birth; and eight months have intervened
between the production of successive broods.

The vessel containing the specimen having been emptied
on May 23d, it was replenished within an hour. Then
the actinia contracted partly, the tentacula dwindled down,
and the mouth projected considerably from the circum-
scribed disc. Thus did the specimen appear soon after
replenishment. Now a large foetus was observed within the
orifice ; it advanced slowly, but none of the tentacula were
visible; there seemed to be some adhesion of the side, whereon
it lay in horizontal position, not by the base. As the young
animal was farther advanced, it turned round, but still lay on
the side. Four tentacula appeared, next another, and when
still on the margin of the orifice, five could be enumerated.
It was gradually detached, and having at length hung by a
single tentaculum, dropped to the bottom of the vessel on its
base. The nascent actinia fixed there almost immediately,
and the complement of tentacula seemed, in a few minutes,
to be eighteen. It was of large dimensions, and of a dull
reddish colour. Parturition here occupied fifteen or twenty
minutes.

A tip of a gravid tentaculum was excised from the same
specimen on July 25th, and put into a watch-glass with sea-
water; and next day a foetus was expelled from it. It adhered

Dr M‘Bain’s Notes on Actinia mesembryanthemum. 285

the day after, displaying twelve very irregular tentacula. It
fed on the 9th of August, and on the 12th it was delineated
in plate 47, figs. 4,5, and 6. After fifteen months it gave
birth to several young, and had a progeny of sixty-four young
ones when four years old. An embryo of the actinia, there-
fore, extracted artificially from the parent may survive
uninjured, and prove prolific.

The specimen delineated in plate 45 has given birth to 334
young actinia in the course of twenty years, but has only
produced forty-one during the last thirteen years, and in
some of the births, only a single individual. A very long
period, therefore, sometimes intervenes without progeny, or
many young may be produced within a limited season.

Feeding certainly promotes fertility.

Nearly the fortieth part of the 334 young consisted of
monstrous animals—by redundancy rather than defect. Not
so frequent in its later offspring as among the earlier. One
had two mouths of unequal dimensions in the same disc, each
mouth fed independently, and the system seemed to derive
benefit from either. In three years this monster, which was
a fine specimen, displayed its tentacula in four rows, not in
three, as in normal specimens; the tubercles were twenty-
eight, and of a vivid purple. It had produced twenty-eight
young, the first brood when fifteen months old, and it sur-
vived within a month of five years (plate 47, fig. 3).

Another form of monstrosity consisted of two bodies
united; four of this kind were produced by the same actinia,
and survived ten years.

Although the colour of the actinia is not dependent on
the season, it is subject to alteration, either from the state
of the skin, or from other causes. The aged specimen
was rather reddish-brown when taken; it underwent suc-
cessive modifications; and at that period, 1848, when I
conclude it could not be under thirty years old, it was rather
of a dull greenish cast, the tubercles blue, the purple ring at
the base narrow and faint. From the facility of operations,
and particularly from admitting the means of removal in
general, by simply pouring the water off most specimens,
from their feeding and breeding so readily, this species

VOL. IV. 2D

286 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

is peculiarly adapted for the study of the inquisitive
naturalist.

Sir John G. Dalyell died in June 1851, and his famous
actinia was transferred to the custody of the late Dr
John Fleming, Professor of Natural Science, New College,
Edinburgh. While under his care two remarkable events
occurred in its life-history. The first was serious and
alarming. The room in which it was kept, had under-
gone a process of cleaning and painting; and it was con-
jectured that some deleterious substance had found access
into the glass jar, and that the precious actinia had been
poisoned. I was hastily summoned to prescribe, and the
actinia certainly appeared to be in a hopeless condition,
but by removal to a more sanitary apartment and frequent
renewal of pure sea-water, it was soon, happily, restored to
its wonted health and safety. The next incident was of a
different nature and highly satisfactory. In the spring of
1857, after remaining unproductive for many years, it, in the
course of a single night, gave birth to a progeny of 240
living young actinie. None of them, so far as I know, ever
reached maturity.

This actinia was greatly prized by Dr Fleming. After
his death, which occurred on 18th November 1857, Mrs
Fleming handed it over to my care, and the actinia is still
kept in the same small glass jar in which it lived with
its former owners. The Dalyellian actinia has now been
in my possession twenty years and five months. For
nearly fifteen years after coming under my care, it was
unproductive, but in August 1872, it afforded a second
surprise, by producing a brood of thirty living young
actiniz varying from a pin-head to six or eight times the
s1ze.

On 9th December 1872, it gave birth to nine living young
ones, which were exhibited with it at the “Jubilee Chroni-
con” of the Medico-Chirurgical Society the next evening.
Each year since then, it has produced living young varying
in number from five to twenty at a birth. The last brood
were extruded ten days ago, and are here exhibited.

I compute, that during the last seven years, this animal has

Dr M‘Bain’s Notes on Actinia mesembryanthemum. 287

given birth to upwards of 150 living young actinie. None
of them have shown any tendency to monstrosity.

On 22d March 1873, I presented Miss Frances Hope of
Wardie with two of the nine actiniz produced by “ Granny”
on 9th December 1872, which were exhibited at the conver-
sazione of the Medico-Chirurgical Society. The two actiniz
were put into a separate glass vessel, and fed once a week,
sometimes oftener, with small portions of mussel (Mytilus
edulis), and afterwards supplied with pure sea-water.

This method was persevered in for a period of four years.
In the absence of Miss F. Hope, their wants were strictly
attended to by Miss Reid, whose careful attention has much
conduced to the successful result of the object in view. The
experiment was to ascertain whether a well-regulated plan
of feeding, and a frequent supply of aérated sea-water to
its offspring, produced in her later years, might prove
them to be as fertile and productive as they were in the
early days of its domestic life. The result has justified the
expectation, and rewarded the constant care and attention
that has been bestowed on these actiniz.

On ist March 1877, a young actinia was observed in the
glass vessel, soon followed by others at uncertain intervals,
and they now amount to upwards of twenty. Two are here
exhibited. The specimens at Wardie, of which these are the
offspring, are equal in size to the parent—the colour
liver-brown, but brighter than it is at the present time.
The tint, however, agrees with her as delineated in plate 45,
fig. 1,in “Rare and Remarkable Animals of Scotland,” and
with the description of the specimen when taken from its
native habitat at North Berwick. The brightness of colour,
doubtless, depends upon the condition of the pigment
corpuscles. Two actiniz produced by “ Granny’s” offspring
are now subjected to the same careful attention and mode of
treatment by Miss Frances Hope at Wardie; and it is
anticipated, that at the expiration of four years, perhaps
sooner, the experiment may prove equally successful.

It is an interesting sight to see the old actinia during
the act of taking food. A bit of mussel or other organic
substance, on approaching within reach of the tentacula, is

288 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

instantly grasped and carried with unerring precision to the
oral aperture. The cesophagal portion of the stomach, easily
recognised by its longitudinal plice, whitish colour, and
semi-translucency, is gradually extruded, and the morsel of
food slowly disappears. Two brilliant turquoise-like tubercles
are now seen at each edge of the oval-shaped orifice of the
mouth. They are slightly larger than those surrounding the
base of the tentacula, and each has a minute yellow spot at
the junction of the cesophagal ring. Whether these pig-
mentary tubercles are subservient to the function of vision
is at present uncertain. The oral aperture is distinctly oval,
indicating bilateral symmetry in the actinic, as exhibited
in living specimens at a meeting of this Society by our late
distinguished Fellow, Dr Thos. 8. Wright, in 1856, and pub-
lished in the Proceedings of the Society, vol. 1, p. 168.

No distinct nervous system has been as yet satisfactorily
traced in the actinize. The definite movements from the
stimulus of food and other agents seem to point to special
lines of nerve force, which recent experiments, so ably con-
ducted by Mr Romanes, have shown to exist in their allied
congeners, the meduse. This physiological problem, how-
ever, with details of the anatomical structure, histology, and
classification, is beyond the scope of the present notes, which
are simply meant to record the general outline of the life-
history of the Dalyellian actinia from its captivity in 1828
to 1878, a long period of fifty years.

IV. Note on the Occurrence of the Stockdove (Columba eenas) in
the South of Perthshire. By JOHN J. DALGLEISH, Esq.
(Specimens were exhibited.)

The stockdove (Columba wnas),although common in some
parts of England, such as Norfolk and Suffolk, where it is
found breeding in rabbit burrows, has not, except in one or
perhaps two instances, been hitherto recorded from Scotland.
The first of these is in a “ List of Birds of Caithness,” by the
late Dr Sinclair of Wick, which was communicated to this
Society by R. J. Shearer, Esq., and published in the Proceed-

Mr Dalgleish on Stockdove in South of Perthshire. 289

ings (vol. ii., p. 334). -The last-named gentleman there states,
that all of the birds in the list were obtained or preserved by
Dr Sinclair, with a few exceptions noted, among which the
stockdove does not appear; but as no date, locality, or other
particulars are given, beyond the words, “very rare,” placed
after the name in the list, this occurrence must be, at the least,
considered very doubtful. The only other recorded instance
is to be found in Mr Gray’s “ Birds of the West of Scotland,”
where, after also throwing an air of doubt around the Caith-
ness specimen, the author mentions—on the authority of Mr
W. Reid of Pultneytown, Wick, who had seen the bird—that
one was shot at Deerness in Orkney, on 12th October 1861.
The above are the only two records which I have heen able to
find of the occurrence of this bird in Scotland, while both
M‘Gillivray and Yarrell state that it is not found there.

The two instances which I have now to record are both
quite recent, and have taken place in the same locality, viz.,
in the Culross, or southern district of Perthshire, a detached
and purely lowland portion of that country. The first was
shot at Tulliallan, in the parish of the same name, by Mr
Millar, gamekeeper there, on the 27th of last month, and the
other, which is the bird now before you, was shot on my pro-
perty of Westgrange, in the parish of Culross, by Mr John
Livingstone, gamekeeper. The former has, I believe, been
presented to the Museum of the Alloa Society of Natural
Science. In both cases, these birds were shot when feeding
on newly sown grain fields in company with woodpigeons,
and as the localities are very near each other, it is possible
that they may have been a mated pair. I have not ascer-
tained the sex of the Tulliallan specimen. That now before
youisamale. From the slight resemblance which the bird
bears at first sight to a young woodpigeon, it is quite possible
that it may have occurred more frequently in Scotland without
being observed, and, as I understand, that its range is extend-
ing northwards, it having, according to Mr Dresser, been found
breeding in Northumberland, it may perhaps be looked for as
a casual visitor more often in future.

The stockdove, like many of the pigeons, being a bird of at
least partially migratory habits, is in Dorset and some of the

290 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

south-western counties of England only known as a winter
visitant.

It usually breeds in the hollow of a tree, and sometimes
among ivy ; but, as above mentioned, it is in some localities
found nesting in rabbit warrens. It nests early, and produces
two, sometimes three, broods annually.

V. Dr Joun Atex. Situ exhibited various Ethnological
Objects from the Fiji Islands. These were recently received
from Fiji by his friend, Mr William Mitchell. They consist of
a series of the short wooden clubs with bulbous extremities,
and their slender handles ornamented with carving. Speci-
mens of the curious hand-made pottery of different colours,
which distinguish Fiji from all the eastward South Sea
Islands. Some of these are formed of two or more round,
or oval, ornamented vessels joined together, with their
handles meeting above; others are simple, and of all sizes and
shapes for ordinary purposes. They are glazed when hot
with a kind of pine resin. A large wig of human hair. Mr
Thomas Williams, the missionary, in his account of Fiji
(1858), says the Fijian delights and excels in wig-making, an
art which seems to be unknown to the other islanders. Neck-
laces made of long and narrow-pointed rib-bones, strung
together, were also exhibited, as well as specimens of the
root of the grog-tree, or intoxicating pepper-tree ( Peper
methysticwm), from which the “ kava” drink is made.

Also specimens of the beautiful red-spotted crab (Carpilius
maculatus) from the Pemuto Islands, near Tahiti. It measures
43 inches across, by 4 from back to front. Ltc., ete.

VI. Note of a Large Common Trout (Salmo fario?) taken in the
River Tay. (Specimen exhibited.) By JoHn ALEX.
SmitH, M.D.

This large trout was killed in the Tay in Glendochart in
July 1877. It had red and black spots, and the abdominal
fins bordered with yellow. It weighed 17 lbs., and measured

Dr Smith's Note of a Large Common Trout. 291

38 inches in length. The stomach was quite empty. The
fish was sent to me for exhibition from Mr Sanderson, taxi-
dermist. His assistant, Mr Keddie, informed me that, many
years ago when he was engaged fishing with the net in the
mouth or estuary of the river Eden, within the tidal range of
the sea, near St Andrews he caught numbers of sea-trout or
bull-trout (Salmo trutia). He also frequently caught speci-
mens of the common trout, the brown and yellow trout with red
and black spots and yellow fins, varying from 2 to 25 Ibs. in
weight, about the species of which he could not be mistaken,
and he says that many of these fish had parasites attached
to them; he therefore considers this trout may also migrate
to the sea, when it can get the opportunity to do so.

Dr A. Giinther, in his “ Catalogue of Fishes,’ divides the
common trout into two varieties—the Salmo fario, var. gat-
mardi, the northern Scandinavian or Scottish trout, and
Salmo fario, var. ausonit, the more southern European, or
English trout. Iam not able to say to which of these varie-
ties the fish now exhibited may belong, as I did not get an
examination made of it when fresh.

Mr Keddie gave me notes of several large trout; another
from the Tay, a common trout, the brown or yellow trout,
was taken in April 1875; it weighed 11 lbs., and measured
30 inches in length. Other trouts were the great lake trout,
Salmo ferox, killed in Loch Rannoch in June 1872; one
weighed 17 lbs., and measured in length 31 inches; one
weighed 15 lbs., length 32 inches. Another killed in August
weighed 11 Ibs., length 25 inches. Remains of small trout
were found in the stomachs of several of these fish. The
varieties of weight as compared with the length show the
different states of condition of the fish.

VII. Note of a Common Heron, Ardea cinerea, killed by a
Water-rat. By JOHN ALEXANDER SmiITH, M.D.

Dr Smith exhibited a specimen of the common heron,
which was found dead, on the 6th April 1878, by the side of
a small stream in the grounds of the Hirsel, near Coldstream,
in the position in which it is now preserved. Its neck and

292 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

wings are stretched out, and legs extended backwards, and the
hinder part of a large water-rat protrudes from its widely-
opened bill. The heron had attempted to swallow the large
water-rat head foremost, and was suffocated in consequence.
Yarrell in his “ British Birds” figures one found dead with its
beak piercing the head of an eel, the body of which was twisted
round the bird’s neck, and thus strangled it.

The bird exhibited was stuffed by William Hope, George
Street, and is the property of the Earl of Home.

Notrt.—The following paper, read at the meeting of 19th
December 1877, was received too late for insertion in its
proper place.

Notes on a New Compound of Uranium. By J. HUNTER, Esq.

Any research which adds to our rapidly increasing stock of
chemical facts is worthy of every acknowledgment, and the
results of that research ought to be welcomed not only by
the scientist, but by every one who has any interest in human
progress. The discovery, or even a reliable description, of a
new chemical compound may imply a new branch of trade;
it may create employment for hundreds; and, as has often
been the case, it may lead to other and greater discoveries,
and thus swell the tide of knowledge, which is day by day
sapping the very foundations of empiricism and ignorance.

It is, therefore, with very great pleasure that I bring before
the Society a few notes regarding the preparation, and some
of the properties, of a new salt of uranium.

Mr Stillman, who, so far as I know, has been the first to
describe this new uranium compound of which I am about
to speak, appears to have gone to work carefully and con-
scientiously; and, with one single exception, his modus
operandi is almost faultless.

First, the preparation. The uranium used in the investi-
gation was in the uranic state as hydrated uranic oxide, con-
taining alkali and other impurities, from which it had, by a
series of operations, to be freed, and uranoso uranic oxide

=.)

ee ee ee —— Se ee.

Mr Hunter's Notes on a New Compound of Uranium. 293

obtained in a state of purity. The mixed oxide was then
dissolved in sulphuric acid, and the uranic sulphate thus
formed reduced to the uranous state by mixing it with water
and alcohol, and exposing the resultant solution in a stop-
pered bottle to the action of the sun’s rays. The alcohol—
which by this process is itself changed into aldehyde—con-
verts the uranic salt into the uranous form, the solution
changing from a rich yellow to a dark-green colour; and
from this solution the dark-brown uranous hydrate was
obtained by the addition of ammonia. This hydrate, after
being thoroughly washed with distilled water, was dissolved
in hot oxalic acid; the liquid so obtained, on being slightly
concentrated, deposited a dark-green crystalline powder, whose
composition was ascertained by a series of very carefully
performed analyses to be that of uranous oxalate, which is
the chief subject of this paper.

The crystals of uranous oxalate are described as being
cubical plates, and homogeneous in character, and their com-
position is as follows:

Uranous oxide, : . 5162 ~=—-51°39
Oxalic acid, . : : ‘ 33°98 34°30
Water (dried at a temp. of 140° C.), , 14°38 14°38

Their solubility in cold water is one part in 2000, and in
warm water it is about one part in 685; but this latter
result must be taken with some reservation, because the
solution possessed a yellow colour, showing some change in
composition.

Our knowledge of uranium and its compounds is not by
any means complete; but that that condition should obtain
is not to be wondered at, when we have it stated in one of
our best works in chemical literature that uranium is com-
pletely precipitated from uranic solutions by ammonia. It
may, therefore, be pardonable in me if, to-night, I give to
this Society a short resumé of the principal oxides and com-
pounds of uranium, and their uses.

Uranium was first discovered by Klaproth, and owes its
name to the fact that Herschel—for whom Klaproth professed
profound admiration and respect—had in the same year, viz.,

294 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

1786, discovered a planet to which the name Uranium had
been given. Prior to this date the most common occurring
ore of uranium was considered not as one of that metal, but
of zinc; however, at the period I have just mentioned,
Klaproth came to the rescue, and brought to light an entirely
new element. But even this great chemist was mistaken in
so far as he considered what turned out to be an oxide of the
metal to be the metal itself, and it was not until the year
1840, or more than half a century afterwards, that Peligot
proved what had hitherto been regarded as metallic uranium
to be the protoxide (UO). This ore, which is by far the
most plentiful one of uranium, is found in Cornwall, in
Saxony, and in Bohemia, and is no other than the now
well-known pitchblende, which is essentially uranoso uranic
oxide.

There are, indeed, a number of ores of uranium (such as
uranotantalite, Johannite, Fergusonite, etc.), but the only
other important one is uranite, in which the uranium as
uranic oxide is in combination with phosphoric acid. I in-
tended to have shown to the Society a piece of metallic
uranium, but from the great pressure upon my time, I am
unable so to do, to-night at any rate. Uranium—according
to the process employed for obtaining it—may be of a brown-
black colour, or it may be almost white, and of great metallic
lustre; or as in its compact form, it may strongly resemble
iron or nickel, but it changes pretty readily on exposure to
the air. When heated to a temperature of about 207° C., or
about 400° F., it burns with great splendour, forming by that
process the uranoso uranic oxide.

(At this stage Mr Hunter exhibited and described nearly
all the oxides and salts of uranium, and demonstrated their
characteristic reactions with re-agents.)

I have striven for some days past to prepare a specimen of
this newly described salt, but unfortunately, although our
artificial sources of heat are no doubt very powerful, they do
not possess the property which sunlight does of effecting the
change—along with suitable re-agents—from uranic to uran-
ous compounds. I am consequently unable to exhibit the
uranous oxalate to-night ; but if any member of the Society

Mr Hunters Notes on a New Compound of Uranium. 295

is curious on the subject, I shall be glad to show a specimen
at another meeting.

Uranium is not very extensively used in the arts and
manufactures, and yet where it is employed it is not easily—
if it can be at all—replaced by any substitute. In Germany
a pigment containing copper and uranium is used by paper-
hanging manufacturers; while in this and in other countries
uranium does good service in enamel painting; and in glass-
staining, which is not an unimportant trade now-a-days, it is
questionable if the same fine tints can be produced from any
other material—the protoxide imparting a deep black, and
the sesquioxide a beautifully pale yellow colour.

Its tinctorical power, if I may use the term, is also of
service in the porcelain factory, where a mixture of pitch-
blende is employed in the production of the deep black colour
under the glaze. Then in dyeing also, and in photography,
uranium salts are more or less called into requisition.

In alluding to uranite, I mentioned that in that ore
uranium was in combination with phosphoric acid, and it is
somewhat strange that in the estimation of that very acid
uranium should be of the most importance to the analytical
chemist. In all agricultural countries, and especially old
countries such as our own, where high rents are the order of
the day, farmers are compelled to purchase large quantities of
artificial manures, one of the chief constituents of these being
phosphoric acid. In the purchase, then, of these costly
manures, analytical chemists are largely employed for deter-
mining, along with the other constituents of course, this
valuable phosphoric acid; and, strange though it may
seem to you, there are some men in this country calling
themselves chemists who employ processes for the estimation
of this acid which are as erroneous as they are antiquated.
This may appear to you a small matter, but I may help you
to alter your opinion a little. By the processes to which I
refer, an error of 1 to 10 per cent. will most probably occur.
Now suppose that 60,000 tons are sold, and that there is an
error of even 3 per cent. in the phosphoric acid estimation,
that may represent a sum of £18,000, which is simply a loss
to the country; and when I tell you that Newcastle alone

296 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.

produces, I believe, considerably more than this 60,000 tons
every year, you will easily understand that if we could
ascertain the total amount of artificial manure manufactured
and sold in this country in twelve months, the amount of
money which that would represent would be something
prodigious. Thus, gentlemen, science is prostituted! Now,
however, these guasi-chemists who did not know better, and
also those who did or ought to have known better, but would
not take the time required by a really reliable process, have
no excuse, for—thanks to Klaproth, Peligot, Julet, and others
—we have now a process for estimating phosphoric acid
which gives rapid and tolerably accurate results—I refer to
the volumetric estimation, in which uranium is used in the
form of nitrate.

INDEX.

Acidaspis Graye, 170.

Acrotreta? Nicholsoni? 174.

Actinia mesembryanthemum, notes on,
280.

Adiantites Lindseeeformis, on the oc-
currence of, in strata connected with
the Main Limestone, 245.

Aigialites Cantianus, 150.

Agnostus trinodus, 173.

Alauda arvensis, var. of, 43.

Alcedo Bengalensis, 149.

Anas Americana, 153.

», boschas, 152.

», clangula, 153.

», clypeata, 22, 123, 152.

», galericulata, 153.

», histrionica, 153.

9» Ssponsa, 153.

strepera, 152.

Anser albifrons, 152.

», brachyrhyncus, 151.

os jerus, 152.

», leucopsis, 22.

», paludosus, on a so-called species

of, 249.

», segetum, 152.

Anthus Seebohmi, 81.

Aphrodite hystrix, 40.

Aquila chrysaétos, 209.

Archichthys sulcidens, 134.

Arctic Expedition, 63.

Sa ‘3 exhibition of Per-
mo-Carboniferous Polyzoa col-
lected during, 258.

Arctic rocks and minerals, 66.

Ardea cinerea, 150, 291.

3» comata, 216,

3, goisaga, 150.

Aster palumbarius, 147, 154.

Athene nana, 185.

Auk, little, 134.

Avocet, 151.

Bellerophon expansus, 175.
Bird life during frosts of 1874-75, 86.

Bittern, 151.

Bitumen in limestone, 63.

Bitumen in red sandstone, 63.

Black, W. T., 36, 84, 123.

Black redstart, occurrence of, 142.

Bombycilla garrula, 89.

Botaurus stellaris, 151.

Bournemouth, notice of a recent visit
to the so-called tropical forest re-
mains of Hampshire at, 226.

Brown, Dr R., 28, 63, 65, 264.

Bryce, Dr J., 183, 191.

Budytes citreolus, 82.

Bulimus acutus, 90.

Buteo lagopus, 66, 114, 123, 134, 156.

Buteo vulgaris, 67.

Butterfly, occurrence of S. American,
in Britain, 163.

Buzzard, common, 67.

“5 honey, 66, 114.
- rough- ‘legged, 66, 114, 123,
134, 156.

Calabaria fusca, 55.

Calamoichthys calabaricus, 55.

Calidris arenaria, 83.

Californian rivers, shoaling of, 118.

Candidates, election of, 1, 23, 29, 45,
53, 69, 75, 97, 61, 116, 157, 179,
189, 214, 219, 225, 249, 263.

Carmichael, T. D. G., 159.

Cat, extirpation of kidney in, 230.

Cervus capreolus, 52.

Charadrius morinellus, 115.

Cheirurus trispinosus, 173.

Chemistry, Dr Hall’s new theory of,
23.

Chen hyperborea, 152.

Chessil Bank, remarks on, 123.

Circus weruginosus, 22.

Clotho nassi¢ornis, 56.

Colias edusa, on the occurrence of, in
Scotland, 228.

Colorado Beetle, 52, 219.

Colour, estimation of, in water, 26.

Birds collected by the late Capt. P. | Columba enas, 288.

P. King, 183.

| Conchological notes, 128.

298

Coracius garrula, 22.
Corals, Silurian, in Habbie’s Howe
conglomerate, 50.
Cormorant, 153.
Corvus Japonensis, 148.
Coturnix Japonica, 150.
Crake, Baillon’s, 151.
», spotted, 206.
Crane, Mantchurian, 150.
», White-necked, 150.
Crex Bailloni, 151.
5» porzana, 206.
Crow, Japanese, 148.
Cuckoo, common, 149.
Cuculus canorus, 149.
Cygnus bewickii, 83.
», musicus, 152.
Cypselus caudacutus, 149.
Cyst, membrano-ossific, in mare, 28.

Dafila acuta, 152.
Dalgleish, J. J., 288.
Demodex folliculorum, 231.
Dendraspis angusticeps, 57.
Denudation, on the power of rainfall
in, 220.
Discina Portlocki, 174.
Doryphora decemlineata, 52.
Dotterel, 115.
5% Kentish, 150.
Drinkwater, T. W., 157, 247.
Dromaius Nove-Hollandie, 209.
Duck, harlequin, 153.
mandarin, 153.
scaup, 153.
summer, 153.
,, tufted, 73-153.
Duns, Prof., 40, 48, 52, 54, 117, 180,
258.
Durham, W., 46.

99
99

Eagle, golden, 209.

Edmonston, T., 5.

Egret, little, 150.

Elie, conchological notes made at,
128.

Empusa gougyloides, 42.

Emu, on the successful rearing of, in
Scotland, 209.

Epizootic parasitic diseases, 25.

Etheridge, R., jun., 50, 63, 128, 164,
245, 258.

Fulica gallinuloides, 184.

Falco peregrinus, 66, 147.
», subbuteo, 177
», tinnunculus, 147.

Falcon, peregrine, 67, 147.

Feeding stuffs, notes on the analysis
of, 61.

Ferguson, W., 231.

Index.

Ferns, fossil, 96.
Fishes from Old Calabar, 54.

Fossils in bed of S. Esk River, 57-59.
», Silurian, from Girvan, 164.
Friesian Islands, marine denudation

of, 264.
Fuligula cristata, 73, 153.
- marila, 153.

Gadwall, 152.
Gales, influence on marine life, 130.
Gallinago media, 151.
eS stenura, 151.
Gallinula chloropus, 151.
Garganey, 152.
Geronticus Nippon, 151.
lees J., 52, 58, 99, 163, 183, 209,
257.
Girvan, Silurian fossils from, 164.
Golden-eye, 153.
Goose, bean, 152.
bernicle, 22.
» grey-lag, 152.
», pink-footed, 151.
»» snow, 152.
», white-fronted, 152.
Goosander, 89.
Goshawk, 147-154.
Grampus caught near Granton, 99.
Gray, R., 48, 86, 177, 178, 208, 218,
214, 216.
Grebe, eared, 68.
Grieve, David, 19, 57, 93, 1383, 190,
226.
Grus leucachen, 150.
», montignesia, 150.
Guelph limestones, 45.
Gull, glaucous, 134, 156.
», Sabine’s, 207.

Habbie’s Howe, corals in conglomerate

of, 50.
Haliaétus pelagicus, 147.
Harrier, marsh, 22.
Harvie-Brown, J. A., 81, 142, 250.
Helix arbustorum, var., 99-129.
aspersa, 129.
ericetorum, 90, 179.

», nemoralis, 129.
Herbert, A. B., 73, 100.
Hereditary transmission, 253.
Herodias alba, 150.

3 garzetta, 150.

Heron, common, 150, 291.

» great white, 150.

55 . Might, 150.
on the occurrence of the

squacco, in Scotland, 216.
Hippocampus major, 188.
Hirundo Javanica, 149.
Hobby, 177.
Hoopoe, 115.

99
99

99

Index.

Horne, J., 274.
~ Hunter, J., 61, 179, 292.

Ibis, Japanese, 151.
Insect metamorphosis, 159.
Islay, natural history of, 69.

Japan, birds of, 144.

Kallima inachis, 42.

Kestrel, 147.

King, J. Falconer, 26, 29, 75, 91, 100.
Kingfisher, 149.

Kite, black-winged, 147.

Lanius bucephalus, 148.
»» excubitor, 115.

Lark, on the occurrence of the red-
breasted, in Central America, 214.

Larus brunneicephalus, 154.

» glaucus, 134, 156.

», ththyaétus, 154.

», Islandicus, 60.

»» melanurus, 154.

»» niveus, 154.

», occidentalis, 154.

»» Sabini, 207.
Lepisma, on a species of, 187.
Lestris Buffon, 188.

», Richardsonit, 22.

Library, donations to, 1, 23, 29, 45,
53, 61, 65, 69, 75, 81, 91, 97, 101,
135, 179, 189, 214, 219, 225, 250,
263.

Lingula squamiformis, 59.

Logan, G. (the late), 190.
wea tee Be, ZAR;

Loligo media, 43.

Lyon, Dr F. W., 253.

M‘Bain, Dr J., 1, 280.
M‘Vean, Colin, 144.
Magellan, birds collected in Straits of,
183.
Mallard, 152.
Mare, membrano-ossific cyst in, 28.
Mareca penelope, 153.
Malapterurus Beninensis, 55.
Melville, A. S. (the late), 105.
Merganser, 153.
Mergulus melanoleucos, 134.
Mergus albellus, 83, 155.
9 merganser, 88.
»> serrator, 153.
Milvus melanotis, 147.
Mimicry amongst animals, 53.
Mollusca, notes on, 60.
Monodon monoceros, 257.
Moorhen, 151.
-Motacilla lugens, 148.
Mullus surmuletus, 43.
Mya arenaria, 128.

299

Narwhal, on the skull of, 257.
Nematode worms, 25.
Nicholson, Dr H. A., 45.
Nightingale, 148.
Norway “haddock, 43.
Notes, zoological, 40.
Numenius Australis, 151.

- pheopus, 178.
Nuthatch, 155.

Obituary notices, 3, 102, 190.

Ochils, on the power of rainfall in
denudation, as illustrated by the
ravages of the flood of August 28,
1877, on the, etc., 220.

Orca gladiator, 99.

Organisms, elements of, 117.

Ornithological notes, 66, 114, 123,
134, 154, 206, 209.

Ornithology of Yedo, 144.

Osprey, 147.

Otus brachyotus, 67, 114.

Owl, barn, 208. .

», Japanese, 147.
», SsShort-eared, 67, 114.
»» snowy, 206, 250.

Pagurus bernhardus, 41.
Palophus centaurus, 41.
Pandion haliaétus, 147.
Partridges in South Africa, 85.
Parus ater, 148.
>> cinctus, 82.
», kamschatkensis, 82.
», palustris, 148.
Passer montanus, 148.
Peach, C. W., 60, 63.
Pernis apivorus, 66, 114.
Petschora, ornithology of, 81.
Phalarope, grey, 22.
Phasma, on a species of, 41.
Pheasant, hybrid, 88, 155.
as Diard’s, 149.
Scemmering’ s, 149.
Phosphorite, on a new form found at
Kichinev, with analysis, 247.
Phyllodice laminosa, 40.
Phylloscopus Eversmanni, 82.
va neglectus, 82.
a tristis, 82.
Phasianus Semmeringit, 149.
i versicolor, 149.
Picus Magellanicus, 185.
5, major, 148.
Pinnocaris Lapworthi, 169.
Pintail, 152.
Platalea major, 151.
Podiceps auritus, 68.
» phillippensis, 153.
Polyzoa, exhibition of Permo-Carbon-
iferous, 258.
Presidential addresses, 1, 65, 101, 190.

300

Prismatic structure in vitrified forts,
258.
ees resemblances in animals,

Pele Sees

Psammadromus Hispanicus, notes on,
taken near Kinleith, 218.

Pufinus Anglorum, 213.
an major, 213.

Parves, Dr JG. 99.

Pycnodont fishes, 263.

Pyrameis Huntera, 163.

Quail, Japanese, 150.
Querquedula curcia, 152.
an erecca, 152.

Rainfall, on the power of, in denuda-
tion, 220.

Raised beaches of W. of Scotland, 231.

Rallus aquaticus, 151, 207.

Recurvirostra avocetta, 151.

Reptiles from Old Calabar, 54.

Rhadinichthys Grossarti, 244.

on monensis, 241.
~ on species of, from the
coal measures, 237. .
Wardi, 239.

Rhizodopsis, structure of lower jaw in,
5.

sauroides, 135.
Rhizodus Hibberti, 139.

remains of, at Gilmerton,
133.

ed structure of lower jaw in,
135.

River purification, proposed processes
for, 91.

Roller, 22.

Ruticilla tithys, 142.

Rynchea capensis, 151.

Salmo fario, note of a large common
trout taken in the river Tay, 290.

Salteria primeva, 170.
Sand, magnetic iron, 28.
Sandpiper, Dunlin, 151.

a Temminck’ aya Sly

és thick-billed, 151.
Sazxicola rubicola, 83.
Schizodactylus monstrosus, 42.
Scolopax major, 22.

» rusticola, 151.
Scops Japonicus, 147.
Scrobicularia piperata, 128.
Sea-anemone, the Dalyellian, 280.
Sea-eagle, 147.
Sea, motion of, 77.
Serpentine of Shetland, 97.
Serranus Norvegicus, 43,
Shearwater, greater, 213. .

ie notes on the Manx, 213.

Index.

Shetland, serpentine of, 97.

Shoveler, 22, 123, 152.

Shrike, grey, 115.

», red-backed, 148.

Simpson, J., 187.

Sirex, sp., on a large species of, taken
at Kinleith, 218.

Sitta Europe, 155.

Skirving, R. Scot, 22, 69, 249.

Skua, Buffon’s, 188.

Smew, 155.

Smith, Dr J. A., 22, 66, 88-90, 101,
114, 123, 184, 154, 188, 206, 218,
290, 291.

Snipe, painted, 151.

», solitary, 22.

Society, the early history of the, 7, 19.

Solenocaris solenoides, 167.

Somersetshire, coal for mation of, 93.

South Esk River, fossils in bed of, 57,
59.

Sparrow tree, 148.

Spontaneous combustion, note on, 75.

Spoonbill, 151.

Squatarola helvetica, 83.

Sturnus cineraccus, 148.

Stockdove, on the occurrence of, in
south of Perthshire, 288.

Stark, R. M., 3.

Strix fammea, 208.

Sturnella militaris, 214.

Surmullet, 48.

Surnia nyctea, 206, 250.

Swallow, 149.

Swan, hooper, 152.

Swift, spine-tailed, 149.

Syrnium rufipes, 185.

Tachydromus sex-lineatus, 43.
Taylor, Andrew, 23, 97, 219.
Teal, common, 152.
Tellina Balthica, 128.
Teratodes monticollis, 42.
Tervet, R., 133.
Thrush, brown, 148.

» Naumann’s, 148.
Tit, cole, 148.
»» marsh, 148.
Traquair, Dr R. H., 134, 135, 209,

237, 263.
Tringa alpina, 151.

», erasstrostris, 151.
lobata, 22.

>» minuta, 83.

» subarquata, 83.

» Lemmincku, 251.
Tropical forest, remains of, at Bourne-

mouth, 226.
Trout, common, 290.
Trowbridge, H. T., 118.
Tryxalis nasuta, 42.
Turdus fuscatus, 148.

ae

Index. 301

Turdus Naumanni, 148.
Turrilepas Scotica, 166.
Turtle-dove, 149.
Turtur rupicola, 149.

Unst, on the geology of theisland of, 274.

Upupa epops, 115.

Uranium, notes on a new compound
of, 292.

Vesuvius, great eruption of, 36.
Vitrified forts, prismatic structure of,
258.

Wall papers, arsenic in, 100.
Walley, Principal, 25, 28.
Water, arg of, various methods,
179.
»» estimation of colour in, 26.
»» recent experiments in analysis
of, 157.

VOL. IV.

Water, recent modes of analysis, 29.
»» Suspension of clay in, 46.

Water-rail, 151, 207.

Waxwing, 89.

Weevils, plaster casts destroyed by,
89.

Whimbrel, 178.

Wigeon, American, 153.
na common, 153.

Williams, Principal, 230.

Woodcock, 151.

Woodpecker, great spotted, 148.

Wright, Dr Strethill (the late), 102.

list of works of,
103.

99 9

Yedo, ornithology of, 144.

Zoological notes, 188.
Zoology, the rise and progress of, 9.

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Date of
Election.

1856.
1872.
1856.
1846.
1849.
1877.
1878.
1875.
1873.
1863.
1878.
1878.
1860.
1852.
1876.
1878.
1878.
1878.
1876.
1877.
1858.
1873.
1878.
1857.
1853.
1878.
1874.
1850.
1877.
1857.
1853.
1869.
1869.
1878.
1876.
1864.
1869.

LIST OF FELLOWS.

ORDINARY.

Anderson, John, M.D., Calcutta.

Anderson, James, 17 Lonsdale Terrace.

Baillie, Rev. Zerub.

Balfour, Professor J. H., 27 Inverleith Row.

Barbour, G. F., Esq. of Bonskeid, 11 George Square.

Barry, J. W., M.D., B.Se., 23 Duke Street.

Beattie, William Hamilton, 68 George Street.

Bennie, James, Geological Survey Office, India Buildings.
Black, W. T., 2 George Square.

Brett, Alfred, Veterinary College, Clyde Street.

Bringloe, Francis A., 75 George Street.

Brown, A. B., 1 Rosebery Crescent.

Brown, Robert, M.A., Ph.D., 26 Guildford Road, Albert Sq., London.
Brown, William, F.R.C.S.E., 25 Dublin Street.

Bruce, W. P., 18 Athole Crescent.

Campbell, R. Vary, 37 Moray Place.

Cameron, John, 8.S.C., 63 George Street.

Carmichael, Robert, 15 Summerfield Place, Leith.

Carmichael, T. D. Gibson, Castlecraig, Dolphinton.
Carmichael, Sir W. H. Gibson, Bart., Castlecraig, Dolphinton.
Carruthers, William, F.R.S., British Museum, London.

Clark, G. B., 5 Blackwood Crescent.

Clark, Robert, F.R.S.E., 7 Learmonth Terrace.

Cleland, Professor J., M.D., University of Glasgow.

Cobbold, Spencer, M.D., F.R.S., London.

Cornillon, Hypolite W., S.S.C., 67 George Street.

Crawford, W. C., 1 North Kelvinside Terrace, Glasgow.

Crole, David, 3 Ramsay Gardens.

Dalgleish, John J., 8 Athole Crescent.

Dallas, E. W., F.R.S.E., George Street.

Dassauville, P. A., Royal Bank.

Davidson, David C., Kingsknowes, Slateford.

Davidson, James A., Kingsknowes, Slateford.

Deans, John Christie, M.A., S.S.C., 40 Castle Street.
Drinkwater, T. W., F.R.C.P.Ed., Laboratory, Marshall Street.
Duns, Rev. Professor, D.D., F.R.S.E., 4 North Mansionhouse Road.
Durham, William, F.R.S.E., Portobello.

304 List of Fellows.

Date of
Election.

1863. Edmonston, Alexander, 14 Mansionhouse Road.

1877. Etheridge, Robert, jun., F.G.S., British Museum, London.

1874. Ferguson, William, Esq. of Kinmundy, F.R.S.E., 21 Manor Place.
Galbraith, E. L., Pitlochrie.
Gall, Rev. J., 47 Forrest Road.

1867. Gallie, J. B., 58 High Street.

1877. Galletly, Alexander, Museum of Science and Art.

1858. Geddes, John, 9 Melville Crescent.

1878. Geikie, Professor Archibald, F.R.S., Edinburgh University.

1877. Gibb, Philip B., M.A., 14 Picardy Place.

1869. Gibson, John, Museum of Science and Art.

1875. Goldie, John, Register House.

1878. Gray, Archibald, 13 Inverleith Row.

1878. Gray, Joseph T., M.A., 14 Findhorn Place.

1874. Gray, Robert, F.R.S.E., 13 Inverleith Row.

1828. Grieve, David, F.R.S.E., Hobart House, Dalkeith.

1877. Grieve, Somerville, Salisbury View, Dalkeith Road.

1871. Herbert, A. B., 12 London Street.

1858. Home, D. Milne, Esq. of Milne Graden, F.R.S.E., York Place.

1878. Horne, John, F.G.S., Geological Survey Office, Edinburgh.

1863. Hossack, B. H., 33 Charlotte Square.

1874. Hunter, John, Minto House Medical School, Chambers Street.

1878. Hunter, J. R. 8., LL.D., Daleville, Braidwood, Lanarkshire.

1877. Jackson, , M.D., Leith Fort.

1850. Jenner, Charles, 47 Princes Street.

1877. Joass, C. Edward, 1 Rankeillor Street.

1858. Keir, Patrick Small, Esq., Kindrogan.

1869. Kennedy, Rev. J., M.A., B.D., 17 Melville Terrace.
Kilpatrick, H. Grainger, 104 South Bridge.

1869. King, J. Falconer, F.C.S., Minto House Medical School, Chambers

Street.

1858. Laidley, J. W., Esq. of Seacliff, 2 Moray Place.

1868. Lawson, Robert.

1858. Lees, George, LL.D.

1861. Logan, Alexander, Register House.

1850. Logan, R. F., Spylaw House, Colinton.

1849. Lowe, Wm. Henry, M.D., Wimbledon, London.

1870. Lyon, F. W., M.D., Albany Street, Leith.

1855. Macadam, Stevenson, Ph.D., Surgeons’ Hall.

1878. Maclauchlan, John, Albert Institute, Dundee.

1878. Macrae, Rev. John, D.D., Hawick.

1857. M‘Bain, J., M.D., R.N. (non-res. 1849), Logie Villa, York Road,

Trinity.

1878. Mackay, James F., W.S., 81 Princes Street.

1878. M/‘Laren, W. A., W.S., 12 Chester Street.

1878. Matheson, Alexander, M.A., 19 Northumberland Street.

1873. Miller, R. K., 4 Bonnington Terrace.

1862. Mitnish, H. W., M.R.C.S.L.

ee

FS

ee

= Feu

List of Fellows. 305

Date of
Election.

1876. Moffat, Andrew, 8 Kirk Street, Leith.
1876. Moinet, Francis, M.D., 13 Alva Street.
1874. Murray, D. R., M.B., C.M., 37 Albany Street, Leith.
1877. Murray, John, F.R.S.E., ‘‘ Challenger” Office, 13 Teviot Row.
1858. Paterson, Robert, M.D., 32 Charlotte Street, Leith.
1858. Paul, Henry, Melbourne, Australia.
1870. Peach, B. N., Gattonside, Melrose.
1867. Peach, C. W., A.L.S. (non-res. 1850), 830 Haddington Place.
1877. Philip, James, 5 Argyle Place.
1877. Prentice, Charles, C.A., 40 Castle Street.
1875. Pryde, James, 359 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow.
1855. Redpath, Hugh, Grangebank, Morningside.
1868. Reid, Rev. J. Brown, Airdrie.
1858. Rigg, Dr C. M., The Vines, Rochester.
1867. Ritchie, Walter, New Register House.
1870. Robertson, Alexander, 29 Dick Place.
1861. Robertson, Thomas, 57 Frederick Street.
1878. Robertson, William, 40 Castle Street.
1863. Sadler, John, Royal Botanic Garden.
1878. Sang, Edward, F.R.S.E., 2 George Street.
1875. Saundby, Robert, M.D., Saughton Hall.
1878. Sievewright, Peter, 12 Danube Street.
1869. Skirving, R. Scot, 29 Drummond Place.
1877. Smith, James A. J., F.R.C.S., F.R.C.P., 37 Albany Street, Leith.
1878. Smith, James D., 30 Buckingham Terrace.
Smith, John Alex., M.D., 10 Palmerston Place.
1878. Somervail, Alexander, 73 George Street.
1878. Stewart, Rev. James, Wilton, Roxburghshire.
1861. Struthers, James, M.D., 22 Charlotte Street, Leith.
1878. Surenne, David J., 6 Warriston Crescent.
1849. Tasker, Rev. Wm., 32 Gilmore Place.
1851. Taylor, Andrew, 6 South Clerk Street.
1878. Thomson, Alexander, Newbank, Trinity.
1876. Thomson, Andrew, 13 Inverleith Place.
1848. Thomson, Sir Charles Wyville, LL.D., F.R.S., Edinburgh University.
1876. Thomson, John, 26 Queen Street.
1878. Thomson, Mitchell, 7 Carlton Terrace.
1874. Thomson, Robert, LL.B., Rutland Square.
1861. Thomson, W. Burns, St John Street.
1867. Thorburn, Archibald, General Register Office.
1859. Traquair, Ramsay H., M.D., F.R.S.E., Museum of Science and Art.
1858. Turner, Professor W., Edinburgh University.
1862. Waddel, Peter, Claremont Park, Leith.
1874. Walcot, John, 20 Drummond Place.
1872. Walley, T., Principal, Veterinary College, Clyde Street.
1855. Wardrop, James, 16 Carlton Street.
1878. Watson, G. W., 4 Stafford Street.
1878. White, Thomas, S.8.C., 114 George Street.

306 List of Fellows.

Date of
Election.

1872. Williams, Principal, F.R.S.E., New Veterinary College.
1856. Wilson, Andrew, 21 Young Street.

1875. Wilson, Andrew, Ph.D., 118 Gilmore Place.

1861. Wilson, John, Janefield House, Duddingston.

NON-RESIDENT.

1864. Belairs, George, Caroline Lodge, Duddingston.
Bentham, George, F.R.S.
1862. Bethune, Norman, M.D., Toronto, Canada.
1876. Brown, J. A. Harvie, Dunipace House, Larbert.
1872. Brown, D. J., Glasgow.
1862. Brown, J. Crichton, M.D., London.
1867. Brown, Geo. H. Wilson, Vancouver Island, Columbia.
1862. Cesar, Rev. W., D.D., Tranent.
1861. Cameron, A. G. H., Lakefield, Inverness.
Carpenter, W. B., M.D., C.B., London University.
1861. Chapman, Thomas, Buchanan Street, Glasgow.
Cleghorn, Hugh, M.D., Stravithie, Fife.
Cormack, Sir John Rose, M.D., Paris.
1873. Dally, Frederick, M.D., 55 George Street, Portman Square, London.
1864. Davidson, Andrew, M.D., Madagascar.
1868. Davies, A. E., F.C.S., Warrington.
1870. Dick, Thomas, Kirknewton.
1858. Drummond, Captain H., India.
1863. Fair, George, M.D., Buenos Ayres.
1863. Galbraith, George L., Loch Tummel Lodge, Pitlochrie.
1859. Grierson, T. B., L.R.C.S.E., Thornhill.
Handyside, P., M.D., College of Surgeons.
1855. Hector, James, M.D., Dunedin, New Zealand.
1851. Heddle, Professor M. Forster, University of St Andrews. .
1849. Hepburn, Archibald, Barwood House, Ramsbottom. ;
1874. Hitchman, Wm., M.D., Liverpool (29 Erskine Street),
1862. Hargitt, Edward, London.
1872. Hoggan, George, M.D., London.
1861. Home, Lieutenant-Colonel George Logan, Edrom, Dunse.
1860. Hunter, Rev. Robert, Nagpur.
1868. Kennedy, Dr John, Elie.
1850. Lawson, George, M.D., Halifax.
1861. Logan, Robert, Carluke.
1871. Lorraine, J. E., London.
1862. Macnab, Professor W., Queen’s College, Dublin.
1858. M/‘Vicar, Rev. J., Moffat.
1862. Manson, George W., Bengal Staff Corps.
1849. Melville, Professor A. G., Galway College of Science.
1870. Middleton, James, M.D., Strathpeffer.
1854, Page, Professor David, LL.D., Newcastle College of Science.
1871. Paterson, J.. M.D., Brazil.

ee ees a er ~

5
-
*

Date of

List of Fellows. 307

Election.

1878.
1862.
1856.
1857.
1861.
1861.

1861.
1861.
1860.
1861.
1870.
1864.

1875.
1858.
1877.
1870.
1861.
1871.
1852.
1874.
1874.
1871.

1873.
1867.
1874.

1857.
1857.
1857.
1857.
1865.

1857.
1857.
1857.
1857.
1865.
1869.
857.
1857.

Prentice, Norman, Otago, New Zealand.
Roome, Major Frederick, Bombay.
Sanderson, R. Burdon, M.D., London.
Shields, Robert, Kentish Town, London.
Stevenson, William, Dunse.

Struthers, Rev. John, Prestonpans.

Swift, Herbert M., Whitehall, London.
Thomas, F. W. L., Captain, R.N., Trinity.
Thomson, Murray, Professor, Calcutta.
Valentine, Colin S., Jeypore.

Wanklyn, Professor J. A., London.
Wilson, Robert, ‘‘ Daily Telegraph,” London.
Young, David.

CORRESPONDING.

Andrew, Rev. J., D.D., Newbury, Fifeshire.
Coughtrey, Millen, M.D., Dunedin, New Zealand.
Duncan, Rev. J., Denholm.

Edward, Thomas, A.L.S., Banff.

Fraser, Rev. Samuel, Melbourne.

Gordon, Rev. G., LL.D., Birnie, Elgin.

Grieve, A. F., Brisbane, Queensland.

Howden, J. C., M.D., Montrose.

Joass, Rev. J. M., Golspie.

Jolly, William, Inspector of Schools.

Macdonald, John.

Mushet, David, Gloucester.

Nicolson, Professor Alleyne, M.D., University of St Andrews.
Robb, Rev. Alexander, Old Calabar.

Stewart, Rev. Alexander, Ballachulish.

HONORARY.

Boheman, Professor C. H., Royal Academy of Sciences, Sweden.

Chevrolat, Auguste, Paris.

Dohrn, C. A., Stettin.

Fairmairé, Ean Paris.

Frauenfeld, George Ritter von, Zoological and Botanical Society,
Vienna.

Gerstaecker, A., Berlin.

Guenée, Achille, Chateau-dun.

Javet, Charles, Paris.

Kraatz, G., Berlin.

Kotscky, Dr Theodor, Zoological and Botanical Society, Vienna.

Litken, Dr, Copenhagen.

Lacordaire, Professor Theodore, Liege.

Lenectere, Marquis dé Laferte, Tours.

308 List of Fellows.

Date of
Election.

1857. Marseul, L’Abbe de, Paris.

1857. Meneville, Guerin, Paris.

1865. Mannsfeldt, Durchlaucht First Colloredo, Vienna.
1858. Motschoulsky, Count Victor, St Petersburg.
1857. Milne-Edwards, ——, Paris.

1857. Macquerys, Emile, Rouen.

1857. Obert, M., St Petersburg.

1857. Reiche, M., Paris.

1858. Schlossberger, Dr, Tubingen.

1857. Zeller, P. C., Silesia.

1857. Zetterstedt, J. W., University of Lund, Sweden.

LIST OF SOCIETIES
WITH WHICH “PROCEEDINGS” ARE EXCHANGED.

Royal Society [of London].

Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Royal Scottish Society of Arts.

Zoological Society of London.

Linnean Society.

Geologists’ Association [of London].

Edinburgh Geological Society.

Philosophical Society of Glasgow. <

Manchester Geological Society.

Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester.

Botanical Society.

Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club.

Canadian Institute (publishing the Canadian Journal of Science, Literature,
and History).

Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.

Smithsonian Institution, Washington.

California Academy of Sciences.

Orleans County Society of Natural Sciences.

Royal Society of New South Wales.

Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab.

Christiania Videnskabs Selskab.

Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps-Akademie.

Naturhistorisk Forening i Kjébenhaven.

L’ Academie Royale des Sciences, etc., de Belgique.

La Société Nationelle des Sciences Naturelles de Cherbourg.

Die Kaiserlich-Kénigliche Zoologisch-Botanisch Gesellschaft in Wien.

Koninkligke Natuurkundige Vereeniging in Nederlandsch-Indié, in Batavia.

Societa Adriatica di Scienze Naturali in Trieste.

M‘Farlane & Erskine, Printers, Edinburgh.

PLAEE. 1.

Physical Society, Edinburgh

Royal

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