Water of southerly origin replaced polar water very rapidly on the coast of NW Europe and an interstadial marine circulation with a weak North Atlantic Drift was fully established off both west Scotland and southern Scandinavia by roughly 12 800BP. A ‘warm’ interval detected in marine strata on the western Scottish coast at the beginning of the Windermere (Bølling plus Allerød) Interstadial lasted from this date to perhaps 12 400 BP and another towards its close from about 11 250 to shortly after 11 000 BP. During the Younger Dryas Stadial polar water returned by about 10 850 BP and was present until about 10 200–10 100 BP. The changes in water circulation at the beginning and end of the Windermere Interstadial and at the end of the Younger Dryas seem to have taken place within the limits of radiocarbon dating, perhaps within a few decades. Warming at the beginning of the Holocene Interglacial may have taken place in two phases, during the first of which, from about 10 100 BP to possibly 9600 BP, marine temperatures seem to have been lower than at present, more especially on the east coast of Scotland and in southern Sweden. Full marine interglacial circulation may not have been established until 9500 BP. Water depth in the Faeroe–Shetland Channel may have been a major factor in controlling sea and air temperature from Scotland northwards during the Windermere Interstadial and Holocene Interglacial and, by implication, during earlier interglacials and interstadials.

Ectocarpus siliculosus was named by Dillwyn (5) in 1809 and described by him in the British Confervœ of that date. It was included by Harvey (9) in the Phycologia Britannica under the same name, but according to Hauck (10) in the Meeresalgen Deutschlands und Oesterreichs the specific name should be attributed to Kützing (21), though Hauck himself, following Kjellman (12), is of the opinion that the plant should be regarded as a variety of E. confervoides (Roth) Le Jol. If this view be correct, the plant should be E. confervoides (Roth) Le Jol var. siliculosus (Dillwyn); but in a paper entitled “Beiträge zur Kenntnis einiger Ectocarpus-Arten der Kieler Föhrde” Kuckuck (15) discusses the validity of the species siliculosus. He emphasises certain important features, notably the size and shape of plurilocular sporangia and the frequent presence of a vegetative filament as a prolongation of the sporangium, and considers them to be characteristics clearly distinguishing this plant from E. confervoides (Roth), from which such features are lacking. Batters (1) evidently agrees with Kuckuck in the integrity of the species, but attributes the naming of it to Kützing. The plant therefore appears in the Catalogue of the British Marine Algœ as E. siliculosus Kütz.

Two models for the heating responsible for granite generation during convergent deformation may be distinguished on the basis of the length- and time-scales associated with the thermal perturbation, namely: (1) long-lived, lithospheric-scale heating as a conductive response to the deformation, and (2) transient, localised heating as a response to advective heat sources such as mantle-derived melts. The strong temperature dependence of lithospheric rheology implies that the heat advected within rising granites may affect the distribution and rates of deformation within the developing orogen in a way that reflects the thermal regime attendant on granite formation; this contention is supported by numerical models of lithospheric deformation based on the thin-sheet approximation. The model results are compared with geological and isotopic constraints on granite genesis in the southern Adelaide Fold Belt where intrusion spans a 25 Ma convergent deformation cycle, from about 516 to 490 Ma, resulting in crustal thickening to 50–55 km. High-T metamorphism in this belt is spatially restricted to an axis of magmatic activity where the intensity and complexity of deformation is significantly greater, and may have started earlier, than in adjacent low-grade areas. The implication is that granite generation and emplacement is a causative factor in localising deformation, and on the basis of the results of the mechanical models suggests that granite formation occurred in response to localised, transient crustal heating by mantle melts. This is consistent with the Nd- and Sr-isotopic composition of the granites which seems to reflect mixed sources with components derived both from the depleted contemporary mantle and the older crust.

The district described is of considerable relief, according to British standards. Pitlochry lies 300 or 400 ft. above sea-level, while two summits, south-west of the River Garry, reach 2559 ft., and Ben y Gloe, north-east of the same, attains to 3671 ft. Exposures are everywhere sufficient for the mapping of groups, but they seldom permit of the following of individual beds or the recognition of the pitch of isoclinal folds.

The Geological Survey has mapped the whole district on the six-inch scale, and published Sheets 55, 56, 64, and 65 of the one-inch Map of Scotland—all except Sheet 64 accompanied by explanatory memoirs.

The Kirkland Conglomerate and the Benan Conglomerate and associated sediments of the Barr Group (Ordovician—Llanvirn-Llandeilo) of the Girvan district, SW Scotland record the development of two fan-delta systems situated on the northern margin of Iapetus. The intervening Stinchar Limestone represents a shallow marine fan-delta abandonment facies. Subaerial fan-delta deposits are seen at the lowest exposed horizons within the Kirkland Conglomerate. Transgression and eventual abandonment of the fan-delta system is recorded by (1) matrix-rich gravels forming the topmost horizons of the unit. (2) subaqueous distributary channel sands of the overlying transitional sandstone and associated shallow-marine carbonates of the Auchensoul Limestone and (3) shallow-marine sandstones of the Confinis Flags. Following a period of shallow-water sedimentation (Stinchar Limestone), a phase of rapid subsidence occurred during the upper Llandeilo, broadly synchronous with the Nemagraptus gracilis Zone transgression. Lowermost horizons of the succeeding Benan Conglomerate comprise re-sedimented gravels and laterally equivalent ‘outer shelf’ deposits (Superstes Mudstone). Renewal of coarse clastic sedimentation resulted from source area uplift related to granite plutonism, responsible also for the rapid subsidence of basinal areas. Fan-delta progradation is recorded by the occurrence of braided-fluvial deposits and shallow-marine carbonates at higher stratigraphical levels within the unit. Progradation of the fan-delta complex resulted from a gradual reduction in subsidence rates along basin-margin faults.

Fan-deltas of the Barr Group prograded southwards, from a SW—NE-trending faultdelineated basin margin, across a narrow shelf area. To the S of the shelf area defined by Barr Group outcrop, sediments of the Tappins complex accumulated in outer shelf, ?slope and base of slope settings.

The thickness of individual conglomerate units (>150 m—Kirkland Conglomerate, and up to 700 m—Benan Conglomerate), the associated high sedimentation rates, narrowness of the shelf area, and distribution and style of basin-margin faults indicate that oblique-slip motion along the northern margin of Iapetus may have provided a major control over Middle Ordovician sedimentation in the Girvan district.

Ore element ratios in intrusion-related mineralisation are in part a function of the relative oxidation state and degree of fractionation of the associated granite suite. A continuum from Cu-Au through W to Mo dominated mineralisation related to progressively more fractionated, oxidised I-type magmas can be traced within single suites and supersuites. Such systematic relationships provide strong evidence for the magmatic source of ore elements in granite-related mineral deposits and for the production of the observed ore element ratios dominantly through magmatic processes. The distribution of mineralised intrusive suites can be used to define a series of igneous metallogenic provinces in eastern Australia. In general, there is a correlated evolution in the observed metallogeny (as modelled based on the compatibility of ore elements during fractionation) with increasing degree of chemical evolution of the associated magmatic suite. This is from Cu-Au associated with chemically relatively unevolved magmas, through to Sn and Mo-rich mineralisation associated with highly evolved magmas that had undergone fractional crystallisation. Provinces recognised in that way do not necessarily correlate with the tectonostratigraphic boundaries defined by the near-surface geology, indicating that the areal distribution of some granite source regions in the deep crust is unrelated to upper crustal geology.

Palaeocene volcanic activity is represented in west-central Skye, Inner Hebrides, Scotland, by a laterally extensive and thick pile of sub-aerial lavas mainly belonging to the alkali olivine basalt—hawaiite—mugearite—benmoreite—trachyte suite. The lavas are typical of many continental flood basalt suites and were principally fed from fissure eruptions similar to those of present day Iceland. Intercalated with the lavas are rare beds of heterogeneous volcaniclastic material, including breccias, conglomerates, sandstones and mudstones. The sequence forms a major portion of a larger volcanic field preserved within the NNE-SSW-elongated ‘Sea of the Hebrides’ sedimentary basin.

Significant hiatuses in the volcanic activity are marked by deep-weathering profiles and thin sedimentary sequences comprising mudstones, ironstones, coals, sandstones and conglomerates. Palaeocurrent indicators and clast lithologies within the clastic sedimentary rocks indicate that erosion of a massif dominated by the Palaeocene Rum Igneous Complex and its roof rocks, c. 20 km to the S, provided abundant detritus to a river system which drained towards the N. Such sedimentary intercalations aid the stratigraphical subdivision of the lava field. Eight lava groups, each most likely with a different focus of fissure eruption, and divisible into mappable formations, together with two sedimentary formations, are recognised.

The alkali olivine basalts are typically thin, with a tendency to form compound flows with limited lateral extents, whilst the hawaiites and mugearites are considerably thicker and cover large areas. Only very rarely are flow terminations observed. The original extents of the single benmoreite and rare trachytes cannot be determined from their limited erosional remnants. The more evolved flows tended to occur after brief hiatuses in the volcanic activity, indicated by well-developed lateritic tops to the underlying flows.

The youngest preserved lava is a columnar-jointed olivine tholeiite with a MORB-like composition. The flow is at least 120 m thick and apparently ponded in a steep-sided palaeo-valley within the lava field.

Three fault trends are recognised: parallel, normal and marginally oblique to the main NW-SEtrending regional dyke swarm, and dissect the lava field into a number of discrete blocks. The more significant of these faults may have been active during the development of the lava field, and in some instances instrumental in controlling the distribution of the flows.

Later Tertiary erosion has removed an unknown thickness of material from the upper part of the lava field, the preserved thickness of which is estimated to be about 1·5 km.

A formal lithostratigraphy is erected for all the Ordovician rocks in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. At the base of the succession, the Crawford Group (Arenig–Llanvirn) encompasses the chert and lava sequences usually associated with the tract-bounding faults, and includes the only proven Arenig rocks in the Southern Uplands. The overlying Moffat Shale Group (Caradoc–Llandovery) is now restricted to the black and grey graptolitic shales which succeed the grey and red chert successions. The Leadhills Supergroup (Caradoc–Ashgill) forms the overwhelming bulk of the sedimentary succession and includes the thick Ordovician turbidite successions of the Northern Belt. Existing stratigraphical terminology is reviewed, revised or extended as appropriate to maintain maximum continuity with current usage. Type sections for each unit are either proposed, where newly defined or revised, or cited in the case of existing definitions.

On the western and eastern sides of the North Atlantic craton, rocks between about 1·7 b.y. and 1·2 b.y. old are represented by thick basinal assemblages. Thin platformal successions cover the intervening region. The clastic component of these rocks was largely derived from the southeast where the Elsonian orogen might have been an important source terrane. Widespread mafic igneous activity (about 1·2 b.y. ago) in the central platformal region preceded orogenic movements in the basinal areas (Racklan-Carolinidian-Grenville orogeny). The Grenville orogen may have contributed significant amounts of clastic debris for a second cycle of sedimentary accumulation(∼ 1·2 b.y.–∼ 0·8 b.y.). The upper part of this cycle typically contains red beds and evaporites and, in the North American Cordillera, shows evidence of contemporaneous block faulting and extensional tectonism. These movements culminated in the East Kootenay and Hayhook orogenies and ushered in a third period of deposition about 850 m.y. ago. The third sequence includes glaciogenic rocks in the Cordilleran and East Greenland geosynclines. The basic geotectonic elements (platforms and geosynclines) of the North Atlantic craton were established as much as 1·7 b.y. ago, but continental fragmentation on the borders of the craton may not have taken place until early Phanerozoic times.

There are few organs which have engaged the attention of the topographical anatomist more than the stomach, and few which have yielded him so small a reward as the result of his labours. The changes which so rapidly set in after death through relaxation of its muscular wall, combined with the many different forms which the organ may assume during life, make the investigation one of great difficulty. Improved methods, and more especially the introduction of formalin as a hardening and preserving agent, have, however, placed the modern anatomist in a much more favourable position than his predecessor for attacking problems of this nature, and have enabled him to do justice to many views which have been more or less tentatively put forward by the earlier observers in this branch of study.

The numerous analyses of sea-water by Forchhammer previous to 1865, and the later analyses by Dittmar, from samples collected during the “Challenger” Expedition, show that while the salinity—i.e., the amount of dissolved salts contained in 100 parts of seawater—varies greatly in different regions of the ocean, still the composition of these dissolved salts—i.e., the ratio of the constituents of sea-salts—remains practically the same in all the superficial waters of the ocean. Consequently, it is only necessary to determine the chlorine in a definite weight of water to ascertain at once the respective quantities of the other salts present in the sample. Dittmar's examination of the “Challenger” waters has, however, shown that lime is slightly, although distinctly, more abundant in samples of sea-water collected in greater depths than in those samples collected nearer the surface of the ocean, and Dittmar's tables showing the difference between the chlorine calculated from the specific gravity and the chlorine found by analysis point to differences in the composition of the sea-salts, but the observations are relatively so few, these differences so slight, so mixed up with observational errors, and so irregular in their geographical and bathymetrical distribution, that they cannot be said to indicate any general law other than a greater quantity of lime in deep water.

A diverse, but sparsely distributed silicified fauna of over 30 taxa has been recovered from 7·5 tonnes of acid-etched Lower Ordovician Dounans Limestone from the Highland Border Complex, near Aberfoyle. The 13 trilobite taxa obtained include 3 new formally named species: Distazeris adoceta, Punka aetholiciocorus and Ischyrotoma stubblefieldi. Other elements, representing Carolinites, Illaenus, Goniotelina, Sycophantia, Kawina, Heliomeroides, Strotactinus, Ectenonotus, Ceratocephala and an indeterminate bathyurelline are described under open nomenclature although at least 4 are also probably new and 2 more may be conspecific with previously described species. The brachiopods include representatives of Archaeorthis, Nothorthis, Orthidium, ?Camerella, Idiostrophia, Orthambonites and 4 other indeterminate stocks. Gastropods tentatively assigned to Murchisonia, Subulites, Straparollina, Maclurites and Cyrtodiscus are described, as are bryozoans, an orthocone, crinoids, and Incertae sedis.

This profoundly North American fauna is Late Canadian ( = mid Arenig) in age and equates with the Cassinian Stage: it is key evidence in showing that the Highland Border rocks are not part of the Dalradian Supergroup whose earliest deformations and metamorphism predate the Ordovician. The field relationships of the limestone, together with evidence from derived clasts in Middle Ordovician and Devonian sequences near Girvan in SW Scotland and at Stonehaven in eastern Scotland suggest that it forms part of a widespread sub-Old Red Sandstone carbonate sequence of Early Ordovician age beneath the northern Midland Valley.

The development of an atypical Hirnantia Fauna in the late Ordovician of Gondwana was coeval with a slow eustatic fall induced by the abstraction of water into a growing ice sheet. This event is dated as early Hirnantian in age and occurred in tandem with the start of a major mass extinction. A tectonic episode in the Caradoc-Ashgill of North Africa differentiated the continental shelf into highs and lows and may have formed the land required for the accumulation of a permanent snow cover. Depositional lows were filled by regressive shallow-marine deposits in the early Hirnantian. During the mid-Hirnantian, advance and retreat of an ice sheet on the continental shelf resulted in the deposition of glaciomarine sediments above these regressive deposits. The demise of an atypical Hirnantia Fauna is attributed to deglaciation and the associated flooding of the continental shelf by a stratified anoxic water column. This glacioeustatic sea-level rise occurred in the late Hirnantian.

The origin of the name “Uist” or “Vist” is uncertain. It is probably either of Pictish or Scandinavian derivation. It is said to be found amongst the names of the early Pictish kings. Some authorities give “Ivist” as the earliest known name, and this may mean “Ey-vist,” the Island of Vist (the Pictish king), or may be rendered literally from the Norse as “dwelling-place.” Others believe that the name is derived from “vest” (Danish) signifying “the west island.” Originally Uist comprised what we now know as North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist, and possibly Barra as well.

Middle and Lower Deeside lie within the belt of injection and high-temperature metamorphism made famous by the pioneer researches of Mr George Barrow. In this paper are recorded the results obtained from a study of Cromar, an area small enough to admit of detailed petrographical treatment and yet large enough to exhibit a considerable variety of igneous and metamorphic phenomena. Of the three great phases of igneous activity there displayed, one is older than the epoch of maximum crustal movements, the second is closely connected with these, and the third is later; the rocks of each period have their own quite definite chemical, petrographical, and geological characteristics. Whilst here most attention will be directed towards the second group, that associated with the movements, an account of the other two groups will be given adequate for a discussion of the full igneous history of the area.

Cindarella eucalla Chen et al. from the Early Cambrian Chengjiang fauna is the closest relative of Xandarella spectaculum Hou et al. Cindarella and Xandarella are united as Xandarellida, a further component of Cambrian arachnate diversity. Diagnostic of Xandarellida are ventral eyes, a posterior extension of the head shield that covers anterior trunk segments, and multiple somites per tergite in the rear part of the trunk. Somites and tergites are decoupled throughout the trunk in Cindarella. The bilobate structure of the exopod in xandarellids is widespread throughout the Arachnata.

Isle of Wight Bee Disease has been known in this country certainly since 1904, when it was first recognised in the island from which it derives its popular name. According to Imms it was probably present in Derbyshire in 1902, and was also known in Cornwall and other districts in 1904. Prior to these dates periodic losses of bees of a serious character are on record, dating as far back as the middle of the eighteenth century. Bullamore and Malden (1912) have summarised fully these outbreaks in historical series in their report in Journal of Board of Agriculture, Supplement 8, xix. From a study of the records which they have brought together and from personal inquiries which we have made at various bee-keepers of wide experience, it would appear that none of these earlier outbreaks attained the general distribution throughout the country which we know in Isle of Wight Disease at the present date, nor did any of them remain established over such an extensive period of years as that which has continued without interruption from 1902 until the present time.

The generation of granitic magmas begins with melting in the lower crust, under active participation of the underlying mantle. Thermally driven, melting is a pervasive and continuous process that develops over a wide region. In contrast, the building of a granitic pluton is highly discontinuous in time and space. Several inputs of magma, sometimes with a different chemical compositions, are focused toward a region where they accumulate, forming a large pluton, often separated by some 50 km from an adjacent one. The switch from a continuous to a discontinuous process represents a fundamental point of magma generation. It gives place to the modified model m(M-SAE), in which the mantle (m) and Melting (M) are separated from the Segregation (S), Ascent (A) and Emplacement (E) modes. Discontinuities result from non-linear processes that develop during segregation and ascent of the magma. They rely on the non-linear rheology of partially molten rocks. Thresholds control the change from a solid-like to liquid-like behaviour of the magma. In between, the rheology exhibits sudden jumps between states. Because two phases continuously coexist (matrix and melt), strain is highly partitioned between them. This may induce highly discontinuous melt segregation, which needs both pure and simple shear to develop. Melt focusing is controlled by the viscosity contrast between the two phases. It gives rise to different compaction lengths depending on the region, a partially melting source or a nearly brittle crust, where it develops. Because ascent and emplacement are discontinuous in time, this allows the crust to relax, avoiding the room problem for a pluton intruding the upper crust. Intermediate magma chambers could develop with different temperature and magma composition. They could be the place of enhanced magma mixing. Finally, the stress conditions, which differ for each tectonic setting, influence the shape of the granitic body.

Mires are terrestrial ecosystems which conserve organic production in the form of peat because their soils are waterlogged. Scotland's damp climate makes it rich in mires, with fens, raised mires and blanket mires occurring widely. Intact examples are mostly treeless due to wind exposure. They have two functional layers of soil: a shallow acrotelm overlying the catotelm or peat deposit proper. The acrotelm is the main region of diagenesis and contains the water table, which lies close to the surface for most of the time. Evapotranspiration depends on water table depth and surface vegetation. In the catotelm, water transmission is described by Darcy's law with sufficient exactness to allow prediction of the water table profile. An analysis of seepage using Dupuit–Forchheimer theory predicts a hemi-elliptical profile whose curvature is governed by the water balance in dry years and which, in its turn, closely controls the overall shape of the mire. Water flow is more rapid in the acrotelm, where it creates a regular series of different soil physical regimes which are linked with distinct combinations of surface topography and vegetation arranged sequentially from the centre of a mire to its edge. Such regular arrangements are most clearly seen in the Flowe Country of E Sutherland and Caithness. Acrotelm structure also permits variation in flow rate with depth, so that the amplitude of water table oscillations is narrowly confined and the mire thus protected against both desiccation and sheet flow.