The preliminary notices published by me in 1870 and 1872, on the action and chemistry of Strophanthus, indicated that it was likely to prove of value as a therapeutic agent; and so early as the year 1874, I had applied the substance in a few cases to the treatment of disease. Before sufficient data, however, had been obtained to justify any conclusions regarding its value as a therapeutic agent, the observations were interrupted by my leaving Edinburgh to occupy a public office in England, in connection with which it was impossible to conduct observations on the treatment of disease. In 1879, opportunities were again afforded to resume the interrupted observations, and results confirmatory of the anticipations which had been raised by the earlier physiological observations were gradually collected. The publication of a few of these results at the Cardiff meeting of the British Medical Association in 1885 has led to Strophanthus gaining a wide recognition as an important therapeutic agent, and to the production of numerous papers dealing with its botany, chemistry, pharmacology and therapeutics, not only in this country, but also in the continent of Europe and in America.

The procyonid †Cyonasua is endemic to South America and recorded from the Late Miocene to the Early Pleistocene. This paper studies the forelimb of †Cyonasua sp. (late Pliocene of Miramar, Argentina), using an ecomorphological approach to infer morphological adaptations linked to substrate preference and locomotory mode, as well as to grasping and digging ability. Twenty linear measurements of forelimb and pectoral girdle were taken from †Cyonasua sp. and a sample of 87 specimens of extant carnivoran families (Procyonidae, Mustelidae, Ursidae, Viverridae, Canidae and Felidae). Raw values were transformed to minimise the effect of size. Morphological variation was explored by principal component analysis (PCA); substrate preference and locomotory mode were further analysed by multivariate analysis of variance (MAV) and discriminant analysis (DA); grasping and digging ability were analysed by DA. In the PCA morphospace, †Cyonasua sp. occupied a unique position, close to extant procyonids. DA classified it as non-specialised digger with poor grasping ability. The results lead to the interpretation of †Cyonasua sp. as having a moderately stabilised elbow joint with poor pronation–supination, although some climbing skills cannot be ruled out. Thus, †Cyonasua sp. could have had generalised habits, in agreement with reconstructed palaeoenvironmental conditions.

This paper reconstructs the characteristics of rivers which deposited proglacial fluvial sediments in east-central Scotland during the Late Devensian. Sediment depositional architecture and geometry, together with the relationship between high-stage and falling and low-stage depositional elements, were used to relate the proglacial sediments to the glacial meltwater discharge regime. The proglacial river systems studied were dominated by ‘normal’ ablation controlled discharge, rather than by high magnitude flood events. Consequently there is a great deal of spatial and vertical variability. Deposition occurred during short intervals of rapid aggradation, so that relatively fine-grained falling-stage sediments, as well as coarser, bar-core sediments are well preserved. Models relating the characteristics of the final deposit to the nature of the river are presented. These emphasise the role of stage changes and aggradation rates in controlling sediment architecture in braided fluvial deposits.

During 1904 and 1905 the author investigated the plant remains of the peat deposits in certain areas of the Southern Uplands and the Highlands. The present paper deals with similar work over large peat-covered areas in the E. and N. W. Highlands, Shetland Islands, and the Outer Hebrides.

Perhaps the most interesting feature found in the course of the work is the evidence of constant change in the character of the vegetation which has successively covered the peat areas of Scotland. Many areas in different parts of the country have been examined in order to ascertain if this succession can be accounted for by local changes in physical conditions, or whether it represents stages in a long cycle of secular changes in climate, and consequent plant migrations.

The sediments on the floors of nine reservoirs in the Midland Valley of Scotland have been examined to establish rates of sedimentation and catchment sediment yields. Information from Cullaloe, Drumain, Harperleas and Lambieletham Reservoirs (Fife), is compared with data from Glenfarg and Glenquey Reservoirs (Tayside) and earlier studies on Hopes, N Esk (Lothian) and Kelly (Strathclyde) Reservoirs. The earth-fill dams were constructed between 1850 and 1935 below catchments ranging from 1·53 to 23·5 km2 in area. They are situated on sedimentary, volcanic or intrusive igneous rocks mainly of Devonian or Carboniferous age. In most areas bedrock is obscured by mantles of drift. Six of the catchments are dominated by moorland terrain with local afforestation. Mixed arable farming and woodland characterise the remainder. The higher basins receive on average over 1400 mm of precipitation per annum, while in the lower basins some 800 mm falls.

Measurements of thickness variations of the deposits have enabled the construction of isopachyte maps from which the volumes of entrapped materials have been derived. The computed catchment sediment yields vary from 2·l t km−2 yr−1 (Lambieletham) to 52·0 t km−2 yr−1 (Glenfarg). Sediments incorporate both mineral and organic matter, of which combustible material commonly forms 15–20% by weight. Siliceous tests of diatoms are also an important component of the deposits. The sediment yields computed are about an order of magnitude greater than those reported from rivers draining similar sizes of catchment within the Forth basin. There is a direct relationship between mean annual inflow to the reservoirs and sediment yield.

Rare clasts of limestone contained in the uppermost Carboniferous Fitzroy Tillite Formation of the Falkland Islands contain a rich Cambrian fauna of archaeocyaths together with a radiocyath and a few trilobites. Neither Cambrian strata nor limestone are present in the indigenous rock succession and the clasts are regarded as exotic erratics, introduced during the Permo-Carboniferous glaciation of southern Gondwana, prior to its Mesozoic break-up. Nineteen archaeocyath taxa have been identified, with seven (plus a radiocyath) occurring in a single clast. Trilobite identifications are less definitive, but they are compared to Yorkella and the Siberian genera Edelsteinaspis, Namanoia and Chondrinouyina. The archaeocyath fauna has an Australo–Antarctic character and the Transantarctic Mountains seem the most likely source for these unusual erratics. Most recent reconstructions of Gondwana rotate a Falklands microplate into a position between South Africa and East Antarctica. There, it is in proximity with the Eastern Cape Province, where tillites within the Permo-Carboniferous Dwyka Group are correlatives of the Fitzroy Tillite Formation, and the ‘Atlantic’ end of the Transantarctic Mountains. The Dwyka Group tillites also contain rare clasts of archaeocyathan limestone and the rotational reconstruction produces a continuity of the apparent ice-flow directions in South Africa and the Falkland Islands.

The investigation of which the results are embodied in this paper was undertaken in an attempt to gain an insight into the problem of the propagation of Clematis by means of stem cuttings.

In order to be able to interpret the phenomena of regeneration induced by isolating portions of a plant, it is essential to investigate the normal anatomy in some detail. In any severed portion of a plant, the first signs of abnormal cell activity in the tissues depart only slightly from the normal, and unless they can be detected and identified at their initiation, it is impossible to define exactly the time and place of origin of the new growth.

Accordingly the first part of the paper will deal with the normal stem-anatomy of the genus. The second part, with the changes in the anatomy resulting from vegetative propagation, and the third part with some experimental modifications of the regeneration-response.

My attention for the last few years having been specially directed to the vertical distribution of the Carboniferous Fossil Flora, it is my intention to publish a series of papers dealing with this subject.

While carrying on these investigations it has been necessary, in addition to visiting public and private collections, to visit several of the coal fields for the purpose of collecting specimens, as in almost no case have the smaller and less attractive species been secured, and, as a rule, only what strikes the ordinary collector as being “a fine specimen” is preserved, to the exclusion of many less striking but often more valuable examples. Hence our public collections, and, with few exceptions, also our private collections, give a very imperfect idea of the richness of the flora of the Carboniferous Formation of Britain.

These fossils are especially interesting on account of their having been obtained from a more southerly point than any hitherto recorded. The number of specimens is nine; five of these are referable to the genus Cucullœa, one to Cytherea, one probably to Natica, and two are fragments of Coniferous Wood. With the Cytherea are other small shells which may indicate the presence of Crassatella (?) and Donax (?). Two of the pieces of Cucullœa are entirely free from matrix, while three show in their interiors a fine sandy rock which effervesces when treated with hydrochloric acid. The shells themselves have a calcedonic appearance, but, like the matrix, they effervesce strongly with acid; they are much denuded, having apparently been long exposed to the weather. The matrix within the Cytherea is coarser than that in the Cucullœa, containing, besides fragments of quartz and of a black rock, numerous fragments of shells. The Natica (?) is almost free from matrix, and is much denuded, but in some of the crevices sandy material may be seen very like the matrix of the other shells. All these genera have a wide distribution in time, and are now living, consequently they give but little clue to the age of the rocks in which they were found. Cucullœa is rare at the present day, and the few known species occur in the Mauritius, Nicobar, and China; but as a fossil it is very common and widely distributed.

Ardsheal Hill is situated in Argyllshire amidst country of great petrographic interest. It is easily reached by road or rail, for it overlooks the main road from Oban to Port William, and is under 2 miles from the station of Kentallen on the Ballachulish Branch of the L.M.S. Railway. The area considered in the present communication is bounded by Loch Linnhe on the west and on the east by the above-mentioned road.

This paper evaluates the taxonomy, biostratigraphy, and palaeogeographical significance of the Cambrian bradoriid arthropods of China, the majority of which occur in the lower Cambrian of SW China. Of bradoriid faunas world-wide, Chinese occurrences yield the greatest number of specimens and a comparatively high diversity at all taxonomic levels. Nevertheless, taxonomic diversity is much less than previously supposed. Some 80 bradoriid genera and nearly 300 species have been proposed on the basis of Chinese material. By contrast, in our study, which encompasses all of the important Chinese bradoriid faunas, we recognise only 16 genera and 21 species, including those treated under open nomenclature. Interpretation of deformed specimens as discrete species and lack of application of the rules of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature resulted in taxonomic splitting and a proliferation of names. There are an additional 12 poorly known monotypic genera of uncertain systematic status that are listed but not treated further herein. One phosphatocopid species, a group originally thought closely related to the Bradoriida, is also described.

Most Chinese bradoriid material is known from Yunnan Province; the group also occurs in Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Liaoning, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang and Zhejiang provinces. The first bradoriids occur just below the Abadiella trilobite Biozone. They are most prolific and diverse in the Qiongzhusian Stage, constituting the most abundant animal group; the succeeding Canglangpuian Stage contains fewer individuals and species. A previously proposed bradoriid biozonal scheme lacks rigour and is of little practical value: of the five supposed biozones, two correspond to trilobite zones and three are based on taxa that herein are considered to belong to a single species.

Palaeogeographically the bradoriids occur in the Middle and especially the Western subprovinces of the Cambrian of the SW China (Yangtze) Platform. Almost all of the bradoriid genera and species are endemic to that region. The palaeogeographical links with other bradoriid faunas are mostly within the Redlichiid trilobite Realm, with areas such as N China, Australia and parts of central Asia.

In a previous communication an account was given of the sedimentary series exposed along the eastern coast-line of the Shetlands from Rova Head to Sumburgh Head. Fossil evidence was adduced which enabled the position of these beds in the Old Red System to be fixed more definitely than had hitherto been the case; they were shown to be partly of Middle, partly of Upper Old Red Sandstone age, the base of the Rova Head Conglomerate being taken as the dividing line. Since the publication of that paper additional fossils have to be recorded. Examination of the numerous specimens of the Microbrachius from the fish-beds of Shetland fails to reveal any specific distinction between that form and Microbrachius dicki Traq. occurring in the John o' Groat's Sandstone Group, and the Eday Sandstones; it is therefore an important addition to the chain of evidence linking up the Shetland horizon with those of Orkney and the Mainland. An additional record of little stratigraphical value is that of Coccosteus (sp. indet.), a single plate of which was found by Professor W. H. Lang at a horizon slightly below the fish-bed at Shingly Geo, Dunrossness.

The genus Bathydoris was created by Bergh in 1884 in his Report on the Nudibranch Mollusca collected by the Challenger. In his account of the anatomy of the new genus Bergh draws attention to the anomalous combination of characters possessed by the animal, and gives it an annectent position between the Dorids and the Tritonids, but places it among the Dorids on account of the predominance of Dorid features. The single specimen of Bathydoris abyssorum was dredged off New South Wales in 2425 fathoms. A second specimen of this peculiar genus was obtained by the Danish Ingolf Expedition and described by Bergh in 1900. This specimen came from 1870 fathoms in Davis Strait, and resembled B. abyssorum, with specific variations. Thus Bathydoris came to be regarded as an isolated genus with the characters of a connecting link, and appropriately a denizen of deep water. Our anatomical knowledge of the animal is derived almost entirely from Bergh's accounts of the two species mentioned, and is moderately extensive, considering the rather imperfect state of preservation of the material and the fact that he was dependent on single specimens in each case.

Fossil tree resins preserve a wide range of animals, plants, fungi and microorganisms in microscopic fidelity. Fossil organisms preserved in an individual piece of amber lived at the same time in Earth history and mostly even in the same habitat, but they were not necessarily parts of the same interacting community. Here, we report on an in situ preserved corticolous community from a piece of Miocene Dominican amber which is composed of a lichen, a moss and three species of leafy liverworts. The lichen is assigned to the extant genus Phyllopsora (Ramalinaceae, Lecanoromycetes) and is described as P.magna Kaasalainen, Rikkinen & A. R. Schmidt sp. nov. The moss, Aptychellites fossilis Schäf.-Verw., Hedenäs, Ignatov & Heinrichs gen. & sp. nov., closely resembles the extant genus Aptychella of the family Pylaisiadelphaceae. The three leafy liverworts comprise the extinct Lejeuneaceae species Cheilolejeunea antiqua (Grolle) Ye & Zhu, 2010 and Lejeunea miocenica Heinrichs, Schäf.-Verw., M. A. M. Renner & G. E. Lee sp. nov. and the extinct Radulaceae species Radula intecta M. A. M. Renner, Schäf.-Verw. & Heinrichs sp. nov. The presence of five associated extinct cryptogam species, four of which belong to extant genera, further substantiates the notion of a stasis in morphotype diversity, but a certain turnover of species, in the Caribbean since the early Miocene.

The migmatitic gneiss complex of Lylyvaara in the eastern part of Finnish Presvecokarelides of the Baltic Shield shows evidence of a polyphase deformational and metamorphic history and of the emplacement of a number of mafic and felsic igneous intrusions at various stages during this history. Sequential structural development has been established on the bases of refolding and cross-cutting relationships. U–Pb zircon and sphene isotopic data combined with structural studies indicate that the first six deformational phases took place in late Archaean (=Presvecokarelian) times. The seventh deformational phase is constrained as being early Proterozoic (=Svecokarelian) from regional considerations.

The gneissic foliation in the dominant tonalitic to trondhjemitic palaeosome is parallel to lithological layering (So). Mostly it is composite S1–S2; only in F2 fold hinges can separate S1 and S2 be unequivocally distinguished. There, both of these fabrics, which were formed in amphibolite facies conditions of metamorphism during D1 and D2 have retained their identity despite extensive tectonic overprinting. Further tonalitic or granodioritic material was intruded during D3 or between D2 and D3. Effects of the third deformational phase (D3) ar6e expressed only locally as asymmetrical and polyclinal folds, which deform S1–S2 and F2. These folds now have a northeasterly axial trend and they show considerable variations in the style of their parasitic structures. F4 folds are common. They are dextral and asymmetrical, have NW—NNW-trending axes and show complex interference patterns with F2 and F3 folds. During D4, much aplogranitic neosome material was emplaced in NW—SE-trending movement zones, which correspond to the axial planes of F4 folds. Superimposition of F5 and F6 structures on previously formed patterns add to the structural complexity although they only result in minor modifications. Both are open and upright and locally have associated cleavages or healed fractures (S5, S6). D7 is expressed throughout the migmatitic complex as narrow NW—SE-trending shear zones which reactivate the S4 trend.

U–Pb zircon isotopic data indicate that the metamorphism associated with gneiss formation took place 2843 ± 18 Ma ago. U–Pb sphene ages of c. 2660 Ma and 2620 Ma indicate that metamorphic conditions prevailed for a very considerable time. An aplogranitic neosome related to F4 axial planes gave a 2657 ± 32 Ma U–Pb zircon age, while granodiorite and pegmatite dykes related to D6 yielded U–Pb zircon ages of c 2670 Ma and 2640 Ma, respectively.

Late Devensian ice-sheet movement in the western Southern Uplands of Scotland is demonstrated by the distribution of erratics from four different bedrock sources and by glacial striae and ice-moulded landforms. This evidence shows an almost radial movement of ice from an ice-divide zone. The control of relief over ice flow and the distribution of erratics is emphasised. The distribution of erratics from two of the sources, however, shows that debris in the ice was transported only a very short distance in certain places. Abundant deposits of lodgement till occur in the vicinity of the former ice-divide. Although it is generally considered that glacial erosion, and therefore deposition, are insignificant at the centre of ice-sheets, this study suggests otherwise. It is inferred that till and erratics may be emplaced during ice-sheet build-up when conditions for erosion obtained, these deposits being protected from subsequent removal by the establishment of an ice-divide across the area. The implications for high rates of erosion in ice-sheet source areas are examined.

Probably the commonest type of foliage among the impressions of Carboniferous plants is one which simulates that of our living ferns. These palæozoic fronds were originally believed to belong to the true ferns, but recently some of them have been taken from this group and included in the Pteridospermeæ. There remain, however, a large number of fronds the true affinities of which are yet doubtful. Thus, though there are still a considerable number of species which belong to the ferns, the number of doubtful examples and of those now definitely known to be pteridospermous far exceeds the number of those attributed to the Filices. Indeed, we cannot now consider the latter group to have been dominant during the Carboniferous epoch.

Forty-one specimens of acanthodians and actinopterygians were examined from Units 26 to 38 of the Geikie Tuff, Little Cliff Shale and East Kirkton Limestone of the Viséan East Kirkton Limestone sequence. The results yielded six actinopterygian species including a platysomid and two probable juveniles of uncertain affinities, and three acanthodians including two acanthodidids and a climatiid-like denticle. Most specimens consist of isolated bones and scales, but articulated remains of an acanthodian and actinopterygians were found in Units 37 and 38 of the East Kirkton Limestone. The faunal composition is characteristically Oil-Shale in aspect and resembles that of Broxburn (Pumpherston). The presence of deep-bodied and juvenile fishes in the same strata combined with the mode of preservation indicate a palaeohabitat with limited current action and a soft substrate.

The East Kirkton Limestone is typically a carbonate/organic laminite characterised at many levels by abundant radial-fibrous calcite (RFC) spherules and by less common larger stromatolite-like accretions of laminated botryoidal RFC. The spherules are mostly c. 1 mm in diameter and have cyanophyte and chlorophyte inclusions. Some spherules enclose parallel bundles of complete cyanophyte fibres and probably grew within a living cyanophyte mat. The botryoidal accretions were commonly seeded upon wood and other exposed organic remains such as bone, and they completely enclose twigs and branches where these were held above the sediment surface. Botryoidal accretions commonly contain the remains of a benthos of cyanophytes, chlorophytes and ostracods.

Both types of calcite have carbon and oxygen stable isotope values similar to those of known fresh-water precipitates. Their stable isotope and trace element geochemistries are consistent with precipitation on the floor of a tropical fresh-water lake within a volcanic setting, but removed from the influence of any hot-spring activity. Spherules and botroids are mineralogically closely similar and, whilst precipitation may have been biogenically mediated, they are regarded as passive lake floor cements.

The carbonate laminae are dominated by rhombohedral calcite. Many of these laminae may have originated as calcite suspensoids which settled to the lake floor during relatively brief precipitation events, blanketing the normally richly organic substrate, smothering the cyanophyte mats, and leading to the preservation of individual organic laminae. Crystals later became enlarged and intergrown within the sediment, but this occurred early and prior to significant compaction, because detail of fragile and degradable organic constituents is commonly preserved. The likely source of the carbonate is through leaching of the local basic volcanic terrain. The precipitation of two types of calcite implies regular fluctuations in the chemistry of the lake waters, or in the factors controlling precipitation, which may have been a biogenic and/or seasonal effect.

Chironomid larvæ for a long time have been known to inhabit the brackish pools around the coast, but there are few published records of their life-histories and habits, and in many cases they cannot be correlated with their imagines. This applies equally to the fresh-water types.

The greater part of the systematic work on the Chironomidæ deals with the imagines, and much confusion exists regarding the nomenclature of species, which most authorities admit cannot be rectified until the early stages have been recorded.

The first description of a marine Chironomid larva was given by Johnston (1830), who described it erroneously as a worm under the name of Campontia erusciformis. Miall and Hammond (1900) give a good account of the life-history and habits of Chironomus dorsalis Mg., and several authors, notably Lenz (1921), Goetghebuer (1927–8–32), Thienemann (1938), and Malloch (1915), have reared some imagines from the larvae, but a very great amount of work has still to be done. Lenz (1921) has attempted to bring some order into the early stages and gives a systematic key to the genera for larvæ and pupæ, but no systematic key exists at present for the distinguishing of species.