Bitumen veins were formerly mined as ‘coal’ from Moinian metamorphic basement at Castle Leod, Strathpeffer, Ross-shire. The abundance and spatial concentration of hydrocarbons implies generation of a large volume of oil that exerted a fluid pressure great enough to open veins to 1+ m width. Biomarker characteristics, including β-carotane and a high proportion of C28 steranes, correlate the bitumen to Lower Devonian non-marine shales separated from the Moinian basement by a major fault. Bitumen in the Moinian basement has higher diasterane/sterane ratios than bitumen in the Devonian sequence, indicating greater levels of biodegradation, which may reflect more interaction with water in the basement. Replacive bitumen nodules in the Moinian basement, containing thoriferous/uraniferous mineral phases, are comparable with bitumen nodules in basement terrains elsewhere. Formation of the nodules represents hydrocarbon penetration of low-permeability basement, consistent with high fluid pressure. Bitumen veins are particularly orientated E–W, and may be associated with E–W transfer faults attributed to Permo-Carboniferous basin inversion.

Archæologists and students of Roman Scotland have long known that somewhere in the neighbourhood of Newstead, near Melrose, lay the site of a Roman settlement.

Excavations which have recently been undertaken by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, under the direction of Mr James Curle, F.S.A., of Priorwood, Melrose, have been successful in ascertaining, to the east of the village of Newstead, the exact position of a large fort, which occupied a commanding position within sight of the Eildon Hills.

We studied the impact of added biochar on the N mineralisation dynamics of two organic fertilisers by incubating loamy sand soil for 133 days in controlled conditions. Biochar made from softwood chips was added to soil at 0, 4·6, 9·1 and 13·6 g kg–1 soil dry matter (DM) either alone, or in combination with meat bone meal (MBM) and composted cattle manure (CCM) fertilisers. Soil mineral N concentration was determined on days 0, 14, 28, 56, 84 and 133. Net N mineralisation in the MBM treatment was much larger than in the CCM or the unfertilised treatments. Constant soil moisture during the incubation provided suitable aerobic soil conditions for nitrification: after day 14, soil mineral N was dominated by nitrate in all treatments. Biochar additions decreased the mineral N concentrations in all treatments, probably because of immobilisation by microbes. In unfertilised soil, the immobilisation by biochar increased steadily with application rate and time, but in the MBM and CCM treatments, it started to decrease or level off after two months, possibly due to the turnover of microbial biomass. The main biochar-induced impacts on soil N mineralisation dynamics could be modelled by using standard and confined exponential models.

This Plesiosaur was collected from the Oxford Clay near Peterborough by A.N. Leeds, Esq., F.G.S., and was acquired for the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow University, by Professor J. W. Gregory. The major portion of the skeleton is present, and the bones are in an excellent state of preservation. The specimen has many striking resemblances to Cryptocleidus oxoniensis, but detailed examination showed that it could not belong to that species, and the differences existing in the paddle, shouldergirdle, number of vertebræ, and conditions of ossification are such that it cannot be retained in that genus as now defined. Under the circumstances it seems advisable to create a new genus.

The twin summits of Preshal More and Preshal Beg, near Talisker, Isle of Skye, comprise the erosional remnants of a thick (at least 120 m) compound olivine tholeiite lava, or flow field, that ponded in palaeo-valleys within the Palaeocene lava field of west-central Skye. This unique flow field constitutes the Talisker Formation and is the youngest preserved extrusive unit of the Skye Lava Field. The lava inundated a complex of palaeo-valleys incised into the higher stratigraphical levels of the existing lava field, and remnants of the original sedimentary fill of these valleys still exist, the Preshal Beg Conglomerate Formation. The lava displays spectacularly well-developed two-tier (colonnade-entablature) columnar joint sets that formed as a consequence of slow, uninterrupted cooling through its base and sidewalls, aided by groundwater circulation and water ingress (from displaced drainage) directed into the lava's interior by master-joint systems. Intrusive phenomena developed at both the base and the top of the lava and there is evidence for the existence of subsurface feeder tubes. The tholeiitic composition of the Talisker Formation lava contrasts with the transitional, mildly alkaline characteristics of the remainder of the (older) lavas of Skye Lava Field. In broad terms, the Talisker Formation lava is compositionally very similar to the suite of cone-sheets emplaced into the oldest of the four intrusive centres that comprise the Skye Central Complex – the Cuillin Intrusive Centre – together with a high proportion of the Skye regional dyke swarm. The stratigraphical position, field relationships and compositional characteristics of the lava indicate that it was erupted and emplaced as an intracanyon-style flow field during the early shield-building stage in the growth of the (tholeiitic) Cuillin Volcano, which post-dates the main Skye ‘plateau’ Lava Field. Although the remnant outcrops are detached from their likely source area through erosion, this tholeiitic lava provides the first direct evidence linking the central complexes of the British Palaeogene Igneous Province and their eruptive products.

The purpose of this memoir is (1) to make known a number of drawings and descriptions of the eggs, embryos, and larvæ of the species of Teleosteans which I have been able to study at the Scottish Marine Station; (2) to review as comprehensively as possible what is known at the present time concerning the structure of the embryos and larvæ of the species of Teleosteans, and to discover what features are common to each family or each order; (3) to discuss the changes which take place in the protoplasm and nucleus of the mature ovum immediately after it is shed, both when fertilised and when unfertilised. The ova of the following species were taken directly from the parent fish, and artificially fertilised. The necessary operations were carried out, in some cases by myself, on board fishing boats—usually steam trawlers from Granton. In many instances I did not myself go out in the boats, but the ova were obtained and brought to me at the laboratory by Alexander Turbyne, keeper of the station. But in every case there is no uncertainty as to the species of the fish from which the ova were taken; if there was any doubt, specimens of the parent fish were brought with the ova.

Two trilobite faunas of Late Ordovician (Katian) age are described from the Mayatas Formation in the Stepnyak region of north-central Kazakhstan. The older, oligotaxic fauna derives from flanks of a carbonate build-up, and is dominated by numerous Sphaerexochus specimens. Amphilichas is also relatively common, with Pliomerina and indeterminate asaphids present as rare components. The overlying unit of siliceous argillites contains a different assemblage, representing the raphiophorid biofacies and comprising seven genera. The poorly preserved fauna is dominated by blind trilobites (a new genus of trinucleid, the three-segmented raphiophorid Pseudampyxina, Malongullia?, Lonchodomas and Arthrorhachis) and at least two species of large-eyed Telephina, suggesting that they occupied the disphotic zone in deep water offshore. A single cranidium of the odontopleurid Primaspis is also present. The trinucleid, Iputaspis stepnyakensis gen. et sp. nov., has an unusual pit arrangement, with E1 and E2 aligned in sulci and all I arcs irregularly arranged. The Atansor area is located within the Stepnyak tectonostratigraphical unit, which probably represented an Ordovician active margin of the Kalmykkol–Kokchetav Microplate. Some of the genera represented in the faunas have affinities with Australia and South China and, also, there is a possible link to European peri-Gondwana.

This paper reports on the progress to date of a long-term investigation of the effects of drainage and afforestation on the hydrology of a peat bog near Edinburgh based on the use of runoff plots and other related equipment. The hydrology of the area immediately after ploughing is described and recently collected data are presented to show how this has changed over a six-year period. The main changes appear to be a substantial reduction in water yield and a move towards a less flashy runoff regime. Data are presented to show that these are most probably due to an increase in the amount of rainfall intercepted by the vegetation now covering the area and to a deterioration in the hydraulic efficiency of the drainage network.

In the beginning of the year 1865, I received from the Rev. Alexander Robb, one of the missionaries of the United Presbyterian Church, residing at Creek Town, Old Calabar, Western Africa, a package containing some zoological specimens, preserved in spirits; and in a letter dated 28th October 1864, referring to its contents, he states, there “are also two or three small eel-like fishes.” Some time passed before I was able carefully to examine the package, and I was then at once attracted by these small fish, which I saw belonged to the very distinct and interesting Order of the Ganoid fishes, so abundant in a fossil state in the rocks of our earlier geological epochs, but of which so few representatives are now to be found as living inhabitants of the present waters of our globe.

Abundant insect fossils have been recorded from the Lower Cretaceous of the Jiuquan Basin, but very few odonatans have been recorded. In this paper, a new damsel-dragonfly, Cretastenophlebia jiuquanensis sp. nov., is described from the Lower Cretaceous Zhonggou Formation in the Hanxiagou outcrop, Jiuquan Basin, northwestern China. This is the second species of the genus Cretastenophlebia Fleck et al., 2003. Cretastenophlebia jiuquanensis sp. nov. differs from Cretastenophlebia mongolica Fleck et al., 2003 in the presence of a broad discoidal triangle, a basally straight IR1 and less cells along the posterior wing margin between IR2 and RP2. Cretastenophlebia has been previously reported from the Lower Cretaceous of Bon-Tsagaan, central Mongolia. The new discovery expands the record of Cretastenophlebia to the Jiuquan Basin in Albian.

The Patagonian Batholith was formed by numerous plutonic events that took place between the Jurassic and the Miocene. North of 47° S, the youngest plutons occupy the axial zone adjacent to the Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault Zone, which is a major intra-arc strike-slip fault system active since the Miocene. The Queulat Complex, located at 44° 30′ S, includes two Miocene plutonic units: the Early Miocene Queulat diorite (QD) and the Late Miocene Puerto Cisnes granite (PCG). The QD includes hornblende + clinopyroxene diorites and tonalites, whereas the PCG includes slightly peraluminous garnet ± sillimanite granites and granodiorites.

Eleven mineral Ar–Ar ages and three apatite fission track ages were obtained from the Queulat Complex and surrounding host rocks. Hornblende and biotite Ar–Ar ages of c. 16-18 Ma and 9-10 Ma, respectively, were obtained for the QD. The youngest ages of the QD are similar to the age of emplacement of the PCG as previously determined. Ar–Ar ages for muscovites and biotites of 6·6 ± 0·3 Ma and 5·6 ± 0·1 Ma, respectively, were obtained for the PCG. Biotites and muscovites from mylonites and pelitic hornfelses adjacent to the PCG yielded Ar—Ar ages between 5·1 Ma and 5·5 Ma. The apatite fission track ages of the QD and PCG overlap within the error margin (2•2 ± 1·1-3·3 ± 1·4 Ma).

The Al-in-hornblende geobarometer yielded pressures for the QD emplacement equivalent to depths in the 19-24 km range, which is substantially higher than the 10 km depth estimated previously for the PCG emplacement. Exhumation rates (v) up to 2·0mm/yr were calculated for the time elapsed between the QD and PCG emplacements. A v value of 1·0mm/yr was calculated for the PCG subsequent to its emplacement. Using the silica—Ca-tschermak-anorthite geobarometer, we estimate the QD magma generation to be at c. 33 km, which is similar to the current crustal thickness. Melting of mafic and metapelitic lower crust was possible at > 30km depth during a period when v was between 1·0mm/yr and 2·0mm/yr.

During the voyage of the Scotia in the Weddell Sea, and during her wintering at Scotia Bay, South Orkneys, I measured as many of the seals taken as possible. I was usually assisted in this work by Mr WILTON. When a seal was killed near the ship, and it could be arranged, I also weighed them both in whole and in part, weighing the different viscera as at a human post-mortem examination. The results of these investigations are now summarised in tabular form, which makes it easy at a glance to make comparisons. In addition to the measurements and weights of the true seals of the Antarctic regions, those of a fine specimen of Otaria jubata (the Patagonian Sea-lion) secured at the Falkland Islands are also given.

Sub-silicic to silicic pitchstones are widespread throughout the British Tertiary Igneous Province (BTIP), with examples being found at all the major igneous centres. Both highly porphyritic and almost completely aphyric varieties occur, and take the form of sills, dykes and lava flows. Here we present previously unreported mineral chemistry data on phenocryst and microcrystallite populations from a number of pitchstones from throughout the BTIP. Phenocryst assemblages are completely anhydrous, comprising mixtures of plagioclase, sanidine, fayalite, orthopyroxene, pigeonite, ferroaugite, ferrohedenbergite and quartz. Microcrystallite assemblages are also diverse, consisting of sanidine, ferrohedenbergite, fayalite and, occasionally, almost pure end-member ferrosilite, as well as hydrous phases such as ferrohornblende and biotite. Textural and mineral chemistry observations support interpretations derived from whole-rock and residual glass major element analyses, together with whole-rock trace element and the available Sr-Nd-Pb isotope data, that the Tertiary pitchstones of Scotland are either the products of intimate mixing between a range of basaltic magmas with hydrous crustal melts, or were formed by the crustal contamination of basaltic magmas.

The present paper is the second of a series of investigations into the anatomy of the lower Dicotyledons (1), aiming at the accumulation of anatomical data which, it is hoped, may prove of service in elucidating the phylogeny of the complex of orders usually regarded as situated somewhere near the base of the Angiosperm phylum. The continuance of the War has again materially retarded these investigations, and has also rendered it almost impossible to obtain material from abroad that would, doubtless, have been available in peace time. We are greatly indebted for substantial assistance in this relation more especially to Sir David Prain, F.R.S., Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and to Sir Frederick Moore, F.R.S., Director of the Glasnevin Gardens, Dublin, and to them we tender our grateful thanks.

1. To find the numerical law according to which the temperature of a place varies with its latitude, is an empirical problem which has, since the middle of the last century, from time to time engaged attention.

2. Lambert, Mayer, and Kirwan in the last century, De Humboldt, Brewster, Kämtz, and Dove in the present, may be cited amongst those who have investigated formulæ which express, with more or less accuracy, the mean temperature of a place in terms of its latitude.

3. The formulæ proposed are mostly reducible to two types—a variation depending upon the cosine of the latitude simply (that of Sir D. Brewster), and one depending on the square of the same quantity (that of Mayer).

The Lower Pleistocene Karnezeika locality, lies in the Peloponnese, southern Greece, and its fauna corresponds to the Middle Villafranchian biochronological unit (MN17). The recovered mammal assemblage includes, among others, a few remains of a large Cercopithecid. Herein, we describe this material, including an upper second molar, a partially preserved proximal radius and, possibly, an upper first incisor. The teeth show advanced stages of wear but retain their typical papionin characters, such as a strong lingual cleft and four bilophodont cusps in the molar. The general morphology and wear pattern of the teeth rules out the possibility that the remains belong to the genus Theropithecus, while the general size of the corresponding material excludes the possibility of a Macaca representative as well. On the contrary, the studied material better fits the size range of Paradolichopithecus. Even though this genus is likely represented in the Villafranchian of Europe by a single species, Par. arvernensis, the scarcity of the studied material imposes reservations and thus the Karnezeika papionin is referred at the moment to cf. Paradolichopithecus sp. As in the rest of Europe, the Paradolichopithecus record is rare in Greece, having been found in only two localities, Vatera and Dafnero. Despite its scarcity, the new material from Karnezeika indicates a wide distribution of this important taxon in the Greek peninsula.

The first half of the Mississippian or Early Carboniferous (Tournaisian to mid- Viséan), an interval of about 20 million years, has become known as “Romer's Gap” because of its poor tetrapod record. Recent discoveries emphasise the differences between pre-“Gap” Devonian tetrapods, unambiguous stem-group members retaining numerous “fish” characters indicative of an at least partially aquatic lifestyle, and post-“Gap” Carboniferous tetrapods, which are far more diverse and include fully terrestrial representatives of the main crown-group lineages. It seems that “Romer's Gap” coincided with the cladogenetic events leading to the origin of the tetrapod crown group. Here, we describe a partial right lower jaw ramus of a tetrapod from the late Tournaisian or early Viséan of Scotland. The large and robust jaw displays a distinctive character combination, including a significant mesial lamina of the strongly sculptured angular, an open sulcus for the mandibular lateral line, a non-ossified narrow Meckelian exposure, a well-defined dorsal longitudinal denticle ridge on the prearticular, and a mesially open adductor fossa. A phylogenetic analysis places this specimen in a trichotomy with Crassigyrinus and baphetids + higher tetrapods in the upper part of the tetrapod stem group, above Whatcheeria, Pederpes, Ossinodus, Sigournea and Greererpeton. It represents a small but significant step in the gradual closure of “Romer's Gap”.

The Paleogene lava flows of the Faroe Islands Basalt Group are divided into three relatively thick formations. The oldest, the Beinisvørð Formation is separated from the second lava flow succession, the Malinstindur Formation, by two formations composed primarily of volcaniclastic rocks. The oldest of these, the Prestfjall Formation has been interpreted as a period of eruptive quiescence and linked to changes in mantle melting. It is characterised in the south by the occurrence of coals, while the overlying Hvannhagi Formation is a sequence of primary and remobilised volcaniclastic strata. Field, laboratory, palynology, and photogrammetry studies have been used to investigate variations in facies and architecture within these volcaniclastic formations. The data reveal significantly different depositional systems in the Prestfjall and Hvannhagi formations over the ~40 km from the island of Vágar in the north to the island of Suðuroy in the south. Facies distribution in both the Prestfjall and Hvannhagi formations was found to have been controlled by a complex interaction of regional paleoslope, pre-existing topography, the eruption and local collapse of low-angle shield volcanoes, and minor brittle deformation. Lithological data and photogrammetry have enabled the identification of a > 180 m thick succession of volcaniclastic conglomerates deposited by lahars reworking a low-angle shield sector collapse. Co-occurrence of facies characteristic of the Prestfjall, Hvannhagi and Malinstindur formations indicate that volcanic eruption continued at a lower tempo throughout the Prestfjall Formation interval. Identification of a Beinisvørð Formation low-angle volcano shield northwest of the Faroe Islands alters the previous eruption model for this extensive lava field.

Having, several years ago, in the course of a prolonged investigation of the geological structure of the Appalachian chain of the United States, conducted partly in co-operation with my brother, Professor W. B, Rogers, as a purely scientific inquiry, partly by myself, in connection with a Government Survey of the State of Pennsylvania, discovered what we deemed important laws, applicable generally to all corrugated tracts of strata; and being prepared, by observations since made in the United States and in Europe, to extend their application, and give them a more general expression, I have thought that I could not select a more suitable subject for my first communication to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, than this portion of descriptive and dynamic geology, which has engaged much of my attention, theoretically and practically, for these many years. In presenting an outline of the views already arrived at, and published by us as a necessary part of the further generalizations since reached, I will refrain from repeating, in historical detail, what we have already written, but will give our conclusions in the form and with the brevity most compatible with clearness, referring to the printed papers and communications where the special topics included in this more general summary may be seen.

The centrosaurine ceratopsid taxon Pachyrhinosaurus is the most speciose of centrosaurines, being represented by at least three species (P. canadensis, P. lakustai, and the recently described P. perotorum) from the late Campanian and early Maastrichtian of North America. The species are readily distinguished from one another by details of easily visible cranio-facial and frill ornamentation, features commonly used to differentiate ceratopsid taxa. Braincase material is also known for all three taxa. We describe the braincase of P. perotorum based on specimens from the Kikak–Tegoseak Quarry of the North Slope of Alaska. We then compare it to braincase and endocranial descriptions of the other Pachyrhinosaurus taxa to test whether there may be useful species-level differences present in these robust parts of the ceratopsid skull. Braincase morphology, including cranial nerve paths through the braincase walls in P. lakustai and P. perotorum, were found to be very similar. Two potential diagnostic differences between taxa were found, although tests based on larger sample sizes will be necessary to verify them. This reinforces the importance of highly visual cranio-facial and frill ornamentation as the best tool for species recognition and phylogenetic reconstruction in ceratopsid dinosaurs.