With their extensive fossil record and shells of stable low-Mg calcite, rhynchonelliform brachiopods are attractive sources of climate information via seawater temperature proxies such as stable oxygen isotope composition. In Terebratalia transversa (Sowerby) there is a progression towards oxygen isotope equilibrium in the calcite of the innermost secondary layer. This study confirms the lack of any vital effects influencing oxygen isotope composition of T. transversa, even in specialised areas of the innermost secondary layer. Calcite Mg/Ca ratio is another potential seawater temperature proxy, that has the advantage of not being influenced by salinity. Mg concentrations measured by electron microprobe analyses indicate that there is no concomitant decrease in Mg concentration towards the inner secondary layer, associated with the progressive shift towards oxygen isotope equilibrium. Mg distribution is heterogeneous throughout the shell and correlates with that of sulphur, which may be a proxy for organic components, suggesting that some of the Mg may not be in the calcite lattice. It is essential therefore, to determine the chemical environment of the magnesium ions to avoid any erroneous temperature extrapolations in brachiopods or any other calcite biomineral.

The material placed at my disposal for the purposes of this paper comprised the brains of four adult specimens of the Weddell seal, in addition to the brain of the young animal which has formed the subject of my former contributions. The four adult brains having been removed at the time the animals were killed, and preserved in a solution composed of spirit (90 per cent.) 6 pints and formal (2 per cent.) 4 pints, were, with one exception, in a firm and satisfactory condition for detailed anatomical examination. The body of the young seal had been preserved with a view to ordinary dissection, and therefore its brain was not in the firm state of the adult specimens; but as I had the opportunity of removing this brain from the skull, I was able to observe the disposition of the dura mater to the hemispheres of the cerebrum and cerebellum. While the dura mater presented, as a whole, its usual arrangements, it was noteworthy that the falx cerebri did not act as a septum between the two hemispheres of the cerebrum except to a very slight extent, and certainly for not more than one-third of the distance between the vertex of the cerebrum and the dorsal surface of the corpus callosum. As a result, in the region referred to the opposing mesial surfaces of the two hemispheres lay not only in close apposition with each other, but their convolutions were intimately adapted to each other. Similarly, the tentorium cerebelli only extended a short distance between the cerebrum and the cerebellum, and, as the occipital ends of the cerebral hemispheres fell considerably apart from each other, there was space for the accommodation of the well-developed vermis of the cerebellum as well as for the bulbous pineal body, which occupied a position upon its dorsal aspect. As I removed the brain from the skull the stalk of the pineal body gave way, and probably the same thing had occurred during the removal of the adult brains, for, while different lengths of the stalks had been preserved, there was only one complete specimen of its bulbous extremity. Looked at from the vertex, the general outline of the whole brain was that of a four-sided figure with rounded angles, and the cerebral hemispheres concealed the cerebellum except where the vermis was exposed between them at their occipital ends. The frontal ends of the hemispheres were not rounded into frontal poles; but, on the contrary, they almost formed flat frontal surfaces. Similarly, the occipital ends were rounded and not pointed to form occipital poles. There was a small amount of difference in the absolute size of the adult brains, and the largest specimen measured 120 mm. in its fronto-occipital diameter ; 115 mm. in its greatest transverse diameter at a point well forward on the temporo-sphenoidal lobes; and 71 mm. in vertical height, measured from the pons varolii to the vertex of the cerebrum. Thus, apart from the peculiarity of its general outline in total size, it was only slightly less than an average human brain. Throughout the anterior two-thirds of their extent the cerebral hemispheres were, as already indicated, in very close apposition, and the falx cerebri only dipped into the pallial or superior longitudinal fissure to a slight extent; but in its posterior third this cleft opened to form a wide interval, measuring 65 mm. in the transverse direction at its hinder end and narrowing as it ran forwards towards the posterior end of the corpus callosum. In the deep level of this interval the pineal body and the upper surface of the vermis were visible, as well as part of the upper surface of the cerebellar hemispheres. It should be stated that the backward extension of the occipital lobes of the cerebrum carried them 2 mm. beyond the cerebellar hemispheres.

In its essential features the basal aspect of the brain conformed to current descriptions of the mammalian brain ; but it presented many special points of interest, to which reference will be made in the course of my survey.

The illustrious Cuvier, in his treatise “ Sur les Ossemens fossiles,” described and figured an imperfect skull which had been obtained, in 1804, by M. Raymond Gorsse in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône, near Fos, on the southern coast of France. It had been found on the sea-shore in the preceding year by a peasant. Cuvier recognised it to belong to an undescribed genus of cetaceans, to which he gave the name of Ziphius; and from the deep hollow which it possessed at the base of the rostrum, he named it Ziphius cavirostris. From the condition of the bones, and the general characters of the specimen, he judged it to be a fossil. Cuvier's description, though brief, and from a mutilated specimen, yet clearly states the most salient features of the skull.

The research of James Croll on the nature of Ice Ages led him into a detailed investigation of ocean currents. By the early 1870s he had calculated from first principles the quantities of heat delivered by ocean currents to high latitude areas and he understood how this heat supply may have altered drastically during ice ages. The publication of his many papers on ocean currents as well as his book, Climate and Time, coincided with Challenger expedition that, in 1872, embarked on a 4-year voyage of scientific exploration of the world's oceans. The expedition was crucially important for Croll since it enabled him to test his theories of ocean circulation using real data. His novel theories of ocean circulation based on this information conflicted with the established views popularly advocated by William Carpenter but they ultimately prevailed. In the many writings of Croll on ocean currents, we encounter, as with other areas of his research, numerous remarkable ideas many decades ahead their time.

The interest awakened by Gay-Lussac's great discovery of the simplicity in the relation of the volumes of gases has greatly increased in recent times, when chemists have discovered that, in a large number of instances at least, the formula of a body, as deduced physically from its vapour density, exactly coincides with that deducible from chemical considerations of its reactions, and from the nature of the products arising in consequence of them.

The processes at present used for determining the vapour densities of bodies, are those of Gay-Lussac and Dumas.

The new species here described were found in the course of the work of the Lake Survey on Loch Ness and other Highland Lochs. Half of the number were found in lakes, though they are not exclusively lacustrine, three in ponds, two from moss growing on the shores of Loch Ness, and one in a stream running into Loch Ness.

The study of differential fertility in Great Britain in relation to the continued decline in fertility has been hampered by lack of adequate birth registration. Though the defect has now been partially remedied by The Population (Statistics) Bill, the study of past changes is still difficult. In a previous memoir (Charles and Moshinsky, 1938) the writer gave an analysis of regional fertility differences in England and Wales from 1911 to 1931. Gross reproduction rates were used as measures of fertility. In the present communication the same method is applied to changes in fertility in Scotland.

The recent important work of Farmer and Digby (1910) on the cytology of certain varietal and hybrid ferns has raised again the interesting and absorbing question of the mechanism of mitosis. This paper constitutes a valuable addition to the literature which has bulked so largely during the last few years, and which has been instrumental in establishing many interesting and important facts regarding the greatest of all cytological problems—namely, nuclear division. The interest of this later contribution lies, not so much in the actual observations which these writers have jointly recorded—although the facts revealed are important in that they confirm the work of other writers and extend the range of observation,—but rather in the theory which they have deduced from their results and which they have put forward to account for the factors at work in the living cell,—factors which they believe to be concerned in the formation of the achromatic spindle.

Two new broad-cupped camerate crinoids are reported from the Upper Ordovician (Ashgill, Rawtheyan) Lady Burn Starfish Beds of the Girvan district, Strathclyde, SW Scotland. These represent a significant addition to the limited crinoid diversity known from the Ordovician of the British Isles. The 20-armed diplobathrid Eodimerocrinites littlewoodi gen. et sp. nov. is similar to Silurian Dimerocrinites Phillips, but lacks median ray ridges and has a distinct calyx sculpture. Camerate sp. indet. differs from E. littlewoodi in the sculpture of the dorsal cup and the arrangement of the interbrachial plates, but it preserves insufficient information for it to be further classified with confidence.

New specimens of the diplobathrid gen. et sp. nov. cf Botting from the Middle Ordovician (Llanvirn, Abereiddian) of central Wales, that illustrate hitherto unknown morphological features, including a distal rhizoidal holdfast and a geniculate proximal column, suggest that this species was a rheophilic filter feeder. One specimen is one of the most complete fossil crinoids known from the Ordovician of the British Isles.

In this paper I propose submitting to the Society some observations on the nature and history of the Marsh Poison, which, under the title of Marsh Miasmata, or Malaria, has ever been acknowledged as the undisputed source of Intermittent Fevers, and is believed, with good reason, to be the exciting cause of the whole tribe of Remittent Fevers;—of Endemic Fever, in fact, in every form, and in every part of the world.

The writer recently undertook an investigation of certain aspects of the water relationships in the gametophyte of Polytrichum (2), showing that a large quantity of water ascends through the central strand of the stem and is given off in transpiration from the leafy shoot. The experiments were later extended to the sporophyte, the transpiration rate again being measured (3). While these observations were in progress, it was suggested that it would be useful at the same time to examine in detail the structure of the absorbing organ of the sporophyte, usually referred to as the “foot,” an organ which has been defined by Hy (16) as that part of the seta which is embedded throughout its life in the tissues of the gametophyte.

Our knowledge of the nature and mode of action of the nervous mechanism of the uterus is far from complete. The following paper is a continuation of that published by the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1927 (38).

In that paper a short historical summary of the previous work was given. To expand this summary and fully analyse the further papers I have studied on the special points of my present communication would unduly lengthen this memoir. I will therefore confine myself to a brief abstract of my former results, and a short statement as to the present state of our knowledge. A full bibliography will be found at the close of this communication.

The large magnetic anomaly which runs along the Highland Boundary Fault of Scotland immediately to the NW of Blairgowrie has been studied by both a ground-based magnetic survey and a palaeomagnetic investigation. A newly developed optimisation program, making use of a simplex algorithm, was used to model the long wavelength component of this effectively two-dimensional anomaly. The consequent model consists of a vertical, rectangular body, 3 km wide and 13 km deep, whose top surface is 2 km below ground level, with a magnetisation directed vertically downwards. The composition of this body is most likely to be that of an ultra-basic, metamorphic complex which has been brought up to its present position between two of the many near-vertical faults in the area. The medium wavelength structure of the anomaly was modelled using the common technique of trial and error, and can be interpreted in terms of a pair of Devonian andesitic lavas and a small extension of the main ultrabasic block. Subsequent palaeomagnetic remanence measurements confirmed that the magnetisation of the two lavas recorded a Devonian polarity reversal. The magnetisation of the ultrabasics is directed vertically downwards, exactly as deduced from the earlier modelling work.

The development of the hypophysis cerebri throughout the Vertebrates has attracted the attention of many workers, and our knowledge of its development and adult structure is comprehensive in many forms of the Reptilia, Amphibia, Fishes, in certain Marsupials, and in several of the best-known Mammals.

Its development in man has recently been investigated by Rudel (1) and by Hochstetter (12), but the small number of specimens as yet examined and described by these and other writers makes it desirable that further work should be done on this subject.

Few cabinets of minerals contain so many of the rare substances, which were discovered in Greenland, by Sir Charles Giesècke', and perhaps none in equally interesting varieties, as that of Mr Allan. The most prominent of them hare been examined both in a mineralogical and chemical point of view, and some described as particular species. Mineralogy is already indebted for Allanite, Sodalite, Eudialyte, and Gieseckite, to the zeal of die indefatigable explorer of Greenland, and the subsequent labours of Dr Thomson and Professor Stromeyer; and it is probable that the number of new species from this source will yet be increased upon farther examination.

Observations on the form of the Placenta and on the arrangement of the Fœtal membranes in the Seals have been recorded by more than one anatomist. Alessandrini of Bologna obtained a specimen of the Monk Seal (Phoca bicolor) Monachus albiventer, in the gravid condition, in which the uterus contained a single fœtus.

Dionidid and raphiophorid trilobites are described from the middle Ordovician (Viruan Series) of Jämtland, central Sweden. The family Dionididae is represented by one genus, Dionide Barrande, 1847, and the family Raphiophoridae by five genera, Ampyx Dalman, 1827, Ampyxella Dean, 1960, Ampyxoides Whittington, 1965, Cnemidopyge Whittard, 1955 and Lonchodomas Angelin, 1854. Seven species are described and discussed. Three of these are new: Dionide jemtlandica sp. nov., Ampyxoides minor sp. nov. and Lonchodomas striolatus sp. nov.. The majority of the trilobites described are from the Andersön Shale, equivalent to the H. teretiusculus, N. gracilis and lowermost D. multidens Zones (upper Llanvirn and lower Caradoc), and the Örån Shale, equivalent to the lower D. dingani and the uppermost D. multidens Zones (middle Caradoc). Meraspid and early holaspid material of D. jemtlandica is described.

We present the first specific record of a chironomid of the tribe Tanytarsini from early Eocene Cambay amber, India (52–53 Ma). The oldest known extinct tanytarsine genus, Gujaratomyia Giłka & Zakrzewska, gen. nov., is described on the basis of adult males of G. miripes Giłka & Zakrzewska, sp. nov. The species displays an unusual leg structure with unique leg ratios and tibial armature. The combination of the head and genital apparatus characters supports the hypothesis that Gujaratomyia and Cladotanytarsus are members of a common group within the subtribe Tanytarsina.

Volker and Upton (VU) have provided an excellent contribution to the study of the Rhum complex, providing substantial amounts of descriptive material and new observationsto allow the discussion to rise above mere opinion. VU disagree with two of our (Bédard et al. 1988) principal conclusions about the genesis of the Eastern Layered Series. We argue in the following comment that, on the contrary, their data support and complement our conclusions.

Whilst the specimens of Bothrodendron mundum Williamson sp. in the Kidston Collection of fossil plant slides in the Glasgow University Botany Department were being examined, certain structural characters were observed which have not been mentioned in previous descriptions of this species. These characters appear to be of sufficient importance to justify the present description, and at the same time it may be noted that photographic illustrations of the aerial stem of this species have not, so far as is known, been previously published.