Last summer I began an investigation of the Müllerian duct of Amphibians at the suggestion of Professor Wiedersheim, to whom I am indebted for most kind advice during the progress of my work, as well as for all the material that I have made use of in the course of it.

I have been able to examine stages in the development of the duct in Rana esculenta, Triton alpestris, Salamandra atra and S. maculosa, Siredon pisciformis (Axolotl), and Desmognathus; but I have paid special attention to Salamandra atra and Axolotl, which have not yet been studied in this connection. The Urodeles are easier to work with than the Anura, owing to the comparatively early formation of the Anlage of the Müllerian duct; and I have found Axolotl to be particularly instructive, as the pronephros and segmental duct persist during the early stages of the formation of the Müllerian duct.

I propose in this paper to describe what I have observed in various stages of the development of these two forms, and to compare the results thus arrived at with the appearances described in the published works on the subject.

The Lower Devonian Posongchong Formation (Wenshan, Yunnan Province, southwestern China) consists of a series of continental deposits with an outstanding plant megafossil diversity. More than 20 years ago, this formation was interpreted as ‘Siegenian' (∼Pragian) in age based on palynology. However, such interpretation needs further evidence because of the known differences between the dispersed spore assemblages from South China and Euramerica/northwestern Gondwana. Here, we present new dispersed spore assemblages recently recovered from the Posongchong Formation. The isolated spore diversity is highly diverse, with 18 genera and 32 species. The recognised taxa include, among others, Ambitisporites avitus, Aneurospora conica, Aneurospora posongchongensis sp. nov., Aneurospora xujiachongensis, Apiculiretusispora plicata, Archaeozonotriletes chulus, Concentricosisporites agradabilis, Dibolisporites echinaceus, Emphanisporites rotatus, Gneudnaspora divellomedia, Latosporites ovalis, Retusotriletes triangulatus, Tetrahedraletes medinensis and Verrucosporites polygonalis, with Aneurospora and Retusotriletes being the most abundant forms. The known Posongchong palynoflora (previous spore data included) suggests that the Posongchong Formation assemblages can be correlated with the Pragian interval of the polygonalis–wetteldorfensis Oppel Zone (PoW). This age determination is supported by the presence of index species of PoW, such as Verrucosporites polygonalis, Dictyotriletes subgranifer and Camarozonotriletes parvus (sensu Steemans, 1989), the latter being known only from the Pragian of Belgium and Germany. Recent advances in the study of the marine faunas in the overlying sequences also indicate a Pragian age for the Posongchong Formation. This new investigation of the Posongchong palynoflora highlights differences of abundance at species level between the Gondwanan–Laurussian floras during the Early Devonian.

The public attention, animated by scientific controversy, has of late years been much directed to Geological subjects; and the certainty of many important facts, has in consequence been ascertained beyond dispute, which were formerly unknown, or at least involved in such obscurity, that no person could have ventured to assert them, without being charged with extravagance. But though, no doubt, many branches of this science still remain to be investigated, such inquiries may now be said to have acquired a considerable degree of consistency and interest, from the substantial basis upon which they have been found to rest.

For many years the Fossil Flora of the Yorkshire Coal Field has been engaging my attention, and among the species occurring in that district are many of considerable interest. This Coal Field supplied Artis with the specimens which he figured and described in his Antediluvian Phytology.

In 1888, at the Annual Meeting of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union, held at Malton, a committee was formed for the investigation of the Fossil Flora of Yorkshire, and since that date four Reports have been prepared and published based upon specimens submitted to me for examination by private collectors, and from collections contained in public museums. These Reports only contain lists of the species found, and the localities and horizons from which the specimens were derived, with any occasional short notes that might have been thought necessary. All detailed descriptions or critical remarks were deferred, and the present paper is the first of what I hope may be several, dealing more in detail with the Fossil Flora of the Yorkshire Coal Field.

A method of conducting a resistivity sounding, up to a maximum spacing of 5 kilometres, is described. By conducting measurements, in a symmetrical fashion, about the sounding centre and in two perpendicular directions, it is possible to obtain results which are relatively insensitive to the orientation of the electrode array used and entirely related to the local area around the sounding centre. By choice of the progression of spacing used, it is also possible to express the results in terms of resistivity measures suitable for subsequent interpretation.

A resistivity sounding curve, conducted in this manner at Rookhope, shows the existence a highly resistive basement at interpreted depths which are in reasonable accord with the known depth to the Weardale granite in this area.

In the following communication an account is given of some experiments made in the Physical Laboratory of the Glasgow University, whose object was the measurement of the change of conductivity produced by strain in a metal conductor.

Two constants are required in order to determine this alteration in the most general case of a homogeneous isotropic conductor, strained in any way, as may be easily inferred from the analogy with elastic strains and stresses, constants expressing the change produced by uniform cubical compression and by simple distortion. The determination of the latter for brass is the object of the present paper.

Soil moisture is a key factor in the ecohydrological cycle in water-limited ecosystems, and it integrates the effects of climate, soil, and vegetation. The water balance and the hydrological cycle are significantly important for vegetation restoration in water-limited regions, and these dynamics are still poorly understood. In this study, the soil moisture and water balance were modelled with the stochastic soil water balance model in the Loess Plateau, China. This model was verified by monitoring soil moisture data of black locust plantations in the Yangjuangou catchment in the Loess Plateau. The influences of a rainfall regime change on soil moisture and water balance were also explored. Three meteorological stations were selected (Yulin, Yan'an, and Luochuan) along the precipitation gradient to detect the effects of rainfall spatial variability on the soil moisture and water balance. The results showed that soil moisture tended to be more frequent at low levels with decreasing precipitation, and the ratio of evapotranspiration under stress in response to rainfall also changed from 74.0% in Yulin to 52.3% in Luochuan. In addition, the effects of a temporal change in rainfall regime on soil moisture and water balance were explored at Yan'an. The soil moisture probability density function moved to high soil moisture in the wet period compared to the dry period of Yan'an, and the evapotranspiration under stress increased from 59.5% to 72% from the wet period to the dry period. The results of this study prove the applicability of the stochastic model in the Loess Plateau and reveal its potential for guiding the vegetation restoration in the next stage.

I am not aware of any account having been published of the Coal-fields in East and Mid Lothian, or of any attempt to institute a geological survey of the country in which they are situated. Sinclair, the author of a well known work intituled “Satan's Invisible World,” published also in 1672 a treatise on Hydrostatics, in which he takes notice of the Prestongrange coals, and of the whinstone-dike that intersects them. Williams, in his “Mineral Kingdom” (published) in 1810, gives some information regarding the direction of the Gilmerton and Loanhead coal-seams. But the information contained in both these works, even respecting the coal-strata,—which alone they professed to treat of, is extremely vague, and generally very erroneous. Dr Hibbert was the first geologist who with a scientific eye entered on the district, in order to describe with fulness and accuracy any of its rocks. His discovery of the Saurian remains in the limestone-quarries of Burdiehouse, led him to a minute inspection of the strata in which they were imbedded, and to a consideration of the relative position of these particular strata in the Mid-Lothian coal-field.

1. Dr Matthews Duncan having requested me to point out to him some simple method of comparing the fertility of different races, I endeavoured, as a preliminary step, to represent by formulæ some of the chief results which he has obtained in his very lucid and elaborate papers recently read to this Society, and printed in their Transactions for 1863–4 and for the present session. Some of the formulæ which I have obtained are so simple, and accord so well with the tables, that I have thought them worth bringing before the Society.

Up to the present time no systematic account of the cranial characters of the people of Scotland has been published. Incidental references to, and measurements of, a limited number of Scottish skulls may indeed be found in the writings of various authors, as in Sir Daniel Wilson's Prehistoric Annals of Scotland, in Drs Davis and Thurnam's Crania Britannica, and in Professor Cleland's Memoir on Variations in the Human Skull. Measurements of five Scottish crania are recorded by Sir W. H. Flower in the Osteological Catalogue (Man) of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, four of which were found amongst the ruins of an ancient Culdee Monastery at St Andrews, and the fifth is said to be that of a Highlander. Dr Barnard Davis, in his Thesaurus Craniorum, gives the measurements of a somewhat larger number, six of which were from Caithness, and one is stated to be a Scottish Highlander. The same skulls have been remeasured and described by Dr J. G. Garson.

Presented for the first time is a reconstruction of the skull of Diadectes (Diadectomorpha) based on several specimens of a single species Diadectes absitus from the early Permian of central Germany. Since its first discovery at the end of the 19th century the only reconstructions of the skull of Diadectes were without specific designation, despite a rich Permo-Carboniferous fossil record. The skull of D. absitus is reconstructed in dorsal, lateral, posterior, and ventral views and includes exocranial and endocranial elements. The reconstructions of Diadectes presented here are compared with those of all other authors, and the differences are analysed and discussed. The comparisons recognised three features not recorded in other species of Diadectes: (1) anterior and posterior margins of the transverse process of the pterygoid parallel one another; (2) the angle between the posterior margin of the transverse process and the lateral margin of the quadrate ramus of the pterygoid is sharply defined; and (3) the anterior ventral margin of the transverse process of the pterygoid bears a distinct sharp ridge. These characters are discussed in the context of the skull anatomy of Diadectes and inaccuracies in previous cranial reconstructions of the genus are rectified.

The unique specimen of the Early Carboniferous lungfish Straitonia waterstoni is described in detail. As the only articulated lungfish currently described from the Viséan, it is of particular interest for lungfish evolution. It retains some plesiomorphic features of the skull, and shows some derived features in common with later Carboniferous forms. A thorough description is provided for future phylogenetic analyses. Straitonia has a number of diagnostic features. These include: a relatively narrow B-bone with a broad and curved anterior margin; an unpaired, parallel-sided C-bone whose margin is convex anteriorly; a B-bone approximately the same width as the single C-bone; the I-bones are relatively small compared with the B- and J-bones; the J-bones are tri-lobed; the XY bone is elongate along a posteromedial–anterolateral axis. Elongate fins dorsally and ventrally suggest a condition similar to those of later Carboniferous forms with confluent second dorsal, caudal and anal fins. It may thus be the earliest lungfish to show this condition. The ventral tail fin includes some fused elements, probably haemal and infrahaemal spines. The identity of one of the skull bones is discussed, and concluded to be a C-bone rather than a D-bone as previously described. The D-bone is absent, as in later Carboniferous forms. The history of the D-bone is considered.

In the course of an endeavour, which was successful only after a number of years, to obtain specimens for the purpose of identifying the species of Strophanthus that produces the smooth seeds which had been chemically and pharmacologically investigated by one of us several years ago, the follicles, flowers and other parts of a number of different species of Strophanthus were obtained from Africa. Among them, S. sarmentosus was represented, and in the course of time a sufficient quantity of seeds of this plant was collected to allow an examination to be undertaken of their chemistry and pharmacology.

In 1889 the Scottish Meteorological Society decided on making observations on the dust in the atmosphere at their Observatory on Ben Nevis. Having prepared the plans for the apparatus to be used for counting the dust particles, I visited the Observatory on the 1st of August of that year, and, after consulting with Mr Omond, decided that the tower of the Observatory was the best place for fitting up the instrument. The apparatus was afterwards made by White of Glasgow, and fitted up in the Observatory on 5th June 1890.

Dear Sir,

As the following paper refers in a great measure to the general theorems published by your father, I now commit it to your care, and that of my friend Mr Playfair, Professor of Natural Philosophy. I wish it to be communicated to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and, if approved of, to be inserted in their Transactions as soon as possible. Indeed, I trust, that even simple as it is, it will not be altogether unacceptable to that learned body.

I am,

Dear Sir,

Most sincerely your, &c.

Jas Glenie.

We describe four newly discovered and three-dimensionally preserved specimens of the discosauriscid seymouriamorph Discosauriscus pulcherrimus from the Lower Permian lacustrine sediments of the Boskovice Basin (Czech Republic). Their excellent preservation revealed new cranial features that allowed us to present a new skull reconstruction of middle-sized specimens of this tetrapod. The new features include: (1) the sculpturing of the anterior wedge-like process of the parasphenoid consisting of irregular ridges, grooves, low elevations and pits; and (2) the presence of a pair of semicircular crests on the posterodorsal surface of the parasphenoidal plate. We discuss the intraspecific variability of several characters, such as the type of dermal cranial ornamentation, and the morphology of the sensory grooves, nasolacrimal canal, dentition on the pterygoids and parasphenoid. The lengths of the skulls of four new specimens range from about 18 to 31mm and represent larval ontogenetic stages.

I. The Parallel Roads of Lochaber have presented to geologists a problem, which is still unsolved. Dr Macculloch, about sixty years ago, when President of the Geological Society of London, first called attention to these peculiar markings on the Lochaber Hills, by an elaborate Memoir afterwards published in that Society's Transactions. He was followed by Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, who in the year 1824, read a paper in our own Society, illustrated by excellent sketches. His paper is in our Transactions. The next author who attempted a solution was the present Mr Charles Darwin. He maintained that these Roads were sea-beaches, formed, when this part of Europe was rising from beneath the Ocean. He was followed by Professor Agassiz, Dr Buckland, Charles Babbage, Sir John Lubbock, Robert Chambers, Professor Rogers, Sir George M'Kenzie, Mr Jamieson of Ellon, Professor Nicol, Mr Bryce of Glasgow, Mr Watson, and Mr Jolly of Inverness. Sir Charles Lyell, though he wrote no special memoir, treated the subject pretty fully in his works, giving an opinion in support of the views of Agassiz.

In the optical and mineralogical classification of crystals which I published in the article Optics in the Edinburgh Encyclopædia, I have arranged Glauberite among those in which I discovered two axes of double refraction. The specimen which I used, however, was so small and imperfect, that I could not measure the inclination of the lines of no polarisation, or ascertain with any accuracy the laws of its action upon light. Mr William Nicol, whose ingenuity is already well known to this Society, put into my hands two specimens of Glauberite, which he had skilfully prepared for showing its system of polarised rings; and, by the use of these, I have been enabled to detect a very remarkable property in this mineral.

Radiolarian chert and associated siliceous claystone in the Southern Uplands of Scotland are examined, in order to study the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event of benthic animals on the pelagic ocean bottom. Trace fossils which are uncommon, but convincing, are found in the grey chert and siliceous claystone of Gripps Cleuch. These observations constitute firm evidence that large benthic animals which could leave visible trace fossils had colonised the Iapetan Ocean by the late Middle Ordovician, confirming previous studies from Australia for Panthalassa, the other huge ocean. Red chert is, however, a poor recorder of trace fossils, probably because the highly oxidising environment breaks down organic matter, both inhibiting high-density activity of large benthic animals and removing clear traces of benthic animal life.

Aristotle has a saying, which he has frequently repeated and which is often quoted, to the effect that the same degree of precision is not attainable in all branches of inquiry, and that it would be just as absurd to exact demonstration from a politician or an orator, as to accept probable reasoning from a mathematician. It is a saying full of truth and acuteness. To the cultivators of ethical and political philosophy, for whom it was intended, it is invaluable both as an encouragement and a warning; and yet, in behalf of the latter more especially, I often wish that it had never been said. Proceeding from such a master, I am persuaded that it has often tempted them to rest satisfied with a degree of success far short of the limits which the nature of their subjects really imposed; whilst, on the other hand, it has afforded an apology for excluding social and political philosophy from the meditations of learned bodies like this. I do not mean that they have been formally excluded. I know that the constitution of this, and of most similar societies, has always embraced the social as well as the physical sciences. But so rarely have those of us who were occupied with the former availed ourselves of the privileges of Fellowship, that it has come to be regarded almost as a matter of admission on our part, that our subjects defy scientific treatment: that when we talk of tracing out laws of social wellbeing or progress, we use words which either have no meaning at all, or which indicate a very faint analogy between the methods which we affect to follow and those really employed in the physical sciences: and that pretty nearly all that can be done is to hand us and our subjects over to the companionship of party politicians and popular declaimers.