The genus Phaneropleuron was instituted by Professor Huxley, in 1869, for the reception of that singular fish P. Andersoni, from the Upper Devonian Yellow Sandstone of Dura Den, in Fifeshire, which species was also subsequently described by him in the tenth Decade of the Geological Survey, published in 1861. In the present communication 1 have to add a second species, from the Lower Carboniferous strata (Burdiehouse Limestone) of Edinburghshire, by which our knowledge of the genus is thus certainly carried a stage further unwards in the geological series.

In a communication to the Geological Society, “On the formation of Cirques, and their bearing upon theories attributing the excavation of Alpine valleys mainly to the action of Glaciers,” I confined myself to the examination of Cirques in sedimentary strata, and these to a large extent calcareous. I observed this restriction because the most typical examples, so far as I could ascertain, lay in non-crystalline districts, and because my own experience bad not presented to me any very striking instances in other districts. The present brief paper is an attempt to show that, under favourable circumstances, the principles there laid down may also be applied to regions wherein crystalline rock exists.

It is a singular coincidence that in a former communication to this Magazine (Vol. VI., p. 1) I described, among other Coniferous fruits, two from the Gault at Folkestone, the one the cone of a pine, and the other of a Wellingtonia, and that in this communication I propose to describe two hitherto unknown fruits from the same deposit and found at the same locality, belonging also the one to a Wellingtonia and the other to a pine. Although the small pinecone already described (Pinites gracilis) differs in form and in the arrangement of the scales from any known cone, recent or fossil, it is more nearly related to that group of the section Pinea, the members of which are now associated with the Wellingtonias in the west of North America, than with any other member of the great genus Pinus. I, however, hesitated to refer to this interesting fact, because the occurrence of the two cones in the Gault might have been due to their being accidentally brought into the same silt by rivers having widely separated drainage areas. And it is easier to keep back generalizations based on imperfect data, than to suppress them after publication, when in the progress of investigation they are shown to be false. But I have now to describe a second pinecone more closely related to the Californian species of Pinea, and with it a new species of Wellingtonia. These surely point with tolerable certainty to the existence of a Coniferous vegetation on the high lands of the Upper Cretaceous period having a fades similar to that now existing in the mountains on the west of North America, between the thirtieth and fortieth parallels of latitude. No fossil referable to Sequoia has hitherto been found in strata older than the Gault, and here on the first appearance of the genus we find it associated with pines of the same group that now flourish by its side in the New World.

If one were asked to put into a few words the general results which have been arrived at from a study of the Glacial deposits, he would probably say that these deposits gave evidence of a severe Arctic condition of things having obtained in this country,—that the gradual approach of this Arctic climate caused the disappearance from our area of the fauna and flora which had previously characterized it,—that during the continuance of the cold in Britain several speciesof mammalia appear to have died out in the more southern regions of Europe, whither they had migrated,—and that it was not until after our climate had become greatly ameliorated that these islands were visited by what are termed the “Post-glacial mammalia,” several species of which, however, had been denizens. of Britain and northern Europe inPre-glacial times. In short, our island, throughout the Glacial period proper, is commonly supposed to have remained a barren waste of snow and ice. But the evidence which has been accumulating during recent years will compel us, I believe, to modify materially these general inferences. So far from the Glacial epoch having been one long continuous age of ice, it would appear to have been broken up by many intervening periods of less Arctic, and even temperate conditions, during whichthe snow and ice disappeared from our low grounds, and the glaciers shrunk back into our mountain valleys. I speak, of course, of that portion of the Glacial epoch which was antecedent to the general submergence, and is represented by the Till or Boulder-clay of Scotland. la this short paper I propose to give an outline of the facts upon which these conclusions are based. But before doing so it may be well to point out the order of succession of the Scottish drift deposits, which is now no longer a matter of dispute. Beginning with the lower beds, we have the following sequence

In the early part of this year I paid a visit to the north-western part of Donegal. My stay was short and my time too much taken up with other matters to allow of detailed geological work; but there were two things that at once attracted the attention of the most casual observer, the bedded character of the granite, and the traces of former wide-spread glaciation. To these I gave such time as I could, and on my return threw my notes into a paper which was read before the Geological Society of London. On seeing my paper, Mr. E. H. Scott had the kindness to send me copies of two papers of his own and of a report by himself, Sir E. Griffith, and Professor Haughton, on the Donegal Granites, in which, among other matters, the bedded character of these rocks was pointed out.

It may seem superfluous to describe any part of such a well-known district as the Isle of Wight; but although its geology has been so well investigated, still the Post-Pliocene deposits of the island have perhaps received less attention than any others. The origin of its valleys, moreover, has not, so far as I am aware, been carefully studied; and as it may throw light on the date of formation of the Solent and Spithead, I venture to send a few notes made on a recent examination of the valley of the Yar, in the hope they may prove interesting, even if not original.

Page 505, last line, for “H. B. W.” read “H. W. B.” Page 501, line 22 from top, for “bends” read “bend.”