The fossil insects of Palæozoic times are but little known, in consequence of the small number of specimens which have been discovered in the various Carboniferous deposits of the globe.

In my former communication to the Geological Magazine on Galerites albogalerus, I gave the results of the examination of the specimens in the British Museum and of many others, and stated that the species was edentulous, and that a true fifth basal (posterior generative plate) was never present. I explained that the so-called jaws were ten buccal plates, that the so-called auricles were raised surfaces in casts, and therefore depressions in the real, and that Cotteau, who had noticed a fifth plate, stated it was exceptional. This fifth plate is absolutely a part of basal plate No. 4 (left posterior generative), and is not a true basal plate.

During the past four years I have made several traverses of the Central Alps from north to south, and venture to lay before you the general results as bearing in some respect on the geology of the Highlands.

Of all groups of fossil reptiles, there is perhaps none in greater need of critical revision than that comprising the Crocodilia. The remains of this order already discovered are so numerous, and the various descriptive accounts of them so scattered and disconnected,—so commonly has it been the custom to take advantage of each successive “find” for the manufacture of a new generic or specific name, however fragmentary the materials, and so frequently have species been imperfectly compared and characterized,—that a most intricate and perplexing synonymy has arisen, which it would require long-continued research by the profoundest of specialists to unravel. Moreover, cases are not unknown, in which type specimens have subsequently proved to be unfortunate restorations, and the occasional disregard of priority in nomenclature has also contributed to increase the confusion.

In the Proceedings of the Geol. Assoc. vol. ix. No. 1, I have given an account of the discovery of two Bone-caves in the Carboniferous rocks on the east side of the Vale of Clwyd, N. Wales, and of the researches carried on in those caverns by Mr. E. Bouverie Luxmoore, of St. Asaph, and myself in the summers of 1883 and 1884. This summer, by the aid of a grant from the Royal Society (the Government Grant), we were enabled to employ a staff of workmen, under our personal supervision, to explore these caverns more thoroughly and with very satisfactory results. Our main object was to gain a clear idea of the physical conditions of the area when the caverns were filled with the deposits, and of the manner in which the remains had been conveyed into them. These points we think we have been able to prove to satisfaction, but it may be advisable to continue the researches for the purpose of obtaining as much confirmatory evidence as possible.

Since the latter end of 1883 up to the present time (Sept. 1885) the inhabitants of certain portions of the town of Sunderland have been much disturbed by a series of small but distinctly sensible earth-shakes, which have caused considerable discussion in the local press and elsewhere. These shocks were chiefly felt in that quarter of the town known as the Tunstall Road, but were not absolutely limited to that locality. They were accompanied by rumblings— sometimes dull but often loud—by the rattling of crockery and furniture, and frequently by very distinct shakes of the entire framework of buildings. Often the shocks have, at night, waked up and terrified the sleeping inhabitants.