The history of this gigantic rodent began to be written in 1809, when M. Gothelf Fischer described a skull from a sandy deposit on the borders of the Sea of Azof, to which he gave the name of Trogontherium. Since then, at varying intervals, to the present time, new chapters have been added to this history by both Continental and British workers, describing specimens of a more or less fragmentary character which have from time to time been discovered. The English specimens have been chiefly obtained from the ‘Cromer Forest Bed,’ that rich and remarkable series of beds occupying a position in time between the Crags and the Glacial deposits of East Anglia. The ‘Forest Bed’ specimens were first made known by Sir Charles Lyell in 1840, but were more fully described by Sir R. Owen in 1846 and referred to Fischer's Trogontherium Cuvieri. It will not be necessary at this time to refer specifically to each of the additions to our knowledge of this animal or to detail the varying opinions as to affinities and nomenclature, as these particulars will be found in the Memoirs of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom. Although most of the British specimens of Trogontherium Cuvieri have been found in the ‘Cromer Forest Bed’ a few examples have been met with in the Norwich and Weybourn Crags. The smaller species, which has been called T. minus, was obtained from the nodule bed below the Red Crag of Felixstowe, and an incisor tooth from the Norwich Crag was referred to the same species.

The genus Peripristis was established in 1870 by Orestes H. St. John for the reception of two species of Carboniferous fish-remains, one of which had been previously described by Newberry & Worthen under the name of Ctenoptychius semicircularis, and was selected as type of the new genus. The other was known in collections and printed catalogues under Agassiz's manuscript title of Pristodus falcatus, but this name did not acquire validity until J. W. Davis adopted it in his monograph of 1883. As there can be no question that the two species are congeneric, it follows that St. John's appellation of Peripristis has priority over Davis' term, and the type species becomes P. semicircularis (N. & W.) instead of P. falcatus, Davis.

The Wood's Point Dyke is intrusive in a belt of Silurian (Upper Silurian) strata which strike in a direction somewhat west of north and extend beyond Walhalla on the south. Wood's Point is about 75 miles from Melbourne in an easterly direction, and is not situated on the coast as might be inferred from its name. The nearest sea-water is, indeed, some 60 miles distant. The dyke has a north-west by south-east bearing, and it may be taken as typical in many respects of the intrusions which are frequently associated with the Silurian rocks of the Victorian goldfields, though it presents several peculiar features of considerable interest. It penetrates strata of different lithological characters, and, as might be expected, varies considerably both in texture and in the relative abundance of its mineral constituents along its course. That absorption of the surrounding rocks has taken place to a considerable extent may be taken for granted from certain of the modifications which are exhibited. In several particulars, however, specimens from different points along the outcrop agree, not only with one another, but with many of the other Victorian Palæozoic but post-Silurian intrusions. We have, indeed, an illustration of what seems to be a general rule, that precisely similar minerals tend to develop in all parts of the same magma, even when the various portions differ considerably in chemical composition, unless the variations reach an extreme point. In other words, the relative acidity or basicity of different portions are expressed by differences in the proportions of the same minerals rather than by the development of other minerals of more acid or more basic character.

Instances of alteration of the courses of streams are common, but these changes are met with for the most part in the alluvial plains and flood areas at low elevations where the streams are approaching their termination in sea or lake. The instance here noticed is of a rarer kind, where a small Devonshire stream, the Bovey River, has accomplished, with the help of contributory forces, earth sculpture apparently enormously out of proportion to its present insignificant dimensions, and managed to shorten its journey to join the Teign by altering the direction of the middle part of its course at a point where its elevation is considerable.

For many years Dr. G. F. Matthew, of St. John, New Brunswick, has given much attention to the geology and fossils of the districts lying on or near the north-eastern seaboard of North America, and has closely studied their minute fossils resembling (if not identical with) varieties of small bivalved Entomostraca; and he has published his results from time to time in the scientific periodicals of Canada and the United States.

In the Geology of East Lincolnshire, a memoir of the Geological Survey published in 1889, the whole of the flint-bearing Chalk of that county above the Melbourn Rock was referred to as Middle Chalk, and no horizon was found which could be regarded as the equivalent of the zone of Holaster planus, or the Chalk Rock of the Midland counties.

On the excursion of the Geologists Association to Gower last Easter our Director, Mr. R. H. Tiddeman, showed us a series of examples of the celebrated raised beach, and a good deal of discussion arose as to its relation to the other recent deposits of the district. Into those questions I do not propose to enter on this occasion, but will accept, what all admitted, viz., that the beach is an old sea beach, that the platform upon which it rests is the work of the waves, and that it has been raised to its present position by earth-movement.

Ferdinand roemer, who has justly been called the “Father of the Geology of Texas,” was born at Hildesheim, Hanover, on January 5th, 1818. His early education was obtained at the Gymnasium Andreanum of that town, where, under the influence of his teacher, Dr. Muhlert, he developed a great fondness for science, especially in the line of natural history. His love of geology, however, was strongly developed by excursions with his eldest brother, F. A. Roemer, Frederic Hoffmann, and F. A. Quenstedt. Notwithstanding his predilection in this direction, he was induced by his brother, probably with the view of entering a well-established profession, to undertake the study of law. Accordingly, from 1836 to 1839 he was engaged in attending legal instruction at Göttingen, with the exception of the Summer semester of 1838, which was spent at Heidelberg. Still, the attraction of science was well-nigh irresistible. With the keenest pleasure he listened to Hausmann on geognosy, and when at Heidelberg the zoological instruction of Bronn was eagerly sought. His future calling was, however, to be decided in favour of his natural bent. As he was about to present himself for examination in the higher legal course, for political reasons—although he himself was an innocent party—certain difficulties were raised and he withdrew. Thus science gained a brilliant scholar and geology a zealous investigator.