Six major oil and natural gas pipelines make landfalls on the coastline of north-east Scotland. Four land at St Fergus, one at Cruden Bay and one at Shandwick. The Cruden Bay line dates from 1973: at St Fergus landfalls were made in 1975, 1976 and 1984: and at Shandwick in 1979. With the exception of the Shandwick landfall, the pipelines cross relatively wide sandy beaches with associated dune ridges. All the pipelines were laid using a simple trenching technique whereby a beach trench was dug and a large V-shaped cut made through the main foredune ridge and interior backslope, inner dunes or slack environments. All these landforms were replaced quickly by backfilling. Thereafter, physical devices such as nets, brushwood, sand trapping fences and bitumen sprays ensured surface stability. Equally important was a replanting programme which had two main components: – hand-planted marram grass and agriculturally seeded grass mixtures. Topsoil was added, fertiliser was applied and other cultivation practices were used.

Since 1973, several surveys of the progress and success of these restoration procedures have been made. On the whole, landform stability has been very satisfactory. Re-vegetation has met with mixed success, especially with regard to those changes which could be described as the gradual re-invasion of natural or local plant associations to replace the artificially planted species. Various lengths of time have ensued, and in some examples the rate and pattern of re-vegetation have been examined by means of periodic sampling. This has made possible reasonable assessments of the influence of local environment factors on the ability of sown species to establish and create a sward, the extent to which they persist over a period of years, and the ability of native species from the neighbouring dune system to re-invade and compete successfully in the developing turf. Standard methods have been used for planting marram grass to stabilise the steeper seaward sand slopes, but these are reviewed in the light of results of recent experimental studies of various planting techniques. The possibilities for exploiting these findings in the rehabilitation of any future pipeline crossings of dunes are considered. Since slightly different re-vegetation procedures were adopted in the several dune crossings under review, it is also possible to comment on the optimum solutions to restoration problems of this kind which are associated with mature coastal sand dunes.

The form and structure of the uterus of the albino laboratory rat are described. Cyclical vascular changes are noted, and attention is drawn to the presence of spiral arteries in the endometrium. A common lower cervical canal is described.

Regional atmospheric sulphur/nitrogen budgets have been used in several regions of the world to help build up an overview of fluxes, reservoir contents and turnover times, and as a basis for quantitative modelling. However, there are some deficiencies in the regional budget approach. The analysis is of necessity superficial, and can give a false impression of certainty. This paper reviews the regional budgets for sulphur/nitrogen which have been created in various regions of the world, analyses their common findings, addresses the issue of uncertainty, and recommends areas of future research.

Most regional sulphur/nitrogen budgets have been constructed for North America, northern Europe and a few in other parts of Europe. A common finding is that anthropogenic emissions are large relative to natural emissions and that there is substantial international transport. The results of the budget analysis, while having elements of uncertainty, have proved to be valuable both in the synthesis of knowledge, and in their contribution to the increased awareness among policy makers and the public at large about the long-range transport of sulphur/nitrogen emissions.

Unfortunately, there have been few regional budgets for the developing portions of the world. Given the projected increase in population – and per capita S and N emissions for these regions – we encourage a future focus on regional sulphur/nitrogen budgets for the less developed regions of the world.

Iron is a critically important metal for a wide variety of cellular events. The element holds this central position by virtue of its facile redox chemistry and the high affinity of both redox states (iron II and iron III) for oxygen. These same properties also render iron toxic when levels exceed the normal binding capacity of the cell. As a result of this potential toxicity, selective iron chelators are finding an important role in the treatment of iron overload associated with many forms of thalassaemia. In addition, they appear to have potential in treating situations where a local increase in iron concentration causes an unfavourable pathology, for instance, in reperfused tissue (heart disease and stroke) and in Parkinsonian brain. There is also evidence that iron chelators may minimise the toxicity of paraquat and the side effects of bleomycin and doxorubicin.

Non-haem iron enzymes can also be inhibited by iron chelators and consequently such enzymes as ribonucleotide reductase and lipoxygenase can be selectively inhibited. Such inhibitory action is being investigated for the treatment of malaria, neoplastic disease, psoriasis and asthma.

Recent developments in these areas are discussed in the present overview.

Pharaoh's Ant, Monomorium pharaonis (L.), is arrhenotokously parthenogenetic, conforming essentially to the pattern of reproduction characteristic of Hymenoptera generally. The female is diploid, 2n = 22, the male haploid, n = 11, in certain somatic cells and in the gonia, though polyploidy exists in some larval tissues. The 11 discrete chromosomes of the male cells comprise a single genome, in which are distinctive only one large clubbed chromosome and at least one of intermediate size. Spermatogenesis is characterized by a first abortive division and a second equational division, resulting in two spermatozoa being derived from each haploid spermatogonium. Spermateleosis is described in some detail. Certain peculiar features are discussed, viz. the cytoplasmic buds appearing during spermatogenesis; unequal second spermatocyte divisions; the single chromosome sometimes observed as lying apart from the other chromosomes during first spermatocyte metaphase; the division and grouping of polar body chromosomes. For reasons given, several recent conclusions of Whelden and Haskins (1953) regarding the cytology of ants are regarded as mistaken.

The nitrogen metabolism of both pods and seeds of Pisum sativum has been followed at sixteen stages of growth. The distribution of free amino acids and related compounds has been investigated by paper partition chromatography.

One hundred and fifty years ago Edinburgh lost one of her most distinguished citizens of all time, James Hutton, who is universally acclaimed as chief among the founders of modern geology. To-day, Lord Provost Sir John Falconer, to whom the city owes so much in this triumphant Festival year, has fittingly unveiled a tablet in Greyfriars Churchyard to mark the last resting-place of our great scientist. It must not be imagined that the absence of a tombstone during all these years illustrates the proverbial lack of appreciation which a prophet must expect in his own country. During his lifetime Hutton's brilliant associates recognised him at his true worth; and shortly after his death one of them, John Playfair, distinguished mathematician and physicist, erected to his friend a noble monument in the world of letters, entitled Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory, 1802. He also provided the Royal Society of Edinburgh with a Biographical Account of 61 pp. 4to, 1803, which includes many personal details coupled with a comprehensive scientific appreciation.

The garden chafer. Phyllopertha horticola (L.), renews its population every June. Its numbers fluctuate irregularly from year to year. During 1947 75 in the English Lake District, it had two ‘outbreaks’ (with peaks in 1952 and 1975) separated by a long period of low population (1956–70). In nine of the years 1948 75, October population increased significantly over that of the preceding year: in eleven, it did not change significantly; and in ihe remaining eight, it decreased significantly. These fluctuations in numbers were due to fluctuations in the effective environmental factors (weather, enemies and intraspecific competition) influencing sun ival, fecundity and migration. Weather was more effective than enemies in this respect and intraspecific competition became important only when weather and enemies together failed to keep numbers from rising dangerously high for the chafer. Weather was, of course, density-independent in action. Among enemies, interspecific competitors were density-independent while pathogens, parasites and predators were all imperfectly density-dependent. The only perfectly density-dependent factor was intraspecific competition. These findings bear out Milne's theory (1957a et seq.) that for part of the time, natural control of population increase of any species X is due to the combined action of density-independent and imperfectly density-dependent environmental factors but, whenever this combined action fails (as inevitably it sometimes must), increase to the point of collective suicide is prevented by the one and only perfectly density-dependent factor, namely, intraspecific competition of X; on the other hand, decrease of numbers of X to zero is prevented ultimately by density-independent factors alone.

Some aspects of the role of the ericoid mycorrhizal symbiosis in the ecology and physiology of ericaceous plants are described. Mycorrhizal infection leads to enhancement of plant nitrogen content and an experimental analysis of the basis of this effect is reported. In addition to improving the efficiency of ammonium absorption at low concentrations, the mycorrhizal endophyte utilises amino acids, peptides and proteins as nitrogen substrates for growth. These are the predominant nitrogen sources in organic heathland soil. It is suggested that the success of ericaceous plants in such soils may arise through the capacity of the mycorrhizal fungus to provide its host with access to this nutrient resource. A model is described in which absorption of ammonium and amino nitrogen leads to soil acidification, increased acid protease activity and improved vigour of the ericaceous plants.

Plants tolerant of long-term flooding and oxygen deprivation in their perennating organs such as rhizomes and tubers are able to avoid the deleterious effects of anoxia and minimise the dangers of re-entry to air by reactions with antioxidants such as ascorbic acid and glutathione. In processes of detoxification of oxygen radicals, ascorbic acid is oxidised to dehydroascorbic acid and reduced glutathione to oxidised glutathione. Through the action of enzymes such as monodehydroascorbate reductase (MR) and dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR), glutathione and ascorbic acid may be regenerated to maintain sufficient levels of antioxidants within the tissue in order to quench oxygen radicals.

Studies of the inheritance of resistance to two strains, A and B, of the blight fungus (Phytophthora infestans) in derivatives of the triple hybrid (S. Rybinii x S. demissum) x S. tuberosum and in hybrids descended from S. demissum x S. tuberosum led to the conclusion that resistance was controlled by two genes, designated Ra and Rb, of different phylogenetic origin, the former conferring resistance against strain A and the latter against both strain A and strain B (Black, 1943).

Three groups of SW Asiatic parasitic weeds are reviewed: the root parasites Striga (Scrophulariaceae), Cistanche and Orobanche (Orobanchaceae); and the stem parasites Cuscuta (Convolvulaceae). Striga hermonthka and S. asiatica are serious pests on sorghum, millet, and maize in parts of N and S Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Striga densiflora has apparently been introduced from India to Oman where it parasitises sugar-cane and sorghum. Species of Orobanche are widespread throughout almost all the region and cause serious losses in tomatoes, tobacco, broadbeans, melons and other crops. Cistanche phelypaea has recently been shown capable of attacking sugar beet. Species of Cuscuta (Convolvulaceae), widespread in SW Asia, mainly affect legume crops, especially lucerne. Considerable taxonomic research is still needed in Orobanche, Cistanche, and Cuscuta.

Notwithstanding its reported effect upon the levels of native auxin in plant tissues, 2, 3, 5-triiodobenzoic acid (TIBA) does not influence sex expression in Cannabis sativa, a dioecious species in which there is evidence that flower sexuality may be regulated by auxin levels in the neighbourhood of developing primordia. The total production of flowers is, however, increased in both sexes by TIBA, an effect possibly resulting from an alleviation of the correlative inhibition of lateral buds. Whilst hardly influencing morphogenetic activity at a cellular level at all, TIBA treatment leads to gross ontogenetic abnormalities, of which the common feature is a tendency for the elimination of localized growth and the substitution instead of generalized growth fields, resulting in the formation of infundibuliform and cylindrical foliar and floral structures. It seems probable that the bulk of the effects of TIBA in the plant may be due to an influence on auxin distribution, perhaps through interference with the mechanism of polar transport.

In his report of the Challenger siphonophores Ernst Haeckel sketches a picture of biological debate and solution calculated to excite historians and philosophers of biology. Here is a distinct zoological issue, Haeckel suggests, to which Darwin's theory of evalution both gives new meaning and offers a solution. Only an evolutionist, Haeckel implies, could see the flaws in previous ideas and wield the powerful tool of embryology to uncover the truth. It sounds as if the siphonophores can provide what has long been wanted, a nice case-study of the impact of Darwinism upon classical zoology, that is, upon comparative anatomy, morphology and classification.

A description of the community structure of the Forth estuary's zooplankton was obtained by sampling monthly at nine stations ranging from fresh water to fully marine conditions for an eighteen-month period. The variation in species abundance and distribution is related to environmental variables. The apparent spatial and temporal successions of members of the Acartia species complex are described, as are the episodes of predation spreading from the firth and the domination of the upper estuary by Eurytemora. It is observed that the estuary of the Forth is rare among British estuaries in its ability to support a truly pelagic self-maintaining assemblage of species.

The growth of the Hebridean Grey seal population is described and its probable causes are discussed. The status of the Hebridean assemblies, in relation to those at North Rona and Orkney is reassessed on the basis of recent evidence supporting the hypothesis that there is considerable mixing of breeding individuals throughout Scotland. Consideration of the consequences of the population growth with regard to fisheries, conservation and commercial sealing prompted an investigation of the efficacy of different management strategies which might be used to adjust the population to a level at which it can be maintained.

In July 1976 six rocky littoral sites and eight rocky sublittoral sites in Lewis and Harris were sampled for polychaetes. The sites ranged from those on the exposed west and north coast to more sheltered east coast sites.

A total of 107 species were recorded during the survey and are presented in an annotated species list. Syllidae are the dominant family both in number of species and number of individuals present, although the Serpulidae, Spionidae and Sabellidae are also well represented. Similarity of habitats sampled at different sites makes it possible to relate differences in species composition to the conditions prevailing at these localities. Such comparisons are made for four habitats—Corallina officinalis, sediment under stones on the shore, Laminaria holdfasts and the upper shell valves of Pecten. Twenty polychaete species were found in the C. officinalis habitat, 24 species in sediment under stones on the shore, 61 species in laminarian holdfasts and 22 species on the upper shell valves of Pecten.

In general the sublittoral macroinvertebrate fauna, although lacking the Lusitanian elements found in the warmer waters of south-west England and Ireland, was found to have a high species diversity and to exist in an environment virtually free from man-made pollution.