The collection of Cephalopoda made by H.M.S. “Challenger,” though not extensive, is of great interest, not only because a considerable number of new species were discovered, but also because several rare forms were found in fresh localities, and because a few specimens (many of them fragmentary) were obtained, which bear interesting relations to those already known.

In the remarkable Scholium, appended to his chapter on the Laws of Motion, where Newton is showing what Wren, Wallis, and Huygens had done in connection with the impact of bodies, he uses the following very peculiar language:

In entering upon the consideration of a subject so important, one cannot but feel surprised at the very general obscurity which envelops a question upon which so large a mass of accurate detail has been collected. In looking for the cause of this unsatisfactory state of affairs, it would appear to be due to a lack of appreciation by one set of workers, of the methods pursued by another, and this in two directions. In the first place, the student of normal cell life relegates aberrant vital processes entirely to the domain of pure pathology; whilst the pathologist, relying mainly on organs as a whole for his views on function, normal and abnormal, is apt to ignore the value of the study of the cell processes as carried on under normal conditions.

The Shetland seas are frequented by several species of Ziphioid whales. Since the year 1870 I have come into possession of, and placed in the Anatomical Museum of the University of Edinburgh, the skull of Ziphius cavirostris, the skull and a large part of the skeleton of Hyperoodon rostratus, and the skull and almost complete skeleton of Mesoplodon bidens. They were all captured on the north-east side of the mainland of Shetland.

This paper deals with the relationships between the different groups of Tunicata, and the attempt is made to trace their phylogeny, and to construct a tree-like figure, showing the course of evolution of the group, and based upon anatomical and enbryological observations. The following are the chief results which are discussed:—

The Proto-Tunicata were derived from the Proto-Chordata by degeneration and modification, and they are represented at the present time by the Appendiculariidæ.

The Proto-Thaliacea and the Proto-Ascidiacea diverged in two different directions from the Proto-Tunicata, close to the ancestral Appendiculariidæ. The Doliolidæ and the Salpidæ form two divergent lines from the Proto-Thaliacea. Anchinia is an offshoot from the ancestral Doliolidæ.

On the motion of the Chairman, a vote of thanks was accorded to Mr Omond for his Address.

Much knowledge has already been gained regarding the nature of light and sound, and much is known as to the functions of both the eye and the ear. Little, however, has been learnt concerning the production of smell and taste, which is not the intellectual property of every educated man. The views of Hobbes and Hartley have been during late years rendered more acceptable by the remarkable discovery that the end-organs of special senses are all built up on the same plan. Developed as they are on the same lines from simpler, practically identical, ectodermic cells, we are forced with Herbert Spencer to look for similarities in the agencies which develop them. In the case of sight and hearing, it is already known that the quality of the sensation produced depends upon the nature—rapidity, complexity—of the vibrating stimulus. The particles of a liquid, as well as particles dissolved in water, are in constant and characteristic vibration. It has been my endeavour to discover whether in the case of taste also it will not be possible to connect the quality of the sensation with the nature or character of the vibration of the sapid particle.

The Atmometer is merely a hollow ball of unglazed clay, to which a glass tube is luted. The whole is filled with boiled water and inverted so that the open end of the tube stands in a dish of mercury. The water evaporates from the outer surface of the clay (at a rate depending partly on the temperature, partly on the dryness of the air) and in consequence the mercury arises in the tube. In recent experiments this rise of mercury has been carried to nearly 25 inches during dry weather.

From the commencement of the meteorological researches on Ben Nevis, a double set of observations have been carried on—one set on the top of the Ben, and the other at a station at Fort William near the level of the sea. It is not so much from the observations made on the top considered by themselves, as to their relations to those made at the base, that we may hope to arrive at a better knowledge of the atmosphere, and particularly at a better understanding of the principles of weather forecasting. Accordingly, both stations were from the first fitted up with the best instruments.