In the January number of the Geological Magazine for 1886, an elaborate description is given by Dr. Henry Woodward of a peculiar ichthyic structure from the Carboniferous of Western Australia, which is referred by him provisionally to Edestus, under the specific title of E. davisii. Interesting comparisons are drawn between this and other known species of Edestus, and the hypothesis advanced that it is a pectoral fin-spine, resembling in its segmented character the Cretaceous Pelecopterus. This segmentation, which is so conspicuous a feature of Edestus, is attributed by Dr. Bashford Dean in his book on “Fishes, Living and Fossil,” to a metameral origin, and he follows Leidy, Owen, Cope, Newberry, and others in interpreting all this class of remains as dorsal fin-spines.

More detailed examination of the material collected by Mr. Beadnell and myself in the Fayûm in 1901 has led to the recognition of two additional species of Mœritherium, and has made it clear that the Sirenian belongs to a distinct genus, which presents some characters of much interest and is nearly related to Prototherium (Halitherium) veronense, described by Zigno from remains found in beds of Upper Eocene age at Monte Zuello in Northern Italy.

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.

For the opportunity to study the interesting Carboniferous Arachnid forming the subject-matter of the following pages, I am indebted to the kindness of Dr. Henry Woodward, F.R.S., who recently placed in my hands for that purpose a very perfect gutta-percha cast, and a good, though less complete one, in plaster, of the original fossil specimen, which was unfortunately not available for examination in its natural form.

In the Geological Magazine for September, 1901, I pointed out that Sir Henry Howorth had done Professor Huxley a great injustice in charging him with having suppressed certain important evidence. In the Magazine for January, 1902, Sir Henry, instead of hastening to acknowledge his error, proceeds to deepen his guilt by joining the pack that yelps at the heels of the great Dean Buckland.

It has often occurred to me during my Alpine wanderings that masses of earthy material containing boulders are too readily identified as moraines. That the latter exist, both here and in other mountain regions, no one would for a moment dispute, but deposits, sometimes very closely resembling till, may be produced in other ways. One is by a bergfall. The result of this in some cases, as at Goldau, Plurs, near San Vito (Ampezzo road), or the Col de Cheville, can be easily recognized; but when the fallen material consists largely of shale and friable rock, when there is a certain admixture of boulders from a distance (formerly perched blocks), its origin is not so readily determined. The enormous mass of débris on the north bank of the Rheinthal, between Chur and Ilanz—a mass which extends from Digg, through Flims, to rather beyond Laax, consisting of earthy stuff, probably mainly smashed shale or slate, and of boulders, apparently limestone—is regarded as bergfall by the Swiss geologists, and yet any section in it might readily be taken for moraine. Even more moraine-like in general aspect are the singular mounds of débris in the valley of the Rhone near Sierre.

In a paper published some eight years ago, Prof. T. G. Bonney discriminated between the dominant characteristics of quartz schists from the Alps and quartzites modified by pressure. The distinctions as therein pointed out may be thus summed up.

A block of basalt, bearing an ancient inscription in a Semitic language, was discovered in 1868 at Dhiban (the Dibon of Scripture) by the Rev. F. A. Klein, of the Jerusalem Mission Society. This block, which measured 3′ 10″ × 2′ 0″ × 1′ 2·5″, proved on examination to have been erected by Mesha, King of Moab about 890 b.c., and to refer to the war mentioned in 2 Kings iii. A series of blunders on the part of those anxious to obtain this interesting relic caused a quarrel about ownership between two Arab tribes, and one of them, to spite the other, broke it in pieces. These, however, were obtained by the French Consul in Palestine, and sent to Paris, where they were fitted together so far as possible, and the repaired stone is now in the Louvre Museum. The late Professor E. H. Palmer, on a visit to Dhiban in 1870, picked up a small fragment from those still lying on the spot, which he gave to me on his return to England. The constant pressure of other work has hitherto prevented me from examining the specimen, and I have only recently had a slice prepared. The largest face of the fragment measures about 3″ × 2·5″, but the thickest part hardly exceeds half an inch. The original smoothed surface of the stone, possibly including part of a letter, may be seen on one of the sloping sides.

While examining recently a collection of specimens from the flint-gravel of the Haldon Hills in the Museum of the Torquay Natural History Society, I discovered among them four containing casts of plates of Marsupites testudinarius. Moreover, in reply to enquiries, Professor Clayden, of Exeter, informs me that the Albert Memorial Museum there possesses five such plates, and that one was found by Mr. F. J. Collins, of Exeter, about three years ago, so that the fossil appears to be not uncommon in the Haldon flints, and consequently it seems worth while putting the fact of its occurrence on record, with some of the inferences that may be drawn from it.

In previous papers by the writer on the structure and appendages of Triarthrus, no attempt has been made to describe or illustrate the character of the ventral integument, especially in the sternal or axial region. The specimens hitherto described were prepared to show details of the appendages, and though portions of the ventral membrane were exposed in many individuals, the subject was not considered of sufficient moment to warrant a distinct study, particularly as no characters were observed in the cuticle that had not been previously seen in more or less perfection by Walcott in the genera Ceraurus and Calymene. A recent discovery by Jaekel, however, necessitates the separate consideration of this structure. This necessity arises from the fact that a positive addition to the knowledge of the trilobite anatomy may be deduced, although, as will be shown, Jaekel was apparently entirely misled in his interpretation of the nature of his discovery.

The following description of Egyptian foraminiferal limestones is based on a series of specimens transmitted to me by Dr. H. Woodward, F.R.S., on behalf of Captain H. G. Lyons, F.G.S.The series comprises specimens from the Eocene and Mioceneof the eastern side of the Eed Sea Hills, collected by Mr. ThomasBarron, F.G.S.; and specimens from the Eocene of the east sideof the Nile, between Assiut and Qena, and from the Baharia andFarafra Oases, collected by Mr. H. J. L. Beadnell, F.G.S. A greatamount of interest attaches to these rocks, both as regards theirgeneral character and preservation, and also with respect to theirmicrozoic contents.

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.

Iam indebted to Mr. J. A. Rupert Jones (Lieut. R.N.R.), now at Aden, for a series of rock specimens collected and sent from Perim Island, accompanied by notes and diagrams. From all these I have drawn up a short preliminary account, since they illustrate some points of interest, and no complete description of the geology of the island, as far as I know, has been published.

Among extra-European fossil floras, none is perhaps better known than that of the Permo-Carboniferous rocks of the Southern Hemisphere. These rocks are extensively developed in Southern India, Australia, South Africa, and South America, and there can be little doubt that these regions once formed part of a great continent, to which the name Gondwana-land has been appropriately applied.

The August number of the Quaterly Journal of the Geological Society contains a paper on this subject by Dr. J. W. Spencer, who believes that the rocks which were described by us under the head of ‘Raised Coral Reefs’ do not form one continuous succession of Pleistocene reef-rocks, but consist of several different limestone formations. He thinks that there are three such formations, and that each is separated from the other by a break or unconformity.

In the geotectonics of the Japanese Islands, neo-volcanic eruptions in chains parallel to the direction of their elongation play an important part. Dr. Harada has counted three of them on the north, and four on the south of Kwantō, where the mountain-systems of northern and southern Japan are confluent. Besides, there are three chains across Japan. They are (1) the Kirishima chain running from N.W. to S.E., in the southern part of Kyushū; (2) the Chishima chain in Hokkaidō running from N.E. to S.W.; and (3) the Fuji chain forming the boundary of northern and southern Japan (Fig. 1). In a part of the Myokō volcanic group forming the northern extremity of the last important chain, there are the volcanoes of Onigajō, Myokō, Kurohime, and Iijuna, all of which have erupted, according to Mr. Yamazaki, through the Neogene Tertiary (probably Miocene). The southern continuation of this group is that of Yatsugatake, consisting of about nine volcanoes. Further on the south stands Mt. Fuji, formed in the Pliocene or Diluvium, like its southern neighbour Ashitaka-yama, which, according to Mr. Hirabayashi, more early reposed. In the Hakone and Atami volcanoes, also in the Fuji chain, eruption took place, according to him, first in the Pliocene epoch, but chiefly in the Diluvial.

In recently completing, in the valley of St. Girons, and with the cordial assistance of M. Caralp, a pedestrian exploration of the Pyrenees, of which the first results appeared in the Bull. Soc. Ramond of 1866, it occurred to me that my view of the recently published Compte Rendu and the Livret Guide of the Geological Congress might be useful to foreign geologists.

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.

The ancient rocks of Prieska are extensively developed in Griqualand West, where they build up the elevated Campbell Rand plateau and the lofty ranges of the Langebergen Mountains situated to the west of the Orange River Colony. The order of succession, which is much disguised by faulting and folding, has been described in great detail by Mr. G. W. Stow, whose descriptions render it evident that the rocks of these regions resemble the older strata which extend over such vast areas in the Transvaal.

The recent attempt I have made to show that the absolutely unanimous adverse criticism of Dean Buckland has arisen from a misapprehension of the facts of the case, has led me to enquire further whether the same cause may not account for far more important results in other similar cases, e.g., the attacks of Huxley on Bacon; of Lord Kelvin on Huxley; and of Lord Kelvin and Professor Sollas on Lyell: attacks which cannot fail to lead the unlearned to believe, not that the critics are right, but that all are wrong together, and unworthy of attention.