Although a few papers have been published a number of years ago on the genus Ephedra, the authors have treated the subject mainly from a systematic standpoint. Thus, while the characters of the floral organs have been carefully examined and described, the structure and character of the vegetative organs have only received passing reference. It is proposed in the following notes to undertake the study of the histology of the vegetative organs, and thereafter to ascertain how far this knowledge applies to the determination of species. The following notes deal with the histology of the primary stem.

While the first part of this paper was in course of preparation a search was made through various palæobotanical publications in the hope of meeting with records of Osmundaceous fossils that had hitherto escaped recognition as such. In so doing our attention was at once attracted by the descriptions and figures given by Eichwald in his Lethæa Rossica of some very fine fossils which were held by him to represent the stems of arborescent ferns. Those in which we were particularly interested were Chelepteris gracilis, Eichwald, Sphallopteris Schlechtendalii, Eichwald, Bathypteris rhomboidea, Eichwald, sp., and Anomorrhæa Fischeri, Eichwald. The figures and descriptions of these plants were quite inadequate for the determination of their true affinities; but it must be remembered that at the time when these descriptions were written by Eichwald many structural characters which are now regarded as of paramount importance in determining affinities were not recognised as such, even by botanists. To enable us if possible to clear up these difficulties, we wrote to Mons. Michel Zalessky, geologist on the staff of the Comité géologique, St Petersburg, asking if the types of these specimens were known to be in existence, and if any preparations had been made from them suitable for microscopical examination.

This is a report upon the Medusæ collected by the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition during the voyage of the Scotia in the years 1902, 1903, and 1904, under the leadership of Dr W. S. Bruce, to whom I am indebted for the opportunity of examining the specimens.

The collection is a small one containing twelve species, but five more species would have probably been added if only the specimens had been in a recognisable condition. Some of the specimens are in excellent condition, and these were mostly taken at the surface, but others are very much damaged. Unfortunately, the damaged specimens are just the ones wanted in good condition, as they mostly come from the Antarctic region and from the stations where the nets were sent down to a great depth. The damage is done in the nets, and other collections which have passed through my hands tell the same tale. It is the rubbing together of the sides of the net that tears the medusæ to pieces. All deep-sea nets should be so constructed that the sides of the nets cannot come together, and also provided with a large can at the end.

In this paper my object is, primarily, to investigate the properties of a certain operative symbol which appears to be of great utility in discussing q-functions. The first part of the paper will consist of an investigation into the various forms of

and the nature of the inverse operations symbolised by Δ−n. With certain restrictions as to continuity, etc., φ(x) will denote an arbitrary function of x.

One of the most striking features of the famous Neanderthal cranium consists in the strong projection which is exhibited in the glabellar and the supraorbital or eyebrow regions of the frontal bone. This character is rendered all the more important from the fact that all the specimens which have been collected since the Neanderthal cranium was discovered (1857), and which have been shown to belong to the same remote geological period, possess the same, or at least very much the same, remarkable prominence in the eyebrow region. These specimens are not very numerous, but, inasmuch as they represent the earliest remains of man with which we are acquainted, they possess a very special interest. In addition to the Neanderthal cranium, the group includes the two Spy crania, the Gibraltar skull, and the recently discovered Krapina remains. The Krapina remains are in a very fragmentary condition, but they apparently consist of portions of the skeletons of ten individuals, and the frontal bones all present the character in question.

In spite of its remote situation, the Old Red Sandstone of Shetland attracted a considerable amount of attention from geologists during the last century. It is exposed in excellent coast sections, which often yield very beautiful cliff scenery; and, in addition to being the most northerly of the stratified rocks of Great Britain, it includes a rich succession of volcanic and intrusive rocks which are of great interest and variety. The axis or backbone of the Shetland archipelago consists of gneiss, mica schist, slate, and limestone, with epidiorites, serpentine, and talc schists. On each side of this there is an area of Old Red Sandstone; that on the east extending from Sumburgh Head, in the extreme south, to Rovey Head, a little north of Lerwick, and comprising also the islands of Bressay, Noss, and Mousa. On the west side of Shetland the Old Red Sandstone Series is much altered, probably by the heat of the granite and other intrusive rocks, so that they often have the appearance of quartzite, and were for a long time regarded as belonging to the metamorphic series. In 1879, however, Peach and Horne (28) showed that, in places, they contained fossil plants which indicated that they belonged to the Old Red Sandstone formation.

Little has hitherto been known about the animal remains of the Old Red Sandstone of Shetland. In 1858 Sir Roderick Murchison mentioned the occurrence, in flaggy beds in the environs of Lerwick, of “the same little Crustacean (the Estheria) which occurs at Thurso and Kirkwall.” Heddle in 1878 refers to the occurrence of fish-remains in the rocks of the same region in the following terms:—“Specimens of small fishes, apparently acanthoides, were shown the writer; these were imbedded in a brown fine-grained muddy sandstone; they were stated to occur in a quarry north of Gardie in Bressay.” Again, in the same year, Sir A. Geikie, in his well-known paper on the “Old Red Sandstone of Western Europe,” states that Dr HEDDLE “informs me that he was shown some ichthyolites (Coccosteus, etc.) in Bressay, which he was assured had been found among the flagstones of that island.” Unfortunately it does not appear that any description of these specimens has ever been published, nor, so far as I am aware, is their present whereabouts known.

During the revision of the Midlothian coalfield by the Geological Survey, special attention was directed to the plant remains occurring in the Millstone Grit, with the view of obtaining evidence bearing on the probable boundary line between the Upper and Lower Carboniferous rocks. Mr Tait collected a number of plants from certain horizons in this division of the Carboniferous system, which were submitted to Mr Kidston, F.R.S., for determination. Those from the lower part of the Millstone Grit were regarded by Mr Kidston as belonging to the Lower Carboniferous flora, and those from the upper portion, to the Upper Carboniferous flora. While carrying on his work in the field, Mr Tait found certain fossiliferous bands in the basal portion of the Millstone Grit, charged with lamellibranchs, brachiopods, and other marine organisms, and associated with Lower Carboniferous species of plants. These observations were of service in tracing the base line of the Upper Carboniferous rocks round a large part of the Midlothian basin. It ought to be clearly understood, however, that this boundary line is based solely on the evidence supplied by the plants and fishes as determined by Mr Kidston and Dr Traquair respectively.

Among the interesting specimens which have been yielded by the material of Calciferous Sandstone age (Culm), from Pettycur, near Burntisland, are a petiole of Dineuron and a very small species of Botryopteris. The former genus does not appear to have been previously discovered in Britain, and the present species is, as far as I am aware, only represented by a single example. The Botryopteris, in the form of fragments of petioles, is not infrequent, but its stems are of much more rare occurrence.

The Anatomical Museum of the University of Edinburgh contains a valuable collection of the skulls of the aborigines of Tasmania, which has not as yet been described. As the skulls of this now extinct people are limited in number in museums, and as the opportunity of collecting additional specimens no longer exists, I have thought that an account of their characters, a detailed statement of their measurements on lines similar to those pursued in my previous craniological memoirs, and a comparison of their conformation with that of the Tasmanian skulls in other collections, as described by previous writers, would be of interest to anthropologists, and might assist in the preparation of a summary of their most constant features. Consideration of the affinities and possible descent of the Tasmanians may also be appropriately included in the Memoir.

La Scotia a rapporté de son expédition au pôle sud une très importante collection d'Holothuries; nous remercions bien vivement M. W. S. Bruce de l'honueur qu'il nous a fait en nous en confiant l'étude.

Cette collection ne renferme pas moins de trente-quatre espèces, dont vingt et une, c'est à dire près des deux tiers, sont nouvelles. Cette proportion aurait été probablement plus grande, mais par suite de l'action de quelques agents conservateurs employés (formaldéhyde et acide acétique glacial) certains échantillons sont indéterminables: leurs corpuscules calcaires ayant été complètement dissous par les liquides acides. Pour la même raison nous avons décrit quelques nouvelles espèces sans pouvoir fournir daus la diagnose les caractères de leurs spicules. Mais la majeure partie des exemplaires et surtout ceux de grandes profondeurs sont en bon état et très bien préparés.