Further Experiments and Remarks on Contortion of Rocks.

By L. C. MIALL.

After recapitulating the results of some experiments on contortion of mountain limestone brought before the Association at Exeter, the author went on to state that with improved apparatus he had extended his experiments to various substances. Limestone appeared to be exceedingly plastic when long subjected to forces of low intensity. Flagstones from the Coal-measures with a certain amount of elasticity possessed little power of permanent deflection. This negative result is, however, to be checked by observation of cases of accidental flexure of flagstones. Examples were cited of these rocks which had yielded to strains, and had become permanently bent. Plaster of Paris the author finds remarkably plastic, and a long series of experiments with dry slabs shows that it can be bent and twisted indefinitely. Slates had also been tested, but with quite inconspicuous results. A considerable elasticity was found to characterize good slate, with a quite inappreciable plasticity. The author had obtained striking examples of artificial contortion by imbedding laminae of various rocks in pitch. These results were applied to the very sharp flexures sometimes seen in hard strata lying in beds of shale. Cases of quite superficial contortion were quoted, and from numerous instances of marked undulations in strata which were underlain by horizontal and undisturbed layers, it was inferred that many contortions extend only to trifling depths. A case of contortion traceable to the removal of part of a hill-side by a landslip was referred to as showing that flexures on a considerable scale may be of quite recent origin. In conclusion, some remarks were made on the general theory of contortions at the surface of the earth.

On the so-called Hyoid plate of the Asterolepis of the Old Red Sandstone. By JOHN MILLER, F.G.S.

In the Number of the Geological Journal' for August 1869, the author published a letter, stating that he had obtained two specimens of the Asterolepis from the great flag-deposits of Caithness, which showed clearly and distinctly that what had hitherto been considered to be the hyoid plate was not a hyoid plate at all, but was in reality the dorsal plate of the Asterolepis, fitting on immediately behind the cranial buckler, pretty much in the same way as the dorsal plate of the Coccosteus fitted on behind its head-plates. He stated that he would endeavour to lay his specimens before the Geological Society of London as soon as possible; however, circumstances have prevented this. The specimens referred to were exhibited on the present occasion, in fulfilment of the pledge given to the Geological Society.

It is right to premise that from the time these plates were first made known to geologists by Asmus and Eichwald in Russia, and by Sir Roderick Murchison and Agassiz in the west of Europe, they have been regarded in Russia and in this country as hyoid plates, down to the period of the publication by Pander of his works on the Devonian system of Russia, in which he stated his opinion that they would turn out to be dorsal plates when more complete fossils turned up. opinion was shared in by several of our most eminent palæontologists, and amongst others by Mr. Peach, who has long worked in the Astrolepis-beds of Caithness, and is well acquainted with the geology of that county.

This

In his description of the Asterolepis, Hugh Miller says (Footprints of the Creator,' P. 85 of the edition of 1861):-"That space comprised within the arch of the lower jaws, in which the hyoid-bone and branchiostegous rays of the osseous fishes occur, was filled by a single plate of great size and strength, and of singular form" (ibid. fig. 40).

And again, at p. 87 (ibid.):-"The two angular terminations of the hyoidal plate (a, a, fig. 40) were received, laterally and posteriorly, into angular grooves in a massive bone of very peculiar shape (fig. 42), of which the tubercled portion (a, a) seems to have swept forwards in the line of the lower jaw." In these short extracts Hugh Miller, with his characteristic unmistakable clearness, states the generally received opinion regarding the position of the so-called hyoid plate; and

it was the author's object to show that the generally received opinion on the subject is a mistake, and that the plate in question is in reality a true dorsal plate, fitting on immediately behind the cranial buckler or head-plates, and that those naturalists who had previously supposed that this would ultimately prove to be its right position, from Pander down to Peach, were found to have been quite correct in their opinion. The author exhibited a sketch of his best specimen, in which was seen the upper surface of the cranial buckler, described by Hugh Miller, with the dorsal plate, in its true position, and attached to the cranial buckler by two "massive bones of very peculiar shape," alluded to in the quotation above.

Conservation of Boulders. By D. MILNE-HOME, F.R.S.E.

Professor Geikie having stated that the next subject to be brought under the notice of the Section was the conservation of remarkable boulders, begged to mention that the Sectional Committee had passed a resolution, intimating their sense of the importance of the subject, and recommending that the British Association should appoint a Committee, with a grant of money at its disposal, to endeavour to discover the position of remarkable boulders in any part of the United Kingdom, and also to have them preserved. The Royal Society of Edinburgh had already taken steps for these objects as regards Scotland; and it would be well to have the movement extended so as to embrace England and Ireland; and the two Committees would no doubt cooperate, as far as Scotland was concerned. He then called on Mr. Milne-Home, the Chairman of the Committee of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, to explain more particularly the objects contemplated, and the measures which might be taken to carry them out.

Mr. Milne-Home said that his attention to the subject had first been awakened by an article in 'Nature,' from the pen of their President, Professor Geikie, giving an account of proceedings which had been commenced in Switzerland for the preservation of remarkable boulders. Being acquainted with Professor Favre, of Geneva, he had learned from him that the movement embraced Dauphiny and other provinces in the South of France, and that the effect had been to create a strong popular sympathy in the object. Following this precedent, he had induced the Royal Society of Edinburgh to appoint a Committee, whose duty it was to send circulars to all the parishes in Scotland, with the view of ascertaining the existence in them of any boulders remarkable for size or for other features. Many questions of much geological interest could be solved by ascertaining the nature of the rocks composing boulders, and studying their shapes, in order to deduce conclusions as to the transporting agent. These boulders, however, were fast disappearing, sometimes owing to agricultural improvements, and sometimes affording, when broken up, materials for building or for road-metal. It was therefore important to discover the localities where any remarkable boulders existed, in order that they might be examined by those who took an interest in such speculations, and in order also to have them preserved. He had reason to believe that the proprietors and tenants of the lands on which such boulders might be situated would willingly accede to any application which might be made to them by scientific societies to preserve them. He was sure that, were this Section to express views favourable to that object, great good would result.

Further Remarks on the Denudation of the Bath Oolite.
By W. S. MITCHELL.

On Geological Systems and Endemic Disease. By Dr. MOFFAT.

The author remarked that the district in which he lived consisted geologically of the Carboniferous and of the New Red or Cheshire sandstone systems; that the inhabitants of the former were engaged in mining and agriculture, and those of the latter in agriculture chiefly. Anemia, with goitre, was very prevalent among those on the Carboniferous system, while it was almost unknown among those of the Cheshire sandstone, and phthisis was also more prevalent among the

former than the latter. As anæmia was a state in which there was a deficiency in the oxide of iron in the blood, he was led to examine chemically the relative composition of wheat grown upon a soil of Cheshire sandstone, carboniferous limestone, millstone grit, and a transition soil between the Cheshire sandstone and the grit; and the analysis showed that wheat grown upon Cheshire sandstone yielded the largest quantity of ash, and that it contained a much larger quantity of phosphoric acid and oxide of iron than that grown upon the other formations. He calculated that a dweller on the Cheshire sandstone who consumed 1 lb. of wheat daily, grown upon the latter formation, took in nearly five grains more per day of oxide of iron than one who dwelt on the Carboniferous system who did the same. The analysis showed also that the wheat grown upon the Carboniferous system was deficient in phosphates or nutritive salts; and one who consumed a pound of Cheshire wheat per day took in nine grains more of phosphoric acid than one who took one pound of wheat grown upon the Carboniferous system. He had endeavoured to ascertain whether the bread of those who dwelt upon the two systems was relatively as deficient in these important nutritive elements as the wheat grown upon them. He had collected twenty samples of bread used by twenty different families living upon each system, and analysis afforded results as conclusive as the examination of the wheat. The deficiency of the nutritive salts in the bread compared with those in the wheat was very remarkable; and it was no doubt owing to the removal of the bran from the flour with which the bread was made. The writer then gave some statistics as to the diseases prevalent in the counties of Chester, Flint, and Denbigh, and stated that the practical deductions to be drawn from the inquiry were, that all young persons living on a Carboniferous formation having symptoms of incipient goitre and anæmia, ought to be moved to a soil upon Red Sandstone, and persons of strumous habit ought to reside upon sandstone at an elevation of at least 800 or 1000 feet above the sea; and that both classes of persons should live upon food, both animal and farinaceous, which contained the maximum quantity of oxide of iron and the phosphates or nutritive salts. Medical men could not too much impress upon the minds of the public the importance of using flour made from the whole of the wheat, or "whole grain."

On the Systematic Position of Sivatherium giganteum, Faulc. and Caut*. By Dr. JAMES MURIE, F.G.S., F.L.S., &c.

Among the fossil fauna discovered in the Sewalik Hills, the Sivatherium, one of these, as attested by its remains, must have attained the size of a full-grown elephant. It appears, however, to have been a ruminant, in some respects Deerlike, in others more resembling the Antelope. Still stranger, it seems to have had some characteristic features of Pachyderms-the Tapir, for example. After a careful review of the statements and deductions that have been made upon the Sivatherium, the author went on to show that it belonged to those radical forms which by some may be regarded as one of the progenitors of diverse herbivorous groups. The fossil bones studied by him are those contained in the British Museum. There is also a remarkable fragment in the Edinburgh University Museum. The points which he regarded as affording a safe basis of the affinities of this curious animal are:-1. The form and structure of the horns; 2. the shape of the bones of the face; 3. the nature of the teeth; 4. the formation of the basis of the skull; and 5. other peculiarities of the neck, chest, and limb-bones. The Sivatherium, according to him, is unlike all other living ruminants but one, the Prongbuck, from the fact of its having had hollow horns, evidently subject to shedding. It differs thus from Deer, whose solid horns annually drop off, and from the Antelope tribe, Sheep, and Oxen, whose hollow horns are persistent. Save one living form, the Saiga, no recent ruminant possesses, as did the Sixatherium, a muzzle resembling in several ways the proboscis of the Tapirs and Elephants. The dentition partook of the characters of the ancient Elasmotherium, &c. The

* This paper has been published in extenso in the Geol. Mag., October 1871, accompanied by two double plates of the restoration of the skeleton and a representation of the animal,, et juv. Therein references to the several authorities &c. will be found.

basis and hind end of the skull is typical of oxen. The sternum, portion of the spine, and general strength of the limb-bones show configurations allying it with the Bovidae. Other features of the legs hint an affinity to the Camel. On the strength of his own researches, and those of Mr. Bartlett and Dr. Canfield, the author is inclined to place the Sivatherium in the family Antilocaprida; Drs. Sclater and Gray having raised the Prongbuck to a group equivalent to the Cervidae and Antilopidae, chiefly from the singular fact of its horns being hollow and periodically deciduous. The great Indian Sivatherium he considers might as well be taken as the centre type of a family, the Sivatherida. He points out that radiating from it can be traced a differentiation of structure allying it to the ancient Bramotherium and Megacerops. Diversely, links lead through the Prongbuck towards the Deer, Giraffe, and Camel. On the other hand, configurations point undoubtedly to the Saiga; and there it is, as it were, split into lines directed towards the Antelope, the Sheep, and even the Pachyderms.

Additions to the list of Fossils and Localities of the Carboniferous Formation in and around Edinburgh. By C. W. PEACH, A.L.S.

The author, after a few preliminary remarks, stated that he had found Spirorbis carbonarius rather plentiful at Burdiehouse, showing that the limestone there had been deposited in brackish water; Estheria, in Camstone quarry, in Arthur's Seat, plentiful; Leia in an ironstone nodule at Wardie, Professor R. Jones says, "the most northern locality at present known;" Acanthodes Wardi plentiful in the Parrot-coal at Loanhead, rare at the brickwork and No. 1 Pit and Shield Hill, Falkirk, and in the black-band and gas-coal at Auchenheath, Lesmahagow. In addition to the well-known Pygopterus of Wardie, he had got from Loanhead splendid specimens, with large and beautifully carved jaws and striated teeth, for which, should it prove new, he proposed to name it P. elegans. It is rare.

He next exhibited a portion of a splendid spine, beautifully tubercled, and covered as well with thorn-like hooks, differing from all figured by Agassiz. He exhibited other things, probably new; also a shagreen-covered fish; he had found it in several localities. As all were so imperfect he refrained from doing more than showing them to the members, so that any one knowing it might throw light on it.

He next exhibited and commented on a series of beautiful specimens of coalfield plants, consisting of large leaves and stem of Cordaites borassifolia; Calamites nodosus in a splendid state, showing its pairs of branches, pinna, and leaves; from these he had been able to make nearly a complete restoration of the plant. The greatest prize was Antholithes Pitcairnia, with its fruit Cardiocarpon attached, hanging gracefully by its swan-like stem; these, with many other interesting plants, he got in the blaes above the coal at Coach-road pit, near Falkirk.

He remarked that some of the jaws and portions of the fishes from the coal-fields retained their greasy nature, throwing off water when wetted like the chalk used by lithographers, and instantly drying, whilst the matrix in which they were enclosed remained wet.

On Hydro-Geology. By L'ABBÉ RICHARD.

On the Contents of a Hyana's Den on the Great Doward, Whitchurch, Ross. By the Rev. W. S. SYMONDS, F.G.S.

The following is the order of deposition of materials in the Cave known as King Arthur's Cave.

1. Fallen débris containing Roman pottery and recent human bones.

2. Cave-earth No. 1, three feet thick. Flint flakes and a flint knife. Cores of chert and Silurian quartz rock. Teeth and jaws of Felis spelaa, Ursus spelæus and Hyana spelaa, Elephas primigenius, Rhinoceros tichorhinus, Equus fossilis, Megaceros hibernicus, and Cervus tarandus.

3. Old river-bed of red sand and Wye pebbles from the Silurian rocks of Rhayader and Builth, three or four feet thick.

4. A thick floor of stalagmite, on which the river-bed rests.

5. Cave-earth No. 2. Several flint flakes, with abundant remains of Cave Lion, Hyæna, Rhinoceros, Mammoth (three sizes and ages), Irish Elks, Horse, Bison, and Reindeer.

The Wye now flows 300 feet below the ancient river-deposit of sand and pebbles. In the lower cave-earth are associated the relics of ancient men and the extinct mammalia; and the author expressed his conviction that there are no better authenticated evidences of the antiquity of man in the records of cave-history.

On a New Fish-spine from the Lower Old Red Sandstone of Hay, Breconshire. By the Rev. W. S. SYMONDS, F.G.S.

This is a new Icthyodorulite now in the possession of the Earl of Enniskillen. It is described by Mr. Etheridge, of the School of Mines, under the name of Onchus major. It is the largest known spine from the Lower Old Red Sandstone.

The stratigraphical position of this Fish-spine was described to Mr. Symonds by Mr. John Thomas, C.E., of Hay, Brecon. It was found at Llidiart-y-Warn quarry, near Hay. The following is Mr. Thomas's account:

"This fossil, with several others, was found by Mr. David Jones, of Hay, some three or four years ago, who, not knowing its value, left it to lie in his garden on a rockery. It is much weathered in consequence.

"All geologists acquainted with this district will recollect the fine section of Old Red as seen from the summit of the Black Mountains overlooking the Wye valley, between Hay and Glasbury. In 'Siluria,' p. 272, Sir Roderick Murchison has given a reduced copy of a section from the outcrop of the Carboniferous Limestone of the South Wales basin, across the Wye valley to the Upper Ludlow, in Radnorshire. The summit of the Black Mountain is occupied by chocolate-coloured sandstones, called by Mr. Symonds "Brownstones." Then, in descending, we have the red and green marls and the cornstones. The cornstones are very clearly defined and exposed on the slope of the hills from the Usk valley to Mousecastle, opposite Hay.

"About 200 feet below the cornstone-beds and at this point is Llidiart-y-Warn quarry, where the fossil was discovered. The beds in the quarry are formed of cornstone and very fine layers of whitish sandstone."

The structure of this Fish-spine is thus described by Mr. R. Etheridge, F.R.S. :— "Form gently arcuated, of nearly equal diameter from base to apex, slightly compressed. Posterior free, concave, destitute of denticles. Sides apparently smooth, having no ridge or sulci, though it appears to have been originally delicately lined; base of spine round or obtuse, broad, smooth, or delicately striated; outer substance thick, internal axis large, and rugose on outer layer. Length 5 inches, breadth inch. Loc. Llidiart-y-Warn. Position. Cornstone of Lower Old Red Sandstone."

The anterior face of the spine is not seen; whether it is obtusely keeled or not is therefore unknown. The osseous structure and substance is well defined. The author doubts not that originally, or if we had the outer surface preserved, the spine was longitudinally ridged by deep, narrow sulci.

On the later Crag-Deposits of Norfolk and Suffolk.. By J. S. TAYLOR.

On the Stratified Rocks of Islay. By JAMES THOMSON, F.G.S. The author described briefly the physical conditions of the island of Islay, then in detail the dip, strike, mineral character, and superposition of the stratified rocks, in the following order :

1st. The calcareous deposits in the centre of the island, consisting of limestone, talcose shale, clay-slate, and interbedded quartzites, belong to the Lower Silurian group. The author remarked that although these calcareous deposits had not yet yielded identifiable organic remains, he did not despair, if they were properly in