The country lying between the head of Loch Ainort and the northern end of the Blaven Range in central Skye forms part of a Tertiary igneous complex. Country rocks in the area are Jurassic sediments. The earliest igneous rocks are basalt lavas which show the effects of thermal metamorphism by a later intrusion of eucrite and gabbro. This latter, which is part of the Blaven mass, has features of a layered intrusion such as igneous lamination, repetition of layers rich in certain minerals and comparable textures. It may be correlated with zones of the Cuillin layered intrusion. The eucrites are cut by a cone sheet swarm. Adjacent to the eucrite is a vent breccia which contains eucrite blocks, is not cut by cone sheets and is, therefore, of later age than the eucrite. The major part of the area under discussion is formed from four granitic ring dykes and a hybrid suite with ring dyke form, all of which belong to the Western Redhills intrusive complex; in addition, part of a fifth granitic ring dyke, which probably belongs to the Eastern Redhills intrusive complex is included in the area. The granites are mainly fayalite-hedenbergite types with a variety of phenocrysts of felspar and features characteristic of high level intrusions such as granophyric texture and varying optical and chemical properties of the felspar indicating higher temperature modifications. Three new chemical analyses of the granites and one of ferrohedenbergitic pyroxene are presented. The granites may be regarded as partial remelts of the underlying basement gneiss and a simple investigation of thermal requirements indicates that the heat necessary for the partial melting could be provided by a mass of basic rock presumed from geophysical evidence to underlie the complex. Various acid and basic minor intrusions in the area are also described.

A new occurrence of the Hirnantia brachiopod fauna is documented from the Criadero Quartzite of Almadén, Ciudad Real Province, Spain. This unit is the regional development of a largely unfossiliferous sandy facies that frequently overlies the typical Late Ordovician diamictitic glaciomarine formations in the Iberian Peninsula and the Armorican Massif. The new occurrence establishes palaeontologically the latest Ashgill age of the quartzite, at least for its lowest horizons, and adds new data on a fauna that, although widespread, has been very rarely documented from peri-Gondwanan Europe. The new collection contains only Hirnantia sagittifera and Plectothyrella crassicosta chauveli. The subspecific status of the latter and its inclusion within Plectothyrella crassicosta is discussed herein, based on the continuous variation in rib thickness of several samples of both forms. The extremely low diversity and the occurrence of the key form P. c. chauveli, are both typical of the Bani Province that developed on the subpolar margins of Gondwana. This contrasts with other occurrences of the Hirnantia Fauna in peri-Gondwanan Europe, such as those from Sardinia and the Carnic Alps, which are characteristic of the more temperate Kosov Province.

A new genus and species of primitive echinozoan, Bromidechinus rimaporus, is described from the Upper Ordovician of Oklahoma, USA. This has a unique plate arrangement. There is a single perradial series of imperforate plates bounded on either side by a column of perforate ambulacral plates. A double column of interambulacral plates separates ambulacral zones. The sparse record of Ordovician echinozoans is reviewed and cladistic analysis suggests that Bromidechinus represents a lineage that diverged prior to the split between bothriocidarids and main-line echinoids. This leads to a revised interpretation of the earliest stages of morphological evolution of echinoids.

A Stem of Stenomyelon tuedianum Kidston is described with the base of a petiole of Kalymma tuediana Calder attached to it.

Two new species of Stenomyelon are described—Stenomyelon heterangioides, characterized by interspersed xylem parenchyma and mesarch protoxylem, and Stenomyelon primaevum distinguished by a solid tri-radiate protostele lacking parenchyma bands. The possible external features of Stenomyelon are compared with a compression of a Pteridosperm with large fronds.

The Foulden Site of Special Scientific Interest is one of the few Cementstone Group localities that yields significant fauna and flora. Excavations in 1980 and 1981 removed a 1·3 m2 slab of the Fish Bed for laboratory study of the vertical and spatial distribution of the biota. Layer by layer analysis revealed an almost mutually exclusive relationship between the vertical distribution of the palaeoniscoid fishes and malacostracan crustaceans, as well as a horizon crowded with juvenile acanthodians. Elongate elements of this biota showed slight preferred orientations at that prolific horizon. Some 27 m of strata including the Fish Bed, Plant Bed and Shell Bed are recorded in detail, and their biota noted. Interim results of work on the main groups collected are summarised in associated papers in this part of Transactions. Brief reports are given here on the euryhaline marine bivalve mollusc Modiolus latus (Portlock), a rare durophagous bradyodont shark tooth and an Eogyrinus-like amphibian scute.

Twenty-seven species assigned to 20 genera of trilobites are described from Feilaishi in Guizhou Province, the type section of the Shihtzupu Formation in S W China. They occur in association with a sparse graptolite fauna including Glyptograptus teretiusculus. Eleven taxa are recorded here for the first time. Much new morphological information is provided regarding previously known species and 3 lectotypes are selected. The trilobites are largely endemic and indicate a quiet and comparatively shallow water environment

The first four parts of this work, on the skeleton, muscles, and vascular system, were published in the Transactions of the Society in 1905, 1907, 1909, and 1912.

The present section does not include the teeth, which, belonging properly to the skin, will be described when the skin and its appendages are dealt with. It will be noticed from time to time that I have to record striking differences from results obtained by other authors. Such differences must, of course, be recorded; but in recording them it must not be understood, unless the contrary is expressly stated, that the observations under discussion are necessarily inaccurate. One cannot investigate Myxinoid anatomy without frequently coming up against somewhat astonishing variations, and I have long been convinced that there must be races or colonies of Myxine which have not been distinguished specifically, but which, nevertheless, possess anatomical features in common. To give one instance out of many. Mr R. H. Burne has described in detail an anal slime gland in Myxine.

Artificial interspecific hybrids in “diploid” species of potatoes have been recorded by Bukasov (1938), Emme (1936), Reddick (1939), and others. These authors paid little, if any, attention to the number and behaviour of the chromosomes in their plants, but rather concentrated on interspecific compatibilities, inheritance of flower colour, and resistance to disease or the genetical sequellæ to exposure to low temperature, all with regard to the possible utilisation of the plants in commerce.

The present cytological investigations are primarily concerned with the cytology of two interspecific “diploid” potato hybrids with a view to determining the homology of the chromosomes of the parents and its bearing on sterility.

For much of its length in eastern Finland, the contact between the late Archaean granitoid terrane and early Proterozoic supracrustal rocks is that of a depositional unconformity tectonically modified during the Svecokarelian orogeny. In the Kaavi district, this modification has been extensive, particularly because of thrusting which resulted in tectonic slices of basement being present as inliers within the cover rocks and cover rocks as outliers within the main basement outcrop. Both basement and cover have undergone repeated deformation and metamorphic recrystallisation reflected by the presence of multiple tectonic fabrics and sequential mineral growths. However, it is only locally in major zones of movement that the basement rocks of the Presvecokarelides show major modification as the result of the deformation which had such a profound effect on the cover rocks during the development of the Svecokarelides. Over large areas, the products of four phases of deformation (DI–IV) remain in the basement gneisses together with the products of basic and acidic intrusion whose positions in the deformational sequence can be established‥

In the cover rocks, early nappe emplacement (Outokumpu nappe) was followed by the development of isoclinal folds associated with prograde metamorphism (D1). Regionally expressed asymmetrical folds, overturned to the E, with attenuation of overturned limbs and thrusting, involving basement, followed (D2). Subsequent deformation related to wrench faulting (D2c) was followed by the development of more open folds associated with declining geotherms (D3, D4); F3–F4 interference structures are expressed as domes, some of which were a locus of granitoid emplacement (Maarianvaara granitoid suite). D5 and D6 are expressed as cleavages and fractures.

Correlation of the structural features in the Kaavi district with those in the Outokumpu and adjacent districts forms the basis both for establishing the regional disposition of basement and cover units and for determining the structural evolution of this part of the Svecokarelides.

Prince Charles Foreland is a long, narrow, mountainous island with a N.N.W. to S.S.E. extension, which lies parallel to the western mainland coast of Spitsbergen, but separated from it by the Foreland Sound, with an average width of ten miles. Its southern extremity lies on the same parallel of latitude as Mt. Alkhornet at the entrance to Ice Fiord, and its most northerly point on the same parallel of latitude as King's Bay. The island is thus about 54 miles long, and is on an average 5 miles wide, the maximum width of 6½ miles being attained near Pt. James Murray, and also south of Ferrier Haven. Its area is approximately 270 square miles (see map, fig. 1).

Manned submersible dives were conducted in the submarine canyon channel system of Porcupine Seabight, NE Atlantic Ocean. Visual observations were made, and sediment samples collected and analysed to elucidate the nature of the sedimentary regime. In the upper part of the canyon (480-940 m water depth) sediments consisted of a mixture of terrigenous quartz rich silts and sands, skeletal carbonate of benthonic and planktonic origin and minor clay minerals and authigenic dolomite. There were localised Lophelia pertusa coral thickets on both the flanks and floor of the canyon. Sedimentary structures and physical measurements revealed there to be active transport of sediments in the canyon down to a depth of at least 940 m, effected by (?tidal) reversing currents and bioturbation. In these parts of the canyon, deposits around glacial dropstones and coral thickets indicate that there has been a maximum of 0-1 m of net sediment accumulation since the last glacial period. At 3000 m water depth, in the channel system, the sediments were fine calcareous ooze with a drape (up to 0-3 m thick) of flocculant phytoplankton detritus. At these depths, there was no evidence for present-day sediment resuspension by currents.

The Riccarton and Raeberry Castle beds in Kirkcudbrightshire have hitherto been regarded as Wenlock in age, and the Hawick Rocks as Llandovery. Detailed mapping and revision of the graptolite faunas shows that the Raeberry Castle beds are Llandovery and the Riccarton beds Wenlock in age. On structural evidence the Hawick Rocks south of Kirkcudbright are considered to be younger than the Riccarton beds. The Riccarton beds in the area are formally defined as the Ross Formation and the Raeberry Castle beds as the Raeberry Castle Formation. Directional data suggest that the sediment forming the Raeberry Castle Formation was derived from the west and the sediment forming the Ross Formation and Hawick Rocks was derived from the north-east.

The mid-Miocene Aztec Wash pluton is divisible into a relatively homogeneous portion entirely comprising granites (the G zone, or GZ), and an extremely heterogeneous zone (HZ) that includes the products of the mingling, mixing and fractional crystallisation of mafic and felsic magmas. Though far less variable than the HZ, the GZ nonetheless records a dynamic history characterised by cyclic deposition of the solidifying products of the felsic portion of a recharging, open-system magma chamber.

Tilting has exposed a 5-km section through the GZ and adjacent portions of the HZ. A porphyry is interpreted as a remnant of a chilled roof zone that marks the first stage of felsic GZ intrusion. Subsequent recharging by felsic and mafic magma, reflected by repeated cycles of crystal accumulation and melt segregation in the GZ and emplacement of mafic flows in the HZ, rejuvenated and maintained the chamber. Kilometre-scale lobes of mafic HZ material were deposited as prograding tongues into the GZ during periods of increased mafic input. Thus, they are lateral equivalents of the cumulate GZ granites with which they interfinger. Conglomerate-like units comprising rounded, matrix-supported intermediate clasts in cumulate granite are located immediately above the lobes. These ‘conglomerates’ appear to represent debris flows shed from sloping upper surfaces of the lobes. Thus, the GZ can be viewed as comprising distal facies, remote from the site of mafic recharging in the HZ, and the HZ as comprising proximal facies.

Elemental chemistry suggests that the GZ cumulate granites represent a second-stage accumulation from an already evolved melt, and that coarse, more mafic, feldspar+biotite+accessory mineral ± hornblende rocks trapped between mafic sheets in the HZ are the initial cumulates. Fractionated melt accumulated roofward and laterally, and was the direct parent of the ‘evolved’ GZ cumulates. The most highly fractionated, fluid-rich melts accumulated at the roof.

Isotope ratios of elements such as Sr, Nd, Pb and Hf can be used as tracers of magmatic sources and processes. Analytical capabilities have evolved so that isotope ratios can now be analysed in situ, and isotopic tracers can therefore be used within single minerals to track the changing magmatic environment in which a given mineral grew. This contribution shows that Sr isotope ratios in feldspars that make up plutonic rocks will typically preserve initial isotopic variations, provided precise and accurate age corrections can be applied. Variations in initial isotope ratio can give a core-to-rim record of magmatic evolution and can be used to diagnose open system events such as contamination and magma recharge and mixing.

New single grain Sr isotope data are presented from the Dais Intrusion, Antarctica, which reflect an open system origin for the crystals. The crystal cargo appears to be aggregated and assembled during transport and emplacement. This model, as opposed to a magma body crystallising post emplacement, may be more applicable to plutonic rocks in general, and is testable using the in situ isotopic determination methods described here.

The odonatan fauna of the Late Eocene of the Isle of Wight is revised. The following taxa are revised or described: the gomphaeschnids Oligoaeschna? anglica Cockerell & Andrews, 1916 and Anglogomphaeschna eocenica gen. et sp. nov.; the aeshnids ‘Oplonaeschna’ vectensis Cockerell & Andrews, 1916, Aeschnophlebia andreasi Nel et al., 2005, Oligaeschna wedmanni sp. nov., and a ‘Gynacanthinae’ species; Neophya legrandi sp. nov., first fossil representative of the Cordulephyidae; three undescribed ‘Corduliidae’; Eomacrodiplax incompleta gen. et sp. nov., first fossil representative of the Urothemistidae; the second representative of the Palaeogene family Bolcathoridae; a Thaumatoneuridae Dysagrionini species A; the megapodagrionid Oligoargiolestes oligocenum Kennedy, 1925; the two hypolestids Anglohypolestes fasciata gen. et sp. nov. and Eohypolestes hooleyi gen. et sp. nov.; the coenagrionid ‘Enallagma' oligocena Cockerell & Andrews, 1916, and three other undescribed species; Angloprotoneura emilielacroixi gen. et sp. nov., first fossil European representative of the damselfly family Protoneuridae; and the lestid Lestes aff. regina Théobald, 1937. This fauna has strong similarities with the Recent Afrotropical and Indo-Malayan Odonata, suggesting a warm palaeoclimate for the Late Eocene of the Isle of Wight. ‘Megalestes’ anglicus Cockerell, 1915 is a Zygoptera Lestiformia or Coenagrionomorpha of uncertain affinities.

A comparative study of three main igneous rock associations that plot in the K2O–SiO2 diagram shoshonite field: shoshonite series absarokites–shoshonites–banakites (henceforth referred to as shoshonites s.l.), vaugnerites, and potassic lamprophyres, reveals that similarities between the associations are superficial. Vaugnerites and lamprophyres are more magnesian, richer in large ion lithophile and high field strength elements and have higher light rare earth/heavy rare earth ratios than shoshonites. Furthermore, shoshonites have low radiogenic heat production, typical of subduction-related rocks, but most vaugnerites and some lamprophyres are highly radioactive. Relative to bulk-Earth, shoshonites have depleted, asthenospheric mantle-like Sr and Nd isotope signatures, whereas vaugnerites and potassic lamprophyres have enriched, crust or lithospheric mantle-like compositions. Though vaugnerites and some lamprophyres show evidence of crustal contamination, the contaminated magma was not originally shoshonitic. Their composition is consistent with derivation from a metasomatised upper mantle source enriched long before melting, thus precluding an active subduction setting. In conclusion, the term shoshonite, implying late-stage arc magmas, cannot be applied to a rock series simply because it plots into the K2O–SiO2 diagram shoshonite field. Shoshonites with a subduction-related source may, however, be identified by discriminant function analysis.

The Bishop Tuff (USA) is a large-volume, high-silica pyroclastic rhyolite. Five pumice clasts from three early stratigraphic units were studied. Size distributions were obtained using three approaches: (1) crushing, sieving and winnowing (reliable for crystals >100 μm); (2) microscopy of ∼1 mm3 fragments (preferable for crystals <100 μm); and (3) computerised X-ray microtomography of ∼1 cm3 pumice pieces.

Phenocryst fragments coated with glass are common, and the size distributions for all crystals are concave-upward, indicating that crystal fragmentation is an important magmatic process.

Three groups are recognised, characterised by: (1) high-density (0·759–0·902 g cm−3), high-crystal content (14·4–15·3 wt.%) and abundant large crystals (>800 μm); concave-downward size distributions for whole crystals indicate late-stage growth with limited nucleation, compatible with the slow cooling of a large, gas-saturated, stably stratified magma body; (2) low-density (0·499 g cm −3), low-crystal content (6·63 wt.%) and few large crystals; the approximately linear size distribution reveals that nucleation was locally important, perhaps close to the walls; and (3) intermediate characteristics in all respects.

The volumetric fraction of bubbles inversely correlates with the number of large crystals. This is incompatible with isobaric closed-system crystallisation, but can be explained by sinking of large crystals and rise of bubbles in the magma

The organism which has been found living in the anterior tracheal system of hive bees, and whose presence is associated with Isle of Wight disease, I have identified as a hitherto undescribed species of the genus Tarsonemus. This genus was founded in 1876 by Canestrini and Fanzago, and since then a moderate number only of species has been established. The true systematic position of these Acarines has been much in doubt, and their position in the order has from time to time been revised. Canestrini (1888) constituted the Tarsonemes the type of a special family, the Tarsonemini; they have been associated with the Oribatidæ by Berlese, and with the Cheyletidæ by Trouessart (1892). Banks (1904) regarded them as showing resemblances to the Tyroglyphidse, and placed them in a super-family Sarcoptoidea. An important character of the Tarsonemes is the existence of a tracheal system in the adult female, which is not found in the male nor in any pre-adult stage of either sex. This feature was adopted by Berlese (1897) as the basis of his sub-order, Heterostigmata, and by Oudemans (1906) in his division Trachelostigmata. This super-family includes two families—Tarsonemidæ and Scutacaridæ (Oudemans, 1916). This last is the Disparipedidae of Berlese.

A detailed description is given of the fossil pollen floras of two lignite seams associated with the Tertiary igneous rocks of Western Scotland. One of the seams occurs at the base of the lava succession at Ardslignish, Ardnamurchan; the other is exposed at two localities, Shiaba and Bremanoir, within the lava succession on the island of Mull.

Seventy-one species belonging to forty-four genera are described. All the species and two of the genera are new. Comparisons are made with modern pollen grains and some close resemblances are noted between the fossil species and species now living in various distant parts of the world, in particular Eastern Asia, Australasia and North America.

The integration of biostratigraphical, wireline log, geophysical and available geochronological ages has identified two principal periods of volcanism in the Faroe–Shetland and Rockall basins. The first is pre-breakup, upper Danian to lower Thanetian: in the Rockall and Faroe–Shetland basins, isolated volcanic activity from 62 Ma to 58.7 Ma is identified in areas closely linked to the SSW–NNE structural fabric of the continental margin. Volcanic activity was concentrated at basin flank fissures and localised point sources. This rift-flank volcanism led to widespread volcanic ash deposition, localised lava flow fields and the formation of igneous centres. Some of the Hebridean and onshore central complexes (e.g., Rum) were uplifted and rapidly eroded during the later pre-breakup period, while additional accommodation space was developed in the adjacent offshore basins. Onset and termination of pre-breakup volcanism is correlated to intra-plate stress regimes in Europe, following the cessation of convergence of Africa and Europe in the Danian. The second is syn-breakup, upper Thanetian to Ypresian, initiated at ca.57 Ma in the Rockall and Faroe–Shetland basins. Initial high-volume extrusive igneous successions were focussed to the W in the Faroe–Shetland Basin. In the centre and E of the Faroe–Shetland and Rockall basins, separate eruption loci developed along pre-existing lineaments either as fissure or point-sourced lava fields. Short-term cessation of eruption at ~55.8 Ma was followed by resumption of flood basalt eruptions and a shift in focus to the NW. Fluctuations in the syn-breakup eruption tempo are reflected in the formation and subsequent rejuvenation of prominent unconformities, only previously recognised as a single erosive event. The W and northward shift of eruption focus, and the eruption of mid ocean ridge basalt-type lavas in the syn-breakup period reflect the onset of lithospheric thinning in the nascent North Atlantic Rift prior to flooding of the rift and eruption of the widespread lower Ypresian Balder Formation tephras.