Sedimentary sequences in lower Strathspey provide a record of Late Pleistocene interglacial and glacial environments. After deposition of till and glacifiuvial sediments, probably in Oxygen Isotope Stage 6, a soil developed at Teindland and Redburn which contains downward translocated pollen. This indicates that the earliest vegetation was woodland with grassland openings, Pinus-Alnus at Teindland and Alnus-Corylus at Red Burn. Podzolisation of the soil ended with an influx of sands derived from erosion of the surrounding slopes, at Teindland perhaps a response to extensive burning during a grassland phase. The combined pollen and sedimentary evidence suggests events at the close of an interglacial. Luminescence dates of 79 ± 6 and 67 ± 5 ka for the sands over the soil suggest that the soil developed in Oxygen Isotope Stage 5e. Overlying the soil and sands at Teindland are glacigenic debris flows, perhaps reflecting glaciation during Oxygen Isotope Stage 4. Three, undated, younger till units, with interbedded gravels, also occur in the surrounding area and provide evidence of the complex glacial history of lower Strathspey since Oxygen Isotope Stage 5.

La collection d'Astéries, d'Ophiures et d'Échinides, dont M. le Dr. William S. Bruce a bien voulu me confier l'étude, comprend surtout les échantillons recueillis par l'Expédition de la Scotia lors de son séjour dans l'Antarctique et quelques autres provenant des îles Falkland, du banc de Burdwood et de l'île Gough, ou de dragages effectués entre le 46° et le 51° lat. S. M. Bruce y a joint quelques spécimens capturés pendant le voyage de retour de la Scotia, au Cap, à Sainte-Hélène, à l'Ascension et à Saint-Vincent.

The poetical beauties of Virgil's sixth book are great and many; and a most agreeable task it would be to point them out: but that is not my present purpose. Nor do I intend to draw a comparison of the sentiments of our poet with those of Homer, concerning a future state. From Homer, no doubt, Virgil received the first hint of this episode ; but the evocation of the ghosts, in the eleventh book of the Odyssey, is not in any degree so striking, or so poetical, as Eneas's descent into the world of spirits. Nor does the former exhibit any distinct idea of retribution. In it all is dark and uncomfortable. “I would rather, says the ghost of “Achilles, be the slave of a poor peasant among the living, “than reign sole monarch of the dead:” a passage blamed, not without reason, by Plato, as unfriendly to virtue, and tending to debase the soul by an unmanly fear of death.

The unique specimen on which this description is based is in the Geological Department of the Manchester University Museum (No. L. 8549). It is on a slab of dark grey flagstone measuring 26 × 21 cm. from the Hill of Forss, Waas, Caithness, the plant being spread out on the surface of the stone like a very complete herbarium specimen (Plate fig. 1). It was referred to and briefly described, but not named, in 1888 by Mr G. Edward, who discovered it, and from whom it passed with other Old Red Sandstone fossils into the Manchester collections. In his paper, Mr Edward called attention to “three of the largest and most perfect Old Red Fossil Plants that may be seen in any museum in the kingdom,” which he had found during his collecting expeditions extending over some thirty years. Two of the fossil plants he refers to can be identified in the Manchester University Museum. The one we are concerned with here is described as “a lovely bush-like plant with hundreds of ribbon or grass-like leaves that have pod, or pocket, or flower-like terminations.”

Dr G. S. Carter, on his expedition to the Gran Chaco of South America in the year 1926–27, collected a fairly complete series of the developmental and adult stages of Callichthys. Several species were represented among the adults obtained, but the developmental stages are almost entirely those of Callichthys (now called Hoplosternum) littoralis. Callichthys belongs to a small subfamily of freshwater fishes belonging to the group Siluridæ. The fish was first described under the name of Callichthys littoralis by Hancock (10). He gives a brief description of the external form and tells how the fish make a regular nest of leaves in which they lay the eggs, and which the male and female both guard most carefully.

Detailed mapping and accurate heighting reveal the extent of a well-preserved terrace system whose highest fragments lie c. 40 m above contemporary stream level. Kame terraces, pitted outwash terraces, terraces dissected by braided rivers and fan terraces are identified. The terrace fragments form a valley train whose uppermost levels were produced when glacier ice was still present in the glen. As successive streams readjusted to postglacial hydrological conditions, they excavated the valley fill of glacial deposits and carved out the terraces. It is inferred that subsequent stream discharges were generally smaller than those associated with deglaciation at the end of the period of ice sheet wastage. Areally extensive, heavily dissected, low level terraces are suggested to have been produced by meltwaters from a later deglaciation at the end of Zone III.

In my previous papers on “The Meteorology of Edinburgh” the data referring to local climate were reduced down to the end of 1896. In the time that has elapsed since their publication a number of memoirs from places on the Continent and elsewhere have appeared in which the data, mostly dealing with long periods, were brought down to the end of 1900. In order to facilitate the comparison of the Edinburgh record with those referred to, I have completed new monthly and annual averages for the ten years 1891–1900, the fifty years 1851–1900, and for longer periods, which embrace 137 years in the case of mean temperature, 131 years for mean barometric pressure, 130 years for the non-instrumental phenomena, and 124 years for rainfall (see Tables I. to IV.). The values previously published have been carefully examined, and a number of errors which escaped detection at the time eliminated. A Table of Errata (see Table XXIX.) is appended. Tables V. and VI. show respectively the mean monthly and annual departure from the normal of the mean maximum and minimum temperatures for the fifty years 1851–1900. A few of the values formerly published (see Table XVIIL, Trans., vol. xxxix. pp. 130–133) are about 0°·6 too high, but they have been corrected.

The Creag Strollamus area lies about three miles to the north-west of Broadford, and presents in miniature all the formational and structural elements of the plutonic region of Skye.

The pre-plutonic substructure of the area consists of Torridonian, largely sandstones and grits, overthrust at low angles upon Cambrian limestones. The thrust plane has been thrown into a number of gentle folds on N.E.-S. W. axes, and has suffered displacement by faults of small throw having the same N.E.-S.W. trend. Owing to later erosion the Torridonian sediments remain as a very thin veneer over much of the area, but thicken rapidly towards the north-west.

Tertiary volcanics, very largely basalt lavas, were extruded upon a surface of considerable relief, but have now been partly removed to reveal large stretches of Torridonian. Subsequent movements included the development of a number of N.W.-S.E. or N.N.W.-S.S.E. faults, usually of small throw, as well as a general warping of the area, so that the volcanics are now inclined north-eastwards at angles around 30 degrees.

Particular attention is directed to the disposition of the sub-volcanic surface in relation to the thrust plane. In a south-easterly direction the erosion surface gradually converges on the thrust plane and ultimately, in the area of the Broadford gabbro, descends beneath it.

Gabbros form a number of masses of widely varying size, but evidently represent sheeted bodies, formerly of greater continuity. Gabbro occurs only in localities where, as considerations of structure show, the former presence of volcanics may reasonably be inferred, the sub-volcanic surface representing the downward limit of gabbro just as it limits the volcanics themselves. Within the gabbro masses internal structures can be recognised which agree with those in the basalts.

Petrographically the close relationship between gabbros and basalts is confirmed by the occurrence of grading contacts and the presence within the gabbros of relic textures and small-scale structures, including amygdales, comparable with those of the basalts. It is therefore concluded that the gabbros developed by the transformation of the pre-existing volcanic rocks.

Just as the downward limit of gabbro in the structure of the area is the sub-volcanic surface, so the granites are confined upwards by this surface and downwards by the thrust plane. Granite occurs in place of Torridonian in the pre-plutonic structure. The variation in habit of the granites from “boss-like” to sheeted in a south-easterly direction is to be correlated with this observation.

Having regard to the preservation of pre-granite structures, often of considerable complexity, it does not appear possible that the granites have been emplaced by the mechanical displacement of Torridonian. Transformation of Torridonian, essentially in situ, is therefore considered the more probable explanation. Support for this view is provided by the nature of the junctions between Torridonian and granite. These are invariably merging and show, at least on a limited scale, that granitisation has indeed occurred.

The only observations made with Dr Lloyd's bifilar magnetometer, published with corrections applied to the individual observations, are those made in the Makerstoun Observatory, forming part of the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. The results obtained from these observations (especially from those for 1844 and 1845), were first compared by me in 1856, with observations (also corrected by myself) made in the Trevandrum Observatory during the same years. The singular resemblance of the variations of daily mean intensity thus discovered at two places so distant, and so differently situated on the earth's surface, induced me to undertake the considerable labour of determining the temperature coefficients, and of correcting and discussing all the published (and some unpublished) observations made in the colonial observatories. This labour was too great to have been undertaken by me alone, in consistence with my other duties, and it is due to the liberality of His Highness the Rajah of Travancore, that I could employ in part for this work the computers attached to his Observatory.

Some 40 brachiopod species are known from the localities of Kilbucho and Wallace’s Cast in the Kirkcolm Formation in the Northern Belt of the Southern Uplands of Scotland. The fauna is diverse despite the relatively small numbers of brachiopod specimens (c. 180) available for study. Much of the fauna was transported downslope and is locally preserved in obtrution deposits. It represents a broad census of outer shelf and upper slope palaeocommunities around this part of the Laurentian margin during the early Katian, and is dominated by relatively small plectambonitoid brachiopods. When compared with other circum-Iapetus assemblages, the brachiopods from the Southern Uplands compare most closely with those from the Bardahessiagh Formation, Pomeroy, Northern Ireland, rather than with adjacent, well-known faunas from the Girvan district, SW Scotland. These new data suggest that this part of the Southern Uplands was located in closer proximity to Pomeroy than Girvan, and located in deep-water environments similar to those in the upper parts of the Bardahessiagh Formation.

Through the courtesy of Dr W. S. Bruce, the leader of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, and of the late Professor D. J. Cunningham, the skeletons of the seals collected in the Antarctic during the voyage of the Scotia have been placed in my hands for study, and I wish to express my gratitude to these gentlemen for their great kindness in placing all the necessary requirements at my disposal. I also wish to state that Dr Bruce has given to the Museum of the University of Edinburgh a choice of the various skeletons, which, together with the specimens already obtained, will form a comprehensive and almost unique collection of the Antarctic seals.

The author recalls the facts regarding the rediscovery, in recent years, of Carter's genus Conulites ( = Dictyoconoides Nuttall). He shows how, of seven species which have been referred to this genus, three always have numerous intercalary whorls in their spires, and four never have any such whorls. The association of these two groups together within a single genus has, so far as he himself is concerned, been due to the uncertainty hitherto existing regarding the type species cooki, whose spire was stated by Carter sometimes to show an intercalary whorl, but generally to be “single throughout.” Carter's original specimens, which had long been mislaid, have recently been found, however, and they all prove to belong to now familiar types, which invariably contain numerous intercalary whorls in their spires. The author therefore separates the four species which do not possess such whorls into a new genus, Lockhartia.

The author next discusses the supposed identity of Dictyoconoides with Rotalia, and shows that the Rotalia must be judged by their type species R. trochidiformis. He shows that this species, among other characteristic features, invariably displays the structures called “astral lobes” by Carpenter and Brady, and is distinguished by the same from both Dictyoconoides and Lockhartia; while it is further distinguished from Dictyoconoides by the absence of intercalary whorls in its spire.

The author then compares the development of Rotalid forms, like the above, with that of piano-spiral ones like Nummulites and Assilines; and he finally shows the fundamental difference in structure between all these spirally wound types and those with an “end-on” development, like the Dictyoconus group of forms, with which some of them have been confused in the past.

Drepanopterus pentlandicus Laurie, 1892 is redescribed from the original type material along with previously unfigured specimens. A cleft metastoma is confirmed as a characteristic of the genus, along with the armature of the second and third prosomal appendages being modified into flattened blades, while the species is shown to possess a somewhat enlarged second tergite and lateral prosomal margins that overlap the first opisthosomal tergite. Different ontogenetic stages of D. pentlandicus are described, and reveal that these latter characters develop only later in ontogeny, suggesting that described specimens of Drepanopterus abonensis Simpson, 1951 may represent juveniles. Cladistic analysis of Stylonurina shows the genus Drepanopterus to be monophyletic consisting of D. pentlandicus, D. abonensis and D. odontospathus sp. nov.: it forms a basal clade of mycteropoids. Hibbertopteroidea Kjellesvig-Waering, 1959 is shown to be a junior subjective synonym of Mycteropoidea Cope, 1886, with the synonymy of many of the hibbertopterid genera hypothesised and Hibbertopterus Kjellesvig-Waering, 1959 suggested to represent juvenile specimens of Cyrtoctenus Størmer & Waterston, 1968. Hibbertopterus permianus Ponomarenko, 1985 is transferred to Campylocephalus Eichwald, 1860. The role of heterochrony in the morphological development of the mycteropoid lineage is discussed, with both hibbertopterids and mycteropids suggested to be hypertrophic and pre-displacement peramorphs respectively.

The Miocene-Pliocene Macusani ash-flow tuffs and glasses from SE Peru are a rare example of two-mica felsic peraluminous volcanic rocks. They outcrop in three separate tectonic basins of the Cordillera Oriental in the Central Andes. In the Macusani field, the rocks are characterised by andalusite and muscovite phenocrysts. Compositions are both very felsic and peraluminous, similar to two-mica granites. Field relations, age differences and isotopic heterogeneities suggest that several distinct magma batches were involved. Two separate magmatic stages are recognised: (1) partial melting and evolution at or near the source region, and (2) shallow-level crystallisation and eruption. Magma genesis involved partial melting of metapelitic materials, with internally controlled. High heat flux, rapid heating, elevated temperatures and F-rich compositions were essential for the production of these mobile, H2O-undersaturated magmas. Chemical variations between the erupted products can be attributed to different degrees either of partial melting in somewhat variable source materials and (or) of fractional crystallisation at shallow levels. We discuss some important differences between the magmatic evolution of the Macusani Volcanics and of Hercynian and Himalayan two-mica granites.

In the course of my studies on the Microscopic Anatomy of Lichens, during the last fifteen years, I have frequently met with various more or less minute Parasites—mostly black and punctiform or papillæform—sometimes disciform or maculæform—affecting either the thallus or apothecia of lichens, or both thallus and apothecia. They grow equally on foliaceous and crustaceous lichens, especially of the following genera:—Parmelia; Physcia; Umbilicaria; Solorina; Peltidea; Nephromium; Sticta; Stereocaulon; Usnea; Neuropogon; Cladonia; Bæomyces; Squamaria; Placodium; Lecanora; Pertusaria; Thelotrema; Lecidea; Graphis; Endocarpon; Verrucaria.

The establishment of Primula petiolaris and its allies as representing a distinct section of the genus was the work of Pax in Engler's Bot. Jahrb., x, 173 (1889). His definition of the section was reasonably adequate, allowance being made for the scanty material available to him. The main information at his disposal came from Wallich's diagnosis (1) of P. petiolaris in 1824 and Hooker's treatment (2) of that species and its varieties in 1882. The chief diagnostic marks instanced by Pax were the membranous leaves with very broad midrib and with sharply and closely erose-denticulate margin, the great variability in leaf-shape and in the degree of development of the scape, the rose-coloured flowers and the globose capsule. Very apposite were his comments on the difficulty in distinguishing the component species and his conviction that the many varieties of P. petiolaris may quite well represent individual species, although the lack of careful observations on living material compelled him to leave within that aggregate even such plants as P. Tanneri. Pax's conception of the confines of his section was better exemplified by his choice of its components than by his diagnosis.

Like most metazoan biomineralisations, the brachiopod shell is the end product of a biologically controlled calcification process. The main agent of the control is the extracellular matrix, which is secreted by the outer mantle epithelium. This matrix mediates the calcification process by allowing crystal nucleation and elongation in specific orientations and finally, by stopping crystal growth. The proteinaceous moiety of brachiopod shell matrices has been extensively studied. Less known are the post-translational modifications that occur in these matrices, in particular glycosylations. In this comparison of five species of Recent articulated brachiopods, the ratio of soluble to insoluble organic matrix varies between the species. Polydisperse macromolecular materials occur in each of these species with discrete proteins of 50 kDa in Notosaria nigricans, Calloria inconspicua and Neothyris lenticularis, 37 kDa in Terebratulina retusa and Gryphus vitreus and 20–25 kDa in N. nigricans. Protein mixtures from all five species respond differently to anionic stains (Stains-All and Alcian Blue). PAS staining results in a positive smear in C. inconspicua and T. retusa and highlights low molecular weight glycoproteins in C. inconspicua. The polysaccharide composition of the soluble matrix of T. retusa is different from the others due to high proportions of arabinose and low proportions of fucose. In all cases, polysaccharide composition of the insoluble matrix is dominated by glucose and glucosamine. Insoluble matrices have more glucose and xylose and less galactosamine and glucosamine than the corresponding soluble matrix. Relatively high amounts of glucosamine may suggest the presence of chitin in the shell matrix of rhynchonelliform brachiopods.

A-type felsic magmatism associated with the Cambrian Southern Oklahoma Aulacogen began with eruption of voluminous rhyolite to form a thick volcanic carapace on top of an eroded layered mafic complex. This angular unconformity became a crustal magma trap and was the locus for emplacement of later subvolcanic plutons. Rising felsic magma batches ponding along this crustal magma trap crystallised first as fine-grained granite sheets and then subsequently as coarser-grained granite sheets. Aplite dykes, pegmatite dykes and porphyries are common within the younger coarser-grained granite sheets but rare to absent within the older fine-grained granite sheets. The older fine-grained granite sheets typically contain abundant granophyre.

The differences between fine-grained and coarse-grained granite sheets can largely be attributed to a progressive increase in the depth of the crustal magma trap as the aulacogen evolved. At low pressures (<200MPa) a small increase in the depth of emplacement results in a dramatic increase in the solubility of H2O in felsic magmas. This is a direct consequence of the shape of the H2O-saturated granite solidus. The effect of this slight increase in total pressure on the crystallisation of felsic magmas is to delay vapour saturation, increase the H2O content of the residual melt fractions and further depress the solidus temperature. Higher melt H2O contents, and an extended temperature range over which crystallisation can proceed, both favour crystallisation of coarser-grained granites. In addition, the potential for the development of late, H2O-rich, melt fractions is significantly enhanced. Upon reaching vapour saturation, these late melt fractions are likely to form porphyries, aplite dykes and pegmatite dykes.

For the Southern Oklahoma Aulacogen, the progressive increase in the depth of the crustal magma trap at the base of the volcanic pile appears to reflect thickening of the volcanic pile during rifting, but may also reflect emplacement of earlier granite sheets. Thus, the change in textural characteristics of granite sheets of the Wichita Granite Group may hold considerable promise as an avenue for further investigation in interpreting the history of this rifting event.

It should be possible to infer the thermal state of the source terrane for granitic bodies, provided we have independent means to establish the chemical nature of this terrane. The chemical nature of the granitic rocks, including their degree of hydration, implies the solidus temperature. The concentration of the heat-producing radioactive elements in the granite (K, U, and Th) probably provides an upper estimate of their concentration in the source rock, which is an important thermal parameter. The depth and ambient temperature of the country rock into which the granite magma intruded provide useful boundary conditions for the thermal regime at the crustal level of anatexis. These constraints in turn form the bases for estimating the subcrustal thermal flux as well as the effective thermal interface for enhanced heat flow from below that resulted in anatexis. These inferences, in combination with other field-based parameters such as uplift rates and permissible time lapses for the geological events, permit realistic thermal modelling for the formation of granitic batholiths. The procedure is applied to the Late Cretaceous Pioneer and Boulder batholiths in southwestern Montana, U.S.A. The modelling results suggest that mantle upwelling, not subduction or thrust loading, caused anatexis. The isotopic chemistry of the granitic rocks rules out direct mixing of mantle magma, and field relations rule out crustal thinning as causes for partial melting.

This address is concerned—not, I feel, unsuitably on this particular occasion—with the two major interests that have occupied me since I began research in marine biology following graduation at Edinburgh in 1922. Initial work on the bivalve molluscs, Mya arenaria and Ostrea edulis, at Edinburgh and Plymouth respectively, was followed by appointment as Balfour Student in the University of Cambridge and leadership of the Great Barrier Reef Expedition of 1928–29. There I made acquaintance with corals, with the reefs they form and with their associated molluscan fauna, which has since been widely extended in other regions of the Indo-Pacific and also in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean in the Atlantic. It is clearly impossible to review this wide subject-matter, this address representing a statement of opinion based largely on the results of personal research.