A little more than a year ago, I was led to conclude that the primitive hypoblast in pelagic Teleostean ova was derived mainly from the unsegmented protoplasm forming the floor of the segmentation cavity. In this respect my results were mainly in harmony with the researches of Lereboullet (21), Kupffer (18 and 19), Klein (16), Van Bambeke (3), and others, but opposed to the more recent investigations of Henneguy (10), Hoffmann (14), Kingsley and Conn. (15), Ryder (24), Agassiz and Whitman (1), and Cunningham (8.) At that time I adopted Agassiz and Whitman's name of periblast for the subgerminal layer containing free nuclei, though I differed from those authors in my idea of the mode of origin of the nuclei. As, however, I regard the tissues derived from this layer as belonging chiefly to the parablastic group of His and Waldeyer, I propose to return for the present to the older name of parablast. I was not enabled to trace the origin of this layer in my earlier investigations, and thus failed to grasp its significance. More recently I have had an opportunity of studying the development of several other types, particularly the herring and cod. In the herring the germinal mound is not formed until after fertilisation. Partly owing to this circumstance, and partly also to the early period at which the assimilation of yolk commences, the eggs of the herring are particularly well suited for a study of the parablast question.

From the point of view of its function, a nerve fibre is a conductor of nervous impulses, and as such is the path of communication between two structures, the one situated in the central nervous system, and the other in the periphery. In the mixed nerve, such as the sciatic, the nerve fibres are distinguished as afferent or as efferent, according as they conduct impulses originating at the periphery, and received by a cell in the central nervous system, or vice versâ. It has long since been shown that nerve fibres are capable of conducting impulses in either direction, but normally, from their anatomical connections, the individual nerve fibres are conductors for impulses only in the one or in the other direction. This is proved by the Wallerian method of investigation, as on severance of the posterior spinal root distal to the ganglion only certain fibres degenerate and the conductivity of the nerve only for afferent impulses is lost, while the severance of the anterior root is followed by the degeneration of the remainder with loss of functions depending on efferent impulses.

The following observations may serve to illustrate and confirm the opinion now very generally adopted by Anatomists and Physicians, That an affection of one hemisphere of the brain, whether from internal disease or external accident, produces its morbid symptoms on the opposite side of the body.

Eurypterids (sea scorpions) are a group of extinct, marine euchelicerates that have an extensive Palaeozoic record. Despite lacking a biomineralised exoskeleton, eurypterids are abundantly preserved within select deposits. These collections make statistical analyses comparing the morphology of different genera possible. However, eurypterid shape has not yet been documented with modern geometric morphometric tools. Here, we summarise the previous statistical assessments of eurypterid morphology and expand this research by presenting landmark and semi-landmark analyses of 115 eurypterid specimens within the suborder Eurypterina. We illustrate that lateral compound eye morphology and position drives specimen placement in morphospace and separates proposed apex predators from more generalist forms. Additionally, evidence for size clusters in Eurypterus that may reflect ontogeny is uncovered. We highlight the use of geometric morphometric analyses in supporting the naming of new taxa and demonstrate that these shape data represent a novel means of understanding inter-generic ontogenetic trajectories and uncovering developmental changes within the diverse euarthropod group.

1. The late Mr Alexander Adie, optician, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, was so generally known to be a zealous and careful observer of meteorological instruments, that an attempt to combine the results deducible from his labours carried on (though with one long break) over more than forty years, cannot be otherwise than interesting.

2. The plan of superintending the careful reduction of the thermometrical part of Mr Adie's registers occurred to me a long time ago, but circumstances prevented the execution of it until two or three years since, when, through the kindness of Mr Adie and his family, the whole of the manuscript observations, commencing with 1795, were put into my hands, and the Council of the Royal Society of Edinburgh provided sufficient funds for the employment of computers for reducing them.

3. The work has proceeded with frequent interruptions, but is at length complete. Before I proceed to detail the particulars of the reductions and their results, I will give a short account of the earlier observations on the climate of Edinburgh which I have been able to trace, some of which perhaps have hitherto escaped notice.

The genus Orthobittacus was established by Willmann (1989) and is characterised by a long Sc vein and the unusually developed medial sector for the Bittacidae. Four Jurassic species have been described in this genus to date: O. abshiricus (Martynova, 1951) from Kirgizia; O.desacuminatus (Bode, 1953) from Braunschweig (Germany); O. polymitus Novokshonov, 1996 from Karatau (Kazakhstan); and O. maculosus Liu, Shih, Bashkuev & Ren, 2016 from the Jiulongshan Formation of Daohugou (China). The fifth congeneric and second species from China, O. suni sp. nov., is described herein. The importance of the genus Orthobittacus for the phylogeny of Bittacidae, as the most plesiomorphic genus, is discussed.

The resin to which the following paper refers was obtained by Professor Bayley Balfour from a species of Dracæna which he discovered in Socotra during his visit to that island in the year 1880, and to which he has given the name of Dracæna Cinnabari. In outward appearance and in general physical properties the resin differs from the varieties known commercially under the name of dragon's blood. With the view of ascertaining if these differences depend upon difference of chemical composition, we undertook, at Professor Balfour's request, to make an examination of the resin.

In a preliminary note read before the Society on July 4, 1904, I drew attention to the fact that a number of line-series, forming a group which includes the first series of Hydrogen, can be represented by an equation of the form

where v denotes the wave-frequency of any line of the series, v∞ that of the so-called “tail” of the series (m = ∞), and a1, b1 constants depending on the nature of the emitting substance; the frequencies of successive lines being obtained by substituting successive integers for m. We see at once that this equation is a generalisation of Balmek's formula, into which it is transformed by equating b1 to zero. In the same note I also pointed out the existence of another group represented by an equation of the same form, if (m + ½) is substituted for m. As a special case (b1 = 0) this group contains the second Hydrogen series discovered by Professor Pickering in the spectrum of ζ Puppis. Subsequent investigations convinced me, however, that, although a considerable number of line-series may be classified into these two groups, there are numerous instances where the more general formula

must be employed, in which μ represents various fractional numbers.

The following additional observations on the comparative structure of the eye-ball, are intended chiefly to illustrate the philosophical anatomy and physiology of the capsules forming the Canal of Petit, and of the Marsupium Nigrum; yet as I have here taken notice of several other points in the comparative anatomy of the eye, the memoir may be considered as supplementary to those formerly read to this learned Society, and which it did me the honour to insert in its Transactions. I have stated in the first of those essays, that I had been led to inquire into the structure of the Eye, partly as connected with researches into the comparative anatomy of all the organs of sense, but more particularly with a view to elucidate the nature and distribution of the nervous system. I did not presume to think that any remarkable peculiarities in the structure of this most interesting organ, had escaped preceding anatomists; but though I found this to be true, in so far as regards the structure of the eye in most of the mammalia, it yet appeared that the same organ in other vertebral animals had by no means been investigated, or at least describedj with the same care.

Changes in soil chemistry in response to varying climatic regimes can alter the equilibria of soil systems and result in different clay minerals. Variations in phyllosilicate clay composition can reflect temporal and spatial climatic changes, such as summer/winter monsoon cycles. The objective of this research was to investigate the mineralogy of the clay fractions as a proxy for determining variations in the East Asian monsoon climate, based on a section at Chaoyang in China spanning the last 0.423 Ma BP. The clay mineralogy record in the Chaoyang section was compared with other proxies as recorded in this section and with other palaeoclimatic indicators, including oxygen isotopes from oceanic sediments and loess–palaeosol sections on the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP). The results from clay mineralogy and related climatic studies show that the summer monsoon has a trend of four increased stages and four decreased stages; whereas the winter monsoon displays the opposite trend. During the last 0.423 Ma BP, the strongest winter monsoon occurred around 0.243–0.311 Ma BP. During this period, which included an intense winter monsoon, the soil in the section had the least illite, one of the smallest kaolinite and illite/Chlorite (I/C) indices and an overall decreasing clay content. The period 0.225–0.243 Ma BP had the strongest summer monsoon over the last 0.423 Ma BP. This period had the greatest amount of illite, the highest I/C index, greater overall clay content and the strongest magnetic susceptibility signal. Additionally, this section contained the smallest mean grain size. The multi-monsoon climate cycles of alternating cold-dry and warm-moist conditions as recorded in the Chaoyang section corresponded well with multiple glaciation cycles based on deep sea sediments. This indicates that the Chaoyang section provides a record of palaeoclimate changes in northeast China that can be linked to mineralogical suites to assist in reconstructing the palaeoclimate over the Late Middle Pleistocene, and complements the global palaeoclimate records in the CLP.

1. The first series of these researches, in the exact form in which they are printed, were laid before the Royal Society on the 19th January 1835. The whole of the experiments there described were made, and the paper written and printed, within a space of time little exceeding two months. This haste, unfavourable to composition, I considered as a less evil than postponing for a period of time, which must have been considerable, the publication of a class of facts which might be said almost to embrace a new science. The professional duties which pressed upon me during the whole continuance of those experiments, then called imperatively on my attention, and during the remainder of the Session my time was devoted to them. The summer I devoted to a foreign excursion, some of the results of which I afterwards digested; and it was not till the commencement of the winter session which has just closed, that I prepared, with a fresh stock of health and spirits, to reinvestigate the whole subject of the Polarization of Heat, and to assign numerical values to the effects, whose existence I had before been contented to prove.

Since Lord Kelvin showed that the resistance of the magnetic metals was influenced by the state of magnetisation of these substances, a good deal of work has been done in investigating more carefully the extent and nature of the relation. It does not appear, however, that any attempt has been made to discover how change of temperature affects this influence. Twelve years ago in Japan I set one of my Japanese students to the construction of an apparatus suitable for making this research. A few preliminary experiments were made; and leaving Japan shortly after, I brought the apparatus with me in the hope of continuing the work in this country. Not till this summer, however, did I find leisure to return to the problem. The results obtained I wish now to lay before the Society.

A number of years ago I began to form and arrange in the Anatomical Museum of the University of Edinburgh a collection of the hair of the head to illustrate the varieties in colour and character which exist in the Races of Men. In a classification of the races based on the colour and characters of the hair, anthropologists have usually adopted the suggestion made by Bory de St Vincent, and have divided them into two groups: Leiotrichi, with straight, smooth hair; and Ulotrichi, with woolly or frizzly hair. Each of these again is capable of subdivision.

In this memoir I intend especially to examine the Ulotrichi, which comprise two well-marked subdivisions. In one the hair is very short, and is arranged in small spiral tufts, the individual hairs in which are twisted on each other, a mat-like arrangement of compact spiral locks closely set together being the result. In the other the hair is moderately long, the locks are slender, curled or spirally twisted in a part of their length and terminate at the free end in a frizzly bush-like arrangement. Ulotrichous hair is found in various African races, in the aborigines of Tasmania, New Guinea, the Melanesian Islands in the Pacific, in the Negritos of the Malay Peninsula and of some of the islands of the Asiatic Archipelago. The Leiotrichi are Australians, Polynesians, Mongols, Malays, Indians, Arabs, Esquimaux and Europeans.

In 1897, a description was given of a silicified specimen from the Old Red Sandstone of Reswallie near Forfar which was named Cryptoxylon Forfarense. In this note evidence is brought forward for placing the plant in the genus Nematophyton.

For an account of the specimen and of its structure reference may be made to the original description and the figures, which are based on photographs. The stem was shown to consist of an apparently parenchymatous tissue, in which groups of smaller cells occurred. These isolated groups form dark spots, which are arranged concentrically in the transverse section and are slightly elongated in the longitudinal direction. In discussing the affinities of the plant it was noted that it appeared to be essentially distinct from Nematophyton, since in that plant the tissue is entirely composed of long tubes.

On a moonless night, whenever clouds of an ordinary elevation in the atmosphere appear upon, or pass across, the star-spangled sky behind them, they exhibit themselves, as a rule, dark, sometimes even black, in comparison therewith. And no wonder, when every part of the open sky from visible star to visible star therein must be lit up to some, though doubtless a very small, extent by the faintest general and cumulative radiance of those myriads and myriads of lesser stars, which only a large telescope can show to be individually existent as actual stellar points of light, but in their aggregate more nearly eternal, and still more constant from age to age, than our gigantic Sun itself.

The vertical movements of the earth's atmosphere from which the energy is derived which causes the horizontal movements of the air which we call winds, and by means of which the moisture evaporated from the surface of land and water is collected and carried to the higher regions of the atmosphere, where it is condensed to cloud and again distributed in the form of rain over the earth's surface, are of great interest, and a thorough knowledge of the laws governing these vertical movements is necessary to enable us to arrive at a correct forecast of the coming weather over any area.

§ 1. The shielding effect which exists within hollow iron spheres and cylinders, when placed in a uniform magnetic field, has been previously investigated. Poisson, Stefan, Maxwell, and among others, and more recently, Professors Rücker and Du Bois, have contributed to the subject. If

and the ratio of n to R be the order 1 to 100, it appears that the following expressions may be taken as sufficiently correct:

In 1836, I communicated to this Society the results of an extensive series of observations on Terrestrial Magnetic Intensity, made with the Hansteen Apparatus, which is the property of the Society. Some results with a small Dipping Needle, belonging to myself, were also given, but without great confidence in their accuracy.

I held then, however, the opinion which I still do, and to which the remarkable geometrical researches of Professor Gauss of Göttingen on Terrestrial Magnetism have given additional weight, that the element of horizontal intensity ought to be determined, and its laws of variation, in the first place, ascertained, independent of any other. Even should the deduction of total intensity be the sole ultimate object, I hold that an observer with only portable, and consequently imperfect instruments at his command, would do well to separate completely his investigations as to horizontal intensity from those upon dip, and then, by the skilful grouping of each set, having obtained a law of variation of each element according to the co-ordinates of Latitude and Longitude, the two partial results may be combined into the general one of total intensity , whilst either series may be used to check future observations, or be combined with any single future series in which one of the elements should be better determined.

The object of this investigation was to obtain information as to the change of specific resistance produced in wires of various metals by different amounts of elongation. The present paper refers to experiments on copper, iron, and German silver wires.

Old Red Sandstone sediments from Arran in western Scotland yield an array of Pb isotope compositions whose slope corresponds to an age of 1830 ± 400 Ma. These compositions are not consistent with a significant contribution of material from the Southern Highlands, Midland Valley, or Southern Uplands, but are similar to the Torridonian sandstones of NW Scotland. Bearing in mind the probable Laxfordian provenance of the Torridonian assemblage, this points to a source for the Old Red Sandstone in a crustal block of early Proterozoic age corresponding to the age of the Laxfordian episode. Since such a source is not presently in a position to yield the Old Red Sandstone, strike-slip movement along the Highland Boundary fault is a strong possibility.