The research of which this paper gives an account was originated by the late Dr Alexander Bruce and undertaken in conjunction with him; most of the material used had been accumulated by him during the later years of his life. The following preliminary communication made to the Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland in July 1910 represents in brief outline the position which had been reached at the time of Dr Bruce's lamented death:—

The observations which were made in Loch Earn during August 1911 and described in the Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xlviii, p. 629, demonstrated that in that loch there was during autumn a fairly definite temperature or density discontinuity, and suggested that the loch was a peculiarly suitable one in which to observe in greater detail the boundary waves occurring at the discontinuity. The previous investigation had for its main purpose the demonstration of the existence of standing oscillations at the discontinuity, and in that was entirely successful. The observations showed, however, that in addition to the primary standing oscillations there were other less regular movements about which the observations gave little information, as they were not made at sufficiently close intervals of time.

As the Scotia was engaged in marine research throughout the whole of its long voyage out and home, it was only to be expected that Antarctic specimens would form but a small fraction of the result. In like manner, as several of the halting-places, such as the Cape of Good Hope and the Falkland Islands, had been visited by many keen naturalists on earlier occasions, it was quite likely that species of the group with which this report is concerned would have been in numerous instances already observed. Accordingly, out of some fifty species here discriminated, only six claim to be new, and not more than ten can be regarded as Antarctic or sub-Antarctic in their place of capture. In the vast extension, however, which marine zoology has for some time past been receiving, some retardation in the stream of discovery may not be unwelcome to the systematist. Familiar forms which would otherwise amply repay a thorough reinvestigation are apt to be thrust on one side, when striking novelties are for ever appealing to be introduced. This expedition, like others before it, affords fair evidence that the Macrura are both abundant and varied in great depths of the ocean. But only too often the frailty of their fabric leaves them in a tantalisingly mutilated condition when they reach the surface.

The Palæozoic ovule, to which the generic name “Sphærostoma” is now given, was originally described by Williamson in 1877 under the names Conostoma ovale and Conostoma intermedium. He referred sections of different individuals to different species owing to the imperfect condition of the material then available, but expressed the view that Conostoma intermedium “may possibly be a state of Conostoma ovale.” The new material has rendered this interpretation a certainty. With respect to the reference of this ovule to the genus Conostoma, Williamson again expresses some hesitation, merely stating that “it appears to be of the same generic type.” The genus Conostoma was established for an Upper Carboniferous ovule which Williamson designated Conostoma oblongum.

In a paper on “The Pharmacological Action of Protocatechyl-tropeine,” communicated to the Society in 1909, I drew attention to the fact that this substance, when injected intravenously in certain doses produces transient paralysis of the respiration; and I mentioned further that Tappeiner had described a similar temporary cessation of the respiration after the intravenous injection of certain quaternary isoxazol and pyrazol compounds, and of tetra-methyl-ammonium chloride, and Pohl, after the intravenous injection of some quaternary papaverine derivatives. Tappeiner came to the conclusion that the effect was due to stimulation of the terminations of the fifth cranial nerve in the nose; that it was, in fact, of the nature of a Kratschmer-Hering reflex, since he was unable, in the case of methyl-phenylisoxazol-methochloride, to produce cessation of the respiration after anæsthetising the nasal mucous membrane with cocaine; and Iodlbauer, working in Tappeiner's laboratory, also found that anæsthetisation of the nasal mucous membrane prevented the cessation of the respiration produced by tetra-methyl-ammonium chloride. Pohl, on the other hand, was able to produce this temporary paralysis of the respiration after section of the ophthalmic branches of both fifth nerves, and consequently he concluded that the effect was due to an action on the respiratory centre. I came to the same conclusion, since the effect was still obtained with protocatechyl-tropeine after section of both fifth nerves in the base of the skull and after section of both phrenic nerves, and was not synchronous with the effect on the circulation or with the paresis of the nerve-endings in the muscles of the hind limbs. Further work with tetra-methyl-ammonium chloride, however—my stock of protocatechyl-tropeiue being exhausted,—showed that the effect was in large measure peripheral and due to a transient paresis of the nerve-endings in the respiratory muscles.

In the year 1900 Bretscher (1) published a short account of a new aquatic Oligochæte belonging to the family Naididæ, which was assigned by him to a new genus, Hæmonais, under the name H. waldvogeli. Its chief peculiarity lay in the complicated blood-vascular system, to an account of which Bretscher devotes about half of his description. No further account of any representative of the genus has since appeared.

Some months ago I was surprised to find, in Lahore, specimens which were certainly referable to the same genus as the Swiss worms, though manifesting a few differences, sufficient to distinguish them as a separate species. Since my first discovery of the present form I have had the advantage, which did not fall to Bretscher's lot, of being able to observe sexual individuals; and as the worms are remarkable in other respects than that of the vascular system, and since moreover the somewhat curt description which he gives is perhaps scarcely sufficient to satisfy legitimate curiosity in regard to a new genus, I give below a fairly complete account of the Lahore specimens.

Introduction. The following study of the oak galls mentioned by Theophrastus was undertaken at Sir D'Arey Thompson's suggestion some four years ago. The old Greek gives no full description of any of these galls, but he characterises them so clearly in a few words that it is possible to identify all, or well-nigh all, with certainty. Böhner tried to identify them in his History of Cecidiology, but he used a poor translation and overlooked now and then the small but essential details given by Theophrastus. A fresh attempt may lead to better results.

The common forked setæ which constitute the ventral setal bundles in the Naididæ possess, like the simple setæ of many of the earthworms, a slight swelling on the shaft, the so-called nodulus. The setæ themselves are the principal organs of locomotion, being used as levers, which obtain a hold of the substratum by means of their hooked and forked distal ends; and besides being movable in an anteroposterior direction they are capable of some degree of protrusion and retraction. The position of the nodulus on the shaft is held to regulate the distance to which the seta can be protruded; though it can be retracted so that the nodulus is below the level of the epidermis, it cannot be protruded beyond that degree which brings the nodulus level with the surface.

The highly specialised features of the Compositæ leave little room for doubt that the family is an advanced one, and it is not without significance that the vast majority of its species should be herbaceous plants; shrubby species are infrequent, while trees are of the rarest occurrence. The markedly herbaceous habit is further emphasised if attention is confined to the large and widespread genus Senecio, comprising over 2000 species, for, although they include plants of very diverse habit, few attain to tree dimensions, or possess a welldeveloped, perennial, woody trunk. Herbs or shrubs account for 99 per cent, of the species, the former greatly predominating. The remainder comprises a small group of about 20 species, which have assumed the arborescent habit.

The collection of Nereidæ brought home by the Scotia proves to be of considerable interest. As other expeditions have indicated, the family is but poorly represented in the antarctic or sub-antarctic regions; and although a large number of specimens were collected at the South Orkney Islands, these have all proved to belong to one species, N. kerguelensis M'Int. No nereids were obtained at any of the deep-water stations farther south—the family being decidedly littoral in its range.

The chief interest, however, lies in the material collected so assiduously throughout the vessel's wanderings. Six other species were obtained, including one from the Falkland Islands, hitherto undescribed.

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 an Appendix to the Actiniæ of the Challenger Expedition, R. Hertwig. 1882, described a peculiar genus, Porponia, with two species, P. elongata and P. robusta, which he characterises in the following manner: “Actiniarien (Hexactinien?) mit 2 Schlundrinnen ohne Ringmuskel, mit dünnwandigen Tentakeln, deren Basen auf der äusseren Seite durch spangenförmige Verlängerungen des Mauerblatts gestützt werden.” Partly owing to the badly preserved material, however, he did not venture to indicate definitely its systematic position, though he considered it conceivable that it represented a transitional form between the Zoanthidæ and the true Actiniæ, or Hexactiniæ.

The Naididæ are a family of small fresh-water Oligochæta, in which the usual mode of reproduction is the asexual, by fission; sexual forms are, in general, rare, and in the majority of species, and in some whole genera (e.g. Slavina), they have not so far been observed at all. Records of the genital organs are therefore of interest; and if they were available throughout the group it can hardly be doubted that we should be able to judge better of the affinities of genera and species, and consequently to improve our classification; since the diagnoses of species and genera, and the scheme of classification, depend at present to an unduly large extent on one single set of characters, the form and distribution of the setæ.

The study of sexual individuals of the genus Dero has resulted also in the discovery of the curious phenomenon of the atrophy of the alimentary canal at sexual maturity; this occurs also in Hæmonais (v. ant.); it has not hitherto been found elsewhere in the Oligochæta, though it is known to occur (apparently in a less extreme form) in a number of Polychætes.

The relation of the leaf-trace to the vascular system of the stem in the Ferns has been exhaustively investigated during the past fifteen years by various workers, especially by Gwynne-Vaughan and Boodle in this country and by Jeffrey and his pupils in America. The interpretations of the numerous types of Fern stele and leaf-trace have caused much discussion. And the discovery of a wonderful series of fossil Ferns has not settled the discussion of the evolution of the Filicinean vascular system, but has carried the battle on to another field.

The fossils have recently yielded up the structure of their pinna-traces (Kidston, '08; Bertrand, '09; Gordon, '11). Simultaneously an attack has been made on the pinna-traces of living Ferns. Various pinna-traces were described in curious mathematical formulæ, but no comparisons were made of the different types, by Bertrand and Cornaille ('02) in their Étude sur quelques caractéristiques de la structure des Filicinées actuelles.

In the investigation of a remote and isolated island for mineral and metalliferous deposits its geological structure and the character of the rock masses of which it is formed are of primary importance. Where the evidences of metalliferous deposits are more or less openly and widely exposed the geological structure, while still of interest, is not so important. Ore deposits, as a rule, occur in rock-bodies which have definite relations to each other, a characteristic geological structure.

In the island of South Georgia, where the exposed evidences of metalliferous ores are very slight, the investigation of its rock-bodies, their character and geological structure, is a necessity. By making an examination of that kind, we endeavour to ascertain if there may be concealed ore-bodies which further exploratory prospecting may with a reasonable probability expose to view.

The first of this series of papers, that on the “Fossil Plants collected during the sinking of the shaft of the Hamstead Colliery, Great Barr, near Birmingham,” was published in 1888, and the second, dealing with the “Fossil Flora of the Coal Field of the Potteries,” in 1891.

Since that date the North Staffordshire Coal Field has been re-surveyed by members of the Geological Survey, and the result of this re-examination of the geology of the Potteries Coal Field was the classification of the strata into several well-defined groups.

Forty-six years ago James Geikie published the third edition of his book, The Great Ice Age, where he expressed the view that there were five main cold periods, separated by four warmer, within the Pleistocene. Despite the enormous research by glaciologists undertaken since Geikie's time no one has yet disproved this fundamental concept; indeed, research, though perhaps casting out some of the evidence used by Geikie, has only supported his hypothesis. Yet the works of this great geologist are neglected and apparently scorned, for the terminology which he set up in plain English to indicate his five glacial periods, determined by a very wide survey, has been discarded in favour of a Continental nomenclature having only a local significance. In this work I follow Geikie in naming glacial periods, first, second, third, etc., for this has a world-wide application. It is from the writings of this master, and also those of Professor J. E. Marr of Cambridge, that I gathered the general ideas expressed here in Part I, (a), (b), and (c).

The special interest of South Georgia depends on its evidence regarding the geology of the part of the Southern Ocean which lies south of the South Atlantic. According to Professor Suess, the island is an extension of the Andes, which, at the southern end of South America, turn eastward, and by a great horse-shoe-shaped curve pass through South Georgia to the South Orkneys and Graham Land.

The geology of South Georgia is but little known. Thürach † described the island as consisting of metamorphic rocks, ranging from granular gneiss to clay-slate, and of diabase tuff.

The genus Bathydoris was created by Bergh in 1884 in his Report on the Nudibranch Mollusca collected by the Challenger. In his account of the anatomy of the new genus Bergh draws attention to the anomalous combination of characters possessed by the animal, and gives it an annectent position between the Dorids and the Tritonids, but places it among the Dorids on account of the predominance of Dorid features. The single specimen of Bathydoris abyssorum was dredged off New South Wales in 2425 fathoms. A second specimen of this peculiar genus was obtained by the Danish Ingolf Expedition and described by Bergh in 1900. This specimen came from 1870 fathoms in Davis Strait, and resembled B. abyssorum, with specific variations. Thus Bathydoris came to be regarded as an isolated genus with the characters of a connecting link, and appropriately a denizen of deep water. Our anatomical knowledge of the animal is derived almost entirely from Bergh's accounts of the two species mentioned, and is moderately extensive, considering the rather imperfect state of preservation of the material and the fact that he was dependent on single specimens in each case.