to predict the fate which several opinions, at present sufficiently fashionable, and considered as plausible or established, are destined to meet with from posterity. Dr. Barclay has devoted much of his time to the study of the living principle, and has at present a work upon it ready for the press. I have no doubt that when it appears, it will do him credit; and that it will contain a full and impartial review of all the opinions that have been advanced regarding it.

XIII. On the Genera and Species of Eproboscideous Insects. By William Elford Leach, Esq.

XIV. On the Arrangement of strideous Insects. By William Elford Leach, Esq.

These papers being entirely technical, do not admit of abridgment.

XV. Observations on some Species of the Genus Falco of Linnæus. By James Wilson, Esq.-This is a learned and amusing paper, and well entitled to the attention of ornithologists. The genus Falco is one of the most obscure departments of natural history; several different names being frequently given to the same species, the male and the female being often described as distinct species, and the old bird in like manner distinguished from the young. Mr. Wilson is of opinion that the Falco chrysaetos, the golden eagle, is a distinct species from the Falco fulvus, or ring-tailed eagle, though several modern French ornithologists have confounded them together. His reasons seem to be very good for considering them as distinct species. The terms Falco apivorus, Falco albidus, and Falco variegatus, belong, he informs us, to the same species, the Honey buzzard.

The term gentle, or gentil, is applied by falconers to falcons that have been properly tamed and trained. The term haggard is applied to those falcons that have been taken by the lure, and not having been sufficiently tamed are apt to fly away after rooks and pigeons.

Mr. Wilson points out several mistakes into which authors have fallen with respect to the Falco gentilis, which is in fact nothing else than the common falcon. He gives a description of the Falco palumbarius, or goshawk, and of the Falco communis, or common falcon, of which he describes no fewer than 12 varieties.

XVI. On the Geognosy of the Lothians. By Prof. Jameson. -This paper, I conceive, has inadvertently got a wrong title. The author has intended it as an introduction to a geological account of the Lothians; and probably when he began to write the paper he intended not to stop short at the introduction, but to give likewise the geological account to which the title refers. But as nothing more has been printed at present but the introduction, which has little reference to the Lothians, it would

have been better if the title of the paper had been "On the Red Sandstone of the Middle District of Scotland."

That portion of Scotland to which Prof. Jameson gives the name of the middle district is bounded on the north by the Caledonian canal, and on the south, by the Frith of Forth. A great variety of formations exist in it both primitive, transition, and floetz. But the red sandstone covers perhaps a greater portion of it than any other formation; and it has been very carefully and skilfully examined by our author, who is, without exception, the most industrious and indefatigable geologist in Scotland; devoting the three autumnal months of every year to the examination of some tract of country or other.

The red sandstone in the middle district of Scotland stretches from Stonehaven, in Kincardineshire, to the west side of the island of Arran, and in some places extends in breadth to many miles. The Ochils and the Seadley Hills are both situated in the red sandstone, and constitute each a pretty long range of hills. These hills are composed of rocks very different in their nature from red sandstone; but as they lie in that formation, Prof. Jameson considers them as constituting so many subordi nate formations to the red sandstone. Nor is this the only alteration in the Wernerian geognosy which has been the consequence of the examination of the structure of Great Britain.

Werner distinguished the sandstone formation by the name of old red sandstone, and considered it as the oldest of the floetz formations, and as lying immediately over the primitive, or transition rocks. Red sandstone in Great Britain may be traced from Kincardineshire, in Scotland, as far south as Devonshire. One portion of this sandstone, the portion which exists in Scotland and in the north of England, is obviously below the coal beds, and immediately in contact with primitive or transition formations. It is, therefore, the old red sandstone of Werner. But in the south of England, as in Warwickshire, Worcestershire, &c. it lies as obviously above the coal beds. On this account two distinct red sandstone formations have been distinguished by British geologists under the names of old red sandstone and new red sandstone. Mr. Jameson seems inclined to suspect that these two sandstones constitute in fact but one great formation, and that the coal beds are in reality only beds occurring in red sandstone, and subordinate to it. If this supposition were to be adopted, it would be necessary to reduce all the floetz formations of Werner below the chalk to old red sandstone, and to consider almost all the floetz formations of Werner as subordinate to the red sandstone. This seems to me to approach to the opinion entertained by Mr. Whitehurst, and founded upon a survey of the midland district of England. Such a sweeping generalization would be undoubtedly very convenient for Wernerian geologists, as it would enable them to overleap

every difficulty that could be started against their peculiar opinions; but whether it would be attended with advantages sufficient to induce us to adopt it, is a question which deserves some consideration. The subordinate formations of Werner were a very ingenious thought, and enabled him to generalize the structure of the earth much more easily, and to make it much more interesting than would have otherwise been possible. He was never embarrassed by the appearance of a subordinate formation. He had merely to assign the great formations in which it was apt to occur. Then it might be indifferently present, or absent, as far as the theory was concerned. The point was to establish the great general formations, which included the subordinate ones. But if we affirm that there is only one or two floetz formations, and that all the other formations that occur in floetz districts are subordinate to these two, is not this merely another mode of giving up the regularity of the structure of the crust of the earth, and tacitly affirming that there is no regularity whatever in the order in which the different rocks follow each other? If greenstone, porphyry slate, compact felspar, &c. occur in old red sandstone, and in the newest Hoetz trap formations, and in all the intermediate formations, and if there be no criterion by which these rocks can be distinguished from each other in these different positions, it seems clear that the occurrence of these rocks can give us no information of the part of the series in which they occur. We may find greenstone below coal or above coal, or in places not in the least connected with coal; so that the occurrence of greenstone can give us no information whether the tract of country in which we find it be situated below the coal or above the coal. The same remark may be applied to all the other rocks which constitute only subordinate formations. I conceive, therefore, that it will be worth Prof. Jameson's while to consider whether the prodigious extent which he is inclined to give to subordinate formations be not a virtual acknowledgment that the order of the different rocks constituting the crust of the earth, is less regular than Werner thought it to be. I do not wish him to abandon the doctrine of general formations. If it can be shown that there exist no more than five general formations; namely,

1. Granite.

2. Gneiss and mica slate.
3. Clay slate.

4. Sandstone.

5. Chalk.

And if all the other rocks be subordinate to these, this will be at least a very material point ascertained. I think it likely that geologists would come sooner to correct results if they were to begin by assuming those formations only to be general which are observed covering very large tracts of country, and in the most opposite parts of the earth.

Professor Jameson's account of the red sandstone of Scot

land is highly instructive, and merits the closest attention of geologists; but like all technical descriptions, it is of a nature not susceptible of abridgement. The following are the names of the subordinate rocks which this red sandstone contains.

The annual meeting for the election of officers for the ensuing year took place on Nov. 30, when the following noblemen and gentlemen were elected:

President-Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. G.C.B. &c. Secretaries.-W. T. Brande, Esq. and Taylor Combe, Esq. Treasurer.-Samuel Lysons, Esq.

There remained of the old Council, Right. Hon. Sir. J. Banks, Bart.; W. T. Brande, Esq.; Lord Bishop of Carlisle ; Taylor Combe, Esq.; Sir H. Davy, Bart.; Sir E. Home, Bart.; S. Lysons, Esq.; George, Earl of Morton; John Pond, Esq.; W, H. Wollaston, M.D.; T. Young, M.D.

There were elected into the Council, J. P. Auriol, Esq.; R. Bingley, Esq.; Sir T. G. Cullam, Bart.; John, Earl of Darnley; S. Davis, Esq.; Sylvester, Lord Glenbervie ; Major-Gen. Sir J. W. Gordon, K.C.B.; Sir A. Johnston, Knight; Rev. R, Nares; Sir G. T. Staunton, Bart.

At this meeting, the Copley medal was voted to Mr. R. Seppings, for his various improvements in the construction of ships, communicated to the Royal Society, and published in their

Transactions.

Jan. 14.-A paper, by Sir E. Home, was read, on the Corpora Lutea. The texture of the ovarium before puberty is loose and open, and contains globular cells. After puberty, the corpora lutea are found in the substance of the ovarium. In the cow, they form a mass of convolutions, which Sir E. compared to those of the brain. The ova are formed in the corpora lutea; and, according to our author, exist previously to, and independently of, sexual intercourse; and when the ova are formed, the corpora lutea are destroyed by absorption, whether the contained ova are

impregnated or not. Sir E. thinks that impregnation is necessary to the expulsion of the ova, and that the corpus luteum is burst by extravasated blood, its cavity after the escape of the ovum being found distended with blood in a coagulated state. When impregnation does not take place, the ovum remains in the cavity of the corpus luteum. Hence the author thinks it probable that the ovum is impregnated in the ovarium itself.

Beautiful drawings, illustrative of these points, accompanied the paper, founded chiefly on the observations of Mr. Bauer, who assisted Sir Everard in the present inquiry.

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Nov. 6.-A paper, from William Phillips, Esq. M. G.S. “On the Chalk Cliffs, &c. on the Coast of France, opposite Dover," was read.

The appearance from Dover of the cliffs on the opposite coast of France, induced Mr. Phillips to suspect that they might resemble in their formation those of the English coast which he had lately described; and on crossing the channel, examining the strata from Sandgate to St. Pot, he found them to consist of deposits similar to those which constitute the long range of coast between Dover and Folkstone, except that the upper part of the bed with numerous flints is not visible on the French coast. The dip of the strata appears the same on both sides of the channel, but the thickness as well as the height of the cliffs is much less on the French side. Hence, although the strata became thinner in that portion which now constitutes the French coast, Mr. Phillips considers that they were once continuous with the English beds, and formed a part of what is now termed the chalk basin of London, the then connecting mass having been since washed away by the action of the sea. A paper from N. S. Winch, Esq. containing sections of the coal formations in Northumberland, was read.

A paper from William Phillips, Esq. on the modifications of the primitive crystal of sulphate of barytes, was read.

The primitive crystal, a right rhomboidal prism, the angles of which were found by the reflecting goniometer to measure 78° 18′ and 101° 42', is subject to modifications on its acute and obtuse edges, and on all its solid angles. Mr. P. has observed 18 modifications, and he has described the secondary planes produced by them, of which an illustrative series of figures is given with the paper.

Dec. 4.-A paper was read, from Dr. Davy, communicated by Sir James M'Gregor, on the Geology and Mineralogy of the Island of Ceylon.

This island consists almost entirely of one mass of primitive rock, composed chiefly of gneiss and dolomite, rising in some places to 7000 feet above the level of the sea-an elevation which Adams' Peak, the highest mountain in the island, does