Rev. C. H. Pilking- 1861. Aug. 17
ton.

A. P. Whately.

"Minimum -41°. Spirit separated from +21°.5 to +32°.5." Result doubtful.

1862, July 4, F. F. Tuckett, "Cairn partly buried in snow; could not find therm."

1862, July 4, F. F. Tuckett, "Securely deposited in upper part of cairn."

1861, Sept., F. W. Jacomb, " Not to be found; probably stolen."

"Spirit separated."

"Spirit separated from 10°.5 to 11°.5, and from 36°.5 to 39°." 1860, Sept. 14, R. B. Shaw, -8°.5.

1861. Aug. 19. "In good order, and agreed with Mr. W.'s thermometer."-1861, June 25, F. F. Tuckett,

No obs. -21° No obs. - 1.7

"Not to

be found; probably covered with snow.' "Stood 0°.5 C. lower than a mercurial thermometer by Mr. Casella."

1860, Aug. 8, G. H. Strutt, -7°. 1861, Aug. 9, F. W. Jacomb, -7°.

1860. Sept. 9. 1861, July 4, W. G. Fry, "Could not find thermometer, and believed it had been broken."

1860, Aug. 18, Rev. L. Stephen, -3°.

1861. Aug. 6.

1859. Aug. 29.

No obs. -2°

1860. Sept. 27.

1862. May 28.

1862. Sept. 24.

In good order.

"Index close to bulb, and evidently not properly set
when deposited by Balmat."
1861, July 5, 31° (?) De la Fontaine.

F. J. A. Hort. -10°-5 Smallpiece. Messrs. Green and

tion.

Among the instruments provided for the purpose by Mr. Casella, the writer has found that a slight difference in the size of the bulb has a very marked difference in the indications of the instrument, amounting in some cases to 2.5 C.

It was also found that the interval of three minutes allowed for the exposure of the black-bulb thermometer to the sun was too great. At considerable heights the air does not often remain perfectly calm, nor the sky completely clear of passing films of cloud, for many minutes together. It is necessary to allow an interval long enough to make an error of, say, one second in the moment of reading the instrument not very sensible in the observation; but one minute is certainly preferable to three; and after experi

ence had disclosed the mistake, the writer always recorded three readings, corresponding to one, two, and three minutes of exposure.

The season of 1860 was unusually inclement, and the sky rarely in favourable condition, so that in the course of about eight weeks the writer obtained but thirty-nine observations, of which the large majority were taken under unfavourable circumstances, and must therefore be rejected.

In 1861 fifteen observations were made in the Western Pyrenees under more favourable conditions.

In addition to the above, several observations made in 1860 by the Rev. T. G. Bonney, Mr. R. B. Hayward, Rev. F. J. A. Hort, Mr. A. T. Malkin, and the Rev. Leslie Stephen have been communicated by those gentlemen to the writer. Excluding those fairly open to suspicion, the results are registered in the annexed Table (I.). An accurate comparison of these results would involve as one element the altitude of the sun at the moment of each observation, but the sources of error are too many and considerable to make this worth the requisite trouble. All that can fairly be inferred from the Table is that the sun's rays produce a greater effect on the black-bulb thermometer at higher than at lower levels, the difference, though quite perceptible, being not considerable in amount. It is true that the highest reading out of twentyfour observations by the writer recorded in the Table was at Eaux Bonnes, only 2458 feet above the sea; but without considering the probability that that reading was exaggerated by the radiation of heated bodies (walls, &c.) near the thermometer, it will be observed that it was made at 20 min. before noon on July 25, and does not therefore indicate as great an effect of solar radiation as the observations made on the Schleeren (8399 ft.) at 1.10 P.M. on August 25, or on the Brèche de Roland (9200 ft.) at one hour and a quarter before noon on August 16.

3. As might, perhaps, have been anticipated, the attempt to trace the propagation of disturbances in temperature by means of a network of observations covering a considerable tract of mountain country resulted in complete failure. Even if the observers had been more numerous and more diligent than they were, the disturbing effects of local causes are far more serious than was apprehended. The effects of vicinity of the soil in raising the indications of the thermometer by day and lowering them by night, are not yet as fully measured or appreciated as they ought to be, and it is questionable whether the observations made at fixed observatories are as nearly comparable as they are commonly supposed to be. Among other authorities on this point, a recent memoir by Mr. Charles Martins might be referred to as showing how important is the effect of slight differences of level on the nocturnal indications of the thermometer.

The welcome intelligence that the Swiss men of science are about to establish fixed stations for systematic observations of the thermometer and other meteorological instruments throughout the territory of the Confederation makes the disappointment on this head less important, as it is probable that, with requisite skill and caution in observing and reducing the results, the plan now believed to be definitively adopted will much enlarge our knowledge of Alpine meteorology.

4. Observations on the temperature of the soil at and near to the surface in mountain countries are of considerable interest from their bearing on the distribution of animals and plants. It is not too much to say that if such observations had been available, M. Alphonse DeCandolle would have been led to modify several of the conclusions stated in his standard work on

Geographical Botany, respecting the conditions of life to which high alpine plants are subjected.

Regarded only as an object of physical inquiry, it is clear that the only observations which can be considered in any degree comparable are those made in dry soil, and this condition is so seldom fulfilled, that comparatively few observations have been obtained. Some made by the writer, and several others communicated by Mr. A. T. Malkin, but apparently not made in quite dry soil, agree in showing that in the higher regions of the Alps, approaching to and above what is commonly called the limit of perpetual snow, the plants and animals that dwell on the surface of the soil must, during the short period of their active vitality, receive an amount of heat much larger than has commonly been supposed, The annexed Table (II.), although too limited to furnish general results, may be worth preserving as evidence upon this point.

Report of the Committee for Dredging on the North and East Coasts of Scotland. By J. GWYN JEFFREYS, F.R.S.

THE Marine Invertebrata enumerated in the following list were found by Mr. Robert Dawson on that part of the coast of Aberdeenshire which extends from the mouth of the Ythan to the mouth of the Ugie. The distance in a straight line is about 15 miles, The whole of this coast, with the exception of the sands of Forvie and the little bays of Peterhead and Cruden, consists of precipitous granite and gneiss rocks.

The sea-bed appears to slope gently and regularly from the shore for 10 or 12 miles, the only exception to this uniformity being a ravine (or Hole as it is called by the fishermen) opposite to Slains Castle. This ravine commences about half a mile from the shore, and stretches out at right angles to the land, the depth varying from 25 fathoms to 35 fathoms.

The Laminarian zone, which, except about Peterhead, is very narrow, is succeeded by a belt of pure white sand, extending in breadth to the 30-fathom line from 3 to 4 miles from the shore. This sand has in general been very unproductive, but in the ravine just mentioned many of the rarest species have been got.

Dredging may be said to have begun at 30 fathoms, and extended over the Coralline zone till it attains a depth of 90 fathoms. On one occasion the dredge was used in 60 fathoms, at a distance of 15 or 16 miles from shore. Two of the species enumerated in the list were brought up by a fisherman's line 30 miles from land (viz. Trophon scalariformis and Pinna pectinata). The following abstract shows the number of Mollusca identified :

Of this number the following are Arctic and probably fossil, viz. Trophon scalariformis, T. Gunneri, Astyris Holböllii, Scalaria Eschrichti, Natica clausa and helicoides, Margarita cinerea, Skenea? costulata, Adeorbis subcarinata, Lepeta cæca, Astarte arctica and elliptica, Tellina proxima, Scrobicularia

piperata, Mya truncata, Saxicava rugosa, and Hypothyris psittacea, besides the Pecten islandicus, which is not unfrequently dredged.

Some of these fossil shells have been found in almost every haul of the dredge, as Astarte elliptica, Tellina proxima, Pecten islandicus, and Saxicava

rugosa.

All the others, with the exception of Scrobicularia piperata, have been found in three different spots, viz. the Hole, before mentioned, opposite the mouth of the Ythan, 6 miles from land, in 40 fathoms, and opposite the mouth of the Ugie, 6 miles from land, in 35 fathoms, that is, exactly at each extremity, and in the middle of the space which has been dredged over by Mr. Dawson.

But although the fossil species found appear to be principally confined to the three spots indicated, yet the presence of some of them wherever the dredge has been used tends to prove that a tertiary bed extends along the whole coast and to a great distance seaward, some of these fossils having been brought up 30 miles from land by the fishermen's lines. Of the 17 apparently fossil species enumerated, 10 have been found in a decidedly fossil state in the drift clay in different parts of the county *. These are

Trophon scalariformis...... at Belhelvie, near the sea.

Of species usually accounted rare, the following are rather common in this district, viz.:

Lepton nitidum.

convexum.

Lima subauriculata.

Skenea divisa.
costulata.

There are a few species enumerated by Dr. Gordon in his List of the Mollusca of the Moray Firth' which do not appear to have been found by Mr. Dawson; the late Prof. Macgillivray also, in his Mollusca of Aberdeenshire,' records some which Mr. Dawson has not met with.

Note on BOLOCERA EQUES.

Dredged off Peterhead in 35 fathoms on June 20, 1862, and still alive. Base. As described by Mr. Gosse in his 'Actinologia Britannica.' Column.-Upper half covered with longitudinal rows of close-set warts, in ordinary circumstances not minute, but very variable in size at the pleasure of the animal.

Disk.-As described in Act. Brit.'

Tentacles.-Arranged as described in Act. Brit.,' but several of them having double points, and thus causing their number to appear to be 150 or upwards. They are extremely variable in shape, being sometimes contracted to a mere thread, and at other times distended till they are almost globular.

* Mr. Jamieson of Ellon supplied Mr. Dawson with this list of fossils. He has specimens of many other Arctic shells from the same beds, but these are either still alive in the district, or have not been found with the dredge.

The apex appears to be more truncate than that described and figured by

Mr. Gosse.

Mouth.--As described in Act. Brit.'

Colour.

Column.--Straw-colour; striæ nearly white; warts, when fully expanded, white, with a pellucid spot in the centre.

Disk.-General colour similar to that of the column, radiated with white striæ, with conspicuous radiating deep-red bands arising from a point within each inner tentacle, and passing in pairs round the tentacles, exactly as in Tealia crassicornis.

Tentacles.--Pellucid white; a broad magenta ring near the apex, gradually shading into pellucid white above the middle, and succeeded by an opake white band.

Height of column, 2 inches.

Size.

Length of tentacles, when fully expanded, 5 inches.

This specimen is still (Sept. 17, 1862) in full health and beauty; it has lost, however, a little of the brilliancy of the magenta or purplish colour on the tentacles. On some occasions it has slightly shifted its base on the stone to which it adheres, and after a few days moved back to its former site.

In presenting this Report, Mr. Jeffreys observed that its most peculiar and interesting feature was the discovery of so many Arctic species of shells in a fossil state, mixed with recent shells of other species. He accounted for this assemblage of fossil and recent shells in the same spot by supposing that towards the close of the glacial epoch the sea-bed containing these arctic shells was gradually upheaved and became dry land, so as to exterminate the breed, and that subsequently the bed was submerged and inhabited by other species, which had either migrated from the south, or were diffused in course of time over the present area of the German Ocean. Such a state of things would imply very long periods of elevation and subsidence.

Report of the Committee, consisting of the Rev. W. VERNON HARCOUrt, Right Hon. JOSEPH NAPIER, Mr. TITE, M.P., Professor CHRISTISON, Mr. J. HEYWOOD, Mr. J. F. BATEMAN, Mr. T. WEBSTER, on Technical and Scientific Evidence in Courts of Law.

WRITERS on legal evidence have frequently animadverted on the testimony of professional witnesses in a Court of Justice as being contradictory and unreliable, in a degree which materially diminishes its value; nor is it denied among the candid members of more than one profession that greater contrarieties of opinion on technical and scientific subjects appear in the witness box than can be satisfactorily accounted for, or than would be likely to arise anywhere else.

The effect of such contradictions is not only to leave doubts on many important issues which art and science might well have decided, but to lower the authority and credit of all that class of evidence to such a point, that it has even been proposed very recently to dispense with it altogether in some cases which seem most to require the light that it might afford.

The principal cause which has thus shaken the credit of professional