are all
present in an unequalled state of preservation. With reference to
calamites, Prof. Williamson said that what had formerly been regarded as
such had turned out to be only casts in sand and mud of the pith of the
true plant. He had lately obtained a specimen of calamite with the bark
on which showed a nucleal cellular pith, surrounded by canals running
lengthwise down the stem; outside of these canals wedges of true
vascular structure; and lastly, a cellular bark.

In the department of anthropology, Dr. Phene read a paper "On Recent
Remains of Totemism in Scotland." He defined Totemism as a form of
idolatry; a totem was either a living creature or a representation of
one, mostly an animal, very seldom a man. It was considered, from
reference to Pictish and other devices, that a dragon was a favorite
representative among such people of Britain as had not been brought
under Roman sway.

Mr. W. J. Knowles read a paper "On the Classification of Arrowheads,"
recommending the use of the following terms: stemmed, indented,
triangular, leaf-shaped, kite-shaped, and lozenge-shaped. Commander
Cameron, the African explorer, mentioned that arrow-heads of the same
shape as many exhibited by Mr. Knowles were in use in various African
tribes. One shape was formed so as to cause the arrow to rotate, and was
principally used for shooting game at long distances. The shape of the
arrows varied according to the taste of the makers; in one district
there were forty or fifty different shapes.

Commander Cameron gave drawings of the men with horns, a tribe of which
has been found by Captain J. S. Hay. According to the reproductions of
these drawings by the illustrated papers, these horns are very
prominent, and project forward from the cheekbone.

Mr. Gwin-Jeffreys, whose experience in deep-sea dredging makes his
opinion valuable, said that telegraph engineers did not sufficiently
take account of the sharp stones on the sea bottom, but assumed too
readily that they had to deal with a soft bottom only.

Mr. John Murray of the Challenger expedition announced that meteoric
dust is found in the sea ooze, a result that follows as a matter of
course from the discovery that this cosmic dust is falling all over the
earth.

AN ENGLISH CROP.

The yearly trial of harvesting machines was made this year at
Leamington, and the rye grass field, where the reapers and mowers were
worked, has its history given in the "Engineer," London.