Page:The Geologist, volume 5.djvu/110

86 and metatarsals of Homo is seen a repetition of the same structure in Troglodytes. Few but those who have studied the subject with the anxiety of the practised observer, can appreciate the pleasure with which the morphological student detects in the gorilla skull a structure, however trivial, which he has also found in man, even when he recognizes such an organ as the styloid process of the temporal in man in the angular termination of that "ridge which extends from the ectopterygoid along the inner border of the foramen ovale in the Gorilla," such "styloid" being absent in the Chimpanzees, Orangs, and Gibbons, and probably in the fossil Dryopithecus. In every structure that shows on the part of the lower forms of man an approach, either in degree or in kind, with a similar structure in the higher Quadrumana, the disciple of unity of descent finds a basis for his arguments; whilst he who abides, and may be working out, a demonstration of the mode of origin of species, accepting the evidence of their origin by law, and the maintainer of the faith in special creation, gives due weight to, and watches for the distinctions which limit the sub-class Archencephala.



Now that the "season" is fast approaching for field-work, a few remarks concerning the geology of the above locality will doubtless be acceptable to many of our readers. Such of them who may have broken ground on it will remember with pleasure its beautiful scenery and the peculiar charms which attract the naturalist to it. That it is interesting in more respects than a merely geological one, is shown by the botanists who wander there in search of rare and beautiful plants, and the antiquarian who finds in its old keep and other more ancient relics subjects for thought. Above all "Moultrassie Hall" and "Peveril Castle" hold an honoured place in our literature enshrined by the genius of Scott. The flora of the locality is particularly interesting, especially that of the lower class. Maidenhair, spleenwort, and rue-leaved spleenwort grow upon almost every wall; and the cystopteris in several species is also common, whilst the adder's-tongue and the little moonwort are exceedingly plentiful