The stolon, therefore, forms part of the canal-system, and the chambers are in this manner developed from it. As development progresses, the chambers which bud from the margin of the cord, attain their largest size, and then begin to diminish again, until they end in nothing almost, which is closed in, as before stated, by the bending down of the marginal cord and its union with the preceding turn, when the test is thus hermetically sealed and its form completed. The union between the chambers at their bases is probably filamentous, for the chambers do not here communicate with each other, while the calcareous septa which divide them are frequently united to the marginal cord, and if not in direct contact, they are always more or less scolloped, indicating a filamentous layer of the sarcode which previously existed between them and the cord; besides, we shall see presently that the development of the test is frequently continued on without the presence of the chambers, so there can be no question that all other structures are developed from the sarcode of the canal-system, or from the filamentous sarcode, connected of course originally with a nucleated cell, the germcell. Hence the filamentous sarcode becomes analogous to the mycelium of Fungi, and being rhizopodous, is united, through the Sponges, to the fungal parasitic animals which inhabit the cells of Algæ, and are propagated by monociliated Amabæ; and through the latter, to the true Fungi, which are propagated by defined sporules.

Nummulites is nothing but a more complicated form of Operculina type. The chambers bud from the margin of the cord and extend outwards and inwards until they reach the level of the margin of the last turn and the umbilicus of the test respectively; the last three, four, or more, being of successive sizes, up to the last of all, which is least developed.

The same principle obtains in the formation of the test and propagation of Orbitoides dispansa and Orbitolites Mantelli, Cart. (Orbitoides Mantelli, d'Orb.); but the canal-system is different, and there are no columns of condensed shell-substance in the latter. In Orbitoides dispansa each chamber is united to the two in front and the two behind it by stolon-processes as in Cycloclypeus, Carp., and there is an annular canal behind each row which is united by straight, transverse, intersep tal or intercameral branches with that in front and behind it, in each half of the test.

The latter system also exists in Orbitolites Mantelli, but the stolunprocesses are represented by oblique canals which gyrate from the centre to the circumference, and thus unite each chamber with the two in front and two behind it; while as the chamber becomes elongated

towards the circumference, the oblique canals are increased to 2, 4, and 6, in number in the outer rows, one above another, so as to resemble their disposition in Orbitolites, as shown in Dr. Carpenter's diagram. In the annular canals we cannot help seeing the analogues of the great spiral canals in Operculina and Nummulites Ramondi, &c., if not in all nummulites; while in the stolon-processes of Orbitoides dispansa and the oblique canals of Orbitolites Mantelli, we seem to have a combination of the marginal plexus and interceptal canals, for they both open ultimately at the margin or circumference of the tests respectively. The columnar chamber-structure on the other hand in both, which corresponds with the vertical development of nummulites, that is the extension of the chambers to the umbilicus on each side the horizontal plane, is united by ascending and horizontal stolon-processes which indirectly give exit to the propagative spherules, throughout; for the same kind of spherules are developed in both the chambers of the horizontal plane and those of the columnar structure, even to the very centre of these fossils, as in Nummulites and Operculina.

The tests of Conulites and Orbitolina lenticularis, are developed upon the same principle as the rest, and both present the same kind of propagative spherules in their chambers. Conulites however, has the same columnar chamber-structure and columns of opaque shell-substance as Orbitoides dispansa, but with a helical layer of chambers externally something like the horizontal layer of Nummulites; while Orbitolina lenticularis has no columns of opaque matter in its columnar chamberstructure, and has a cyclical arrangement of the rows of chambers externally, like that of the horizontal plane in Orbitoides dispansa and Orbitolites Mantelli, and the rows in Orbitolites complanata.

Alveolina meandrina, and therefore, A. elliptica, are developed upon the same principle as nummulites would be if elongated vertically. The former has an interseptal system and marginal plexus of canals and the latter too, probably. In Alveolina elliptica the greater part of the test is often without chambers, so that its development is as often wholly carried on by the sarcode of the canal-system, and the same is frequently the case with the last turns of the globose forms of nummulites, e. g. N. perforata; while in Alveolina elliptica also, the chambers sometimes disappear and reappear at intervals, leaving the spire to go round by itself in the meanwhile; as exemplified also, in the annular canals of Orbitoides dispansa and Orbitolites Mantelli. These are the instances to which I have before alluded as evidencing a development of the chambers upon the sarcodal filaments of the canals.

ART. V.-Short Memorial of the Honorable Mountstuart Elphinstone, and of his Contributions to Oriental Geography and History. By JOHN WILSON, D.D., F.R.S., Honorary President of the Society.

Read on the 9th May 1860.

It is not the object of this short paper to present to the Society a regular biographical sketch, however short, of the distinguished individual to whom it refers. Its aim is merely that of expressing our obligations to his valued patronage, and to his own literary efforts for the illustration of Indian Geography and History. It is principally for the sake of order that the date of a few of the more prominent incidents of his life is here given.

Mountstuart Elphinstone was the fourth son of the eleventh Baron Elphinstone, by Anne, daughter of the third Lord Ruthven. He was born in 1779, and was educated partly by a private tutor in his own family, partly at the High School of Edinburgh, and partly at a private school near Kensington. In his early days he was more distinguished for his animation and activity than for that eager and diligent application to study which he exhibited in after-life. He left England for India in July 1795. His first appointment in this country was that of Assistant to the Magistrate of Benares. After being about four years in that office he was transferred to the Political Department of the Public Service, of which he was destined to reap the highest honours. By Lord Wellesley, by whom he was early appreciated, he was appointed, in 1801, Assistant to the Resident at Puná, Colonel Barry Close, an able military and diplomatic servant of Government. He was present, with his superior officer, at the negotiation of the treaty of Bassein in 1802, and he was soon called upon to witness important military proceedings to which, in defence of the Péshwa from the rival Maráthá powers, that treaty gave origin. In August 1803 he became Secretary to Sir Arthur Wellesley at Ahmadnagar: and with that prince of warriors he was in the thick of the battle of Asáyí and other engagements which followed. By Sir A. Wellesley, who formed a high opinion of his talents and sagacity, he was recommended to the charge of the

Residency at Nágpur, which he assumed at the early age of twentyfive. His appointment to the embassy to Cabul, which I shall immediately notice in connexion with the publication of his work on that country, took place in 1808. His journey to Peshawar occupied him for about twelve months; and his preparation of the Reports connected with that journey another year.

Towards the end of 1810, Mr. Elphinstone was nominated to the Residency at the Court of His Highness the Péshwa. He left Calcutta to proceed to Bombay in the Ship Ahmoody, Captain Kinsay, on the 7th January 1811. Among his fellow-passengers was the Rev. Henry Martyn, the celebrated chaplain, and translator of the New Testament into Hindustání and Persian, who, writing of him in his Journal, says, "His agreeable manners and classical acquirements made me think myself fortunate indeed in having such a companion, and I found his company the most agreeable part of my voyage." On the 24th of the following February, the party arrived in Bombay, from which Mr. Elphinstone soon proceeded to take up his appointment at Puná, which was the more important that the Maráthá powers were really then in an unsettled and restless state, though but few visible symptoms of their disaffection to the British Government were apparent.

Mr. Elphinstone was admitted into this Society, then known by its original designation of the BOMBAY LITERARY SOCIETY, on the 24th February 1812. He was proposed as a member by Major General John Malcolm, seconded by Mr. William Erskine. The party at Bombay with whom he had most genial sympathy was Sir James Mackintosh.

Mr. Elphinstone's literary leisure at Puná was, in the first instance at least, devoted to the final preparation for the press of his important work entitled, "An Account of the Kingdom of Cabul, and its Dependencies in Persia, Tartary, and India, comprising a View of the Afghan Nation, and a History of the Douranee Monarchy." Of this admirable production, in two volumes, three editions have appeared,-in 1815, 1838, and 1842.

The origin of the work is thus explained by Mr. Elphinstone himself: "In the year 1808, when, from the embassy of General Gardanne to Persia, and other circumstances, it appeared as if the French intended to carry the war into Asia, it was thought expedient by the British Government in India to send a mission to the King of Cabul, and I was ordered on that duty. As the court of Cabul was known to be haughty, and supposed to entertain a mean opinion of the European nations, it was determined that the mission should be in a style of great munificence, and suitable preparations were made at Delhi for its

equipment. An excellent selection was made of officers to accompany it. I was engaged for a year on the journey here referred to; and another year elapsed before the mission was finally dissolved. The whole of that period was employed in such inquiries regarding the kingdom of Cabul as were likely to be useful to the British Government. The first part of the time was spent by all the members of the mission in the acquisition of general information; but during the remainder, a precise plan was arranged among the party, and a particular branch of the investigation assigned to every gentleman who took a share in it." It was Mr. Elphinstone's labour to combine the whole results of this research into a compact and homogeneous work.

The "Narrative of the Proceedings of the Mission," from Mr. Elphinstone's own pen, which forms the Introduction to the book, is one of great value. We follow in it, with deep interest, the travellers from Delhi to Peshawar. It is from them that we get the first reliable information respecting the secluded States of Shekhawatí and Bikáner, and the country contiguous to Multan. Their journey, in advance of these places, brought many novelties to notice, connected not only with the physical features and productions of the countries through which they passed, but with the appearance and manners and customs of the various tribes by which they are inhabited. As a traveller, Mr. Elphinstone was observant and conciliatory in no common degree; while he constructed his story with the most scrupulous regard to truth and accuracy, avoiding all kinds of inflations and exaggerations.

Mr. Elphinstone, from political reasons, scrupulously abstains from saying anything to the public connected with the political negotiations in which he was engaged; but he gives us a lively view of the state of parties dominant in Afghanistán, and of the public ceremonial of the Court of Cabul at the time of his intercourse with it at the appointed place of meeting. Of Peshawar itself he also furnishes us with an interesting account. The incidents of his return journey to Delhi he does not relate at any considerable length.

In the body of Mr. Elphinstone's work we have a mass of digested information, mostly entirely new at the time that it appeared, and still maintaining its freshness and value, notwithstanding all the additions made to it by Captains Burnes and Conolly, and subsequent travellers. The geographical description which it gives of Afghanistán,-of its situation, boundaries, mountain-chains, rivers, and river-systems; its natural and political boundaries; its climate and effects; and its animal, vegetable, and mineral productions, though by no means all derived from personal observation, has been found to be unusually accurate. Of