In total, 20 multiparous Holstein-Friesian dairy cows received one of four diets in each of four periods of 28-day duration in a Latin square design to test the hypothesis that the inclusion of lucerne in the ration of high-yielding dairy cows would improve animal performance and milk fatty acid (FA) composition. All dietary treatments contained 0.55 : 0.45 forage to concentrates (dry matter (DM) basis), and within the forage component the proportion of lucerne (Medicago sativa), grass (Lolium perenne) and maize silage (Zea mays) was varied (DM basis): control (C)=0.4 : 0.6 grass : maize silage; L20=0.2 : 0.2 : 0.6 lucerne : grass : maize silage; L40=0.4 : 0.6 lucerne : maize silage; and L60=0.6 : 0.4 lucerne : maize silage. Diets were formulated to contain a similar CP and metabolisable protein content, with the reduction of soya bean meal and feed grade urea with increasing content of lucerne. Intake averaged 24.3 kg DM/day and was lowest in cows when fed L60 (P<0.01), but there was no effect of treatment on milk yield, milk fat or protein content, or live weight change, which averaged 40.9 kg/day, 41.0, 30.9 g/kg and 0.16 kg/day, respectively. Milk fat content of 18:2 c9 c12 and 18:3 c9 c12 c15 was increased (P<0.05) with increasing proportion of lucerne in the ration. Milk fat content of total polyunsaturated fatty acids was increased by 0.26 g/100 g in L60 compared with C. Plasma urea and β-hydroxybutyrate concentrations averaged 3.54 and 0.52 mmol/l, respectively, and were highest (P<0.001) in cows when fed L60 and lowest in C, but plasma glucose and total protein was not affected (P>0.05) by dietary treatment. Digestibility of DM, organic matter, CP and fibre decreased (P<0.01) with increasing content of lucerne in the diet, although fibre digestibility was similar in L40 and L60. It is concluded that first cut grass silage can be replaced with first cut lucerne silage without any detrimental effect on performance and an improvement in the milk FA profile, although intake and digestibility was lowest and plasma urea concentrations highest in cows when fed the highest level of inclusion of lucerne.

The Southern Mountains Zone of the Rum Central Complex lies inside a major ring fault and comprises an intricate association of country-rock outcrops, breccias and rhyodacite. The breccias and rhyodacite were long thought to be products of subterranean explosion and intrusion, respectively. Here, we report new observations that support re-interpretation of these units as mass movement deposits and ignimbrites. The most abundant breccias (Coire Dubh-type) consist mainly of country-rock clasts <1 m in diameter in a sand or silt matrix. Internally bedded and graded, and interlayered with sandstones and lithic tuffs, these breccias are interpreted as debris flow and stream flow deposits. Rhyodacite sheets show gradational or sharp, concordant contacts with Coire Dubh-type breccias, and display graded basal lithic tuffs and graded fiamme swarms. These sheets are interpreted as moderately to densely welded rhyodacite ignimbrites (25–100 m thick). A steep body of fragmented (fiamme-bearing) rhyodacite with intrusive non-fragmented contacts is interpreted as an ignimbrite vent system. The rhyodacite and breccia succession is over 200 m thick and unconformably overlies a structurally uplifted Precambrian basement, within which there is also evidence of later subsidence. Outcrops of potential caldera-collapse ‘megabreccia’ are more structurally consistent than previously thought, and are re-interpreted here as coherent segments of Precambrian country rock (caldera floor). The Southern Mountains Zone breccias and rhyodacites respectively reflect sedimentary and pyroclastic processes acting in response to a complex tectonic interplay of intrusion-related uplift and caldera subsidence.

André Aymard, in a pair of articles now more than twenty years old, directed his attention to a thorough collection and evaluation of not only Macedonian, but of all hellenistic royal titulature. The conclusions of the impressive structure of fact and theory which he propounded in those articles have been widely accepted. But it seems likely that in the case of Macedonia he has been misled by pre-existing constitutional theory (despite his sensible rejection of its most outrageous aspects) into overvaluing the constitutional significance of the evidence from Macedonian royal style. This article is concerned with re-examining and re-interpreting the evidence for Macedonian titulature, and with testing the conclusions which Aymard drew from it.

There are two basic questions to be considered in this connection, the second dependent on the first: (i) is it correct, in any sense, to speak of ‘official’ titulature of the Macedonian kings (and therefore, a fortiori, of ‘false’ or ‘correct’ titles)? (ii) if so, what, if anything is the significance of variants, and what, if anything, can be learnt from them about the nature of the Macedonian monarchy? If we are to find an answer to (i), we must obviously look at the usage which the kings of Macedon themselves chose to use, particularly in their administrative and political public acts, and if any usage occurs with overwhelming frequency this should clearly be sufficient to establish a prima facie case that that usage is the normal one, though we might still retain doubts as to whether it could legitimately be called ‘official.’