G. GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 309 



Krefft. No other species was known which would connect 

 the living and extinct ones during the great lapse of time 

 between the mesozoic and existing ages. But recently Mr. 

 Krefft has obtained a new Ceratodus from the same cave 

 formations which contain the remains of the great extinct 

 kangaroos and Diprotodons^ which are late tertiary or post- 

 pliocene. The species is called C. palmer L Thus a begin- 

 ning is made in tracing the line of succession similar to that 

 recently developed in the case of the North American gar- 

 fishes. 



EOZOON, ITS ORGANIC CHARACTER. 



The controversy as to the organic character of Eozoon 

 Canadense still continues among geologists. It may be re- 

 membered that the organic character of this supposed fossil 

 has been stoutly affirmed by Professors Dawson and Carpen- 

 ter, and denied by Professor King and others. One of the 

 latest sharers in the controversy is Mr. H. J. Carter, an emi- 

 nent specialist in regard to the lower orders of animal life, 

 and who expresses himself in the strongest terms on the op- 

 posite side. Dr. Carpenter, however, comes to the defense 

 of his views by insisting that Mr. Carter has not made him- 

 self acquainted, in the slightest degree, with what has been 

 written in support of the organic character of these objects, 

 and that Professor Schultze, an equally eminent specialist, is 

 satisfied that it belongs to the foraminifera. 12 A, April 23, 

 1874,491. 



ANTIQUITY OF THE CAVERNS AND CAVERN LIFE OF THE 



OHIO VALLEY. 



Professor Shaler has published a memoir upon the "An- 

 tiquity of the Caverns and Cavern Life of the Ohio Valley," 

 in which he endeavors to show the period at which the ani- 

 mal life, so characteristic of Western caverns, received its 

 first expression. He sums up his researches in the following 

 propositions : 1. The extensive development of caverns in the 

 Ohio Valley is probably a comparatively recent phenomenon, 

 not dating farther back than the latest tertiary period. 2. 

 It is doubtful whether there has been any extensive develop- 

 ment of cavern life in this region before these caverns of the 

 subcarboniferous limestone began to be excavated. 3. The 



