i894. SOME NEW BOOKS. 225 



existing genus.3 If he had had the opportunity of knowing that the 

 alleged commingling of Dinosaurian and Mammalian remains does not 

 appear to be founded on facts the author's remarks might possibly 

 have been still more decisive. 



To proceed further in pointing out the merits of this unrivalled 

 Compendium of Palaeontological Science would, as we have said, far 

 exceed the limits of our space, and we can, therefore, only conclude by 

 stating that, in our opinion, Professor von Zittel and his two colleagues 

 have succeeded in carrying out and completing their arduous task in 

 a manner worthy of the highest admiration, and have produced a 

 work of inestimable value not only to the palaeontologist, but likewise 

 to the zoologist generally. 



An important paper on fossil vertebrates comes to us from 

 France. In the Annales des Sciences Naturelles [Zoologie), Mr. Filhol 

 describes remains from the Quercy Phosphorites, which he considers 

 to be those of true Edentates, They include (i) a. iorm, Necromanis, 

 related to the Pangolins of the Oriental and Ethiopian regions, and with 

 a skull approaching in some respects that of the South American 

 genus MyvDiecophaga ; (2) PaliBoryctevopus, allied to Orycteropns, which is 

 now found only in South Africa, though during the Pliocene 

 period one species occurred in Samos and Persia ; (3) Necrodasypus, 

 related to the Neotropical Armadillos, and represented by a portion 

 of a carapace said to resemble that of the Glyptodonts. These 

 discoveries and determinations tend to show that the Edentates must 

 have had a northern centre of distribution ; consequently they are of 

 great importance, if they are correct. 



In the last number of the Quarterly Journal of the Geological 

 Society (i Feb., 1894), D'^- J- ^^' Evans gives an account of a 

 recent journey through the Matto Grosso district of Brazil. The 

 ground covered by the author, which was practically the region 

 drained by the Upper Paraguay, consisted of an undulating tableland, 

 rising in some places to 2,600 feet above sea-level. The formations ex- 

 posed are referred to Quaternary, Cretaceous ? , Trias ? , Carboniferous ? , 

 Devonian, and pre-Devonian. The pre-Devonian beds consist of foliated 

 and schistose rocks, highly-cleaved clay-slates, limestones, sandstones, 

 and red argillaceous shales. The Devonian beds are sandstones, 

 which extend over the greater part of the Chapada Plateau, from 

 which they take the name ; and are fossiliferous near Sant' Anna de 

 Chapada, as shown in Dr. O. A. Derby's paper {Arch. Mus. Nac. Rio de 

 Janeiro, vol. ix. (1890), p. 59). The Carboniferous age of other beds is 

 inferred from the evidence of fossil ferns found at Miranda, the 

 authority for which evidence is quoted by Dr. Evans. The 

 Cretaceous contains vertebrate remains, as turtles and Mosasaurus, 

 the nature of which decides Dr. Derby to regard them as Cretaceous 

 rather than Triassic. A geological sketch-map accompanies the 

 paper. 



A few days before the publication of Dr. Evans' paper, appeared 

 part 5 of volume xxviii. of the Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft fiir Erdkunde 

 zu Berlin, containing the conclusion of Dr. Vogel's journey through 

 the same district in 1887-88. This part of his paper consists mainly 

 of topographical details, measurements of heights, and magnetic and 

 meteorological observations taken during the journey. To this 



3 We may venture to point out (vol. iii., p. 738) that Chlamydophonis, and not 

 ChIam\dotherium, is an existing genus. 



Q 



