PALEONTOLOGY. 277 



•faunas ; that in difi'erenl, regions the same order of sequence of genera 

 and species in general takes place, but that for the Devonian system, 

 at least, the stratigraphical lines of demarkation separating one tem- 

 porary fauna from the next, are comparatively local and not uniform for 

 different regions of America. 



The same author (302) gives an extended discussion, in Bulletin No. 41 

 of the U". S. Geological Survey, of the fossil faunas of the Upper De- 

 vonian of western New York. This paper is not merely a list of the 

 species of the Upper Devonian, but the author attempts to ascertain, 

 by a comparative study of the species and of the faunas of the succes- 

 sive geological stages, the laws of variation or modification affecting 

 the species and faunas in their passage upward through the series and 

 in their relations to geographical distribution. Few new species are 

 described, but frequent reference is made to the modifications expressed 

 in the cliaracters of species as they are traced upwards in the rocks 

 (historically), and from region to region during the same stage (geo- 

 graphically). These variations are also expressed by the separate tab- 

 ulation of the species forming the fauna of each fossiliferous zone. The 

 following new forms are described and figured : 



Diptcrus NeJsoni, Newberry, MS., p. G2, pi. iii, f. 1. 

 Diptcnis (?) hevis, Newberry, MS., p. 63, pL iii, f. 2. 

 Ple.rinopecten (?) Atticus, ^. 35, pi. iii, f. 10, 11. 

 Ptychopteria (?) mesocostalin, p. 35, pi. iii,f. 9. 

 Lunulicardhim hvis, y>. 39., pi. iii, f. 6, 8. 

 Aptychus (of Goniatites), p. 35, pi. iii, f. 3, 4, 

 Lucina TVyomingensis, p. 44, pi. iii, f. 13. 

 Lucina Varyshurgia, p. 44, pi. iii, f. 14. 

 Arenicolites duplex, p. 40, pi. iv, f. 9. 

 Byhnchonella AUegania, jt. '67,88, ])\. iv, f. 1-8. 



The name Spiraxis proposed by Professor Newberry (Ann. N. Y. Acad. 

 Sc, vol. in, 1885, pp. 217-220, pi. xviii,) for a peculiar screw-like fossil 

 occurring in the sandy deposits of the Upper Devonian, was observed 

 to be preoccupied by 0. B. Adams, 1850, for a genus of Gasteropoda, 

 and the author of the above paper (302) having occasion to record the 

 occurrence of two species of the genus in the Wolf Creek conglomerate, 

 proposes the name Prospiraxis as a substitute (p. 86) for the generic 

 name of these peculiar fossils. 



TUE CARBONIFEROUS AND PERMIAN. 



Charles iS. Beachler (13, 14) contributes two short papers on the Lower 

 Carboniferous beds of Crawfordsville, Ind.; nothing of particular pah'e- 

 outological interest is communicated. 



B. W. Claypole (33) otfers a few notes on the discovery of specimens 

 of Dadoxylon and other genera of fossil wood in the Carboniferous rocks 

 of Ohio. 



C. L. Herrick (105) contributes a number of parts of a continuous 

 article illustrating the palaeontology of Licking County, Ohio. Theso 



