1893. SOME NEW BOOKS. 69 
quoted from the Lias; now 319 species are enumerated. Altogether, 
the authors of the present Catalogue record 1,015 species, and they 
have reduced the lists by something like 150 names of doubtfully 
identified foreign or imperfectly-constituted British species. 
This new volume is the second contribution to Catalogues of 
British Fossils, Messrs. Woodward and Sherborn’s Vertebrata 
appearing in 1890. We constantly use the old classic now, and 
considering the vast amount of work that has been done in the past 
forty years, it will readily be understood how useful must be a recent 
book of a similar kind that fully arranges our present knowledge. It 
is gratifying to find that the labour has so far been undertaken by 
those specially qualified to do it. 
We should like, however, to make some remarks on a few points 
which might, in our opinion, have been more carefully studied. In 
the first place, the authors do not distinguish between James Sowerby 
and James de Carle Sowerby, a careless practice of some English 
paleontologists which has several times been pointed out to us by 
continental workers. Secondly, there is a great inconsistency in 
giving dates; sometimes a separate work is quoted with and some- 
times without date, and the same may be said of serials. Considering 
the authors do not attempt exact dating in their bibliography, the 
reader is left hopelessly in the lurch, and has after all to seek his 
reference for himself in some public library. 
We are glad to see that when quoting pre-Linnean genera, the 
first Linnean authority is also given, though from the method of 
quotation one is almost led to believe that the pre-Linnean author’s 
name is accepted. The entry Cevithium, for instance, would be more 
accurately expressed thus: Cerithium, Bruguiére, 1792 (ex Adanson, 
1757). It is also gratifying to note that the 1oth and not the 12th 
edition of Linnzus’ ‘‘ Systema”? is used. 
With regard to the generic determination of some of the mollusca, 
we think that a more detailed study of recent forms and recent con- 
tinental work upon them would have enabled the authors to more 
exactly arrange the various Cerithiform, Naticiform, and Trochiform 
groups; and although the authors have some remarks (pp. 18—23) on 
several genera, we are loth to believe that all the ‘‘ species ” quoted 
under Cerithium, Chemnitzia, Natica, Trochus and Turbo properly belong 
to these genera. We are especially dubious as regards the first, 
third, and fourth genus, in which the characteristic features can only 
be seen in perfectly-preserved or completely disentombed specimens. 
The sundry new names used in the volume might have been 
listed on p. xxxiv., now a blank; as it is we are told to “find six 
faces’ in the style of the puzzle-pictures. 
The general get-up is good, but the paper is too thick and 
clumsy, and the book takes up one inch, instead of half-an-inch, of 
already seriously overcrowded shelves. 
Fossit PLANTS AS TESTS OF CLIMATE. By A. C. Seward, M.A., F.G.S. 
[Sedgwick Prize Essay for 1892.] Pp. 151. London: C. J. Clay & Sons, 
1892. Price 5s. 
Tuis Sedgwick Prize Essay is a useful compilation, the author 
having brought together all the botanical evidence of former climatic 
conditions. Most of the opinions quoted are, however, extremely 
speculative, and of little value, and, wisely, Mr. Seward seldom 
ventures an opinion of his own on so difficult a subject as bygone 
climatic changes. 
