328 NATURAL SCIENCE. Nov.. 



and it is clear that his faith in the method of classification according 

 to fixed joints or " syzygies " has been rudely shaken. 



The Starfish, numbering twenty-one species, present nothing 

 so remarkable. The drawing of the plates of a young Culcita is, 

 however, of considerable interest ; but the questions of homology 

 which it raises could hardly be settled from the evidence of one ray 

 alone, which is all that Mr. Bell has chosen to give. 



Among the eighteen Ophiuroids, the most striking is one with 

 branched arms, like an Astrophyton, but possessing plates on its disc 

 which closely resemble those of the ordinary Ophiurids. This forms 

 the type of a new genus, known by the ingeniously derived name, 

 Ophiocrene. But for the meaning of this name, and for the many 

 questions raised by this specimen, we must refer our readers to the 

 original paper in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1894 

 (pp. 392-413, and pis. xxiii.-xxvii.). 



Fresh Forms of Foraminifera. 



Quite a crop of papers on these organisms has recently appeared. 

 Mr. F. Chapman continues his studies on the Gault forms in the 

 Journal of the R. Microscopical Society, in dealing with the Vaginulinae. 

 No less than thirteen varieties are described and figured, most of 

 which have been previously recorded by Reuss from Germany and 

 Berthelin from France, but one {V . priceana) is new. Mr. E. Halkyard 

 has a general and useful paper, on " Plans of Growth " and form in 

 the Foraminifera {Trans. Manchester Microsc. Soc, 1893), ^^ which he 

 collects together much scattered information, his object being to show 

 the diversity of shape and how one form runs into another among 

 these lowly-organised beings. The paper is illustrated by two plates 

 which considerably assist the text. Walter Howchin continues his 

 work on the Foraminifera of Australia, and contributes two papers. 

 The first is " On the Occurrence of Foraminifera in the Permo- 

 Carboniferous Rocks of Tasmania " (Austral. Assoc, Sept., 1893, 

 Adelaide), with two plates of rock-sections. He has not yet succeeded 

 in isolating specimens, and consequently our knowledge must at 

 present be limited to genera. His second paper is entitled " A 

 Census of the Fossil Foraminifera of Australia," and gives a list of 

 all forms recorded up to 1893. Two hundred and seventy-three 

 species are listed, and these are again tabulated under their strati- 

 graphical position. The paper, which was published in the periodical 

 referred to above, will be of considerable value, but the publication 

 of MS. names is to be deplored, as it can only be injurious to science. 



Dr. Franzenau, of Budapest, writes on " Die Foraminiferen des 

 ober-Mediterranen Tegels von Zsupanek " {Termcszetrajzi Fiizetek, xvii., 

 1894), from which he records fifty-four species, three of which seem 

 to be new, though they are but briefly described, and not figured. 

 Mr. Chas. Schlumberger continues his excellent work on the Miliolinae 



