586 Chronicles of Science. [ Oct., 
new species, and (2) the greater development of the irregular or 
“acervuline” portion. 
In discussions as to the organic origin of Hozoon, it is, of - 
course, desirable to bring forward as much collateral evidence as 
possible. Dr. Giimbel therefore cites several facts which he inter- 
prets to be indications of other organisms, the contemporaries of 
Hozoon. Especial stress is laid on the occurrence of graphite in 
the Hercynian gneiss of Bavaria and the Danube, and of beds of 
limestone in various localities; these the author believes to be the 
result of organic agencies, and although many geologists may agree 
with the conclusion, there are not a few, especially among mineral- 
ogists, who will decline to accept it. Dr. Giimbel, however, figures 
some tubular and reticulated bodies which certainly have a very 
organic appearance, but must be extremely minute. 
The occurrence of Hozoon in Ophicalcite (serpentinous lime- 
stone) now appears to be very general, although the determinations 
do not always rest on very sufficient data; but it seems remarkable 
that this is the only kind of rock which is yet known to have 
yielded it; and those who disbelieve in the organic origin of the 
fossil have not failed to use this as a powerful argument in support 
of their views. 
For many years the great “Diluvial” plain of Northern 
Germany has been literally harried by Prussian geologists in 
searching for fossils which might assist in solving the problem of 
the mode of its formation. Until the last two years, however, 
only fresh-water fossils had been found, in the region between the 
Elbe and the Oder, and particularly in the Potsdam district. Con- 
sequently, although it was difficult to believe that this great plain 
was of other than marine origin, yet the absence of marine fossils 
over the whole area was a fact of so much importance that a con- 
trary conclusion seemed almost inevitable. In 1864, Dr. Ferd. 
Roemer recorded the discovery of Cardiwm edule and Buccinum 
reticulatum in the “ Diluvial” deposits of the neighbourhood of 
Bromberg,* and justly considered it of great importance as being 
the “commencement of the discovery of the hitherto quite unknown 
marine fauna of the North German Diluvium.” In the last number 
of the same ‘Zeitschrift’ there is an account by Herr G. Berendt 
of the occurrence of these and three other species in West Prussia. 
The additional species are Tellina solidula, Lam., Cerithiwm lima, 
Brug. (C. reticulatum, Lov.), and a Venus which always occurs in 
fragments, but which appears to correspond with V. pullastra, 
Mont. The Cardiwm and the Tellina live now in the Baltic; the 
Bucecinum has not been observed nearer than Kiel, but abounds on 
the shores of the North Sea, to which belong exclusively the Venus 
* « Zeitschr. der deutschen geol. Gesellschaft,’ vol. xvi., p. 611. 
+ Vol. xviii. Heft. 1. p. 174. 
