674 Chronicles of Science. [ Oct., 
by a new and ably-conducted journal is at once a welcome change to 
the geologist, and an important advance in the science. 
The first number of the new journal opens with a brief review of 
“The Past and Present Aspects of Geology,” which contains more 
“ideal” philosophy than is usually exhibited in the writings of 
geologists, and sets before the reader, clearly and concisely, a state- 
ment of the different phases or “ aspects ” of the science at the several 
periods in its history, pointing out and contrasting at the same time 
“the ideas that during each of those epochs guided the course of 
geological investigations, forming fer the time, so to speak, the rudder 
of geological thought.” 
The original articles are all valuable contributions to geological 
literature. Mr. Salter’s paper on “The Pebble-bed at Budleigh 
Salterton” is an appendix to his description of the fossils from that 
deposit, which was published in the last number of the ‘ Quarterly 
Journal of the Geological Society ;’ the author comes to the conclusion 
that these fossils, found in a pebble-bed of the new red sandstone 
period, belong to the Norman lower Silurian fauna, and are perfectly 
distinct from English fossils of that age; they therefore indicate the 
existence of a land barrier between the seas of England and Normandy 
during the lower Silurian period, a conclusion at which Mr. Godwin- 
Austen arrived, on independent grounds, some years ago. Mr. 
Davidson’s paper on “'Thecidium” is a very exhaustive examination 
into the value of the recent and tertiary species of the genus, and a 
description of their anatomy; in the course of which the author 
shows that many of the so-called species are mere varieties of the 
recent Thecidium Mediterraneum. 
The second number quite keeps up the character of the new maga- 
zine, and contains two important papers—one by Mr. 8. P. Woodward 
and the other by Mr. Day—hbesides several others of less general 
interest. In Mr. 8. P. Woodward’s paper on “The Bridlington 
Crag,” there is a very complete and useful list of all the species of 
shells hitherto found in that deposit ; and the comparison of this fauna 
with those of other accumulations, hitherto supposed to be synchronous 
with it, has led the author to the somewhat unexpected result that the 
Bridlington deposit can no longer be considered the exact equivalent 
of the Norwich Crag in age or in climatal conditions, and that the 
shells “ are almost equally distinct from those of the last pre-glacial 
and those of the first post-glacial deposits, and is (sic) much more 
Arctic than either, as if formed during the climax of the last great age 
of cold in Britain.” Mr. Day’s paper on “ Acrodus Anningie, Agass.,” 
treats of the structure of a very remarkable shark, as exemplified by a 
complete lower jaw found by the author in the lias of Lyme Regis, 
which apparently contains teeth hitherto referred to two different 
genera, until now regarded by many eminent paleontologists as belong- 
ing to distinct families. Geologists have more frequently to deal 
with fragments than with perfect specimens, and they therefore often 
find, as in this case, that structures considered by them, through im- 
perfect knowledge, to be characteristic of distinct genera, or even 
families, belong in reality to the same individual. Thus the philoso- 
