CURRENT LITERATURE. 7 1 



Humphricsi in a way, and forms the passage between that species and Sp. poly- 

 schidci, and at the same time the passage between the genera Stcphanoceras and 

 Sphacroccras " he shows great misapprehension as to Ammonite characteristics, and 

 particularly as to the genetic development of these particular forms. 



Many species of Gastropods are figured and described. Among them are six 

 new species belonging to the genera TornatelUea, Pseudoccrithium, Trochus ( Zizi- 

 phinus), Ampullaria and Litlorina. By the name Ziziphinus the author seems to 

 indicate that the genus Trochus requires subdivision, and there can be no doubt that 

 the Jurassic Gastropods assigned to the genera Troc/nis and Ticrbo are much in 

 need of generic rearrangement. 



In his synonymy of Amherleya ornata the author makes a small slip. He credits 

 Sowerby with naming the shell Littorina ornata, but he called it Turbo ornatus. 

 Other details in the synonymy might call for criticism. For instance Bcleinnites 

 hlainvillci, d'Orbigny, and Phillips, are not the same species; nor are Am. braiken- 

 rldgii of Sowerby, and d'Orbigny. In fact Sowerby's braikcnridgii has not yet 

 been satisfactorily identified. — S. S. BuCKMAN. 



Kobelt, W. — Studien zur Zoogeographie. II Die Fauna der Meridionalen Sub- 

 region. 8vo, pp. x + 368, Wiesbaden: 1898, C. W. Kreidel. 



As a wide and comprehensive review of the Mollusca in this particular region 

 Dr. Kobelt's "Studies" leave little to be desired. In addition to the Mollusca, 

 which occupy a large portion of this volume, the author treats of the Amphibia, 

 Reptilia, and Mammalia also. 



The region dealt with, which is divided up into a series of faunistic divisions, 

 includes the Pontic countries, the Caucasus, Mesopotomia, Persia, Arabia, the 

 Mediterranean, the Tyrrhenian Province, Italy, the Balkan Peninsula, Asia Minor, 

 Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. In arriving at the boundaries of the faunistic provinces, 

 particular stress is laid upon the geology and configuration of land and water, as it 

 appears at the present time, and the condition which obtained in previous periods. 



So far as the recent Molkiscan fauna is concerned. Dr. Kobelt finds that in its 

 salient features there is a greater agreement with the flora, than with either the 

 Reptilia or Mammalia, though more so with the former group than the latter. The 

 present fauna shows evidence of having arisen from pre-tertiary and new tertiary 

 faunas, especially the latter, in which the influence of separate centres of evolution 

 is clearly discernible, these giving rise to the dilTerent characters of the local faunas 

 of the present time. — -W. E. C. 



Appellof, A. — Uber das Vorkommen innerer Schalen bei den achtarmigen Ceph- 

 alopoden. (Octopoda). Bergens Museums Aarbog, 1898, No. xii, pp. i — 15, 

 Tf. 1—2. 



The absence of any internal shell in the Octopoda has hitherto been regarded as 

 one of the chief points of difference from the Decapoda. In the paper before us 

 the author describes the presence of two narrow chitinous rods in Octopus, Elcdone, 

 and Clrroteuthis, which are situated in a cavity on the dorsal surface of the mantle, 

 the cavity being lined by epithelium which secretes these concentrically laminated 

 rods.— VV. E. C. 



Choffat, P. — Les Ammonees du Bellasien, des Couches a Neolobites Vibrayeanus, 

 du Turionen et du .Scnonien. Recueil d'etudes paleonto. sur la Faune Creta- 

 cique d. Portugal, 1898, vol. i (s. 2), pp. 41 — 86, pis. iii — xxii. 



The interest attached to the present paper lies mainly in the description and 

 figures of a new genus of Turonien Ammonites to which the name Vascoceras is 

 given. Unfortunately in Portugal the members of this genus are not well preserved, 

 and we venture to think that not a few palaeontologists will regard many of the 

 " new species" as undeterminable from their bad state of preservation. Even the 



