74 CURRENT LITERATURE. 



Procerites, and CJioffatia, appear simultaneously in the Inferior Oolite, and therefore 

 that the genus must be polyphyletic. Judging by the character of the inner whorls, 

 Grossouvria appears to be derived from I'nrkinsonio., and Periftphindcs, s. str., 

 perhaps from the genus Morphoceras ; Procerites undoubtedly from Strphanoccras [or 

 Stepheoeeras as has been proposed], s. str., and Choffatia probably from many 

 Upper Liassic species of Coehcerns, while Alaxioceras and the grouj) of tlie Biplices 

 are directly descended from Grossouvria. 



In a monograph of this kind a gfiod index is most important, and it is therefore 

 to be regretted that the index to the present work is somewhat incomplete and 

 imperfect. In the synonymy the references are not always so full as could be 

 desired, and although there is a list of works at the end of the Monograph, this 

 does not always give the required information ; the expression loc. cit. occurs more 

 frequently than is desirable and sometimes even when cjuite unnecessary. But 

 notwithstanding these imperfections the author deserves our best thanks for this 

 valuable monograph of a most difficult genus. — G. C. Crick. 



Baker. F. C. — The Mollusca of the Chicago Area. The Pelecypoda. Bull. 

 Chicago Ac. Sci., 1898, pp. i — 130, pis. i — xxvii, figs. I — 10. 



The present paper forms the first part of the "Bulletin of the Natural History 

 Survey of the Chicago Academy of Sciences," dealing with the Mollusca, and treats 

 of the Pelecypoda. A second part, to be issued shortly, will report on the Gastro- 

 poda. 



The area embraced in the survey is about 1800 square miles of land surface, 

 and much useful information is given on the "Topography of the Area," "Lo- 

 calities of special interest," Geographical and Geological distribution, and com- 

 parisons instituted between the molluscan fauna of this aiea and others. 



Mr. Baker records in the present report 50 species distributed as below : — 



Iya7H2)silis, 11. 



Sphocrium, 6. 



Calyculina, 4- 



Pisidiiim, If. 



Free use has been made of the writings of Call, Prime, Pilsbry, Simpson, Tryon, 

 Haldeman, and Stimpson, which is duly acknowledged. 



The report is illustrated by 27 plates, which, with the exception of the last, are 

 very clear. — W. E. C. 



Drew. Gilman A. — Some obser\'ations on the Habits, Anatomy and Embryology 

 (if Members of the Protobranchia. Anat. Anz., 1899, ^d- ^^'i PP- 493 — 5I9> 

 21 figs. 



This short pamphlet is in the main an abstract of a paper on Yoldia, now being 

 published in the ''Memoirs of the Johns Hopkins f/ju'rcrsfiy," supplemented by 

 references to two species of Nucula. In consequence it suffers from the usual 

 drawbacks of preliminary papers, being interesting enough in matter Vjut curt and 

 aggravating in manner. The paper is divided into two parts. The first describes 

 the coarse anatomy illustrated by a study of the living animal — a combination of 

 anatomy w-ith natural history that one would gladly see more often than one does. 

 In this part several interesting points may be noted (for instance, the food conducting 

 function of the long palp appendages and the pump-like action of the gills), but the 

 feature that stands out in the highest relief is the remarkable variation among the 

 members of the group, a fact that brings home to one the great antiquity and gener- 

 alized character of their common ancestor. We find for example all the three rela- 

 tions between heart and intestine possible for a Lamellibranch — double and single 

 cerebro-pedal connectives, open and closed oto-cyst, and so on. 



