244 



NA TURE 



{Jan. 



12, I 



collections of considerable importance came to Dr. 

 Doderlein from private sources, and one was the result 

 of the collecting during the expedition of the Italian 

 corvette Vcttor Pisani. Descriptions of some of the 

 species of Cidaridas, Temnopleurida;, Saleniidce, and of a 

 species of Hemipedina were published by this author in 

 Wieg. ArcJiiv, 1885, v. 51, pp. 73-112, and as some of the 

 forms had an ancient facies they attracted attention. 

 Dr. Doderlein seems to have been impressed with the 

 importance of the fauna in reference to the past, and 

 prepared the way for the present publication by studying 

 the pre-Jurassic and Cretaceous species of Cidaridae 

 especially. The work now publishing in parts will 

 evidently be worthy of a good naturalist who sees no 

 vast biological breaks in the continuity of the Cidaridae 

 since the appearance of the Zechstein Eocidaris, which 

 he shows to be inseparable from the modern family 

 Cidaridae. The author describes the new species, re- 

 considers the Cidaridas already known, pays especial 

 attention to the growth of the structures which are used 

 in classification, and, after describing some peculiar 

 structures which he discovered in the St. Cassian 

 Cidarids, passes on to subdivide the great genus so 

 as to identify groups of species according to sub-genera 

 in the Secondary and existing times. The descriptions 

 of species are accompanied by fair illustrations, but it 

 would be as well if more of the denuded tests could be 

 shown. 



There are four new species of Cidaris, a new Porocidaris, 

 and three species of Goniocidaris ; the depths from which 

 the specimens were derived were from 40 to 200 fathoms. 

 Goniocidaris mikado, Dod., is the most extraordinary of 

 the species, and has an unusually small number of coronal 

 plates, characteristic median groovings, and wonderful 

 spines — outdoing any other, and that is saying a good 

 deal. The spines are essentially according to Japanese 

 art : the larger have umbrella-shaped disks at their top, 

 and some another disk lower down ; the disks are circular 

 in their deeply incised or occasionally serrate outline. 

 The commonest species of Cidaris certainly puts one in 

 mind of the Mediterranean C. histrix and of the North 

 Atlantic papillata, but these Japanese forms are con- 

 sidered to belong to a different sub-genus by Dr. Doderlein. 

 He was impressed with the fact that some striking Cre- 

 taceous Cidaridae have the primary tubercles of some of 

 the coronal plates near the apical! system, aborted or 

 wanting, and that a similar condition occurs in the 

 majority of the Japanese species. He would establish 

 a better definition for Stereocidaris, Pomel, and thus 

 link the Cretaceous and Japanese species together. 

 There is something very candid and straightforward in 

 Dr. Doderlein's method of writing, and he does not 

 hesitate to indicate how, in a comparatively short time, 

 he altered his opinion regarding the particular sub-genus 

 under which his own and other species should go. A 

 similar state of things is well illustrated in the instance of 

 A. Agassiz, and his synonymy of the Cidaridae shows, as 

 in the case of Dr. Doderlein, how a mind desirous of truth 

 has to suffer in the attempt to subdivide a good genus 

 into groups which are not founded upon differences of 

 structures of much physiological importance. 



As a matter of fact, the tubercles of Cidaris {Stereo- 

 ddaris) grandis, diXidi of the sp&cx&'s japonica, Dod., are not 



much more deficient than in many specimens of the common 

 Cidaris {Dorocidaris) papillata of the North Atlantic and 

 Mediterranean ; and the shape and ornamentation of the 

 coronal plates with ill-developed or absent primary 

 tubercles, in the well-known Cidaris sceptifera from the 

 upper chalk, do not resemble those of the modern forms. 

 The ornamentation shown on PI. II., Fig. 4, is more like 

 that of a Tertiary Cidaroid from Sind than of the tall- 

 plated Cretaceous type. But there is a decided re- 

 semblance between Dr, Doderlein's C, sceptriferoides and 

 the Cretaceous species. 



If these unsatisfactory sub-genera were simply used to 

 represent groups of species linked together by some un- 

 important but readily recognized structural peculiarities, 

 there would be no objection to be made — indeed, the pro- 

 ceeding is very useful ; but the groups are allowed to 

 become of generic significance, and thus it will be noticed 

 at the conclusion of Dr. Doderlein's work, that a list of 

 twenty-two groups equal to genera is given ; and bad sub- 

 genera, good ones, and good genera are jumbled up 

 together. Good old Cidaris has in fact fallen to pieces. 



In considering the species which have not a Japanese 

 habitat, Dr. Doderlein is in opposition to A. Agassiz and 

 De Loriol in reference to the proper sub-genus under 

 which some well-known species are grouped, and it 

 appears to be the case that Dr. Doderlein will have to 

 arrange the species of Cidaris proper on his own lines. 



The particular structure to which Dr. Doderlein alludes 

 in noticing the Triassic Cidaridas, is a horizontal groove 

 on the interradial side of each pair of pores ; it seems to 

 be very universal ; moreover, there is a more decided 

 overlap and ribbing of the coronal plates in these pre- 

 Jurassic forms than in the Jurassic and subsequent. 



The Salenia described by Dr. Doderlein is a very close 

 neighbour oi S. hastigera, A. Ag. 



Few monographs relating to the recent Echinoidea 

 have as much good mattei- and logical reasoning in 

 them as this one of Dr. Doderlein's, and the second 

 part of the work will be looked for with great interest. 



P. Martin Duncan. 



FRITSCH'S PAL/EONTOLOGICAL 

 RESEARCHES. 

 Fajina der Gaskohle tind der Kalksteine der Perm- 

 formation, Bohfuefts. Von Dr. Ant. Fritsch. Band II., 

 Heft I, pp. 32, Plates 49-60. (Prague : In Commission 

 bei Fr. Rivac, 1885.) 



THE first part of this admirable work was briefly 

 reviewed in Nature, vol. xxi. p. 31. It was then 

 observed that the book was almost as interesting to 

 the stratigraphical geologist as to the palaeontologist, for 

 the Gaskohle and its superincumbent Kalksteine rest 

 upon Silurian rocks, and are usually not covered by other 

 strata in vertical succession. The coals, clays, and 

 ironstones have a Carboniferous facies, and the conform- 

 able limestones are believed to be true Permians. The 

 palaeontological evidence regarding the age of the beds 

 is somewhat anomalous in the views of purely British 

 fossilists, but it speaks very forcibly and in a most 

 suggestive manner to the students of the Gondwana 

 formations of Hindustan. The presence of Sigillaria, 

 Stigmaria, Calami tes, and Lepidodendra, in the Gaskohle, 



