444 Miscellaneous. 



that proportion is greatly counterbalanced by the discoveries which 

 are continually going on of new fossil species. 



The eleven species of Cycadites approach most in their stiff and uni- 

 nervous leaves to the recent species of Cycas, the number of which is 

 nearly equal to that of the fossil species ; a part of the genus Zamiies, 

 and especially the species (nearly to the number of fifteen) the pin- 

 nules of which present a certain contraction at their base, correspond 

 to the genus Encephalartos, Avhilst the species (to the number of 

 eight) the pinnules of w^iich are articulated at their base, and are 

 fixed to the frond in an oblique manner, might offer a pendant to the 

 Macrozamia. Lastly, the genera Zamiostrobus, Nilsouia and Ptero- 

 phyllum, composed of thirty-eight species, must be considered as ex- 

 tinct genera, and do not admit of any parallel with the Zamin, L., 

 the pinnules of which are distinctly articulated, whilst those of the 

 genera in question do not at all present that peculiarity. 



The author concludes his important work with a comparative table 

 of the geographical and geological distribution of the living and fossil 

 CycadecE. "We submit it to our readers, not only because it is of great 

 interest, but also because it serves to render the extent of the labo- 

 rious investigations of the celebrated savant of Breslau appreciated. 



Present Flora. Fossil Flora. 



Cycas, L., composed of 10 species; Cycadites, composed of 11 species; 

 tropical and subtropical Asia, New Sweden, Isle of Portland, France, 

 Holland. Bohemia, Saxe-Coburg and Hano- 



ver. 

 Macroxamia, INIiq., 3 species ; New Zamites, Brong. (incomplete ana- 

 Holland and the Cape. logy) ; France, England, Baireuth, 



Bamberg (Bavaria). 

 Encephalartos, Lehm., 15 species; Reappears 15° further north, that is 

 the Cape, not far from the tropics. to say. Isle of Portland, England, 



Bamberg. 

 Zanila, 10 species ; tropical and sub- Wholly wanting. 



tropical America. 

 Genus partly extinct. Zamites, Goepp. ; Isle of Portland, 



England, France, Bamberg, Bai- 

 reuth, East Indies. 

 Genus wholly extinct. Zamiostrobus, England. 



Genus wholly extinct. Pterophyllum, Brong., 23 species ; 



Switzerland, Wurtemburg, Au- 

 stria, Bohemia, Bamberg, Bai- 

 reuth, Saxony, Schaouniberg, Si- 

 lesia. 

 Genus wholly extinct. Nilsonia, Brong., 12 species ; Swe- 



den, England, Saxe-Coburg, Qued- 

 linbourg, Bamberg, Baireuth. 



Extract of a Note from J. E. Gray, Esq., relative to his paper on 

 the Animal of Spirula, p. 257. 



To Richard Taylor, Esq. 

 My dear Sir, — While in Holland, my friend M. Milne Edwards 

 has sent me M. Laurent's ' Annales d'Anatomie et Physiologic,' con- 

 taining a paper by M. de Blainvillc describing the body of Spirula, 



