440 Bibliographical Notices. 



that given by Lamarck has the priority. It has been called Sphce- 

 rulites, Ostracites and Acardo, and the cast of the interior cavity 

 has been considered as a genus, under the name of Birostris and 

 lodamia, 



Fam. 2. HippuRiTiDiE. 



The lower valve is elongate, tapering, subcylindrical, of a solid 

 laminated texture ; the upper valve is nearly flat, and pierced 

 with peculiar pores radiating to the circumference with branches 

 diverging to the upper surface. 



This family only contains a single genus, Hippurites, Lamk., 

 which has also had many other names applied to it, as Cornu- 

 copia, OrthoceratiteSy Batolites (or Batholites), RaphanisteTf and 

 Biiubulites. 



Fam. 3. Caprotinad^. 



The lower or fixed valve is conical and spirally twisted, and 

 marked internally with prominent ridges or transverse septa; the 

 dorsal or free valve is oblique or spiral. They differ from Ca- 

 prina in the valves not being of a cellular or fibrous texture. 



This family contains two genera : — 



1. Caprotina, D^Orb., which has the cavity of the shell merely 

 marked with internal ridges. 



2. Ichthyosarcolites has the cavity of the large spiral or invo- 

 lute fixed valve divided transversely by a number of oblique septa ; 

 the upper valve is probably like an operculum, but this genus is 

 very imperfectly known. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



The Ferns of Britain and their Allies ; comprising Equisetacece, Fili- 

 cacece, Lycopodiacece and Marsileacece. By R. Deakin, M.D., Lon- 

 don. Pp. 139. 8vo. London, 1848. 



A Handbook of British Ferns intended as a guide and companion in 

 Fern Culture, and comprising scientific and popular descriptions, 

 with engravings of all the species indigenous to Britain, with remarks 

 on their history and cultivation. By Thomas Moore, Curator of 

 the Bot. Garden of the Apothecaries' Company. Pp. 156. 16mo. 

 London, 1848. 



Owing chiefly, it is probable, to the publication of Mr. Newman's 

 beautiful work ' A History of British Ferns,' the study of this tribe 

 of plants has taken a firm hold upon the aff^ections of British bota- 

 nists, and we now hail with delight the appearance of two other 

 illustrated works upon them, as they cannot but tend still further 

 to popularize the subject and lead to a more complete and scientific 

 knowledge of it. 



