268 Bihliograpliical Notices. 



as a transition form connecting the two groups of Trigoaice above 

 mentioned. The description of the new species was accompanied 

 by a note on the Purbeck strata of the Vale of Wardour by the 

 Eev. W. E. Andrews. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



Fossil Sponge-Spicules from the Upper ChalTc^ found in the Interior 

 of a Single Plintstone from Horstead Norfolk. By Geokge 

 Jennings Hinde, F.G.S. With five Pktes. 8vo, Munich, 1880. 



Under this title appears Mr. (now Dr.) Hinde's " Inaugural Dis- 

 sertation " for the degree of " Dr. of Philosophy " in the University 

 of Munich, published at Munich in the month of November 1880. 

 For this he very wisely took some fossil sponge- spicules obtained from 

 Horstead for comparison with those which Prof. Zittel has collected 

 in the Paloeontological Museum of Munich, and thus met with the dis- 

 interested generosity of one whose love for his profession goes hand 

 in hand with his great ability for practising it. 



With such aid it is no wonder that he should have produced a 

 " Dissertation " alike honourable to himself and to those by whom 

 he has been assisted, viz. Prof. Zittel and Herr Conrad Schwager, 

 respectively superintendent and assistant in the Palaeontological 

 Museum at Munich— the former having assisted by his extensive 

 knowledge and liberality, and the latter, among other things, by his 

 aptitude in drawing with the camera lucida. 



The " Dissertation " is illustrated by fi.ve plates, containing 165 

 figures, which, " as far as possible," have been drawn to the scale 

 of " 20 diameters," in order that " their relative dimensions " 

 might be apjireciated ; while the measurements have been given in 

 parts of a metre, that tlmi may be most generally useful. 



Commencing with a description of the kind of Upper-Chalk Flint 

 in whose interior the sponge-spicules were found, viz. " a potstone 

 or paramoudra," about a foot in diameter, with the mouth closed 

 by extension of the flint, — the contents generally are enume- 

 rated ; after which the structure and mineral composition of the 

 fossil sponge-spicules are noticed in particular, ending with the 

 following commendable enunciation, viz. : — " In several instances 

 the correspondence in form and size of the spicules is so close to 

 that of sponges already determined, that no doubt can arise of their 

 belonging to the same species. Under these circumstances I have 

 arranged these spicules under the difi'erent genera with which they 

 seemed to have the closest relationship ; and in only a few excep- 

 tional cases, in which the peculiar form or dimensions of the spicule 

 rendered it highly probable that it belonged to some hitherto un- 

 recognized sponge, have I ventured to give a name to it, to facilitate 

 reference in the future " (p. 18). 



Following the systematic arrangement which is given by Prof. 

 Zittel in his " Beitrage zur Systematik der fossilen Spongien " (see 

 * Annals,' 1879, vol. iii. p. 304), Mr. Hinde begins his descriptions 



