Notice of Dr. Mantell’s Petrifactions and their Teachings. 407 
a clear flame and contains no bismuth, but metallic bismuth is 
deposited in the retort. If we raise the heat to 160° then the 
yee Speen is instantaneously shattered by a violent ex- 
se aisbessond relations bismethyl behaves quite like an organic 
radical. If to its alcoholic solution we add a solution of iodine 
or bromine, the color vanishes under considerable evolution of 
ones of stibethyl. If for example we leave standing for a short 
time an alcoholic solution of iodide of bismethyl, iodide of bis- 
muth is deposited. Bismeethyl easily dissolves in dilute nitric 
acid, and of course the solution contains nitrate of bismethyl, if 
however we evaporate the nitric acid solution pure nitrate of bis- 
muth remains. 
The description of the paemenets of bismzethyl must: be re- 
served for a second paper. 
Arr. XLII.—Notice of a work entitled Pesspasiine and their 
Teachings, or a Hand-Book to the Gallery of Organic Re- 
mains of the British es by Gisiete Averrnon Man- 
TELL, Esq., LiL.D., F.R.S.* 
Tuts work of Dr. Mantell is an exielluet companion for the 
student as well as amateur visitor of the gallery of organic re- 
mains in the British Museum. Without pretending to enumerate 
the species, the duty of a proper catalogue, it gives a general 
sketch of the collections of fossils in their different’ apartments, 
and passes in detailed review the more remarkable specimens, 
Hinata them often with excellent cuts, and extended observa- 
tions. A lucid introduction and synopsis of the contents of the 
rooms with a table of the fossiliferous deposits of Great Britain, 
prepare the way for the more particular sora We men- 
tion some of the prominent objects of inte 
Among the minerals, the most asereatin: are the native or 
meteoric irons and meteoric attic na which there are numerous 
Specimens and from many countri 
The collections of fossil paint or he a productions, are 
very complete. The Algz and Fucoi e’ Equisetacee2— 
Calamites and Ferns—the Sigillarize sed ‘Stigmatlie ibe Lepi- 
odendra—Coniferee and palms and their cones and ss a 
cadee and Zamiew of ancient eras, present to us a striking pic- 
ture of the early vegetation of the globe. The fossilized sige of 
* 496 oe ee illustrations, forming a volume of Bohn’s 
Scientific Library. r 
