8 



NATURE 



[July 7, 1910 



The Cretaceous 



Catalogue of the Fossil Bryozoa in the Department 



of Geology, British Museum (Natural History). 



\ol. ii., the Cretaceous Bryozoa. By Prof. J. \V. 



Gregory, P'.R.S. Pp. xlviii + 346; 9 plates. 



(London : Printed by order of the Trustees, 1909.) 

 Owing to the author's absence from England and 

 his retirement from the staff of the Museum, a period 

 of ten vears has elapsed between the date of publica- 

 tion of 'the present volume and its predecessor. This 

 unusual delav has, however, been by no means an 

 unmixed disadvantage, since it has enabled Prof. 

 Gregorv to incorporate information and to take ad- 

 vantage of theories of classification which would not 

 have been available had this volume appeared several 

 vears earlier. It was originally intended to complete 

 the subject in two volumes, but the wealth of material 

 has rendered it necessary to allot a third volume— now 

 in i3re|3aration bv Prof. Gregory's successor in the 

 Museum, Mr. W. D. Lang— to the Chilostomata. 



In concluding his share of the work. Prof. Gregory 

 gives a valuable general account of the Cretaceou 

 brvozoan fauna and its relationships. '""'-- '"'-"'--—• 

 is' the era in which the modern 

 types of Bryozoa first attained to 

 importance and replaced the older 

 forms. The most characteristic 

 group of the epoch is the Cyclosto- 

 mata, which is now a waning type, 

 and dates from the Jurassic. A 

 second ordinal group, the Trepo- 

 stomata, represents a Pateozoic 

 type, which became decadent in the 

 Upper Cretaceous, and finally dis- 

 appeared in the Casnozoic. On the 

 other hand, the Chilostomata, of 

 which but two Jurassic species are 

 known, attained an enormous 

 development in the Upper Creta- 

 ceous, and forms the dominant type 

 in the seas of to-day. 



After a long review of the classi- 

 fication of the Cyclostomata, Prof. 

 Gregorv points out the value of the 

 Brvozoa for zonal classification of the 

 Chalk, remarking that recent inves- 

 tigations have shown — in contra- 

 distinction to older views — mariy of 

 the species to have a very restricted 

 vertical distribution. 



The work is a most valuable and 

 trustworthy contribution to the 

 natural historv of the Cretaceous Bryozoa, whicli_, in 

 Great Britain', at any rate, have previously received 

 comparatively little attention at the hands of palaeon- 

 tologists. 



Problemes et Exercices de Mathimatiques ginirales. 

 By Prof. E. Fabry. Pp. 420. (Paris : A. Hermann 

 et Fils, 19 10.) Price 10 francs. 



This useful collection reminds us that mathematical 

 examinations are not peculiar to Great Britain, and 

 provides an interesting specimen of the kind of ques- 

 tions set in France to candidates of about the same 

 standing as English candidates for an ordinary science 

 degree. It contains the enunciations of 739 problems, 

 ranging from elementary algebra and calculus to solid 

 geometry and differential equations, and also includ- 

 ing about a hundred questions in statics and dynamics. 

 Pages 81-420 contain the solutions, which, as might 

 be expected, are clear and elegant. No book of this 

 kind can supply the place of a competent teacher, but 

 a student who has to work by himself will find Prof. 

 Fabrv's work very helpful, and a good model in point 

 of style. " M- 



NO. 2123, VOL. 84] 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 

 [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the 7vriters of, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of Nature. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] 



Arthur's Round Table in Glamorgan. 



The historj' of the Gorsedd of the Bards is closely bound 

 up with the history of Glamorgan. Early in the history 

 ol the winning of the district by the .Anglo-Normans, one 

 of the earls of Gloucester, as lord of Glamorgan, took the 

 institution under his protection and patronage, and it 

 became known as Gorsedd Tir larll, " Gorsedd of the 

 liarl's Land," and the district, comprising the parishes of 

 Llangynwyd, Bettws, and Margam, is still called after the 

 title of the noble patron of the bards. From about the 

 middle of the twelfth century, the history of the institu- 

 tion, as well as the succession of presiding bards, is as 

 clear as one might expect to find the history of a largely 

 secret society to be. What history is recorded in bardic 

 writings of the institution before that date represents it as 

 .\rthur's Round Table, moved from place to place with 



the seat of government, from Caerleon-upon-Usk to 

 Loughor, back to Cardiff, its wanderings having been con- 

 fined within the boundaries of the diocese of Llandaff, 

 until finally it found a resting-place in the Earl's Land. 

 There is little reason to doubt the substantial truth of such 

 records, and it is something to note that .Arthur's Round 

 Table, by name, has been all along regarded as the living 

 institution known as Gorsedd of the Bards of the Isle of 

 Britain. 



There are bards still living who were received as members 

 of the Gorsedd by bards who represented an unbroken 

 tradition and succession in the Earl's Land at least from 

 the twelfth century. One of these bards, "Morien," 

 known also as " Gwyddon Tir larll," was present at the 

 " re-awakening," in bardic parlance, of Arthur's Round 

 Table on June 22, 1910, when a temple-observatory, which 

 I had the honour of erecting at Maesteg, in the parish of 

 Llangynwyd, the centre of the Earl's Land, was duly 

 opened by the Arcbdruid of Wales, assisted by officers and 

 members of the National Gorsedd, and other bards and 

 friends of the bardic cause. 



In designing the wor'«, I endeavoured to combine the 

 essential requirements of bardic tradition with all the 

 ascertained principles of primitive architecture as shown 

 in monuments of which the bardic Gorsedd is a repre- 

 sentative. Everv detail was based either on tradition or 



