Reviews — Gaudn/s Animal World. 



419 



descriptive and technical for the ordinary reader desirous of obtain- 

 ing a smattering of science. It is, however, quite probable that 

 France may have a class of readers unrepresented among ourselves. 



A. B. 



Fig. 1. — Upper (A) and lower (B) surfaces of the test of Heteraster oblongus; 

 from the Neocomian. 



The great feature of this, as of the preceding volumes, is the 

 beauty and number of the illustrations, all of which are by M. 

 Formant, whose name alone is sufficient guarantee for their 

 excellence. By the courtesy of the author we are enabled to give 

 specimens of these illustrations taken from various classes of the 

 animal kingdom, so that our readers may judge for themselves. 



The introductory chapter gives a valuable table of the various 

 horizons of the Mesozoic rocks of France. The second chapter is 

 devoted to the Foraminifera, the third to the Corals, and the fourth 



Fig. 2. — Shell of Ostrea macroptera; from the Neocomian. 



to the Echinoderms. We notice that in the latter group not only is 

 the minute structure of the test and of the ' lanthorn ' very fully 

 illustrated, but figures are given of nearly all the main types of 

 form found in the test of the Urchins; we select Heteraster (Fig. 1) 

 as a sample of the illustrations in this chapter. The Molluscs, as 

 their importance deserves, have a long chapter to themselves, which 

 is very fully illustrated. Fig. 2, taken from this chapter, strikes us 

 as a first-rate example of wood-engraving. We notice that in the 

 Ostreidce the author regards Grypheea merely as a subgenus of 

 Ostrea, and certainly the series of figures given on page 77 goes far 

 to support this view. In the Gasteropoda it is curious to note how 

 Malaptera (fig. 60), of the Corallian, seems to be a more specialized 

 type derived from the Oxfordian Pteroceras (fig. 156) by the 

 ' webbing ' of the spaces between the ' fingers.' In the Ammonites 



