572 Revieics — Cottcswolcl Naturalists Field Club. 



the work is so completely behind the times. Zoologists and Com- 

 parative Anatomists of the modern school are certainly more alive 

 to the importance of palasontological considerations, than were their 

 predecessors, not many years ago; but few at present attempt any 

 systematic study even of the literature of the subject. To refer 

 only to the Vertebrata in the volume before us, and commencing 

 with the fishes, we may remark that Amia does not date back to 

 the Cretaceous period, that Pycnodus was shown thirty-five years ago 

 to be exclusively confined to the Eocene, and that Lepidotus and 

 Amblypterus are totally unknown in the Kupferschiefer. Protero- 

 suurus still remains among Lacertilian Eeptiles, notwithstanding- 

 recent memoirs ; and Dicynodon is unaccountably placed among the 

 JDinosauria, while no mention whatever is made of the all-important 

 Theromora. The old "order Enaliosauria " still survives; and once 

 more the erroneous statement about the opisthocoelous character of 

 the vertebra? of Steneosaurus — a permanent institution in German 

 text-books of "Zoology" — is repeated. Among Prototherian 

 Mammals there is no allusion to the recent discovery of true teeth, 

 while the Jurassic types are completely omitted ; and Microlestes is 

 only incidentally mentioned as a kangaroo ("springing marsupial") ! 

 Diyrotodon australis is also described as a "springing marsupial"; 

 and it will be news to some that Thylacoleo is an intimate relative 

 of the Thylacine. Among Edentates, Glyptodon is described as an 

 " insectivorous form " ; and, to proceed to higher groups, it may be 

 remarked that all modern researches which have led to such striking 

 results, especially with reference to the Ungulata and Carnivora, are 

 ignored. The Outlines of Distribution, appended by the Translator, 

 appear to us to be more completely up to date than any other part 

 of the volume, and it is to be hoped, that before another edition 

 appears, some attempt will be made to renovate the whole. 



VII. — Pkoceedings of the Cotteswold Naturalists' Field Club 

 for 1889-90. Vol. X. Part I. 1890. 



GEOLOGY continues to occupy a large share of attention from 

 the members of this Club. The address of the President, 

 Mr. W. C. Lucy, is supplemented by " A Slight History of Flint 

 Implements, with especial reference to our own and adjacent areas." 

 There is no reliable evidence of any Palaeolithic implements having 

 been found in the district, but a number of Neolithic celts, arrow- 

 heads, and scrapers are noted, and some of these are figured in 

 three plates. 



The Eev. F. Smithe, LL.D., furnishes some " Observations on 

 Celestite." He remarks that this mode of spelling the name of the 

 mineral, advocated by Dana, is now adopted in the mineralogical 

 collection of the British Museum, in preference to Celestine ; words 

 terminating in ine being properly restricted to the science of 

 Chemistry. He gives a particular account of the mineral and of 

 its mode of occurrence, not only in Gloucestershire, but in various 

 parts of the world. The cuttings made during the construction 

 of the Midland and South - Western junction-railway between 



