320 Reviews — Dr. A. Salee — The Genus Caninia. 



such names as Lower and Upper Greensand and Gault ; he says no 

 one can defend the retention of the first " awkward and inaccurate 

 appellation " (p. 294). The use of names for series based on the 

 typical localities is no doubt preferable for international correlation ; 

 but the old terms are of historic interest and they are often more 

 easily remembered than terms based on unfamiliar place-names. 

 Lower Greensand is no more misleading than Coralline Crag, Torridon 

 Sandstone, ISTew Bed Sandstone, and other names which are retained. 



Such points are, however, mere details, and one closes the book 

 grateful to the author for this masterly summary of the former 

 geography of the British area and confident that his work will 

 stimulate fresh researches and serve as a platform upon which they 

 can be safely based. 



J. W. G. 



III. — Le Genre Caninia. Par Achille Salee, D.Sc, Directeur de 

 Institut Geologique de l'Universite, Louvain. 4to; pp. 62, 9 plates. 

 Eruxelles, 1910. 



ONE is scarcely justified in saying that the pioneers of palaeontology, 

 when establishing their genera and species, recked little of the 

 morrow. The field was vast and there was much to do ; yet they 

 would surely be amazed to see how much labour has to be expended 

 nowadays in order to verify their work. 



A good example is seen in the monograph under notice, which is 

 mainly concerned with the revision of two important species, Caninia 

 cylindrica and C. patula. Most of the letterpress, and seven out of 

 the nine quarto plates, are devoted to this object, and during the 

 course of the work over five hundred sections have been made. It is 

 a pleasure to find that the somewhat drastic revision of the genotype, 

 which appeared in the pages of this Magazine l three years ago, is 

 accepted in its entirety. 



The value of the work is enhanced by the attention paid to the strati- 

 graphical distribution of the material. An outline of Dr. Vaughan's 

 zonal scheme appears in the Introduction, and the author throughout 

 keeps in touch with the progress of zonal work in these Islands and 

 in Belgium ; discussing the scope of the monograph, he says that " il 

 ne doit servir . . . que d'introduction a une etude detaillee de 

 paleontologie strati graphique sur le Calcaire carbonifere de la 

 Belgique ". 



Caninia cylindrica was first described, from somewhat fragmentary 

 material, by M'Coy in 1843 (Siphonophyttia cylindrica). 2 In the same 

 year Michelin described a similar fossil as Caninia gigantea, his figured 

 specimen coming from Tournai. 



M. Salee has examined a cast of M' Coy's type, but apparently has 

 not been able to procure topotypes to work on. Nevertheless he feels 

 justified in identifying Caninia cylindrica amongst material from 



1 E. G. Carruthers, "Kevision of some Carboniferous Corals": Geol. Mag., 

 April, 1908, pp. 158-71, PL VI. 



2 His type is preserved in the Griffith Collection at Dublin, the locality being 

 given as " Arenaceous limestone, Ardsallagh, Drumguin ". 



