374 Reviews — Novitates Palceozoicce. 



justification for superseding the earlier name Proteosaurus by the 

 later Ichthyosaurus ; but since the latter name has been universally 

 adopted, the writer, after consultation with the Director of the 

 (British) Museum, has come to the conclusion that this is one of the 

 cases where an adherence to the rule of priority is not advisable." 



An analogous case is furnished by the common mollusc, popularly 

 known as Octopus. As a matter of fact Octopus, Lamark, 1798, is 

 preceded by Polypus, Schneider, 1784, and in this case malacologists 

 have applied the rule of priority and displaced Octopus, 1 but it may 

 be doubted whether the interests of science are best served by such 

 action. 



These three cases, and doubtless many others which could be 

 cited, show that a rigid application of the law of priority will 

 displace names which by a century of usage have found their way 

 into hundreds of textbooks, and even into popular literature. The 

 best way to avoid so regrettable a" step is for an International 

 Zoological Congress to adopt a list of nomina conservatida. This 

 paper is written to enlist the co-operation of geologists in creating 

 a public opinion in this direction. 



EEVIEWS. 



I. — Novitates Pal^ozoic^:. 



Paleontologic Contributions erom the New York State Museum:. 

 By Kudolf Ruedemann. N.Y. State Mus. Bulletin, No. 189. 

 226 pp., 36 pis. September, 1916. 



THE belated appearance of this review must be excused by the 

 War's delays, which hindered the receipt of the volume. It 

 would, however, be a pity to pass over for that reason all the 

 observations of interest that Dr. Ruedemann has here collected. 

 Let us consider a few of them. 



PlumaUna plumaria, from sandy shales of the Portage group, 

 described by J. Hall as a graptolite and referred by J. W. Dawson 

 to the plaut Lycopodites, is here said to possess no thecse, but to have 

 an inner solid carbonaceous (? chitinoid) axis and an outer granular 

 (? calcareous) rind, comparable with the structure in the Gorgonidse. 

 The fossils are therefore referred provisionally to the Alcyonaria. 



Another plant-like fossil, Buthotrephis lesquereuxi, from the Silurian 

 Eurypterus beds, is found to consist of twisted thin tubes opening on 

 the general surface in pores (about *5 to 1 mm. linear), and is referred 

 to Inocaulis, which Dr. Buedemann regards as a graptolite allied 

 to Bictyonema. Some species hitherto referred to Bictyonema 

 {B. furciferum llued., D. cervicorne et alia Wiman) are shown to have 

 apertural processes with forked ends which attach themselves to 

 the neighbouring branch, and so, while outwardly resembling the 

 dissepiments of Bictyonema, differ from them in origin; they are 

 placed in a new genus Airograptus, which should have been spelled 



1 e.g. H. Suter, Manual of the Neiv Zealand Mollusca, Wellington, 1913, 

 p. 1062. 



