38 Revieivs — Japanese Cephalopoda. 



many new genera may possibly be an improvement on tlie previously 

 existing ones, but it cannot be followed here, for the generic 

 diagnoses and discussions on the taxonomy are not yet published. 

 Therefore, the present writer is obliged to follow the old and well- 

 known classification of D'Orbigny as modified by Sharps and 

 Stoliczka, though it is apparently unnatural." 



The turreted forms are comparatively rare in the Hokkaido Cre- 

 taceous rocks. Only two forms of Turrilites are recorded : one 

 represented by a single small example resembling T. Mantelli and 

 especially T. Bergeri, although specifically distinct from either ; the 

 other, also represented by only a single example, belonging to 

 a much larger species, described as new, somewhat resembling, but 

 less elongated than, T. tuber cidatus. Two new forms of Selicoceras 

 are described, one of which is doubtfully referred to this genus, 

 whilst four new species and a new variety are doubtfully referred to 

 the genus Heteroceras. 



But of all the turreted forms described by the author the most 

 remarkable is certainly the specimen for which the new genus 

 Nipponites is proposed. Its shape is thus described : " At first the 

 shell forms a more or less flat spiral coil wound sinistrally as in 



Helicoceras The further growth is no longer spiral, 



but it consists in turning to the right and then to the left several 

 times and thus forming many U-shaped curves which cover the first 

 part of the shell from six directions, so that the plane of the curves 

 roughly corresponds to the six sides of a cube." Notwithstanding 

 the fact that the present species is represented only by a single 

 specimen, Dr. Yabe concludes that " the mode of coiling the whorls 

 can neither be accidental nor due to a loss of power to produce the 

 regularly wound shell, as it is too regular to admit any such 

 supposition. That it is a Turrilites or some allied genus which has 

 modified its mode of growth on account of its advanced age is also 

 inconceivable. Therefore, this formation of several U-shaped curves 

 must be ascribed to the inherent power of the animal." It is for 

 these reasons that Dr. Yabe has considered this single specimen to 

 be worthy of a new generic name. From the form of the shell the 

 author concludes that " the animal led neither a free swimming life 

 nor a sessile one, but was a creeper on the sea-bottom, as is the 

 generally accepted view of Turrilites." 



An interesting Ammonite, which is too imperfect for its proper 

 generic determination, possesses characters which ally it with the 

 Indian species Olcostephanus superstes and Ammonites rudra, two 

 species that are provisionally placed in Olcostephanus by Dr. Kossmat, 

 who recognises, however, their phyletical relations to Vascoceras on 

 the one hand and to Acanthoceras on the other. 



A new species of Olcostephanus is described, having its nearest ally 

 in a form described by Dr. Whiteaves from the Cretaceous of the 

 Queen Charlotte Islands, whilst to Hauericeras, in addition to the 

 genotype, H. Gardeni, that has been recognised in Natal, in Southern 

 India, in Vancouver Island, in the Hokkaido, and possibly also in 

 Tunis and in Galicia, the author refers a new species, which is 



