Reviews — M. Gourret — Tertiary Fauna of Basse-Provence. 83 



memoir. The vegetable nature of the fossil could not possibly be 

 disputed by any one who examines the descriptions and figures in the 

 text with the accompanying plate ; or who, like the writer of this 

 notice, has had the privilege of seeing sections of the " bones " under 

 the microscope. The two fragments examined by Dr. Hovelacque, 

 viz. the so-called epine dermique and mdchoire, he shows to belong to 

 two different families of plants, and they now receive the names of 

 Aachenoxylon and Nicolia Moresneti respectively. G. F. H. 



V. — La Faune Tertiaike Marine de Carry, de Sausset et de 



CoURONNE (PRES MARSEILLE). FaCIES DES ETAGES TERTIARE 



DANS LA Bassb-Provence. Par M. Paul Gourret. (Mem. Soc. 

 Beige de Geol, iv. (1890) pp. 73-143, with four plates.) 



THE author commences by giving a general outline of the Tertiary 

 beds of Basse-Provence, showing that the Eocene, Oligocene, 

 Miocene and Pliocene are each represented in that district. In this 

 memoir he gives a few palseontological details fixing the horizons of 

 the several beds and roughly correlating them with the Tertiary 

 strata of adjacent areas. 



The second j)art enumerates the species found at the three places 

 mentioned in the title of the memoir, and under the heading of each 

 of these species are placed the names (where necessary) of what the 

 author considers to be synonyms, together with a brief account of its 

 geologic and geographic distribution, with occasional critical remarks. 

 This is the most important section of the paper, and it is put forward 

 as a revision of the whole fauna and as the result of much careful 

 research. In all, 301 species of fossils are recorded, which are 

 distributed as follows : — Pisces 8, Crustacea 5, Mollusca 247, 

 (Gasteropoda 157, Pelecypoda 90), Polyzoa 6, Brachiopoda 3, 

 Echinodermata 13, Coelenterata 19. The Fish belong to the genera 

 Lamna, Myliohates, OxyrJiina and Sphcerodus (sic) ; whilst the 

 Crustacea are mainly Balani. The Mollusca naturally claim a 

 large share of attention, and it may be remarked that in dealing 

 with them, the author does not adhere to certain well-known and 

 generally accepted rules of nomenclature, which is much to be 

 regretted. For example, when the generic appellation of a species 

 is changed, he inserts the name of the individual who made the 

 alteration after the specific, instead of that of the original describer 

 of the species. The science of Malacology has made great strides 

 during the past ten years, but this fact has not been sufficiently 

 recognized in the memoir now under review. It would be tedious 

 to point out all the shortcomings in this respect, but we may 

 mention Pyrula melongena, Bast., which should be Melongena 

 cornuta, Ag. ; Pyrula bidhus, Desh. = Sijcum hulhus, Sol. ; Buccinum 

 haccatum, Bast. z=z Cyllenina baccata, Bast. ; Buccinum retictdatum, 

 Linn. = JV^rtssa reticidata, Linn.; Voluta rarispina, Lam. = Fo/m- 

 tilithes rarispinus,ljeim.; Ancillaria=:Ancilla; Chenopus=:Aporr]iais. 

 Again, no attempt is made to classify the larger groups — the 

 heterogeneous assemblage of forms which were included under such 



