524 Reviews—Dr. H. Rauff—On Fossil Sponges. 
records the first discovery in America of a fossil Gomphina 
(Stenogomphus carletoni, n.g. et sp.), of a fossil Cicada (C. grandiosa, 
n. sp.) of large size, with other new genera and species of fossil 
Insects, including a bot-fly (Palestrus oligocenus, n.g. et sp.), who, 
in the absence of the Mammalian families at present most subject to 
the attack of its descendants, probably devoted its attention to the 
Tylopoda. 
“The Record of North American Geology for 1890” (No. 91), 
carried out on the same excellent lines as it predecessors, and a 
“Report of work done in the division of Chemistry and Physics” 
(No. 90), are the most important of the remaining bulletins; the 
other subjects being: ‘‘The compressibility of Liquids” (No. 92) ; 
“The Mechanism of solid Viscosity ” (No. 94); ‘“ Harthquakes in 
California in 1890 and 1891” (No. 95); “The Volume Thermo- 
dynamics of Liquids” (No. 96). 
V.—PatmosponeioLoeiz. Von Hermann Ravrr. Erster Theil. 
lte—_4te Lieferung. Mit 48 Abbildungen. Paleeontographica, 
_ Bd. XL, 1893, pp. 1-282. Stuttgart. 
HROUGH the efforts of numerous authors within the last twenty 
years to amend the description and classification of fossil 
Sponges, the discredited position which this group sustained for such 
a long time previously has now been to a great extent redeemed, 
and it may be said to-day that our knowledge of the fossil, as com- 
pared with that of the recent forms, is quite on a par with that of 
any other class of animals. The modern method of study of the 
fossil forms initiated by von Zittel, not only opened the way for 
their reconstruction on a natural basis, but it also reacted on the 
work done amongst the recent forms as well, and supplied important 
clues to a proper understanding of their nature and relative position. 
By a fortunate coincidence this new work on fossil sponges took 
place at a time when the Challenger and other expeditions brought 
to light, from great depths of the ocean, a number of living sponges, 
previously unknown to science, which proved to be related to the 
groups most numerously represented in cretaceous and other rocks. 
The description of these recent deep-sea sponges has contributed 
much fresh knowledge of their characters, and thereby also added to 
that gained already respecting their fossil relatives, and this, together 
with the increased amount of recent work amongst the fossil 
forms, furnishes a wealth of material for a general treatise on these 
organisms from a paleontological point of view. Such a work, we 
are glad to report, has been undertaken by Dr. H. Rauff, of Bonn (a 
former student of Prof. von Zittel), and the first four parts, now 
before us, which are being issued in the ‘“ Paleeontographica,” show 
that the subject is being treated in a fuller and more comprehensive 
manner than has hitherto been attempted. 
In the introductory or general part, a chronologically arranged 
list of papers relating to fossil sponges, to the number of 592 is 
given, followed by another list containing the author’s names in 
alphabetical order, the titles of their papers, and the particular 
