416 Revieics — J. W. Davis — Lebanon Fishes. 



diabases, which are characteristic of larger intrusive masses, and 

 exhibit the ' granular ' structure of Eosenbusch. The term, porphjritic 

 dolerites has been applied to those containing larger scattered felspars, 

 making in all three generations. 



The dykes of the central and northern portions of Anglesey and 

 of Holyhead Island differ widely from those described above, and 

 may furnish the subject of further notes. 



S, E AT" IIB -VT" S. 



I. — The Fossil Fishes of the Chalk of Mount Lebanon, in 

 Syria. By James W. Davis, F.Gt.S., F.L.S., etc. Scientific 

 Trans. Eoyal Dublin Soc, series 2, vol. iii. pp. 457-636, pis. 

 xiv.-xxxviii. (April, 1887.) 



AGAIN we have to welcome from the pen of Mr, James W. Davis 

 an important contribution to our knowledge of the paleontology 

 of Fishes. Nearly four years ago (GtEol. Mag. Nov. 1883) we 

 received an exhaustive monograph upon the fossil fish-remains of the 

 Carboniferous Limestone of Britain, in which were figured and 

 described a number of teeth and spines, indicative of types previously 

 unknown to science ; and on the pi'esent occasion, a still more sub- 

 stantial contribution is made in the form of figures and descriptions 

 of a large series of the most perfectly preserved fossil fishes that have 

 hitherto been discovered. The author treats of the palichthyology of 

 the Upper Cretaceous rocks of the Lebanon, as revealed by the 

 researches of the Eev. Prof. E. E. Lewis, formerly of the Syrian 

 Protestant College, Bey rout, whose magnificent collection was acquired 

 some years ago by Mr. E. Damon, of Weymouth, and a large portion 

 of which has now been purchased by the British Museum, This 

 memoir, like the previous one, was communicated by the late Earl of 

 Enniskillen to the Eoyal Dublin Society, and is printed and published 

 in the excellent style for which that Society's Transactions are so 

 well known. 



On glancing over the pages, we are led to admire the industry and 

 untiring energy of the author, who succeeds, in the midst of business 

 avocations and at so great a distance from works of reference, in 

 turning hours of leisure to such profitable account. Nearly all the 

 more important memoirs bearing upon the subject have been consulted 

 and are referred to, and, in addition to notes upon forms already 

 known, no less than ten genera and sixty-six species are described as 

 new to science. At the same time, the pursuit of scientific study 

 under such conditions must necessarily render one liable to errors 

 arising out of the very difficulties surrounding work requiring so 

 much research as the present ; and to this cause must probably be 

 ascribed certain misapprehensions that will doubtless be criticized 

 adversely by ichthyologists more favourably situated for interpreting 

 these remains. 



Mr. Davis prefaces his work with a concise and appropriate intro- 

 ductory section, historical and geological. This is mainly based 



