Reviews — F. Freeh's Catalogue of Fossils. 317 



in the production of the small concentric foliar traces. Occasionally- 

 accessory concentric bundles are present, recalling the similar strands 

 which occur in the cortex of Cycas. The vascular strands of all orders, 

 except the ultimate foliar traces, are surrounded by a broad zone of 

 secondary wood. On account of the general structure of the vascular 

 system, the origin and behaviour of the ' meristeles ', the leaf-trace 

 bundles, and the close agreement in histological details (such, for 

 example, as the pitting on the tracheidal walls), the stem is included 

 in the genus Sutcli^a of the family Medulloseas. It is provisionally 

 attributed to Sutclijjia insignis, Scott, for the additional features 

 which are characteristic of the specimen are such as would be expected 

 to occur in an older stem : such features are the occurrence of 

 secondary wood, the extra-fascicular strands, the secondary cortex, 

 and the absence of leaf-bases. 



The specimen is of some importance on account of the additional 

 light which it throws on the affinities of the extinct family of the 

 Medullosese. The great possibility of the origin of this group from 

 a fern-like ancestry has been fully considered elsewhere, and many 

 investigators have regarded it as the source of origin of the Cycadacese. 

 The discovery of the present stem adds considerable weight to this 

 view, for in many respects the structure is of a distinctly Cycadean 

 type. It is suggested that by modification of the protostele and 

 elaboration of the extra-fascicular zones of some such genus as 

 Sutdiffia, the Cycadacese were evolved ; while, on the other hand, 

 increasing complexity ^in the number and arrangement of the steles 

 may possibly have led through such a type as the English MeduUosa 

 anglica to the complex Permian Medullosese. 



Y. — FossiLiTJM Catalogus. I. Animalia. Editus a F. Frech. 

 Pars 1 : F. Freeh, Ammonese Devonicse (Clymeniidae, Aphyllitidse, 

 Gephyroceratidse, Cheiloceratidae). 4to; pp.42. Berlin: Junk, 

 1913. Price 4 marks. 



THIS seems to be just one of those works whose usefulness fails 

 because the compiler refuses to adhere to a strictly alphabetical 

 arrangement. So splendid an example of what an Index Palseonto- 

 logicus should be was bequeathed to science by H. G. Bronn that 

 it is difficult to comprehend the mind of those who spend their time 

 on a systematic arrangement which in nearly every case can only be 

 of service to the narrow specialist, and little indeed to him, for he 

 already knows his subject. Further, why limit the references to 

 Devonian forms ? There is already much grumbling among those 

 who have to consult the three or four indexes extant for generic 

 names and a request that they may all be thrown into one, but 

 in this proposed work we are threatened with a separate index 

 not merely to each group but to each geological horizon of the families 

 of the group. 



In the work itself we consider that a date should be attached to 

 each, entry. "We note the twenty-nine titles quoted do not represent 

 the complete literature ; we do not understand on what authority the 

 name Agoniatites, Meek, is rejected for AphyUites, Mojs. ; and we 

 hope "Mopisovus" on p. 25 will be intelligible to the uninitiated. 



