REVIEWS NEW SPECIES OF PALEOZOIC FOSSILS. 155 



party to publish the illustratioDS of many ne-w species in advance of the issue 

 of the State Work on Palaeontology, and to the prejudice of the interests of the 

 State therein. Under these circumstances, it is thought proper to give concise 

 descriptions of these fossils, prior to their appearance in the regular volumes of 

 the Palseontology." 



During the early part of 1856, an attempt was made by certain 

 interested parties to arrest, or at least impede, the issue of the volumes 

 of the Palseontology, still under preparation. A so-called " Report," 

 of a most glaringly one-sided character, was got up by a " select com- 

 mittee " of the House of Assembly, opposing the work on the score 

 of expense, and condemning the number of the illustrations as a piece 

 of wanton extravagance. Against this, we ventured at the time to 

 protest ;* and we were happy to find that the Report met with no 

 favor from the members of the Assembly generally, and was not acted 

 upon in any way. We mention this more especially, because, if we 

 mistake not, it was argued in this Report, that the wood-cuts already 

 alluded to, were amply sufficient for all practical or scientific purposes 

 — a fallacy brought out very prominently by the engravings in the 

 present volume. Some of these are tolerably well executed, but the 

 majority of them are altogether insufficient for the really useful illus- 

 tration of the more minute and important structural details. It is 

 quite evident that Professor Hall acted for the best interests of science, 

 when he discarded the wood-cuts in question for the beautifully exe- 

 cuted engravings of the Palseontology proper. 



In the present publication, the Brachiopoda of the Lower Helder- 

 berg, Oriskany Sandstone, Upper Helderberg, Hamilton, and Chemung 

 groups, respectively, are alone considered. Nearly all the species 

 described are new : and many, the Producti more particularly (from 

 their comparative rarity as Devonian forms), are especially interesting. 

 A number of species of this type, more than doubling those hitherto 

 recognized in the Devonian rocks of Europe, are here enumerated from 

 the Hamilton and Chemung groups, the lowest in which they occur. 

 Professor Hall has also revived, or re-constituted, several genera, more 

 or less abandoned as such, by European Palseontologists. There will 

 probably, however, be some difference of opinion as to the expediency 

 of these revivals. We doubt much, for example — with all deference 

 to the justly-distinguished author — if the revival of the Meganteris of 

 Suess will be adopted by palseontologists generally. So far as we can 



* Canadian Journal, New Series, Vol. I, p. 386. 



