374 Mevieivs — Winch's Palceontology. 



In Chap. III. a lucid but too brief exposition is given of the 

 consequences from snap after tension, slip after shear, and shock 

 after explosion of steam. The question of Cause is again referred 

 to in Chap. XVII., and other notices occur. The accounts of Earth 

 Tremors and Earth Pulsations refer to subjects which ought, one 

 would hope, to lead hereafter towards much completer insight into 

 earth-crust state, but at present they only raise, without gratifying 

 our hopes. The possible connection of these with secular oscillations 

 of land and sea is necessarily dismissed with no more than a re- 

 ference to the possibility. Materials do not exist for anything fuller. 



Readers may from time to time be conscious that what they are 

 reading is somewhat familiar, that they have met with the account 

 or seen the figure in some not very ancient paper, number, or 

 volume. Ample defence, were defence necessary, would be that 

 such a conspectus of knowledge must, from the nature of the case, 

 be largely a compilation. But there is another reason. It was said 

 once : ' None but himself can be his parallel.' Prof. Milne might 

 almost say that none but himself could be his authority. Those 

 most interesting notes on the results of Japanese observations that 

 have from time to time appeared in " Nature," are to a large extent 

 abstracts of papers from the Seismological Society's Journal. Prof. 

 Milne could find scarce any store worth pillaging except the 

 productions of his own creation. E. H. (Camb.). 



III. — Contributions to American Palaeontology. Vol. i. No. 1. 

 Published by E. O. Ulrich, Cincinnati, 1886. 8vo. pp. 35, pis. 

 1—3. 



ACCORDING to Mr. Ulrich's experience, the learned societies of 

 America are inadequate to the needs of the Palaeontologist, since 

 if they accept papers, they are unable or unwilling to furnish the 

 necessary illustrations, and he therefore intends to make himself 

 independent by bringing out, from time to time, a series of what are 

 styled " private publications," of which the present number is the 

 first. 



It contains descriptions of " New Silurian and Devonian Fossils," 

 for the most part Bryozoa. A fresh classification, to replace one 

 brought forward by the author in 1882, is proposed for the families 

 Fenestellidas and Acanthocladidae. In the former, three new genera 

 are introduced, but they are left without names ; there is no descrip- 

 tion of any type species ; and their essential characters appear to be 

 extremely slight. 



Descriptions and figures are given of a number of new species 

 belonging to the genera Fenestella, Semicoscinium, Unitrypa, Polypora, 

 Fistulipora and Eridopora in addition to two new genera, Buscopora 

 and Lichenotrypa. 



The author bases a new genus of Brachiopoda, named Schizobolus, 

 on the internal characters of Discina truncata, Hall. The generic 

 affinities are stated to " appear to lie between the Obolidse on the 

 one side and the Discinida? on the other; the dorsal valve is not 

 unlike that of Discina, whilst the whole shell resembles Discinisca, 



