78 Notices of Memoirs — Scientific Journals. 



Devonian rocks. The shoal of Pteraspides now caught in Devon 

 and Cornwall will go very far to remove this difficulty." 



Twenty-five years ago, Mr. C> W. Peach introduced these fossils 

 as fish — for eight years their claims were unquestioned — they were 

 then determined to be sponges, but confessedly on imperfect 

 materials. •' For seventeen years this has remained the prevalent 

 opinion, but it now proves to be incorrect. Mr. Peach's judgment 

 has received the fullest justification, and we all congratulate him 

 heartily on the fact." 



3. In the third paper, Mr, Pengelly gives extracts from all the 

 papers he has been able to ascertain which relate to Kent's Cavern, 

 and have appeared prior to the year 1859. Amongst them the 

 writings of Blewitt, Godwin-Austen, Owen, and Vivian, appear 

 prominent. 



III.— SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS. 



1. The Quaeteelt Jouenal of Science, begun in 1864, has 

 just commenced its sixth volume, and will in future be published by 

 Messrs. Longmans & Co. 



The editors, Messrs. James Samuelson, and William Crookes, 

 F.E.S., each contribute an original article to the January number, 

 on " The Ethereal Hypothesis of Light " by the former, and on 

 '■' The Great Solar Eclipse of 1868," by the latter gentleman. Mr, 

 J. Arthur Phillips gives an acccimt of " The Alkaline Lakes of 

 California ; " there is also an able Eeview of Dr. Bigsby's Thesaurus 

 Siluricus, and a Notice of the principal discoveries in science during 

 the past year ; with many other topics of general interest. Besides 

 these there are the usual Quarterly Chronicles of Archaeology, 

 Geology and Paleeontology, Mineralogy, Mining, etc. 



2, The Popular Science Eeview for January, contains an 

 article on ''True and False Flint Weapons, by Mr. N. Whitley, C.E, 

 His remarks refer chiefly to the implements of the so-called Palago- 

 lithic age. "These stone implements pass, by such insensible grada- 

 tions, into other forms of fractured flint, obviously the result of 

 natural causes, that their advocates find it difficult to determine 

 whether they are artificial or natural;" while "the implements of 

 Neolithic age," he says, " cannot be inspected without producing the 

 conviction of their human origin." 



He regards the flint flakes, of which about 30,000 were found in one 

 Belgian cave, associated with human bones, as formed by natural 

 causes, some of them being afterwards selected and adapted for use 

 by man. 



He has made a large collection of these flint flakes from various 

 localities. " They show a gradation in size from \ inch to 8 inches 

 in length. A gradation in form from the roughest fracture to the 

 most perfect flake. The good and the bad are all mingled in indis- 

 criminate confusion ; but the most degraded savage would not cast 

 away his well-formed implements with the refuse chips. They 



