476 Revieiis — Royal Microscopical Society's J^unial. 



of the EbEetic beds and Inferior Oolite ; erroneous positions are 

 assigned to the Thanet sands and to the Hempstead beds, which are 

 placed above the Woolwich and Bovey Tracey series respectively ; 

 and the classification of the Cambrian and Silurian strata is certainly 

 not the best that could be adopted. The lists of economic products 

 and fossil remains are equally unsatisfactory ; we note in the former 

 that Common Salt is given as a product obtained from the Lias, 

 while the well-known Ironstones of that formation are not mentioned ; 

 in the latter that Chara and Astropecten are placed with the Conchifers 

 and Hippurites with the Plantse ; moreover, many of the fossils 

 given are not characteristic of the groups in which they are placed, 

 e.g. Atrypa reticularis is given as Devonian, and Plagiostoma gigantea 

 as Lower Oolite. We very much question the truth of the state- 

 ments (pp. 13 and 14) that mammals allied to Monkeys appear in 

 the Chalk, and that the Cretaceous " coprolithes " are all " iossilized 

 excrements of fishes." In the table of rocks and minerals (pp. 

 17-19) such important species as Tourmaline, Garnet, and Diallage 

 are i;nnoticed, while a place is given to the comparatively un- 

 important Aziu'ite, Meerschaum, and Strontianite. Porphyry, which 

 is defined on p. 22 as any rock in which " distinct crystals of one 

 or more minerals are imbedded," has here assigned to it a definite 

 composition of Alg (8103)3: the formula given for Mica and Olivine 

 would hardly be accepted by most Mineralogists, and the definition 

 of Trachyte as " Glassy Felspar with crystals of ditto " will not 

 commend itself to many Petrographers. It is, however, in the 

 glossary of "most essential" terms (pp. 20-23) that the slipshod 

 character of this compilation is most apparent ; no distinction, for 

 example, is made between rock cleavage and the cleavage of crystals, 

 nor between cliffs and escarpments ; such terms as False-bedding, 

 Overlap, Denudation, and Foliation are conspicuous by their absence 

 from a list which includes Berg-mehl and Plumbago, and many of 

 the so-called definitions do not deserve the name. The following 

 examples require no comment: — "Alluvium: A formation composed 

 of fragmentary matter collected together by the ordinary action of 

 water." " Dislocation : Stratified rocks, when displaced from the 

 horizontal position in which they were deposited, are called dis- 

 located." 



Many more such examples might be given, but we think enough 

 has been said to show that the work can scarcely be recommended 

 as a safe guide to either students or teachers. E. W. S. 



II. — Journal of the Koyal Microscopical Society. Series 



II. vol. i. parts 4-6, and vol. ii. parts 1-4. (Nos. 23-29; 



August, 1881— August, 1882.) 



rilHIS useful Journal continues to be conducted on a very liberal 



L scale, both scientifically and technically. It contains the 



Transactions and Proceedings of the Society, and a summary of 



current researches relating to Zoology and Botany (principally 



Invertebrata and Cryptogamia, with the Embryology and Histology 



of the higher Animals and Plants), and Microscopy. The whole is 



