184 Reviews — Zittel 1 s and Schimper's Palceontohgy. 



the appearance of Mr. H. B. Brady's admirable monograph of the 

 Carboniferous and Permian Foraminifera, are so obvious as to call 

 for no comment ; but one might doubt the propriety of some of the 

 others, in a work essentially professing to give only the generally 

 accepted and settled facts of the science. One might doubt, for 

 example, if Munier-Chalmas can be considered as having finally 

 proved that Dactylopora, Gyroporella, and Acicularia, are really Algce ; 

 or if the researches of Mobius have conclusively demonstrated the 

 mineral nature of Eozoon. There are, at any rate, very high authori- 

 ties who would still be prepared to dispute both of these conclusions. 



The general plan of the present instalment of the work is pre- 

 cisely the same as that adopted in the first part. Each group is 

 considered first as regards its general characters ; then the classifica- 

 tion and taxonomic divisions of the series are dealt with, all the 

 genera being briefly but clearly defined, where their characters are 

 thoroughly understood; and, finally, a short section is devoted to the 

 subjects of geological range and phylogeny. No plan could be 

 devised which would so largely meet the many wants of those who 

 desire to enter upon a really scientific study of fossil organisms, and 

 the manner in which it has been executed, as a rule, deserves the 

 highest praise. The illustrations, without exception wood - en- 

 gravings, are all good, and many wholly original ; and though some 

 may miss the greater delicacy and finish afforded by lithographs, 

 most will appreciate the immense convenience of having the picture 

 of the fossil side by side with its description in the text, and of thus 

 being spared the labour of hunting up the figure in a remote series 

 of plates at the end of the volume. 



The groups treated of in Part II. are the Sponges, the Corals, and 

 the Hydrozoa. As regards the first of these, nothing need be said 

 here, as all students of Zoology and Palaeontology are already 

 familiar with the beautifully illustrated memoirs on this group, 

 which Professor Zittel has published in the Transactions of the 

 Bavarian Academy of Sciences and the "Neues Jahrbuch far 

 Mineralogie " ; and they know therefore how greatly they are in- 

 debted to the author. Nor need much be said as regards the Corals ; 

 the general treatment of which is in many respects greatly superior 

 to anything to be found in previous manuals of Palaeontology, and 

 which has the merit of giving the student the most recent researches 

 upon this subject in a -condensed and readily available form. One 

 cannot help recognizing, of course, that Professor Zittel is here not 

 upon ground so thoroughly familiar to him as was the case with the 

 fossil Sponges : and one may feel regret that in the laudable desire to 

 embody the latest information in his work, he should sometimes' 

 have so implicitly relied upon writers whose investigations have not 

 yet met with the general approval of their fellow- workers. One 

 may, for example, doubt the propriety of admitting into a systematic 

 work for general students the classification of the Rugose Corals 

 proposed by Dybowski ; while the total and absolute abolition of 

 the old division of the Tabidata is certainly premature ; and it 

 would probably be difficult to bring forward any direct and positive 

 scientific evidence in support of the definite reference of Syringopora, 



