Fauna of the Belgian Carboniferous Limestone. 473 



in the rich collections of the Koyal Museum of Natural History, 

 whence the chief part of the material for this, and the contemplated 

 volumes of " Extraits des Annales du Musee Royale de la Belgique," 

 have heen, or will be, derived. 



Prefacing his first volume with a brief but clear outline of the 

 limits and nature of the lowest division of the Carboniferous forma- 

 tion, in Belgium, the Carboniferous or " Mountain" Limestone, — M. 

 de Koninck proceeds to a further subdivision into three main groups, 

 each of which is characterized by a distinct biological fauna. Here, 

 as usual in Palaeozoic deposits, the Brachiopoda are to the fore as 

 classificatory indices. The position of the Vise Limestone, overlying 

 the Devonian, is definitely settled. It comprises the uppermost or 

 most modern beds. This reverses Murchison's grouping, originally 

 followed by the author and other Belgian geologists, but now shown 

 to have been erroneous. The Upper or Vise Limestone is charac- 

 terized by Productus giganteus, the middle series by Spirifer striatus, 

 and the Lower or Tournai Limestone by Spirifer mosquensis. The 

 entire series, about 800 metres in thickness, is again subdivided into 

 six beds according to the arrangement of M. E. Dupont. 



As no reptilian or amphibian remains have as yet been furnished 

 by the Belgian Carboniferous rocks, this volume is occupied by 

 figures and descriptions of the forty-three species of fishes occurring 

 in the Upper and Lower divisions. The middle beds are entirely 

 barren of piscine remains, and the conditions were evidently un- 

 favourable to their preservation during the deposition of the whole 

 series. For the number represented is less than half that of the 

 described British species from the same epoch. Some of the Belgian 

 forms are, however, very remarkable. Forty belong to the Selachii 

 and the remaining three to the Ganoidei. The interesting Dipnoid 

 discovered by the author and M. van Beneden, Palcedaphas insignis, 

 does not find a place in this volume, as the horizon originally given 

 as Carboniferous is now known to be of Devonian age. The classifi- 

 cation adopted throughout is Dr. Traquair's Miillerian modification of 

 Professor Huxley's system. But M. de Koninck gives only necessary 

 classificatory details, leaving the systematization of the Carboniferous 

 fishes to those possessed of more ample material. Of the fifty-two 

 species of Nautili figured and described, twenty-two are new to 

 science. Several forms are restricted to certain horizons ; none make 

 their appearance prior to that epoch, and not one survives it. The 

 genus is abundantly represented in Belgium, but occurs but rarely in 

 Australian deposits of similar age. 



The specific descriptions, clear though not diffusive, are accompanied 

 by careful comparisons with European, American, and Australian 

 forms, and liberal recognition is awarded to the labours of pre- 

 decessors and contemporaries in the same field of inquiry. The atlas 

 comprises thirty-one folio plates of fishes and cephalopods, beauti- 

 fully executed by Gr. Severeyns. The work gives promise of a 

 mine of information for comparative purposes to all interested in 

 the history of the fossils of this rich formation, and cannot but 

 add to the acknowledged repute of the author as a distinguished 



