﻿Reviews — The Palceontographical Society. 231 



specimens of G. longus, Owen, in the Oxford Museum. The fine 

 series of remains of a gigantic Cetiosauroid Dinosaur [Omosaurus 

 armatus, Owen), from the Kimmeridge Clay at Swindon, furnishes 

 material for a Monograph, with twelve large plates beautifully 

 drawn by C. L. Griesbach; and enables Prof. Owen to enlarge upou 

 the " life and affinities of Dinosauria, as elucidated by the known 

 character of (Jmosaurus.'' The classification of fossil Saurians by 

 H. von Meyer, and the opinions of Prof. Huxley as to the ornithic 

 affinities of the Dinosaurs, are criticized in detail ; and the relative 

 smallness of the fore-legs of these great Keptiles is regarded as 

 analogous to that in swimming Crocodiles, and not as having refer- 

 ence to an upright position on their hind-legs in moving on the land. 



4. MONOGKAPHS OF THE Pal^ONTOGBAPHICAL SoCIETY FOE. 1876. 



THE volume for 1876 (vol. xxx.) has (1st) a short Supplement to 

 Prof.O wen's Fossil Rep tilia of the Wealden Formation, in which he 

 describes and illustrates a new species of Poikilopleuron (P. pusillus, 

 Owen), with its cavernous vertebree, in which ossification had been 

 arrested ; also a new genus of gigantic and probably Dinosaurian 

 Eep tiles, in which such chondrosal cavities, due to the partial re- 

 tainment of the primitive chondrine, are very charactei-istic. Two 

 species of this great Chondrosteosaurus are known from the Wealden 

 (one of them had been previously referred to Botliriospondylus). 



2nd. — The British Fossil Brachiopoda are further elucidated and 

 systematized by Mr. Davidson, who has enthusiastically devoted so 

 much time and labour to mastering and explaining the characters and 

 relationships of this most interesting group of shells. Those of the 

 Triassic and Jurassic species which had previously escaped notice 

 are now described, and additional notes on those already known 

 enhance the value of this magnificent Monograph. Plates IX. to 

 XVI. are given with this portion, and illustrate the Jurassic Treten- 

 terata and Glistenterata. 



3rd.— H. B. Brady's Monograph of Carboniferous and Permian 

 Foraminifei'a (the genus Fusulina excepted), 166 pages, with 12 

 plates, is one of the most exhaustive and perfect Monographs yet 

 supplied by the Pala3ontographical Society. The Introduction tells 

 of the history of the undertaking, and enumerates the author's fellow- 

 workers and helpers. Under " General Considerations " he tells us 

 of the relationship of limestones and Foraminifera ; pointing out that 

 only some limited portions of the Mountain-limestone appear to be 

 formed of Foraminifera in the British and West-European area, 

 though Fusulina constitutes enormous masses of that limestone in 

 Russia and North America. Indeed, he considers that there are large 

 areas of this limestone where the sea appears to have deposited its 

 excess of mineral constituents by chemical precipitation, resulting in 

 concretional, spheroidal, or oolitic structures ; organic remains, if not 

 absent, having been either dissolved or masked. The rationale of 

 the necessary physical conditions and changes is briefly explained. 

 The occasional presence of Foraminifera in prepared slices of the 

 British Carboniferous and Permian limestones (for these formations 



