ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OE THE PRESIDENT. 213 



2. A full synopsis of the palaeozoic Radiata, Articulata and Mol- 

 lusca, by M. de Verneuil. The species are all admirably described, 

 and full details of great interest are given respecting their affinities, 

 synonyms, and distribution. A great number of new and curious 

 forms are made known for the first time. In that part which treats 

 of the Brachiopoda, M. de Verneuil has given the results of a critical 

 investigation of the genera, accompanied by tables of characters of 

 the greatest value. He has constituted a now genus, Siphonetreta, 

 for the reception" of certain very curious fossils, which, while pre- 

 senting much of the form of TerebratulcB, are really allied to Ovm 

 hiculcB, and have the same corneous texture of shell. Among the 

 palaeozoic Acephala, he has described a well-marked species of 

 Astrea, a genus hitherto having only doubtful claims to such high 

 antiquity. Among the Gasteropoda, lanthina for the first time ap- 

 pears as a palaeozoic genus. 



In the account of the Radiata are interesting descriptions and 

 comments on the Russian species of Cystidece. Among the Articu- 

 lata is the genus Fusulina, a foraminiferous animal abounding in 

 certain beds of carboniferous limestone in Russia. Hitherto, traces 

 of such animals in such ancient beds have been few and imperfect. 



3. The Jurassic, cretaceous, and tertiary mollusca are described 

 in full detail by M. d'Orbigny, and their synonyms carefully elabo- 

 rated, — a service for the rendering of which we cannot be too thank- 

 ful, since duplicate names have accumulated to a most confusing 

 extent. As an instance, it may be mentioned that M. d'Orbigny 

 enumerates as synonyms of the Ammonites Jason of Zieten, no less 

 than fourteen distinct names. 



The plates throughout are admirable. 



The history of fossil radiate animals has received one of the most 

 important additions ever made to it, in the memoir of M. von Buch 

 on the Cijstidece; a memoir of the greatest value to the naturalist, 

 since it furnishes him with an elaborate and philosophical exposition 

 of the organization and affinities of a group of fossil animals hitherto 

 misunderstood, and which fill up a blank in the series of Radiata. 

 As these fossils are now known to be by no means unfrequent in 

 the British palaeozoic strata, though they have hitherto attracted 

 but little attention, the study of the paper, itself a model of palaeon- 

 tological description, will well repay the attention of geologists. They 

 will find it at full lengtli, translated by Professor Ansted, in the last 

 number of our Journal ; and I may adduce it as an instance of the 

 valuable assistance which we afford to the geologists of this country, 

 by devoting a portion of our Quarterly publication to original foreign 

 memoirs; for how few there are who can have an opportunity of 

 seeing the ' Transactions of the Berlin Academy,' to say nothing of 

 those who do not read German ! 



M. Agassiz, that most indefatigable of living naturalists, besides 

 his important contributions during the last year in that department 



