86 Reviews — MurchlwrC s " SiiuriaJ* 



which led Mr. Jukes to compare them with the lowest slaty rocks of 

 Devonshire, which, containing very diifferent fossils, stand, in my 

 opinion, precisely in the same position as that in which Sedgwick, 

 De la Beche, and Phillips, as well as myself, have placed them" 

 (p. 295). We observe the correction of the nomenclature of some 

 Carboniferous fossils and a notice of the many new Reptiles (chiefly 

 Labyrinthodonts) described of late years by Dawson, Owen, Marsh, 

 and by Huxley in particular, who has added to the list eleven from 

 the Scotch and Irish Coal-fields. A consideration of the origin of 

 Bituminous shale and Petroleum forms part of this chapter, and also 

 a portion of chapter xviii., in which the Palasozoic Rocks of North 

 America are treated of. 



Chapter xiii. is in itself a concise monograph on the Permian 

 Rocks of England, Scotland, Germany, and Russia, with reference 

 to those of America and elsewhere. Carefully revised throughout, 

 and augmented with Mr. Geikie's discoveries in Ayrshire, and those 

 by the author and Professor Harkness in Westmoreland, it stands 

 alone as a source of information to the student or general reader on 

 Permian Geology and Palaeontology, and on the structure of some 

 very interesting spots in Germany and elsewhere. 



The General Yiew of the Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous 

 Rocks of Scandinavia and Russia, — of the Palaeozoic Succession in 

 Germany, — of the Palaeozoic Rocks of the Harz, the Rhenish Pro- 

 vinces of Prussia, and Belgium, — the Palaeozoic Rocks of France, 

 Spain, Portugal, and Sardinia, — contained in chapters xiv.-xvii., 

 already formed a well-known compendium of the geology of the 

 Palaeozoic Formations on the Continent ; but now that it is fully 

 revised and augmented by contributions from Kjerulf, Dahll, Hel- 

 mersen, Schmidt, Tchihatcheff, Barrando, Geinitz, Giimbel, von 

 Dechen, de Vemeuil, Collomb, de la Marmora, and other good 

 geologists, we must value it still more highly. We particularly draw 

 attention to the Bohemian portion of chapter xv. on account of the 

 close relationship it has with the facts and arguments in the early 

 chapters of the book, and on account of the many interesting points 

 therein treated of, such as the so-called ''Colonies," and other fea- 

 tures of this rich centre of Silurian life. The revised table (opposite 

 p. 405) of the Upper Palaeozoic Rocks in Europe, from the summit 

 of the Silurian to the Permian inclusive, will be found particularly 

 valuable, as the chief localities both in the British Isles and Europe, 

 as well as the typical fossils, are given as fully as space permits. 



'' The Succession of Primaeval Rocks in America," chapter xviii., 

 is full of the latest information, much of which Sir W. E. Logan, 

 Principal Dawson, and Dr. S. Hunt have directly contributed. The 

 revised table of the Palseozoic Rocks of North America, compared with 

 those of Britain, contains also lists of the characteristic fossils, and 

 will be fully appreciated. 



' Chapter xix., giving us the author's views on the original intro- 

 duction of gold into the earth's crust and its subsequent distribution 

 in debris over various parts of the earth's surface, is rich with facts, 

 new and old, illustrative of the subject. The researches of Selwyn 



