264 Chronicles of Science. V^-W^j 



laeontologically ; from the former point of yiew because he shows 

 that two species of cones, hitherto considered to be of Cretaceous 

 age, are really of Tertiary date; and from the latter because 

 he considers these, and some other cones, to be truly Coniferous, 

 instead of Cycadean, as determined by Lindley and Hutton. Mr. 

 Carruthers also departs from custom in referring the different 

 species of cones found in the Secondary and Tertiary deposits to 

 one group, for which he uses the general generic tenn Pinites, 

 while more daring botanists have had no hesitation in assigning 

 them to " the various sections, or so-called genera, into which 

 Pinas is divided." 



A very sensible paper, in the January number, " On Denuda- 

 tion, with reference to the Configuration of the Ground;' by Mr. 

 A. B. Wynne, inculcates the maxim that "all the forms of the 

 land cannot be fairly attributed to any one kind of denudation 

 with which we are acquainted ; n and that the similarity of the 

 general results involves then origin in some obscurity, u which 

 may lead to error, if a prejudice exist in favour of either marine 

 or subaerial agency." In the same number is a valuable abstract 

 of a Danish memoir on Crinoids, by Dr. Liitken, which especially 

 affects palaeontologists, as it treats of the classification of the group 

 generally ; but there is one structural point which likewise de- 

 mands consideration : — some Crinoids, especially Palaeozoic forms, 

 possess a central opening, terminating a proboscidean tube; this 

 has generally been regarded as the mouth, and any other aper- 

 ture as the vent. Dr. Liitken, however, shows that in the exist- 

 ing sea-lilies a proboscidean mouth does not exist, but that the 

 intestine always ends in a short or long proboscidean tube; and 

 he therefore considers that this is most probably the anus. In 

 the recent Actinometra the mouth is eccentric, so that there is 

 no reason why this should not have been the case in the fossil 

 species ; indeed, " it is the form, and not the place, that must 

 decide if it is the anal-tube or the mouth." 



The February number is full of interesting matter. Profes- 

 sor Owen describes the jaws and teeth of Cochhodonts ; and 

 Professor Huxley a new reptile (Acantliopliolis horriclus) from 

 the chalk-marl of Folkestone, its stratigraphical position being 

 illustrated in a paper by Mr. Etheridge. Professor John Morris 

 gives some interesting information on the occurrence of " Grey- 

 wethers " at Grays, Essex, which has not been generally noticed 

 before. Then there are two controversial papers, one "On the 

 systematic Position of Graptolites," by Mr. Carruthers, in which 

 the author favours the view of their Polyzoan affinities ; and the 

 other "On the alleged Hydrothermal Origin of certain Granites, 

 &c." by Mr. David Forbes, in which the author impugns the 

 conclusions at which Mr. James Geikie had arrived in his paper 



