266 Chronicles of Science. [April, 



" On the Madreporaria of the Infra-lias of Sonth Wale?/ - ' as in it 

 the author describes the occurrence of a co:ral-fauna ; new to Great 

 Britain, occurring in deposits of Liassic age at Brocastle, Ewenny, 

 Sutton, Southerndown, &c, near Bridgend. Before the discovery of 

 these corals, very few were known to occur in England between the 

 Keuper and the zone of Ammonites BuxJclandi. and as regards the 

 number of species, they bore no relation to that of the associated 

 niollusca. We have now, however, 26 new species from Bro- 

 castle, and 7 from the Sutton series, besides 5 common to the 

 former locality and the zone of Ammonites Moreanus in the Cote 

 d'Or and its equivalent beds, and 3 Triassic species from the 

 Sutton stone, already described by Laube ; making, in all, 41 

 species. 



The conclusions drawn froin these entirely new data must have 

 a high interest for geologists who have taken part in the vexed 

 question of the lower limit of the lias As will be b 



by the title of his paper, Dr. Duncan adopts the terra Infra -lias, 



1 by continental geologist? : but he makes the very suggestive 

 remark — that "the Madreporaria abound at the base and at the 

 upper part of the Infra-liassic series .... and that as a whole, 

 the coral-fanna of the Infra-lias is more distinct from that of the 

 true Lower Lias than the coral-fauna of any one of the Oolitic 

 beds is from that of another.'' He correlates the Welsh strata in 

 question with ,f the upper beds of the Erench and Luxembourgian 

 Infra-lias," and we have seen that three Triassic species have 

 lingered even so late as to be found at Sutton. It therefore 



: mes interesting to know how many Triassic forms are found in 

 the beds at the base of the continental Infra-lias, because on this 

 will depend the verdict to be given on the applicability of the term 

 Infra-lias, from the evidence of the corals. But whatever name 

 we use, we have recorded in this paper the very important fact that 

 these rich coralliferous beds of Wales are the equivalents of the 

 upper portion of the continental Infra-lias, namely, of the Calcaire 

 de Yalogne, the zone of Ammonites Moreanus, and the Gres 

 Calcareux, which are superimposed on the equivalents of our zone 

 of Ammonites planorbis; consequently the Welsh beds must be 

 more recent than that zone. 



In a paper on the structure of the Xiphosura, Mr. H. Woodward 

 discusses the relations of the Palaeozoic genera Eurypterus and 

 Ptenjgotus to the existing genus Limulus. At first sight the 

 affinity of the recent with the fossil types does not appear very 

 evident, and, even when the resemblances are pointed out, it does 

 not seem to be striking. But recent discoveries have shown that 

 these are the extreme members of a long series of forms, and as 

 each gap has been filled up, the comparison has. of coarse, bee 

 more easv and natural, until now Mr. Woodward considers the 



