440 Scientific Intelligence. 



by Mr, White, give the Tmniopteris missouriensis an especial in- 

 terest from the point of view of phylogeny. It supplies a sort of 

 " missing link " in a chain of development already pretty clearly 

 marked out leading from the ancient Devonian Megalopteris stock 

 through the Alethopterids and the pinnate Treniopterids, culmin- 

 ating in the Jurassic Dangeites and living Danaea. The present 

 form seems to be in the direct line of descent, but there was a 

 lateral branch of the Megalopteris stock which led through Les- 

 quereux's American genus Lesleya and the simple forms of 

 Tseniopteris to Fontaine's Macrotaaniopteris, the most character- 

 istic plant of the Richmond and North Carolina coal fields and 

 Connecticut valley Trias, or Newark system. It is with this 

 branch that the Glossopteris flora seems to have its nearest 

 affinities in the northern hemisphere. Should these relationships 

 ever be successfully worked out a great light will be thrown upon 

 the geological history of plants and the early climatic conditions 

 of the earth. The new plant was collected near Clinton, Henry 

 county, Missouri, in the Lower Coal Measures, and if it is a 

 Taaniopteris it is the most ancient species of that genus. The 

 copious references given to the literature show that the author is 

 complete master of his subject, which takes this paper entirely 

 out of the class of mere speculations. l. f. w. 



1. The Bryozoa of the Lower Silurian in Minnesota; by 

 E. O. Uleich. 4to, 33'2 pp., 23 plates, 1893. From vol. iii, of 

 final Report of the Minnesota Geological Survey. — This report 

 of the Minnesota Geological Survey by Mr. Ulrich is one of the 

 most valuable contributions to the subject that has thus far been 

 made. The illustrations are unsurpassed in any of the Paleonto- 

 logical publications of the country. The Bryozoan corals have 

 great importance in the geology, as stated in the following para- 

 graph from the introduction. 



" The Bryozoa must be accorded the first rank among the various 

 classes of fossils that are represented in the Lower Silurian rocks 

 of Minnesota. They are entitled to this distinction, first, because 

 of the great variety of form and structure among them ; and, 

 secondly, because of their exceeding abundance in the way of 

 individuals. In both of these respects their representation ex- 

 ceeds that of the Brachiopoda, which doubtless held the second 

 rank, in the approximate ratio of two to one. So plentiful are 

 their remains in some of the beds, particularly in the shaly 

 members, that they may be said to constitute no inconsiderable 

 part of the strata. In the Trenton shales, the intercalated plates 

 of limestone are literally covered with them, and they are not 

 rare even in the massive limestones above and beneath the shales, 

 which were deposited under conditions much less favorable to 

 their development. In short, of every impartial collection of the 

 Lower Silurian fossils of Minnesota, the Bryozoa necessarily con- 

 stitute a large portion, not only of the number of species and 

 specimens, but of its bulk as well. 



