Geology and Natural History. 397 



The Pycnodontidse, specially on account of the character of the 

 axial skeleton and the mandible, are placed among the Protospon- 

 dyli. 



The author is led to place little value upon the characters of 

 the scales for purposes of classification. The combination of 

 thick, rhombic, firmly-articulated scales of the abdominal region 

 with delicate, cycloidal, deeply-overlapping scales of the caudal 

 pedicle in the interesting genus Aetheolepis of New South Wales, 

 and the second case of Tetragonolepis haying both thick and 

 thin scales, furnish a good reason lor departing from the long 

 established usage in this respect. 



Attention is also called to the interesting fact that the higher 

 fishes, like the highest of terrestrial vertebrates, are characterized 

 by a comparatively simple mandible. And the author remarks 

 in this connection that, u on acquiring this simplication of the 

 jaw, the Teleostomes seem to be infused with new vigor, vertebral 

 centra invariably occur, at first as simple rings, then as robust 

 amphiccelous bodies ; and a still more varied series of families 

 arises, including analogies of all the principal modifications 

 observed among the lower races, these being superinduced upon 

 the new and advanced type of skeletal frame." h. s. w. 



3. Catalogue of the Mesozoic Plants in the Department of 

 Geology of the British Museum. The Wealden Flora. Part 

 II. — Gymnospermaz ; by A. C. Seward; pp. 259, plates xx. 

 London, 1895. — The following quotations from Mr. Seward's 

 conclusion drawn from the study of this material will be of inter- 

 est to the geologist : "The general characters of the vegetation 

 would certainly seem to point to a tropical climate," p. 239. 



" The evidence of paleobotany certainly favors the inclusion 

 of the Wealden rocks in the Jurassic series," p. 240. 



Regarding the evolution of angiospermous plants, he says: 

 " The true Wealden vegetation would seem to have been without 

 any examples of the highest claes of plants, and may be looked 

 upon as the last of the Mesozoic floras in which gymnosperms 

 represented the limit of plant development. One genus, how- 

 ever, carries us a few steps towards the next stage in botanical 

 evolution ; the inflorescence of Bennettites marks a distinct advance 

 in the difterentation of reproductive structures beyond the char- 

 acteristic cycadean type," p. 241. 



4. Catalogue of the Perciform Fishes in the British Museum, 

 2d edition, Vol. 1, containing the Centrarchidce, Percidce, and 

 Serranidce {part) ; by George A. Boulenger: pp. 394, pis. xv. 

 London, 1895. — The materials forming the basis for this second 

 edition are the collections received by the museum since the year 

 1870. At the time of the publication of the first edition 29,275 

 specimens had been registered. The acquisitions since that time 

 amount to 29,375 specimens. These have been obtained from all 

 parts of the world; among the most important contributions aie 

 those brought home by the " Challenger," comprising littoral, 

 pelagic, and bathybial forms from almost every part of the ocean 



