1889.] Recent Literature. 487 
Hull's Geological Age of the North Atlantic 
Ocean.' — A quarto of 12 pages illustrated by 3 sketch maps 
and several sectional drawings. The author opposes the doc- 
trine of the permanency of oceans and continents, held by 
Dana, Le Conte and Dr. Wallace, and cites facts derived from 
observations in the region of the North Atlantic to uphold 
Lyell's views of the repeated interchange of oceans and conti- 
nents. He refers the date of the oceanic condition of the 
Atlantic area, and of the continental conditions of Eastern 
America and Western Europe to the close of the Palaeozoic 
Boulenger's Reptiles and Batrachians of the Sol- 
omon Islands.'— The position of this group of islands, on the 
limits of two great zoological districts, renders the study of 
Its fauna of special interest, as it is the point where many of 
the Papuasian and Polynesian forms intermingle. The author 
gives a list of all the species hitherto found in the Solomon 
group, with notes on the general habitats. It includes nine- 
teen reptiles and nine batrachians, some of which are restricted 
to these islands. The plates are admirable in every respect ; 
the drawing is spirited, most of the batrachians especially so. 
The most remarkable discovery recorded is that of the genus 
Ceratobatrachus Boul, a form which represents in the Firmis- 
ternial Salientia the Hemiphractus of the Arciferous line. The 
parallel is shown in the mandibular teeth and the huge dermo- 
ossification of the head. This discovery nearly completes the 
parallels between the Arcifera and the Firmisternia. 
Bennett and Murray's Cryptogamic Botany.'— As 
stated in the Introduction, "No general hand-book of crypto- 
gamic botany has appeared in the English language since the 
Rev. M. J. Berkley's in 1857." ^^ this period, almost one- 
third of a century, since the preparation of that famous and 
• Geological Age of the North Atlant 
S., F.G.S., Director of the Geol. Sur. 
tns. Roy. Dublin Soc, Vol. III., 1885. 
andbook of Cryptogamic Botan_ 
ByG. . 
_' Hospital ; and George Murray, F. L. S. , 
, Department of Botany, British Museum, and Examiner in Botany 
■sity. With 378 Illustrations. London : Longmans, Guerny and 
York: IS East i6th Street. 1889. All rights reserved. i2mo, 
