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1886. | Geology and Paleontology. 59 
shallow-water representatives had a very large number of very 
small eggs; showing apparently that the deep-sea species had rel- 
atively few enemies. Many deep-sea animals emitted, and some 
had special organs for the emission of phosphorescent light, 
which appeared to play a large vd/e in the economy of deep- 
sea life. One of the most striking facts with respect to deep- 
sea animals was their very wide distribution, the same spe- 
cies being found in all the great ocean basins. After referring to 
examinations of coral atolls and barren reefs, Mr. Murray said 
the results of many lines of investigation seemed to show that in 
the abysmał regions they had the most permanent areas of the 
earth’s surface, and he was a bold man who still argued that in 
Tertiary times there was a large area of continental land in the 
Pacific, that there was once a Lemuria in the Indian ocean, ora 
continental Atlantis in the Atlantic. It mattered little whether 
the opinions which he had given as to the bearing of some of the 
researches be correct or not. The great point was that there had 
been a vast addition to human knowledge, and it must be a mat- 
ter of satisfaction that our own country had taken so large a share 
in these important investigations as to call forth the admiration of 
scientific men of all countries. In the matter of deep-sea inves- 
tigation, neglecting mere details, we could say that successive 
governments during the past twenty years had, either from design 
or by accident, undertaken a work in the highest interests of the 
race, had carried it on in no mean or narrow spirit, and were likely 
to carry it to a termination in a manner worthy of a great, free 
and prosperous people. 
GrotocicaL News.—General—The third International Con- 
gress of Geologists has just been held in Berlin, 255 members be- 
ing present, the majority Germans. Italy sent eighteen, Austria 
sixteen, Great Britain eleven, France ten, and the United States 
nine representatives. The most important work of the congress 
is the preparation of a geological map of Europe. It is expecte 
that next year proofs in color of many of the sheets will be ready. 
The unification of geological nomenclature does not appear 
likely to be realized, but the congress has agreed that the 
Archzan rocks shall be divided into sections according to their 
petrographical characters, without expressing any opinion as to 
their relative age. 
Jurassic—At the recent meeting of the French Association, M. 
Cotteau stated that the Jurassic strata of France have furnished 
125 species of Echini, belonging to fifty genera, two only of which, 
idaris and Stomechinus, subsist at the present day. The shal- 
low seas of the Jurassic epoch, full of islands and coral reefs were 
favorable to the development of Echini. pep- 
lished, in the Paléontologie francaise, descriptions of 209 cfinoids — 
found in France. Of these eighty-nine were new to science; 
i 
t 
M. Loriol has pub 
