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THE GEOLOGIST. 



transverse section of the shell, showing distinctly the cb ambers which, 

 during the life of the animal, contained its softer parts. Were it not for 

 this circumstance, it might have been difficult to have obtained sections of 

 these shells, as owing to their fragility they would scarcely bear the pro- 

 cess of grinding down, however delicately conducted. 



Some specimens of Bryozoa have occurred among the Orbitoides, but I 

 have not succeeded in detaching a specimen. They are so brittle that the 

 most careful manipulation is insufficient to prevent them from falling to 

 powder under the hand of the operator. I have not detected any other 

 organisms in the same bed as the Orbitoides and Nummulites ; but both 

 above and below it are found Tertiary fossils, probably not of more recent 

 date than the Miocene age. I hope to be able to present observations on 

 these fossils at some future time. Suffice it for the present to state that 

 the evidence derived from them is not inconsistent with the presumption 

 of the Miocene origin of the deposits in question. We know too little as 

 yet of the Tertiaries of this part of the world to be able to pronounce a 

 more decided opinion ; but should the supposition of the Middle Tertiary 

 age of the San Fernando Tertiaries be ultimately established, we should 

 have here the remarkable phenomenon of the association of an Old- World 

 with a New- World form of Lower Tertiary Ehizopod in a deposit of Mid- 

 dle Tertiary age. It would indeed be very possible, in that case, that the 

 homotaxical representatives in Europe of the deposits at San Fernando 

 may be found amongst the lower members of the Miocene group. But 

 this observation would not necessarily extend to those portions of the Ter- 

 tiaries which are found inland, at Mount Tamana, Jordan Hill, and St. 

 Croix, for instance. The fossils from those places, as well as those from 

 Manzanilla, and other parts of the east coast of the island of Trinidad, 

 seem to belong to a somewhat later date. — E. J. Lechmeee Guppt. 



MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 



The " Eules for Zoological Nomenclature," elaborated by the Strickland 

 Committee of the British Association in 1842, have been reprinted in a 

 pamphlet- form, under the authority of the British Association, by Messrs. 

 Neill, of Edinburgh. The vagueness and uncertainty of the nomenclature 

 of animals has been one of the greatest detriments to science, and before 

 the framing of these rules was infinitely worse than it is now. Indeed, so 

 long as naturalists take different views of the natural affinities of animals, 

 there must and will be diversities of classification. The widest circulation 

 and the universal adoption of this series of propositions will be the best 

 antidote for the evils arising from still continued injurious practices. The 

 object of the present issue is to get suggestions for the amendment and 

 perfecting of the rules submitted to Sir W. Jardine and the new committee, 

 before the next meeting of the Association in June, 



The Proceedings of the Liverpool Philosophical Society contain — " The 

 Ancient Fauna of Lancashire and Cheshire," by Dr. Collingwood ; and " On 

 a New Theory of the Generation of Steam, with an Explanation of the 

 Geysers of Iceland," by Mr. E. J. Eeed, H.M. Chief Naval Constructor ; 

 and " On the Manufacture of Stone-Implements in Ancient and Modern 

 Times." 



