Review of Recent Geological Literature. 59 
In the three genera first above named he finds Ihecte to have been 
formed earlier than has been supposed. The distal part of what has 
been considered the sicula is the first theca. Succeeding this he dis- 
tinguishes two, following each other, the sinistnd and the dextral them; 
these, with the one on the sicula, comprise the 2J>'inw}-dial theav, which 
form the foundation of the polyparies of these genera. He discards the 
term funacle as unnecessary, there being no barren part to the polypary. 
He states also that he has not discovered a vergulain the Dirlioyraptida'. 
The essay contains notes on the genus ])id>/mograjitu.s, with special 
reference to B. gibberidiis Nich. The i)ro.\imai part of T'cfrar/rapfufi 
biffsbyi 'M\ch., and P/iyllo(/rnptii.9 anr/u.stifolins Hall, arc also fully de- 
scribed in this article. The article is illustratt'd with six well finished 
plates and several wood-cuts, and is an important one for students of 
the Rabdopora. o. f. m. 
Dc Vexistence de nombreux debris de Spongiaires dtiii-s le Precdmbrien de 
Bretagne. Par L. Caykux. (Ex. de la Societe du Nord, T. xxiii, p. 52, 
3 Avril, 1895.) The author illustrates this contribution to this ancient 
fauna with two plates. On these plates are figures of forms referred lo 
Monaxes, Tetractinellid*, Lithistidte and Hexactinellidfe. These re- 
mains are found in the same rocks as the Foraminifera and Radiolaria 
already anno\inced by M. Cayeux and noted in recent pages of the 
Geologist. The evidence of the fossiliferous nature of these rocks 
seems to be abundantly satisfactory. The only remaining doubtful ele- 
ment in the discussion is that of the age of the rocks themselves, on 
which there is not yet sufhcient knowledge. In M. Cayeux'sotherpaper 
he stated that his impression was that these rocks belong in the Ameri- 
can "Algonkian," but that is to take them not only from the Cambrian 
but also from the Archean, and to put them into an uncertain limbo in 
which are found all unstudied rocks at about that horizon, and in which 
the sponsors for that term have included some rocks certainly Cambrian 
and others that may be Cambrian, as well as some that are probably 
Archean. In other words, in the absence of a known lower limit for 
Cambrian, and in the presence of similar organisms reported in several 
places in America from the Taconic (Lower Cambrian), taken with the 
author's idea that they are of "Algonkian" age, there remains much 
reason to hesitate to accept these fossil forms as Archean, or even as 
"pre-Cambrian." The nature of the rocks themselves, a. .nliceoitif date 
intercallated with an enormovs formation of black slates, which occupy a 
wide extent of territory in that part of Bretagne, presents an anomalous 
petrograi)hic assemblage to be placed in the Archean. x. ii. w. 
Tertiary lihi/nchophorous Coleoptera of the United States. ]W Samuel 
HuBBAKD ScuDDER. (Monograph xxi, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1893. Pages 
.\i, 20G; with 12 plates. Price, 90 cents.) Four localities in Colorado 
and Wyoming have siipplied 191 species of beaked beetles which are 
described in this work, IIG being from Florissant, all distinct from any 
found in the other places, and 75 from the Roan mountains and the 
White and Green rivers. A considerable number of species occur in 
