Among extra-European fossil floras, none is perhaps better known than that of the Permo-Carboniferous rocks of the Southern Hemisphere. These rocks are extensively developed in Southern India, Australia, South Africa, and South America, and there can be little doubt that these regions once formed part of a great continent, to which the name Gondwana-land has been appropriately applied.

Fossil Mammalian remains from Olivola were already known in the last century. Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti describes and figures several bones from that locality, which he refers to some species of Tricliechus or Phoca, but which, as far as the figures permit of a judgment, belonged to Ruminants. In this century, the deposit was mentioned by Pareto, and by Cocchi, who from stratigraphical considerations ascribe it to the Pleistocene.

It seems to be curiously difficult to obtain fair treatment for the theory of a continuously cooling earth and its consequence, the thermal contraction theory of mountain formation. After Davison and Darwin had calculated the available compression of the earth's crust on Kelvin's theory of the cooling of the earth, and obtained a result that was at any rate of an order of magnitude consistent with the observations then available, Osmond Fisher made a revised comparison, which amounted to supposing the mountains formed by compression all powdered and spread out uniformly over the whole surface of the earth; the thickness of the resulting layer was naturally very much less than the actual height of known mountains. So far as I have been able to trace, nobody protested against the assumption that the thickness of the material after it had been redistributed in this way was directly comparable with the height of the mountains as actually distributed, and Osmond Fisher's view seems to have been universally quoted as the last word on the subject. Even long after my rediscussion of the whole question in 1916, making allowances for the additional data provided by radioactivity, had again led to a result agreeing with observation within the uncertainty of the data, it was almost completely neglected in the literature of the subject, while Osmond Fisher's work retained undisputed pre-eminence.

Calymene quadrata King is re-described. Two new species of similar age and provenance are erected and considered to be closely allied to quadrata; all three forms are thought to be best placed in genus Gravicalymene Shirley. G. pontilis sp.nov., the stratigraphically oldest form suggests derivation of the group from an ancestor such as G. deani Ingham. G. arcuata sp.nov. is the youngest form. Variation in the preglabellar area between the three forms argues for an expansion of the diagnosis of genus Gravicalymene; this would allow it to contain forms previously placed in genus Sthenarocalymene Siveter.

During the course of a systematic investigation of the drifts of Flamborough Head, I have somewhat unexpectedly come across a fragment of marine Arctic beds enclosed in Boulder-clay, similar to those which form the well-known fossiliferous deposits of Bridlington and Dimlington; and as this occurs under very different conditions from those already described, it adds materially to our knowledge of the beds, and illustrates more clearly their origin.

In England the Great Oolite of Minchinhampton contains the greater number of species belonging to this peculiar group of Haliotidœ. Morris and Lycett (Great Oolite Mollusca, p. 80) give a full and interesting diagnosis of the genus, which has oniy one representative in the Corallian beds of Yorkshire. D'Orbigny figures half a dozen species of Troehotoma from the Corallian of France, and Buvignier gives three from the Coral Rag of the Meuse. None are quoted by Be Loriol from the Séquanien of Boulogne.

In the February Number of the Geological Magazine, there is an article by Messrs. B. N. Peach and J. Home, answering the doubts expressed by me regarding the soundness of their views on this subject.

Mr. Marr's valuable communication on the Coniston Limestone Series, which appeared in the March Number of this Magazine, is sure to be welcomed as an excellent summary of the geology of this interesting group of rocks. It contains a digest of most of the published work relating to the Coniston Limestone Series, and also many new facts and arguments drawn from Mr. Marr's own observations in the field.

The rocks of the New Hebrides belong to at least four groups—two series of limestones and two series of volcanic rocks. The islands are sometimes referred to as if composed only of recent volcanic and coral formations. The existence of a series of old rocks has been believed from the records of gneiss on Espiritu Santo by Levat, and of ores of iron, copper, and nickel. The asserted presence of these materials suggested that the older rocks of New Caledonia form the foundation of the New Hebrides. The existence of the ores and gneiss is, however, discredited by Sir Douglas Mawson (1905, pp. 422, 434–5); he remarked that he had examined “small samples of copper, manganese, and other ores supposed to have been collected in the group” (Mawson, 1905, p. 435). He did not confirm this supposition, though admitting that traces of these metals might occur.

In June, 1895, Mr. G. H. Morton, F.G.S., of Liverpool, submitted to me three specimens of Crinoidea, registered No. 681 in his collection. One of these specimens was a stem-fragment, impossible to determine; but the other two appeared of such interest that Mr. Morton very kindly allowed me to make a detailed study of them. The results, though not so complete as might be wished, are now submitted to geologists and zoologists, in order that the former may look out for further specimens, and the latter give us the benefit of their opinion.

An attempt is made to correlate the concept of the fossil lineage with our knowledge of polytypic species. The influence of changing environmental conditions in the geological succession and the relationship between geographical and chronological sub-species is analysed on a theoretical basis. The fossil lineage is considered to be the resultant of combined evolutionary and environmental change. Phenotypic modifications in response to environmental conditions are discussed in relation to the study of variation in fossil communities.

The genera Endophyllum and Spongophyllum were founded by H. M. Edwards and J. Haime (1851 p. 393 and p. 425),2 upon Devonian Corals from South Devonshire. Their descriptions of these (1851, pp. 394 and 425; 1853, pp. 233 and 242), though clear as far as they go, nevertheless leave room for further details, and their figures (1853, p1. lii, fig. 6; pl. liii, fig. 1; and p1. lvi, figs. 2, 2a–e) unfortunately do not include longitudinal sections of either of their two species of Endophyllum. Later workers on Devonian corals—C. Schlüter (1889, p. 50) and F. Frech (1885, p. 74; 1886, p. 87) have differed widely from the authors in their interpretation of the genera, and therefore a revision of the type-species is desirable.

The sedimentary characteristics and preservation potential of lacustrine carbonates provide fundamental information on climate change. The lacustrine carbonate deposition in the Eocene Dongying Depression was investigated using a combination of mineralogical, petrological and geochemical analyses. Micritic calcite/dolomite, granular calcite, columnar calcite, calcareous shell fragments and reworked detrital calcite were identified. Varying patterns of carbonates (VPC) including lithofacies, geochemical indicators and carbonate distribution were revealed in the Dongying Depression: (i) carbonates hardly precipitate in the nearshore area (average 12 wt %); (ii) carbonate content is high (average 53 wt %) in the shallow lake and (iii) gradually decreases to reach a minimum (average 24 wt %) in the deeper part of the lake. Comparison of VPC in four Holocene lakes (the Qinghai Lake and Barkol Lake in China, Oro Lake in Canada and Montcortès Lake in Spain) with the Dongying Depression suggests that four distinct lake stages were developed, namely the terrigenous clastic/gypsum-rich, carbonate-rich, carbonate-decreasing and carbonate-poor stages. A depositional model of lacustrine carbonates influenced by detrital influx, climate, palaeoproductivity and salinity is developed. This study contributes to the understanding of the genetic mechanisms of lacustrine carbonate deposition to reconstruct environmental changes.

The area described in this paper is about 5 miles east of Rhayader and 4 miles north of Llandrindod Wells. The igneous rocks come to the surface in two localities, namely Baxter's Bank and Caerfagu Mill. The former is approximately half a mile north of the main road from Rhayader to Pen-y-Bont, whilst the latter is situated immediately to the south of the main road and about three-quarters of a mile south-east of the village of Nantmel.

AMONG the Echinoids from the Limestone Lenticles of Shenley Hill (Leighton Buzzard), sent to me from the Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge (see Geol. Mag., Vol. LVIII, 1921, p. 57), one specimen of the many Pyriniform examples at once attracted attention by its preservation, relatively large size, and superficial resemblance to Holectypus. A brief comment on the specimen (No. 3 of the series) was made in the note already cited; further and more detailed examination, preceded by removal of matrix, has revealed additional features of much interest. Though averse to diagnosis of new genera or species based on single specimens, I have felt compelled to adopt that course in this case, in default of acquaintance with any described types to which the Shenley Echinoid could be assimilated. It is quite likely that other specimens, congeneric if not conspecific, may exist in collections; according to their preservation or the idiosyncrasy of individuals they may be labelled Holectypus, Conulus, or Pyrina with equal probability. It is even possible that some of the numerous species of Pyrina (including Pseudopyrina and Globator), already described, may be referable to the genus here introduced; but more details of morphology than are often supplied in systematic diagnoses and figures are needed before order can come out of the chaotic series of Cretaceous Echinonëidæ.

It is well known to all students of the history of geology that, although the date of publication of William Smith's “Map of the Strata of England and Wales” was the year 1815, yet even before the commencement of the present century the “Father of English Geology” had not only established the principle that strata can be identified by their organic remains, but had actually applied that important principle in the construction of a number of geological sections and maps. Conclusive documentary evidence of the truth of this statement is fortunately in the possession of the Geological Society.