principally forwarded to him by local collectors, who were unacquainted with geology; and it could not, therefore, be expected that they would pay much attention to the position or general characters of different beds. Allusion is, however, made, once or twice, to "native beds of crag ;" and Dr. William Smith, in his Strata Identified, speaks of " " stony " and "sandy" crag as distinct. It is well known that some extremely recent deposits, containing existing species of marine Testàcea, occur either above the crag, or in not very distant localities; and, were it not for the extensive denudation to which our eastern coast has been subjected, I firmly believe that in those tertiary strata, of which now only a remnant is left, we should find a series of fossiliferous beds connecting the oldest members of the tertiary group with those in which all the shells can be identified with existing species. Mr. Bean has announced the discovery of a marine deposit at Burlington*, the fossils of which seem to indicate a geological position between the London clay and crag; while, at the same time, I have also endeavoured to show that a distinct age should be assigned to those beds of the crag formation in which we meet with existing species of Mammífera; if, therefore, the premises in these two instances are correct, a considerable approximation towards a series of successive deposits, without any wide hiatus, is established. The original extent of these formations cannot possibly be determined; but elephants' bones have been dredged up 20 miles from the shore, and, within that distance of the coast line, a dozen deposits of different ages may have been swallowed up by the encroachments of the ocean. Under these circumstances, it is highly probable that fossil shells may be taken up at sea, or washed on shore, which have no connexion with any existing deposits. Nor is the evidence of specific agreement of any use as a guide to our conclusions, since so large a proportion of Mollúsca are common to beds of different geological ages. In Mr. Lyell's Geology, the Volùta Lambérti is regarded as a still existing species, upon the authority of M. Deshayes, who states that, among a large proportion of crag shells which he was enabled to identify with recent Testàcea, this species was the only one not inhabiting the German Ocean. Being totally unacquainted with any recent analogue of this fossil, I applied to Mr. John Edward Gray and to Mr. George Sowerby for information upon the subject. From both these distinguished conchologists I learned that there *Mag. Nat. Hist. (old series), vol. viii. p. 355.; also, British Association, 5th Report, p. 62. was no existing volute which could be confounded with the one from the crag, even if the widest limits were allowed for specific variations. It is true that Sowerby, in the Mineral Conchology, speaks of having seen drawings of recent shells from the Fejee Islands resembling the Volùta Lambérti, and names Mr. Hall and Mr. Jennings as parties possessing the original specimens.* From enquiries that I have made, I have not been able to learn that the late Mr. Sowerby ever personally inspected the volutes to which he refers; and, if such rarities were really extant, it is not likely that conchologists would be unacquainted with the circumstance. On two occasions lately, when writing to M. Deshayes, I have 'particularly requested him to inform me whether he really is acquainted with any recent shell resembling Voluta Lambérti, but as yet he has been silent upon the subject. That a solitary crag species should inhabit a remote region, when all the rest of the supposed living forms are still existing in our own seas, is a circumstance both interesting and important, and the truth or incorrectness of which it would be very desirable to establish. At the present time too, it is particularly to be wished that this point should be settled, as the general correctness of M. Deshayes's identifications of fossil with recent species has been so lately called in question by Dr. Beck and other conchologists. The paper by M. Deshayes on the European climate during the tertiary periods will be perused with great interest, both by the cultivators of geology and conchology; but there is one circumstance connected with the views which are there brought forward certainly requiring explanation. In Mr. Lyell's address to the fellows of the Geological Society, the following passage occurs: "Dr. Beck has lately seen 260 species of crag shells in Mr. Charlesworth's cabinet in London, and informs me that although a large proportion of the species approach very near to others which now live in our northern seas, he regards them as almost all of distinct species, and unknown as living. Both he and M. Deshayes have declared the shells to be those of a northern climate, and according to Dr. Beck, the climate may even have resembled that of our arctic regions." Mr. Lyell's address was delivered in February, 1836; and, on the 26th of the May following, we find M. Deshayes laying a paper before the French Academy, in which he seems to have arrived at the most opposite conclusions, for he sums up his observations with * Sowerby's Min. Con. tab. 129. + See London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine, third series, vol. viii. p. 327.; and Proceedings of the Geological Society. remarking that, "since the commencement of the tertiary strata, the temperature has been constantly diminishing; passing in our climates from the equatorial to that which we now enjoy." Two statements could not well be more diametrically opposed to each other; and to increase the difficulty, M. Deshayes has left out all reference to the crag, although he alludes to nearly every well known European tertiary deposit. To say the least of it, this omission looks singular, especially when M. Deshayes had so recently been engaged in the examination of the crag fossils. In whatever light we regard the crag, it appears to be a most mysterious deposit, and the present investigation of its history seems likely to be attended in one sense with most unfortunate results. Professor Agassiz has declared the fish to be those of tropical climates, whilst the Mollúsca, by equally eminent naturalists, are said to indicate a temperature approaching that of the polar regions; and, to complete the anomaly, we have associated with them the mammiferous species which now inhabit this island. These are facts of the highest importance in reference to such geological deductions as may have been based upon individual opinion, or upon the examination of only one class of fossil organisms. I am, however, sanguine enough to hope that the discrepancies will be in some measure reconciled, when the tertiary formations in Norfolk and Suffolk are no longer referred to by geologists as "the crag," and when the nature of the separate deposits, and their relation to one another, are more clearly established. The circumstance of meeting with these volutes upon the coast, along with the shells of living Mollúsca, illustrates in a most forcible manner how fallacious may be the conclusions founded upon association, and upon the assumption that all the organic remains embedded in one deposit must have existed contemporaneously. The most casual observers of the causes now in operation upon the earth's surface must perceive that the formations at this time in progress necessarily contain the remains of beings which belong to different periods, and yet, day after day, are inferences based upon the supposition, that, in whatever stratum a fossil is found, at that particular period it must have existed. In this respect the examination of the crag has demonstrated the fallacy of the per-centage test, as a general rule for determining the age of the supra-cretaceous rocks, since it has been clearly shown that one formation may derive a large proportion of its fossils from deposits See Art. II. in our present Number, p. 16. which are no longer in existence. This subject is one abounding with materials for speculation, but, as I have treated of it at some length in other quarters, I will not enter further upon it on the present occasion. The Voluta Lambérti is found in the coral rocks of Aldborough and Orford, and in the red crag along the southern coast of Suffolk and Essex, but it has not yet been discovered in that part of the upper deposit which extends from Thorp (near Aldborough) into the county of Norfolk, and in which are deposited the remains of mammiferous animals. The woodcut at p. 37. is engraved from a drawing made by Mr. James de C. Sowerby, of a particularly fine specimen in my possession, and which was procured from the beach at Felixtow. This individual, in common with several others from the same locality, exhibits, upon those portions of the shell not exposed to attrition, numerous well defined sharp transverse striæ, a character which has not hitherto been noticed, and which I have been unable to detect in those specimens which occur in the crag, although I have examined them in all stages of growth. I know of only one fossil species which in its general aspect resembles this volute, and that is a shell found at Touraine, and in some other Continental tertiary deposits, and which is probably the one figured by Brocchi. This latter may be readily distinguished from Lambérti, by the thickness of its shell, and the different position of the folds of the columella, and from the outer lip being slightly everted. Mr. Gray is of opinion that there are some characters about Volùta Lambérti so nearly allied to the genus Fasciolària as to induce him to separate it from the true volutes. The occurrence of a tropical form among so many species of cold or temperate climates had led Dr. Beck to doubt the existence of the fact, until he saw the specimens of this fossil in my collection; and, therefore, Mr. Gray's conjecture is one of considerable importance; for, if correct, we are consequently unacquainted with its inhabitant. REVIEWS. ART. I. 1. Magazine of Zoology and Botany: conducted by Sir William Jardine, Bart.; P. J. Selby, Esq.; and Dr. Johnston. Edinburgh, W. H. Lizars; London, S. Highly. 2. The Naturalist; illustrative of the Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral Kingdoms: conducted by B. Maund, F.L.S.; and W. Holl, F.G.S. London, Groombridge. 1. MAGAZINE of Zoology and Botany.-We are in ignorance as to the degree of success which has attended the publication of this periodical, but it is undoubtedly a work possessing strong claims to the support of those who are desirous for the advancement of the two departments of science to which its pages are devoted. The names of Selby, Jardine, and Johnston, so well known to all the cultivators of science, are associated with those of Swainson, Jenyns, Gould, Westwood, Henslow, and other eminent naturalists, in the establishment of this addition to our scientific literature. Four numbers have already issued from the press, containing much interesting and valuable matter, whilst the general character of the work fully bears out the favourable anticipations which at the period of its announcement we were led to form respecting it. 2. Naturalist. We are induced to give this publication a more extended notice than we might otherwise have done, from the general silence on the part of other scientific periodicals respecting it; and also because the object it has in view, and the plan upon which it is conducted, appear very much to accord with our own; namely, that of communicating to the public information upon various subjects in different branches of natural history, divested, in some measure, of the technical details of science, but, at the same time, without our excluding such articles as are worthy the attention of the experienced naturalist. This association of matters comparatively abstruse, with those which are calculated to produce a more general degree of interest, is a combination perfectly legitimate, and which, if judiciously carried into effect, may be attended with highly advantageous results. Much caution is, however, requisite in the selection of appropriate materials; for a journal conducted upon this principle must necessarily embrace a wide range of subjects; and it not unfrequently becomes a nice point to determine the particular class of contributions which are, or are not, admissible to its pages. In deciding upon the degree of latitude which in this respect should be given to the observations of all those who are seeking after knowledge, circumstances of a very opposite character often require consideration, and difficulties present themselves which do not arise in the case of a periodical that aims exclusively at the higher departments of natural science, or in one which is solely elementary. When the above work was first announced, we certainly were disposed to think that, if well conducted, it might succeed, more especially as the prospectus contained (as future contributors) rather a numerous list of "eminent scientific men," the majority of whom being quite unknown to us in that capacity, |