There can scarcely at the present time be a problem more interesting than that of the first appearance of Angiosperms, nor one regarding which there is less trustworthy information at the disposal of the geologist. In attempting to bring together a summary of what is known regarding the earlier forms of this most important division of the vegetable kingdom, I make little claim to originality; nor are such criticisms as I may venture upon entitled to the same weight as if put forward by a trained botanist.

Among the Selachians of the existing fauna, there are none of greater interest and higher morphological importance than Notidanus, Cestracion, and the recently-discovered Chlamydoselachus from Japanese seas. These are the solitary survivors of once flourishing types, whose immediate congeners are only known to Biological science through the fragmentary remains preserved in the geological record; and the value of the archaic features they present is even further enhanced by the slight information already acquired regarding the geological distribution of their numerous extinct allies.

The following notes relate to two Brachiopods—a Rhynchonella and a Terebratula—figured by the late Dr. Davidson in his last plates in the Palæontographical. Of the first a change of name is necessary; of the second, I consider that the identification needs revision, and that it deserves a separate name. Both species are from the Inferior Oolite.