that gives constant annoyance in our daily life, and seems sometimes to prepare the way for all the others the habit of procrastination, unnecessary and vexatious delay when action is demanded. A vice. so common could hardly fail to make its impression on the language. Accordingly we find that certain adverbs of time which are and have been very frequently employed in promising immediate attention to duty, have lost by degrees a large share of their former intensity (promises of this kind being so often broken), and have become so weakened and enervated as quite to obscure the sense in many passages of the older writers. Thus Bailey's definition of the word presently which is "at present, at this time, now," as exemplified by Cardinal Beaufort in King Henry Sixth [part two, 1, 1], “this weighty business will not brook delay; I'll to the Duke of Suffolk presently" — this definition is marked "obsolete" by Webster, though that meaning still seems to survive to some extent in England, for I read the other day in the Newcastle Courant that "General Ramsay is presently visiting at the castle." Yet the American Lexicographer is indisputably correct when he proceeds to mention, as the synonyms of this adverb in its more common applications, the words soon, before long, after a little time" — which embody quite a different conception.

As regards the similar term by-and-by, the case is if possible still stronger, the ancient meaning still more debilitated in its modern usage. Of course this word in our present understanding of it, invariably implies considerable delay, but we need only turn to the Greek testament to discover that King James' translators considered it the equivalent for the most emphatic adverbs that the original tongue can furnish to indicate instant and hurried action euthus, eutheos and exautés. These words mean suddenly,hastily, rashly, at the very point of time; and are rendered "straightway," "immediately" and "forthwith" in the Bible itself, when by-and-by is not used. In the account given by Ulysses in the Ajax of his breathless and frantic pursuit of the mad warrior who had butchered the flocks and their guardians, Sophocles makes him say: "And to me a watchman that espied him bounding over the plains alone, with freshly reeking sword, tells it; and eutheos [that is, instantly] I hurry close on his steps." Fancy rendering this, as is done with the same word in the Bible, "by-and-by I hurry on his steps!" How completely such a translation destroys the coherence of the narrative! What a flood of light is thrown too upon the real intent of the sacred writers, when we substitute the stronger and now more accurate ex

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pressions for the indefinite by-and-by, as in Matthew xiii, 26: “Yet hath he not root in himself, for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word," not "by-and-by," but INSTANTLY "he is offended," does not hold out at all—makes no effort for a single moment to breast the current! Again, Mark vi., 25: "And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me," not 'by-and-by," but AS SOON AS POSSIBLE “in a charger, the head of John the Baptist." Finally, Luke xxi, 9: "But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified, for these things must first come to pass, but the end is not" immediately. And if the gradual fading out of the original intense emphasis of these words is largely due, as every consideration seems to render probable, to the fact that people have so often said they would do things "presently" or "by-and-by," and then have neglected them, so that in process of time the idea of more or less delay has become thoroughly involved in the common understanding of the words themselves - what a commentary does it furnish upon the prevalence of this habit of procrastination, that these terms, once the strongest that could be found to picture hurried and impatient action, have come at last, as indisputably in ordinary usage they have, to denote so vaguely an indefinite period, at an indefinite distance, in the indefinite and uncertain future!

DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES OF FOSSILS FROM THE NIAGARA FORMATION AT WALDRON, INDIANA.

BY JAMES HALL,

[Read before the Albany Institute, March 18, 1879.]

In the 4th volume of the Transactions of the Albany Institute, I have described a considerable number of new forms from the above named locality of the Niagara group, and also noticed the occurrence of other known species in the same association. The Corals and Bryozoa which, without a eritical examination, I then estimated as "at least twelve species," have been subsequently illustrated in the 28th Report of the New York State Museum of Natural History, and these together with other new or before unrecognized forms amount to more than forty species. The entire number of species now known to me from this locality is upwards of 150, including varieties.

In the autumn of 1877, Mr. Charles D. Walcott with the aid of Mr. C. Vandeloo made large collections of fossils from the Waldron locality, which have furnished the following new forms, together with an additional number of known Niagara species, not before recognized at that place.

In the preparation of this paper I have been very ably assisted by Mr. George B. Simpson who has carefully studied the Bryozoa and separated the species here described from the previously illustrated forms (in the 28th Museum Report) indicating their distinctive characters. Mr. C. E. Beecher has likewise selected and arranged the remaining species of the entire collection, enabling me to add several new species of crinoidea and other fossils.

PROTOZOA.

RECEPTACULITES SACCULUS n. sp.

Body longitudinally subcylindrical, hollow, open at one end (the base?), length less than twice the diameter. Cells irregular in size and arrangement, somewhat smaller near the base, expanding at the aperture to twice the diameter below. Distance between the Trans. x.]

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cell-apertures equal to the diameter of the apertures. Length of cylinder 80 mm., diameter at the base 55 mm., diameter at the summit about 45 mm.; length of cell tubes in the thickest portion of the cylinder 10 mm.

This species is described from a portion of an individual broken longitudinally through the middle. The fragment is covered with bryozoa rendering some of the characters obscure. It is readily distinguished by its sac-like form from all other species known in this horizon.

HYDROZOA.

DENDROGRAPTUS (s.g. CHAUNOGRAPTUS) NOVELLUS n. sp.

Fossil occurring free in the shales, or upon other fossil bodies, in slender branching fronds. Branches diverging, lax and slender, with numerous branchlets, both marked by numerous cellules which are usually indicated by the appearance of abrupt expansion and contraction of the branches.

The angular projection of the cell-aperture can be observed in many parts of the fossil.

This species is more lax and diffuse than any form of DendroGRAPTUS known to me, and I therefore suggest a separation from the typical forms of the genus. It occurs free among other fossils, or attached to some fragmentary portions of other bodies. In its habit of growth it is quite distinct from any of the forms heretofore illustrated or that have come under my observation.

INOCAULUS DIVARICATUS n. sp.

Frond ramose, regularly branching about every 10 mm. by dichotomous division. Branches straight, diameter 2 mm., diverging at an angle of nearly 85°, giving the frond a somewhat rigid appearance. Exterior structure composed of numerous irregular, longitudinally striated, branching filaments, connected by slender dissepiments, forming rows of small, irregular, subangular cell-apertures.

This species is distinguished from I. plumulosus HALL (Pal. N. Y., vol. ii, p. 176), by its rigid, slender, diverging branches, and by the absence of the projecting, imbricating scales forming the cell-margins. The specimen here described furnishes some additional evidence regarding the intimate structure and nature of INOCAULUS.

CORALS AND BRYOZOA.

CLADOPORA SARMENTOSA n. sp.

Frond ramose, solid, frequently branching, diameter from two to four mm.; cell-tubes radiating equally on all sides from the axis at an angle of 45°, gradually enlarging towards their apertures, which are about .75mm. in diameter, and closely arranged in alternating series, the apertures having their lower side margined by a projecting lip which gradually slopes into the substance of the branch below.

This species bears some resemblance to C. seriata, HALL, of the Niagara group of New York, but differs from that species in its stronger and more frequent branches enlarging at their bases; and in the gradual diverging of the cell-tubes from the axis.

TREMATOPORA (CHÆTETES) CREBRIPORA n. sp.

Frond ramose, branches infrequent, moderately diverging; substance solid from the filling of numerous small subcylindrical cells, which, originating at or near the centre, gradually diverge to near the surface, where they turn directly outward. Cell-apertures oval, from one and a half to two mm. in length and about two-thirds as wide as long; irregularly arranged, often contiguous, but preserv ing the oval form. Septa few or none.

It differs from T. varia in its larger and distinctly oval cell apertures, and its solid branches.

CALLOPORA ELEGANTULA.

Callopora elegantula HALL. Pal. N. Y., vol. ii, p. 144, pl. 40, figs. 1, 2. 1852.

This species has not heretofore been recognized among the collections from Waldron; but the specimens under examination possess all the essential characters of those from the Niagara group of New York.

CALLOPORA CERVICORNIS n. sp.

Frond ramose, branches round or flattened, solid, irregular in their mode of growth, diverging at an angle of 90°, diameter of branches reaching eight mm. Cellules rising from the centre and gradually scending to near the surface, where they turn abruptly outward; cell-walls very thin; septa very infrequent; cell-apertures oval, .3mm. long, .2mm. wide, closely arranged, with elevated margins which are often granulose. Intercellular spaces very narrow or sometimes wanting, leaving the cell-margins in contact.