Significance of diadematid echinoid ossicles in micropalaeontological samples,Miocene–Pliocene of Indonesia

Fragments of diadematoid echinoids from the early and middle Miocene, and late Miocene–Pliocene, respectively, of Java, Kalimantan and Sulawesi, Indonesia, are identified as diadematid spp. indet. (radioles from all sites) and Centrostephanus sp. (an interambulacral plate; early Miocene, Java). The radioles are probably a mixture of Diadema ± Centrostephanus ± Echinothrix. This is the first report of identifiable fossil diadematoid remains from Indonesia and demonstrates that these echinoids, so common in modern reef environments, were present in the Neogene of the region. Even though classified in open nomenclature, Centrostephanus sp. nevertheless provides further evidence for the Cenozoic record of a genus in which the only nominal species are of Late Cretaceous and Holocene age.     

Justices and Injustices: the Order of St John,the Holy See,and the Appeals Tribunal in Rome

In the early seventeenth century it became customary for knights of Malta who committed crimes to appeal to the tribunal of the Apostolic Chamber (Audentia Camera) in Rome. The Grand Masters of the Order of St John in Malta blamed this practice on the advent of the Apostolic Visitor and Roman Inquisitor in 1574 and saw its activities as a direct infringement of their authority over members of the Order and their subjects in Malta. Therefore on occasions successive Grand Masters found ways to “protest” with the Holy See claiming that the activities of the Apostolic Chamber were a threat to their rule, but the Grand Masters could not go beyond protesting because the Order of St John was above all a Catholic religious institution and the Pope in Rome was its ultimate head.