THE NAUTILUS. 95 



The finest example of the preservation of color pattern in a 

 fossil Brachiopod that has yet come to the writer's notice, con- 

 sists of two specimens of Coenothyris vulgaris Schl. , from the 

 Muschelkalk (Triassic), the design assuming the form of fasci- 

 culated rays of bright red, the body color varying from light 

 buff to dull horn. The fresh bright color shown in these shells 

 suggests the retention of original pigment, practically unaltered, 

 during the process of the silization. Greger Coll., No. 351-4. 



In conclusion, we would also call attention to Discinisca 

 lugubri* Conrad, from the Choptank Formation (Miocene) of 

 Maryland. All specimens of this Brachiopod that have passed 

 under the writer's observation are blue-black and on one small 

 example faint concentric bands are present. 



NOTES. 



PETRICOLA DACTYLUS SOWERBY. In a recent letter from Mr. 

 G. W. Pepper he says: "In all published accounts pertaining 

 to the habits of Petricola pholadiformis it is stated that they are 

 ' found living in hard clay.' This seems to be entirely at vari- 

 ance with my collecting in Buzzard's Bay, Mass., where I ob- 

 tained over 100 specimens from a colony living in sand and 

 gravel in company with the common clam (Mya arenaria). In 

 fact I have been unable to find them except associated with the 

 common clam." In writing to Mr. Pepper I obtained some of 

 the specimens, and was pleased to find that they were P. dactylus, 

 a much scarcer species on the New England coast than P. 

 pholadiformis, and from which it is readily distinguished by its 

 less cylindrical form, due to the wider and more flattened 

 valves. The dividing line between the larger and smaller ribs 

 is less clearly defined. In well-preserved specimens the very 

 young, yellowish shells, described as Gastranella tumida, can be 

 distinctly seen on the umbones. C. W. JOHNSON. 



EMARGINATA MIGHELSI ABSENT IN ITS OLD LOCALI- 

 TIES. In September I visited Square Lake Inlet, where L. 



