102 



THE NAUTILUS. 



joining the suture, is a narrow, brownish gray band. Below it is a 

 band of the yellow body color, and then, about the middle of the 

 whorl, another brownish-gray band, more deeply colored than the 

 one on the top of the whorl. Below this principal band is another 

 light yellow band, and adjoining the umbilicus, the color is orange. 

 The position of these bands is shown on the accompanying figures. 





Straparollina harpa Hudson, X 10. 



The yellow color is undoubtedly due to the iron of the decomposed 

 limestone from which the fossils were obtained, but the brown tints 

 may give some hint of the original coloring of the revolving bands. 



These are probably the oldest shells on which color markings have 

 been observed, dating as they do, from Middle Chazy times, (Ma- 

 clurites magna fauna). The oldest instances of color preservation 

 previously recorded in America are those reported by Professor 0. 

 C. Marsh, and Dr. Theodore G. White. Professor Marsh described 

 (Proc. Am. Assoc. Adv. Soi. xvi, p. 326, 18G8) certain markings 

 on the shell of a specimen of Endoceras (Cameroceras) proteiforme 

 Hall from the Trenton formation in New York. Dr. White men- 

 tions (Trans. N. Y. Acad. Sci. vol. xv, p. 85, 1896) two specimens 

 of Holopea symmetrica Hall from the Black River formation of the 

 Rathbone Brook, N. Y., section, which preserved the original shell 

 material, and one showed the iridescent lustre of pearl. 



Quite a number of cases of color preservation have been recorded 

 from the Devonian and Carboniferous, but examples from the older 

 formations are exceedingly rare. 

 Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, Pa. 



