July, 1842.] 197 



constitutes, perhaps, a hundred feet in thickness of our horizontal strata, the fos- 

 sils were found to be merely imbedded, without petrefaction, and easily separable 

 from the fine, soft, earthy matter. In this condition, they exhibit a freshness and 

 sharpness highly interesting to the student. Within the last week, Mr^sJames 

 Foster, an amateur collector of our city, discovered in this marl several specimens 

 of the above fossil, with the body entire. Soon after, Mr. Anthony and myself 

 found other specimens of the same. The new facts disclosed by these specimens 

 and by others found in this vicinity, are 1st. That the animal was furnished when 

 entire, with very long spines or processes from the posterior angles of the shield. 

 2d. The abdomen is partly concealed, about five articulations, under the poste- 

 rior half of the shield. 3d. The middle lobe of the shield is posteriorly mucro- 

 nate. The first fact is fully exhibited in a specimen in Mr. Foster's cabinet ; the 

 second fact in a specimen of my own, in which the shield lias separated from the 

 body, disclosing the articulations beneath ; the third fact in two specimens be- 

 longing to Mr. Foster. The middle lobe of the abdomen is about half the width 

 of the lateral lobes, and shows only five or six articulations uncovered by the shield. 

 The tail is very distinct from the abdomen, with about five obscure articulations. 

 Mr. Anthony has a specimen, which by a fracture of the shield, discloses seven 

 abdominal articulations, and the whole number is probably ten. It is evident, 

 from this structure, that when the animal rolled itself in the manner of the trilo- 

 bite family, the whole body would be concealed under the shield. The posterior 

 part of the body is circumscribed by a well defined raised margin. 



The associated fossils are Strophomcna alternata, Atrypa tcstudinaria, Lingula 



, Orbicula, Isotelus megistos, Calymene senaria, Grthocerce, Enchrinites and 



Corallines. Formation, " Blue limestone," Trenton Limestone of the N. Y. 

 Geologists, or a formation above it. 



The Committee, to whom was referred the communication 

 of P. A. Browne, Esq., describing a " monstrous Rose," made 

 a report, stating that the difference in the character of this 

 paper from the usual one of those inserted in the Journal cr 

 Proceedings, and the necessity for the aid of a plate for its 

 complete elucidation, rendered its publication, in its entire form, 

 impracticable. 



The following, however, being the concluding portion of the 

 paper, containing some strictures on terms used in Vegetable 

 Physiology, the Committee recommended for publication in 

 the Proceedings. 



It remains only to note, that when botanists inculcate the doctrine to which 

 allusion has been made above,* they make use of terms that are illy adapted to 

 convey their meaning. " A flower" they say, " is a transformed branch : all its 

 organs being leaves, which have undergone a peculiar metamorphosis ,"t by which 

 we would understand that nature first formed a branch, and afterwards converted 



* The present theory, of the flower being' the product of successive whorls of 

 leaves. 



t Gray's Botany, p, 158, 



