212 Zoological Society. 



calcareous shield of a Limax or land-slug. Chemnitz, upon finding* 

 that the shell of Lingula was really bivalve, placed it with the Pinnce ; 

 and even Dillwyn includes it with the Mytili. Bruguiere was the 

 first to distinguish it by its present title in the plates of the ' Ency- 

 clopedic Methodique,' in which he has been followed by Cuvier, La- 

 marck, and all succeeding writers. 



" With regard both to the situation that the Brachiopodous Mol- 

 htsca should occupy in the natural system, as well as the rank to 

 which they are entitled in the classification, authors have been much 

 divided. By Dumeril and De Roissy they were associated in a par- 

 ticular class with the Lepades, on account of a fancied resemblance 

 in their spirally twisted arms to the cirrous tentacula of those ani- 

 mals ; they differ however in not being articulated, and their relation 

 altogether with the Lepades is one of very remote analogy. Cuvier 

 distinguished them as a new and separate class, but still arranged 

 them next in order to the Lepades. Lamarck placed them at the end 

 of his ' Conchiferes monomyaires ' merely as a family of that order. 

 Prof. Owen and Deshayes both consider that they are entitled to* 

 take the rank of an order ; the latter author however admits that 

 there is far less affinity between the Brachiopoda and the rest of the 

 acephalous mollusks, than there is between the acknowledged divi- 

 sions of Bimuscular and Unimuscular. In the arrangement of my 

 ' Systematic Conchology ' I propose to adopt the still higher rank 

 that was assigned to them by Cuvier, namely, that of a class, placing 

 them according to Lamarck, at the end of the Acephala, upon the 

 presumption that their branchial apparatus presents a modification 

 of structure intermediate between that of the proximate classes, the 

 Tropiopoda and the Gasteropoda. 



"The Lingula come with great propriety at the commencement of 

 the class, because they have the nearest affinity with the Tropiopoda ; 

 their body is larger in proportion to that of the rest of the Brachio- 

 poda, and although the branchiae are incorporated within the sub- 

 stance of the mantle, they nevertheless present a certain indication 

 of the lamellar structure. Lamarck placed them at the end of his 

 family of ' Les Brachiopodes,' because, in having referred the Crania 

 to his fossil family of ' Les Rudistes,' he found it necessary to follow 

 up their affinity with the Orbiculce ; his arrangement of the genera 

 therefore is the reverse of that I have adopted. 



" The Lingula anatina was for a long time the only species known, 

 another one, the Lingula Mans, was described by Swainson in his 

 * Zoological Illustrations/ and we are indebted to Mr. Cuming for 

 five new ones ; two, the Lingulce Audebardii and semen, have been 

 already described by Mr. Broderip in the Transactions of this So- 

 ciety, and I have now the pleasure of introducing three which I 

 believe to be entirely new to science. 



Lingula ovalis. Ling, testd angustd, elongato-ovali, glabrd quasi 

 politd, olivaceo-viridi ; apice acuminata ; valvis utrinque clausis, 



Hab. ? 



Long. 1 & ; lat. ^ poll. 





