330 liemarl's upon the Genus Anomalodonta, ete. 



illation ; notwithstanding that, it does violence to every family charac- 

 teristic of the Aviculicke, save the attachment by a hyssus, which is not, 

 by any means, peculiar to that family. Receiving nothing in science 

 through faith, though only an amateui', I shall retain my infidelity, until 

 some reason is given for such classification. It is not, therefore, suifi- 

 cient to say, they " evidently belong to the family Aviculidce," but rather 

 self-sufiicient and pedantic in a critic. 



The Professor asserts the improbability of the situation of the mus- 

 cular impression in a shell that he has never seen, from reading a 

 description and looking at an engraving, that would seem to be wholly 

 incomprehensible to him; but notwithstanding the "monstrous im- 

 probability of the jjossibility " of his comprehending it, it is neverthe- 

 less a fact, that the muscular impression is neither too large nor in too low 

 a position. Nor is it larger in proportion, or placed in a lower position 

 than the muscular impression of an Ambonychia. It may be a fact, 

 however, that the engraving makes the muscular impression appear to 

 hug the anterior part of the shell rather too closely ; if so, it is because 

 the engraving does not clearly define the line of separation. This, 

 however, can not mislead any one, and practically amounts to noth- 

 ing. 



We now come to the consideration of the generic name. It is here 

 that the Prof, seems to have done his best at misrepresentation, and 

 for what purpose I am at a loss to comprehend. What are the facts ? 

 Let us look at the 3d volume of the Geological Survey of Illinois, 

 pages 337 and 338. We here find that Meek and Wortheu proposed 

 the subgeneric name Mcgaptera and specific name Casei, for a shell of 

 which they said, "It has the hinge teeth (at any rate, those just in 

 front of the beaks) of Ambonychia," and they said " we have conclu- 

 ded to leave it provisionally under Ambonychia." Consequently the 

 shell was named " Ambonychia {MegaptenC) Casei (M. & W.)" Noth- 

 ing can be clearer than the fact, which may be soon ascertained, that 

 if this Casei has the lateral teeth of an Ambonychia, it will be simply 

 an Ambonychia Casei, It can never be an Anomalodonta, because it 

 has the cardinal teeth of an Ambonychia. In 1872, Prof Meek pub- 

 lished a description, on page 319 of the Proceedings of the Phil. Acad, 

 Nat. Sci., of Ambonychia {Megaptera) alata and appended to it a note, 

 the whole of which Vvas republislied on page 131 of the Ohio Paleon- 

 tology, in 1873. In the note so published in 1872, after showing that 

 the name Megaptera had been pi^eoccupied, Prof. Meek says, " If it 

 should be thought desirable to substitute another name for this group, 

 typified by M. Casei, and the species here described, I would propose 

 to call it Opisthoptera.^'' In 1873, Prof. Meek still retained his names, 



