PARAPHORHYNCHUS, A NEW GENUS OF KINDER- 

 HOOK BRACHIOPODA.* 



Stuart Weller. 



In the Kinderhook faunas of the Mississippi Valley there 

 are several species of rhynchonelloid shells which have 

 always been referred either to the genus Rliynchonella or 

 Pugnax, which seem to possess characters of good generic 

 value. There has always been more or less confusion in the 

 specific determination of these forms, Rliynchonella striato- 

 costata being the only one which has ever been adequately de- 

 scribed, and even this one has been confused with Pugnax 

 missouriensis which is entirely distinct and belongs to a dif- 

 ferent genus. All of these shells are of rather large size, are 

 coarsely plicate, usually with simple plications, and have the 

 entire surface covered with very fine radiating striae. Inter- 

 nally they resemble C amarotoechia far more closely than 

 Pugnax, the genus to which they were referred by Hall and 

 Clarke. Because of the finely striated surface of the shells 

 and their rhynchonelloid form, they may be called Parapho- 

 rhynchus. 



Three species of the genus are recognized in the Kinder- 

 hook strata of the Mississippi valley, P. elongatum n. sp., a 

 form which has not hitherto been noticed, P. striatocostatum 

 M. & W., and P. transversum n. sp., which has been referred 

 to both P. striatocostatum and Pugnax missouriensis in the 

 literature. In addition to these, two forms from the Waverly 

 beds of Warren County, Pennsylvania, have been described 

 by Simpson f as Rynchonella medialis and Rliynchonella 

 striata which may be placed with the three species from the 

 Mississippi Valley. 



* Presented by title to The Acad, of Sci. of St. Louis, April 17, 1905. 

 t Trans, Am. Phil. Soc, vol. 15, p. 444. 



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