Brachiopoda from the Bokkcvcld Beds. 183 



SPIEIFER cf. PEDEOANUS Hartt. 

 (Plate XXII., fig. 5.) 



There are some specimens in the present collection which may be 

 separated from Sp. orhignyi, and appear to be comparable to Sp. 

 pedroanns Hartt,''- from the Devonian of Brazil. One specimen 

 (No. 160) collected " three miles S.E. of Triangle " may be taken as a 

 typical pedicle valve. In shape it is transversely subfusiform, being 

 twice as wide as long ; the cardinal angles are acutely pointed ; the 

 shell is widest along the hinge-line ; the hinge-area is triangular, 

 vertical, and in height only about one-fifth the length of the shell ; 

 the beak is moderate ; the median sinus is rounded and deep, but 

 increases only slightly in width towards the front ; there are 20-22 

 regular rounded ribs on each side separated by rounded narrower 

 interspaces ; the rib on each side of the sinus is slightly larger and 

 more prominent than the rest. The teeth are short, strong, and 

 divergent ; the diductor impressions are strong but rather small. 



The casts of brachial valves which may be referred to this form 

 have a narrow prominent median fold increasing less rapidly in 

 width towards the front than in typical examples of Sp. orhignyi. 

 The number of ribs approaches that of the types of Sp. antarcticus 

 from the Falkland Islands, but in the latter the ribs are sharp 

 instead of rounded, the sinus is angular and the hinge-area higher. 



The characters of Sp. pedroanus Hartt, from Brazil appear to 

 agree rather closely with this form, which is certainly separable from 

 Sp. orhignyi and the other species occurring at the Cape. Eathbun 

 {op. cit.) describes Sp. pedroanus as possessing 10-16 simple rounded 

 plications, those bordering the sinus on the pedicle valve being some- 

 times slightly larger than the others. Clarke f suggests that it is 

 allied to Sp. mucronatus Conrad, and a comparison of the Cape 

 specimens with examples of the latter species supports this view. 



Dimensions. — (No. 160) Length 23 mm. ; width 46 mm. 



Localities. — (No. 160) Three miles south-east of Triangle. (No. 

 215) Fossiliferous 1st Sandstone, north of homestead, Uitkomst. 

 (No. 220) Ditto. (No. 219) Ditto. (No. 155) Gydo Pass, Ceres. 

 (No. 140) Witzenberg Valley, Ceres. ? (No. 154) Just north of 

 Stinkfontein, Ceres. 



* Eathbun, Bull. Buffalo Soc. Nat. Sc. i., 1874, p. 237, pi. viii., figs. 1-9, 13, 14, 

 16, 20. 



t Clarke, Palieoz. Faunas of Para, Brazil (Archiv. Mus. Nac. Rio de Janeiro, 

 vol. X., 1899), English edit., 1900, p. 88. 



