94 



original has given way to a small inflated, asymmetrical form 

 (see Plate IV. Figs. 8a-b). Neither Volutilithes antiscalaris nor 

 V. anticingulakis can therefore be said to be examples of the real 

 stock of the genus, which was of greater geological antiquity 

 than they. This is important in view of the habit of modern 

 palaeontologists to link the Australian species mentioned too closely 

 to such typical European forms as V. scalaris and V. spinosus, 

 from a consideration of the sculpture of the whorls and the character 

 of the columellar plaits alone. It is quite a question whether 

 the antipodean forms alluded to ought not, indeed, on the evidence 

 afforded by the protoconchs, to be separated from Volutilithes 

 {sensu stricto) and placed in a new subgenus. 



In regard to Lyria^ but little need be said ; the larval shells 

 (Plate IV. rigs, 'da-h) and adults are very similar to European Eocene 

 types, and they do not differ materially from living representatives 

 found in the Indian and Pacific oceans, China seas, etc. The 

 genus appears to have separated from the Jiostellites- Volutilithes 

 stock in the Cretaceous. In common with the remainder of the 

 VoLUTiDiE in existence in the early Eocene, it was then in a very 

 unstable condition, as witness the variable character (within limits) 

 of the protoconch of Lyria harpula, Lamarck, from the Calcaire 

 Grossier of the Paris Basin. After having provided Fulgoraria with 

 its small bulbous protoconch (to be afterwards greatly enlarged as 

 in the living V. npestris, Gmelin), it seems to have settled down, 

 and to have come on from late Eocene times to the present day 

 without material modification. It succeeded, however, amongst 

 other things, in giving rise to Valuta {sensu stricto) during the late 

 Miocene or early Pliocene ; and the living Enata was separated 

 from it in the post-Pliocene. 



The only Pteronpira here recorded has a Fulgoraria^^ik& bulbous 

 protoconch (Plate IV. Eigs. lOa-5), and the subgenus was probably 

 intimately connected with Fulgoraria, which is not represented in 

 the collection. 



In reference to Aulica, so little is known concerning its geological 

 histoiy, and the material for studying it in the fossil state is so 

 limited, that it is impossible for one to say definitely by which line 

 of descent it came from the early Volutilithes stock — whether 

 along that of Volutilithes proper, or through the medium of Lyria. 



The Australian Tertiary Voluta strophodon and V. weldi, very 

 characteristic forms^ appear to be the precursors of the modern 



