Ictorlan Fof<sib, Pari XVI J. 851 



DESCRIPTION OF THE FOSSILS. 



Tk'I'habhanchiata.- Order Nautiloidka. 



Fani. Claudonautilidak, Hyatt. 



Genus Aturia, Bronn. 



Aturia nustraUs, McCoy. (Plate III., Fig. '1). 



Nautilus ziczoc, T. Woods, 1862, Geol. Observ. in S. Australia, 

 p. 83, woodcut. 



Aturia ausfralis, McCoy, 1867, On the Recent Zoology and Palae- 

 ontology of Victoria, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 3, Vol. XX., p. 

 192. Brougli Sniytli, 1874, in Geol. Surv. Vic. ; Report of Progress, 

 p. 36. 



Aturia zicznc. Sow. sp., var. ausfralis, McCoy, 1876, Prod. Pal. 

 Vict., dec. III., p. 21, pi. XXIV., figs. 1-5. 



Aturia -J cza(\ Sow. sp. Ether idge junr., 1878, Cat. Austr. Fossils, 

 p. 171. 



Aturia aturi, Basterot sp., var. ausfralis, McCoy. Foord, 1891, 

 Cat. Fossil Cephalopoda (Brit. Mus.), pt. II., p. 354; also p. 336, 

 fig. 71b. 



Aturia ausfralis, McCoy, Dennant and Kitson, 1903, Cat. Fossils 

 Cain. Fauna Victoria, Rec. Geol, Surv. Vict., Vol. I., pt. 2, p. 92. 



Observations. — The Australian form of the type of Aturia aturi, 

 Basterot, has been the subject of wavering opinion amongst palae- 

 ontologists as to its specific or varietal standing. The present study 

 of a large number of Australian specimens seems to show that it is a 

 distinct form, having some marked characters which help to dis- 

 tinguish it from the Burdigalian species of France and Italy. 



McCoy in 1876 (vide supra p. 21), remarked that " It is with the 

 compressed Miocene variety found at Dax, named N. Aturi by 

 Basterot, rather than with the more ventricose original types of the 

 N. zizac of Sowerby, proper to the Eocene London clay, that our 

 Australian fossil more completely agrees; and I can only doubtfully 

 suggest the separation of it as a local variety, from the somewhat 

 greater compression indicated by the slightly greater length of the 

 aperture in proportion to its width; and also a slightly greater 

 curvature of the septa on the sides as shown by a line from the 

 apex of the lancet-shaped lobe to the inner end of the same septum, 

 encroaching rather more on the third chamber behind." 



Mr. A. H. Foord in his British Museum Catalogue has taken the 

 same standpoint as McCoy, and regaided it as a variety, the specific 



