246 LYTOCERAS, HAMITES. 



Family III. LYTOCERATID^. 



To this famil}' we assign the monophjdlic genera Lytoceras 

 and Phylloceras, and those e volute or straight forms allied to 

 the first, Baculites, Hamites and Tu7'riUtes-^ they are character- 

 ized by a short bod3r-chamber (two-thirds of a whorl) -and a 

 simple aperture ; in all other characters such a marked diflTer- 

 entiation takes place, that it is scarcelj^ possible to find one 

 which is common to all, so complete also are their interrelations 

 in a genetic aspect. The simplicity of the aperture is itself not 

 found constant in the Baculites. 



There is no instance recorded of the presence of an aptychus 

 in a form belonging to this group ; there is also no positive evi- 

 dence on the ground of such negative observations that it is 

 wanting, but it is in the highest degree probable, at least in 

 respect to the geologically older forms. 



Genus LYTOCERAS, Sues?. 



Shell flattened, discoidal, whorls but little involute or simply 

 in contact ; body-chamber two-thirds of a whorl, margin of aper- 

 ture at the columellar side produced into a lobe, processes want- 

 ing at the siphonal side and on the flanks ; lines of growth and 

 sculpture parallel to the margin of the aperture, at the suture 

 bent forwards ; sculpture feeble, mostly consisting of radial 

 lines or interruptions ; sutural line with few lobes, lateral lobes 

 and saddles S3anmetricall3^ divided, columellar lobe two-pointed. 

 No aptychus. 



The forms of the Trias diverge herefrom in such a way, that 

 in them the lines of growth and sculpture, as in Fhylloceras, 

 aVe directed forward at the siphonal side, and that the structure 

 of the saddles is monophyllic. 



Sixty-two species, from the Trias, Jura and Cretaceous. 

 Lytoceras Henleyi, Sowb. T. 107, fig. 618. 

 Lytoceras Moreleti, Hauer. T. 110, figs. 646. 647. 



Genus HAMITES, Park. 



In the classification of the evolute cretaceous Ammonites, the 

 form of the spiral has until now been available or used as a 

 distinguishing characteristic, and, as observed above, has led to 



