38 DENTALIUM-ANTALIS. 



Thus, were we to divide into (1) species with a tubular apical fora- 

 men and (2) those with a v-like notch, such closely allied forms as 

 D. vulgare and D. weinhauffii would be separated, and a good many 

 specimens of other species would fail to show the differential feat- 

 ures ; if we divide by a criterion of sculpture, each section would 

 contain forms with various apical characters, and a number of spe- 

 cies intermediate in sculpture. 



If the characters of the apex be held of subgeneric importance, 

 then the group with an apical tube, such as vulgare, novemcostatum, 

 etc., will require a new subgeneric name. 



The names for this division of Dentalium are involved in obscur- 

 ity. Aldrovandus, writing in 1642, proposed to call the smooth 

 Italian species (probably D. vulgare) Antale ; but as his nomencla- 

 ture was not binomial, the name has of course only a historic in- 

 terest in the light of subsequent events. Defrance and other early 

 French writers enter ''Antale^' as a synonym of Dentalium, or 

 another name for D. entalis (see Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. ii, p. 136, 

 1816 ; Encycl. Meth., i, p. 75, 1892, etc.). Schroter, between 1774 

 and 1784, is said to mention Antale, but his two works on geology, 

 " Lithologisches Real- und Verballexicon," and " Vollstandige Ein- 

 leitung in die Kenntniss und Geschichte der Steine und Versteiu- 

 erungen," are not accessible to us, and it does not appear that he 

 adopts Antale as a genus. 



In 1846, Herrmanusen mentions Antalis Aldrov. as a name for 

 smooth Dentalia, no type species being given. 



In 1854 H. & A. Adams recognized Antalis Aldrov. as a second 

 genus of Dentaliidce, with the following diagnosis : " Shell symme- 

 trical, tubular, subcylindrical, recurved ; apex perforated, perfora- 

 tion with a notch-like fissure on the dorsal or posterior margin ; 

 aperture circular, entire. Of the two examples cited, A. semistrio- 

 lata Guild, is evidently introduced merely as an illustration of the 

 soft anatomy, but as the shell has no " notch-like fissure," it is ap- 

 parent that the second example, A. entalis L., of which the shell is 

 figured, must be the type. It agrees with the generic definition, 

 and with the express statement in regard to the fissure following it. 

 So far as we can learn, this was the first formal introduction of the 

 terra Antalis into post-Linnaean nomenclature, and although the 

 name is attributed by Adams brothers to Aldrovandus, it is essen- 

 tially a new group, the original ^^ Antale ^^ Aldrov. (D. vulgare=^ 

 tarentinum) being omitted from the list given under Antalis Adams, 

 and placed in Dentalium. 



