r 61 ] 



Anomia of the Lamellibrancldata; but, as was judiciously observed 

 by Edward Forbes, " a close examination stows that there is no 

 relationship between them, but only a resemblance through formal 

 analogy." It was during the present century that the class itself 

 had been worked out and understood, and this had been achieved 

 only after the most lengthened and persevering researches. 



NAME. 



The name Brachiopod (an arm, a foot) was proposed for the 

 class by Cuvier in 1805, and by Dumeril in 1809, and had since been 

 very generally adopted. Professor King, perhaps rightly, objected 

 to the term on the grounds that it was a misnomer, for the two 

 variously curved and cirrated brachial appendages, improperly 

 designated as arms or feet, were subsequently found not to subserve 

 the function of locomotive organs. Blainville, in 1824, proposed as 

 a substitute for Cuvier's name that of Palliobranchiata (a mantle, 

 gills), on account of the respiratory system being combined with 

 the mantle on which the vascular ramifications. are distributed. 



SHELL. 



Before alluding to the position the Brachiopod should occupy 

 amongst the invertebrata, he might, at once, observe that the 

 animal was protected by a shell composed of two distinct valves ; 

 and that these valves were always, except in cases of malformation, 

 equal sided, but not equivalved. The shell was likewise most varied 

 and beautiful in its endless shapes and variations ; in some species 

 it was semi-transparent, and glassy, in others massive ; generally 

 the shell was from a quarter of an inch to about four inches in size, 

 but in certain species was nearly a foot in breadth by something 

 less in length, as was the case with Productus Giganteus. The 

 valves were often very unequal in their respective thickness, as 

 might be seen in Froductus Llaugollensis, Davidsonia Verneuilii, 

 &c., and while the space allotted to the animal was very great in a 

 number of species it was extremely small in many others. Tlie 

 outer surface of many of the species presented likewise the most 

 exquisite sculpture, heightened by brilliant shades, stripes, or spots 

 of green, red, yellow, and bluish black. The valves had been 

 distinguished by various names, but those of dorsal and ventral were 

 in more general use. The ventral one was usually the larger ; in 



