78 PROCEEDINGS OF THE MALACOLOGICAL SOCIETr. 



figured (and somcwliat restored) in 1833 in Lis " Geology of the South- 

 east of England,"' under the name Baculites ohliqiiatus; and that he 

 more correctly depicted in 1844 in his "Medals of Creation"- as 

 Baculites haculoides. 



In 1842 D'Orbigny^ gave figures of the aperture of a specimen 

 which he referred to this species in his " Paleontologie Fran^aise," 

 and in 1876 Schliiter* figured and referred to this species a specimen 

 showing the aperture. 



The best figures and description of the aperture known to the 

 present writer were given in 1885 by Noetling,* who depicted both 

 a lateral aspect and a view of the aperture from above. 



The specimen of Baculites from the Isle of Wight, figured by 

 Nonnan^ in 1887, shows the curved portion of the siphonal area of 

 the shell in the region of the aperture, but no traces of the margin 

 of the aperture. 



In the British Museum there is an example (No. C. 422) probably 

 belonging to this species from the Lower Chalk of Chardstock, 

 Somerset, which, though only a natural cast of tlie anterior jiortion 

 of the body-chamber, nevertheless shows the aperture so remarkably 

 well as to be deserving of notice. 



The specimen is 46 mm. long, is laterally compressed, and in cross- 

 section is oval. The greatest thickness of the body-chamber is at the 

 posterior margin of the aperture, its dorso-ventral and transverse 

 diameters here being 15-5 and 13-5 mm. respectively. The aperture, 

 subelliptical in outline, is 25 mm. in length by 14 mm. wide, and is 

 only slightly inclined to the longitudinal axis of the shell. Anterior 

 to the posterior margin of the aperture, the body-chamber gradually 

 decreases in width, and is somewhat narrower than the aperture itself. 

 The anterior portion of the body-chamber for a length of about 5 mm. 

 is very much more compressed than the rest, and has only a width 

 of about 4-5 mm. 



In the neighbourhood of the aperture the siphonal area of the 

 body-chamber curves towards the antisiphonal, but its anterior portion, 

 i.e. a length equal to about one-fifth of the entire length of the 

 aperture, instead of following the curve of the rest of the siphonal 

 area, turns abruptly forward in a direction almost parallel to the 

 longitudinal axis of the shell ; and since the shell here is much more 

 compressed laterally than it is at the adjacent parts, the anterior 

 portion of the aperture has therefore a spout-like appearance. 



The siphonal portion of the body-chamber adjoining the aperture 

 exhibits five coarse folds imbiicating forwards, that gradually become 



1 "Geoloo^y S.E. of England," 1833, p. 160, fig. 1. 



2 " Medals of Creation," 1844, vol. ii, p. 499, lign. 110, fig. 2. 



3 Pal. Fran9. Terr. Cret., vol. i, pi. cxxxviii, figs. 6, 8, 9. Referred since by 

 Geinitz to a distinct species, B. subhaculoides. 



* " Palajontographica, " vol. xxiv, 1876, pi. xxxix, fig. 15. 



* "Die Faima der Baltischen Cenoinau-Geschiebe," Paliiont. Abhaudl., Dames 

 and Kayser, vol. ii, pt. 4, p. 42, pi. viii (xxiii), figs. 7, la. 



'' " Popular Guide to the Geology of the Isle of Wight," 1887, plate facing p. 96. 



