Review of the New York Geological Reports. 373 



"Very different opinions have been entertained as to the place 

 which the Graptolites hold in the series of living beings, but that 

 of Prof. Nilsson may come nearest to the truth, who conceives 

 the Graptolite to be a polyparium of the ceratophydian family. 

 Yet I am more inclined to regard them as belonging to the group 

 Pe?inatulincB, the Linnsean Virgularia being the nearest form in 

 the present state of nature to which they may be compared. 



" I am now acquainted with six or seven species of Graptolites, 

 all occurring in the oldest fossiliferous strata, where they are as- 

 sociated with Trilobites, Orthoceratites, &c. Of the species above 

 alluded to, five belong to Scandinavia, and of the other two, one 

 is peculiar to Bohemian and the other to French strata. The 

 three specimens given me by Mr. Murchison belong to two spe- 

 cies, Nos. 1 and 2 being identical, and agreeing with the Norwe- 

 gian species, which in my monograph I have named Graptoli- 

 thus virgulatus ; but as the memoir is still unpublished, Mr. 

 Murchison may change the name if he thinks it desirable. The 

 species No. 4 is new, and Mr. Murchison's name is adopted." 



GENERIC CHARACTERS OF GRAPTOLITHUS. 



Class Polypi. 

 Order Octactinia (?) Ehrenberg. 



Family Pennatuhdes? 



Genus Graptolithus, Linn. 

 " Polyparium indivisum, elongatum, sublineare, acuminatum, 

 'usiusculum, stata fossili, compressissimum, serralum. 

 Polypi alternantes cum tubulo communi centrali communi- 

 es, in fossili statu sapissime secaii, rarius bifarii, oblongi, 



dcuminati. 



" When the stem is cu 

 polypes are seen alternati 

 cut in different directions. 



(1736 



published a generic group under the name Graptolithus. The 

 first species he described several years afterwards in his travels 

 in Scania, (p. 147,) where also a rude figure is given. This is 

 the most common form of Graptolites in the Scandinavian transi- 

 tion formations, and as described and named first may be taken as 

 the tvnirnl far™ rt f thp jrenus. When Linnaeus introduced spe- 



hc names, this species of Graptolite w« 



Vol. xlth, No. 2.— July-Sept. 1844. 43 



