2 Prof. W. King on some 



Notwithstanding that several highly valuable papers ha-ve 

 appeared on the shell and animal of Lingula anatina *, my 

 investigations have not been unsuccessful in bringing to light 

 certain characters that have apparently escaped the notice of 

 previous observers, or have been insufficiently understood by 

 them. These and other characters are of so much importance 

 in elucidating the shells of some imperfectly known fossils as 

 to induce me to make them known to palaeontologists. 



Few, if any, shells' exceed in interest those belonging to the 

 genus Lingula. Occurring in rocks that were formed in what 

 may be regarded in the present stage of geology as the oldest 

 life-period of our planet, and being represented in every rock- 

 system, as well as in existing seas, while most of its con- 



* Mr. Davidson has kindly furnished me with most of the items of the 

 following list of authors who have contributed to elucidate the anatomy 

 of Lingula. I have made a few additions to the list, principally of 

 authors who have described either fossil or recent species of the genus. 



Biujguibre. This author established the genus Lingula in the Encyclop. 



Methodique, 1789. 

 Cuvier. " Memoire sur les Lingules," Mem. du Museum, vol. i., 1802. 

 Lamarck. Animaux sans Vertebres, tome vi., 1819. 

 Owen. Transactions of the Zoological Society, vol. i., 1835. 

 Vogt. "Anatomie der Lingula anatina" Neue Denksckriften der all- 



gemeinen Schweizerischen Gesellschaft fxir die gesammte Wisscn- 



schaften, Bd. vii., 1843. 

 Sowerby, G. B. Thesaurus Conchyliorum, 1846 : recent Lingulas. 

 Owen. In Davidson's 'Introduction to the British Fossil Brachiopoda ;' 



Monograph of the Palajontographical Society, 1853. 

 Huxley. Proceedings of the Boyal Society, vol. viii., 1854. 

 Woodward. Manual of Mollusca, 1854. 



Owen. Lectures on the Invertebrate Animals, 2nd edition, 1855. 

 Hancock. Transactions of the Boyal Society, vol. cxlviii. 2nd part, 



1855. 

 Gratiolet (P.). " Etudes anatomiques sur la Lingule anatine ;" Journal 



de Conchyliologie, 1860. 

 Reeve. Conchologia Iconica, 1861 : recent Lingulas. 

 Semper. Zeitschrift fur wissenschaftliche Zoologie, vols. xi. and xiv., 



1860, 1864. 

 Adams. Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. xi., 1863 : Japanese Lingulas. 

 Davidson. Palaeontographical Soc. Monographs; British Fossil Brachio- 

 poda : Lingulas. 

 Morse. American Journal of Science, vol. 1., 1870. 

 Dall. American Journal of Conchology, vol. vi. part ii., 1870. 

 Davidson. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1871 : 



Japanese Lingulas. 

 Hall. Notes on some new or imperfectly known Forms among the 



Brachiopoda, &c, 1872 : Lower Pulteozoic Lingidas. 



Other authors, as De Blainville, Deshayes, Captain King, Stimpson, 

 Hinds, Broderip, and Salter, have more or less contributed information on 

 Lingula. Bonin and Vivier are cited by Semper ; but I have not been 

 able to ascertain any thing respecting their work, except that it is 

 anatomical. 



