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PAPYROTHECA, A NEW GENUS OF GASTROPODA 

 FROM THE PONTIC STEPPES OF SERVIA. 1 



By SPIRIDION BRUSINA, 



Professor of Zoology in the University of Croatia and Director of the National 



Zoo log ieal Museum. 



(PI. II, figs, i to 5.) 

 Preliminary Remarks. 

 When in the year 1887 I was staying in Belgrad with my friend and 

 colleague, J. M. Zujovic, Professor of Geology and Paleontology in 

 the University there, he encouraged me to examine the Pontic 

 deposits of Ripanj. 



Ripanj lies 25 kilometres south of the capital of the Servian 

 kingdom, and the fossiliferous locality lies not far from the railway 

 station. On the spot I have only collected some large specimens of 

 Mclanopsis martiniana, Fer. ; M. vinciobonensis, Fuchs ; Congeria 

 subglobosa, Partsch, &c, and have taken away some of the 

 fossiliferous clay. From this material I have, by clearing away the 

 clay, discovered some very interesting new species which I have 

 described and partly figured under the names : — Neritorfonta stance, 

 Brus. ; Caspia vujici, Brus. ; Melanopsis zujovici, Brus. ; M. lozam'ci, 

 Brus. : J/, nesici, Brus. ; M. pavlovici, Brus. ; Orygoceras fistula, 

 Brus. ; Planorbis lazici, Brus. ; PL marinkovici, Brus., &c., in the 

 "Annates Gcologitjues de la Peninsule Balkanique, dirigees par 

 J. Zujovic, Tome iv., Fasc. i., 1892," in one of the parts written in 

 the Servo-Croatic language. 



Besides the species just mentioned I have also collected three 

 examples of a very remarkable genus. They were plainly diminutive 

 little specimens, very badly preserved ; but each specimen appeared 

 different to the others. For this reason I laid these specimens on 

 one side and made no comment on them in my above-mentioned 

 work. 



When my friend Zujovic visited me in the spring in Agram 

 I showed him the specimens in question, and I asked him to procure 

 for me some further clay and sand from Ripanj. I have to thank 

 my friend that I have succeeded in finding in the material sent 

 several, unfortunately more or less incomplete, specimens from 

 which I have been able to obtain a better knowledge of this obscure 

 fossil. 



It is already known that the Land and Freshwater-Molluscan 

 fauna, of the so-called Levantine and Pontic steppes of Croatia and 



\ Communicated by the author and translated from the original by Herr A. Schaerer. 



