Prof. \y. King's Notes on Permian Fossils. .'J37 



Family Spiriferidae, King, 1846. 



Genus Spirifer, J. Sowerby. 



Spirifer Pemiianus, King*. 



Schauroth has found this well-marked species in the Zechsteiu 

 dolomite of Pcissneck : it is represented under fig. 6 in his 1st 

 ' Beitrag.' 



Genus Martini a, M'Coy. 



Martinia Clannyana, Kingf. 



This small species, which is extremely rare in the ISorth of 

 England, appears to be rather abundant in the Zechstein dolo- 

 mite of Possneck, where it was first discovered by Schauroth. 

 It is noticed and figured by him in his 'Beitrag' of 1853. I 

 procured from Dr. Krantz several examples, most of which are 



* Monograph, p. 133. pi. 9. figs. 18-24. 

 t Monograph, p. 13-1. pi. 10. figs. 11-13. 



stituting the valves of those Braehiopods which I examined. Dr. Car- 

 penter's own testimony, which appeared about seven or eight years after 

 the publication of his first " Report," and three years subsequent to the 

 a])pearance of my notices, will bear me out in the correction just made : 

 " In all the recent Terebratulidcp and Rhynchonellidce, and in all the fossil 

 specimens of those groups, as well as of Spirifer idee, Strophomenidcc and 

 Productidce, in which there is no indication of metamorphic action, the 

 shell is found to consist oijlaltened prisms, of considerable length, arranged 

 parallel to each other with great regularity " (vide clia])ter " On the Inti- 

 mate Structure of the Shells of Brachiopoda," p. 25). The italicization of 

 the concluding portion is my own. It is remarkable that Dr. Carpenter 

 has nowhere, in the chapter from which the above extract has been taken, 

 made tiie least allusion to " lamina; of extreme tenuity " with " sharp 

 foldings ;" nor has he at all acknowledged that others had previously dis- 

 covered the so-called " flattened prisms " or " capillary fibres," as they are 

 termed in my ' Monograi)h ' ! Surely, if my " doubt " as to the absence of 

 perforations " in any Brachiopod whatever," warranted the ignoring of the 

 little I have done in the matter, this ought not to have been the case with 

 what has been done by the Vicomte D'Archiac, who undoubtedly was the 

 first to signalize the " fibro-capillary structure " of the Palliobranchs (vide 

 " Rap])ort sur les fossiles du Tourtia," in Mem. Soc. Gecd. de France. 

 2 ser. vol. ii. 1847). A few days ago I felt myself justified in laying claim 

 to this discovery ; for, although I had heard that D'Archiac had written 

 something on palliobranchiate histology, as noticed in the Appendix to mv 

 'Monograph' (p. 244), yet 1 was not aw,ire that he had ascertained the 

 existence of the fibrous structure until only within the last few days. * * * 

 But let me not forget to acknowledge that I was in error in doubting the 

 absence of ))erforations " in any Braehiojiod whatever :" the account which 

 Dr. Carpenter has given of Rhynchonella psittacea in his late chapter is 

 quite conclusive on this point; but I cannot help thinking, from their 

 occurring in R.l Geinitziana, that perforations will yet be i'ound in con- 

 generic species supposed, or stated, to be without them. 

 Jnn. 6s May. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvii. 22 



