8 Mr. T. Davidson on the Brachiopoda 



with a single recent species which could be referred to the sheH 



under description. „ ., . i Ti;r- ,. t. ^f 



T. sinuosa is a very common fossil m the Miocene strata of 

 the island of Malta, and was found by Dr. Leith Adams m the 

 "Upper Limestone" (No. 1), the " Sand-bed" (2), and the " Marl- 

 bed " (3), but most abundantly among the Coralline portions ot 

 the Upper Limestone. The shell is generally gregarious, and is 

 met with in regular beds, but attains its greatest size and per- 

 fection in bed No. 1. It is very rare in the nodular vein of the 

 "Calcareous Sandstone" (4), and Dr. Adams has not yet met 

 with it in the " Lower Limestone " (5). 



In Italy T. sinuosa has been found very abundantly by M. 

 Meneghini in the Middle Miocene of Palazzo in Tuscany, and 

 its occurrence in beds of a similar age in Piedmont has been 

 noticed by M. Michelotti of Turin. In Sicily it has been found 

 by M. Sequenza in the Miocene beds of Messina ; and I be- 

 lieve I have seen specimens from Algeria. 



2. Terehratula minor, Philippi. PI. I. fig. 8. 



T. vitrea, var. minor, Philippi. 



T. minor, Suess, Ueber die Wohnsitze der Brachiopoden (1859), and Da v. 

 Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist, for July 1861. 



Sp. char. Shell small, ovate, nearly straight in front. Valves 

 almost equally deep, uniformly and tumidly convex, without fold 

 or sinus. Surface smooth, marked only by concentric lines of 

 growth. Beak small, incurved and truncated by a small circular 

 foramen ; deltidium small, proportions variable. Length 5, 

 width 4, depth 3 lines. 



Obs. The correct determination of this small shell is subject 

 to some difficulties. It exactly resembles a Sicilian Pliocene 

 example of T. minor sent to me by M. Michelotti of Turin, and 

 bears the greatest resemblance to Prof. Sequenza's T. affinis. 



The specific value of Philippics Terebratula minor has, however, 

 been differently viewed by some naturalists. Prof. Suess con- 

 siders T. minor to be distinct from T. vitrea (it is, according to 

 my learned Viennese friend, smaller, with stronger valves and 

 blunt margins), and that Philippi has pointed out the differences 

 between the two. M. Sequenza, on the contrary, seems to 

 consider Philippics T. minor as nothing more than a smaller race 

 of T. vitrea, and assures me that in the last-named shell and in 

 T. minor the loop is exactly the same, that is to say, short and 

 simple, the two riband-shaped lamellse being soon united by a 

 transverse lamella bent upwards in the middle. 



The Maltese specimens I have been able to examine have all 

 the external shape and character of small examples of T, vitrea ; 



