248 PALEONTOLOGY OF NEW YORK. 



mon fossil in the upper horizon of the Hudson River group in the Oliio valley. 

 Rafinesque himself, did not define his genus Strophomenes in any American 

 work until the publication of his tract of October, 1831,* where it appears in 

 the following terms : 



" Strophomenes, Raf. Equilateral, hinge broad, great valve notched by a 

 lunulate sinus receiving a lunulate projection from the smaller valve." 



In a tract published in Philadelphia in November, 1831, entitled, "Enumera- 

 tion and Account of some remarkable Natural Objects in the Cabinet of Prof. 

 Rafinesque in Philadelphia," p. 4,f the descriptions of the following species 

 under Strophomenes are given : 



"Strophomenes, Raf, 1820. See tract of October [1831]. 1. Str. kvigata. Very 

 smooth, longer valve convex, lower valve concave, corners acute, not auricu- 

 lated ; contour arched and even. Length, 4-5 of the breadth. Kentucky 

 limestone. 2. Str.flexilis. Very thin, lower valve hardly concave, with minute 

 curved strias ; upper valve convex, with minute fiexuose strias, corners acute 

 subauriculate. Length and breadth equal. Limestone of Ohio, 1 or 2 inches." 



In the absence of illustrations the descriptions of these species are too mea- 

 ger to allow of their identification. So far as known the name Strophomenes 

 does not again occur in the writings of M. Rafinesque, and since these species 

 have not subsequently been recognized or farther defined, the term Strophom- 

 enes, Rafinesque, in this connection can not be retained. 



In 1846, King I considered S. rugosa as congeneric with LeptcEna alternata, 

 Conrad. Suarpe,§ in 1848, takes Orthis umbraculum, Schlotheim, as the typical 

 species of Strophomena, including the 0. crenistria, of Phillips, thus making 



* The title of this tract is as follows : " Continuation of a Monograph of the Bivalve Shells of the River 

 Ohio, and othor Rivers of the Western States. By Prof. C. S. Rafinescjcb. (PuhUshcd at. Brussels, fi^i-p- 

 tember, 1820.) Containing- 46 species, from No. 76 to No. 121. Including- an Appendix on some Bivalve Shells 

 of the Rivers of Hindostan, with a Suppleinent|| on the Fossil Shells of the Westei-n States, and the Tulosites, 

 a new genus of fossils. Philadelphia, October, 1831." 



t Binney and Ti-yon's Reprint, p. 69. 



I Annals of Natural History, vol. xviii, p. 36. 



§ Quarterly Journal Geological Society, vol. iv, p. 78. 



II In this tract he refers to the Monogi-aph which he hart sent to Bnissels for publication in the "Journal de Physique," and 

 writes : " I propose to give an epitome of this Mono^rapli whicli I liave not seen in print. I possess nearly all the shells." 

 Then follows a list of the genera which he hail there proposed under the order Buaohiopia ; numbering altogether 

 twenty-three generic terms. 



