MARCOU — TEREBRATILA ^rORMO^•II. 253 



" Retzia pitncluUfera Shumard, 1858 — Trans. St. Louis Acad. 

 Sci. vol. i. p. 220. Meek, 1872, Final Report of Geol. of Nebr., 

 p. 181, PI. I. fig. 13; and PI. V. fig. 8. Terebratula Mormonii 

 Marcou, 1858, Geol. of N. Am. p. 51, PI. VI. fig. ii." 



Qiiestions of priority have been settled hitherto by dates and a 

 strict adherence to truth. If these principles are abandoned, the 

 fancy or preference of the writer will form the only ground of 

 decision. It is because such principles are involved in this case, 

 that it is well to bring the matter before naturalists, every one 

 being interested in upholding, with the greatest care and exact- 

 ness, questions of priority as a vital matter in classification. 



Prof. Derby's synonimia is copied verbatim, with the exception 

 of the genus Retzia King, being replaced by the genus Eutnetria 

 Hall, from Mr. F. B. Meek's " Report on the Palaeontology of 

 Eastern Nebraska, with some Remarks on the Carboniferous 

 Rocks of that District" (see '-Final Rep. of the U. S. Geol. Surv. 

 of Nebraska, by F. V. Hayden"), who says, p. 182, "I am in 

 doubt whether Dr. Shumard's name ^. R. puncttilif era, or Prof. 

 Marcou's name, Terebratu/a Mormonii, for this shell, has pri- 

 ority, both having been published in 1858. If Prof. Marcou's 

 name was published earlier in the year than Dr Shumard's, it 

 would of course have to be retained. If the two names, however, 

 were published exactly at the same date, or so near it as to leave 

 the question of priority in doubt, the name puncttdifera should 

 be retained, as it wus proposed along with a much better descrip- 

 tion, and with a correct knowledge of the affinities of the shell." 

 So Mr. Meek cuts short his doubts first expressed and adjudges 

 the priority to Dr. Shumard. It is just to say that the late Dr. 

 Benj. F. Shumard has never questioned my priority, and that Mr. 

 Meek put forward his claim several years after his death. 



My "Geology of North America," which contains Terebratula 

 Mormonii,, was published in Zurich, Switzerland, in Febnaary, 

 1858 ; see the date of the letter of dedication to the late Prof. L. 

 Agassiz, p. vi. Dr, Shumard's memoir, entitled "Descriptions 

 of New Fossils from the Coal Measures of Missouri and Kansas, 

 by B. F. Shumard and G. C. Swallow," was read at the meeting 

 of March 8, 1858, of the St. Louis Academy of Science, and re- 

 ferred on motion to the committee on publication, and it did not 

 appear in print until the- beginning of June, 1858. as maybe seen 



