Prof. W. B. Benham — A Giant Fossil Cirripede. Ill 



Mr. T. F. Cheeseman, the Curator of the Auckland Museum, in 

 which some remains were exhibited : in answer to my request, 

 Mr. Cheeseman very generously loaned me these remains, and 

 the following notes are founded on them. I will here express my 

 thanks to this gentleman for the readiness with which h& has, in 

 this and other instances, complied with my request for the loan 

 of specimens out of his museum. But these few fragments do not 

 represent all that is known of the animal ; for I understand that 

 abundant material, collected by Professor Park during his geological 

 survey, is entombed in boxes in the Colonial Museum at Wellington, 

 and Professor Thomas, of Auckland, also possesses, as he informs 

 me, a fair supply of valves, collected by himself. 



I have, however, not been able to examine either of these col- 

 lections. And although the present contribution is very incomplete, 

 yet I hope that it will stimulate the possessors of better material 

 to supplement or correct my remarks ; at any rate, it will serve 

 to direct the attention of European geologists and zoologists to the 

 existence in late geologic times of a Cirripede remarkable chiefly for 

 its gigantic size, far surpassing any member of the group hitherto 

 known to science. 



Portions of this fossil were exhibited in 1887 by Sir James 

 Hector at a meeting of the Wellington Philosophical Institute, when 

 he made the following remarks : — ' 



" The large fossil Cirripede collected by James Park will probably 

 be found to belong to the genus Scalpellum, and is distinguished 

 provisionally under the name Sc. Aiiclclandicum. In size this fossil 

 Cirripede exceeds greatly any previously known ; in S. magnum 

 the capitulum being 1^ inches in length, while in the Auckland 

 specimen it is at least 8 inches. 



" The fossil occurs in a breccia marking an old shore-line of the 

 upper part of the Waitemata series, similar to the Cape Kodney beds. 

 The associated fossils are corals, brachiopods, and echinoderms. 

 Among the latter are two specimens of Cidaris having plates of 

 enormous size." 



These fossils were collected on the island of Motutapu, in Auckland 

 harbour. Park ^ states that " the island consists of Tertiary sandstone 

 and clays on a highly denuded surface of slates, sandstones, and 

 schists, of probably Paleozoic age." 



According to Sir James Hector, the Waitemata series belong to 

 his ' Cretaceo-Tertiary ' system, whereas Captain Hutton regards it 

 as Miocene.^ 



Sir James Hector, as above stated, attributed the fossil to the 

 genus Scalpellum, and proposed the name Sc. Auchlandicum, without, 

 however, further describing it. 



But, I think, a careful comparison of the scutum and carina with 

 the fossil valves described by Darwin indicates a closer resemblance 

 to certain species of Pollici/pes ; nevertheless, I do not think I am 



1 Trans. N.Z. Institute, vol. xx, p. 440. 



2 Geological Reports (N.Z. Government), 1887, p. 225. 

 ^ Hutton: Trans. N.Z. Institute, vol. xxxii, p. 171. 



