240 Currcsjwndencc — Bev. J. F. Blahc. 



the first half comparing the "flap- or fin-like extensions" to a V)h\g, 

 which is not a serial organ, and the second half suggesting 

 a relationship to a genus of shells? As to the specific name, 

 Mr. Green gave the name Cornubicns to his specimens as a group, 

 regarding them as specifically one ; but if the}' are to be divided, 

 then his statement that a certain specimen " differs from the others "^ 

 indicates that the " others " are regarded as thet3'pe. As Dr. Hinde 

 says he is "undecided" whether liis specimens are different from 

 these others, it follows that the statement sp. nov. after the name 

 he gives is quite unproved. I would also point out, what cannot 

 have struck Dr. Hinde, that the name minis implies that the 

 specimens so named are the first discovered. One is not astonished 

 at further examples of a known form, however wonderful, turning 

 up, and Mr. Green showed his specimens to his friends, Cornish and 

 others, and recognized examples in the Penzance Museum before the 

 beginning of last year, when Mr. Fox's specimens were found. 

 In justice, therefore, to Mr. Green the new name ought to be relegated 

 in toto to the synonym}'. 



As to the nature of the organisms rejoresented, there will probably 

 continue to be a difference of opinion. The use of the word 

 ' shell ' in Dr. Hinde's description is an assumption, as it is 

 admitted that nothing now remains but " some compound of 

 iron," which may be derived, as in the case of the chalk 

 Ventriculites, from other things than shells. The irregularity of the 

 outline indicates rather a soft-bodied animal. The downward bend 

 of the flaps in one specimen, their upward bend in another, and 

 the straight direction of their bases in a third indicate that they 

 were flexible. Dr. Hinde seems to think that downward -bending 

 flaps on both sides might appear as upward-bending if the fossil 

 were turned round on its median axis, but this is impossible. He 

 also states that we cannot tell whether the dorsal and ventral sides 

 are alike or not ; but as in one specimen each later flap " dips slightly 

 under " the next preceding, we can tell that we are looking at the 

 opposite side in any other specimen if, as appears to be the case 

 in his second figure, the later flap lies slightly over the next 

 preceding. The supposed rod may very well be the remains of 

 the intestine filled with matrix, or mere folds in the shrunken 

 integument. In Mr. Green's specimens the bases of the flaps are 

 somewhat swollen, and the distal lines are slightly radial rather 

 than absolutely parallel. 



If, then, we figure a soft-bodied animal, lineally elongated, with 

 a series of flexible organs on each side consisting of oblique flaps 

 ending distally in slightly radiating prolongations, the description 

 fits so well with that of a jjolychsetal annelid, as exhibited by man}' 

 larvje and by the adult of Aphrodite, and so ill with that of any other 

 known group of organisms, that this interpretation of the fossils 

 seems the most reasonable, especially as we have reason to believe 

 that this group was well established before the Devonian period. 



J. F. Blake. 



Ereatum. — On p. 147, line 19, /or "adunate" read " inadunate." 



