Review of the New York Geological Reports. 373 



"Very different opinions have been entertained as to the place 

 which the Graptohtes hold in the series of hving beings, but that 

 of Prof. Nilsson may come nearest to the truth, who conceives 

 the Graptolite to be a polyparium of the ceratophydian family. 

 Yet I am more inclined to regard them as belonging to the group 

 Pennatulince, the Linntean Virgularia being the nearest form in 

 the present state of nature to which they may be compared. 



" I am now acquainted with six or seven species of Graptolites, 

 all occurring in the oldest fossiliferous strata, where they are as- 

 sociated with Trilobites, Orthoceratites, &c. Of the species above 

 alluded to, five belong to Scandinavia, and of the other two, one 

 is peculiar to Bohemian and the other to French strata. The 

 three specimens given me by Mr. Murchison belong to two spe- 

 cies, Nos. 1 and 2 being identical, and agreeing with the Norwe- 

 gian species, which in my monograph I have named Graptoli- 

 thus virgulatus ; but as the memoir is still unpublished, Mr. 

 Murchison may change the name if he thinks it desirable. The 

 species No. 4 is new, and Mr. Murchison's name is adopted." 



GENERIC CHARACTERS OF GRAPTOLITHUS. 



Class Polypi. 



Order Octactinia (?) Ehrenberg. 



Family Pennatdlides ? 



Genus Graptolithus, Linn. 



" Polyparium indivisum, elongatum, suhlijieare, acuminatum^ 

 ohtusiusculum,, stata fossili, com.pressissimum, serratum. 



" Polypi alternantes cum, tubulo communi eentrali comm,U7ii- 

 cantes, in fossili statu scepissime secati, rarius bifarii, oblongi, 

 acuminati. 



" When the stem is cut off, the distinct bodies of the single 

 polypes are seen alternating, and showing different forms when 

 cut in different directions. 



"In the first edition of his Systema Naturas, (1736,) Linnaeus 

 published a generic group under the name Graptolithus. The 

 first species he described several years afterwards in his travels 

 in Scania, (p. 147.) where also a rude figure is given. This is 

 the most common form of Graptolites in the Scandinavian transi- 

 tion formations, and as described and named first may be taken as 

 the typical form of the genus. When Linnseus introduced spe- 

 cific names, this species of Graptolite was also named for the first 



Vol. xLvii, No. 2.— July-Sept. 1844. 43 



