INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE, PHILADELPHIA. 85 



Lyria musicina Heilprin. 

 Volula ninsicini Heilprin, Trans. Wagner Inst., vol. i. p. 109, pi. 15, fig. 45, 1887. 



Upper Eocene at Richards' quarry, Ocala, Florida, Willcox ; Lower Mio- 

 cene of Chipola River, West Florida, near Bailey's Ferry, corresponding to 

 the lower stratum at Alum Bluff, and also at the silex-beds, Ballast Point, 

 Tampa, by Messrs. Burns, Willcox, Shepard and others. 



This species has the thickened and reflected lip and small, though some- 

 times inflated, nucleus oi Lyria. No differences can be detected between the Ocala, 

 Tampa, and Chipola specimens. It grows to a large size : one of my specimens 

 measures 62.0 mm. long by 30.0 mm. in maximum diameter. It has six strong 

 and five accessory plaits, generally, though the number is not absolutely con- 

 stant. 



Lyria oostata Sowerby. 

 Plate 6, figure 2. 

 Valuta costata (Brander) Sowerby, Min. Conch, iii. 163, pi. ccxc. figs, i, 2, 4, 1S21. 

 Valuta sp. Lesueur, Walnut Hills Foss., pi. 4, fig. 13, 1829. 

 Ftdgararia mississippiensis Conrad, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. i. 2d ser. p. 119, pi. 



13, fig. I (bad !), Aug., 1848. 

 Otocheilus mississippiensis Cox).ra.A, Am. Journ. Conch, i. p. 24, 1S65. 



Upper Eocene of Vicksburg beds at Vicksburg, Miss., also in the Red 

 Bluff horizon of about the same age at Carson's Creek, Wayne Co., Alabama, 

 and at Walnut Hills, Miss. (Lesueur). Eocene of Britain. 



The genus Otoclieilus Conrad was never described. It is absolutely 

 synonymous with Lyria. This species, and an unfigured and unidentifiable 

 0. nereidis Conrad, were the types ; the latter was the second species. The 

 figures given by Sowerby are bad, his description is applicable only to the im- 

 mature shell. Conrad's figure is also uncharacteristic. From study of authen- 

 tic specimens from both sides of the Atlantic, I am prepared to say that they 

 are specifically identical and have not even varietal differences. I have figured- 

 it, partly for comparison with the Voliitilithes previously mentioned, and partly 

 in order that its true characters may be understood. It is the precursor of the 

 Miocene L. nmsicina Heilp. The specimen figured is 32.0 mm. in length. 



The Red Bluff specimens are a little rounder in the ribs, and the early 

 whorls are straighter-sided than in those from Vicksburg. But these differ- 

 ences are not specific. It is curious that original specimens from Conrad and 

 an English one received from J. Sowerby by Dr. Lea are more exactly similar 

 than American specimens from different localities are to each other. The 

 differences shown by suites of specimens of recent Lyrias and by Voluta 

 musica give us a suitable idea of how much stress should be laid on these 

 trifling mutations in the fossil specimens. It is not enough to have a large 

 suite from one locality. A series from a wide geographical range can alone 

 give a clue to the range of specific variation. 



