66 THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 



DISCOVERY OF THE EGGS OF A FOSSIL BRACHIOPOD OVA. 



The late Dr. James Hall, State Director of the Geological Sur- 

 vey, New York, in the Report for 1891, at page 267, mentions the 

 discovery of the Ova of Lingula Laniellata, now L. Tceniola, from 

 Hamilton, Ont. " The palial cavity has been found filled with them," 

 he adds. A German, Prof. Oehlert, detected Ova previously in a midd- 

 le Devonian Brachiopod, Stringocephalus. The Hamilton specimen 

 (Silurean) is from an earlier time, and the discovery is of considera- 

 ble interest. Dr. Hall remarks : " There are at present no satisfac- 

 " tory means of separating the great majority of fossils passing under 

 " the name of Lingula. Internal casts bearing muscular and palial 

 " impressions quite similar to recent species have been found in 

 " rocks as old as the Trenton. Whenever traces of such internal 

 " markings are found there seems to be little difficulty in reconciling 

 " them with those of the ' living shells.' " In extinct forms the scars 

 were deeper and the shells thicker than in species now extant and 

 more calcareous. The writer regrets he was unable to procure a 

 colored Lingula (Glossina) Perovata which Dr. Hall had never seen 

 in New York State, and which seems to be confined to the bluff 

 beyond the Reservoir. 



