63 



SkenidltiaiJ, Hall. Spiriferidm ? . 1860. 



i:5tli Regent's Rep. p. 70, Dec. f. 2, 4, 5. Type OrtMs insignis, Hall, 1. c. 

 (Comp. Rhynchora spathulata, Dalm.) Relations doubtful, perhaps Stro- 

 phomenoid. 



f^piniifeF, Eafinesque. Spiriferidm. 1831. 



Men. Biv. Shells Ohio, p. 7. No ex. cited; lapsus, = /Spin/er, Sow. 

 ^ptFlfer, Sowerby. tSpiriferidce. 1815. 



Min. Conch, ii, p. 42, t 120. Sole ex. S. cuspiMtus, Sow. 1. c. (Garb.) 

 = Anomiies cuspidatus, Martin, Trans. Lin. Soc. iv, p. 45, t. 3, and t. 4, f. 

 5. Dav. Mon. Garb. Brach. pp. 44, 224. 



This is the first printed reference to the genus, and it has 

 been urged with much force by eminent authorities that the 

 sole species mentioned here must necessarily be talien as 

 the type of the genus. But Sowerby had previously pre- 

 sented a paper (in 1814), which was then read before the 

 Linnean Society, and the substance of which became known 

 not only in England but on the continent (cf. Dav. 1853, p. 

 81). This was published in the Linnean Transactions, xii, 

 pp. 514-515, 1821, and in it the discovery of the spires 

 from which the genus takes its name, in the Anomites stri- 

 atus, Martin (Petref. Derb. t. 23, 1809), Sow. 1. c. p. 515, 

 t. 28, f. 1-2, was announced, while at the same time Sow- 

 erby notes that their presence in S. cuspidatus was only sur- 

 mised at that time. On these grounds, the majority of 

 modern authors have justifiably regarded S. striatus as the 

 type (see Dav. 1856, p. 159, pi. viii, f. 22-23). This decis- 

 ion is of more importance, since S. cuspidatus belongs to a 

 section of the genus differing in some details from that typi- 

 fied by S. striatus, and which has been recognized under the 

 name Syringothyris applied by Winchell. If rthe work of 

 restriction were to be done over again from the very begin- 

 ning, it is probable that most authors would consider the 

 rules of nomenclature better served by taking cuspidatus as 

 the type, but the reverse process has been the rule among 

 authors so long that it would be a serious detriment to sci- 

 ence to attempt such a change at present. 



Syn. Spirifera, Phillips, J. de G. Sowerby; Trigonoireta, Konig, &c, 

 Gomp. Spirifer, King, Meek, &c. 



Jipirifer, Meek and Hayden. Spiriferidce. 1864. 



Pal. Upper Missouri (Garb.), p. 19. Mr. Meek, considering S. cuspidatus, 

 Sow., the first species published under the name of Spirifer as the true 

 type, defines the genus upon that basis. Gf. Spirifer, Sow. ; Cijrtia, Dal- 

 luan; Trigonoireta, Kon\g ; Syringothyris, 'Winchell. 



