﻿146 T. Davidson — What is a Brachiopod ? 



species of Brachiopoda found in the neiglibourliood of Batli. In 

 1773 T. Pennant described and figured some of tlie soft parts of the 

 animal of Terebratulina cajnd-serjjentis (especially its brachial or 

 labial appendages), and in 1774 Grundler gave a good description 

 of the same appendages with enlarged illustrations. Again, in 1776 

 and 1791, Miiller and Poll described the animal of Crania (their 

 Patella anomala and Criopus turbinata) with some enlarged illustra- 

 tions, in which the brachial appendages are correctly represented.^ 

 During that century many species of Brachiopoda both recent and 

 fossil were described and figured by LinnEeus, Bruguiere, and others, 

 but no attempt at classification was made. 



Space unfortunately will not admit of my mentioning in detail the 

 honoured names of all those who have so materially contributed 

 to the knowledge we at present possess with reference to the 

 Brachiopoda ; but we must allude to Von Buch, Alcide d'Orbigny, 

 Defrance, de Blainville, de Verneuil, S. P. Woodward, Gray, Deslong- 

 champs, father and son, Sowerby, Barrande, de Koninck, King, 

 Salter, E. Suess, M'Coy, Hall, Billings, Dall, Dalman, Fischer, 

 Pander, Moore, Eichwald, Kutorga, Keyserling, Sandberger, 

 Seguensa, Meek, etc. The names of the zoologists who have so 

 ably worked out the anatomical and structural characters of the 

 animal will be duly recorded in the sequel. Grundler, in 1774, 

 seems, however, to have been the first to propose to create for the 

 animals under notice a distinct class among the Mollusca. 



Name. — The name Braohiopod {^pa'^iwv, an arm ; Troi)?, 7ro8o<i, 

 a foot) was proposed for the class by Cuvier in 1805, and Dumeril 

 in 1809, and has since been very extensively adopted. In 1824 

 Blainville proposed as a substitute for Cuvier's name that of Pallio- 

 branchiata (pallium, a mantle; hrancliice, gills), on account of the 

 respiratory system being combined Avith the mantle on which the 

 vascular ramifications are distributed. This term has always been 

 adopted by Prof. King, who perhaps has rightly objected to Cuvier's 

 name, on the grounds that it is a misnomer ; for the two variously 

 curved and cirrated brachial or labial appendages, improperly 

 designated as arms or feet, were subsequently found not to sub- 

 serve the function of locomotive organs. 



Shell. — Before alluding to the position the Brachiopod should 

 occupy amongst the Invertebrata, we may at once observe that the 

 animal is protected by a shell composed of two distinct valves ; and 

 that these valves are always, except in cases of malformation, equal- 

 sided, but not equi-valved. The shell is likewise most beautiful in 

 its endless shapes and variations ; in some species it is thin, semi- 

 transparent and glassy, in others massive ; generally the shell 

 is from a quarter of an inch to about four inches in size : but in 

 certain species it attains nearly a foot in breadth by something less 



1 A very remarkable paper by M. de Lamaiion, " Sur les Te'rebratules on Poulettes, 

 et description d'une espeee trouvee dans les raers de la Tartaric Orientale," was 

 published in 1797 in vol. iv. of the Voyage de la Peronse autonr du monde. In this 

 memoir, which appears to have been overlooked by all those who have treated of the 

 same subject, tlie author describes as far as his knowledge permits the soft parts of 

 the animal of a species of Tervbratella. 



