﻿H. Etheridge, Jun. — Contributions to British Pakeontology. 247 



in which the shell occurs requires that a name should be given to 

 it, and in the absence of any more definite characters, the above 

 will serve to distinguish it. 



Loc. and Horizon. — Covering the surface of a bed of shale dis- 

 covered by Mr. Bennie, in large numbers, below the Abden Lime- 

 stone, on the shore between tide-marks, at Abden, a short distance to 

 the east of Kinghorn, near Kirkcaldy, Fife, near the base of the 

 Lower Carboniferous Limestone Group. Collection of the Geol. 

 Survey of Scotland, and my own Cabinet. 



Genus Capulus, de Montfort. Capulus neriioides, Phillips. Plate XIL 



Figs. 12-14. 



Fileopsis neritoides, 'Ph.xW., 1836; Geol. York., vol. ii. p. 224, t. 14, f. 16-18. 



„ vctustus, ,, (non Sow.) ,, ,, ,, f. 19. 



,, angustus, ,, 1836 ,, ,, ,, f. 20. 



Acrociilia vetusta, M'Coy (pars), 1844; Synop. Carb. Foss. Ireland, p. 45. 

 Capulus neritoides^ de Koninck, 1842-44; Descr. Anim. Foss. Terr. Carb. Belgique, 



p. 334, t. 23 bis, f. 1. 

 AcrocuUa angusta, and A. neriioides, Tennant, 1847; Strat. List Brit. Foss. p. 105. 



,, D'Orbigny, 1849; Prodrome de Pal., p. 125. 



Pdeopsis neritoides. Brown, 1849; Foss. Concb, p. 102, t. 47, f. 48 and 51. 



,, angustus, „ „ „ ,, ,, 103, t. 47, f. 64. 



,, vetustus, ,, „ ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, 



Capulus auricular is, M'Coy; Brit. Pal. Foss., p. 523. 



„ angustus, et C. neritoides, Morris, 1854; Cat. Brit. Foss., p. 239. 

 (Compare Conchliolithus [Selicites'] auricularis, Martin, Pet. Derb. 1809, t. 40, 

 f. 3 and 4.) 



Ohs. — American paleeontologists appear to have adopted the name 

 Plati/ceras (Conrad, 1840, =Acrocidia, Phillips, 1841) for shells 

 similar to the present species, in preference to the earlier proposed 

 Capidus (de Montfort, 1810, = Pileopsis, Lamk., 1812), in the belief 

 that they are generically distinct from the latter. This separation 

 has been made by Prof. Hall from the absence, in Platyceras as 

 he supposed, of the peculiar horseshoe-shaped muscular scar of 

 Capulus} Messrs. Meek and Worthen, however, who also adopt the 

 term Platyceras, have demonstrated the oecuri-ence of the scar in at 

 least two American species.^ It follows from this that no satisfactory 

 evidence has, as yet, been adduced for a separation of Conrad's 

 Platyceras from Montfort's Capulus ; but on the contrary the evidence 

 is rather confirmatory of their identity than otherwise. 



Prof. M'Coy drew attention to a point which he considered had 

 been greatly lost sight of, the identity of Condi. [Tlelicites^ auricidaris, 

 Martin, with Capidus neritoides, Phill., and its synonyms. Prof. 

 M'Coy's suggestion appears to be worthy of consideration ; for if such 

 is the case, we should, in simple justice to Martin, adopt his name. 



I propose to consider the following shell (Plate XII. Figs. 12-14) 

 as a variety of the above species, under the name of 



C. neritoides, Phill., var. Simpsoni, var. no v. 



Varietal Chars. — Shell considerably more depressed than in the 

 typical form ; dorsal portion obtusely rounded and wanting the arched 



1 Twelfth Annual Report of the Regents of the Univ. Nevr York, 1859, p. 16. 



2 Illinois Geol. Report, 1868, vol. iii. p. 385. 



