Fossil Terebratulse. 445 



marks, except that it must have priority over Terebratula orbicularis 

 of Sowerby, M. C. 1829, of which Ter.furcata of the same author 

 is only a young state. It is curious however to see, that notwith- 

 standing M. D'Orbigny's professions of attending always to date, 

 that in his ' Prodrome ' he adopts Sowerby's Ter. orbicularis, and 

 makes no mention of Lamarck's Ter. Cardium, published long 

 before. Similar mistakes are not however rare in that work, nor 

 would I here think it necessary to call attention to this point, if 

 M. D'Orbigny's severity towards others was not so forcibly 

 brought forth in his writings *. The plaits, which are often 

 divided towards the margin in this species in the young age, 

 are also, though rarely so, in the adult, as may be seen on spe- 

 cimens in M. Deslongchamps' collection : the loop process also 

 extended to near the margin, as I hope to illustrate in another 

 work. Lamarck's var. b, as can be seen from the specimens in 

 the Garden of Plants, belongs to Terebratula spinosa. 



48. Terebratula difformis, Lamarck and Val. PI. XV. fig. 48. 



T. testa trigonata, dilatata, subdepressa : margine insequalis in medio 

 sinuoso-deflexo : nate subproducta. 



Obs. Lamarck refers to ' Encycl. Method/ pi. 242. fig. 5 a, b, c, 

 and gives Cap la Heve near Havre, and Mans, both greensand 

 localities. M. D'Orbigny admits this species in his % Pal. Franc./ 

 and places it in Fischer's genus Rhynchonella. Terebratula dimi- 

 diata, Sow., would also belong to the same species. However, if 

 we inspect the specimens ticketed by Lamarck in M. D dessert's 

 collection, we shall find that three out of ten belong to his species 

 from the Tourtia beds of Tournay ; the others being oolitic 

 shells, with the exception of one, which would appear to belong 

 to Sowerby's Terebratula latissima. 



49. Terebratula lyra (Sow. M. C. tab. 138. fig. 2). 



50. Terebratula Menardi, Lamarck and Val. PI. XIV. fig. 50. 



T. testa gibberula, globosa, inferne truncata, valva majori sinu longi- 

 tudinaliter sulcato excavata : margine sinuoso deflexo. 



Obs. In B. Delessert's collection we find ten specimens of this 



* Certain things which might pass with the early naturalists cannot be 

 allowed at the present day, such as simply to describe a species by a few 

 words, winch description would suit twenty others ; therefore all the new 

 names introduced into M. D'Orbigny's ' Prodrome ' cannot claim priority. 

 Should any one fully describe and figure before M. D'Orbigny any of those 

 simply named species which have but three or four words of description 

 and with no reference to figure, the names of the subsequent author ought 

 to be retained ; otherwise the practice of M. D'Orbigny would retard science, 

 to say nothing of the injustice and abuses to which it would inevitably 

 lead. 



