LOWER CARBONIFEROUS FOSSILS. 555 



RETICULARIA McCoy, 1844. 



Reticularis cooperensis Swallow. 



PI. LXX, figs. 9a, 96, 9c. 



Spirifera cooperensis Swallow, 1860 : Trans. St. Louis Acad. Sci., Vol. I, p. 643. Keyes, 



1S95: Geol. Surv. Missouri, Vol. V, Pt. II, p. 78. 

 Spirifer hirtus White and Whitfield, 1862 : Proe. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. VIII, 



p. 293. f Winchell (A.), 1865: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, p. 119. Hall 



and Clarke, 1895: Pal. New York, Vol. VIII, Pt. II, PI. XXXVIII, fig. 14 



(? PI. LXXXIV, figs. 36, 37). 

 % Spirifer cooperensis Meek and Wortheu, 1866: Geol. Surv. Illinois, Vol. II, p. 155, PI. 



XIV, fig. 5. 



The specimens here referred to B. cooperensis Swallow have been 

 compared with material from the Choutean limestone of Cooper County, 

 Missouri, where Swallow's types were found. The unusually perfect agree- 

 ment exhibited in the two forms leaves no doubt of their specific identity. 

 The same form occurs in the Waverly at Richfield, Ohio. 



Although Spirifer cooperensis Meek and Worthen is retained in the 

 synonymy of this species, I believe they were dealing with a distinct 

 though similar form. It is only about half the size of mature B. cooperensis, 

 and has a distinct fold with three or four plications on either side, more as 

 in Pi. peculiaris Shumard. In fact, it seems highly probable that they were 

 dealing with the shell described by Hall 1 from the same (Goniatite) beds, 

 three years previously, as Spirifer semiplicatus. On account of differences 

 mentioned above, I believe this constitutes a distinct specific type, although 

 Hall may have included in his description some of Swallow's species. 



Meek and Worthen seem to be in error when they state that Swallow 

 refers to his species "obscure, radiating plications" (Meek and Worthen, 

 loc. cit, p. 156). He does, indeed, speak of "punctate and plicate folds" 

 and "concentric folds marked with small pits and short longitudinal plica- 

 tions," but this had reference to the delicate longitudinal flutings of the 

 laminae, due to the spines or their bases (a character shown in all the speci- 

 mens examined) rather than to the large radiating folds shown in Meek 

 and Worthen's figure. 



1 Thirteenth Rept. New York State Cah. Nat. Hist., p. 111. 



