IT'^ ^H REPORT ON THE CABINET OF NAT. IIIF' 



NOTICE. 



In tlie Thirteenth Report of the Regents on the Cabinet of Natural 

 History, 1860, I presented the results of some investigations upon 

 certain genera of Brachiopoda, made at intervals in the course of 

 the two preceding years. This Report was mainly printed during my 

 absence; and the observations upon the Genera Athyris ( = Spiri- 

 gera), Merista, Camarium and Meristella were printed according 

 to the accompanying text. 



Havir^- t •' 'T one of the types of Merista as . . ,^v _,lx 



DavidsOx, ^ . .•; M. i^Atrypa) twiaida ox' Dalman) as a guide in de- 

 termining the characters of the genus, I had previously separated 

 certain forms, with a transverse septum in the interior of the ven- 

 tral valve, under the generic name of Camarium. Being in corre- 

 spondence with Mr. Davidson, I had stated to him the grounds of , 

 my proposed separation of the genera; and it was only on my return 

 to'Albany in the early part of November, that I found a lette" from 

 tt '^ ^^ which he says, that since the typical species of 



Si;i:.ba Kx^ ^ ^.oco& •' the shoelifter process,'' the name Merista must 

 be retained for those having that character. 



Although the figures of Merista given by Davidson in his work 

 are not as distinctive as ' ' " in regard to this arching 



septum or shoelifter prui^. ^ ^ ..v. v <^x wio^ess became satisfied that 

 my proposed Genus Camarium was identical with Merista. 



On inquiry, I found that the Report had not been published, but 

 was w^aiting for the plates of the first part; and, desirous of making 

 the correction as early as practicable and as complete as possible, I 

 procured the reprinting of a few pages, introducing the requisite 

 changes, in preference to ad " ' st cript, or waiting' for the next 



A ^ ^rt. 



It Wjuld appear that a copy of these first printed sheets fell into 

 the hands of Prof. B. Silliman Jr., and were made the subject of 

 criticism in the American Journal of Science; the writer expressing 

 great solicitude in reference to the changes made, and proifering 

 advice to the Regents in regard to the "original text" of their 

 Reports. 



Having retained no copy of the sheets myself, I requested, through 

 a friend, that Mr. Silliman would allow me the use of his copy of 

 the pages for publication, wdiich was refused; and it was only after 



