NOTE ON THE GENUS CYPRICARDITES. 



In the Twelfth Annual Report of the Regents upon the State Ca- 

 binet, 1859, I communicated a notice of tha Genera Ambonychia, 

 Pal^arca and Megambonia; the descriptions of the two last genera 

 having been sometime previously printed in Vol. iii, Pal. N.Y. 



At that time, a comparison of specimens led me to refer to the 

 original description and figure of Cypricardites of Conrad; and I 

 appended his description, with an outline figure copied from a plate 

 by that author. I suggested that the genus corresponded in many 

 respects with Pal^arca, and I recognized the priority of Cypri- 

 cardites. In reference to the figure, I wrote as follows : 



" This figure is copied from the original figure of Mr. Conrad, ac- 

 companying his description of the genus in 1841. The plate upon which 

 this occurs was engraved to accompany the Annual Report of 1841 ; but 

 unfortunately only a small number were ever distributed*, so far as known 

 to the writer. The same plate contains illustrations of the Genera Nucu- 

 LiTES, Lyrodesma, Orthonota, Cyrtolites, Orthostoma, Diotyo- 

 CRiNus, AspiDOLiTES and DiCRANURUS, as well as one species of Platy- 

 oeras, all genera proposed b}^ Mr. Conrad. At the time I proposed the 

 Genus Pal^arca in 1847, I had overlooked the description and figure of 

 Cypricardites ; and it is only since the printing of that part of Vol. iii, 

 Palaeontology of New- York, that my attention has been directed to the 

 subject of the preceding note." 



In the Canadian Journal of Industry and Science for July 1861, 

 page 354, Mr. Billings proposes to give a historyf of the Genus 

 Cyrtgdon, and makes the following remarks : 



" In the Fifth Annual Report on the Palaeontology of New- York, Con- 

 rad, in 1841j cliaracterized his genus Cypricardites, and described sixteen 

 species from the Silurian and Devonian rocks of the State. He did not give 

 any illustrations, but it now appears that he prepared a figure (showing the 

 character of the hinge) which however remained in Professor Hall's hands 

 eighteen years without publication. In the 8th volume of the Journal of the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, Conrad described seven other species from 

 the Devonian rocks of New- York. These are all figured. 



* I inferred that only a small number of copies of the plate were published with the 

 Report ; but it may have been more extensively distributed than I supposed, for I have 

 found five copies among my own volumes. 



t One of the histories of the genus. 



