E. Billings — New Species of Stricklandinia, 59 



sedimentary deposits, and in those superficial portions of the nucleus which were 

 necessarily permeated, during their partial cooling and consequent contraction, by 

 the superincumbent waters. 



One word in conclusion : Mr. Forbes, who prides himself on his great oppor- 

 tunities of travel, and on his geological studies in various regions, discourteously 

 taunts me with my own more limited field of investigation. Let me tell him in 

 reply, that if the three papers which he published in October last show any one 

 thing more clearly than his unfamiliarity with geological literature, it is his 

 ignorance of the facts of geognosy, and that he involuntarily recalls to mind the 

 wise saying of Thomas a Kempis, passed into a proverb among churchmen, — 

 "those who make many pilgrimages rarely become saints." 

 Montreal^ December, 1867. 



II. — Description of two new species of Stricklandinia. 

 By E. Billings, F.G.S., PalsGontologist to the Geological Survey of Canada. 



(PLATE IV.) 



IN the " Canadian Naturalist and Geologist," vol. iv. p. 134, 

 figs. 8-9 (1859), I figured a small specimen of a species of 

 Stricklandinia under tlie name of S. lens ; but, at the same time, 

 stated that I was not certain whether it was the true S. lens or a 

 variety. It was more pointed in front than any of the English 

 specimens I had seen. It had been collected in the Middle Silurian 

 rocks on the Island of Anticosti, along with numerous other speci- 

 mens, most of them in a fragmentary condition. Among these I 

 thought that S. lirata could also be identified ; and thus both of the 

 British species have been cited in several of the publications of our 

 Survey. 



Through the kindness of the author I received, several months' 

 ago, "Part 2" of Mr. Davidson's ''Monograph of the British 

 Silurian Brachiopoda." The clear descriptions and beautiful illus- 

 trations of this magnificent work at once enabled me to perceive 

 that we have not (so far as is yet known) either of the two species 

 above mentioned. What I supposed to be S. lirata, is the adult of 

 the form figured by me as S. lens. The young and small individuals 

 are smooth ; but with increasing size and age they become more and 

 more strongly ribbed. 



While re-examining the whole collection, with a view to this 

 paper, I broke up several pieces of limestone, which were almost 

 entirely composed of the imperfect and detached valves of another 

 species, and succeeded in getting out several specimens, sufficiently 

 perfect to authorize a description. We have thus two new species ; 

 and, as the error with regard to S. lirata and S. lens has been 

 transferred from my publications into several important English 

 works, it is thought advisable to describe them in the Geological 

 Magazine at once, without waiting for my next report, which cannot 

 be issued for several months. 



StricMandinia JDavidsonii, sp. n. — Plate IV. Figs. 1-ld. 



Spec. Char. — Shell longitudinally ovate ; sides and cardinal extremity rounded ; 

 iront usually with a linguiform extension about one-third of the whole width, and of 

 variable length, sometimes simply narrowed from the mid-length to a rounded point ; 

 greatest width about the middle, or a little above. The valves are almost equally 



