244 NEW Y0RK STATE MUSEUM 



were but the stronger bases of saclike appendages, which in some places are 



quite distinct. One [pi. II, fig. 8J would seem to have an aperture. The 



transverse bars proceed from the stems first obliquely upward and then 



horizontally outward. Near the base of one specimen they can be traced 



farther down along the stem and have the appearance of long narrow 



tubes. 



If McCoy's description and figures of his Protovirgularia d i c h o- 



toma are correct, and the lateral branches or "pinnules" are "transversely 

 ridged with about five parallel cylindrical cells placed at right angles to its 

 length," then the similarity of our and the British form would seem to be 

 but superficial. At any rate the stems and bases of the secondary branches 

 have the aspect of a Thamnograptus and since one of the two specimens is 

 also involved in a bundle of rhabdosomes of Thamnograptus t y p u s, 

 it is, in my opinion, possible and even probable that these fossils which 

 appear so abnormal are but a part of the rhabdosome of T . t y p u s which 

 has already been demonstrated in this paper to combine three former 

 species of Thamnograptus, so different are the aspects of its various parts. 

 The " Protovirgularia " from Stockport may be a branch of Thamnograptus 

 with the generative individuals, and the saclike appendages could be gono- 

 thecae. For any positive determination of the systematic position of this 

 graptolite, however, the discovery of better material must be awaited. 



phycooraptus Gurley 

 Dr Gurley has published [1896, p.8oJ the following diagnosis of this 

 genus : 



Polypary consisting of long, slender, flexuous stems, apparently simple, 

 with an entire border and many segmented contents. Each segment with 

 a single, central pit, seemingly the mouth of a cell, the latter apparently 

 excavated in the substance of the stem. Sicula and virgula unknown. 

 When preserved the substance is carbonaceous. Type P . b r a c h y m e r a. 



This genus forms one of a group the relation of which to the more 

 typical graptolites is at present somewhat dubious. They are all of a car- 

 bonaceous texture and some in addition show pits, apparently the mouth 

 openings of a cell of some kind, but then 1 is at present no evidence that 

 such cell is of the theca type found in the more typical graptolites. 



