SPIRIFERA. 33 



Schlotheim's first notice of Sp. paradoxus will be found in the ' Taschenbucli fur die 

 gesammte Mineralogie' for 1813, pi. ii, fig. 6. This figure represents the internal cast 

 of a very fusiform Spirifer, with a smooth sinus, and about thirty-eight rounded ribs, and 

 not very unlike specimens 11 and 13 of our PI. VIII. 



We will therefore provisionally refer our figs. 6, 7, 8, to Sp. speciosa proper, and 

 figs. 9, 10, 11, and 13 to the var. paradoxa of Schlotheim. 



The imperfect specimen, fig. 12, from the Middle Devonian shales of West Ogwell, 

 I am unable to identify with any degree of certainty. It has been referred by the Survey 

 palaeontologists to Sp. Bouchardii, and we find it so registered at p. 151 of the second 

 edition of Professor Morris's • Catalogue of British Fossils.' The wide triangular area 

 exhibited by this specimen leads M. Bouchard and myself to question the identification, 

 the area of Sp. Bouchardii being in all the very many specimens hitherto found, linear, 

 narrow, and parallel, and we can perceive no median rib in the sinus of the ventral valve 

 of our English specimen, although this rib, which exists in well-shaped specimens of Sp. 

 Bouchardii, is at times absent or obscurely defined. In external shape and angularity of 

 its ribs, the shell under notice resembles some American examples of Conrad's Belthyris 

 mucronata ; but here again we have a linear, parallel area, and not a triangular one, as 

 seen in the Ogwell specimen. 



M. Bouchard objects to the assimilation made by Herr F. Roemer, and some other 

 palaeontologists, of Sp. Bouchardii with Sp. comprimatus, Schlotheim (' Min. Taschenbucli,' 

 tab. ii, fig. 8) ; but, not having seen the original specimen, I dare not venture to express a 

 positive opinion upon the question, and especially as Schlotheim's figure differs much 

 in general shape from the shell to which De Verneuil has applied the designation of 

 Bouchardii. M. Bouchard informs me that he has never seen any true example of Sp. 

 Bouchardii from the Eifel, and that he is convinced that the specimen of Sp. Bouchardii 

 figured by F. Roemer, under the denomination of Sp. comprimatus, Schloth. (' Rheinisch. 

 Uebergangsgeb./ pi. iv, fig. 3, 1844), was obtained at Labuyssiere-sur-Sambre, in Belgium; 

 and I may add that I possess specimens from that locality identical in shape and character 

 with Roemer's figures. Up to the present time I have not seen any true British example 

 of Sp. Bouchardii. 



Spirifera sub-cuspidata, Schnur. PL VIII, figs. 14, 15. 



Spirifer sub-cuspidatus, Schnur. Programm, &c, die Bracbiopoden aus dem Uebergangs- 



gebirge der Eifel, p. 11, 1831. 

 — — Id. Dunker's Palseontograpbica, vol. iii, p. 202, pi. xxxiv, 



fig. 1, and pi. xxxiii, fig. 3, 1853. 



Spec. Char. Shell transversely semicircular, or obscurely sub-pentagonal ; hinge-line 

 as long as the width of the shell ; cardinal angles acute, sometimes prolonged, with tapering 



E 



