40 BRITISH DEVONIAN BRACHIOPODA. 



and many other species. Hitherto this kind of sculpture has not, as far as I am aware 

 of, been observed in any specimens of Sp. glabra, although numerous concentric lines of 

 growth traverse its surface ; hence the, at present, supposed specific difference. Schlotheim's 

 figures are not good, and afford but a very imperfect idea of the shell ; but those by Schnur 

 show well the characters of the species, and are quite similar to the more perfect examples 

 we pick up in Great Britain. 



Sp. curvata is a common fossil in the Middle Devonian limestones of Woolborough 

 and Chircombe Bridge, near Newton Abbot, at Ramsleigh, near Ogwell, Barton, 

 Lummaton, and Hope's Nose, near Torquay, Dartington, near Totness, Ilfracombe, &c, 

 in Devonshire. 



In the Lower Devonian grits of Looe, in Cornwall, occur numerous compressed casts 

 (PL IV, fig. 33), which we have, with much uncertainty, referred to the species under 

 description. It is possible that the fragment from Hope's Nose (PL IV, fig. 16), described 

 by Phillips under the name of Sp. microgemma (' Pal. Foss.,' p. 68, pi. xxvii, fig. 1 16), may 

 belong to Sp. curvata, but from such a fragment we cannot form any decided opinion. 



Spirifera Newtoniensis, (n. sp. ?) PL IX, fig. 21. 



Spec. Char. Shell of a somewhat square or pentagonal shape, longer than wide, 

 smooth ; lateral margins almost parallel, slightly indented in front ; hinge-line as long as 

 the width of the shell. Ventral valve convex ; sinus of moderate width and depth ; beak 

 nearly straight, acute ; area triangular, flat ; fissure large. Dorsal valve semicircular, not 

 so deep as the opposite one ; mesial fold obscurely defined, rounded, and of moderate 

 elevation. 



Length 20, width 18 lines. 



Obs. A single specimen of this species (?) from the Middle Devonian limestone of 

 Woolborough Quarry, near Newton Abbot, is preserved in the British Museum. The 

 length of its hinge-line, as well as the shape of its beak and area, will hardly allow us to 

 consider it as a mere variation of shape of Sp. glabra or Sp. curvata ; and as we are not 

 acquainted with any other smooth Devonian Spirifer with which it can be identified, I have 

 reluctantly ventured to describe the shell as a new species. 



