264 BRITISH CARBONIFEROUS BRACHIOPODA. 



European rocks of the same period, although several of these have in India attained larger 

 proportions ; and among which we may mention, Athjris Bogssii, A. sublilita, Betzia 

 radialis, var. Grandicosta, Spirifera striata, Sp. lineata, S. octoplicata, Bh. pleurodon, 

 Orthis resupinata, Strept. crenistria, Prod, striatus, P. semireticulatus, P. longispinus ; and 

 a further search in these distant regions will, no doubt, bring to light a larger number 

 of the common species. 



The Australian and Tasmanian Carboniferous rocks have also afforded their quota 

 of common species, for, although the forms from these continents have not yet been suffi- 

 ciently examined, still, from a glance I have given to collections sent home from Bundaba 

 and Port Stephen in Australia, as well as from Van Diemen's Land, I have already been 

 able to recognise T. hastata, Sp. striata, Sp. glabra, S. lineata, Bh. pleurodon, Strept. cre- 

 nistria, Orthis Michelini, Prod. Cora, &c. If again, and by a rapid stride, we should 

 find ourselves cast on some of the Spitzbergian frozen coasts, we would there pick up 

 several of our common species, such as Sp. Octoplicatus, St. crenistria, Prod, semireticu- 

 latus, P. costatus, &c, along with other forms not known in Britain, for we cannot expect 

 to find all the same species repeated and assembled everywhere ; some forms were more 

 localized than others. Even in Great Britain, we find certain species in England that do 

 not appear to have existed either in Scotland or Ireland, and vice versa; it is not, there- 

 fore, surprising that in other countries the same order of things should prevail. If we cast 

 a glance at the prodigiously extended Carboniferous regions of America, we shall there 

 also find a vast per-centage of species identical with our own, but which, in many cases, 

 have received new names from our American cousins. Possessing an extensive series of 

 American Carboniferous species, for which I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. 

 Worthen, as well as to that of some other American geologists, and having compared 

 these with our British specimens, I may mention, from among others not yet sufficiently 

 studied, the following few as being identical with our own — T. sacculus, A. ambigua, 

 A. subtilita, A. plano-sulcata, A. lamellosa, A. Boyssii, Betzia radialis, Sp. striata, S. 

 frigonalis, Sp. lineata, Sp. TJrii, S. octoplicata, Bh. pleurodon, Orthis Michelini, Strept. 

 crenistria, Prod. Cora, P. punctatus, P. longispinus, P. semireticulatus, P. scabriculus, 

 P. costatus, Crania quadrata, Piscina nitida, Lingula mgfiloidcs, &c, and I entirely 

 concur with the observation made by Sir R. Murchison, at page 324 of his celebrated 

 " Siluria," that "The specific identity of so many of the Brachiopoda of the marine or 

 Lower Carboniferous rocks situated at enormous distances in latitude from one another 

 {e. g. from the Arctic circle to within a few degrees of the Equator), is an additional and 

 striking proof of the general uniformity of temperature and condition during this epoch." 



I must now conclude this lengthened inquiry into the history of British Carboniferous 

 species, but sincerely hope that local observers will continue the study I have so far 

 sketched out, for much remains still to be achieved, which time and search alone can 

 .accomplish. 



