358 Systematic Paleoxtology 



Camarotcechia (Pletiioriiynciia) spectosa var. ramsayi (Hall) 



Plate LXIY, Fig. 1 



Rhynchonella ramsayi Hall, 1859, Nat. Hist. N. Y., Pal., vol. iii, p. 446, pi. da, 

 figs. 7, 8a, 86, 1861. 



Description. — " Shell longitudinally ovate, valves equally convex, 

 gibbous towards the umbones and declining towards the front and sides, 

 symmetrically rounded in front, with moderate sinus and elevation below 

 the middle. Ventral valve convex in the middle and gradually tapering 

 to the beak, which is small and neatly incurved over the umbo of the oppo- 

 site valve, the truncated extremity being on a plane with the axis of the 

 shell ; the margins on each side, below the beak, slightly auriculate. 

 Dorsal valve most convex at the first third from the beak : margins on each 

 side, below the beak, moderately sinuous. 



" Surface marked by thirty-six to forty or more slender rounded plica- 

 tions on each valve, about fourteen of which, in the center and near the 

 front, become a little larger aiul more prominent than the others on the 

 dorsal valve, while an equal number on the ventral valve are just per- 

 ceptibly depressed. The cast shows a defined longitudinally oval muscular 

 impression on the ventral side; while the dorsal side shows the mark of 

 the median septum, and tlie (■.■nilics made by the slender crural processes." 

 Hall, 1859. 



Leng-th about .'i cm. ; width about 2.7 cm. 



These shells ai)pcar to he very rare and are abnormal or reversional de- 

 velopments of C. ^pcciosa since they have no incurved flat lateral sides. 

 They also differ from the typical form in having a greater number of pli- 

 cations, and it is these more abundantly plicate forms of ('. spcciosa that 

 vary in the length of the valves, some being nearly as wide as long. That 

 the brachiopods with strongly incurved lateral margins vary considerably 

 in this feature is also shown in Bensselceiia im.arylandica and is an indica- 

 tion of obesity or old age. 



Occurrence. — Oriskany Formation, Eidgely Member. Cumberland. 



Collection.'^. — U. S. N'ational Museum, American Museum of Natural 

 History. 



