THE BRITISH FOSSIL BRACHIOPODA. 397 



Wald. lenticularis, Deshayes, for which M. Douville has proposed a generic 

 name Neothyris, while admitting that its internal characters are similar to those of 

 Waldheimia, occurs in New Zealand both recent and fossil. 



Megerlea truncata, Linne, is found in the Miocene (?) and Pliocene rocks of Italy, 

 and alive in the Mediterranean and on other sea-bottoms. 



Argiope decollata, Chemnitz, is a common fossil in the Tertiary rocks of Italy, and 

 occurs abundantly in the living state in the Mediterranean and elsewhere. 



Cistella cistellula, Wood, is a recent and fossil form. It occurs in the Miocene marls 

 at Rometta, in Italy, and in the Pliocene or Crag of England. 



C. neapolitana, Scacchi, is a recent Mediterranean shell, and is fossil in the Upper 

 Tertiaries of Italy, Rhodes, Austria, &c. 



C. cuneata, Risso, occurs recent and fossil in the same localities together with C. 

 neapolitana. 



Platydia anomioides, Scacchi, is a far-spread recent form, and occurs in the Upper 

 Tertiaries of Sicily and of Austria. 



P. Davidsoni, Deslongchamps, occurs both recent and fossil. 



Thecidium mediterraneum, Risso, is an abundant far-spread recent form, and is also 

 common in the Upper Tertiaries of Italy. 



Th. Barretti, Woodward, is recent and fossil in the Upper Tertiaries of Jamaica. 



Rhynchonella psittacea, Gmelin, is an exceedingly abundant recent form, and has 

 been found fossil in the Red and Norwich Crags of England, also in the Upper Tertiaries 

 of Ireland, Scandinavia, Canada, and the South of Spain, &c. 



Rhynchonella sicula, Seguenza, has been obtained recent in the English Channel, and 

 fossil in the Upper Tertiaries of Italy. 



Crania anomala occurs recent and fossil. 



It is therefore evident that at least seventeen Upper Tertiary species are still living 

 on our sea-bottoms, and it is probable that a larger number will hereafter be found to 

 be common to both the Recent and the Tertiary period. 



In his ' Catalogue of the Tertiary Mollusca and Echinodermata of New Zealand,' 

 1873, Mr. T. W. Hutton mentions as Recent and Tertiary Waldheimia lenticularis, 

 W. patayonica, Terebratella cruenta, T. rubicunda, T. dorsata, Magasella Cumingi 

 Rhynchonella nigricans, Waldheimia Jlavescens, and Terebratella spitzbergensis, but the 

 only one I have myself seen under both conditions is the W. lenticularis. 



The subject relating to the passage of one and the same species from one geological 

 period into another is most important, and should be taken up in good earnest by some 



