BUDLEIGH-SALTERTON PEBBLE-BED. 339 



extending to about two thirds of the length of the shell. There are, likewise, on the 

 internal cast indications of radiating striae. Nothing is known of the exterior. The 

 beak in the ventral valve has two deep slits, indicating the presence of dental plates. The 

 fossil may possibly belong to some species of Tthynchonella. It is, I believe, a Devonian 

 fossil. 



5. Spirifera Verneuilii, March. Dav., Dev., Mon., PI. V, figs. 1 — 12 ; and PI. VI, 



figs. 1—5. B. S. Sup., PI. XXXVIII, figs. 9—14. 



Spirifera Verneuilii, Murch. Bull. Soc. Geol. de France, vol. xi, p. 252, pi. ii, 



fig. 3, 6th April, 1840. 



— disjuncta, Sow. Trans. Geol. Soc., 2nd ser., vol. v, pi. liii, fig. 8, and 



pi. liv, figs. 12, 13, 30th May, 1840. 



— — Dav. Sil. Mon., p. 23, pi. v, figs. 1 — 12, and pi. vi, figs. 1 — 5, 



18G4. 



— Verneuilii, Dav. Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xxvi, p. 78, pi. iv, figs- 



19,20, 1869. 

 For synonyms see Devonian Monograph, p. 23. 



This species has been fully described at p. 23 of my Devonian Monograph under 

 Sowerby's name disjuncta; later, in the ' Quarterly Journal of the Geol Soc.,' vol. xxvi, 

 1869, I gave back to the shell its name of Verneuilii, having discovered that it had a 

 few weeks priority over that of Sowerby. 



In a paper by M. Gosselet " De 1' usage du droit de priorite et de son application au 

 noms de quelques Spiriferes " (' Annales de la Societe Geologique du Nord,' vol. vii, 

 1880), that distinguished geologist enters into full particulars in order to prove the 

 priority of Murchison's name Verneuilii, a fact that I had recognised and published many 

 years previously. 



Sp. Verneuilii is very variable in the shapes it assumes. According to its more or less 

 transverse form, the expansion of its wings, and other small differences, it has received 

 distinct specific names. It is one of the commonest fossils in the Budleigh-Salterton 

 Devonian pebbles, where it occurs mostly in the condition of internal casts ; but complete 

 specimens showing the exterior under its various shapes are often found. In his descrip- 

 tion of this Spirifer in 1804, Mr. Salter, believing it to be Silurian, although recognising 

 its resemblance to a Devonian form, describes and figures it under the names of Spirifera 

 anliquissima, Salter, and Sp. Davidis, Rouault. 



An internal cast in a sandstone pebble, similar in every respect to those that occur at 

 Budleigh-Salterton, was picked up by Mr. Percival in a gravel-pit at Ladypool Lane, 

 near Moseley, Birmingham, and may be seen in the Museum of Practical Geology, 

 London. 



