Raymond : Gastropoda of the Chazy Formation. 213 



Straparollina harpa Raymond, 1906, The Nautilus, Vol. XIX, p. 



1 01, two figures. 



This is a rare species and has so far been found only in the typical 

 locality on Valcour Island. Two small specimens from that locality 

 are of unusual interest, as they preserve traces of color markings. 



The specimens are very small, the larger being less than one quarter 

 of an inch in diameter. The body color of the shells is a light yellow, 

 which is the prevailing color of the fossils in the particular stratum 

 from which these specimens were taken. Around the top of the body 

 whorl, adjoining the suture, is a narrow, brownish-gray band. Below 

 it is a band of the yellow body color, and then, about the middle of 

 the whorl, another brownish-gray band, more deeply colored than the 

 one on the top of the whorl. Below this principal band is another 

 light yellow band, and adjoining the umbilicus, the color is orange. 

 The yellow color is undoubtedly due to the iron of the decomposed 

 limestone from which the fossils were obtained, but the brown tints 

 may give some hint of the original coloring of the revolving bands. 



These are probably the oldest shells on which color markings have 

 been observed, dating, as they do, from Middle Chazy time. The 

 oldest instances of color preservation previously recorded in America 

 are those reported by Professor O. C. Marsh, and Dr. Theodore G. 

 White. Professor Marsh described (Proc. Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 

 XVI, p. 326, 1868) certain markings on the shell of a specimen of 

 Endoceras ( Cameroceras s ) proteiforme Hall from the Trenton forma- 

 tion in New York. Dr. White mentions (Trans. N. Y. Acad. Sci., 

 Vol. XV, p. 85, 1896) two specimens of Holopea synwietrica Hall 

 from the Black River formation of the Rathbone Brook, N. Y. section, 

 which preserved the original shell material, and one showed the iri- 

 descent luster of pearl. 



Quite a number of cases of color preservation have been recorded 

 from the Devonian and Carboniferous, but examples from the older 

 formations are exceedingly rare. 



The specimen shown on Plate LV, figures 16, 17, has been consider- 

 ably crushed, which accounts for many of the differences between it 

 and the specimen figured on Plate LIII, figure 13. 



For a complete description of this species, see the article by Pro- 

 fessor Hudson cited above. 



Locality. — The specimens are from the east side of Valcour Island. 

 The original types and the specimen here figured, are all in the Yale 

 University Museum. 



