G. H. Girty— Triticites. 239 



in such a manner as to produce great apparent confusion when 

 they are brought into view by section."* While this is per- 

 haps equally true of Fusulina, the simplicity of the partitions 

 in Triticites over their median portion renders their complexity 

 near the ends peculiarly striking. From the passage above 

 quoted, from Carpenter's figures, and from the localities and 

 horizons from which his American specimens were obtained, 

 there can be no doubt that they belonged to Triticites, instead 

 of to Fusulina. 



I am in some uncertainty about the taxonomic value which 

 should be given to the differences above noted between Fusu- 

 lina and Triticites. It is evident that they are of degree 

 only, though very marked in the case of the forms under dis- 

 cussion, intermediate stages being unknown. I would regard 

 Triticites in any other group as a good subgenus, though prob- 

 ably no more ; but among forms whose simple structure puts a 

 certain limit upon differentiation, it seems that somewhat differ- 

 ent standards should be employed, and I believe that the group 

 of Triticites can be given generic rank. 



The type of Triticites is not a new species. In 1823 Sayf 

 described two species from Kansas and Nebraska under the 

 name of Miliolites secalicus and Miliolites centralis, which 

 from evidence intrinsic and extrinsic belong without question 

 to the group of fossils for which the name Fusidina cylindrica 

 has since come into general use. J. W. Beede^: was, I believe, 

 the first to recognize the real character of Miliolites secalicus 

 and to revive this specific name for the American form, but he 

 did not discriminate it from Fusulina cylindrica Fischer-de- 

 Waldheim, which he relegated to synonymy. While I had 

 little doubt that the American species was distinct from the 

 Russian one, I have continued to use for it the name Fusulina 

 cylindrica, because it seemed to me undesirable to disturb the 

 current terminology until several essential points could be deter- 

 mined with reasonable finality. In the present paper I have 

 sought to show that the American form is not only specifically 

 distinct from Fusulina cylindrica, but can probably be 

 referred to a different genus, for the type of which Triticites 

 secalicus is selected. This species was first described from the 

 Missouri River near the Platte. The material upon which 

 my interpretation of Triticites secalicus is based, and upon which 

 the term Triticites immediately rests, was obtained from the 

 Platte River near its junction with the Missouri. The locality 

 and horizon, therefore, can be said to be essentially the same, 



* Monthly Microscop. Jour., vol. iii, 1870, p. 182. 



f Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Kocky Mountains, etc. , 

 under Major Stephen H. Long, vol. i, 1823, p. 151, footnote. 

 JUniv/Geol. Surv. Kansas, Rept., vol. 6, 1900, p. 10. 



