162 DR G. W. LEE ON 



I have described these two forms separately in order to show their distinguishing 

 features, but whether these have a specific value cannot be stated at present. 



Comparison with the known species of Squamularia and with many of the figures of 

 " Reticularia lineata " is difficult, owing to the general likeness obtaining between the 

 various members of these two groups, so that the claims to specific distinctiveness of 

 the two forms described here cannot be settled without a detailed examination of 

 materials from various parts of the world. 



Remarks on the Classification of the Spiriferids. 



Considerable difficulty was experienced in classifying the species enumerated above, 

 owing to the internal characters of some of them pointing to generic (?) affinities different 

 from those indicated by the external features. 



An elongate and ribbed Martiniopsis^.), if represented by the pedicle- valve only, is not 

 easily distinguished from those forms of Spirifer which Mr S. S. Buckman has recently 

 proposed to place under M 'Coy's genus Brachythyris, as it has not yet been conclusively 

 proved that a small area, the presence of dental plates, and a pitted surface are characters 

 not obtaining in this group. Martinia brucei sp. nov., is more strongly ribbed than 

 most Martinise, and bears, in its young stage, a striking resemblance to an Upper 

 Carboniferous shell referred to Martiniopsis; and Squamularia sp., is hardly distinguish- 

 able from forms referred to Reticularia lineata. 



That externally similar shells may differ in the nature of certain internal features 

 has long been known, but palaeontologists have not always agreed as to what degree of 

 importance should be attached to these particular features, to wit, in this case, dental 

 plates. Hall and Clarke* indicated these characters in some forms of their " Glabrati" 

 section, but without formulating a definite opinion as to their value, and the genus 

 Reticularia was believed by them to include forms devoid of dental plates, this belief 

 being probably based upon Waagbn's re-definition of the genus.t But neither Waagen 

 nor Hall and Clarke paid sufficient attention to the fact that M'Coy, when establishing 

 his genus Reticularia, emphasised in his diagnosis the presence of a septum and dental 

 lamellse,! a character observed in 1887 by Professor Tschernyschew in a specimen 

 from Vise, figured for comparison with Devonian materials. § 



In 1895 Dr A. Tornquist commented upon the generic value of the term Reticularia, 

 and restricted it to its original implication ; || and under the name of Martinia lineata 

 M. A. Julien figured in 1895 a Reticularia in which a septum and dental plates are 

 discernible.lf 



* Palaeontology of New Yorlc, vol. viii., 1893, and Introduction to the Study of the Brachiopoda, 1893. 

 + Waaobn, Pal. Indica: Salt Range Fossils, p. 538, 1887. 

 t M'Coy, Synopsis, p. 142, 1844. 



§ Tschernyschew, " Die Fauna des mittleren und oberen Devon am West-Abhange des Ural," Mem. Com. Ge'ol. 

 Russie, 1887, pi. x. fig. 1. 



|| A. Tornquist, Das fossilfiihrende Untercarbon am ostlichen Rossbergmassiv in den Vogesen, 1895, p. 119. 

 IT A. Jolien, Le Terrain Carlonijhe marin de la France Gentrale, 1896, pi. ii. fig. 10. 



