94 



BRITISH SILURIAN BRACHIOPODA. 



author in an unbroken line of tradition, confirmed in so many cases by the types in 

 Linne's collection, the Spirifer recognised by them as the Anomia crispa may be accepted 

 with confidence." I must also hasten to admit that when in 1847 Messrs. Salter and 

 Sharpe, with myself, examined the Linnsean cabinet, we all acquiesced in the same opinion ; 

 but we had all forgotten that the type of Anomia crispa formed part of the Tessinanian 

 Collection, and we were ignorant at the time of the statement made by Hisinger, 

 in vol. V of the ' Anteckningar ' (1831). As, however, during so many years the 

 terms sulcata, crispa, and elevata have been generally recognised, and made use of for 

 the species published by Hisinger, Dalman, and others, it will be preferable, I think, 

 not to disturb the present state of things, while pointing out what appears to be the 

 probable type of Linne's Anomia crispa. 



Bronn, at p. 1175 of his 'Index Palseontologicus,' considers Anomia crispa, lumne, 

 Belthyris sulcata, His., and Spirifer octoplicatus, Sow. (pars ; ' Min. Conch.,' tab. 562, 

 fig. 4), as referable to a single species ; but this last reference, or identification, is 

 erroneous, for Sowerby's specimen, fig. 4, was obtained from the same rock and locahty 

 as figs. 2 and 3, namely, the Carboniferous Limestone of Derbyshire. 



D'Orbigny, in his ' Prodrome,' retains also the Belthyris crispa of Hisinger (which 

 he refers to Linne), as well as the Belthyris sulcata of the same author. In his 

 enumeration of the Brachiopoda found by himself in the Island of Gothland, M. de 

 Verneuil considers Spirifer sulcatus, Sp. crispus, and Sp. elevatus, as distinct species. 

 I am, moreover, very uncertain whether M. Barrande is correct in referring fig. 2 of 

 pi. xvii of his ' Silurische Brachiopoden aus Bohmen,' to Belthyris sulcata, His. ; M. 

 Barrande's shell being much larger, and differing much in detail from the specimens 

 found in England and in Sweden. 



As already stated, Spirifera sulcata has often one wing less extended than the other ; 

 and in some exceptional examples, one wing was much elongated and pointed, while the 

 other was obtusely rounded ; but this feature is common in those species of the genus 

 which possess extended cardinal angles, as for instance, the.Uevonian Spirifera Verneuilii, 

 &c. It must also be noted, that in the larger number of English and Swedish specimens 

 of Sp. sulcata, the number of large or principal ribs is Hmited to three or five ; the others, 

 when they exist, being much smaller and even rudimentary. For this reason, I feel 

 certain that the shells figured by Prof. Hall in the second volume of his ' Palaeontology 

 of New York' (p. 261, pi. 54, fig. 2, 1852), under the designation of Spirifer sulcatus, 

 His., and Belthyris decemplicata, in the ' Report Geol. Third District New York ' (p. 105, 

 fig. 4, 1843), do not really belong to Hisinger's species, for they show a regular succession 

 of from thirteen to seventeen ribs on each valve, — a condition never hitherto seen on any 

 of the many Swedish and British examples of Sp. sulcata that have fallen under my obser- 

 vation. I do not, therefore, quote his figures. It is not improbable, however, that the 

 true Sp. sulcata may be found in the Niagara Group of Lockport, or of other places in the 

 United States. 



