Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



they are distinct generic names ; they can not have the same 

 origin ; they can not have the same meaning, and they do not 

 sound alike. There is no law, rule, or reason for claiming 

 that the word Tellinomya was preoccupied by the use of the 

 word Tellimya, and yet, there is no other excuse offered for 

 discarding Tellinomya. We do not suppose any author will 

 follow the erroneous innovation, nevertheless it is a fact that 

 synonyms burden science. 



Pal-Eoconcha faberi S. A. Miller. . 



Under the name of Ctcnodonta obliqua, Hall, Mr. Ulrich has 

 arranged Paheoconcha faberi as a synonym in a recent publica- 

 tion on the Lower Silurian Lamellibranchiata of Minnesota, 

 and to this, on page 605, he has added the following comment: 



" Dr. vS. A. Miller, in the work above referred to, erects a new 

 genus, PalceoconcJia, and a new family for the reception of the 

 present species, which he divides into two species, giving to 

 •the larger form the specific name faberi. But this new genus 

 and family have no right to recognition, since they are based 

 entirely upon erroneous observation, he having come to the 

 conclusion that the hinge in these shells was not denticulated 

 and probably edentulous. Through the kindness of Dr. 

 Miller, I had an opportunity to examine a number of the 

 specimens (excellent casts of the interior) used by him in 

 defining his genus. Even among these I noticed several that 

 retained undeniable evidence of the denticulate hinge." 



A brief history of the subject matter is as follows: In 1845 

 Prof. James Hall very briefly described, without illustration, 

 in the American Journal of Science and Arts, some minute 

 fossils from Cincinnati, and among them was one he called 

 Nucula obliqua. The definitions were so imperfect that it is 

 probable the names would have sunk into oblivion had it not 

 been for the fact that the Cincinnati collectors knew the 

 locality from which the minute fossils were taken. In 1870, 

 the late C. B. Dyer took one of the authors to a place near 

 Calhoun and Vine Streets, where he said the minute fossils 



