BRITISH FOSSILS. 



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however, it is best for the convenience of science to preserve the 

 Lamarckian name Ananchytes ovata, although originally given to 

 one of the varieties only. Lamarck's names seem to be little better 

 than so many designations for Leske's figures, not one of which, in 

 this instance, deserves to be separated from the others as the type 

 of a distinct species. 



Goldfuss gave admirable representations of what seemed to him 

 to be three or four distinct specific types, and applied to them in 

 two instances the names used by Lamarck. 



Agassiz and Desor admit eight species of Ananchytes, using the 

 generic term in its most restricted sense. As all but two of these 

 are types of which good figures are published, and as I consider all 

 of them, except sulcata, to be probably varieties of one species, it 

 is desirable that a few critical remarks should be made upon the list 

 given by the distinguished naturalists just mentioned. 



For Ananchytes ovata (Lamarck) they refer to Goldfass's figure 

 designated by the same name. This is my Forma a, and may be 

 considered as the normal type of the species. The figure in Leske's 

 work referred to by Lamarck as the representation of his ovatus is 

 not exactly this, but one of the connecting links between my 

 Forma a and Forma s. The Ananchytes corculum, judging 

 either from the old figures of Leske or the excellent ones of Gold- 

 fuss, is, it seems to me, the yoimg of this form. I have received 

 under the MS. name of Ananchytes Bayfieldi a similar young 

 specimen. Portlock's first examples of Ananchytes ovata are of 

 the normal type. 



The second species in the ^' Catalogue Raisonne,'' Ananchytes 

 gibha (Lamarck), is identified by Agassiz and Desor with the 

 A. riistica of Defrance, and for a figure they refer to A. striata var. 

 suhglohosa of Goldfuss ; that figure represents an example of my 

 Forma y ; not, however, of the extreme type of that variation, but 

 rather of a specimen inclining towards Forma /3. The figure in 

 Leske, referred to with a query by Lamarck, is still more near /3, 

 or rather is between /3 and u. 



The third species in the " Catalogue Eaisonne is Ananchytes 

 striata (Lamarck). In collections, full-bodied, long-topped, and 

 comparatively smooth-sided Ananchytes are usually labelled with 

 this name. Ananchytes conoidea and striata var. marginata of 

 Goldfuss are referred to it ; the former is a lofty example of my 

 variation /3, the latter a specimen intermediate between jS and «. The 

 A.conoideus of Portlock is truly this form; the A., hemisphcerica 



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