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Indiana University Studies 



aware, Fusulina ventricosa is not found below the Emporia limestone. The 

 stratigraphic interval between the top of the Des Moines and the Emporia 

 limestone is 1,100 feet. Von Staff had these data before him when he mixed 

 the species. Had he used these data, there would have been no confusion. 

 The result is, as Girty suggested it might be, that Girtyina ventricosa is quite 

 distinct from Fusulina ventricosa. 



Moreover, as luck would have it — I know not to what else to ascribe 

 it — von Staff chose a typical Fusulina ventricosa for one of his figures of F. 

 ''sacale", supposed to have been described by Say from the vicinity of the 

 Platte river, in Nebraska. Now it so happens, as suggested by Girty, that 

 the Fusulinas of that place are very slender species from horizons very much 

 lower than that from which F. ventricosa comes. So the matter stands at 

 present somewhat like this: Girtyina ventricosa v. S. is a distinct and valid 

 species, but belonging to a different genus from Fusulina ventricosa Meek. 

 Von Staff's Fusulina ''secale" is Fusulina ventricosa, and Girty's description 

 of Fusulina secalica, under the name of "Triticites", must be considered 

 as the typical descriptiom of Say's species. The figures in my first report, 

 and the description, were general.^ 



Girty's remarks regarding the deliberate substitution -of Schellwieniana 

 for Fusulina are certainly to the point and Fusulina should be used as the 

 generic characterization of the organisms for which it was proposed. 



There are several species of Fusulina not described by von Staff, and the 

 preliminary descriptions of some of them follow: 



Fusulina obesa n.sp. 



Shell quite large, elongate, having blunt ends and the central third of 

 the roll greatly swollen. This enlargement divides the shell into three 

 distinct parts: the two ends which are subcylindrical, and the central zone 

 which is quite convex in outline. The impressed lines of the shell are in- 

 conspicuous, giving the shell a smooth appearance. About half of the end 

 sections are occupied by the vesicular portion of the shell becoming narrower 

 toward the central region, where it becomes axial. The fluting of the septa 

 is much less marked in the central regions than toward the ends. The 

 reinforced zone, expanding from the ends of the primordial chamber, is 

 highly developed, filling most of the space between the whorls of the shell, 

 leaving a rather narrow communication slit, tho it is rather high. The walls 

 of this species are relatively quite thin. The opaque layer is better developed 

 than in F. longissimoidea, following, but It is less strongly developed than 

 in F. ventricosa of Meek. 



The septa are but slightly curved, as seen in cross-section, until the eighth 

 or tenth whorls are reached, when they become somewhat crescent-shaped, 

 concave side forward. The septa seem to be formed primarily by the turning 

 in of the opaque layer, but the punctate layer also seems to take part in their 

 formation, as well as the formation of the reinforcing hoops of the central 

 portion, which are developed from the ends of the septa. Transverse diam- 

 eter 3.8 mm.; length 9.3 mm.; ratio approximately 1: 2.45; diameter of the 

 primordial chamber .22 mm. The following table shows the number of 

 chambers per whorl in two specimens: 



^Univ. Geol. Surv. Kans. (1900) VI, p. 10, pi. i, ff. 1. 



