Siph uncle of Cana dian Endocera tidae — White a ves. 25 
II, is a cast of the interior of the greater part of a large 
but rather slender siphuncle, fully seven inches and a half in 
length, collected by Mr. Joseph Townsend in 1894. It is 
very slightly narrower in the long median portion than at 
a short distance from either end, and is obviously incomplete 
at the broken anterior end. Near the midlength it is 
rounded suboval in transverse section. Its posterior ex- 
tremity, which is straight on one side, and widens rather 
rapidly on the other for the length of nearly an inch, is coni- 
cal and pointed, with an eccentric apex. Its surface is 
smooth and worn, and, if there ever were any indications of 
obliquely transverse septal rings, they seem to have been 
quite obUterated prior to the fossilization of the specimen. 
The shales from which this siphuncle was collected, hold 
characteristic examples oiEndoceras proteiforme. 
In all the other isolated siphuncles of Endoceratidae in 
this collection, the apical end is gibbous, or swollen and then 
abruptly and widely but not very deeply contracted, on the 
convex inner side, as in Nanno. The subsequent portion 
is prolonged, longicone, moderately elongated and rather 
slender. These siphuncles are very similar to those of En- 
doceras belemnitijonne, as figured by Holm, though the 
obliquely transverse annulations on the surface of the Cana- 
dian specimens indicate that the septa were much more 
numerous and closely approximated, and infternally their 
endosiphon opens anteriorly into a large and deep, funnel- 
shaped cavity. 
If E. belemnitiforme be a Vaginocera<;, as it is asserted 
to be by Hyatt, these siphuncles should probably be referred 
to that genus. But, the type of Vaginoceras is the Endo- 
ceras 7nultitubulatum of Hall, an extremely elongated and 
slender species, whose apex is unknown, and it is difficult to 
see how E. belemnitiforme can belong to the same 
genus. Holm and Clarke both state confidently that 
E. belemnitiforme is a Nantio, and it therefore seems most 
prudent to refer all these siphuncles to that genus provision- 
ally. Foord, it is true, has observed that portions of 
siphuncles are not of much use for purposes of generic or 
