BRACHIOPODA. 
93 
the extremities of the cardinal line, thus leaving a great gap between the 
valves, into which the pedicle-fissure merges. 
This feature, if established, is without an homologue among the brachiopods, 
although its function may be regarded as a means of passage for the pedicle 
similar to that found in all the biforate articulated brachiopoda. It does not 
appear from the descriptions of other species of Kutorgina that the brachial 
valve is as elevated as in K. cingulata, but it is yet to be ascertained how far 
the apparent flatness of this valve has been due to pressure in fossilization. 
Mr. Matthew, in the description of his species, K. Latourensis* has mentioned 
the existence of “ a minute tooth on each side of the very narrow and small 
foraminal opening.” But this important character requires verification, for 
not only are the St. John specimens of Kutorgina small and fragile, but have 
usually been subjected to more or less distortion, which might readily develop 
irregularities easily mistaken for permanent features. 
The general character of the umbonal region in the pedicle-valve would in¬ 
dicate a certain degree of similarity in Kutorgina and Acrotreta. In the 
latter genus the furrow on the cardinal slope appears to have been due to the 
closing of the pedicle-aperture • by the progressive accretions to the shell, in¬ 
volving a modification of the surface and its concentric growth-lines; while in 
Kutorgina the primitive apical aperture has been left unclosed. 
The internal or muscular impressions are also imperfectly known and at 
present furnish no assistance in establishing the affiliations of the genus. 
A very close ally of Kutorgina, in size and all external features except the 
cardinal characters of both valves, is the Russian genus Volborthia, von Moller 
( q. v.). The latter has full, rounded umbones on both valves, and the high area 
of the pedicle-valve is crossed, not by an open fissure, but by a convex ridge; 
the shell is described as having no foramen. The beak of the brachial valve 
lies close against the cardinal edge of the opposite valve, leaving no hiatus as 
in Kutorgina. 
Under the notice of the genus Schizopholis, Waagen, we have referred to 
the similarity of its type-species and Kutorgina Latourensis, Matthew. 
* Illustrations of the Fauna of the St. John Group, No. 3, p. 42". 1885. 
