New Lamellibranrhiata, — TTlrich. 271 
shells that I propose to publish during this year, probably 
monthly in succeeding numbers of the Geologist. Most of the 
species were studied in 1880 and 1881 with a view of publish- 
ing descriptions of them, together with new Gastropoda and 
other fossils, in the ill-fated vol. iii of the Ohio palseontologi- 
cal reports. As is well known, the Ohio Legislature has per- 
sistently refused to appropriate the funds necessary for the 
publication of that volume, and, as far as can be ascertained, 
the prospect at present is more discouraging than ever before. 
That the work might not be lost entirely, I have lately begun 
making a new set of drawings (this time in ink, making cheap 
reproduction possible) of the principal species then worked 
on, and of the more interesting forms that have been discovered 
since. 
The total number of species which I propose to describe in 
this series of papers is over fifty, and of all of them the types 
are contained in my private collection. Among them are rep- 
resentatives of five or six new genera, while the remainder are 
referred to Modiolopsis, Orthodesma, Cuneamya, Gravimysia, 
Goniophora, {?) Amhonychia and Pterinea. 
Though a large number it is scarcely one-third of the unde- 
scribed Silurian lamillibranchs known to me — and many more 
no doubt still remain to reward the search of earnest col- 
lectors. To give some idea of tile great variety of this class of 
fossils in Lower Silurian deposits, I will mention a few facts 
regarding those found in the Trenton and Cincinnati rocks of 
Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. My own cabinet alone contains 
over two hundred unquestionably distinct species of lamelli- 
branch shells from this locality. Of this number not more than 
eighty can be identified with described species, thus leaving 
over one hundred and twenty-eight without names, and I have 
not all of them either, since every extensive Cincinnati collec- 
tion examined by me contains a greater or less number of 
species not represented in mine. A fair estimate of the total 
number from this locality alone would not fall below two hun- 
and fifty species. And yet it is with this class of shells as with 
nearly all other fossils outside of the Echinodermata andTrilo- 
bita — they are sadly neglected by the average collector. Why 
this is so I do not know, since they are just as valuable to the 
science of geology and quite as interesting as crinoids and 
trilobites. It is to be hoped that hereafter collectors, particu- 
