Morse on Living Brachiopods, — Schnchert. 113 
them entire months without changing their water which ought 
to have accjuired a strong saltness. I have still the greater 
part of my Crania living seven months after their arrival in 
Roscoff and fourteen months after their gathering.' One can- 
not help associating this remarkable vitality in these genera 
with their persistence through geological horizons from the 
Cambrian to the present day almost unchanged in character. 
Living as they do in shallow seas, the gradual elevation or 
subsidence of the coast-line would in no way affect their con- 
dition. * * * * * They have survived all the mutations of geo- 
logical times unchanged, and with the persistence of this vi- 
tality, they may be the last forms of lite to survive on the earth 
as they were among the earliest preserved. On the other hand, 
the Testicardine brachiopods do not possess this vitality, and 
this group has shown an infinite diversity of form since its 
first appearance in geological time"' (p. 316). 
Glottidia pyrarnidata occurs abundantly at low tide buried 
in the sand of Bird Shoals, Beaufort Harbor, North Carolina. 
These small diaphonous Lingulae w^ith long vermifomi pedun- 
cles, when placed on sand would oscillate their valves from side 
to side and the fringes of setae would move in regular rhythm, 
causing the sand to gather in an irregular ridge encircling the 
animal or encasing only the posterior portion. Other speci- 
mens dug themselves out of sight by means of the peduncle 
in a vermiform wa}-, or buried themselves head first by means 
of the anterior portion of the shell in a shoveling motion. 
"When at rest, the body would be half out of its burrow, the 
shells partially open and the lateral setae standing vertical 
and meeting at their tips." If alarmed, the shells are quicldy 
jerked beneath the sand and out of sight. When the animal 
dies the shell "protrudes from its burrow and rests full length 
upon the sand" and the slightest jar of the vessel causes the 
body to float away from the buried peduncle. This seemingly 
explains why nearly all fossil Lingula are found flat on the 
planes of bedding. Two days after death to the body, the 
sand encased peduncle is as active as ever. 
Lingula lepidula of Japan would dig themselves out of 
sight in from ten to fifteen minutes, and completed the making 
of their peduncle sand tubes in from twelve hours to three 
days. These tubes were in every case cemented to the bowl. 
