NIAGARA GROUP. 265 
Fig. 5 m. A large specimen, having the form well preserved, but the angles at the extremities of 
the hinge-line worn off and rounded. 
Fig. 6 n. Front view of the specimen fig. 5 h. 
Fig. 5 o. Cardinal view of a small specimen, where the area is nearly closed. 
Fig. 5 p. Cardinal view of a specimen where the lower part of the shell is compressed, leaving 
the area exposed to a greater extent than in ordinary specimens. This specimen 
shows also that the ventral valve has a narrow area and a partial foramen. 
Fig. 5 r. The interior of a dorsal valve, showing the strong lamellae on each side of the triangular 
foramen, extending down to the centre of the valve, with a central stronger one. 
Fig. 5 s. An enlargement of the striae. 
Fig. 5 t. Section of the plications, showing their form and the number of striae upon the surface. 
Position and locality. In the shale of the Niagara group at Wolcott, Rochester, Sweden, 
Lockport, and near Lewiston on the Niagara river. 
462. 3. SPIRIFER RADIATUS. 
PL. LIV. Fig. 6 a -/. 
For references and synonymes, see page 66 of this volume. 
D&lthyris cyrteena. Dalman, Vet. Acad. Handl. 1827, t. iii, f 4. 
Delthyris bialveatus. Conrad, Jour. Acad. Nat. Sciences, Vol. viii, p. 261. 
I am unable to distinguish any difference between the S. radiatus and the specimen figured 
by Mr. Conrad, which is broken and otherwise mutilated. This shell does not always present 
the same appearance in the soft shale of the Niagara group as in the limestone of the Clinton 
group, but there is no evidence of the existence of a distinct species. The width of the area is 
variable, and so also the form of the foramen, which is often triangular, and sometimes long 
and nearly linear, varying with the proportions of the area. The striae are flat, bifurcating, and 
rarely interrupted by lines of growth. 
M. de Verneuil cites* the S. cyrteena of Dalman as occurring at Lockport with S. niaga- 
rensis , and occupying the same position as in Europe. A careful comparison of our specimens 
with specimens of S. cyrteena from Gothland, and specimens of S. radiatus of Sowerby from 
Dudley, has convinced me that there is but a single species; and our specimens show, in a 
still greater degree, the variable character mentioned by Dalman. In the Swedish specimens 
the margin is usually plicated, the rounded plications sometimes extending halfway to the beak ; 
while in others they are only visible in the undulating outline, and sometimes are quite free 
from such characters. This plication of the margin appears not to be unfrequent in the Dudley 
specimens, judging from those I have seen, and we may therefore regard the specimens from 
these localities as identical. In all the American specimens I have seen, there is no evidence 
of this plication of the margin or surface, though in other respects they are almost identical 
with the specimens from Dudley, and it is not easy to point out any important characters by 
*Note sur le parallelisms des depots palasozoiques de PAmferique Septentrionale avec ceux de l’Europe, &c. 
[Paleontology — Vol.il] 34 
