3. DESCRIPTION OF SOME OF THE NEW SPECIES OF FOSSILS REFERRED TO IN THE FOREGOING PAPER. Genus CAMERELLA. (Billings). CAMERELLA. (Billings.) Canadian Naturalist and Geologist, Vol. 4, p. 301. August, 1859. TRIPLESIA.(Hall.) Twelfth Annual Report of the Regents of the University of New York, p. 44, October or November, 1859. In August, 1859, I published this genus in the Canadian. Naturalist and Geologist and described three species under it C longirostra, C. Panderi, and C. Volborthi; the latter two from the Black River and the former from the Chazy limestone. Shortly afterwards Prof. Hall proposed the name Triplesia for it, but he did not describe any of the internal characters. He dated his genus back to 1858, although it was not published until October or November, 1859. The twelfth Annual Report above cited, in which the genus Triplesia was first made public, is stated (on the cover) to have been "made to the Assembly, March 15, 1859." The only other date on the cover is "Albany, 1859." The first six pages of the report are occupied by the business matters of the Regents relating to the affairs of the University. Then follows a title-page to the paleontological portion of which the following is a copy, "Contributions to the Paleontology of New York; being some of the results of investigations made during the years 1855-56-57 and 58." At the foot of the page is the following note. "The following notices and descriptions of new genera, with other investigations have been communicated, in part or entirely, at different times to the Albany Institute; to the Reports of the Regents of the University on the State Collections of Natural History, for the years 1856 and 1858; to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and are already printed in the third volume of the palaeontology of the State of New York. No other date of publication is given either on the eover or title-page. The 3rd volume of Palæontology of New York was not published until 1860. Upon examining the other Reports and proceedings referred to, I am satisfied that the genus Triplesia was not published in 1858. At all events the date given by Prof. Hall must be regarded as doubtful and can have no authority until he shows in what work he published the genus in 1858. As to the time of the publication of the Twelfth Annual Report, the following are the facts, as nearly as I can ascertain them. Some time previously to the 1st of July, 1859, the first 18 pages of the palæontological part were printed, and made up into a pamphlet. A copy was sent to the editors of Silliman's Journal and was noticed by them in their July number, at p. 149. I saw this notice and wrote to a friend in Albany to send me a copy. He could not get one as only a few had been made up, apparently for private distribution. The printer however gave him some loose sheets as far as page 18, which had been corrected for proof and thrown aside after the pamphlet was published. I received them in the beginning of the month of August. I afterwards, in September, received the pamphlet. At that time, i.e. in September, only 18 pages had been issued. The remainder, containing a description of Triplesia, must have been published some time during the Autumn of 1859. The note on page 62 could only have been written after the meeting of the American Association, in August, as it contains information that was then first made known. I feel satisfied therefore that the genus Camerlla was published several weeks before the genus Triplesia, and besides, as Prof. Hall did not notice any of the internal characters, his description can have no authority. In the Twelfth Annual Report the reader will find several other genera thus dated. Page 24, "GENUS NUCLEOSPIRA. (Hall 1857)" 27, 35, "GENUS EATONIA. (Hall 1856)" I think naturalists have a right to ask, in what works were the descriptions of these genera published at the dates indicated? And if they were not published at the times stated, for what purpose were these dates given? The same questions may be put with respect to the genera Rhynchospira, Tropidoleptus, and Rensslæria which were first described in the same work. The genus Camerella appears to belong to the family RHYNCONELLIDE, the species differing from the ordinary forms of Rhynconella by having the surface, in general, either not ribbed at all, or with only a few obscure plications not extending to the beak. The interior differs in having the dental plates of the ventral valve converging so as to form a small triangular or oval chamber of variable dimensions as in Pentamerus. The species known up to the present time are the following: POTSDAM SANDSTONE. One species undescribed discovered by Dr. Shumard in Texas. CALCIFEROUS SANDROCK. Two Species, C. calcifera and another large undescribed species of which I have some fragments. CHAZY LIMESTONE. Two species, C. longirostra and C. varians. This Journal, Vol 4. BLACK RIVER. Two species. C. Panderi and C. Volborthi. This Journal, Vol. 4. TRENTON. Three species. C. extans, C. nucleata, and C. cuspidata. These three were described by Prof. Hall in Vol. 1, Pal. N. Y., under the genus Atrypa. Of the ten species known in America seven occur below the Trenton Limestone. The Texas species is particularly interesting on account of its association with primordial trilobites. The following are the fossils which are found with it in the same beds. This list is copied from Barrande's elaborate memoirs on the Primordial Zone and Taconic system in the Bulletin of the Geological Society of France. It was prepared for him by Dr. Shumard. "Agnostus, very similar to Agn. Orion. Billings. "Conocephalites. "Lonchocephalus (Bathyurus) armatus? Billings. "Arionellus. Two species very distinct, of which one resembles a form that occurs in the third magnesian limestone of Missouri. "Discina.-One small species. "Orthis Coloradoensis. Shumard. Sps. indet." The above list so far as it goes exhibits an association of organic types similar to that which occurs in the limestones at Point Levi. In no country in any part of the world has such an assemblage been discovered above the Primordial Zone, or at least above the very base of the Lower Silurian, and the genus Camerella is therefore one of the most ancient of the brachiopodous forms of life. CAMERELLA CALCIFERA, N. sp. Description-This species varies from four to nine lines in width. The proportional length varies from a little less to a little • Documents anciens et nouveaux sur la faune primordiale et le Systéme Taconique en Amerique, par M. J. Barrande. Bul. Soc. Fr., 2nd Series, Vol. 18, p. 203. more than the width, the difference being caused by the variable form of the front margin which is sometimes concave or nearly straight, as represented by the figures a and b, (below) while often the middle portion is either convex or projects so as to form a small rounded lobe. The ventral valve is either moderately or strongly convex; the beak pointed and slightly elevated above the hinge line, with a small area beneath it; the hinge line somewhat straight, its length about half the width of the shell; sides rounded; the front margin either concave, straight, or convex, sometimes with a small projecting lobe in the middle; the mesial sinus is usually one-third the width of the shell, evenly rounded in the bottom, and becoming obsolete before reaching the beak. The dorsal valve is more uniformly convex than the ventral; the mesial fold rounded and usually disappearing at about half the length of the shell. The surface has usually a smooth appearance, but on many specimens from ten to twenty concentric sublamellose ridges of growth are visible. a Fig. 3. Fig. 3.-Camerella calcifera; a, ventral valve; b, dorsal; c, interior of ventral valve, shewing the small chamber beneath the beak. Affinities of this species.-Camerella extans (Emmons) has the hinge line wider and the mesial lobe defined to the beak. C. nucleata (Atrypa nucleus) is most closely allied to this species, but is in general more strongly trilobed, and, according to Prof. Hall, has the beak of the ventral valve incurved over that of the dorsal. In our species it is elevated in a manner similar to that of the beak of an Orthis. Notwithstanding these differences these three species are all closely related and may yet be united. It is to be borne in mind that this species varies greatly in size and in the contour of the front margin. The mesial fold on the dorsal and the sinus in the ventral valve are sometimes nearly obsolete, but in general are well developed for half the length of the shell. Out of about 100 specimens which I have examined there are three in which the sinus extends nearly to the beak, but in all the others it dies out about the middle of the shell. Although the individuals of this species are numerous, I have not succeeded in getting a specimen with the valves united. Locality and formation.-This species occurs in the Calciferous sandrock at St. Timothy on the St. Lawrence above Beauharnois, in the Township of Edwardstown, between Beauharnois and Lake Champlain,-abundantly at Phillipsburgh, and also in the limestones of the Quebec group at Point Levi. ECCULIOMPHALUS CANADENSIS, N. sp. Fig. 4. Ecculiomphalus Canadensis. Description.-This species consists of a simple curved tube usually about three inches in length. The larger extremity for about two inches is nearly straight, and the cross section nearly circular. The remainder, to the point, curved so as to make half a whorl of an inch across, or a little less. In this part the tube is not cylindrical but flattened laterally. In most of the specimens the sides are more sharply rounded than the dorsal or ventral aspects. In none that I have seen is the shell preserved, so that the surface characters remain unknown. Some of the fragments shew that the shell near the smaller end is greatly thickened. Length from two to three inches; diameter at the aperture from six to nine lines. Locality and formation.-Ormstown, in the Seigniory of Beauharnois, and Phillipsburgh in the Calciferous sandrock. Also in the limestones of the Quebec group at Point Levi. ECCULIOMPHALUS INTORTUS. N. SP. Descripition. This species consists of a simple conical tube, so coiled as to make two whorls within a circle of one inch and a half in diameter. At the aperture the cross section of the tube is nearly circular, and five lines in diameter in a specimen which |