Contributions to the anatomy of anthropoid apes / by Frank E. Beddard.
- Frank Evers Beddard
- Date:
- 1893
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Contributions to the anatomy of anthropoid apes / by Frank E. Beddard. Source: Wellcome Collection.
74/246 page 226
![Species 1. Notamia wetherelli (Busk), 1866. Syn. Dittosaria wetherelli, G. Busk, 1866, Geol. Mag. iii. p. 301 ; G. R. Vine, 1889, Proc. Yorks. Geol. & Polyt. Soc. xi. pp. 158-159, pi. v. fig. 1. Records. W. Whitaker, No. i, p. 594; G. R. Vine, No. i, p. 673. Diagnosis. Zoarium in small phytoid tufts; imperfectly known. Branching dichotomous. Zocecia elongate, pyriform. Aperture median and symmetrical, oval, the longer axis in the direction of the length of the zoarium. The aperture opens on the upper border and occupies about a quarter of the front of the zocecium. The surface is ornamented with a double series of areolae; the innermost series forms an ellipse passing close round the upperside of the aperture and crossing the front wall at about the middle ; the outermost series runs close along the hinder margin. The number varies from 8 to 16 in the inner series, and from 20 to 26 in the outer. Distribution. London Clay, Highgate (Brit. Mus.). Dimensions. The zocecia of the specimen figured measure a trifle over '5 mm. in length. Figures. PI. XXIX. figs. 1 a, b. Part of a zoarium, X 37 diam. Brit. Mus. Affinities of the Species. This species differs from Notamia loricata (Linn.) in that in the recent species the aperture occupies half the front of the zocecium and is obliquely placed ; it also has no regular series of areolae. The same characters serve to distinguish it from Notamia americana (Lamx.) x. A nearer ally is the Notamia prima (Reuss)2, which differs from it by the smallness of the mouth and the absence of areolae. Remarks. This species was founded by Busk on a specimen in the Wetherell Collec- tion which cannot now be recognized, but other specimens labelled by Busk occur and enjoy almost as much authority as the actual figured specimens. Busk made it the type of a new genus, Dittosaria, which has been ignored or overlooked by nearly all subsequent writers. He recognized that it was a close ally of Notamia (Gemellaria), but distinguished it by its mode of branching; he restricted the old genus to those which at every fork retain a continuation of the main stem in addition to the two branches. But this is not even a specific character, as is shown by the following quotation from Mr. Hincks’s [No. i, p. 20] description of Notamia (G.) loricata:—“The branches are given off from each side of the uppermost pair in a stem close to the top, and at times the stem ascends between them and a triplet is formed in place of the more usual bifurcation.” The only other point of difference is that the mouth in this species is not “ slightly oblique ” as it should be to conform to Mr. Hincks’s diagnosis of the genus. But this is hardly of generic value, and Busk certainly regarded the other as the main character. The genus differs from Pasytliea, Lamx., by the absence of the two notches at the lower corners of the aperture. 1 Loricaria americana, Lamouroux, No. 2, p. 7, pi. lxv. fig. 9. 2 Gemellaria prima, Reuss, No. 7, p. 170, pi. vii. figs. 6, 7.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28141386_0074.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
