I dedicate this new species to Mr. Bourgeois, Professor of Natural History at the School of Pont-Levoy, (Loir-et-Cher, France) who was my first teacher in geology.
Description of two Species of Scutella.
BY AUGUSTE RÉMOND.
Scutella Lam.
S. Gibbsii Rémond.
Disk oblong-sub-oval, rounded before and truncated behind, posteriorly convex above, slightly depressed in front; inferior surface flat, somewhat concave about the mouth. Apex about midway between the center and posterior margin; ambulacral star non-symmetrical; petals unequal, open at their extremities. Anterior petal straight, longer than the others; the lateral ones nearly straight, diverging from the apex with an angle of about eighty degrees; posterior petals very short, sub-oval, having the anterior side most curved. Four rows of pores in each petal; the inner pores transverse, the outer ones pointed obliquely inwards. Mouth posteriorly sub-central; anal-aperture small, submarginal. Ambulacral furrows double, nearly symmetrical, slightly ramified. Each ambulacral and inter-ambulacral space is occupied by two rows of irregular plates, either pentagonal or hexagonal. Tubercles numerous, crowded in the ambulacral furrows, but much worn off in the specimens examined.
Locality: Kern Lake, Buena Vista County.
The specimens described are in the collection of the Academy; they were found by Dr. Gibbs, to whom the species is dedicated.
Obs.—This species, considered by Mr. Gabb as of probably miocene age, is closely allied to the S. striatula, which is found living on the Californian coast, and occurs fossil in the faluns (miocene formation) of Bordeaux, France; but it differs from it in the outlines and the size of the shell, the former being comparatively small and longer than broad, while the latter is broader than long. Besides, the apex of the S. Gibbsii is situated more posteriorly, and the lateral petals, in the S. striatula, diverge from the apex, with an angle of from one hundred and ten to one hundred and fifteen degrees; this latter has also its ambulacral furrows more ramified at their extremities.