Liassic Dentaliidæ

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Abstract
The Great Western Railway-line between Honeybourne and Cheltenham now (1906) nearing completion, necessitated the making of a considerable number of cuttings in the Lias, the zones exposed dating from oxynoti to capricornus inclusive. Among the fossils collected were many belonging to the family Dentaliidæ. The majority of the forms appeared to be new, and consequently a somewhat exhaustive investigation of the Liassic members of the family was imperative. In the course of these investigations, through the courtesy of the respective keepers, the specimens preserved in the Natural History Museum, the Museum of Practical Geology (Jermyn Street), the Geological Society's Museum (Burlington House), the Sedgwick Museum (Cambridge), and the Bath Museum, have been examined. Occasionally some difficulty arises in distinguishing the tubes of certain tubicolous annelids of the genus Ditrupa from those of the Dentaliidæ; but, if the less regular character of the tubes does not suggest their true zoological position, a microscopic investigation will in most cases soon elucidate matters. The shells of scaphopods are of course open at both ends, which is not the case with those of the Serpulidæ. It may be of interest to mention that the growth of the scaphopodshell is effected by means of successive increments at the anterior end, while contemporaneously the posterior end suffers by wear and absorption. The members of this class (Scaphopoda) are essentially marine organisms, and for the most part inhabit deep water, being embedded in the mud or sand with only the posterior end of the shell projecting above

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