262 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



given to the specimen wliich rejiresents the most perfect condition 

 of the coral. 



The foregoing remarks called forth some correspondence in the 

 November number of the Geological Magazine — from Mr De Wilde, 

 the artist who drew the figures of the corals for Dr Duncan's 

 paper; from Mr Fielding, another artist, to wliom Mr Woodward, 

 the editor of the Magazine, had submitted the series of specimens 

 I liad forwarded for examination, illustrating all the various states 

 of preservation in which the coral is found; and we had also a 

 few remarks from Mr Woodward himself. 



In the following remarks upon the correspondence which 

 ensued, I will only very briefly refer to those points bearing upon 

 the subject under discussion: — Mr De Wilde states that the speci- 

 mens which he figured presented a " bulb with a pit in its centre, 

 and the slight concavity at the base of the booklet." He further 

 states, " Supposing the articulation to be a mistake, these fragile 

 appendages would hardly break invariably at that point where 

 they are stoutest and strongest." Mr Fielding states, " That it is 

 easy to select specimens from tliose sent by Mr Young, which 

 present rows of tubercles the exact counterpart of tliose figured 

 by Mr De Wilde. On the other hand, however, there are amongst 

 Mr Young's specimens some Avhich present characters differing 

 greatly from those figured in Dr Duncan's plate, and in which the 

 booklets are broken off at various distances from the costse — in 

 some cases even close up to the body of the coral, leaving a con- 

 cave cicatrix instead of a tubercle." Mr Woodward, amongst 

 other remarks, states, " Mr Young, in his paper, says, if a coral 

 had spines articulated at tlieir bases upon rounded tubercles, such 

 a structure would be quite an anomaly in a zoojihyte. We must 

 beg Mr Young not to reject a discoveiy because it is anomalous. 

 PalcBozoic life-structures present many strange features." 



In tlie December number of the Magazine there was some 

 further correspondence from the pen of Dr John Young, Dr 

 Duncan, and myself. It may here be proper to state, that before 

 Avriting the remarks upon the identity of the two S]5ecies of this 

 coral, that Dr Young minutely examined, along with myself, all 

 the best preserved specimens of the coral that I could find, and 

 Ave came to the conclusion that they ought to be considered as 

 belonging to one species; and further, that the so-called articu- 



