Mr. W. Lonsdale on t/ie Genus Lithostrotion. 463 



inson does not allude to the state of his coral when prisms were 

 detached, it is equally difficult to arrive at a satisfactory inference 

 respecting the amount of preservation in parted corallites of 

 Dr. Fleming's Lithostr. striatum. The cabinet of Mr. D. Sharpe 

 contains, however, specimens of a basaltiform fossil from the 

 carboniferous limestone of Kendal, which resembles Parkinson's 

 figures 3, 6 (Org. Rem. ii. pi. 5) in external configuration : 

 rough transverse sections displayed also a " web-formed star " 

 with traces of a centra 1 projection ; and longitudinal sections ex- 

 hibited "a plumose appearance" (consult op. cit. p. 44)— all of 

 them farther points of agreement. The corallites separated 

 easily, and the parted facets were entirely free from scars or 

 other indications of fracture ; while in one specimen they pre- 

 sented a continuous, opake white layer of a friable nature, but 

 which, when viewed with a proper light, exhibited faintly longi- 

 tudinal ribs, and more or less distinctly transverse rugosities ; 

 also minute thread-like transverse lines ranging the whole 

 breadth of the facet and marking, it is believed, increments of 

 growth j while not a vestige was visible of the minute cellular 

 composition which occurs immediately within the wall, and is 

 very conspicuous in purposely abraded or fractured surfaces. 

 This opake, white layer evidently represented the original coral- 

 matter, but in a friable state, probably from the abstraction of 

 the animal portion ; nevertheless as it occurred equally on each 

 of the parted surfaces, it was inferred, that adjacent corallites are 

 separable without fracture or the destruction of the minor struc- 

 tures. The detected characters moreover prevailed throughout 

 the height (2| inches) as well as breadth (2£ inches) of the spe- 

 cimen ; and they therefore precluded, to that extent, the assump- 

 tion of a local or periodical union. One specimen more com- 

 pletely occupied by calcareous spar had lost, to a great extent, 

 the layer, but between the longitudinal strise remnants of it ex- 

 isted, traversed by the supposed lines of increment ; and where 

 the wall had been nearly or entirely removed the internal or cel- 

 lular composition was visible, but without the slightest indica- 

 tion of fracture. A basaltiform coral from Gower (South Wales), 

 also in Mr. Sharpens series of carboniferous fossils, presented 

 characters similar to those of the last specimen ; but some of the 

 facets had been wholly deprived of their original investment, yet 

 without fracture ; and they displayed fully the cellular structure, 

 or an irregular, white reticulation with meshes of dark carbonate 

 of lime — the lamina? of the network agreeing in colour and sub- 

 stance with the walls above mentioned. It may be added, that 

 the transverse lines of the reticulation had limited ranges, and 

 that adjacent portions were on different levels ; they were conse- 

 quently quite dissimilar in character from the minute thread-like 



