MIDDLE DEVONIAN AND CARBONIFEROTJa CORALS — ETHERIDGE. 259 



sixty at least. The tabulse are numerous and strictly infundibuli- 

 form, the invaginations being deep, and the " onion-like " rings 

 very unsymmetrical when seen in section. 



Lateral union between the corallites by conjunction of the 

 walls is more prevalent than by endothecal outgrowths. Such 

 unions, however, are seldom entirely complete between any two 

 corallites, for union took place irregularly, leaving free inter- 

 spaces. I figure a good instance of five corallites, more or less 

 united in a chain, but no inter-communication by means of mural 

 pores has been noticed. (Plate xxxviii.) 



Like all, or at any rate the majority of the fossils from the 

 Cave Flat Limestone, the tissues of this coral have undergone 

 great change, a point I have elsewhere previously referred to 

 in connection with many of our Palaeozoic fossils, particularly 

 corals. 



The absence of connecting fioors at once readily distinguishes 

 this Syringopora from S. bellensis, mihi.^° S. porteri, mihi,'^ like 

 its ally <S'. auloporoides, De Kon.,'^ is of a totally different habit and 

 size, to say nothing of the greatly thickened walls and the narrow 

 undivided tube-like visceral chambers. aS'. novce-cambrensis, mihi,^^ 

 is a Carboniferous form of exceedingly regular growth, with a 

 quantity of equally regular endothecal outgrowths, and is quite 

 distinct from S. spel(sanus. Lastly .S". syrinx, mihi, although 

 possessing some points in common with the former, is at once 

 distinguished by the limited number of septa present in its 

 corallites. 



In size, and to a certain extent also in mode of growth, there 

 is a resemblance to the Devonian Syringopora abdita, De Vern., 

 but the septa in our form are far more numerous. 



The exteriors of the corallites are densely covered with Beekite 

 " rosettes," and in consequence the characters of the epitheca 

 are eS"aced. 



Lateral budding is copious, the young corallites immediately 

 assuming the characters of the parent, and in the general mass of 

 the corallum becoming undistinguishable from the more mature 

 tubes. 



This form is noteworthy amongst our Syringoporce for the 

 size of its corallites. 



Loc. — Cave Flat, Murrumbidgee River (Aust. Mus.) 



Hor, — Cave Limestone — Middle Devonian. 



10 Etheridge— Eec. Geol. Surv. N.S.W., v., 1898, 4, p. 149, t. 16. 



11 Etheridge— I6icl, vi., 1899, 3, p. 176, t. 18, f. 3, t. 31, f. 1 and 2. 



12 De Koninck— Foss. Pal. Nouv. Galles du Sud, 1877, 1, p. 76, t 3, f. 1. 



13 Etheridge— Eec. Geol. Surv. N.S.W., vi., 1899, 3, p. 177, t. 18, f. 4 

 and 5, t. 29, f. 1, t. 33, f. 1 and 2, 



