201 



THE OPERCULATE MADREPORARIA RUGOSA OF 



NEW SOUTH WALES. 



By R. Etheridge, Junr. 



(Plate XXX.) 



The first mention of an Australian Operculate Rugose Coral, was, 

 I believe, made by the late Rev. W. B. Clarke, F.R.S., in the 

 third edition of his " Sedimentary Formations of New South 

 Wales,"* wherein the discovery of Calceola is mentioned in the 

 supposed Devonian rocks of Mount Froorae, Co. Phillip. In the 

 fourth edition of the same publicationf this locality is again 

 referred to, and Calceola is also said to have been found " along 

 the Yass and Murrumbidgee Rivers." The Clarke specimens 

 are not unfortunately, now extant for reference but previous to 

 the destruction of the collection, the late Prof, de Koninck 

 described from Rock-Flat Creek (probably near Cooma) a Calceola- 

 like Coral, termed by him Rhizojihylhim interpunct.atum,i and 

 it is more than probable that the fossil, formerly referred to by 

 Clarke as Calceola, to which it bears a very strong resemblance 

 on a macroscopic examination only, is a species of Rhizophylhmx. 

 The specimen described very briefly by De Koninck is said to be 

 a semi-cone shaped cast, bearing on the curved surface fine 

 granulated radiating ridges. The flat side is only provided with 

 ridges towards the lower part, and they are smooth, whilst in the 

 middle line is the impression of the well developed large median 

 septum. 



In 1880 I described another Operculate Rugose Coral from 

 near Yass, sent to me by Prof. A. Liversidge, F.R.S., and 

 possessing a similar general resemblance to Calceola. This I also 

 referred to Lindstrom's genus RJdzophylhom as R. australe, § 

 pointing out, however, that " one of the three specimens is more 

 Calceola-\\k.Q than the other two, which again resemble Rhizo- 

 'phyllum to a greater extent." 



I am now indebted to Messrs. J. A. Wall and J. Mitchell for 

 an opportunity of examining a much larger series of these corals 

 from Yass and Silverdale, and they have been good enough to 



* Mines and Min. Statistics of N. S. Wales (N. S. Wales Intercol. and 

 Philadelphia Internat. Exhib., 8vo., Sydney, 1875— by Authority), 1875, 

 p. 159. 



fEemarks on the Sedimentary Formations of New South Wales. 

 Fourth Edition (8vo., Sydney, 1878— by Authority), p. 16. 



tFoss. Pal. Nouv. Galles du Sud, Pt. 1, 1876, p. 61. 



§ Journ. Pt.. See. N. S. Wales for 1880 (1881), xiv., p. 248. 



