94 Ciuciunati Society of Natural History. 



Remarks. — The fact that Hall's description of 6". rugosum 

 (Pal. of N. Y., vol. I, 1847, p. 48) was so meager that the 

 species could not be recognized b}- it, led to the coinage of 

 the name above given. The two maj' and ma)' not be the 

 same. 



Genus 3. — Be.vtricka, Billings, 1857. 



Tree-like, nearly straight, cylindrical stems, from 1 to 14 

 inches in diameter, perforated by a cylindrical and nearly 

 central tube, which is transversely septate ; outside of tube 

 composed of numerous concentric layers like those of an 

 endogenous tree. (Rept. Prog, of (.tCoI. Sur. of Canada, 

 1853-54- 55-56, 1857, p. 343.) 



Remarks. — This strange genus has been the subject of con- 

 siderable di.scussion, and its position in classification is still a 

 matter of conjecture. It was originally described as a plant. 

 Prof. Alpheus Hyatt examined a series of specimens, and 

 then considered the genus more nearly allied to the Cephalo- 

 poda than any other group, and proposed a new order, 

 {Ccrolites) and a new family {Ceriolidce) for its reception. 

 (Am. Jour. Sci., 2d .ser., vol. 39, 1865, p. 266). At a subse- 

 quent date this opinion was modified and he called it a large 

 foraminifer, (Proc. Am. Asso. Adv. Sci., vol. 33, 1885, p. 492,) 

 stating then that it was "neither a sponge, an all}' of Stroma- 

 topora, a coral allied to Cystiophyllum, a cephalopod allied to 

 Endoccras, nor a mollusk allied to the Hippuritidcs, as sup- 

 po.sed by various authors." Nicholson considers its position 

 still very uncertain, but he nevertheless puts it among the 

 Stromatoporoidea. (Man. of Pal., vol. i, 1889, p. 234.) S. A. 

 Miller places it with the sponges. (N. Am. Geol. and Paleont., 

 1889, p. 155.) 



In a private letter of the late Mr. U. P. James to Mr. W. M. 

 lyinney, of the Kentucky Geological Survey, dated August, 

 1879, are some remarks on this genus, which seem worthy of 

 record. Mr. James says : "I have split longitudinally some 

 of the Beatricea, and find, after rubbing them down smooth, 

 a very remarkable structure. One specimen, less than an inch 

 in diameter and about two inches long, shows a central core, 

 about one-third the size of the specimen, with cup-shaped 

 diaphragms, outside of which is a sort of reticulated structure 



