178 Proceedings of tJte Royal Socicfi/ of Vicforic. 



carbonate of soda lias failed to remove. The broken ends of the 

 better preserved specimens show the gastropore styles with great 

 clearness. As a rule the specimens are not infiltrated by any 

 foreign matter, excepting close to the outside, so that the delicate 

 tubulse and complicated styles can be seen as clearly as in a recent 

 specimen. The gastropores can be seen to open at right angles 

 to the general surface of the corallum and the canal then to curve 

 down towards the proximal end, running parallel to the a.xis. 



The general appearance agrees exactly with tlie figure of the 

 section given by Moseley, but I have not seen any anipullie. 

 The dactylopores are not so constant in their course as the gastro- 

 pores, but seem to rapidly disappear in the ground meshwork. 

 The perforations in the pore-walls are plainly visiljle. 



Some of the larger portions are bored by some organism, which, 

 finding the axial part less dense, has occupied this part of the 

 corallum. tSoine of these tubes have a thin calcareous wall of 

 their own. After a prolonged examination I have been unable 

 to detect any criteria which would separate the present fossils 

 from the forms described by Moseley. Tlie " Challenger" specimens 

 were dredged off" the mouth of the Rio de la Plata in 600 fathoms. 



Locality. Tlie present specimens I gathei-ed in the Miocene 

 clays of the Grange Burn, Section II'^', Allotment I., Parish of 

 South Hamilton. 



This genus, as represented by a new species .S'. i/iarginafa, T. 

 Wds., is recorded by Tenison Woods from the Eocene of the 

 •Chatham Islands.^ 



DiSTiCHOPORA, Lamarck. 



The careful way in which the morphology of this genus was 

 worked out by Moseley^ leaves very little to be desired. With 

 regard to the specific characters that distinguish the different 

 members of the group considerable difticulty arises. Tenison 

 Woods'^ gives a detailed account of five species known to him from 

 the Pacific. More recently Professor Sydney J. Hickson, dealing 

 with a collection made in Torres Strait by Professor A. C. 

 Haddon"* arrives at the conclusion that the characters hitherto 



1 Palfeontology of New Zealand, pt. iv., ISSO, p. 22. 



2 Loc. cit. 



3 Journal Roy. Soc. New South Wales, 1879. 



4 Scientific Proc. Roy. Dublin See, vii., N.S., pt. v. 



