62 THE GENUS MONTICULIPORA. 



definitely referred eidier to the Coelenterata or the Polyzoa. 

 Lastly, as regards the assertion that certain MonticuliporcE 

 pass through a " Fistulipoi'a stage," and the apparent conclu- 

 sion therefrom that Fistulipora, M'Coy, is only a temporary 

 condition of Monticulipoi^a, I think it may be said that the 

 point at issue is narrowed essentially to a question of words ; 

 for, in one sense, it may be said that the great majority of the 

 MonticuUpoi'cB are truly Fisttdip07^ce. That is to say, I think 

 it can be shown that the forms which M'Coy included under 

 the name Fisttdipora,?i\\d which Hall has subsequently termed 

 Callopora, are, theoretically, mere subgeneric forms of Monti- 

 ctUip07'a. It is certain, namely, that the possession of a di- 

 morphic corallum is a common feature in most of the Monti- 

 citliporcB properly so called, and that the FistidiporcE are only 

 peculiar in the fact that they exhibit a special development of 

 the smaller tubes of the corallum. If this be admitted, it is 

 clear that the passage of a given species of Monticulipora 

 through a " FistiiUpora stage " is a matter of comparatively 

 small importance — from a theoretical point of view. At the 

 same time, there is at present no reason to doubt that the 

 forms included under the names of Fistnlipora, M'Coy, and 

 Callopora, Hall, have a real existence, in so far that the char- 

 acters which distinguish these types are not of a merely tem- 

 porary and transient nature, but that they exist in unquestion- 

 ably adult examples ; so that the retention of the iiatne Fistnli- 

 pora, as indicative of a distinct and recognisable group, is, at 

 any rate, capable of justification, if only upon the score of 

 practical convenience. 



AFFINITIES AND ZOOLOGICAL POSITION. 



As regards the zoological affinities of the Monticuliporoids, 

 there has been of late years, as is well known, a strong ten- 

 dency on the part of palaeontologists to remove them from 

 the Coelenterata, and to place them among the Cyclostoniatous 

 Polyzoa. The only positive and direct evidence in favour of 



