1 34 MADREPORARIA. 



126. Goniopora Paris Basin (14,3. 



[Auvers (Upper Eocene).] 



LitJiarcea bellula, M.-E. & H. (iion "Astrma hiilula," Michelin), Monograph des Poritides, Ann. d. Sci. 

 Nat. (3°) xvi. (1851). 



Description. — Corallum convex, sometimes subgibbous. 



Calicles nearly uniform in size, 1"5 mm., rarely 2 mm., 0*5 mm. deep. Walls not pro- 

 nounced and regularly polygonal. Septa 16, nearly uniform, viz. two cycles with four 

 tertiaries, slightly thickened, wavy and with denticulate edges. The innermost denticles are 

 large and simulate small pali. The columella is papillate, and only slightly developed. 



I record this coral here although it hardly comes in this place. It is probable that its 

 specialisation was that of the next group (see p. 145 for the grouping of the Paris Basin forms). 

 The slif^litly wavy septa with denticulate edges show fairly clearly that it was not one of 

 those we are now describing, in which the septa are thickened by synapticular proliferations. 

 There is no trace of waviness of septa in Michelin's figure (Icones (1844), pi. xliv. fig. 2). 

 Purther, there is some suspicion attaching to the locality ; it is possible that the actual 

 specimen described was found at Auvers, and the other localities, " Parnes and Valmondois," 

 were added owing to the identification with ]\Iiclieliu's coral. It is a pity that Michelin's 

 figured specimen was not alone described. The confusion is solely due to the habit of group- 

 ing into species, and then giving a composite description, which is too often the description 

 of nothing in nature. 



127. Goniopora Paris Basin (i4)4. (PI. X. figs. 2, 3, 4.) 



[' Grignon, Montmirail, Parnes, etc' (Middle Eocene) ; British Museum.] 



Aslnea ameliana, Michelin, Icones (1814) 157, pi. xliv. fig. 3. 



LitlMTwa a-meliana Milne-Edwards, Ann. des Sci. Nat. (3") xvi. (1851) p. 37. 



Description. — Corallum a small, swollen, subcylindrical or fusiform mass with a hole down 

 the axis, showing that it encrusted perishable stems ; the hole is lined by epitheca. 



Calicles 3 mm. in diameter, polygonal, of very varying depths, some flush with the surface, 

 others funnel-shaped. The walls are sharp and thin, crisp, and with wall-thread very irregularly 

 wavy, with slight indications of the formation of a wall-reticulum of small rounded meshes. 

 The 24 septa are straight, and arranged according to the typical formula, but the tertiaries are 

 long, and fuse with the secondaries near the columellar tangle. The sides and edges of the 

 septa, as a rule, are beset by small beads and processes, although here and there nearly smooth 

 septa may be seen. The columellar tangle is large and flaky ; it comes to the surface in the 

 centre of the calicle, but dips doNvn beneath the edges of the septa almost immediately. 

 Tabulae seem to be early formed, so that the living polyps were not deeply rooted in tlie 

 skeleton. 



There are three typical specimens of this coral in the National Collection from the middle 

 Eocene of the Paris Basin. Two of them (« and h) have holes through them, of irregular 



