CORALS OF THE LONDON CLAY. 37 
laterally. The six systems very distinct ; the primary septa much broader and taller than 
the others ; the secondary ones smaller than those of the fourth order, which unite to those 
of the fifth order opposite the almost rudimentary tertiary septa, and continuing to bend 
towards the secondary ones, unite two by two along the inner edge of these, and so 
constitute six amine, that advance almost to the columella, and appear at first sight to be 
prolongations of the secondary septa (fig. 3@). The largest of these corallites are about 
two lines in diameter at the calice, and project little more than a line above the common 
mass ; the depth of the fossula is about one line and a quarter. The young imdividuals 
very soon acquire all their septa. 
The genus Dendrophyllia has many representatives in the seas of the present period, 
and in the upper tertiary formations, but the species here described is the only one that has 
as yet been found in Eocene deposits, and is the oldest known, for the various fossil Corals 
appertaining to remoter geological periods that have been referred to this generic division 
by M. Michelin, and by some other authors, do not in reality belong to it. Dendrophyllia 
dendrophylloides differs from D. ramea,' D. Taurinensis,’ and D. digitalis,’ by its irregular 
gemmation ; from D. Cornigera,* D. irregularis,’ D. amica,’ and D. axifuga, by having 
fewer septa (a cyclum less) ; and from D. gracilis’ by not being arborescent. It resembles 
most our Dendrophyllia Cecilliana, but this last-mentioned species, which lives m the Chinese 
seas, is sufficiently characterised by its broad costa, formed by double or triple rows of 
small granulations, and by its large prominent columella. 
This fossil Coral is found at Bracklesham Bay, and has been communicated to us by 
Mr. Bowerbank, Mr. Dixon, and Mr. Frederick Edwards. 
4. Genus StpRvorSAMMIA (p. lin). 
STERFOPSAMMIA HuUMILIS. ‘Tab. V, figs. 4, 4a, 40. 
Corallum composite, incrusting, glomerulate, remaining low, and increasing by means 
of an irregular basal gemmation. Corallites crowded together, cylindrical, short, united 
by the basis, and free down at least two thirds of their length from the calice. The costal 
tissue which unites them at their basis, is in general but little developed, and does not 
deserve the name of coonenchyma. Gemmation seldom takes place laterally ; sometimes, 
however, reproductive buds are formed on the side of a parent corallite at a certain distance 
from its basis, and will thus produce a slight appearance of ramification. Coste very 
1 Madrepora ramea, Solander and Ellis, Zooph., tab. xxxviil. 
Michelin, op. cit., tab. x, fig. 8. 
3 Michelin, loe. cit., tab. x, fig. 10; and tab. lxxiv, fig. 4. 
+ Esper, Pflanz. Madrep., tab. x. 
5 Michelin, op. cit., tab. lxxiv, fig. 3. 
6 Milne Edwards and J. Haime, Ann. des Sc. Nat., 3™° série, vol. x, tab. i, fig. 9. 
7 Milne Edwards and J. Haime, loc. cit., fig. 13. 
