DESCRIPTION 
OF 
THE BRITISH FOSSIL CORALS. 
CHAPTER XV. 
CORALS FROM THE DEVONIAN FORMATION. 
Tue British Corals appertaining to the Devonian Formation are in general so completely 
imbedded and filled up with extraneous calcareous matter, that it is difficult to distinguish 
them otherwise than by the study of polished sections; but these usually show their 
structural characters in a very satisfactory manner, and enable the Palontologist to recog- 
nise their zoological affinities. In France and in Germany the corals belonging to the 
same geological period are, on the contrary, often met within an excellent state of preserva- 
tion, and show all the details of their exterior surface, as well as the most minute parts of 
their interior organisation ; but in this Monograph we have only figured British specimens. 
For the more complete representation of some species, we must consequently refer to 
other works, such as the excellent publication of ‘ Goldfuss on the German fossils,’ and 
our Monographie des polypiers des terr. Paleozoiques. The corals discovered in the 
Devonian Formation, in the different parts of the world, belong to about 150 well-defined 
species, 46 of which have been met with in England. To these British corals may be 
added 3 species that are very imperfectly known, casts only of them having been as yet 
found, and few specimens that have received names, but are not determinable zoologically. 
Almost half of the British species have not as yet been found in other countries; 22 have 
been discovered on the Continent; and we may also remark that most of the American 
species are not seen here, only 6 of the latter have been met with in England; among 
these, 5 are at the same time Continental. ‘The corals belonging to the family of the 
Cyathophyllide are very predominant, and form 33 of the 46 above-mentioned species. 
The family of Favositide is represented by 10 species, and. the three remaining species 
belong one to each of the three families Stauridee, Milleporidee, and Poritide ; with the 
exception of one species of Poritida that we have not seen, all these fossils belong, therefore, 
to the two sub-orders Zoantharia tabulata and Zoantharia rugosa, one of which has no 
9 
Cae, 
