392 



of Canada, as members of tlie Tanicata. The latter, however, is a true 

 ReceptacuUtes. It is barely possible that the former may be a tunicate, 

 but we have no positive evidence that it is. 



Eichwald,inhis Lethaea Rossica, has described and figured two species, 

 Cyclocrhius Spaskii and C. exilis, which appear to me to be either con- 

 generic with our two, or, at least, to belong to the same family. Both of 

 Eichwald's species are small globular bodies covered with hexagonal or 

 pentagonal plates. The plates of C. Spaskii have a tubercle in the centre 

 and a number of obscure rounded ridges radiating to the sides. lie says 

 there is a small oral orifice on one side, and on the side opposite, a rudi- 

 mentary pedicle. One of his figured specimens is covered with a tubular 

 incrustation consisting of small cells which he considers to be a part of 

 the integument itself. It may be, however, a coral. A fragment of one 

 of the specimens of P. Halli from Anticosti is incrusted in precisely the 

 same manner with what I take to be a species of Stenopora. Eichwald 

 places his genus among the Cystidea ; but the more general characters, 

 such as a jointed crinoidal column, the ai*ms or pinnulae, and the peculiar 

 orifices which characterise all true Cystideans, are not forthcoming. It 

 is barely possible that his view may be the correct one. 



The fossil called Sphceronites tesselatus (Phillips), from the English 

 Devonian rocks has the surface covered with hexagonal plates, and 

 resembles, in general aspect, a species of JPasceolus. Mr. Pengelly has 

 fio-ured a specimen in the Geologist, vol iv, which shows the interior, 

 covered with a net-work of vertical and horizontal ribs, giving the appear- 

 ance of the inner surface of the specimen of lieceptaculites calciferus 

 above noticed. He proposes a new generic name, Sphoerospoiujia, for it. 

 If the specimen figured by him be truly of the same species as that 

 described by Phillips, it would seem that an internal structure like that of 

 ReceptacuUtes is not inconsistent with an integument of hexagonal instead 

 of quadrilateral plates. I do not see, however, how the net-work figured 

 by Mr. Pengelly can be made to fit hexagonal plates in the way that the 

 squares formed by the stolons of ReceptacuUtes arc adjusted. 



M. M. Edwards and Haime have referred Eichwald's genus Cyclocrinus 

 to the Zoantharia. Whether they are right or not with regard to the 

 Russian species, I can most confidently assert that Fasceolus is not a 

 coral. It may be allied to ReceptacuUtes, but its true zoological position 

 is quite undecided at present. 



