1 8 The Paleontologist. [Jan- IS> 



GENUS PALEOPHYCUS, (Hall.) 



PaleophycUS fleXUOSUS. (sp. nov.) (James.) [flexuosus — bent, crooked.) 



This fossil consists of a regular series of slightly rounded or flattened stems, 

 which may have been cylindrical and became flattened by pressure. The 

 stems lie nearly parallel to each other in their flexuous course across the slabs 

 of blue shale, sometimes anastomosing (i^ery seldom bifurcating) and are of 

 nearly uniform size from end to end, about one line in width and the same 

 distance apart. 



Slabs from y^^ to ^ an inch thick are made up of a succession of thin lamel- 

 lae, composed, seemingly, entirely of this fossil, each lamella being i^ of a 

 line, more or less, in thickness. The stems of the different layers do not 

 always lie parallel with each other, varying but slightly in some cases, in others 

 from 30 to 40 degrees. The general appearance of the surface might be com- 

 pared to that of straw laid down regularly with spaces between, and more or 

 less compressed, and in the same manner a succession of layers. 



The largest specimen I have seen is 9x12 inches, parts of it being scaled 

 off so as to show the lamellae very finely; no doubt much larger masses were 

 made up in the same manner, as the stems extend to the margins without any 

 appearance of the ends of growthsi, and the edges of the slabs are angular, 

 as if broken from larger ones. 



This is an exceedingly interesting fossil. The appearance is as if the planlfs 

 grew of a uniform size in a compact mass, occasionally united by lateral 

 stems, very seldom bifurcating or branching How they came to be laid down 

 so evenly laminated and with so little disturbance of arrangement is not 

 apparent. 



Found in the Cincinnati Group, Hamilton Co., O., near Milford, at a hill- 

 side cut of the Little Miami R. R 



GENUS STROMATOPORA, (De Blainville.) 



Stromatopora (?) lichenoides, (sp. nov.) (James.) (/?V/^^«MV/d'j-— lichen-like.) 



Sarcodeme thin expansions grown upon corals, (all so far observed) very 

 irregular in outline; surface rugose or undulating, and marked by exceedingly 

 small pores of very irregular shapes; in some cases circular oscula-like open- 

 ings much larger than the pores. Portions of the surface of some specimens 

 have the appearance of very delicate striae. In some cases around the mar- 

 gin are somewhat larger pores, of much more regular and uniform shapes, 

 than on the general surface, which resemble the calices of some corals, but 

 very much smaller than the calices of the corals on which they are built. 



Different examples vary in size from yk of an inch to ^2 an inch in diameter 

 and from ^^ to ^ a line or more in thickness. 



This is not a very rare species in the upper beds of the Cincinnati Group, 

 where the best and most characteristic specimens are found. Occasionally 

 found at Cincinnati. 



Stromatopora SCabra. (sp. nov.) (James.) {scabra—xoVig\\ surfaced.) 



Sarcodeme composed of a thin crust grown upon foreign substances, one 

 line or less in thickness, made up, apparently, of very thin laminae, but this 

 feature is difficult to determine satisfactorily from the two examples examined 

 Distributed over the surface are prominent, conical, or elongated monticules, 

 elevated from ^^ a line to one line above the general surface, and from one to 

 two Hues apart measuring from center to center. Surface, including the slopes 

 of the monticules, covered with closely set pailke which mostly have small 

 circular openings at the tops. 



The general appearance of this fossil is rough, somewhat like a portion of 

 the surface of an .alligator's skin in miniature. 



This species resembles S. papillata, James, in the feature of the papillae 

 covering the general surface, but the latter is destitute of the prominent mon- 

 ticules, and is tliinner and much less rugged in appearance ; there seems to be 

 no reason to doubt the distinct specific difference. 



