DESCRIPTION OF CORALS. 129 
arranged lineally, the whole being closely and minutely foraminated ; additional 
tubes developed laterally from pre-existing tubes, or in expansions of the mantle. 
Oculina raristella, De France, Dict. Sc. Nat. t. xxxv. p. 356, 1825. De Blain- 
ville, Man. d’Actinol. p. 381, 1830-1834. Milne-Edwards, ed. 2. Lamarck, 
t. li. p. 458, 1836. Michelin, Iconog. Zoophytol. p. 163. pl. 43. fig. 16, 1845. 
(Lithodendron virgineum, Goldf. Petref. p. 44. pl. 13. fig. 1; according to M. Mi- 
chelin, p. 163, not p. 64.) 
The Paris basin Oculiné have not been described or figured in sufficient detail 
to enable a satisfactory opinion to be formed respecting their characters, or 
whether the specific determinations admit of full acceptance. The Bracklesham 
coral, however, could not be referred to the recent Oc. virginea, which is stated 
by some authorities to occur in the Paris basin ; nor could it be precisely iden- 
tified with M. Michelin’s figures, drawn apparently with great care, of the poly- 
pidom assigned by him to that species (Iconog. pl. 13. fig. 6, a, b). An exami- 
nation of a specimen of Oc. Solanderi, obligingly lent to the compiler of these 
notes by Mr. Pratt, F.G.S., led also to the inference, so far as it admitted an 
opinion to be formed, that the fossil under consideration was distinct from it ; 
and M. De France’s original notice of O. Solanderi (Dict. Sc. Nat. t. xxxv. p.355), 
as well as M. Michelin’s figure (Iconog. pl. 43. fig. 15), appeared likewise to jus- 
tify the conclusion. With respect to the third species, Oc. raristella (De France, 
op. cit. p. 356), the fine Bracklesham specimen represented in Tab. I. fig. 2. of 
this work exhibited a great general agreement with M. Michelin’s figure of the 
French coral (Iconog. pl. 43. fig. 16) in the distribution of the tubular openings 
and branched or lobed and incrusting modes of growth: the extreme narrowness 
of the lamellz in the terminal cup accorded also with the ‘‘ minute lamellz ” of 
that authority (op. cit. p. 163), and the lineal arrangement of the small tubercles 
with M. De France’s ‘‘ trés-légéres stries qu’on n’apercoit qu’a la loupe.’ (loc. 
cit.) 
Among the interesting specimens submitted for examination was one from 
Mr. Edwards’s cabinet, which exhibited a thin base layer incrusting a water- 
worn, rounded chalk-flint (fig. 2.@). It occupied an irregularly circular area, nearly 
2 inches in diameter. The stellular tubes diverged obliquely outwards, and 
projected unequally, but within the marginal band of the layer they had a per- 
fectly-formed circular mouth ; and in a few instances additional polype-cavities 
had been developed on the side or between the most advanced previously exist- 
ing tubes. The terminal cups were, for the greater part, not deep, and the 
