Fossil Corals of the family Cyathophyllide. 179 
were quite extensive, as their opportunities for making them were 
peculiarly favorable. 'The investigations, which extended to the 
animals of numerous species, suggested so many changes and 
modifications in various parts of the received systems, that the 
work necessarily became a complete treatise on Zoophytes. The 
genera of fossil corals are mentioned in the places where they fall 
in the classification adopted, with their characteristics. We do 
not propose to review the work, as Mr. Dana will furnish for fu- 
ture numbers of this Journal a series of articles upon Zoophytes, 
made up in part from his Treatise; and this we believe will be 
more acceptable to our readers, especially as only a small edition 
of the work has been published. 
- In the following citations, we omit the Latin descriptions, 
Family CYATHOPHYLLIDE. 
~ Caryophyllacea forming calcareous coralla. Gemmation infe- 
rior, the buds either lateral or growing upward from the sum- 
mit. Corallum of a polyp usually transversely or obliquely sep- 
tate at middle. 
The species of this family are so nearly related to one ndnedien 
and tr / transitions uniting the widest variations from the type 
are so gradual, that they have generally been classed together, 
and originally, a large part constituted a single genus. Yet as 
the characteristics of the family can be drawn only from fossilized 
coralla, there is much difficulty in seizing those peculiarities which 
will satisfactorily exhibit its unity. Moreover, the early forms of 
organic life had generally a wider range of characters than those 
of the present day, and seem to have belonged rather to the sys- 
tem of the period than to that now existing. 
The coralla* of the Cyathophyllide have usually the structure 
of the Astreeide, with the inferior mode of budding of the Cary- 
ophyllide ; in the general character of the stars, and the numer- 
ous intermediate dissepiments uniting the lamellae, many of them 
are near the former, while others have the simple stars of the lat- 
ter. Pte most striking characteristic in structure consists in the 
Mr. Da ana uses the word corallum in place of polypary or polypidom. The 
latter words imply that the coral contains the polyps in its cells, whenene: i in fact, 
there is no more propriety in such a statement than there is in saying that a man is 
ciently distinct from Corallium, the name of a particular genus of coral zoophytes. 
