176 MM. R. Etheridge, Jun., and A. H. Foord on 



(?) allotments, on the Northern railway, 31 miles from Town- 

 ville. They are said to have been collected on a " limestone 

 reef." The interest of the collection generally lies chiefly in 

 the fact that it may be looked upon as su}oplementary to that 

 described by Prof. H. A. Nicholson, M.D., and one of the 

 writers in 1879 ('Annals,' 1879, ix. pp. 216, 265), from 

 the Burdekin district. The appearance of the specimens is 

 peculiar, and would at first sight give rise to the impression 

 that they were of a travelled nature, as they are much eroded 

 and with their angles rounded. A closer examination, how- 

 ever, leads to the conviction that they are only portions of 

 the limestone-reef much weathered, and perhaps worn by 

 the action of running water. This view is borne out by the 

 appearance here and there of the coral projecting above the 

 surface of the blocks, in a fine state of preservation, and 

 weathered clear of the matrix. The external colour of the 

 masses is bluish grey, but on a fractured surface the lime- 

 stone is seen to be black, or deep bluish black, and very 

 crystalline. This latter circumstance has rendered a satis- 

 factory examination of the corals, even by means of thin 

 sections, very difficult, and in some cases almost imprac- 

 ticable. 



Genus Alveolites, Lamarck, 1801. 



(Syst. des Anim. sans V^ert, p. 375.) 

 [Emend. Nicholson, 1879.] 



Alveolites alveolaris, de Koninck, sp. 

 (PL VI. figs. 1-1 c.) 



^BiUingsia alveolaris, de Kon. Recherclies sur les Foss. Pal. de la Nouv. 

 Galles du Sud, Brussels, 1876-77, p. 75, pi. ii. figs. 4, 4 a, 4 b. 



Sp. char. The corallum in this species is massive and appa- 

 rently lobate. The corallites are minute (about two in the 

 space of 1 millim.), closely contiguous, of considerable length, 

 their walls somewhat thick ; the apertures of the cells present 

 an irregularly lunate form, and in some of them a single tooth- 

 like septum may be detected. The tabula are well developed, 

 horizontal, or a little curved, and tolerably numerous. The 

 mural pores are large, and consist of a single series placed at 

 pretty regular intervals of about half a millim. apart. 



Obs. The highly crystalline condition of the specimens 

 representing this species has rendered its determination very 

 difficult. The specimens occur in the shape of weathered 

 masses in which some parts harder than the rest stand out in 

 relief and exhibit tolerably well the structures described above, 



