36 Mr. K. Ethericlge on Carboniferous Polyzoa. 



Localities and Horizon. Carboniferous shale, Hopeshleld 

 Burn, near Mount Farin, Northumberland, probably near the 

 horizon of the Scar Limestone ; shale aboye the' no. 1 or 2 , 

 limestone, Lower Carboniferous Limestone group, Harelaw 

 Quarry, near Longniddry Station, Haddingtonshire. 



Collectors. Mr. Hugh Miller, F.G.S., and Mr. James 

 Bennie. 



Genus Thamniscus, King, 1849. 

 (Annals Nat. Hist. 1849, iii. p. 389). 



Thamniscus pustulata, R. Eth.,jun. 



Polypora ? pustulata, R. Etheridge, jun., Mem. Geol. Survey Scotland, 

 Expl. 23, 187.3, p. 102. 



Thamniscus Ranhini, Young and Young, Annals Nat. Hist. 1875, 



XV. p. 335, pi. 9 bis. 

 Ohs. In 1874 I described, in the explanation to sheet 23 of 

 the one-inch Geological-Survey Map of Scotland, certain 

 fragments of Carboniferous Polyzoa which I believed to be 

 new, with the remark " if it be a new species of Polypora, I 

 would propose for it the specific designation of P. pustulata.''^ ^ 

 I also pointed out that the disposition of the cells and mode of 

 branching were exceedingly like those seen in the type species 

 of Thamniscus, T. dubius, Schl., and suggested that it might 

 be a species of this genus. 



Since my notice of the fossil appeared, the Messrs. Young 

 have obtained a comparatively perfect example, and liave 

 shown that it should be more properly referred to Thamniscus, 

 as I surmised ; but at the same time these authors have altered 

 the name to T. BanMni—(\\\\iQ an unnecessary proceeding ; 

 for I gave a perfectly intelligible description, and my specific 

 name is to all intents and purposes a good one. 



Genus Rhombopora, Meek. 



Rhomhopora, Meek, 1872, Hayden's Final Eeport of the U.S. Geol. 



Survey of Nebraska, p. 141. 

 I would draw the attention of British paleontologists to the 

 above genus of the late Mr. Meek, referred by him to the 

 "Polypi" (Actinozoa), but which will, 1 think, probably 

 prove to be a Polyzoon. The genus was established for small 

 ramose corals with " non-septate, short, tubular cells radiating 

 obliquelv outward and upward on all sides from an imaginary 

 axis ; cell-mouths rhombic or rhombic oval, and very irregu- 

 larly arranged in longitudinalandoblique spiral rows, the former 



