THE ANNALS 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



[FOURTH SERIES.] 

 No. 69. SEPTEMBER 1873. 



XXIV. — On a new Species of Synocladia from the Carboni- 

 ferous Limestone Series of Midlothian. By R. Etheridge 

 ■ Jun., F.G.S. 



[Plate X.] 



Only one species of Synocladia is at present recorded, so far as 

 I am able to ascertain, from rocks of Upper Palaeozoic age in 

 Great Britain — the S. virgulacea, Phillips, from the Magnesian 

 Limestone of Tunstall Hill and other localities in the north of 

 England. A bed of bluish-grey shale was lately discovered 

 overlying the Gilmerton Limestone (Lower Carboniferous 

 Limestone series) at Gilmerton, near Edinburgh, by Mr. J. 

 Bennie, crammed with the remains of Fenestellai and other 

 Polyzoa. Amongst a number of such fragments I was much 

 interested with certain pieces evidently not referable to that 

 genus, but clearly allied to Synocladia. 



The specimens present the same habit as the Permian genus, 

 but differ from the latter in the arrangement of the cell- 

 apertures on the celluliferous or obverse face. This arrange- 

 ment departs considerably from the hitherto recognized Syno- 

 cladia type, in many points approaching that seen in Fenestella. 

 yet distinct from it. Were it not that the other characters 

 displayed in the habit of the carboniferous form so closely 

 resemble those seen in Synocladia, I should feel considerable 

 diffidence in referring my specimens to that genus. If it, 

 i. e. the carboniferous form, is not a new species of Synocladia, 

 then a new genus must be created for its reception — allied 

 to Synocladia, yet differing from it. 



As in the typical species, S. virgulacea, the frond is com- 

 Ann.& Mag. N. Hist. Ser.4. Vol. xii. 14 



