Mr Etluridgc on Fossils fro7n Bowen River Coalfield. 273 



At the present moment it may simply be stated that the 

 two species of Stenopora, are S. ovata (Lonsdale), and an un- 

 doubtedly undescribed and peculiar form, which we have 

 distinguished as aS'. Jackii. 



Class Polyzoa. 



The Polyzoa from the Bowen Eiver coalfield are few in 

 species, and their state of preservation is exceedingly badj 

 and in this resembling to a great extent most other examples 

 I have been accustomed to see from the Australasian Palaeo- 

 zoic rocks. The geological collection of the British Museum 

 contains some very fine slabs from various localities, chiefly 

 Tasmanian, but all of them, almost without exception, are, 

 like the Queensland examples, in the state of casts. In such 

 specimens the whole of the substance of the polyzoarium has 

 been removed, leaving usually not the slightest trace of the 

 cells, but is merely represented by the hollow spaces from 

 which the stems and branches have disappeared, and the 

 casts of the mesh-like fenestrules. This state of preservation 

 has rendered identification very difficult, a difficulty not 

 decreased by the obviously perplexing manner in which the 

 characters of the species appear to run into one another. 



The principal forms which have been described from the 

 Australian Carboniferous rocks are Fenestella atnpla (Lonsd.), 

 F. internata (Lonsd.), and F. fossula (Lonsd.), and according to 

 the descriptions and figures given by Mr Lonsdale in Mr 

 Darwin's and Count Strzelecki's works appear well esta- 

 blished and distinct species. When, however, I came to 

 examine a suite of specimens in the British Museum from 

 tjrpical Tasmanian localities, in conjunction with the Queens- 

 land specimens, I found that, in the absence of definite infor- 

 mation concerning the nature of the cells, it became very 

 difficult to distinguish between them, so little reliance can 

 be placed upon the size and relative distance apart of the 

 meshes of the polyzoarium. The number of intermediate 

 forms which appear to exist between any two hitherto con- 

 sidered species is so great as to almost preclude any satisfac- 

 tory conclusion being arrived at. 



With the view of assisting in the correct determination of 



