148 SPIROPORA. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



BRITISH : 



Great Oolite : Skillington, Hampton, Minchinhampton. 

 Inferior Oolite : Bredon, Worcestershire ; Leckhampton. 



Witchellia Grit : Cold Comfort, near Leckhampton. 

 FOREIGN : 



Oxfordian : Montsec, Meuse (fide Buvignier). 



Bathonian : Ranville, Luc, Lebisey. 



Bajocian : Mt. Ceindre, near Lyon ; St. Quentin, Montvaux, near 



Metz. 

 Calcaire a entroques : Flace, near Ma9on. 



Description of Figure. PL VIII. Fig. 5. Part of a branch, 

 X 26 dia. Inferior Oolite : Bredon Hill. Holl Coll. B. 4864. 



Affinities. This species was well figured by Michelin, who 

 in his text named it S. verticillata, which was preoccupied by 

 Goldfuss. He apparently discovered this, for he named the species 

 in the description of the plates S. annulosa. This name has been 

 overlooked, and S. verticillata generally employed. 



The species agrees in most of its characters with S. elegans, from 

 which it differs in the shortness of the zocecia and the proximity 

 of the peristomal rows. This is well shown in Michelin's figures 

 and the Museum specimens. The shape of the branches varies 

 considerably, and Haime's species S. compressa I regard as only 

 a form with flattened branches. A certain tendency to irregularity 

 in the arrangement of the orifices occurs at the points of bifurcation 

 of the branches (as in B. M. B. 4866). S. straminea, Haime, non 

 Phill., is here considered as such a case. Haime's specimen of 

 S. ccespitosa I also include here, as it differs from the type form 

 of that species, which is probably identical with S. lajocensis. 



The species is most nearly allied to 8. cenomana, D'Orb., 1 which 

 is, however, more massive and has more numerous zocecia. 



Keuss has referred to this species a specimen from the Tegel 

 of the Vienna Basin, and his figure has all the essential characters 

 of this species. It is also allied to S. conferta, Eeuss. 2 



1 Pal. franc,. Terr. cret. t. v. p. 708, pi. DCXV. figs. 1 -9. 



2 A. E. Reuss, Pal. Stud. alt. Tertiarsch. Alpen: Denk. Jc. AJcad. Wiss. 

 Wien. Bd. xxix. 1869, p. 287, pi. xxxvi. fig. 3. Also Manzoni, Brioz. foss. Mioc. 

 Aust. Ungh. pte. iii. : ibid. Bd. xxxviii. Abth. 2, 1878, p. 12, pi. x. fig. 39. 



