218 PALAEONTOLOGY OF ILLINOIS. 



DEVONIAN SYSTEM. Except in one formation, sponges are very 

 rare in the rocks of this age. The Hexactinellid genus Die- 

 tyophyton is common at several localities in the Chemung 

 group of New York, while Astr&ospongia is occasionally found 

 in the Hamilton group of Illinois and Iowa. The new genus 

 Syringophyllum, from Hamilton strata of Northen Michigan, 

 recalls the Silurian Anthaspidellidae. A few specimens, not 

 nearer determined, have been found among the silicified fossils 

 at the Falls of the Ohio. The Devonian rocks of Europe are 

 also very poor in sponge remains. Hinde describes Lasiocladiu, 

 a Monactinellid sponge from Belgium, while the Calcareous 

 sponges are represented, according to Zittel, by a species of 

 Peronella. The Lithistidae are not represented unless the cast 

 of a sponge from the Lower Devonian of Germany, named by 

 Kayser Lodanella mira, belongs here. 



CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. European, and more especially the 

 English authors, have paid considerable attention to the sponges 

 of this system. Carter describes from the Carboniferous lime- 

 stone of Scotland, the three Monactinellid genera Pulvillus, 

 Raphidistia and Reniera, also Holasterella. belonging to the 

 HEXAOTINELLIDA; and Steinman furnishes the three genera Sollacia, 

 Amblysiphonella and Sebargasia, which he regards as Calci- 

 spongise. 



In American strata the MONACTINELLIDA are represented by 

 Belemnospongia in the Burlington limestone of Illinois, and two 

 species in the shales of the Keokuk group, one of which is pro- 

 visionally referred to Lasiocladia. The new Hystriospongia 

 carbonaria, from the Lower Coal Measures of Illinois, seems to 

 be a Tetractiuellid sponge in which the number of four-rayed 

 spicules is exceedingly limited, while the general character of the 

 skeleton of Batospongia, from the same horizon, strongly sug- 

 gests the CALCISPONGI^E. The HEXACTINELLIDA are represented by 

 species of Dictyophyton in the Waverly group of Ohio, and the 

 Keokuk group of Indiana and Illinois, as well as the fragments 

 belonging to several related genera obtained from Lower Car- 

 boniferous localities in Illinois and Kentucky. Uphant&nia 

 dawsoni is described by Whitfield from the Keokuk group of 

 Indiana. 



