680 PALAEONTOLOGY OF ILLINOIS. 



catalogue and classification of American Palsezoic Bryozoa, 

 which we had prepared, but could not, because of a lack of 

 space, publish with the more necessary portion of our MS. on 

 the Bryozoa. Mr. Miller, however, chose to arrange the Bryo- 

 zoa according to his own views, adopting some of the new- 

 families, and nearly all the new genera and species. We do not 

 complain of this, since he had an undisputed right to use the 

 material" turned over to him in whatever way he saw fit. We, 

 on the other hand, have equally as good a right to dissent 

 from the arrangement he has adopted, and we propose to ex- 

 ercise this right by offering the following critical notes on the 

 more important points upon which our views deviate. 



On page 169 he places the MONTICULIPORID^E and STELLIPORID.E 

 under_the sub-class ALCYONARIA, the first comprising the genera 

 Dekayia, JJekayella, Diplotrypa, Monotrypa, Monotrypella, 

 Monticulipora, NebuHpora, Nyctopora and Prasopora, while 

 Stellipora alone is included in the second; and on the preceding- 

 page we find Ptychonema (Hall) under the sub-class Zoantharia, 

 in the family CHETETID.E; on the whole an arrangement that is 

 unwarranted, and in the last instance at any rate also mis- 

 leading, since Ptychonema cannot be distinguished, upon any 

 grounds know r n to us, from the earlier Monotrypa. 



It is somewhat surprising to find Nyctopora (Nich.), a coral 

 with relations to Columnaria, placed among the MONTICULIPORID^E. 

 With the exception of this genus, all the genera referred by 

 him to the family should be removed to the Bryozoa. If they 

 are not Bryozoa, then the AMPLEXOPORID.E, BATOSTOMELJ,ID.E, 

 BYTHOPORID.E, CERAMOPORHXE, FISTULIPORID.E, HELIOTRYPID^E, 

 PTILODICTYONID.E, RHABDOMESONTID^, andTREMATOPORm^E, all of 

 which Mr. Miller refers to the Bryozoa, are not either. Extensive 

 comparative studies show beyond question that these are all so 

 intimately related that they cannot possibly be divided into 

 coral and bryozoan groups without doing actual violence to 

 natural affinities. 



As to Stellipora and Constellaria, which Mr. Miller considers 

 as synonymous, they were placed already many years ago 

 among the Bryozoa by such authorities as d'Orbigny and Jules 

 Haime. A superficial comparison with Jurassic and Cretaceous 



