SYRINGOPORID^. 2 1 5 



Syringopora reticulata, Goldfuss. 

 (Fig. 30, and PI. X., fig. 5.) 



Syringopora reticulata, Goldfuss, Petref. Germ., vol. i. p. 76, PI. XXV., fig. 8, 



1826. 



reticulata, Phillips, Geol. of Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 201, 1836. 



reticulata, Edwards and Haime, Pol. Foss. des Terr. Pal., p. 290, 



1851 ; and Brit. Foss. Corals, p. 162, PL XLVL, figs, i, i a, 



1852. 



reticulata, M'Coy, Pal. Foss., p. 84, 1851. 



reticulata, De Koninck, Nouv. Rech. sur les An. Foss., Part I., 



p. 123, PI. XL, figs. 7-7 b, 1872. 



Spec. Char. Corallum fasciculate, of long cylindrical coral- 

 lites, the usual diameter of which is about one line. The dis- 

 tance at which the corallites stand apart varies very much in 

 different colonies, and even in different parts of the same cor- 

 allum, some tubes being in partial contact, while others may be 

 separated by intervals of two lines or more. Ordinarily they 

 are from half a line to a line apart. The tubes are slightly 

 flexuous, but not abruptly geniculated ; and the irregularly- 

 distributed connecting -tubes are about two lines apart, or 

 rather less than this. Well -developed spiniform septa are 

 present, the wall is not thickened by secondary deposit, and 

 the tabulae are infundibuliform, and give rise to the formation 

 of an axial tube. 



Obs. This is one of the most characteristic of the species of 

 Syringopora in the Carboniferous Limestone of Britain, and 

 the above diagnosis embodies its most noticeable structural 

 features. As regards its internal structure, cross-sections (fig. 

 30, B, and PI. X., fig. 5) show that the walls of the corallites, 

 though of tolerable thickness, have no secondary deposit of 

 sclerenchyma in their interior ; while the spiniform septa are 

 well developed, and are arranged in about twenty or twenty- 

 four rows. The cut edges of the infundibuliform tabulae are 

 exhibited in sections of this kind as so many concentrically- 

 disposed or spirally-arranged lines surrounding the transverse- 



