?.Ir. W. Lonsdale on the Genus Lithostrotion. 453 



Liihostrotion was regarded by De Blaiuville* as ouly a section 

 (A) of Columnaria, characterized by " cellules avee un axe solide au 

 centre des rayons;" and be included in it Lith. {Column.) stina- 

 tum as well as Z. (Col.) Jloriforme, referring in the former species 

 to Fleming, Lliwyd, and Parkinson; and in tlie latter to Max-tin. 

 The next authority, known to the compiler of this notice, is Mr. 

 J. Phillipst, who represents and describes a Yorkshire and Welch 

 coral under the term CyathophyUum basaltiforme ; and he iden- 

 tifies it with the L. striatum of Parkinson and Fleming. It is 

 stated to be composed of adherent prismatic or pyramidal tubes, 

 striated longitudinally and undulated transversely; to have thirty- 

 six to fifty lamellse, " the marginal lamelhe commencing within a 

 thin crenulated vertical dissepiment." Xo mention is made of au 

 axis great or little ; on the contrary, an enlarged, transverse sec- 

 tion (fig. 22) exhibits a direct centre of twisted lamellae— a struc- 

 ture opposed to Dr. Fleming's " small, solid, central axis ;" and 

 nothing like Parkinson's " prominent star, one-third of the dia- 

 meter of the (terminal) concavity arising out of its centre" (Org. 

 Rem. ii. 44), is expressed in what appear to be tolerably pre- 

 served centres (Geol. Yorks. tab. 2. f. 21). Lieut.-Col. Portlock, 

 in his ' Report on the Geology of the County of Londonderry,' &c. 

 (1843), notices a carboniferous fossil to which is applied the 

 designation Astrea lasaltifurmis (p. 333), and it is considered 

 equivalent to Cyath. basaltiforme (Phillips), Columnaria sulcata 

 (Goldfuss), and Lithostr. striatum (Fleming). The "mass" of 

 which a specimen consists is stated to be readily fractm'cd; 

 and the long, slightly undulating prismatic tubes, resei'nbling 

 basaltic columns in miniature, are transversely undulated and 

 longitudinally striated {op. cit. p. 333), and under Ast. hexagona 

 it is said to have a conical, twisted umbo (p. 332). Prof. M'Coy 

 also includes in Mr. GriflSths's J work on the Carboniferous Fos- 

 sils of Ireland Z/zV/w^/r. striatum (Parkinson), citing Cyath. basal- 

 tiforme of ^Ir. Phillips, whose characters ai*e nearly adopted. 

 The above particulars have been given to show that among the 

 mountain limestone Zoantharia of England, three composed of 

 basaltiform columns had been described by Pai-kinson, Dr. Fle- 

 ming, and j\Ir, J. Philhps previously to 1845, but each so far 

 as known distinguished by peculiarities of structure ; and it is 

 believed that a due consideration of their detailed characters will 

 raise a doubt, whether any one of them can be truly referred to 



* ilanuel d'Actinologie, p. 350, Atlas, pi. 52. fig. 3, 1830-34 ; see also 

 Lamarck's Aniin. s. Vert. ed. 183G, t. ii, p. 343. 



t Illustrations of the Geoloey of Yorkshire, Part 2. p. 2(h.'. pi. 2. fio^. 21 

 22, 1836. ' I \ ^ ' 



X A Synoi)si8 of the Characters of the Carboniferous Limestone Fossils 

 of Ireland, p. 188, 18^14. Printed for private distribution. 



