92 paljkontology of new-york. 



129. 1. TENTACULITES? FLEXUOSA (n. */».)• 



Pi- XXIX. Figs. 6 a, b, e, d. 



Tubes single or aggregate, adhering, more or less curved at the tip or along the whole 

 length ; surface mtu-ked by strong annulations, which are crossed by fine longitudinal striae ; 

 annulations somewhat irregular ; interior distinctly septate ; septa with the concave sides 

 upwards. 



The mode of growth and the interidr structure here developed give us more information 

 regarding the habits of this hitherto doubtful fossil, than we have before possessed. If the 

 species in question be a true Tentaculites, of which perhaps we may have some doubt, 

 it appears to have been developed like many of the Corals, viz. a simple tube affixed at 

 the base, occupied by an animal which secretes calcareous matter, building up the walls 

 of the cell, and extending across it transverse septa as the tube became elongated. The 

 structure of the tube, however, allies it more nearly with Crinoideans than with Corals ; 

 and it is probable that it was inhabited by a simply constructed animal of the same order. 



The specimen fig. 1 a first attracted my attention by its curved tip, showing that it must 

 have been attached to some other body. A further careful search among a large number of 

 specimens from Lowville enabled me to discover the attached group, which shows that an 

 exudation of calcareous matter attaches them firmly to the shell, while a group of the cells 

 of Cfuetetes lycoperdon have commenced their growth on the same. 



I have referred this, with some hesitation, to the Genus Tentaculites, both on account 

 of its general form and mode of adhering to other bodies, as well as from its internal 

 structure, which, however, has not heretofore been shown in the true Tentaculites. All 

 the other species known in our strata are straight, rigid, and gradually tapering to a point, 

 always separate, and never known as adhering to other bodies. 



Fig. 6 a. A single specimen of this species, with a portion of the same magnified, showing the transverse 



septa. 

 Fig. 6 i. A group of the same species, adhering by their smaller extremities to the dorsal valve of Orlhis 



tesludinaria. At e, there is the base of several cells of the Chatties lycoperdon, adhering to 



the same shell. 

 Fig. & d. X single tube, magnified, showing more distinctly the strise upon the surface, and, also, in some 



degree, the irregularity of the annulations. 



Position and locality. This fossil is only known to me as occurring in the thinbcdded 

 portions of the Trenton limestone, from sixty to one hundred feet above its base. Lowville, 

 Lewis county. 



