Palceozoic Corals from Northern Queensland. 273 



thickened and unthickened segments. Sections of this kind 

 also show that there exist remote and complete tabula?, which 

 are usually placed at approximately corresponding levels in 

 all the corallites of a single colony. Lastly, these sections 

 occasionally show mural pores, though these structures can 

 best be made out by a microscopic examination of the exterior 

 of the tubes, when they are found to have the form of small, 

 circular, irregularly- distributed apertures. It may be added 

 that long sections show the same puzzling feature as do tan- 

 gential slices — namely, that the corallites are apparently in 

 contact throughout their entire length, whereas macroscopic 

 examination shows them to be clearly free over the unthick- 

 ened segments of the tube. 



Our specimens are not in such a condition as to justify our 

 making any definite statements as to the characters exhibited 

 by the surface, except that the calices are certainly not oblique. 

 The exterior of the mouths, according to Lonsdale, are round 

 or slightly oval, and the dividing ridges sharp, with a large 

 tubercle at the interspace between every four mouths. So 

 far as we can judge, the general aspect of the calices is very 

 similar to that of either Monticulvpora or Chcetetes ; and we 

 should therefore doubt if a simple inspection of the exterior 

 would enable an observer to certainly separate an example of 

 Stenojwra from one of either of the latter genera. At any 

 rate, it is probable that the presence of spines or tubercles in 

 the lips of the calices (even if a constant character) cannot 

 be supposed to have more than a mere specific significance. 



As to the affinities and systematic position of Steno/yora, 

 Lonsd., the discovery by Prof, de Koninck of mural pores, 

 and the existence of these in other forms, as demonstrated by 

 us, are quite conclusive as to the propriety of referring the 

 genus to the Favositidge ; and it is thus widely removed from 

 Chostetes, Fischer, and Monticulipora, D'Orb., to which it 

 bears a striking superficial likeness, and from which it has 

 usually been supposed to be hardly, or not at all, separable. 

 Within the family of the Favositidas the genus holds an 

 entirely unique position, and possesses no close ally with 

 which it need be compared in detail. 



In making specific determinations of Stenoporai we labour 

 under a certain disadvantage ; for it has already been pointed 

 out by one of us that the collection containing two of the 

 types (S. tas?naniensis, Lonsd., and 8. ovata, Lonsd.) has 

 been lost ; but this is partly counterbalanced by the existence 

 of the fine specimens of the same species described by Mr. 

 Lonsdale in the Strzelecki collection. 



Geological Position. So far as can be at present stated, the 



