Cri/pt(Coon ami other Ancient Fosai/s. 



211 



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.uld 

 hey 

 and 

 icy. 



The sjiiciiles ('oiinected with them, if oi'^aiiic, would seem 

 In hiive heeii set in the memhrane, and to have heen 

 corneous lather than sihcious. 1 have, however, no 

 ahs(»lute certainty that these a])])arent spicuU'S may not 

 lie rather the elVeet of i)risniatie crystals of calcareous 

 s)»ar penetratin*,^ a soft animal matter and impressinj^' ci 

 it their own forms. If the s]>icules are really or*;unic, 

 the structure must lie of the nature of n spony-e. If 

 otherwise, it must have consisted of douhli' niemhranous 

 la vers enclosinu- hetween them a softei" organic matter, 

 and sufficiently firm to retain their form till filled in with 

 calcareous fra*!;nienls. I'nless the structure was of ve^e- 

 talile nriifin, which I do not think likely, it was prohably 

 a I'lolo/oan of some kind. In either i-ase it is dilferent 

 frnni any fossil hitherto found in the Lower C'ai'honiferous 

 limestones of Xova Scotia." It is introduced here merely 

 as a ]iossil»le successor of Cryjitozoon. 



I thiidv we are justilied in holding- that the fossils of 

 the tyjie of Cryptozodii constitute a tyjie <liHerin,y from 

 that <tf the ordinary stromatopora', and prohahly inferior 

 iti them in organization. At one time I sup]iosed that 

 the ( )i-d(»vician forms contained in tlu' Ljenus Stromata- 

 cerium of Hall miuht he a connect inu' link, and in some 

 res])ects of u-eneral arran«,'ement they certainly conform 

 to Cryplo/oon: hut in so far as I have heen able to 



examine them microscopically, their aiUnities seem to he 

 with the typical Stromatopora'. Still, there remains even 

 in my own collection a larye amount of material referred 

 1(1 Stromatocerium which has not not yet heen sliced and 

 examined. 



Of modern forms, that which seems to approach nearest 

 tt» ( "ryj)tozoon is the remarkable organism dredged by 

 Alexander Agassiz in the Pacific,' and which has been 

 described by Goes as an arenaceous foraminifer, under the 



1 l.iit. 107' X. I.oui;. .S° 4' W., 1,740 fiitlioiiis.- ".Vlbatio.ss " Kxpeilitiixi. 



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