Cri/pfoy)on und other . ' nciciif F(h<isils. 



217 



jtri't'eis lo ii'njird Aicliicocvatliiis iis a coral, ihouLiii hv 

 admits tlial it is of a vimt peculiar and o'ciunalized ly))e, 

 unknown cxccjit in tlu' lowest ( anilnian: Imt there very 

 widely dilTused, since it occurs in dillei'ent ])arts of North 

 America, in Spain and in Sardinia. 1 think, however, we 

 may still he allowed to entertain some douht as to its 

 reftM'eiice to corals, more es])ecially as its skeleton does 

 not seem to liave lieen comi»osed of ara^onite. I still 

 ctmtinue to hope that, whether I'rotozoon or coral, it may 

 he traced helow the Lower ("amhrian, and may form a 

 liids connecting' the fauna of that au'c with that of still 

 older (U'posits. in my descrii)tion of it in "The Dawn of 

 of Life." in IST-"', 1 have written of it in the following 

 terms: — ''To understand Archa'ocyathus let us inia<^ine 

 an inverted cone of carhonate of lime, from an inch or 

 two to a foot in len^i'th, and with its ])oint huried in the 

 mu<l at the hottom of the sea, while its open cup extends 

 upward into the clear water. The lower j)art huried in 

 tlu' Ixtttom is composed of an irreyular acervuline net- 

 woik of thick calcareous i)L tes, enclosing- chamhers com- 

 municating with one another. Ahove this, where the cu}) 

 e.\j)ands, its walls are composed of thin outer and inner 

 jtlales perforated with numerous holes in vertical rows, > 

 and connected with each other hy vertical j)artition.s, also 

 ]ierforated, estal»lishing free connuunication l)etween the 

 radiating ehaml)ers, into which the thickness of the wall 

 is divided." Such a structure might, no douht, serve as a 

 skeleton for a peculiar and generalized coral, but it might 

 /ist as well accommodate a })roto})lasmic protozoon with 

 chambers for its sarcode and i)ores for emission of its 

 |»sende])ods both outwardly and by means of the interior 

 cu}), which in that case would represent one of the 

 oscula or funnels of Eozoon or of the modern Carpenteria. 



