298 Geological Society :— 
The paper concluded with lists of the fossils discovered (obtained, 
for the most part, by washing parts of the included masses). The 
result has been that the number of the Mollusca (examined by Dr. J. 
Gwyn Jeffreys) has been raised from 67 to 101, five of the additions 
being new to science. Four species of Balanus and one of Verruca 
have been identified. More than eleven species of fish have been 
identified with more or less certainty. These, Mr. E. T. Newton 
remarks, seem to be either Norwich-Crag, Red-Crag, or London-clay 
forms; and all nay have been derived from the last-named deposit. 
The Ostracoda and Foraminifera, which are numerous, were described 
by Dr. Crosskey in an appendix. 
2. “On the so-called Spongia paradoxica, 8. Woodward, from 
the Red and White Chalk of Hunstanton.” By Prof. T. M°Kenny 
Hughes, M.A., F.G.S. 
The author described a branched structure found in the Red and 
White Chalk of Hunstanton, which was named Spongia paradoaica 
by 8S. Woodward, and has since generally been known as Spongza or 
Siphonia paradowica. The beds in which this supposed sponge 
occurs, contain fragments of various organisms, including sponge- 
spicules, but no trace of structure can be found in sections of the 
Spongia paradoxia. The fragmentary state of the urdoubted 
organic remains would indicate that they were drifted into their 
present position, and therefore a state of things quite unfitted for 
the growth of a slender branching sponge; the so-called sponge 
commonly occurs in layers along the bedding-planes, but frequently 
rises through the whole thickness of one bed and extends up into 
the overlying layers. It does not seem likely that it was the root 
of a Siphonia or some similar organism. Another body which has 
been also called Spongia paradowica consists of masses of more 
erystalline texture, exhibiting upon weathered surfaces a network of 
small ridges enclosing cup-like depressions. These appearances were 
compared by the author to the weathered surfaces often seen in 
certain beds of the Mountain Limestone and in gypsum ; the masses 
show no traces of internal structure. 
The author stated that sections of these bodies show exactly 
the same characters as the containing rock, except that the material 
is more compactly crystalline ; it contains the same fragments of 
shell, &c., and the same sand and pebbles. He regarded them as of 
concretionary origin, and explained their symmetry of form and 
regularity of arrangement by their being formed at the intersections 
of joints with the bedding-planes or with one another. Phosphatic 
nodules occur in the lower parts of the White Chalk, and had these 
bodies been sponges they would probably have been phosphatized ; 
but analyses have shown no marked difference in this respect be- 
tween their substance and that of the surrounding rock. 
